Two speeches on our home and colonial affairs, our national resources, their present and probable future condition; and The British colonies, their present condition and future prospects

OUR HOME AND COLONIAL AFFAIRS.

TWO SPEECHES

ON

OUR HOME AND COLONIAL
AFFAIRS.

OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

THEIR PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION ;

•J *\

[0 fr 0}

b ™)

, v

3 BRITISH COLONIES:

THEIR PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS :

(DELIVERED IN DUNDEE)
I

BY

ALEXANDER JROBERTSON, M.A.

BARR1STER-AT-LAW.

DUNDEE:

JAMES P. MATHEW & CO., 17 COWGA
1880.

a

TO

The Right Honourable VISCOUNT SANDON,

of the $oarb of fcrabe.

MY LOKL>.

Believing that no small ignorance existed as to
the National Resources of the United Kingdom, and also as
to the condition of the British Colonies and Dependencies, I
resolved to give to my fellow-townsmen of Dundee sunn-
information on those subjects by delivering the two follow-
ing Discources; and, having been requested to publish them.
and having myself derived much advantage and instruction
from the studies which I had undertaken as to our Imperial
Resources, I agreed to comply with the request as early as
circumstances would allow. I now submit my humble
efforts to the judgment of the public at large; and, with
your permission, I have much pleasure in dedicating the
following pages to your Lordship.

In the subjects discussed, there is plenty of room for
wide divergence of opinion, and great danger of falling into
error in matters of fact. Therefore, I take this opportunity
of stating that the opinions and statistics were propounded
with the greatest care ; that the end I had in view was a
truly national, not a partisan object; and that th< whole

VI

responsibility for the contents of this pamphlet rests entirely
, upon my own shoulders. If I succeed in dissipating some of the
gross errors as to our recent prosperity and present depres-
sion in trade and agriculture, I shall accomplish one of
my chief objects in delivering, and in my now publishing
the first speech. If I shall be able to raise the minds of
my fellow-townsmen of Dundee — perhaps fellow-citizens in
other places — to the vast extent, the gigantic resources and
magnificent future of our colonies and dependencies, I shall
consider my labour on the second discourse to be amply
rewarded.

I am convinced that a grand future awaits our Colonies,
and that there is no ground for present serious alarm in
regard to the future resources of the British nation.

Sincerely thanking your Lordship for the honour you
have conferred upon me by kindly authorising me to dedi-
cate my humble efforts to spread reliable information as to
the state of our affairs at home and in the British Colonies,

I have the honour to be,
MY LORD,

Your most obedient Servant,

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.

X4th March 1880,
BROUGHTY FERRY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES : THEIR PRESENT AND
PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION.

5 to 54.

Scope of Address. — Population of United Kingdom. — Pauperism.
— Primary education. — Area and cultivation. — Import of corn. —
Taxes on food. — Free trade enormously increased our commerce and
responsibilities. — Other food imports increased. — Agricultural imports
permanent. — Tea, coffee, and sugar imports and exports. — Imported
spirits. — Excise duty on spirits. — Imported wine. — Tobacco imported.
—Our commerce supreme.— Towns as centres of industry.— U nparallel-
ed growth of commerce. — Imported and exported cotton. — Indian
duty on cotton goods. — Wool imported and woollen goods exported. —
Jute imports and exports. — Most advantageous trade. — How success
to be attained. — Silk imports and exports. — Our position in textile
fabrics. — Imports and exports of iron. — Vigilance and skill needed to
retain commercial prosperity. — Export trade in coal. — Imports and
exports of leather. — Imports of wood. — Miscellaneous exports and
imports. — Total imports and exports. — No alarm at imports exceed in -_r
exports. — Late prosperity largely from excessive speculation. — Our
fiscal policy is based on free trade. — Home trade. — Mercantile marine.
^Railways. — Conclusion.

viii TABLK OF CONTENTS.

THE BRITISH COLONIES : THEIR PRESENT CONDI-
TION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

Pas/eg 59 to 124.

Colonization by Greece and Rome — Early modern colonization —
Advantages of colonies — Modern colonization first conducted by
monopolist companies. From their beginning, the English colonies
had all the elements of a great future — Modern policy aimed at an
exclusive colonial trade — English colonies had many signal advantages
— Modern colonies became Asylums from political and religious per-
secutions— General outline of Address — First group : Canadian domi-
nions— Early history, area, population, and encouragement to
agricultural colonists — French Canadians — Trade — Frequent bank-
ruptcies— Shipping and railways — Pacific Railway scheme — Russia in
the Pacific — Constitution, revenue, and expenditure — Forces and
loyalty of dominion. — Second group : African — Present war not to be
discussed — Dangers arising from masses of savages on borders — The
Zulus and their chiefs — African sources of wealth — Need of immi-
grants— Splendid future — Cape and Natal colonies— As to African
colonies three questions arise : Peace, burden of present war, and con-
federation.— Third group, Australian : Large British investments in
Australian colonies — Area, population, trade, and constitution, &c., of
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western
Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania — As to Australian colonies
three questions arise : Commercial policy, defence, and confederation.
— Fourth group : West Indian colonies and minor dependencies — (1.)
West India colonies — Climate — Trade — Coolie emigration — Sources
of sugar supplies — (2.) Ceylon : Area and population — Trade —
Mercantile system predominates — Constitution — (3.) Hong Kong :
Area, population, trade, and constitution — General considerations as
to the whole of our Colonial empire are immigration, commercial
policy, defence, and confederation — Conclusion,

OUR

NATIONAL RESOURCES

THEIR PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE
CONDITION.

(DELIVERED IN DUNDEE, 30-rn DEI I.MBI ;u 187'J.)

CONTENTS.

Scope of Address. — Population of United Kingdom. — Pauprri.-ni.
— Primary education. — Area and cultivation. — Import of corn. —
Taxes on food. — Free trade enormously increased our commerce and
responsibilities. — Other food imports increased. — Agricultural imports
permanent. — Tea, coffee, and sugar imports and exports. — Imported
spirits. — Excise duty on spirits. — Imported wine. — Tobacco imported.
— Our commerce supreme. — Towns as centres of industry. — Unparal-
leled growth of commerce. — Imported and exported cotton. — Indian
duty on cotton goods. — Wool imported and woollen goods exported. —
Jute imports and exports. — Most advantageous trade. — How success
to be attained. — Silk imports and exports. — Our position in textile
fabrics. — Imports and exports of iron. — Vigilance and skill needed to
retain commercial prosperity. — Export trade in coal. — Imports and
exports of leather. — Imports of wood. — Miscellaneous exports and
imports. — Total imports and exports. — No alarm at imports exceeding
exports. — Late prosperity largely from excessive speculation. — Our
fiscal policy is based on free trade. — Home trade. — Mercantile marine.
Railways. — Conclusion.

OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES:

THEIR PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION.

(DELIVERED IN DUNDEE, 30ra DECEMB

MR CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN, —

We meet under the gloom of a great
and lamentable disaster. The Tay Bridge has
given way ; and, in a moment, between seventy
and eighty of our fellow-creatures have instan-
taneously been hurled into eternity. This is
neither the time nor the place to give any opinion
as to the terrible calamity which has overtaken
us ; but there can be no doubt that a most search-
ing public inquiry as to its cause is absolutely
required, and will unquestionably be made.

Six years ago, I intimated that, as opportunity
arose, I would endeavour to explain my views as
to public affairs both at home and abroad. What
great changes have since occurred! A givat
European war, involving vast consequences, has
been waged arid brought to an end. A great wa \ v
of bad trade has swept over the world. I have
already discussed that war and its results ; and
I now appear before you, my fellow-townsmen, to

6 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

lay before you my views as to " Our national
resources : their present and probable future
condition/7

We have many things, contributing to our
wealth, happiness, and refinement, for which we
ought to be thankful. We possess a moderate
climate. At home we have a rich and fertile
territory, intersected by splendid rivers for
navigation ; and abroad we have abundance of
prolific virgin soil in our colonies for our surplus
population. Surrounded by the ocean, we have
a great highway to all the important centres of
commerce in the world, and, by means of our
rivers, we have an easy access to every district in
our own country. We have canals, bridges, and
railways all over the country to aid us in trans-
porting all kinds of merchandise from one place
to another for home consumption or foreign
commerce ; and, by means of our gigantic
mercantile navy, we have surpassing facilities
for supplying ourselves and foreign nations with
all the necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries of
life. We have also a free, rich, and prolific
literature to spread abroad intelligence to every
city, town, and hamlet of the kingdom. Great
and wealthy institutions have been dedicated to
]the advancement of literature, science, and art.
( Museums, galleries of art, and public and private
libraries have been spread all over the country,
and are effecting a grand and noble work in con-
tributing to the information, the refinement, and
the civilization of the people. Schools, colleges,
and universities are educating the best spirits of
the nation up to a higher standard of excellence

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 7

than has ever yet been known. Within the
limits of order im<l morality, all opinions may be
expressed without fear or danger of punishment.
Thought is here, in this land of freedom, ;is five as
the air we breathe. The telegraph also ihishrx
our lightning-sped messages to every part of the
kingdom, and almost to every part of the globe.
In the style of living, not only of the nobility,
but of the commercial classes, there is great
splendour. Nay more, the dwellings of the poor,
deficient as they may be in many things, indicate
a great recent advance in improvement and
comfort. What a wonderful progress has lately
been made, in all the great towns of the kingdom,
in all that appertains to civilization. Truly,
the subject upon which I am to speak this even-
ing is far too great for one single discourse.

The total population of the United Kingdom
is 34,000,000 : of England and Wales, 26,000,000 ;
of Scotland, 3^ millions ; and of Ireland, 5^
millions. In 1840, the total population was 26^
millions ; and that of England and Wales was
15f millions ; of Scotland, 2£ millions ; and of
Ireland, 8 millions. Hence, in less than 40 years
the population of England and Wales has
increased about 10 millions, and of Scotland
1 million, and the decrease in Ireland has been
almost 3 millions. Famine and emigration have>
depopulated Ireland ; and again the cry of im-
pending famine is heard in that unfortunate and
unhappy country. Idleness, absenteeism of
landlords, and political agitation have a great
deal to do with the penury and distress of
Ireland. But this is not the time to condemn.

OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

iThe cry of real distress has gone forth in many
(parts of Ireland, and that cry will not, I feel
Nsure, be raised in this country in vain.

The total amount of the national debt is
£778,000,000 ; and the yearly interest amounts
to £28,000,000. All this debt has been of
modern creation — does not go further back than
the reign of William III. — and has chiefly been
incurred in the prosecution of wars. Jealousy
and aggrandisement are the chief mainsprings of
war. Wars beget debt ; and debt involves the
pledging of the national resources for payment of
the principal and interest. A national debt such
as ours is a serious burden upon the people, and
a great restraint upon our productive energies.
I am in favour of a large yearly reduction of the
national debt, and I think that a considerable
sum should be annually set aside in the Budget
for that purpose.

Our population is large, our wealth great ;
but throughout the United Kingdom the cost of
pauperism is on the increase. No doubt, pauper-
ism, as tested by numbers, has lately been on the
decrease in England and Scotland. Since 1849,
the greatest total number of paupers for England
and Wales was attained in 1871, which was a
year of great prosperity ; and the lowest point
was reached in 1878, and since then the tendency
has been in an upward direction. In actual
public relief of the poor, there were spent in Eng-
land and Wales 5| millions sterling in 1849, and
above 7i millions sterling in 1878. What is the
condition of legalised pauperism in our own part
of Kingdom ? Till 1845, the poor of Scotland were

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. VI

maintained, for the most part, by the Kirk-ses-
sions of the Established Church, by voluntary
contributions, and without the imposition of any
public rate. In 1846, the amount of rates col-
lected was £300,000, and the amount has gra-
dually risen till it was trebled in 1878. In 1864,
the total number of paupers and their dependents,
exclusive of casual poor, in receipt of Parish relief
was 120,705 ; and in 1878, was reduced to 94,671.
Again, take the numbers for Ireland. The num-
ber of paupers in receipt of Union relief in
Ireland was 68,135 in 1864, and 91,807 in 1879.
Thus, the paupers have been on the increase,
and, strange to say, in an exactly opposite direction
to the pauperism of England and Scotland ; that
is to say, out-door relief is on the increase in
Ireland, and on the decrease in Great Britain.
The total amount expended in 1878 for the relief
and management of the poor in Ireland was
one million pounds sterling.

What do you think has been the total amount
spent in the United Kingdom for the relief and
management of the poor since 1840 ? More than
£400,000,000, which is a larger sum than the half
of the national debt. How does it happen that,
in the richest and most industrious countiy of
the world, there is so much wretchedness and
poverty ? Because our fiscal system is wrong
in raising so much of the national taxation
from customs and excise, and because a bad
system of Poor Law administration breeds,
sustains, and nourishes large masses of the people
in idleness, improvidence, and vice.

With such misery around us, what, let me

10 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

ask, have we done to remove ignorance, and to
instil the youth of the rising generation with the
seeds of knowledge, the elements of primary
education ? For Great Britain alone, there was
an average attendance of children at the primary
schools of a quarter million in 1851 ; and of two
and a half millions in 1878. Hence, the average
attendance has been very largely increased during
the last quarter of a century. But, of course, the
national expenditure on this head has also been
very largely augmented. The Parliamentary
grant for Great Britain alone has risen from
£164,312 in 1851 to £2,750,000 in 1879. Asyou
are aware, the expense of the national primary
schools is defrayed fromfees and imperial and local
funds. For this divided responsibility the reason
is indefensible. Doubtless the time will come—
will soon arrive — when the whole cost will be
paid out of the national exchequer, and primary
education will be free and compulsory through-
out the kingdom.

Gentlemen, we cannot live by education, nor
by political institutions, however excellent. We
must do something to earn our daily bread, buy
clothes, and provide homes for ourselves and our
families, or be dependent upon others for the
supply of those absolute necessaries of life.
~, the soil is the primary source of all wealth,
and, notwithstanding the widely spread and
gigantic nature of our commerce, its cultivation
gives rise to the greatest industry in the country.
What a pity it is that we do not direct more
attention to this source of wealth. Had we in-
vested the capital we have lost by lending our

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 11

money to foreign nations, we wolild have greatly
developed the fertility of our own soil, and we
might almost have been independent of foreign
supplies of food. The value of British agricul-
ture, it is said, on good authority, could be
doubled ; and the nation seems indifferent to the
loss — the enormous loss — we sustain by not fully
utilizing the means at our disposal for obtaining
the indispensible necessaries of life. People must
wake up to this great national loss. They must
be taught that, without serious neglect, wealth
cannot be thus left ungathered. Much has been
done to enrich the soil and make it more prolific.
Let us press on the leaders of the nation that the
soil ought to be cultivated to the highest degree,
and that measures should be taken to encourage,
and if necessary enforce, the cultivation of the
soil as a duty, as well as a right.

The total area of the British Islands is
76,000,000 acres, of which 26,000,000 are moun-
tain pasture and waste, and 50,000,000 acres are
in grasses, meadows, permanent pasture, woods,
and forests. Since 1869, the acreage of wheat
in Britain has been diminished by about
150,000 acres ; the acreage of green and various
crops is pretty nearly the same ; and that of
permanent pasture has been increased nearly by
2,000,000 acres. The live stock of Britain has
also been increased since 1867. With regard to
Ireland, the falling off in the corn crops is greatrr
than in Britain, and shows a decrease of 300,000
acres, of which 100,000 acres were in wheat and
200,000 in oats. The green crops also show a
falling off to the extent of 100,000 acres, and the

12 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

acreage under flax has been diminished, more
than 100,000 acres since 1867. But, on the
other hand, the acreage under grasses has been
increased about 300,000 acres, and permanent
pasture is very much the same as it was in 1867.
The live stock of Ireland has, on the whole,
diminished. The general result is that there
were 400,000 acres less under corn crops in the
United Kingdom in 1878 than in 1867 ; that
there were 100,000 acres less under green crops ;
that the grasses and permanent pasture had
been increased by 2,000,000 acres. The live
stock was very much the same in 1878 as in
1867.

The extension of pasturage and the diminu-
tion of arable land are not subjects for con-
gratulation. In a national point of view, the
cultivation of arable land is more advantageous
than an extension of pasturage. More labour is
required in the former than in the latter, and
less dependence on foreign nations exists when
arable land is cultivated rather than pasture.
Suppose we were dependent on our enemies for
a considerable portion of our food or of our raw
material : we might be instantly brought face
to face with famine and all its attendant horrors,
or the loss of our trade and commerce, with all
its attendant evils of loss of wealth, loss of power,
and loss of people by emigration. The Dutch
were the richest people in the world in the 17th
century. They were thrifty and simple in their
mode of living, but a time came when, during a
war waged with England and Prance, there was
a difficulty in procuring a sufficient supply of

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 13

bread. Wages rose, the cost of production of all
Dutch commodities increased, her manufactures
were adversely affected, and ultimately destroyed
by this country, and have never recovered the
shock of the last century.

The condition of the agricultural interest in
this country is far from being satisfactory ; but,
for the first time in our history, the food of
the people is cheap and abundant. What re-
medies will be suitable for agricultural distress
will be most conveniently discussed after the
Royal Agricultural Commissioners, lately ap-
pointed to inquire into the causes and remedies
for that distress, have submitted their Report to
Parliament. For the present, I would ask your
attention to an important feature in our national
existence, namely, the continually increasing
quantity and value of the food brought to us
from other countries for home consumption.

Of corn — namely wheat, barley, oats, maize,
and all kinds of flour — the total number of cwts.
imported into the United Kingdom was 15J
million cwts. in 1840, 31 i million cwts. in 1849,
75 J million cwts. in 1870, and 132£ million cwts.
in 1878, and the values for 1840 were 9J millions
sterling, and for 1878, £59,000,000. Hence,
within 40 years, the total importation of corn
has increased nine times in quantity and six
times in value. Our exportation of corn is
small. Therefore, it is clear that we are largely
dependent on other countries for one of the
prime necessaries of life. Not only so, but I
may add further, that our present agricultural
produce could not supply one-third of the popu-

14 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

lation of the United Kingdom with the neces-
saries, far less many of the luxuries, of life.

Almost without exception, no customs duty is
imposed on articles of necessary or useful food.
The exceptions are cocoa, coffee, currants, raisins,
and tea. As to all these articles, except the
last, there would be no difficulty, and con-
siderable advantage in adopting an absolutely
free trade policy. With the exception of the
duty on tea, the revenue received is insignificant,
and the percentage of duty on the value is high.
Tea brings £4,000,000 into the national ex-
chequer, and the percentage of duty on the value
is upwards of 40 per cent.

Since 1870, the last remnant of the import duty
on corn was repealed. Most fortunately is this the
case; for,ata time when, under the old corn laws, we
would have been paying a high price for a limited
quantity, we have an abundant and cheap supply.
The importance of a cheap and abundant supply
of corn — indeed, of all food, clothing, and lodging
for the nation — cannot be exaggerated. To aid
in obtaining this supply is one of the primary
duties of Government ; and to cheapen the means
of living, to free agricultural-products and manu-
factures from all shackles of taxgatherers, and to
enable useful commodities of all kinds to circulate
freely, are principles which lie at the foundation
of all just and equitable taxation. Whatever
taxation makes the poor contribute more to the
national exchequer than the rich, which strikes
at the sources of the poor more than those of the
rich, or which restricts the natural movements of
commerce, is unjust and pernicious. Provided

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 15

we can get foreign countries to give us their
corn for our manufactured goods, the large and
increasing importation of corn is neither alarm-
ing nor unsatisfactory. Still, it is clear, we must
have markets for our goods before we can have
a bare supply of the necessaries of life. We
must, therefore, be prepared to prosecute and
defend our commerce in every part of the world.
Free trade is a grand system ; is theoretically the
true system of political economy ; but its whole
advantages cannot be reaped till there is less
jealousy and suspicion, and more justice and
freedom in the world than now exist. Free
trade has enormously increased our commercial
relations. Still, do not forget that it has also in-
creased, and will still further increase, our arma-
ments and expenditure, naval and military.

The importation of all other kinds of food has
also been lately increased. Oxen, bulls, cows,
and calves were prohibited in 1840 ; but they
were allowed to be imported a few years after-
wards. As you are also aware, a large and
increasing trade is carried on in imported
butcher meat.

The number and value of live animals
have been gradually increasing, and last
year 1,000,000 cattle and sheep, and pigs,
valued at 7£ millions sterling, were im-
ported. In 1840, about 6,000 cwts. of bacon
and ham, valued at about £15,000, were im-
ported; in 1878 there were 4^ million cwts.,
valued at nearly 8| millions sterling, imported.
In 1840, about £ million cwts. of butter, valued
at nearly 1 million sterling, was imported ; and

16 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

in 1878 there were 1| million cwts., valued at
nearly 10 millions sterling, were imported.
Eggs have also become an important item in
our imports, and between 1840 and 1878 rose
from 96,000,000, valued at less than £1,000,000,
to 783,000,000, valued at 2£ millions sterling.
Kice has also been increasing in favour with the
public within the dates chosen for our review.
In 1840, the importation of rice was fully
£ million cwts., valued at close on a \ million
sterling ; and in 1878 was fully 6,000,000 cwts.,
valued at nearly 3£ millions sterling. The value
of dead meat and provisions imported in 1878
has been estimated at 29£ millions sterling.

Our imports thus appear to be enormously
swollen by agricultural produce, corn, cattle,
&c.,and certainly do not reach a much smaller sum
than £100,000,000 annually; while, on the
other hand, the value of our home agricultural
produce has been estimated at £260,000,000,
The importations of corn and animals, and other
agricultural produce, must, for all practical pur-
poses, be dealt with as a permanent and increas-
ing factor in all our calculations as to the future
condition of the country, e.g. rent, &c. ; and in all
probability it will go on increasing in quantity as
regards corn and animals, and as regards all of
them in value. To re-impose a protective tariff
on corn is downright madness. It would cause
a revolution. The loss of the farmers has lately
been great, and there is no immediate appear-
ance of any improvement. A lowering of rents
is therefore an absolute necessity. Eents rose with
the national prosperity ; they must fall in the days

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 17

of adverse fortune. Commerce and agriculture arc
inseparably linked together. The prosperity
of the one means the prosperity of the other, and
the adversity of the one the adversity of the
other.

Moreover, landlords and farmers must direct
their attention to what will pay. Russia and
Hungary have been beaten out of our corn mar-
ket, and the United States have taken their place.
Our transatlantic brethren in the States might
become the greatest food producers in the world ;
but they will have keen competitors in Canada,
Australia, and British India.

Of tea, there were imported in 1840 about
28,000,000 Ibs., valued at 3^ millions sterling ;
and in 1878, close on 205,000,000 Ibs., valued at
£13,000,000. Thus the quantity has been in-
creased seven-fold, and the value has only been
increased four-fold. As a rule, the greater the
production of any commodity, the cheaper it is.
Increased demand enables greater improvements
to be made in production, and most of all in
manufactures, but less, though yet considerable,
in all agricultural products. The importation of
coffee has also been greatly increased both in
quantity and value since 1840, but its value has
been somewhat proportionately increased. Thus,
in 1840, there were 70,250,000 Ibs., valued at
less than £2,250,000 imported ; and in 1878,
there were 1£ million cwts., valued at £6,000,000,
imported. Cocoa and chocolate are also in
greater demand than ever before.

Sugar is largely imported into this country,
and the importation is increasing. In 1840,

1 8 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

there were imported 4^ million cwts. of sugar,
valued at nearly £10,000,000 ; and in 1878,
19,000,000 cwts., valued at £21,000,000. Com-
paring the years 1840 and 1878, the importation
of refined sugar has been almost increased 20
times in quantity and value, and was even
greater in 1877. The importation of raw sugar,
for the same years, has been nearly doubled in
value, and trebled in quantity.

The home sugar refiners have been alarmed
at the results of foreign competition in their in-
dustry during the last few years, and complain —
and justly —that their trade is being injured by
an artificial system of bounties given by foreign
countries on exported sugar. Practically, we
are getting sugar in this country at less than it
can be had in France. The amount paid out of
the national exchequer of France alone as
bounties on exported sugar is £1,000,000 a year.
This state of matters might be all very well if it
were to last for ever ; but as, in the meantime,
our own sugar refiners are, or where till lately,
working at a great loss, and a large body of
workmen are in danger of being permanently
driven out of their employment, and our own
trade may be utterly ruined, a Parliamentary
Inquiry has been ordered. Whatever the Com-
mission may propose as a remedy, we ought
certainly to insist upon obtaining our rights
under treaty with foreign powers.

Retaliatory duties, or, if you prefer, counter-
vailing duties, may sometimes be effective in
bringing about an adjustment of international
fiscal duties ; but they are not always con-

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 19

venient, and must be imposed with a deliberate
and well ascertained object. Remember the
end of such duties is to bring about a just
equality in international taxation ; and, when
this object cannot be attained, they arc worse
than useless. The French and English followed
the Dutch to India, monopolised the Eastern
trade, and imposed heavy duties on Dutch
goods coming into their Indian territories.
The Dutch, however, did not impose heavy
port and customs dues against them. Why ?
Because they had few natural sources of wealth ;
because they were dependent on other countries
for the raw materials of their manufactured goods ;
and because a taxation on those articles would
have been imposed on themselves. To beggar
yourself is not the way to become rich ; to
beggar your neighbour is neither just nor
honest. I see no objection, on principle, to
retaliatory duties ; but I see many practical
difficulties in carrying out the scheme with
success. Such a policy is, e.g., sure to cause
a good deal of ill-will ; and may involve retali-
ation, to be followed by retaliation without end.
To impose retaliatory duties, in order to convert
protectionists from their errors, should be the
last resort of the advocates of free trade.

We have also an export trade in sugar, and,
notwithstanding the outcry raised against foreign
bounties, and the alleged threatened extinction
of the sugar industry in this country, the Parlia-
mentary returns show a continuous and almost
uninterrupted increasing export trade in refined
sugar. In 1864 the refined sugar exported did

20 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

not exceed 120,000 cwts., valued at £200,000 ;
and in 1878 there were exported 1,042,000
cwts., valued at nearly 1J million sterling.
Hence it appears that the real complaint is
not that the export trade is being destroyed by
foreign competition, but that the home trade has
been, and is still being injured by foreign sugar
refiners. The import duty on sugar was finally
abolished in 1874.

The importation of spirits, rum, brandy, and
other foreign and colonial spirits next demands
our attention. In 1864, it was llf millions
proof gallons, valued at 2J millions sterling ;
and in 1878, 12^ millions proof gallons, valued
at fully 2J millions sterling. During the last
14 years, the importation was highest in 1876,
when the quantity was 21,000,000 proof gallons,
and the next highest point was reached in 1870,
when it was 17^ millions proof gallons. The
revenue derived from the customs duty on
foreign and colonial spirits was nearly £3,000,000
sterling in 1864, and was fully 5| millions ster-
ling in 1879.

The quantities I have just given do not, of
course, show the quantity of spirits upon which
excise duty was paid, and was retained for home
consumption, nor of spirits exported. In 1864,
duty was paid on nearly 52,000,000 bushels of
malt for home consumption, and on a regularly
increasing quantity up to last year, when duty
was paid on 64£ million bushels. Duty was also
paid on 20£ million gallons of spirits for home
consumption, and on a regularly increasing
quantity up to last year, when the quantity was

PRESENT AND PRoiiAiiLi-: i'i Tt:i;i; CONDITION. 21

30,000,000 gallons. What all this malt, and all
those million gallons of spirits arc ns miicles in
the hands of consumers, 1 do not know, and dare
not guess. Certainly the total quantity must be
something astounding. The exri>r duty paid
on spirits and malt in 1864 amounted to 15f
millions sterling, and on spirits, malt, and su^;u
used in brewing in 187J), amounted to 22f
millions sterling.

Foreign countries complain of our high tariffs
on intoxicating liquors, and complain that, what-
ever the cause, the tariffs are prohibitive. Thus,
the Germans complain of our high duties on
spirits, and the Spaniards and Portuguese of our
high duties on their wines. Our answer is that
those high duties have been imposed for revenue
and not protection, and that the import duty has
been affixed to a graduated scale of alcoholic
strength by way of compensation to the excise
duties on alcohol made in this country. We
must not, however, conceal from ourselves that
all high duties are bad in their very nature, and
impose restraints on free trade.

The wine imported into this country, I need
scarcely say, is very great. We imported 15^
million gallons of wine, valued at £5,000,000,
in 1864; in 1869, fully 17,000,000 gallons,
valued at 5^ millions sterling ; in 1874, 18 J
million gallons, valued at fully 6f- millions
sterling ; and in 1878, nearly 16^ million gallons,
valued at £6,000,000. These data are instruc-
tive ; for they are a clear proof of the recent

rosperity and present depression of our affairs.

eople who had large incomes a few years ago

22 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

have been greatly reduced in their circumstances.
Their means of spending on luxuries have been
diminished. The importation of wines has,
therefore, been a good deal lessened. Bad trade
in 1878 brought down the importation of wine
three quarters of a million sterling in value as
compared with the prosperous times of 1874. In
contrast with this result, I would call your atten-
tion to the increase in the excise duties on malt
and spirits in 1878. I believe the causes of this
were twofold, namely, spirits and beer have
taken the place of wine to a certain extent, and
the habits of frugality and self-restraint are not
so highly developed in the great mass of the
people as in those who are better educated, have
better homes, more extensive means for recrea-
tion and amusement than they. The customs
duty paid on wine in 1864 was 1£ millions
sterling ; and in 1878, nearly 1£ millions
sterling.

Our export trade in British spirits has been
diminishing in quantity and value since 1864,
when the quantity was 4£ million gallons, and the
value half a million sterling ; and in 1878, the
quantity was 1 i million gallons, and the value
£395,000. The export of beer and ale has also
been on the decrease, but not to the same extent
as British spirits. In 1864, the value exported
was fully If millions sterling, and was slightly
less in 1878 than in 1864. The year 1874,
when the value was 2£ millions sterling, is the
highest for the exports of beer and ale during
the last fourteen years. Therefore, however much
we may be drinking the liquors of other

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 23

countries, foreigners are evidently not taking
kindly to the use of our beverages.

Tobacco is another article largely imported
into this country. The quantity of the manufac-
tured article has been decreasing since 1864, and
the quantity of the unmanufactured article has
been increased by one-third. Taking the manu-
factured and unmanufactured tobacco together, it
appears that, in 1804, the quantity imported was
(>7^ million Ibs., valued at 3?, millions sterling ;
and, in 1878, 1)4 million Ibsf, valued fully at 3£
millions sterling. Thus it would seem the Philipic
against the use of tobacco, written by King
James, has not had much influence on the sub-
jects of his successors. The customs duty paid
on tobacco and snuff was £6,000,000 in 1864,
and 8J millions sterling in 1879.

I now wish to direct your attention to
another branch of our subject. We are supreme
in the arts of industry and the pursuits of
commerce. Our pre-eminence has been the
result of many important circumstances.

From the end of last century, we took
the lead of all nations in commercial greatness.
Two periods greatly favoured British commerce :
First, the war of the Spanish succession
from 1702 to 1713, concluded by the peace of
Utrecht ; and, secondly, the seven years war
between 1756 and 1763, terminated by the
treaty of Paris. At the beginning of this cen-
tury, the estimated annual value of iron manu-
factured was insignificant. The annual total value
of coals and iron produced in the United King-
dom now amounts to £65,000,000. The cotton

24 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES.

trade was creeping into importance towards the
latter end of 18th century, when the inventions
of Arkwright, Hargraves, Oompton, and Cart-
wright gave it an impetus which it has felt ever
since. In fact, inventions and discoveries in
the last century greatly augmented our indus-
trial progress. Watt alone, by his application
of steam as a motive power, has vastly increased
our productive capacity ; and numerous in-
ventors have also conferred incalculable benefits
on our industrial capacity. Take a single in-
stance of what has been achieved in one of our
great industrial employments. In 1741, a Ib. of
coarse cloth, half cotton and half linen, cost 4s. 6d. ;
now the same article can be had for 2d. The
greatest sources of our commercial prosperity-
what, above all things, give us our supremacy
in industrial pursuits — are our immense stored-
up capital, our highly organised division of
labour, our wonderful mechanical skill, and our
great practical ability in superintending and
managing our stupendous workshops and com-
mercial undertakings. Another source of our
commercial prosperity is the wide extent of
our markets, and the wealth of our colonies
and dependencies, affording us ample scope for
our industrial energy, and enabling us to get, in
exchange, from every quarter of the globe, the
richest and choicest articles of the world's best
and rarest things for food, for use, for ornament.
Our conquests in the East and West have, indeed,
supplied us with an extensive area for our ener-
gies in commerce as well as in the power to
govern. America, Africa, Australia, and our

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. - ">

numerous colonies ;m<l dependencies all over the
world have also afforded us ample scope for the
restless energy of our race in siilxluing the uncul-
tivated and unknown places of the earth, and in
opening up markets for our products in exchange
for the corn, wool, and cotton which our hardy
pioneers of civili/ation produce in their hoiiic»
far away across the sea.

Beyond all doubt, we are ti ivstlos, ener-
getic, and intrepid people, deeply enibued with
the love of freedom, and with habits of industry
and enterprise. We are also great and opulent
above all the other nations of the earth. With
commercial greatness as our aim, we have
become the greatest conquerors of the world.
Our policy of conquest and acquisition has gone
on for three centuries. Let us be on our guard
against the mad thirst for conquest, which was
the proximate cause of the downfall of several
great and powerful ancient Empires. Strange as
it may seem, we have made our greatest and
most permanent conquests since we entered on
our career of commercial supremacy. Those
who are now so loud in crying out for retrench-
ment would do well to consider, amongst other
things, the origin, progress, and foundation of
our commercial greatness. Do not let us forget
that we have the most powerful reasons for keep-
ing open and extending the markets for our
trade and commerce ; and that, at the present
time, some of the greatest European States are
deliberately pushing our goods away from them,
and have entered upon a career of protection,
and even prohibition.

26

OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

During the last forty years, the growth of our
commerce has been unparalleled ; and of this
great industrial activity the towns are, of course,
the great centres.

Nor need we go far away from home to see
what our commercial success has effected. What
a difference there is between what our own town
is, and what it was at the beginning of the
present century. Its population has increased
with great rapidity. Its wealth has been augu-
mented to an incredible degree. Its people, its
merchants and wealthy burghers, and skilled
workmen, have made wonderful advancement in
their modes of living, their houses, their material
comforts, their public and private buildings, their
moral, intellectual, and social well-being. Think
for a moment of the splendid streets opened, the
grand buildings erected, the magnificent private
houses built, the spacious docks formed, the splen-
did Esplanade constructed, the gigantic Bridge
which but lately spanned our magnificent river-
all within the last few years — and you will, at
once, understand how great has been the progress
made in our own midst in the last quarter of a
century.

Other causes than those I have mentioned
have, no doubt, contributed to our industrial pros-
perity. Thus, freedom of trade has had no small
— has had a very great — share in establishing our
commercial greatness. Freedom of trade is as
yet a modern principle even amongst ourselves,
and is in no great favour with many powerful
nations abroad, and is even in disfavour with
some of our own colonies. Still I believe that

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 27

the principle is destined to be accepted by all
the civilized nations of the world. As men
grow (Veer and more enlightened, and are less
governed by the crushing force of military des-
potism, it will be accepted by men as the best
guarantee of peace, happiness, and prosperity.
Whatever the immediate destiny of this prin-
ciple, there can be no question about its having,
up till now, given us a great advantage over pro-
tectionist countries. Its adoption has effected
an entire revolution in our customs and excise
duties, and the result is that there are very few
articles imported upon which any tax is im-
posed, and several of these duties are assessed
merely as countervailing taxes on articles falling
under our own internal excise. Amongst many
other beneficial effects of free trade, one has un-
questionably been te^p^^t'S^the predominant
influence in the motets of ttte\ world. As yet,
where there is fr^Pcompetitio%Vjwe can sell all
the chief article!* of ^our ^taflp industries as
cheaply as, nay nWje^ cheaply than, any people
in the world. For t^fi^^j#ty-live years of the
present century, our ilffp6rts did not exceed
£50,000,000 a-year, nor did the real annual
value of our exports exceed £48,000,000. Now,
the imports are valued at £368,000,000, and the
exports at £245,000,000 a-year. Let me now
descend to the arena of particular articles, and
thus give you, in a reliable form, some details as
to our position in the rank of industrial nations.
I take the cotton trade first. In 1864, nearly
8,000,000 cwts. of raw cotton, valued at 78£
millions sterling, were imported ; and, in 1869,

28 OUk NATIONAL RESOURCES :

nearly 11,000,000 cwts., valued at slightly less
than £57,000,000 ; in 1874, almost 14,000,000
cwts., valued at 46J millions sterling ; and in
1878, 12,000,000 cwts., valued at 33£ millions
sterling. These quantities and values are re-
markable, because they prove a very gradual
diminution in value, and an unequivocal increase
in quantity of the raw material of one of our
principal staple trades. Last year, raw cotton
was nearly four times as cheap as it was in 1864.
In 1840 the quantity of raw cotton imported
was about 5,000,000 cwts., and was nearly treble
in 1878. Let me now give you the exports in
cotton goods. In 1864, there were exported
nearly 75| millions Ibs. of cotton yarn, valued at
£9,000,000 ; and, in 1878, fully 250^ millions
Ibs., valued at £13,000,000. Thus, comparing
1864 and 1878, the exported cotton yarns have
been fully trebled in quantity, and have only in-
creased in value by half, and a comparison insti-
tuted between 1874 and 1878 would show^ more
unfavourable results. Rightly to understand
these remarkable facts, we have to remember
that raw cotton imported from abroad had
greatly fallen in value ; that the cost of produc-
tion in this country had been considerably
diminished ; and that a lucrative trade for some
years had attracted capital to the cotton trade,
and caused over production, and brought about
an almost ruinous reduction of price. Doubt-
less manufacturers kept on producing after the
trade had ceased to be profitable, and, rather
than lessen production, worked, in many in-
stances, at a loss.

IMM-SENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION.

29

As to cotton piece goods, the total exported
in 1864 was 1,752 million yards, valued at 45f
millions sterling ; in 1869, was 2,868 million
yards, valued at 53 millions sterling ; in 1874, was
3,606 million yards, valued at 59| millions ster-
ling ; and in 1878, was 3,616 million yards, valued
at 53 millions sterling. Hence, in 14 year-.
the cotton manufactured goods exported has been
doubled in quantity, and only increased one-fifth
in value. Here again the considerations which
were suggested as to cotton yarns apply to
manufactured cotton goods ; and will explain
why the values have not held pace with the
increased exported quantities. I do not pretend
to say that the disproportion is satisfactory. On
the contrary, I think it is not. Still, the expla-
nation as to the causes of the disproportion ought
to allay the alarm which some people have
displayed in speaking of our ruined cotton trade.
Improved machinery necessarily diminishes the
cost, and, therefore, value on exportation ; and
the questions which arise are : (1) Can we be
deprived of our cotton markets ? (2) Can we
manufacture cheaper than any other country ?
(3) Are the profits enough to satisfy manu-
facturers ? and (4) Are wages high enough to
satisfy the workers ? On all these points, I
think, we are at least, for the present, more
favourably situated than any other country.

An important and pressing question here
demands a passing notice. For certain classes
of cotton goods, India has long been, by far, our
largest customer. But, generally speaking, our
whole exports to India have lately been inflated to

30 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

a very great extent, by public and other loans, and
by a huge system of credit. Without borrowing,
our trade to India cannot be further increased
to any large extent, or, what is much the same
thing, India cannot pay us for a large and in-
creasing supply of our exports. If we are to
keep our Indian trade, even as it is, we must
make very large and sweeping alterations in our
Indian financial policy. As regards the Indian
import duty on cottons, I think it ought to be
repealed without delay. It is not a benefit to
the natives of India, and it is certainly an injury
to the cotton trade of Manchester.

In the importation of raw wool, we have the
same result as in the importation of raw cotton :
namely, importation increasing in quantity and
diminishing in value. Of raw wool of all kinds
there were imported in 1864, 206£ million Ibs.,
valued at 15 £ millions sterling ; and in 1878,
400 million Ibs., valued at nearly 23| millions
sterling. Thus, within 14 years, the quantity of
raw wool imported has been doubled, and the
value has been increased by a half. The increase
in the importation of Berlin wool and yarn used
for fancy purposes is even more remarkable.
During the same period, it has been increased
nearly sixfold in quantity, and slightly more
than fourfold in value. Still further, the
quantity of woollen yarn imported for weaving has
been increased from nearly 4£ million Ibs., valued
at £1,000,000 in 1864, up to close on 11 J million
Ibs., valued at nearly 1^ millions sterling in 1878,
and exceeded 13,000,000 Ibs. in 1873 and 1874.
Thus, the imported woollen yarns for weaving

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. X \

have been more than doubled in quantity, and only
been increased one-half in value.

How stands the export trade of woollens?
Here the first thing to be noticed is that, of
late, both in quantity and value, there is a
diminishing export trade in raw wool. Of
sheeps' and lambs' wool there were exported in
1864, 7i million Ibs., valued at £673,000 ; and
in 1878,. fully 6J million Ibs, valued at £548,000.
A partial explanation of this phenomenon is that
the direct trade between some of our wool-grow-
ing colonies and some foreign countries is on the
increase. On the other hand, the quantity of
woollen and worsted yarn was substantially the
same in 1878 as in 1864, and the value had con-
siderably fallen in 1878 as compared with 1864.
For 1864, the exported woollen and worsted
yarns amounted almost to 31,000,000 Ibs., valued
nearly at 5£ millions sterling ; and for 1878, fully
31,000,000 Ibs., valued almost at 4 millions ster-
ling. Hence the difference in value in 1864 and
1878 was 1£ millions sterling, for a larger quan-
tity in the former year than the latter. The fall
in value is partly to be explained by the low price
of the raw material, and the loss must have fallen
partly on the home and partly on the foreign
graziers. The greatest quantity of exported
woollen and worsted yarns took place in 1871,
when it was 43| million Ibs., and a falling export
trade continued till 1878, when a rise of
4,000,000 Ibs., and a proportional rise in price
took place.

The exported woollen and worsted manu-
factures are distinguished as cloths, coatings,

32 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

&c., unmixed and mixed ; 2d, flannels, blan-
kets, blanketing, and baizes ; 3d, worsted
stuffs, unmixed and mixed ; and 4th, carpets
and druggets. Of the first class there were
exported in 1864 fully 29^ million yards,
valued at 4£ millions sterling, and in 1878,
43 £ million yards, valued at 6^ millions ster-
ling. Here the state of our export trade
appears to be in a satisfactory condition ; for the
exports are increasing in quantity, and the
values are also proportionally increasing. In
the second class, the exports have fallen off
by one-sixth in 1878 as compared with 1864,
and the values have fallen in a greater ratio.
These facts, being continuous, indicate a fall-
ing trade ; and their explanation seems to be
that some of our old customers are supplying
themselves, or are being supplied by a nearer or
cheaper market. We cannot hope to have a
monopoly of the trade of the world in everything.
The number of yards of the second class ex-
ported was, in 1864, 18,000,000 yards, valued
at 1£ millions sterling ; and, in 1878, 15£ million
yards, valued at 1 million sterling. The third
class, when compared in 1864 and 1878, gives us
an article increasing in quantity and diminishing
in value, and showing considerable oscillations.
Of the third class, worsted stuffs, there were ex-
ported, in 1864, 187J million yards, valued at
lOf millions sterling ; and, in 1878, 192 million
yards, valued at nearly 7£ millions sterling. The
quantity steadily rose till 1872, when it reached
the enormous quantity of 345,000,000 yards, and
has as steadily declined till it reached, in 1878,

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 33

almost the sanw point as it started from in 1864.
The effect has been disji>tn>us to all engaged in
this branch of industry, and we have had the
usual concomitants in the falling away of what
was once a highly flourishing and lucrative
trade, namely, over-production, diminished pro-
fits, and lowered wages. Up to 1872, thN
branch of trade must have been highly profit-
able to all concerned ; but since then it has
been most unprofitable. In 1872, the quan-
tity exported was double what it was in
1864, and the value was proportionally high.
From the former date, the quantity has been
continually falling, and the value even in a
greater ratio. This is exactly what we might
expect. Large profits urge people to invest
their capital in highly remunerative concerns ;
the new investments augment productive power;
over-production follows ; and diminished profits
and lowered wages follow as certainly as the
night follows the day. The lucky are those who
get the start in the race, and the unlucky those
who think they can win at a canter when the
race is well nigh finished.

The fourth class of woollen goods compre-
hends carpets and druggets. In 1864, of this
sort there were exported 6,000,000 yards, valued
at £870,000 ; and, in 1878, fully 6£ million
yards, valued at £20,000 less. Here the
highest point w^as reached in 1872, when the
quantity was nearly 12,000,000 yards, and since
then the fall has been steady ; but, on the other
hand, the price has, roughly speaking, been pro-
portional to the variation either way, whether in

34 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

decrease or increase. Besides those four classes
of woollen goods, we exported other sorts of
woollen goods to the value of almost £1,000,000
in 1864, and here the rise in value has been as
much as one-third during the last fourteen years.

The grand total values of our exported woollen
and worsted manufactures, which, next to cotton,
is the highest in value of any of our industries,
were — For 1864, 18£ millions sterling ; for
1869, 21J millions sterling ; for 1874, nearly
23 millions sterling ; and for 1878, 16| millions
sterling.

I now wish to direct your attention to the
linen industry. First, let us see what the
imports are ; and, secondly, what the exports.

In 1864, fully If million cwts. of flax and
tow, valued at fully 5 \ millions sterling, were
imported ; and, in 1878, slightly more than 1 \
million cwts., valued at 3£ millions sterling. Of
hemp there were imported, in 1864, 1,000,000,
valued at If million sterling ; and, in 1878, 1^
million cwts., valued at fully If millions sterling.
Thus, both flax and hemp were somewhat
cheaper in 1878 than in 1864. I turn aside to
the exported linen goods. Here there is an
unmistakeable decrease in quantity and value.
In 1864, there were exported of linen yarn
40,000,000 Ibs., valued at £3,000,000 ; and in
1878, 18^ million Ibs., valued at 1^ millions ster-
ling. Roughly, while the diminution in quantity
is undeniable, the ratios throughout between
the values are nearly proportional. Further, the
total yards of piece goods exported were, in 1864,
2104 millions, and, in 1878, 161 millions. Thus,

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 35

there is a large diminution in the quantity of
exported linen goods since 1864. The total
number of Ibs. exported of thread* for sewing was,
for those years, respectively 4 millions and fully
2 1 millions. As a grand total in value, we have,
for those years, 8 millions sterling and 5£ millions
sterling. Here I have not the means of institut-
ing a minute comparison between the fall in
quantity and value ; but, comparing 1864 and
1878, I think I am not far from the mark in
saying that the fall in both is nearly propor-
tional, and that the reason of the fall does not
arise from excessive competition cutting down
prices, nor a glutted market inducing manufac-
turers to export at a loss, but is to be explained
by the assumption that another article has been
substituted for many purposes for which linen
was formerly used, and also partially from
foreign competition. The article substituted is,
I believe, cotton, and, indirectly perhaps, also in
some degree, jute. This brings me to the con-
sideration of our great staple trade.

How stands our trade in the import of raw
jute, and the export of jute-manufactured goods ?

Of raw jute there were imported in 1864
above 2 million cwts., valued at close on 2£
millions sterling ; and, in 1878, 4| million cwts.,
valued at close on 2 millions sterling. Roughly,
therefore, the quantity of jute imported has been
doubled, and the price has fallen nearly a half
within the last 14 years. The diminished value
and the increased quantity of imported jute
have, as I have already indicated, a most im-
portant bearing in arriving at an exact know-

36 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

ledge of our export and import trade. One
effect of this state of affairs is that we, in this
country, can sell a larger quantity of goods for a
smaller price. What about the exports ?

In 1864, there were exported of jute yarns
5£ million Ibs., valued at £111,503 ; in 1869,
8 million Ibs., valued at £126,691 ; in 1874,
15| million Ibs., valued at £245,784; and, in 1878,
12^ million Ibs., valued at £181,076. Hence,
the jute yarns exported were more than doubled
in quantity, and only somewhat more than in-
creased by a half in value in 1878 as compared
with 1864 Thus we have an unmistakeably
increasing demand for jute yarns at a reduced
price, and pre-eminently is this the case between
1874 and 1878, or at a time coincident with
diminished profits and low wages in this town
and neighbourhood. The raw material being
cheap in those years, the loss to us is not so
great as the Parliamentary Returns would, per-
haps, appear, at first sight, to suggest. How far
the diminished value is consistent with a healthy
trade is not within my province to determine.
On this subject, anything I could say would be
wide of the mark, and, therefore, I leave it to the
decision of those who are able to weigh all the
facts. But, with your leave, I would ask your
permission to point out that an increased export
trade in yarns is not such an advantageous trade
to the town as an increased trade in manu-
factured goods ; because, in the former case,
our workpeople, manufacturers, and merchants
enjoy a smaller share of profits and wages than
in the latter. It is better for us to sell jute

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. •>,

yarns than raw jute, mid still better to sell the
fully made article than the yarns of which it i-
composed. (Jencrally, it is belter for a manu-
facturing country to sell the article partially
finished than the raw material, and the finished
article than the partially finished. Let us see,
then, how we stand as regards our fully manu-
factured jute goods.

Here the increase N something astounding.
In 1864, there were exported of jute manu-
factures 14 million yards, valued at £356,764 ;
in 1869, fully 50 million yards, valued at
£742,801 ; in 1874, nearly 113 million yards.
valued at £1,679,266 ; and, in 1878, 123 million
yards, valued at £1,588,901. Thus, in fourteen
years, the jute manufactures have increased ten-
fold in quantity, and fully fourfold in value.

Have we a flourishing trade in jute goods ?
No one, who knows anything about your affairs,
can, for a moment, doubt that you, above all those
who have engaged in the jute trade, have been
exceedingly prosperous. The question comes to
be, Will your prosperity continue ? For a time,
you had a monopoly of the jute trade. You
have this no longer. For a long period, you
reaped great profits, and received high wages ;
but those profits and wages have attracted other
and no less energetic competitors than yourselves
into the field. Coincident with the hey-day of
prosperity of the jute trade, as disclosed by the
Parliamentary Returns for the United Kingdom,
many, in this town, accumulated large fortunes ;
but the monopoly being gone, such instances of
good luck are not to be expected. What is the

38 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

result, and what is to be done to maintain your
hold on the trade ? Do as you have done before.
Improve your machinery, encourage inventive
skill. Work all together harmoniously, both
employers and employed, as persons engaged
in a common undertaking. Trade disputes will
cause you to lose the trade as certainly as it
has, in several instances, driven away long-
established and lucrative industries from other
places. Want of strict attention to business
will ruin the merchants and manufacturers ;
and too great inclination to rest on your oars
and to be content with your past achievements,
will end in your having empty machine shops,
silent spinning jennies, useless weaving looms,
deserted streets, empty docks, and ruin
and destitution staring you in the face. My
friends, let me urge upon you, when differ-
ences arise, to act in a friendly and amicable
spirit towards each other. Workmen, remember
that capital is essential to industrial prosperity ;
and capitalists, remember that a steady, indus-
trious, intelligent body of workers is of the
utmost value in maintaining your position. To
me it was most gratifying to learn, the other day,
that, in consequence of the improved state of the
local staple trade, the wages had been voluntarily
| raised ; and, if business continued to be favour-
able, was again to be shortly raised.

The silk trade, although far from being in a
flourishing condition, still gives work to a good
many people; and the importation of silk, both raw
and manufactured, forms a very important item
in our national accounts. The quantity of raw

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION.

39

silk imported in 1864 was 5£ million Ibs., valued
at 6J millions sterling ; and in 1878 was only
slightly more than 4,000,000 Ibs!, valued at fully
3£ millions sterling. Thus, the importation of
raw silk, in quantity and value, has largely dimi-
nished. The regularity of the fall, during the
last fourteen years, clearly leads to the inference
that the silk manufactures are in a decaying
state. On the other hand, the importation of
manufactured silk has gone on increasing con-
temporaneously with the decline of raw silk
imported, and is rapidly increasing. These facts
are exactly what, considering the great wealth of
the country, might have been expected. In 1864,
the imported silk broad stuffs were valued at
4£ millions sterling ; and in 1878, close on 7f
millions sterling. Of ribbons, in 1864, the
value was close on 2 millions sterling ; and, in
1878, 2.J millions sterling ; and other silk
manufactures, close on 1J millions sterling in
1864, and 2£ millions in 1878.

I turn to the other side of the account, namely,
our export trade in manufactured silk. Of broad
piece goods the quantity exported, in 1864, was
2|- million yards, valued at half a million sterling ;
and, in 1878, close on 5 million yards, valued
at fully three-quarters of a million sterling. Of
other kinds, the values alone are given in the
Statistical Abstract, and, for the years I have taken
for comparison, they were close upon 1 million
sterling, and fully 1 million sterling. The total
silk exports amounted, in 1864, to fully 2£ millions
sterling ; and, in 1878, to 2£ millions sterling ;
and the price of broad piece goods

40 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

out of all proportion to any improvements
introduced into the manufacture, lower. Of
course, we ought to recollect that the value of
the raw material had fallen in 1878 as com-
pared with 1864.

What is the conclusion which we ought to draw
as to our chief textile industries ? Justly, as I
think, we have a right to say that we have undis-
puted supremacy in the aggregate extent of the
textile industries. Our potential power consider-
ably exceeds that of all our competitors combined.
We have lost nothing in our former excellence
of workmanship, quality, colour, or finish, and
we have no present indication that our textile
fabrics will be vanquished by foreign compe-
tition. We have, in a word, all the essential
elements for ascendency in this department of
industrial pursuits. We have cheap capital ;
we have a rich inheritance in the administrative
faculties of our great commercial leaders ; we
are endowed with great enterprise in the manage-
ment of immense commercial undertakings ; and,
lastly, we possess high and many excellent
qualities in the workmanlike capacity of our
operatives. Here we have nothing to fear in a
fair and honest competition with any country in
the world. All we need is a fair field, and no
favour.

I now ask your attention to another branch
of our trade, namely, in minerals.

1st, Asto iron. For iron in bars, the value of the
imports, in 1864, was nearly the same as in 1869 ;
and a slightly increased quantity imported was,
in 1874, valued at close on double the values of

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 41

1809, and a fourth Ijirirrr quantity was valued,
in 1878, at the same amount as the total quantity
imported in 1874. The quantity of iron and steel
wrought or manufactured imported, during the
last fourteen years, is well worthy of your atten-
tion. It appears that the quantity and value
were much the same in 1864 and 1869 ; were
treble in 1874 what they were in 1864 ; and
sixfold in quantity and fourfold in value in 1878
what they were in Ib64.

The export trade in iron and steel has also,
during the last fourteenyears,been subject to gi cat
oscillations. The climax was reached in 1872,
when the direction became steadily downward.
Pig iron stands highest in the class of iron and
steel, railroad-iron follows, bar-iron succeeds, and
then come hoops, &c. It also appears that the total
tons of iron and steel imported in 1 864 were 1 £
millions, valued at 15 millions sterling ; in 1869,
were fully 2£ millions, valued at 22£ millions
sterling ; in 1874, were nearly 2 millions, valued at
31 millions sterling; and, in 1878, were 2£millinns.
valued at 1 9 millions sterling. Those data afford
much food for reflection. The first epoch —
between 1864 and 1869 — was one of satisfactory
and progressive trade ; the second — between
1869 and 1874 — of wild and reckless specula-
tion ; and the third — between 1874 and 1878 —
was the natural rebound.

It is, gentlemen, to the consideration of facts
such as these that you must give your attention.
No fixed price can be predicated for any commo-
dity ; and, therefore, there is no fixed ratio of
profits or of wages. As a rule, people go

42 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

where they can get the best article at the
lowest price ; and, if we cannot satisfy these
conditions, some other nation will get our cus-
tomers.

Let me here submit to your consideration
some facts as to the trade closely related to the
iron manufactures of this country. Thus, both
in number and value, our exports of railway
carriages have been on the decrease since 1864.
Again, the value of exported implements and
tools of husbandry since 1864 indicate a very
slowly increasing trade, and is probably retarded
by the industrial activity of the United States in
the manufacture and export of this class of goods.
On the other hand, our export of machinery has
been on the increase during the last 14 years.
Indeed, the value of exported machinery has
nearly doubled since 1864, and had actually been
doubled in 1873-74 and 75 ; that is to say,
after the years of highest inflation in our recent
days of prosperity. The downward tendency
was unmistakeable in 1874, and has continued
ever since.

Arms and ammunition were exported to the
value of 1 million sterling in 1864 ; and very
nearly 1£ million sterling in 1878. The highest
points were reached in 1870 and 1875, when the
values were 2 millions sterling ; and, in 1871,
when they approached 2£ millions sterling.
You will, at once, observe, I hope, that, in this
class of goods, the exports were highest in time of
war — 1870 and 1871 coinciding with the French
and German war, and 1874 and 1875 coincid-
ing with the preparations for the Turkish-

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 43

Russian war. A primary law of political
economy, namely, supply follows the demand,
finally determines the direction of human energy.
The subsequent stages are easily indicated :
Increased supply follows ; thence follows over-
production ; then reaction, with diminished
profits, and low wages. The only other cl:t« I
can here notice consists of hardware and cutlery,
which have fallen since 1872, when the value was
5 millions sterling. Hardware and cutlery, I may
observe in passing, sprung up into a great trade
in Birmingham and Sheffield by the invention of
the puddling furnace by Cost in 1783.

Our export of coal has been keenly sensitive
to all the progressive and retrograde movements
of our commerce for the last fourteen years. In
1864, there were exported of coal, fuel, and
cinders, nearly 9 million tons, valued at 4£
millions sterling ; in 1869, lOf million tons,
valued at fully 5 millions sterling ; in 1874,
close on 14 million tons, valued at 12 millions
sterling ; and, in 1878, 15^ million tons,
valued at 7| millions sterling. Thus, the
export values in 1864 and 1869 were prac-
tically the same for the same quantities,
and the value in 1874 was nearly double
what it was last year. With the excep-
tion of the year 1873, when there was a fall in
the exported quantity of half a million tons as
compared with the previous year, the increase of
exported coal was progressive ; but the largest
quantity was exported in 1876, when it was 16£
million tons, and was sent abroad in a falling
market. The highest value was reached in 1873,

44 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

and since then the value has been falling, and
the quantity, except in 1877, increasing every
year. Further, the state of the coal trade is
even still worse than our exports would appear
to make it ; because coal enters into all home in-
dustries, which were slack and unremunerative
during the last period. Nay more, steel rails,
manufactured by a new process, were substituted
for iron rails, and greatly depressed the demand
for coal at home. Previously, every ton of iron
rails required 3 or 4 tons of coal, but this new
process requires little or no coal at all.

An old adage affirms that there is nothing
like leather. Whatever the truth contained in
this saying, most assuredly our import and
export trade in this article has been largely
developed. Of hides, there were imported, in
1878, fully 1 J million cwts., valued at 6£ millions
sterling ; and of sheep and lamb, seal and goat
skins, there were imported, in the same year,
nearly 20 millions, valued at 2£ millions sterling.
Our exports of leather, including boots and shoes,
saddlery and harness, amounted, in 1878, to
fully 3 millions sterling in value.

Our foreign trade in wood and timber almost
entirely consists of imports, which, in 1864 and
1869, amounted to about 13 millions sterling ; in
1874 to 22 millions sterling ; and in 1878 to 14
millions sterling. Most of the wood imported
is needed for home consumption. Our export
trade in furniture is small.

The miscellaneous exports have been more
than doubled between 1864 and 1878, and last
year were 1 6 millions sterling in value. The mis-

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 45

cellaneous imports have also been fully doubled
within the same period, and mi died 39 millions
sterling in 1878.

To give you some idea of our -lupendous
foreign trade, and its recent increase, I must now
trouble you with some more figures. In 1864, the
total imports from foreign countries and British
possessions were valued at 275 millions sterling ;
and, in 1878, at 368f millions sterling ; and the
total exports to foreign countries and Brit Mi
possessions, in 1864, were valued at 212$ millions
sterling, and, in 1878, at 245$ millions sterling.
During the last fourteen years, the total imports
were highest in 1877, when they reached the
grand total of 395$ millions sterling ; and the
exports reached their highest point in 1872,
when they amounted to fully 314$ millions
sterling, and the latter have since fallen on an
average of 10 millions sterling a-year. The great
excess of our imports over our exports has
caused great alarm in the minds of some. For
such alarm there is no good foundation. The
exports give no assurance of the satisfactory
condition of a country, and may be a strong
evidence of its decay. On the other hand, the
imports afford the best proof of the growing
wealth and resources of a country in the same
way, and for the same reasons, as I or you or
any one is rich in proportion to what we receive,
and not in proportion to what we are obliged to
pay.

The causes of this excess of imports over
exports deserve more than a passing notice, but
I have not time to discuss them at length. All

46 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

I can say is, that one of the main causes is that
large payments have to be made to this country
by foreigners and British colonists as interest and
in repayment of the debs due by them to us.

With regard to the enormous development of
our trade in 1871 and 1872, I have to observe
that it arose from a wild and over-speculative
spirit which spread, with great rapidity, over
the Continent and in America. Companies were
formed in Austria and Germany for all sorts of
business, and ended in tremendous losses. Rail-
ways were extended in the United States beyond
what prudence dictated, prices in coal and iron
rose to a great height, a wild paroxysm of
gambling took the place of legitimate business,
a reaction was bound to come, and came with
a vengeance. Much, not all, of our seeming
prosperity was deceptive and ruinous, because
it was built up on a system of credit which had
no substantial foundation. This system of trad-
ing on credit is more than ever to be guarded
against. Between 1866 and 1875, 30,000 miles
of railway were constructed in the United States,
and largely by British capital. The collapse
came in 1873, and we suddenly woke up to
the fact that we were constructing unproductive
railways out of our own pockets for the im-
mediate advantage of a gang of reckless specula-
tors, and only for the advantage of our American
cousins and ourselves at some indefinitely dis-
tant period ! The Governments of Turkey and
Egypt have taught us the same lesson. Both
spent our capital in a most reckless fashion, and
the unfortunate creditors, as well as debtors,

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 47

suffer the consequences of excessive prodi-
gality.

Gentlemen, the prime cause of the last sus
pension of our industry, and the temporal*]
exhaustion of our resources, was the reckless
misapplication of labour and capital, involving
inflation of prices, over production, unwholesom<
and fictitious trade, and fraudulent speculation
The recent depression in trade was not caused by
the late war between Russia and Turkey, and was
not to any great extent increased by it. Our
commerce is as wide as the world, and the depres-
sion has been general, not local. It is chiefly to
be explained by the deplorable commercial and
agricultural condition of our own and all foreign
countries. For years previous to the present |
lull in trade, our commerce was carried on to a
large extent by means of a gigantic system of]
credit. When this system came to an end, our
fabulous trade began to shrink. We made the
world our debtors by our loans, received a portion
of the capital in the form of high interest, lost
the balance through gamblers on the stock ex-
change, and by swindling dealers in foreign trade,
and thought, for a while, that we were becoming
amazingly rich. The failures of 1875 and 1878
prove what I am now asserting.

After all, when the quantities and values of '
our export trade are duly weighed, there is no
evidence of our having lost any great or lucrative
trade we once enjoyed. What are the facts ?
Our goods have not been driven out of any im-
portant market in any appreciable degree, and no
other country can yet successfully compete with

48 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

us in those articles which form the staple industries
of our people. Bearing in mind the protective
and even prohibitory tariffs of Continental coun-
tries, of the United States, of the Canadian domin-
ions, and of some parts of Australia, we have good
cause to be proud of our industrial achievements.
Those high tariffs abroad will yet have to be re-
pealed, as the high tariffs had to be repealed in
this country ; but they will not be so until greater
enlightenment exists amongst statesmen and
peoples as to the grand truths of economic science.
Between all nations, exchange should be as com-
plete as between different counties in the United
Kingdom. Necessary taxation should be raised
internally from the subjects of a country, according
to their respective incomes and means of living.

We are advised by a certain class of poli-
ticians to have nothing to do with Continental
disputes, and devote our whole energies to home
affairs. When we adopt this craven-hearted
policy, the greatness — commercial and political
—of our country will not be of long duration.
Wherever we carry on trade, there we must have
influence ; and as with individuals, so with nations,
our commerce will be most successfully conducted
where our power is greatest and our reputation
for greatness is beyond dispute. Truthfulness,
honesty, and fair dealing must be at the basis of
commercial success ; but we cannot safely trust
to these qualities alone. Let our prestige be once
lost, and we would soon be driven from all our
commercial stations and nearly all of our colo-
nies and dependencies, and our trade would
be ruined.

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 49

What shall we say as to our external trade
with the British possessions ? Undoubtedly, that
there, at least, we have a great field for our
capital, industry, and enterprise. In 1878,
the imports from the British possessions
amounted to nearly 78 millions sterling, and
the exports to them to 72 millions sterling.
With one single and important exception,
all the British possessions evince an increas-
ing ability to take our goods and a will-
ingness to pay for them. That exception is
British India. In 1864, the value of the imports
from India amounted to 52J millions sterling,
and the exports to 20f millions sterling ; and
both the exports and imports steadily fell until last
year, when the imports were 27£ millions sterling,
and the exports 24£ millions sterling. Though
falling now and again, the exports to India have
been comparatively steady.

Whatever may be the ultimate effects of pro-
tection upon our trade with foreign countries, and
whatever the backsliding tendencies of some of
our own colonies, we have, I believe, good reason
for saying that our trade with the British pos-
sessions is in a satisfactory condition, is advancing
with rapid strides, and will still further advance
with greater rapidity in the future. Let us, by all
means, give free scope to our commercial relations
with every part of the British Empire. By
acting on this principle, we will increase the happi-
ness and prosperity of every portion of Her
Majesty's widespread dominions, and secure for
ourselves the most enduring and most lucrative
sources of our commercial greatness. With India

50

OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

and the Colonies as our allies and customers, we
are strong in all that forms a great country and a
powerful state — in all that contributes to the
greatness and power of a mighty empire.

Under existing circumstances, what ought to
be our fiscal policy ? Freedom of trade has at-
tracted to our shores the wealth, the comforts,
and the luxuries of the world. Indeed, all experi-
ence has taught us that the freer trade is, the
larger and more profitable it is ; and the more
restricted, the smaller and less profitable it is.
Restriction, sprung from the time of the Common-
wealth, when the Navigation Act was passed, and
when heavy import duties were imposed to en-
force self-reliance and home production, has been
fostered by many subsequent adventitious circum-
stances at home and political events abroad, and
has merely crippled industry and our mercantile
marine ! Subsequent restrictions were imposed in
France and England in the 17th and 18th cen-
turies ; and, while a favourable balance in gold and
silver, under the mercantile system, was aimed at,
a diminished trade, in the real wealth of the nation,
was the result. The aggressive wars of the 18th and
19th centuries have led, by an absolute necessity,
to the adoption of heavy import duties by most
of the nations on the Continent, and left them
poorer than ever. We, on the other hand, have now
adopted a free trade policy in recent times, and have
gone on removing obnoxious import duties of all
kinds until there are only a very few articles upon
which any import duties are imposed, and these
almost exclusively as countervailing duties to those
payable under our own Excise.

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 51

Free trade, although adopted by Huskisson,
was really inaugurated by Sir Robert Peel in
1846, and has largely contributed -to our commer-
cial supremacy. Peel was of opinion that the best
way to compete with hostile tariffs was to en-
courage free imports. We have, for some time past,
acted on this principle, and \ve have surpassed all
our greatest epochs of former prosperity. I then -
fore submit that our general policy should be —
(1) to cultivate imports and leave exports to cul-
tivate themselves ; and (2) to regard the benefit
of the consumer as the paramount object to be
attained in our commercial policy.

As you must have already perceived, I have
intentionally omitted to lay before you any details
as to our home trade. Our trade at home far
exceeds our foreign commerce. Thus, the food
we import is almost exclusively for the home
trade, and amounts to about 150 millions sterling
a-year in value, and exceeds the value of the food
imported in 1840 by no less a sum than 100 mil-
lions sterling. Again, the imports of raw cotton
and wool, the British produce in agricultural com-
modities, and the coal and metals produced in
the United Kingdom, are largely consumed at
home. These products are of very great yearly
value. All figures are difficult to understand
when millions of pounds, or cwts., or tons, are
involved. I won't try to give you any notion of
our trade for home consumption in this fashion.
The best idea I can suggest to you of this part of
our subject is to ask you to remember that our
home trade deals with all that is necessary to
feed, clothe, and lodge 34 millions of people ; to

52 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES :

supply most of them with the comforts of life,
and to bestow its luxuries on a larger number
of persons than in any previous time in our
history.

To aid us in doing this, we have enormously
developed our resources by two things, amongst
many more, namely : first, the supremacy we have
attained in the bulk of the carrying trade of the
world ; and, secondly, the vast railway system which
has been developed in all parts of the country.
The British shipping is equal to the combined
mercantile marine of the world ; and our steam
vessels have given us a greater pre-eminence in
the carrying trade than ever. Success in this
branch of industry is a sure indication of high
personal qualities of mind and body in our people.
Our sailors are brave, daring, and skilful ; have
carried our commerce through many and serious
difficulties ; and have maintained the honour of
the British flag in all parts of the world.

Without our railways, we could not carry on
our present traffic. Railways were originated in this
country, and have been largely developed through-
out the world by the British people. They are
the great overland highways of nations ; and, in
some countries, form part of the national public
property. In 1878, there were 17,335 miles of
railway opened in the United Kingdom ; and of
these England had 12,230, Scotland 2,845, and
Ireland 2,260 miles. The total paid-up capital in
1878 was 700£ millions sterling, and, therefore,
closely approached the total amount of our
national debt.

I must bring this long address to a close, and

PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION. 53

a few practical observations are all I now intend
to make.

To advance the technical education of the
people is a high national duty, which cannot be
neglected without great loss of time, capital, and
resources.

To secure freedom to all, whether capitalists
or workmen, to pursue their own interests, is es-
sential to all material progress and social well-
being. Let us, in the words of Adam Smith,
support, with all our might, the unrestricted free-
dom of labour and the unrestricted exchange of
commodities.

The Government should also be urged to take
a more energetic and practical interest in the
industry, commerce, and agriculture of the country
than it has ever done. Information, not interfer-
ence, is all that is required.

We have at? last reached, I believe, the lowest
point of the present deplorable and long-
continued depression in trade, and, let us
hope, in agriculture as well. Still, Gentle-
men, let us remember that material prosperity
is nothing more than the means to an end. To
attain the highest possible human improvement,
physically, morally, and intellectually, ought ever
to be the goal of all our endeavours after per-
fection. We are rich in stored-up capital, and in
the qualities of mind and body of our people.
Let us take care that we do not injure them. Let
us do all we can to improve them.

Let us also learn wisdom by the experience
of the past, and invest our immense yearly savings
— immense even now — nearer home than we have

54 OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES,

lately been in the habit of doing, and in the
development of our own soil, and in that of our
colonies and dependencies, and in works of a
national character. We have, I think, much need
to be on our guard against the seductions of large
and speculative adventures. A moderate and
sound trade is better than a doubtful and specu-
lative business.

Gentlemen, if we are only true to ourselves,

\ if we would only remember that idleness produces
j poverty and weakness, and industry brings wealth

< and power, we have nothing to fear as to our
future commercial or agricultural condition, or the
future happiness, welfare, and prosperity of the
^British people.

THE

BRITISH COLONIES:

THEIR PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE

PROSPECTS.

(DELIVERED IN DUNDEE, 30TH SEPTEMBER 1879.)

( n NT E N T v

Colonization by Greece and Rome — Early modern colonization —
Advantages of colonies — Modern colonization first conducted by
monopolist companies. From their beginning, the English
had all the elements of a great future — Modern policy aimed at an
exclusive colonial trade — English colonies had many signal advantages
— Modern colonies became Asylums from political and religious per-
secutions— General outline of Address — First group : Canadian domi-
nions— Early history, area, population, and encouragement to
agricultural colonists— French Canadians — Trade — Frequent bank-
ruptcies— Shipping and railways — Pacific Railway scheme — Russia in
the Pacific — Constitution, revenue, and expenditure — Forces and
loyalty of dominion. — Second group : African — Present war not to be
discussed — Dangers arising from masses of savages on borders — The
Zulus and their chiefs — African sources of wealth — Need of immi-
grants— Splendid future — Cape and Natal colonies — As to African
colonies three questions arise : Peace, burden of present war, and con-
federation.— Third group, Australian : Large British investments in
Australian colonies — Area, population, trade, and constitution, &c., of
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western
Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania — As to Australian colonies
three questions arise : Commercial policy, defence, and confederation.
— Fourth group : West Indian colonies and minor dependencies — (1.)
West India colonies — Climate — Trade — Cooley emigration — Sources
of sugar supplies — (2.) Ceylon : Area and population — Trade —
Mercantile system predominates — Constitution — (3.) Hong Kong:
Area, population, trade, and constitution — General considerations as
to the whole of our Colonial empire are immigration, commercial
policy, defence, and confederation — Conclusion.

THE BRITISH COLONIES:

THEIR PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

(DELIVERED IN DUND

MR CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN,—

Colonization has been attempted
by all energetic nations, and has been forced
upon the less active as a dire necessity.

The Greeks were great colonizers, and spread
their name and race in the Levant and the
Mediterranean, in Africa and India, in Italy
and Sicily. Syracuse and Agrigentum in Sicily,
Ephesus and Miletus in Asia Minor, were Greek
colonies, and in all of them philosophy and
poetry, eloquence and the fine arts, were estab-
lished and cultivated to the highest degree. The
Romans also founded colonies in many regions
of continental Europe, and laid the foundations
of modern free institutions in France and Spain,
Germany and Britain. The Roman colonies had
not such a brilliant career as the Greek ; but
some of them, for example, Florence, attained
great power and refinement.

The Greek colonies were entirely independ-

tf 0 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

ent of the parent state ; the Roman colonies
were held in strict subjection to the Imperial city.
The former usually enjoyed the favour and
assistance of the cities from which they sprung,
but were under no obligation to obey the com-
mands of the parent state. They, in fact, settled
the Government, enacted laws, elected magis-
trates, and made peace or war as independent
nations. The latter were invariably the pos-
sessors or occupiers of the territory conquered
by the Imperial army. They could enact bye-
laws for their government, and were not inde-
pendent of Rome, but dependent upon it, and
were subject to its jurisdiction and authority.

After the destruction of the Roman empire,
Europe was over-run by the fierce and lawless
hordes who settled down on the plains and along
the shores of what formerly had been the terri-
tories of the Roman empire. The luxury, vice,
and corruption of the Romans gave way to the
hardihood, bravery, and energy of the modern
rulers of Europe. At last, peace and order arose
out of the war and disorder of the dark ages ;
and civilization and refinement began to advance
at a rapid pace.

Venice became the centre of a great and in-
creasing commerce with all parts of the known
world. The great profits she enjoyed in her
overland trade with Hindostan tempted the
cupidity of the Portuguese, who, in the fifteenth
century, undertook several perilous voyages by
sea, and were rewarded by discovering Madeira,
Guinea, and the Cape of Good Hope. At the
Cape, the Dutch made a settlement, because it

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 61

afforded them a convenient place halfway lx -t \\ < •< -i
Europe and their East Indian possessions, an<
at which ships might call in going and rclin nin;
from the East. Subsequently, in 1497, Vai
de Gamo sailed from Lisbon in search of
oceanic highway to the East; and, ai't< T
voyage of eleven months, arrived on the coasl
of Hindostan. Previous to this voyage, in
1492, Columbus, a native of Genoa, thoroughly]
believing in the existence of a western oceanic,
highway from Europe to Hindostan, induced!
Isabella of Spain to help him to undertake an
expedition to the East. After an absence of
two or three months, he discovered Behama or
the Lucyan Islands and St Domingo. Under
the belief that he had arrived at the banks of
the Ganges, he called the newly-discovered terri-
tory by the name of India, and his mistake had
afterwards to be rectified by designating those
islands on the coast of America as the West
Indies. He subsequently arrived at Terra Firina
and the Isthmus of Darien.

Thus, a project for reaching the East Indies
by sea led to the discovery of America and the
West Indies. Filled with insatiable thirst for
gold, the Spaniards neglected the cultivation of
the soil and the pursuits of useful industry, and
perpetrated the most abominable cruelties on
the natives of Mexico and Peru. The thirst
for gold has played an important part in all
European colonization, and led to an appropria-
tion of our own Australian colonies ; but the
pursuits of agriculture and manufactures have
always been ultimately found to confer tin-

62 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

greatest rewards, and the most enduring bless-
ings. Gold is only one form of wealth, and by
no means the most valuable. The acquisition
of waste or sparsely occupied fertile territory
rapidly increases the wealth and greatness of the
colonists of a civilised people ; because, although
labourers are not easily obtained, no rent has to
be paid to a landlord, and the taxes payable to
the State are necessarily low.

The discovery of America by Columbus, and
of the Cape route to the East Indies by Vasco
de Gamo, have very materially influenced the
subsequent history of Europe. Two worlds were
opened up to European industry; and their pro-
ducts and manufactures have been exchanged in
Europe with great and increasing advantage
to all the world.

In the early progress of modern colonization,
companies were established by the various
aspirants to Colonial empire. Their rights ex-
cluded others from the newly-discovered country,
and their main object was the extension of
trade, and the reaping of profit. Thus, St
Thomas and Santa Cruz were colonized by the
Danes, and placed under the exclusive control
of a company of merchants ; in the East and
West Indies, companies were established by the
Dutch ; in Canada and St Domingo, exclu-
sive companies were founded by the French ;
and, in the vast regions of North America, the
Hudson Bay Company was established by the
English. Such a form of colonization was far
from successful ; and, considering that gain is
the main object of mercantile ambition, it could

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 63

not very well be otherwise. As laid down by
Adam Smith, it is the interest of a sovereign
to open the most extensive markets for the pro-
duce of his country, and allow the most perfect
freedom of commerce to increase the number
and competition of buyers, and thru-fore to
abolish not only all monopolies, but all restraint-
on production at home, all restrictions on \
carriage of goods from one district of the count ry
to another, or on the exportation and importa-
tion of goods to or from one country to another.
The interests of the sovereign and people are
always identical. Those of the sovereign and
the mass of the nation are antagonistic to those
of exclusive mercantile companies. A Govern-
ment based on purely mercantile principles is,
perhaps, the worst form of government.

All monopolies are baneful, and ought to be
swept out of existence. They cripple business,
they lessen industry, they diminish wages, they
destroy the parsimony of the merchants, they
engender the baneful opinion that the sober
virtues are superfluous, and that extravagant
and expensive luxury are compatible with public
and private prosperity. " Light come, light go,"
is a true and sensible proverb as to their general
inutility.

This monopolist aim was carried out with
such a reckless indifference to the interests of
the Colonists as to be highly reprehensible, and
ultimately brought about the war between the
States of the American Union and the mother
country. It compelled the Colonies to sell all
their goods to us, and to make all their purchases

64: THE BRITISH COLONIES :

from us. The monopoly of the Colonial trade
was once the sole object of the Colonial policy of
the whole of Europe ; and, when the insurrection
of the North American States was imminent,
our merchants thought they saw ruin and dis-
aster for themselves, and our workmen thought
they saw a great loss of employment, in the war
that was then about to break out, by their total
exclusion from their trade with the Colonies.
Then, the exports to the United States were 3J
millions sterling, and the imports from them
were about 1 million sterling a-year ; and now
the former are 17 \ millions sterling, and the
latter 89 millions sterling. The total declared
value of British and Irish produce exported
from the United Kingdom to the United States
amounts to 14£ millions sterling.

Than the English colonies in North America,
subsequently erected into the United States,
none were more successful. They had plenty of
good land and ample liberty to manage their
own affairs, and they had political institutions
far more favourable to the improvement and
cultivation of land than the Spaniards, the
Portuguese, or the French. In the English
American colonies, the most imperative obliga-
tion was the cultivation of the land, and its
neglect was punished with forfeiture. In some
of the provinces, as Pennsylvania, land as well
as movables were equally divided among all the
children of a deceased proprietor ; and, in all the
English Colonies everywhere, land was held by
freehold tenure, and its alienation was facilitated
to the utmost possible extent. Plenty and cheap-

PRESENT CONDITION AND KUTUHK I 'INSPECTS. 65

ness of good laud give rise to rapid prosperity ;
and its cultivation affords the most valuable
produce to society.

Very odious and unjust restrictions on free
interchange were imposed on the -n-ar, iron, and
woollen industries of the Colonies ; but these
violations of one of the mo>i sirred rights of
mankind, imposed for the advantage of the
merchants and manufacturers of the mother
country, have long been abrogated. So far as
we are concerned, the Colonial trade is now
absolutely free, and is allowed to flow in it>
natural channels.

England acted generously towards her Colo-
nies by conferring many great and signal benefit >
upon them by means of bounties and differential
duties, and by drawbacks on the re-exportation
of Colonial produce. Except as regards trade,
the British colonist had as full and complete
liberty as his fellow-countryman at home, and
enjoyed even more equality in his new home
than in the old country. As to the administra-
tion of justice, he was, in all respects, on an
equality with his highly-favoured fellow-subject
in England.

Still, neither in the British, nor, indeed, in
any of the European Colonies, was personal
freedom universal. Almost in every European
Colony, the dark spot of slavery was to be found.
This foul pollution long contaminated the
national life in one of its fountain heads, and
blighted the fair fame of our own otherwise
blameless conduct towards the native and inferior
races which have come under our sway.

66 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

Another feature of modern Colonial life was
the refuge it afforded to the wretched and
miserable, to the poverty-stricken and down-
trodden, and to the political and religious refugees
of all nations. The English Puritans fled from
our shores, and settled in four of the provinces
of New England. The English Quakers settled
down in Pennsylvania, and the English Catholics
in Maryland. The Portuguese Jews fled to
Brazil.

The spirit of adventure and enterprise did
not burn feebly in the breasts of our ancestors.
Drake, Raleigh, and Cook, immortalized our
country, and conferred lasting blessings on the
human family by the success which attended
their dauntless bravery in their search for new
regions in which to plant the hardy, energetic,
and industrious Anglo-Saxon race.

To attempt to give a history of our various
colonies is no part of my present design. The
object I shall endeavour to attain on this occa-
sion is very much more humble, but not, I
hope, altogether without interest or advantage.
Combining all our colonies and dependencies
into four groups, namely, the Canadian dominions,
the African colonies, the Australian colonies, and
the West Indian colonies and minor dependencies,
I shall glance at the origin of their connection
with our country, and then proceed to determine
the positions and areas, the products, the
population and races, the education and religion,
and, lastly, the revenue, expenditure, and debts
of the various groups. I shall then conclude my
sketch of these matters by drawing your atten-

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 67

tion to several points of great national as well
as colonial importance.

My first group is, as I have said, composed
of the territories known as the British Canadian
dominions.

Nearly three and a half centuries ago, in 1534,
Jacques Cartier, in command of two or three
French vessels, sailed up the Gulf of St Lawrence,
and made known to the nations of Europe the vast
region now called Canada, which was held by
France for a century and a half—from 1608 to
1750 — and has since belonged to Britain.
General Wolfs capture of Quebec, a place of
great importance as a commercial depot and a
military stronghold, is one of the most heroic
seiges in the record of British military triumphs.
Torn by the revolutionary struggles a century
ago, and unconquered in the war waged in 1812
between the United States of America and this
country, Canada has developed a hardy people,
full of pluck and vigour. An insurrection in
1837 drew the attention of the mother country
to a new and rising community, and ultimately
brought about the establishment of a free local
legislature. Subject to the acknowledgment of
the sovereignty of Britain, all the privileges of
an independent state have been conferred upon
it. These rights were followed by the confedera-
tion of the British Colonies in North America
in 1867.

The dominion of Canada consists of the pro-
vinces of Ontario, Quebec — formerly known as
Upper and Lower Canada — Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, and

68

THE BRITISH COLONIES :

Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland refuses to
enter the Confederation. The territory of
Canada is enormous, and consists of the northern
half of the North American Continent ; but the
half of it is absolutely useless for cultivation.
The extent of Canada, inclusive of British
Columbia, covers a superficial area greater than
that of the United States, and comprehends
586,225 square miles suitable for growing wheat,
and 928,000 square miles well adapted for grow-
ing coarser grains and grasses. Hence, while the
total area of Britain and Ireland amounts to fully
120,000 square miles, and of France to 202,000
square miles, and both France and this country
combined feed, clothe, and maintain about
80 millions, the Canadian territory — capable of
feeding, clothing, and maintaining inhabitants —
extends to upwards of one million and a half
square miles, or five times the combined area of
the whole of France and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland. On the land now
covered with vast forests, and in the boundless
prairies of Canada, there is ample space for the
peaceful energies of hundreds of millions of men I
It was only recently that the whole of the
Canadian territory was explored, and its vast
interior is still undeveloped. Immense tracts of
land are as yet covered with forests, which only
need to be removed to make them suitable for
cultivation. Such a rich territory — which is only
at such a distance from Ireland as to deprive one
of the sight of land for six days and a half — could
not fail, and did not fail, to attract large numbers
of immigrants from all parts of the world. A

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTO. (50

century ago, the population was 150,000 ; and
now it is nearly four millions, or as great as the
population of Scotland. The increase of popula-
tion has chiefly arisen from iimniirnition, The
great flow of immigration has been towards the
western parts — Ontario, the new provinces <>i
Manitoba, and the territory of the North-West ;
but it has been steadily increasing in all the
provinces at a fair ratio. At the same time, there
can be little doubt that many immigrants have
returned from Canada grievously disappointed.
That they should have done so is not at all sur-
prising, and is easily explained. A new country
does not present an unlimited supply of vacant
situations. Capital is needed for industry in
Canada as anywhere else, and the dominion can
supply itself with all the clerks, shopkeepers, and
the like, whom it requires. For agricultural
labourers and skillful artizans, there is abundant
room. To those who are able to follow the
plough and tend cattle, build houses, or make
useful articles of daily life for a country chiefly
agricultural, great advantages, and bright pros-
pects of independence, are offered. Hardy and
thrifty men, accustomed to rural life, can hardly
fail to be far more successful in Canada than
at home.

We must not, however, close our eyes to an
ominous factor in the political situation of
Canada. The population is far from being
homogeneous in origin, religion, or sympathy.
In the province of Quebec, situated between the
maritime and interior provinces of the dominion,
there are one million and a quarter of inhabit-

70 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

ants, or nearly one-third of the whole popula-
tion, alien in race, language, religion, and laws.
These are of French extraction. Between them
and the other Canadians there are no signs
of approaching political unanimity. Even now,
the French Canadians live the primitive life of
their ancestors of three hundred years ago.

No State Church exists in the Canadian
dominions, and the religious denominations are
mainly Eoman Catholics, Presbyterians, Angli-
cans, Wesleyans, Methodists, and Baptists. In
the province of Quebec alone, there are upwards
of a million Roman Catholics. A system of
common schools is widely spread throughout the
whole of the Canadian dominion, and is sup-
ported by the Government, by local rates, and
sometimes by the payment of small fees ; and,
on the whole, is making fair progress, and, in
some provinces, as Ontario and Nova Scotia, is
in successful operation. Schools of a superior
kind are also to be found in a fair proportion.

The trade and industry of Canada are very
considerable, and the facilities for the transport
of goods has lately been wonderfully developed.
Railways, ships, canals, and telegraphs have
recently been largely augmented. Nearly the
whole of the Canadian imports were formerly
sent from this country. In 1864, the imports
from the North American colonies were close
on 7 millions sterling, and the exports
were 6| millions sterling, and the combined
imports and exports for the last six years have
amounted to 20 millions sterling ; and, in 1878,
the imports 9£ millions sterling, and the

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 71

exports 7 millions sterling. Great commercial
activity exists between the Canadian dominions
and (jreat Britain, the West Indies, and the
United States. The greater part of the exports
are sent to the United States. The staple export -
are bread stuffs and timber. In 1875, Canada
exported corn and flour to the value of upwards
of 3 millions sterling, and wood and timber t<>
the value of nearly 4£ millions sterling In the
same year, the British produce imported stood
thus : — Iron, wrought and unwrought, nearly 2
millions sterling ; apparel and haberdashery,
1^ millions sterling; woollen manufactures 1£
millions sterling ; and cottons, upwards of 1
million sterling.

Still, in the business relations of the Canadian
dominions, there must be something radically
wrong. Failures in business are frequent. "Why
is this ? Because trade has over and over again
been inflated by reckless credits, and not by an
honest profitable business, and importation in
excess of the available means of the people has
taken place. Trade has also been stunted and
crippled by a misapplication of the national
resources. Free trade has been sorely pressed
in Canada, and its life almost extinguished.
Heavy taxes, under the plea of public necessity,
but practically creating large monopolies in
favour of its home manufactures, have been
imposed. The energies of the people have been
diverted from agriculture, the natural and pri-
mary interest of ali-ryo^ng communities, and
have been direct^w^^sindustrial pursuits,
which can be /Carried onofar more advan-

/.. f~. -r-A

72 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

tageously in old countries, with long established
manufactures, with large stores of realized
capital, and with the newest machinery. The
divergence of commercial policy between this
country and Canada and some other British
Colonies ought to be removed to the utmost ; for
it cannot fail to cause a good deal of heartburn-
ing between those who ought to be on the most
friendly terms.

The shipping of the Canadian dominions is
also very great ; and, in 1875, was composed of
nearly 7,000 vessels, with a tonnage close on 1^
million. In 1878, Canada had nearly 6,000
miles of railway, and 2,000 in construction.

Here an important point demands our atten-
tion. I refer to the construction of a railway
crossing the whole of the Canadian territory,
and passing over vast plains and through a
sparse population. This great work, which is
known as the Pacific Eailway Scheme, and
would join the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans
by Railway, must be viewed as imperial as well
as Canadian, — as one involving important issues
as between the Canadian dominions and the
British Empire in all its parts. This scheme,
if carried out, would open up a nearer road to
Australia and also to India, and would also
largely develop the resources of the British
Canadian dominions. I think this Pacific Rail-
way ought to be undertaken. Ontario, from a
commercial point of view, is at present at the
mercy of the United States. To make this great
wheat-growing country independent of the
United States is a matter of vital importance to

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PR08PEC! 7^»

the future welfare of Canada. Where the in-
terests of a people lie, t hither their hearts
follow.

Moreover, far away to the west of British
Columbia, and bordering on the Pacific Oce;m.
was a great power, with different interests and
aspirations from our own. Previous to the
Crimean War, the nearest military post of
Russia, in 1850, was 2,300 mile- distant from
the seaboard of the Pacific. In 1851, a Russian
post, Nikolai vsky, and, in 1854, a Russian
military station up the Amoor River, were
established. Russia has now Saghalien, and
1,500 miles of seaboard exactly opposite Van-
couver's Island. She has also pushed railway-
from St Petersburg towards the Amoor, and
constructed a telegraph line from the Russian
capital to Nikolaivsky. Were hostilities to break
out between Russia and this countiy, where could
we find a reliable basis of defence for British
Columbia ? This Pacific Railway is of the very
greatest consequence in a systematic defence of
Britain and her Colonial dependencies ; for,
unless the British Colonies in this quarter of the
world can be defended, the Australian Colonies
would be in great peril. Hence, I say, this
railway, which would knit together important
land centres, and would keep up our base of
operations in the Canadian dominions, in the
Pacific Ocean, and in Australia and India, ought
to be constructed as early as possible.

Canada, placed at the door of a powerful and
ambitious neighbour, with whom she is now on
the best terms, but against whom she has been

74

THE BRITISH COLONIES :

arrayed in order of battle, and may, of course, be
so again, and may also be involved in the con-
sequences of a European war between ourselves
and some other power, as she has been before,
has taken a calm view of the situation, has
carefully prepared for it, and has taxed her-
self to hold her proper place as one of the
greatest dependencies of the British Empire.
Canada has always nobly responded to the
national wishes of the mother country. And, in
any struggle hereafter, it may be in a death-and-
life struggle of the British Empire, whether the
contest shall take place in Canada, in India, or
on the shores of the Mediterranean, we may feel
assured that neither we, nor the Canadians, will
be slow to acknowledge the high duty devolving
upon us of maintaining the honour and the in-
tegrity of the British Empire, and the glory of the
British name. The Dominion forces for this
year consisted of 45,000 officers and men, and
the reserve militia comprised 655,000, rank and
file, for the same period. Besides these local
forces in Canada, there were 2,000 men located
at the imperial military station of Halifax.

The constitution of the Canadian dominions is
similar in principle to that of the United King-
dom. The executive power is vested in the
British Crown, and is exercised by a Governor-
General and a Privy Council. The legislative
power is exercised by a Parliament composed of
two Houses, the Senate and the House of Com-
mons. The Speaker and Members of the House
of Commons are paid. For 1878, the total
revenue was 4£ millions sterling, and the total

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 75

expenditure nearly 4| millions sterling, and
the estimates for 1878 and 1879 show very
considerable deficits. As to the revenue,
there appears to be a gross blunder made
in treating money, derived from the sale of
the State land, as income. It ought to be treated
as capital. It is to be feared that in Canada, as
in the United States, and also in some of the
Australian Colonies, much of the State Land is
absolutely squandered. In 1877, the public
debt, which has been incurred chiefly for public
works, amounted to 27| millions sterling.

This much as to the Canadian dominions.
Let us consider the position of our Colonies in
Africa.

On the present occasion, I do not propose to
discuss the policy of the war now waged in South
Africa ; because it does not fall within the scope
of the object I have in view, and because we do
not have sufficient materials to enable us to form
a just conclusion. But I do most strongly pro-
test against the criticism which condemns the
acts of the British rulers in South Africa as gross
blunders, as bloodthirsty and wicked, and as
reckless aggrandisement, and as utterly at vari-
ance with truth and justice.

The position of this country as to our South
African possessions is one of extreme difficulty
and grave peril. This difficult and grave
position is not of recent date. It has long been
in existence, and as to which no clear, wise, or
prudent line of policy has been applied. The
treatment of the natives involves consequences
of stupendous magnitude ; for all our African

76 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

colonies have swarms of warlike savages hanging
around our borders. The dangers arising from
large masses of Kaffirs crowded together, and
allowed to squat down in the neighbourhood of the
white races, and no serious attempts being made
to bring them within the restraints of civilized life,
have often been pointed out. All endeavours to
improve them have been neglected ; money has
been squandered in repressing them; and the
necessity for improvement has become greater
than ever.

A few particulars as to the Zulus may, at the
present moment, not be without interest.
Ketchwayo, king of the Zulus, with whom we
are now at war, is as warlike and bloodthirsty
as his uncle Chaka, who, from 1800 to 1828,
was the great native ruler of South Africa, the
terror of the Cape, and the destroyer of South
Africa up to the border edges of Cape Colony.
From 1856, Ketchwayo, in the lifetime
of his father, who succeeded Chaka, was
virtually king. In 1872, he was crowned,
or acknowledged as the native sovereign,
by the representative of Britain. Whether
the ceremony involved subjection to the
British sovereign or not, certain promises were
then made to the British representative by
Ketchwayo for the better government of his
people. These promises have been ignored by
Ketchwayo. From 1877, Ketchwayo, with his
300,000 or 400,000 people, and his military
forces of 30,000 or 40,000, appeared on the
horizon of our South African possessions, and
forboded no good to us, or to African peace or

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURK PROSPECTS. 77

European civilization. To the Transvaal he
was also a standing menace, and a ]><T|M 'tual
source of danger. In 1878; Ketchwayo and
another native4 chief, King Kreli were l>elieved
by the British officials in South Africa to be the
mainspring of our trouble with the natives.
Kreli was subdued and his forces rotted, and
Sir Bartle Frere afterwards determined to Milxlue
Ketchwayo. How far Frere's policy will receive
the approval of his fellow-countrymen at home
is bitterly contested. But that he was bound
to secure the safety and the future peace of South
Africa is beyond all dispute. That he in-
tended to fulfil his duty to the best of his ability,
and, as he thought, in the interests of hi>
country, which has ever been regardful of the
happiness of the nations with whom our foreign
possessions have brought us into contact, is
equally certain. To Frere's general policy, sill
the chief men of the British South African
possessions agreed in all material points. For
the present, I need not say more as to the pre-
sent war in South Africa.

Our South African colonies were not, in the
first instance, peopled by the English. For
150 years the Dutch held the Cape of Good
Hope ; and, to this day, the majority of the
Europeans in South Africa are of Dutch origin ;
and, in the Transvaal, all the Europeans are
Dutch. This state of affairs has involved us in
a great deal of trouble ; and, coupled with
frequent bickerings with the natives, has led to
a gradual extension of the British power in
Africa. The north Transvaal and the colon io>

78 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

of Natal and the Cape embrace a territory as
large as France and Germany combined. Much
of this territory is uninhabitable, and much of it
is pastoral. But, in the vicinity of the coast, and
in the valleys along the banks of the rivers,
there are splendid tracts of agricultural land
capable of the highest cultivation, and well
adapted to the cultivation of every semi-
tropical product. African produce consists of
food and raw materials, such as wool for manu-
factures. Africa, has no coal or iron ; and, for
generations, is not likely to develop manu-
factures of her own. The discovery of diamonds
in Griqualand gave a great impulse to her
prosperity within recent times. The great
Kimberley mine alone has furnished 12 millions
sterling worth of diamonds.

The continent of Africa is, indeed, teeming
with rich sources of wealth ; and, if inhabited by
the vast population which it is capable of sustain-
ing, would, on the one hand, bring into existence
great sources of agricultural wealth, growers of
corn, and raisers of animal food ; and, on the
other hand, would, in exchange, bring into our
markets large purchasers of our manufactured
goods. The Cape and Natal Colonies have not
yet entered the lists as competitors with America
in the supply of butcher meat, corn, or cotton ;
but there is no reason, in the nature of things,
why they should not do so in each of these
articles. They are as favourably situated as
America for the contest ; and, in butcher meat or
corn, are more so than Australia. They have a
magnificent coast line, and the geographical posi-

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTLl;i: I' INSPECTS. 79

tion of the Cape, jis <>nr <>f the great centres of
our highway to India, has always been, and, the
Suez Canal notwithstanding, will always be <»t
vital importance to us in our political and com-
mercial intercourse with the East. The Cape
commands the eastern route to India SUM!
Australia.

With a favourable climate, with rich tracts of
soil, with immense plains — if judiciously tilled,
irrigated, and planted with trees — capable of
being raised to the highest degree of fertility, with
vast mines of immense wealth in copper ; with
splendid harbourage ; and with a magnificently
central position, there is good reason for believ-
ing that a splendid career is in store for South
Africa. To attain this end, emigration must be
established on an extensive scale, and the
country reduced to peace and order under
British rule. The greatest want of our South
African possessions is a large supply of emigrant s
acquainted with agricultural pursuits, or able
to supply agricultural wants, that is to say,
masons, joiners, carpenters, smiths, shepherds,
and ploughmen, men with a little money, or
what is as good as money in Africa, knowledge
and handiness in agricultural and cognate in-
dustrial pursuits.

The first European colony in Africa was
founded by the Dutch about 1652. The colony
was taken by the British in 1796 ; was given up
to the Netherlands in 1803 ; and, since 1806,
has been permanently occupied by the British.
Since our permanent occupation, it has been very
largely extended. British Kaffraria was an-

80

THE BRITISH COLONIES :

nexed in 1866 ; Bastutoland, at the head of the
Orange River, in 1868 ; and the vast unexplored
districts of Fingoland, Nomansland, and Griqua-
land in 1875 and 1876 ; and the Transvaal in
1877. The total area of the Cape Colony in 1877
was 348,000 square miles, and the population
was nearly 1£ millions, — of whom the Cape had
721,000 inhabitants ; Fingoland and Nomans-
land 140,000 ; and the Transvaal 300,000.

The European inhabitants consist partly of
the British authorities and the English colonists ;
but the majority of them are of Dutch, German,
and French extraction, and mostly descendants
of the original settlers. The coloured people are
Hottentots and Kaffirs, and the remainder are
Malays and Africanders or half-casts, born of
European and African parents.

There are sheep farms of immense extent,
often ranging from three to fifteen thousand acres.
The tillage is yet small. Until this state of
matters is changed, none of our African colonies
can attain any high degree of power. No great
nation can be merely pastoral. The graziers and
proprietors of the soil pay small quit rents to the
Government. In 1875, the cattle in the colony
numbered 692,514, and the sheep 9,830,065.

The importation in 1871 amounted to 2J
millions sterling ; in 1873, to nearly 5J millions
sterling ; in 1875, to of millions sterling ; and,
in 1877, to fully 5 millions sterling. The ex-
ports of the same years respectively were nearly
3£ millions sterling ; 4 millions sterling ; fully
4£ millions sterling ; and fully 3£ millions ster-
ling. The commercial intercourse of Cape Colony

PRESENT CONDITION AND I r J IRE PROSPECTS. 81

is almost entirely carried <m with the United
Kingdom. Wool is the great article of export,
and forms !)-10ths of the Cape Colony exports
Copper ore is exported to the value of £ million
sterling ; feathers, chiefly ostrich, for which there
are large farms established, fully of i million
sterling ; and sheep skins of nearly i million
sterling. The British imports are apparel and
haberdashery, cotton manufactures, and wrought
and unwrought iron.

The constitution and government of the Cape
Colony was, in its present form, introduced in
1853, and was amended in 1872, when a repre-
sentative system of government was established.
The executive power is entrusted to a Governor
and a Council appointed by the Crown. The
revenue, chiefly derived from import duties,
which are very light, averaged, from 1869 to 1873,
about £ million sterling per annum, and has
since been largely increased. For 1878, it
slightly exceeded 2 millions a-year. The expen-
diture has kept pace with the revenue, and ex-
ceeded the revenue of 1873, and is now 2 millions
sterling. The large increase in the revenue has
largely arisen from loans, and the increase in the
expenditure has been for public works. The
Cape debt in 1878 amounted to 10£ millions
sterling. Thus, Cape Colony has not escaped the
tendency of all modern governments to get into
debt. There are 580 miles of railway in the colony,
and 450 miles in construction. Much requires
to be done in laying down railways, and inter-
secting the country with good, substantial waggon
roads or highways. Till roads are constructed,

82 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

a country can only be very imperfectly developed.
This, both from a commercial and military point
of view, is the experience of all times, and of
all countries. There are 3,380 miles of tele-
graphs, which have been constructed at the ex-
pense of the government.

Natal, the land of the nativity, and so called
because it was first seen by the Dutch on Christ-
mas-day 1487; was discovered by Yasco de Gamo.
It was long considered of little consequence by
Europeans. In the early years of the present
century, it was laid waste by Chaka, the founder
of the Zulu nation, and the terror of Kaffirland.
Dutch emigrant farmers, driven out of Cape
Colony by the British, invaded Natal in 1839,
and entered into a Treaty of Alliance with
Duigan, Chaka's brother. Soon afterwards, a
band of English adventurers at Durban lodged
a complaint with the British authorities against
the oppression to which, under the rule of the
Dutch Boers of Natal, they were exposed ; and,
about thirty years ago, Sir George Napier an-
nexed the colony of Natal to Britain. The
British flag was subsequently hoisted at Pieter-
maritzburgh, and has since waved unchallenged
in Natal

The Boers have not much to cause them to
love us ; for we drove them beyond the English
pale. They were first driven out of the Cape,
and afterwards out of Natal. They then settled
down in the Transvaal, where they are likely
enough to give us no small trouble. Many com-
plications on our own frontiers have already
taken place, and our dealing with the natives

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

83

have often been hampered by our relations with
the Boers, whose isolation 1ms produced gross
ignorance and moroseness of temper.

The colony has many climates, and iN winter
begins in mid April and lasts till September, and
its summer begins in November and culminates
in March. If Natal had emigrants of a good
stamp, experienced in agricultural affairs, it
would become one of the most flourishing pro-
vinces of South Africa. Its great wants are
roads, railways, and labourers. Recently a s
tern of free emigration was carried on by govern-
ment assistance, which has been stopped for the
present ; but which, I think, ought to be renewed
with increased vigour and liberality. English,
Scotch, and Irish emigrants would do well to
settle in Africa.

The estimated area of the colony of Natal is
18,000 English square miles, and there is a sea-
board of 150 miles. The population in 1877
consisted of 350,000 coloured people, and 20,000
persons of European descent. Coolie emigration
to this colony began in 1859, and has been of
great advantage in the cultivation of the soil.
The Coolies are mostly natives of India. As
there is undoubtedly an element of bondage in
the Coolie immigration, the Government has
done all in its power to prevent the introduction
of slavery, in any form, into the colony. No
slave, no matter for what reason he may be
needed, can be permitted to exist in any part of
the British dominions.

The greatest difficulty with which this colony
has to contend arises from the large infusion of

S4 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

the natives within its borders. Thirty years ago
there were not 70,000 Kaffirs in Natal, and now
there are 350,000. They are refugees who have
fled from the cruel, bloody, and detestable rule
of their native chiefs, and have come to nestle
under the shadow of our own mild, just, and
humane government. Unless, in so far as re-
pugnant to the principles of humanity, they live
under their own laws, manners, and customs.
They are massed in certain localities in the
neighbourhood of Natal, and, as they did ages
ago, live the easy life of savages.

The commerce of the colony of Natal is
almost wholly carried on with Britain. The
staple exports of the colony are sheep-wool,
meat, sugar, ivory, and hides. Within the last
thirty years, the exports and imports have been
enormously increased. In 1846, the imports were
valued at £41,598, and, in 1877, at fully 1 million
sterling ; and the exports were respectively
£17,142 and £690,000.

Natal was erected into a separate colony in
1856, and is ruled by a Governor, who is assisted
by an Executive and Legislative Council. Its
public revenue for 1878 wras £370,000, and its
public expenditure £387,000. The total debt of
the colony is nearly 2 millions sterling.

With regard to our African colonies, three
points require to be noticed. These are —
peace, the burden of the present war, and inter-
colonial confederation.

A serious war is now being waged in Natal
against the Zulus. To bring it to a satisfactory
conclusion is an imperative necessity. No alter~

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 85

native is open to us, with a due regard to the
safety of our African possession^, unless by the
subjugation of Katchwayo and 'also of Secoconi,
and utterly and for ever breaking their military
power, and by the substitution of the authority
of the Queen in the place of those native chiefs.
When the honour of our flag has been vindi-
cated, and the consequences of the disaster at
Isandula wiped away, we will be in a position
to dictate the terms of a lasting peace, and bring
about a reconciliation amongst the discordant
elements of a barbarous native government. We
must substitute the blessings of our own civiliza-
tion for the barbarity of the African chiefs. We
must conquer the opposition of the natives to
our rule by justice, mildness, and generosity.
To the utmost of our power, we must strive to
preserve the wretched, ill-used Zulus and the
native tribes, who will now come under our rule,
from destruction at the hands of cruel and blood-
thirsty native rulers. We should take due care
that the tribal lands of the natives are preserved
to them. We must also guard against the per-
petration of injustice upon the natives by our-
selves, our colonists, or any of the Europeans
under our control.

Who ought to bear the cost of the present
war ? Clearly those who get the benefit of its
operations. Who are they ? According to my
opinion, the whole of the British colonists in
Africa, and especially those of Natal. For their
protection, the war has been undertaken ; for
their advantage and safety, the British troops
have been sent to the field of battle ; and I'm-

00 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

their future prosperity, the blood of our soldiers
has been poured out. True, these colonists are
under the sacred guardianship of the British flag,
and are entitled to its protection ; but the Afri-
can colonists make no contribution towards the
general expense of the Imperial army, and are
not so poor as to be entitled to ask the mother
country to pay for what has been done exclu-
sively, or, at all events, primarily, for their ad-
vantage. Let us, by all means, deal liberally
with our fellow-citizens in Africa ; but, on the
other hand, let them deal in a fair and honour-
able spirit towards us. If they cannot afford to
pay the whole cost of the war, let us fix the
amount they can easily contribute, and let the
amount be paid by them according to their wishes,
and in due regard to their necessities. For the
future, they must abandon their supine ease and
indifference to their own defence, and take upon
their own shoulders the duty of effectively secur-
ing themselves against the recurrence of wars
which have already cost us no small amount of
money, and the lives of not a few brave men ; and,
acting like free men, take upon themselves the
responsibility for all future disturbances with
the natives of Africa, unless in great emergencies,
when we will always stand by their side, with
all our power, to defend them from harm, and
maintain their and our own just rights.

After peace has been attained, the future
government of the South African colonies will
necessarily engage our attention.

The greater part of South Africa is under
British rule, and administered by British officials.

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 87

The Orange Free State is alone independent.
The aggregate population of the European settle-
ments and native states under our government
may be approximately given at 2£ millions;
and, in a few years, the European population
will be largely increased along with the increase
of prosperity of the colonists.

Some people, well entitled to give an opinion
on this intricate question, are strong advocates
of an immediate Confederation co-extensive with
our African possessions ; and others, perhaps no
less well qualified, are strongly opposed to such
Confederation. Perhaps, as is usually the case,
the best and safest policy lies between these ex-
treme opinions. To force confederation upon
the African colonies would be the greatest folly.
To be lasting, union between states, as between
individuals, must be based not only on common
interests, but on a common feeling of interest.
Almost all are agreed that confederation must
come sooner or later. Let confederation, there-
fore, be one of the goals towards which we ought
to strive. Almost all are agreed that we must
maintain the presently existing forms of repre-
sentative government in Africa, and give a
helping hand to its further extension. Let this
also be another object aimed at in our general
policy. In a lasting confederation, in a new
state like Africa, equality must be the basis of
the whole structure. Let us, therefore, start edu-
cational and such-like institutions, so as to bring
about the indispensible necessities of all free
governments, namely, enlightenment, truth,
justice, and honesty. The inhabitants of our

00 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

African possessions are not homogeneous. On
the contrary, they are widely opposed in many
aspects, and are neither reconciled to our
sovereign authority, nor prepared to act justly
towards one another. Let us, therefore, keep a
firm hold of the supreme power, so as to prevent
all contests, all quarrels, all heartburnings, and all
senseless endeavours to throw off allegiance to the
British crown. All of you can easily understand
that our Eastern possessions would not allow us to
permit any other power, opposed to us in our
general policy, to hold the Cape, or in any way
endanger the Eastern route to India and Aus-
tralia. While all the colonists and provinces of
British Africa may be allowed ample time to
arrive at a common understanding, we would be
false to our own interests, and, I believe, their
own as well, if we failed to impress the British
colonists in South Africa with the imperative
duty of consolidating their power upon the just
and firm basis of a federative union, based on per-
fect equality. Combined, the British colonists in
Africa would speedily become a mighty people;
and, for ages to come, might stand forth to the
world as one of the greatest monuments of
British sagacity and power.

I turn aside from the coast of Africa, and
have to call your attention to the state of our
affairs in Australia, in the South Pacific.

The Australian group of Colonies is com-
posed of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland,
South Australia, West Australia, New Zealand,
and Tasmania. I propose to treat each separately,
and then make some observations applicable

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 89

to the whole group. But ;i ll»w |nvliminury
observations may be here; interposed.

Australia owes her origin and much of
her prosperity to English capital. Strange as it
may appear, Australia, like all new count m--,
has not realized capital of its own to carry on its
industrial activity to any great extent, and tli<i
interest of money there is therefore high. A- a
matter of fact, I may tell you that the capital <>t
the Australian and New Zealand Banks, whose
capital is estimated at 9 millions sterling, ha-
been found in this country. The Australian
mining adventures, of any magnitude, are also
carried on by English capital ; and an estimate
has been made, by which it appears that no less
a sum than 20 millions sterling of English money
has been embarked by English Finance- Com-
panies in the internal development of the
Australian Colonies. If we were to add the
amount advanced by private capitalists, this
large sum would, at least, be trebled. Besides,
it is notorious that loans to an enormous extent
are made by the banks at home on Australian
produce, and even on Australian land. Doubt-
less, a crash will come by-and-by, and the usual
stagnation in trade, and liquidation of bankrupt
concerns will follow. Doubtless, the effects of the
collapse will speedily pass away, and the colonies
become more prosperous than ever. In the mean-
time, the business of the Australian Colonies is
conducted with no small vigour. Still, our
immense loans to the Australian and other
colonies, although they, on the one hand, give
rise to prolific production, and bring us large

90 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

supplies in food and raw materials for manu-
factures, are undoubtedly a source of future
danger to us. To be much dependent on others,
or on investments placed beyond the limits of
personal supervision, must always involve the
danger of serious inconvenience and loss. Be-
tween 1848 and 1876, emigrants remitted about
20 millions sterling to their friends to be invested,
and made available in our spending power.

Formerly, nearly all the Australian colonies
imported every manufactured article from this
country. Now, they import less and less of such
articles ; and, henceforward, we will be fortunate
if we retain our trade with them in cottons,
woollens, and hardware.

All the Australian colonies are endowed with
free, 'constitutional, and representative govern-
ments. Each colony has a Parliament consist-
ing of two houses, namely, a Legislative Council
and a Legislative Assembly, by which the legis-
lative power is exercised. The Council is ap-
pointed by the Crown, and the Assembly by the
people. The representatives of the people are
paid for their services. The executive power is
entrusted to a Governor appointed by the Crown,
and the Governor is assisted by a responsible
Ministry in the discharge of his duties. The
Ministry is responsible to the Legislative or
popular Assembly for its actions.

I begin my details as to the Australian group
of Colonies by, first of all, asking your attention
to the Colony of New South Wales.

It was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770,
and was colonized by convicts in 1788. It con-

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 9 \

tains 323,437 English square miles. Its greatest
length is 900 miles, and breadth 850 miles, and
its average length and breadth are 500 miles.
Its population in 1810 was 8,293 ; ;md in 1877,
exclusive of aborigines, was 662,000. A system
of free immigration, by which 41,794 people
were settled in the colony, existed from 1829 to
1840, when the colony was released from the
necessity of receiving transported convicts from
this country.

This colony is very prosperous. It has
splendid mineral resources of great value, and
is rich in coal. Its gold mines cover a vast
area. The export of gold dust and bars and
coin in 1873 amounted to 2\ millions sterling,
but has been largely on the decrease for the last
few years. It has also valuable copper mines.
Such rich mineral wealth could not fail to attract
thousands of immigrants, and, as we all know,
actually did attract them, and largely swelled a
population which had afterwards to devote their
energies to agricultural and ordinary industrial
pursuits.

It carries on a direct trade with India and
China ; and the direct trade with Asia is likely
to increase. It largely supplies itself with
many articles originally imported from|*this
country. It remains true to the principle of
free trade, and its customs duties are light. Its
trade was more than quadrupled between 1850
and 1864, was on the decline between 1864 and
1870, and has since been on the increase. Its
imports in 1870 amounted to 7f millions ster-
ling, and in 1878 to 14| millions sterling ; and

92 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

its exports in these years amounted respectively
to close on 8 millions sterling, and nearly 13
millions sterling. Fully a third of the exports
and of the imports are sent to and from the
United Kingdom, and the remainder chiefly to
and from the British possessions. The staple
export is wool, and the British imports are
notably textile fabrics and iron.

There are millions of acres of magnificent
land entirely desolate in the colony, and the
greatest want is population so as to bring the land
into cultivation. In 1876, it had 24,500,000
sheep, fully 3,000,000 horned cattle, 358,000
horses, and 190,000 pigs. The total area under
cultivation is 297,575 acres, of which 154,000
acres are under wheat. The total number of
freeholders and leaseholders has been estimated
at 31,272.

The revenue of the colony is chiefly derived
from customs, of which one half is received from
the import duty paid on spirits. The other
revenue receipts are derived from the sale and
the rent of Government land. Including loans,
the revenue, in 1870, was 2^ millions sterling ;
and, in 1878, nearly 5 millions sterling ; and the
expenditure, including public works, was, for
1870, 2\ millions sterling ; and, for 1878, 4|
millions sterling. The public debt, in 1860, was
close on 4 millions sterling ; in 1870, was fully
9£ millions sterling; in 1875, was nearly 11£
millions sterling, and is now 15f millions sterling.
The debt has been incurred chiefly for railways
and public works. In 1878, nearly 700 miles of
railway were open, and fully 8,000 miles of

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTUli!-: I IM'SPECTS. 93

telegraph wires had been laid. The dangers
arising from too great railway extension are not
to be overlooked; because they involve heavy
taxation for what may be, for years, an unre-
raunerative investment.

Victoria is the next colony in order. Its
first colonists settled in 1835. It \v:is known as
the Port Philip district, and was disjoined from
New South Wales, and erected into a separate
colony in 1853. It has an area of 88,198 English
square miles. The total area of the colony is
556,447,000 acres, of which 16,000,000 acres
were alienated in 1874, and 12,500,000 acres
were occupied in 1875. Not much more than
1 ,000,000 acres were then under cultivation. The
cultivation of the vine has become a great
thriving industry of this colony. In 1875,
there were 38,500 holders of land. The
total estimated population of the colony in 1 879
was 888,000, and in 1836 was only 224. The
increase of the population was greatly aided
by a system of assisted immigration at the ex-
pense of the government. The immigration
greatly declined as soon as the government aid
was withdrawn. In 1 863 — when there were 8,622
aided either wholly or partially — immigration
to this colony reached its highest point.

In all the Australian colonies, the alienation
of the State lands has been reckless, and huge
tracts have been rented to squatters under the
reserved power of selecting portions of the land.
This system of sale and lease has led to the pur-
chase of vast tracts, at low rates, by capitalists,
who can do nothing except feed sheep and cattle.

94: THE BRITISH COLONIES :

It prevents farmers or selectors from obtaining a
foothold in the country. Already the cry has
gone forth to have these huge States broken up ;
and there can hardly be any doubt that, in
anew country like Australia, this system of land
alienation will lead to serious disturbances, per-
haps bloody revolutions, in the colonies.

In 1875, there were in the colony 196,184
horses, 1,054,598 horned cattle, 11, 749, 5 32 sheep,
and 140,765 pigs.

In 1867 and in 1878, the revenue amounted
respectively to 3 millions sterling and 4J millions
sterling; and the expenditure to 3^ millions ster-
ling, and fully 4^ millions sterling. The public re-
venue is derived, for the most part, from customs,
chiefly derived from duties imposed on wines,
spirits, and tobacco ; and the largest portion of the
expenditure has been made upon public works.
The public debt of Victoria for 1878 was 20 mil-
lions sterling, of which the greater part has been
expended on railways and other public works.
The railways formed in 1878 comprehended 1,000
miles. Of telegraphs, there are 3,000 miles
opened.

The colony of Queensland has a vast area,
which is estimated at 669,520 English square
miles, or 44,428,492,800 acres, which is equal to
one-fifth of the whole of Europe. It has a
seaboard of 2,250 miles. The earliest British
settlement was founded by the transporta-
tion of convicts in 1825. It was regularly
opened to settlers in 1842, and had a total popu-
lation of 8,575 in 1851, and, in 1878, of 210,510
persons, of whom 13,269 were Chinese. No

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTO. 95

reliable information ex UN us to the numbers of
the aborigines. Formerly, the emigrants went
from the United Kingdom ; now they are chiefly
obtained from China and the South Sea Islands.
This change of the nationality of the emitrnmN
to Queensland may have most important results
in the future development and progress of tlii^
colony. The large invasion of Chinese colon
may considerably modify its present Briti-h
character.

Queensland has followed the footsteps of Vic-
toria rather than of New South Wales. The
colonists have directed their energies to mining,
and not, as the first settlers of such a colony as
Queensland ought to have done, to the feeding
of the people by the products of the soil. It
contains coal and also gold. Of the former, the
produce was 31,000 tons in 1876 ; and of the
latter, it was £1,306,431 in 1877. Queensland
is essentially a pastoral colony, and contains
great sheep farms. Indeed the block, or great
run system, was carried out to such an extent
that, in 1872, an Act was passed to remedy the
evil, and enforce a partial stocking and occu-
pation. In 1876, the live stock consisted of
130,289 horses, 2,000,000 horned cattle, and
7| million sheep. The cultivation of cotton and
sugar-cane has been attempted.

The growth of the colony has been very rapid.
In 1871, the imports exceeded 1£ millions ster-
ling, and, in 1877, they were 3J millions sterling;
and the exports for these years were 2| millions
and fully 3.] millions sterling. The COIIIIIKT-
cial intercourse of this colony is with the sister

96

THE BRITISH COLONIES :

colonies of Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The staple exports are wool, hides, tallow, pre-
served meats, and minerals ; and, in all these
things, this colony has to contend against a
strong competition. The British produce im-
ported is chiefly apparel, haberdashery, and
wrought and unwrought iron. Several hundred
miles of railway have been constructed, and
there are about 5,000 miles of telegraph.

The public revenue and expenditure was
nearly trebled between 1866 and 1875. In
1866, the income was under half a million ster-
ling ; in 1878, it was \\ millions sterling ; and
the disbursements were respectively half a
million and 1£ millions sterling. The taxation
of the colony is not high, but is badly distri-
buted. The greater part of the revenue is
derived from customs duties, and from the sale
and rent of public lands. The chief expenditure
has been upon works of general utility, and upon
Government aid to immigration. In 1878, the
public debt was 10 millions sterling. Large
numbers of immigrants have been settled on
Government claims, and to some extent by
Government money. This fact may involve the
colony in another financial crisis like 1866 ; for
it is always dangerous for a Government to have
its people reduced to a semi-pauperised condition
by State aid. When people have everything
done for them, they never exert themselves as
they ought.

The colony of South Australia has made con-
siderable progress, and has not, in any way,
endangered its prosperity. Its total area is

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 97

calculated at 903.690 English square miles. In
1866, there were 739,714 acres under cultiva-
tion ; and, in 1876, there were 1,444,586 acres,
of which there were 898,820 acres under wheat —
that is to say, the acreage under cultivation was
more than doubled in 10 years. This colony 1ms
many natural advantages, and much valuable
soil for grain and flour, for grapes of fine quality,
and for every description of semi-tropical or
other fruits. None of those sources of wealth
have been neglected. It is, however, subject to
great drought ; and, although the farming is not
high, the yield of wheat is 11 £ bushels per acre.
Great loss was sustained by the colonists on
their harvest of 1877.

It was first colonized by emigrants sent out
from England under the auspices of the South
Australian Colonization Association, which, in
1835, obtained an imperial charter of the Colon-
ial lands, under the condition of selling the land,
and of giving aid to agricultural labourers. In
1844, the population was 17,366, and, in 1876,
212,000. The aborigines are not included in
those numbers ; and, in the settled districts,
they were found to be 3,369 in the year 1871.

The famous Burwa-Barra copper mines were
discovered in 1845, and thence copper became
the third article of importance in the exports of
this colony — exclusive of bullion and specie — an
exclusion which applies to all the Australian
colonies. The imports in 1871 were fully 2
millions sterling, and in 1878 were 5f millions
sterling ; and the exports of the corresponding
years were 3£ millions sterling and fully 5|

98 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

millions sterling. The imports into the colony
are articles of general consumption, such as
textile fabrics, British colonial produce, and
principally drapery goods. Wool, wheat and
flour, and copper are the three staple articles
exported.

In 1871, the public revenue amounted to f
of a million sterling, and in 1878 to 1^ millions
sterling, and the expenditure for the correspond-
ing years to f of a million sterling, and nearly 1^
millions sterling. The greater part of the revenue
is obtained from very moderate customs duties,
and from the sale of the Crown lands. The main
portion of the expenditure has been paid away
for public works. The public debt, which was
incurred for reproductive works in the colony,
namely railways, telegraphs, and harbours, was
incurred between 1852 and 1876, and amounted to
almost 6£ millions sterling. In 1875, this colony
had 252 miles of railway, and 4,000 miles of
telegraph.

The colony of Western Australia is next in
order, and has an area of from 1,600 miles from
north to south, and of 1,000 miles from east to
west, and a total area of 1,057,250 English
square miles. It was first settled in 1829, and
in 1871 had a population of 25,353. Its agri-
cultural prosperity is great, and its live stock of
horses, cattle, and sheep considerable. Its ex-
ports are almost entirely of wool and lead ore.
Between 1871 and 1875, its imports and exports
have both almost been doubled. For the present,
all I need say as to this immense territory, which
is eight times larger than the area of the United

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

99

Kingdom, is that here there is ample room for
the growth of several mighty kingdoms. Like all
the Australian colonies, it has all the advantages
of a representative form of government. Like
them it will, I believe, grow up in a love of the
blessings of just and equal freedom, conferred
upon all the Australian colonists by the mother
country. How soon this colony may start up
and become a rival of her sister colonies, who
can tell or who venture to predict ?

The colony of New Zealand is most assiduous
in developing its resources, and yet is in a more
dangerous position than Queensland. It is not
40 years old, and is already in debt to the extent
of 22£ millions sterling. It has expended vast
sums on public works, and especially on rail-
ways. Had her resources been husbanded, a
splendid, unbroken future was in store for her.
But her trade is almost certain to encounter
serious obstructions as soon as no more money
can be borrowed. Public extravagance has
necessitated high tariffs ; but poverty will,
doubtless, induce thrift, and thrift will bring
about their abolition. The bitter fruits of
rejecting the lessons of experience are mostly
taught to mankind by some terrible misfortune.

Sir Julius Vogel has given a brilliant picture
of the great prosperity of the colony he repre-
sents in this country. He says people are still
eager to buy land, and the influx of immigrants
is continuous. He also contends that the colony
of New Zealand is not burdened with debt,
and that, for financial purposes, the railways
constructed ought to be regarded as ordinary

\r

V J&

100 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

roads. He is, no doubt, right in the main. But
a colony, like a private individual, may, and
often does, find out, when too late, that too much
capital expended on gigantic improvements, do
not pay in time to replace the investment of
capital.

New Zealand was first visited by the Dutch
navigator, Tasman, in 1642. It was surveyed
by Cook in 1769, and consists of three prin-
cipal islands, and has a coast extending 3,000
miles. The whole group is 1,000 miles long, and
200 miles broad ; and the area has been esti-
mated at 105,000 English square miles, of which
two-thirds are admirably suited for agriculture
and grazing. It has no less than 12,000,000
acres of virgin soil suitable for cultivation, and
50,000,000 acres, if cleared, for pasture. The
yield of wheat is from 31 to 32 bushels per acre.
Exclusive of aborigines, its population in 1851
was 26,707 and in 1879 was 414,412. At the
census of 1871, there were 49,152 persons at the
gold diggings ; and, in 1874, the native Maoris
numbered 45,470 souls, while, in 1857-8, they
were 55,970. The savage races with whom
Europeans have come into contact have, as a
rule, not only receded before the white man, but
have ultimately perished.

The colony of New Zealand has carried out
an extensive system of colonization by means of
Government aid, and the surplus immigrants
over emigrants, in 1874 and 1875, were 38,000
and 25,000 respectively. Of course, the Colonial
Government did not pay the whole of the cost
involved in this surplus immigration ; but, in

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 101

1875, it did pay a portion of the cost of 20,000,
and from 1866 to 1873 it paid for an average of
8,000 persons a-year. From 1871 to 1876, this
colony assisted 78,495 immigrants, and received
and housed them on their arrival. As might
have been anticipated, and ought to have been
foreseen, many of the artizan class of immigrants
suffered considerable temporary hardship. Still,
persons with a little capital, and with agricultural
knowledge, and with habits of frugality and self-
denial, are, before long, sure to succeed in New
Zealand. In this colony, there is ample provision
made for education, free, secular, and compulsory,
and for the best pupils being educated at
advanced schools.

The trade of this colony has increased with
great rapidity. It has been increased twenty-
fold between 1856 and 1878. Between these
years, the imports rose from half a million
sterling to 8f millions sterling ; and the exports
from a quarter of a million sterling to 6 millions
sterling. The staple exports are wool, corn, and
meat, and the British imports mainly comprise
iron, textile fabrics, apparel, and haberdashery.
Gold was discovered in the colony in 1857, and
in the year 1877 it was exported to the value of
1^ million sterling. The total value of gold ex-
ported from 1857 to 1877 was 34J millions
sterling. Such vast mineral wealth gave, of
course, a great impetus to immigration ; and, in
fact, as you all know, the people were seized
with the gold fever, and rushed to the gold
diggings to become, in some instances, very rich,
and, in most cases, to learn that gold digging

102 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

was not the shortest way to fortune, but the
broad way to ruin. However, out of evil came
good, and the people betook themselves to agri-
culture and grazing, and improved the colony,
and enriched the world.

The public revenue is derived from two great
sources — ordinary and territorial. The chief
ordinary revenue is obtained from customs duties
on imports, and forms three-fourths of the
whole ; and the territorial, from Crown lands,
departuring licenses and assessments, and export
duties on gold and silver licenses. The total
revenue for the year 1866 was nearly 2 millions
sterling ; in 1870, it fell to 1 million sterling ;
in 1874, it rose to 3 millions sterling ; in 1875,
it fell to 2| millions sterling ; and, in 1878, was
fully 2£ millions sterling. The expenditure
for these years was respectively nearly 2 millions
sterling, 1£ millions sterling, 3 millions sterling,
2| millions sterling, and 4 millions sterling.
The colony has an extensive system of railways,
constructed at the expense of the Government ;
and, in 1878, it had 3,170 miles of telegraph.

New Zealand is a large customer of the
mother country ; and has, I believe, a great
destiny before her; but her public men and
private citizens ought to adopt a wise and
prudent policy in their financial affairs. Such
changes in her finances as the figures I have
given ought to raise caution to the rank of a
public virtue of the highest order amongst
them.

I now arrive at Tasmania, which is the last
of the Australian group of colonies.

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

103

Tasmania, formerly Van Dieman's Land, is a
beautiful country, full of natural riches, and only
needs a large and enterprising people to develop
great wealth. It has all the elements of a great
and solid prosperity. Its physical features are
full of variety, and combine all the elements of
good scenery, grandeur, picturesqueness, and
beauty. Its atmosphere is bright and clear.
The cost of living in the island is cheaper than
in England. Of the old convict days, wild
stories are still rife amongst the colonists. The
soil is rich in coal and iron ore, and gold has
also been found in the colony.

It was discovered by Abel Tasman, a Dutch
navigator, in 1642. Tasman was in love with
the daughter of Anthony Van Dieman, who was
Governor of Batavia, and he called the island he
had discovered by the surname of his lady-love,
and the name stuck to the island for two cen-
turies. It was thought to be the extreme point
of New Holland ; but, in 1798, it was proved to
be an island. It was afterwards partially ex-
plored by Cook, and was made an English penal
settlement in 1803. The transportation of con-
victs ceased in 1853.

The area of Tasmania is estimated at 26,215
English square miles, or 16,778,000 acres, of which
15 i million acres are in Tasmania proper, and
the remainder in small islands in the vicinity.
The total number of acres sold in 1874 was close
on 4,000,000, and not quite 1,000,000 acres were
under cultivation. In 1878, 348,841 acres were
cultivated, and the remainder was composed of
arable land and pasture. In the same year, there

104 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

were 22,195 horses, 126,882 cattle, 1,831,125
sheep, and 55,652 pigs.

Since 1820, there has been a constant stream
of immigration. In 1824, there were 12,000
whites ; in 1870, there were 99,328 ; in 1875,
there were 100,613 ; and, in 1877, there were
107,104.

From 1868 to 1875, the emigration was
greater than the immigration. The reasons for
this are not far to seek. The Australian colonies
are competitors against each other in the labour
market, the facilities for changing from one
colony to another at the expense of the colonies
are considerable, and the inducements to forsake
agriculture for the gold fields, if not wise, are
perfectly natural in simple hunters for rapidly
acquired fortunes. All men believe in their own
luck, and in their being the special favourites of
good fortune.

The imports for 1871 were f of a million ster-
ling, and, for 1878, fully 1£ millions sterling ;
and the exports for these years were f of a mil-
lion sterling, and fully 1 J millions sterling. The
commerce of this colony is almost wholly with
the United Kingdom, and the neighbouring
colonies of Victoria and New South Wales. The
staple export is wool.

For 1 871, the public revenue amounted to \ of
a million sterling, for 1875 to £340,000 ; and for
1878 to £386,060 ; and the expenditure for these
years was much the same as the revenue. The
public debt, in 1878, amounted to If millions
sterling, and had been incurred in the prosecu-
tion of public works. The railways are insignifi-

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 105

cant, and telegraphs have been laid in the settled
districts.

Generally, as to our Australian colonio. ;i
few remarks may not be amiss. I shall confine
myself to three points, namely, commercial
unanimity between them, the necessity of de-
fence, and of federative union.

I consider a commercial policy for the whole
of Australia as a very pressing requirement. But,
us the several colonies have full power to adopt
any fiscal policy they please, I think we ought
not to be too energetic in pressing this necessity
upon our Australian fellow-subjects. As between
the Australian colonies themselves, the abolition
of all customs barriers would largely develop
the resources of each colony, and would also put
an end to the present costly schemes of rivalry
in affording dangerous facilities for settling in
one colony and not in another. A continuance
of the present Victorian policy of protective
taxation will be highly injurious to the Vic-
torians themselves ; and, if adopted by other
British colonies, may lead to unfortunate
quarrels between our colonists and ourselves.
From a general point of view, to be under
the necessity of defending the Australian
colonies, or to have our home policy influenced,
or largely determined by their connection with
us, and yet be treated as aliens in all matters
of commerce would be unendurable, and would
not be tolerated by any enlightened or sensible
Ministry of the British crown at home. Such
a contingency would effectually involve either
legislative union with the mother state, or

106 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

the concession of complete independence to the
Australian colonies. I do not wish to raise
difficulties ; I wish merely to have a clear
policy for the future, for the near future. The
progress of the Australian colonies has been
rapid and surprising. It is destined to be still
greater ; and, although this may not involve
an increased proportional demand for our manu-
factured goods, we ought to see that the com-
mercial policy of all parts of the British empire
is fair, just, and in harmony with correct
economical principles.

The Australian colonies are utterly defenceless
against any great aggressive power which chose
to attack them, and would be an easy prey to the
first sturdy marauders who penetrated the south-
ern seas with hostile intentions against them.
In particular, they are, in their present condi-
tion, utterly defenceless against any great
European power with which we might, for any
reason, European or Asiatic, commercial or
political, be at war. As an example of what I
mean, I beg leave to say that the late Russo-
Turkish war might easily have led to a great
European conflagration, in which Russia and
France might have been on the one side, and
Turkey and Britain on the other, and Austria
and Germany, at least for a time, neutral. Such
a combination, if accompanied by an insurrection
in British India, or even by threatened hostilities
on the north-west frontiers of India, might
temporarily have taxed the energies of this
country to the utmost. To overlook such con-
tingencies may, for a time, be very convenient

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS, 107

for certain parties in the State, but implies a
want of political foresight, and a reckless dis-
regard of the possibilities of 'the future. With-
out delay, all the Australian colonies ought to be
earnestly urged to provide for their defence on
some common basis. As yet, the Australian
colonies will not look at the matter in this light,
and are quite content to live on the beggarly
policy of "sufficient for the day is the evil
thereof." They must be roused from their
lethargy ; and, like ourselves, be compelled to
look the difficulties of the future in the face, and
prepare for them with prudence.

A union after the fashion of the United States
would be capable of organizing a military and
naval force quite sufficient to cope with all but
the most aggressive powers ; and, if attacked by
any such power, the colonies ought to be certain
of being amply and timeously protected by the
parent state. Such a union would involve con-
siderable expense both here and in the colonies ;
but, as a system of isolated defence is inadequate,
it ought to be abandoned for a union which
would give perfect strength and safety. New
South Wales and Victoria alone have any local
forces. But their military and naval arrange-
ments would be of little avail in any serious
contest with a foreign foe ; because they are not
welded into any uniform system. The cost ought
not to prevent a complete system of defence
being organized. The Australian colonies are
well able to pay for their protection from
external aggression as well as from internal
disorder. True, armies and navies cripple

108

THE BRITISH COLONIES :

the powers of competing traders, but they
also protect trade, and secure liberty and
just laws to those who are free, and are re-
solved to maintain their freedom. Hitherto,
the whole expense of upholding the peaceful re-
lations of all the colonies at the different Courts
in Europe and Asia, and at the innumerable com-
mercial ports throughout the world, and of
defending the whole empire, has almost invariably
been defrayed by the British people at home.
This ought not, in fairness, to remain so for ever,
and justice demands that a change ought to be
made without delay. Whatever measures may
be adopted for defraying the expense, I have no
doubt, in my own mind, as to the absolute
necessity for concerting measures for the defence
of our Australian colonies.

The question of federation as between the
colonies of Australia is one surrounded with
enormous difficulties ; and, although it does not
involve impracticability, it is not one to be
lightly dealt with. The Australian colonies are
still in a nebulous condition. They came re-
cently into life. They are still undergoing the
elemental processes of political existence. They
are separated from one another by wide dis-
tances, which are as yet undisturbed wilder-
nesses, and interpose all the hindrances arising
from isolated intercourse, unless by the sea. As
yet, they have no central rallying point, conse-
crated by the heroism of noble acts done in
defence of their new homes, or ennobled to
them by the patriotic deeds or the sacrifices
of their fellow-citizens in their national cause,

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 109

or endeared by emotions arising from similarity
of origin. Unless in the mother country, they
have no central point of attraction. New South
Wales and Victoria are both rivals for the
leadership; and all the colonies individually
have grown up to have aims and interests of
their own. The interests of the different colonies
are by no means identical ; and those interest-
which are common to them are not yet in a con-
dition to be easily modified by a powerful, over-
whelming sentiment of general interest, or com-
mon danger. To bring about a lasting union
between the Australian colonies will tax the
efforts of the most enlightened Colonial Secretary ;
and to succeed in effecting their permanent union
will rank as one of the highest efforts of benig-
nant statesmanship in the history of the British
empire.

With your permission, I now proceed briefly
to speak of our West Indian colonies and minor
dependencies, — which, inasmuch as they are
worked almost solely for the advantage of their
owners, ought properly to be called estates.

The West Indian colonies consist of Jamaica,
the islands extending southwards, and British
Guiana, all on the north seaboard of the South
American continent. They have very distinctive
and varied climates, and are all within the region
of the tropics. They are refreshed by the cool
sea breezes or the trade winds, and are exempt
from violent changes of unbearable heat or un-
endurable cold. The nights there are clear and
brilliant, the air serene, and a soft tranquilitv
pervades all nature.

110 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

The staple exports are sugar and coffee, but
have to compete with the continental protection
of the sugar industries. That protection is carried
out in France and Holland by means of ostensible
repayments of duty on importation, but, in reality,
by means of bounties on exportation, paid to a
few rich people in support of a monopoly, which
imposes a great burden on the national ex-
chequers of our foreign competitors, raises the
price on their own consumption, gives refined
sugars to the consumers of this country at a
much less price than they would otherwise be
able to obtain them, and endangers an extensive
trade in our midst by artificial and unjust com-
petition.

From 1822 to 1827, the average total amount
of imports and. exports of the "West Indies was
15 millions sterling ; but, whatever advantages
have been conferred on the West Indian colonies
by the emancipation of their slaves, — and, from a
moral point of view, these are, beyond all ques-
tion, very great, — their material prosperity has
been seriously injured, and their productive
capacity and their ability to pay for goods
from this country have been considerably
diminished. In 1830, the total amount of im-
ports and exports was 12^ millions sterling ; and,
in 1850, it had fallen to 8£ millions sterling.
However, there are now signs of a revival of
prosperity ; for, in 1870, the combined imports
and exports amounted in value to 15 millions
sterling. This favourable state of matters does
not, I am sorry to say, prove that the labour
question in the West Indies has been satisfac-

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. Ill

torily settled by Ilio demon tinted superiority of
free labour. The truth is, that the revival of
these colonies is coincident with and depend-
ent on the imported labour of Indian coolies,
Chinese, and Negroes, whose condition, how-
ever advantageous to the poor, miserable, nearly
famished labourers, is a form of personal servi-
tude for a term of years. This system of im-
ported labour is a serious difficulty, and involves
an exclusion of the natives from competition for
home labour. I think there ought to be esta-
blished in the West Indian plantations a large
and generous scheme of bestowing farms on free
negroes who, after the term of their covenanted
service has expired, chose to settle down
in the islands to which they had emigrated.
British Guiana has paid a £ of a million sterling
for coolie immigration.

Jamaica and Demerara, Trinidad and British
Guiana, are of the utmost importance to us.
Jamaica and Demerara have long been the source
of our supplies of sugar and rum ; and, if these
islands did not belong to us, France would have
beaten us out of the sugar market, and obtained
a monopoly of the trade. With fair competition
in the sugar trade, and with our present sources
of supply, we will hold our own in the sugar
market either at home or abroad.

All these islands are fairly prosperous, and
they have had their success increased by the
war which has, for some time, existed between
Spain and her colony Cuba. The trade of the
West Indies ought to be valuable to us ; for the
West Indian Islands send us exports to the value

112 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

of 5 millions sterling a-year, and buy goods from
us to the value of half that amount. Jamaica
alone yearly exports 1£ millions sterling worth
of produce. Guiana is the point d'appui of our
trade with the inland region of the north Amazon,
and with South Venezuela. Were these coun-
tries opened up to European commerce, our
trade in that part of the world would be greatly
increased. Trinidad is useful to us in connection
with North Venezuela and the Valley of the
Orinoco. There a large transit trade is conducted
with the United States, Canada, and several
European countries. Without these footholds,
we would have no chance of successfully coin-
petiting against the United States for the trade
of South America.

The island of Ceylon was first settled in 1505
by the Portuguese, and was taken from them by
the Dutch in the early part of the following
century. In 1795-6, it was seized by the
English Government, and annexed to the British
Indian Presidency of Madras ; and, in 1798, was
erected into a separate colony. In 1815, war
was declared against the native Government of
the interior ; and, after the defeat of King
Kandyan, the whole island was placed under
British rule. Its extreme length is 266 miles ;
its width is 140 miles ; and its area comprises
15£ million acres. Its population is nearly 2|
millions, of whom, in 1876, there were 2,000
belonging to the military establishment. Of the
total population, there are nearly 5,000 British,
14,000 other wliites of European descent, and
the rest are coloured people. In 1871, the census

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 113

showed a total population of 2£ millions, of
whom 1£ millions were Buddhists, and half a
million worshippers of Sives. . About a quarter
of a million were Christians, and all of them were
of European descent.

In 1871, the imports amounted to 4$ millions
sterling ; and, in 1878, to 5£ millions sterling :
and the exports of these years were fully 3£
millions and 4£ millions sterling. The commer-
cial intercourse with Ceylon is mainly with the
United Kingdom and British India. The staple
of Ceylon, coffee, was exported, in 1878, to the
value of 2£ millions sterling. British manufac-
tured cottons to the value of a quarter of a million
sterling were imported in 1878 into Ceylon, and
of twice that value in 1875. Of the total trade
of the island, England alone has from 4 millions
to 5 millions sterling, which are absorbed by
English merchants, manufacturers, and planters,
and become a great source of wealth in this
country. Here, however, as in India, our suc-
cess has borne hard upon the native people, who
are almost wholly engaged in the service of the
Europeans in growing coffee to enrich the
English coffee planters, and, if you will, to bring
wealth into this country. In Ceylon, there is
no native middle class, and no fusion of the Por-
tuguese, Dutch, and English races, who have
successively conquered and retained the country
for their own special advantage. Here our
riches are placed on a treacherous foundation ;
for the great bulk of the people are always
hanging on the verge of starvation. Gain is the
prominent aim of the mercantile principle of

114 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

government, and the people and everything else
must be subordinated to this primary object,
the dictates of humanity become darkened, the
eternal ideas of justice become warped by a
narrow sense of worldly interests, and the ruler
as well as his subjects become degraded. Than
the exactions of a modern trade policy of govern-
ment, nothing can be more severe, nothing more
unjust, nothing more tyrannical. In Ceylon,
there is neither the debt, nor the discontent, nor
the misery which we find in our colossal Indian
empire ; but the natives of Ceylon, the Singhal-
ese, the Tamuls, and the Malays, are exactly
what they were in the time of the Dutch and
Portuguese governments. We certainly do not
allow the natives to be so cruelly treated as they
used formerly to be by their previous conquerors ;
but we have done little or nothing to raise them
from the misery in which we found them, and we
have had no influence whatever upon their inner
life and conscience. Neither the Mauritius, nor
Ceylon, nor the West Coast settlements, have
much for which to thank us.

The present constitution of Ceylon was
established in 1831 and 1833. A Governor is
appointed by the Crown ; and, aided by the
Executive Council, carries on the administration
of the island. In 1867, the public revenue
amounted to less than 1 million sterling, and, in
1878, was fully 1 £ millions sterling ; and the
revenue for the corresponding years was under
1 million sterling, and 1£ millions sterling. The
principal sources of revenue are customs duties,
licenses, sales, and rents of public land. The

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 115

expenditure i& chiefly for the judicial estublish-
inent and contribution to the imperial ex-
chequer for military expenditure. The public
debt was, in 1878, reduced to £350,000.

Hong Kong is the last of the minor depen-
dencies to which I can direct your attention,
which, I am afraid, I have almost wearied
beyond the hope of pardon.

It is situated on the south-east coast of Chin; i.
at the mouth of the Canton river, and about 40
miles east of Macao. It was formerly an integral
part of China, and was ceded to Great Britain in
1841. It is mainly used as a factory for British
commerce with China, and as a British military
and naval station. Its length is 11 miles, and
its breadth from 2 to 5 miles, and its area is
29 English square miles. Its total population,
in 1876, was 140,000, of whom 6,000 were
Europeans, 2,600 Indians, and 115,000 Chinese.
Of the Europeans, 869 were British, and 1,367
Portuguese.

The trade of Hong Kong is virtually part of
the commerce of China, and is chiefly carried
on with Great Britain, the United States, and
Germany. Its chief article of export to Britain
is tea, and the British imports are chiefly textile
fabrics, especially cottons for China.

The administration is conducted by a Gover-
nor appointed by the Crown, and he is aided by
an Executive, and also by a Legislative Council.
In 1871, the revenue was £176,000, and, in
1878, was £189,526 ; and the expenditure,
respectively, £187,000 and £182,104. The
Government of Hong Kong pays the British

116 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

Home Government £20 000 a-year as a military
contribution to the national exchequer.

This much, which is very little, must suffice
for what I have to say as to the minor colonies
and dependencies of the British crown.

I now wish to direct your attention to some
points of great national as well as colonial
interest in connection with our gigantic, wide-
spread, and heterogeneous Colonial empire. All
the points which I am to notice refer to the
consolidation of our Colonial empire, and are
comprised under the heads of emigration, com-
mercial policy, defence, and confederation. Al-
ready, in regard to the three great groups into
which, as I think, our Colonial possessions
naturally fall, and into which they will naturally
gravitate, I have made several observations ; but,
having concluded my treatment of these different
groups, I wish to bring my remarks on this great
question to an end by considering these points
very briefly from a general or imperial point of
view.

Emigration is an absolute necessity of our
existence. We have a superabundant popula-
tion, and our territoryat home is too narrowfor us.
Land in this country does not receive, and is not
likely to receive, that increase of capital requisite
to enable it to feed our whole population. Our
commercial prosperity ebbs and flows, and confers
great wealth on some ; and, while increasing the
general welfare, leaves many who can depart for
a wider sphere of activity than they have at
home, and many who would go abroad were they
able to afford it, in a worse position than before.

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 117

The existence of the former class explains why
emigration is more active in prosperous times, and
of the latter suggests the necessity of something
being done by the state for their benefit. The good
cultivatable land of the British colonies is un-
limited. The certainty of arriving at a moderate
competence, and the probability of reaching con-
siderable wealth, in the British colonies are
unquestionable. For example, we have only
78,000,000 acres of cultivatable land in the
United Kingdom ; New South Wales has more
than 800,000,000 acres. We have a population
of 34,000,000 ; New South Wales has 600,000.
Again, the area of cultivation in Australia is
10,000 square miles out of a total of 3,000,000
acres, and in the Cape of Good Hope there are
1,000 square miles out of a total of 1,000,000 acres.
I have thus indicated the object and the means I
have in view in pressing upon you the import-
ance of emigration to relieve the labour market
when overstocked at home. In the absence of
more efficient means than exist at present, I
think that, for carrying out that object, a regular
system of state emigration to the British colonies
at the expense of the nation is absolutely
essential. Such a national system would involve
the choice of an appropriate situation, and of
funds to carry on operations in the new home of
the emigrants till they were able to maintain
themselves. How far my object can be carried
out by private associations, maintained at the
cost of wealthy citizens of the mother country, or
of the colonies, I leave the rich and the benevo-
lent to decide for themselves. What I do know

118 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

is this : If any one says I am advocating a
system of pauper relief, I beg leave to say
that relief to the needy to enable them to help
themselves is far better and more economical
than to sustain the destitute in perpetual poverty,
and leave them an everlasting burden upon the
industrious portion of the community, and a
curse to themselves and everybody connected
with them.

The truest system of political economy is to
open up the means of employment and usefulness
for all, and to guide the people towards that
employment. Men, as well as bales of cotton, or
machinery, have a real marketable value ; and,
if they are induced to settle elsewhere than in
our own colonies, we are very likely to be so
much the poorer by the loss of their service.

The commercial policy of the empire should
be uniform. For my part, I see no reason for a
different commercial policy by us as regards the
colonies, or by the colonies as regards us, than I
do as regards the commercial relations of
England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Free trade should be the commercial policy
adopted by the colonies as well as maintained
by ourselves. We have gained immeasurably
by the adoption of and adherence to that policy,
and the colonies would reap as great benefits
from the adoption of the policy of free trade as
we have done.

The defence of the colonies is a pressing
necessity, and cannot safely be neglected, or left
in its present condition. Defence against what ?
Not against internal disorder, not against one

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 1 1 -)

another, not ;i«r;iinst the mother countiy. But
against the possible aggressions of the external
foes of the empire at large. The responsibility
of the mother countiy to maintain its full rights
in every quarter of the globe, where its rights
are endangered, or its subjects ill treated, or its
general policy thwarted by ignorance, envy,
malice, or covetousness, is great, — is greater than
is generally supposed. Yet the British nation
can allow no act of injustice to be perpetrated
against its honour, or against its meanest citizen,
in any part of the world. How is this exalted,
this grand, this beneficent policy, to be executed ?
By our army alone ? No. By our naval power
alone ? No. But by the truthfulness, the justice,
the fairness of our demands ; and by the resolution
and energy with which the national policy is
supported by the whole of a great, free, and
energetic people. Let us not neglect the art of
war, nor the qualities which enable us to main-
tain our rights ; but let us, above all things,
remain steadfast in those firm, just, and equitable
principles, which we have received from our
ancestors, and which have made our country the
home of freedom, and the centre of the commerce
of the world.

How are we most effectually to do so ? By
a wise and prudent forethought as to our rights
and duties. We are supreme at sea. But
some dire calamity might, in a moment, over-
whelm our fleet with destruction, or some point
in the general line of defence might be neglected
and seized by the enemy ; and thus our own
homes, and all our colonies, might fall as

120 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

speedily, and, for a time at least, and perhaps
for ever, as the power of Spain on the destruction
of the Armada, or of the Dutch on the capture
of St Eustatius.

A power in possession of Sydney, or New-
castle, and also of King George's Sound, would,
I believe, hold the whole of the continent of
Australia in its iron grasp. Mare Island, used
as an arsenal of the United States, is 6,400 miles
from Sydney ; and Vladivostock, a Russian base
of operations in the North Pacific, is 5,000 miles
from Sydney. What do these two facts warn us
to do ? Prepare for war against the United
States or Russia ? Not at all. They show us
— if you will examine the map — that Vladi-
vostock is 8,000 miles, and Mare Island 7,000
miles, nearer Sydney than Plymouth ; and also
that, in the event of our being suddenly involved
in war with either of those powers, we would be
placed at a great disadvantage in defending our
Australian possessions. Since the Crimean war,
in 1854, Russia has advanced her military forces
not less than 3,000 miles nearer our possessions
in Australia. Widely-extended empire has its
advantages, but it also has numerous and heavy
responsibilities. To allow the colonial harbours,
which afford the best foothold for our trade and
commerce, to be taken out of our hands would
be an irreparable national disaster which cannot
be exaggerated ; and to allow them to remain in
the hands of another power would very much
diminish our external trade and commerce.

Those who think we live in or near the age
of universal peace are living in a fool's paradise.

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 12 1

Those who think we have nothing whatever to
fear from the quarrels of European nations would
do well to study the history of Europe for the
last century, and the true significance to be
attached to the vast armaments in France and
Germany, Austria and Russia. Those who think
we can afford to be indifferent to what is pass-
ing around us in the neighbourhood of our own
possessions are blind, blind guides, and are cer-
tain to land into the ditch all who trust in them,
and to inflict some terrible calamity, some in-
famous disgrace upon our name and character.
Unless the whole power of this country, material
as well as moral, is clearly and unequivocally
placed on the side of general peace, I look for-
ward to a great European conflict, at no distant
period, as an absolute certainty.

Federation was the last point to which I was
to call your attention on the present occasion.
I have already partially dealt with this subject;
and, in so far as they fall into natural groups, the
proposal to join the colonies into something like
legislative unity, has my most entire approval
and cordial sympathy. The confederation of
which I have now to speak is a very different
matter, and involves consequences of much greater
moment than that of which I spoke at an earlier
part of the evening. I am quite alive to the
grandeur of imperial confederation ; but I have
no faith in its fitness to contribute to the welfare
and happiness of the people throughout Her
Majesty's wide-spread dominions. Were the
confederation of a legislative kind, in the same
sense as the Union between the United King-

122 THE BRITISH COLONIES :

dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the colonies
must send representatives to both Houses of
Parliament ; must send to this country, as their
representatives, men who could not possibly be
able to deal with our multifarious objects of par-
liamentary concern ; must send representatives
who would be utterly out of place, so far as prac-
tical utility was concerned, in either House of
the British Parliament ; and must find them-
selves helplessly crushed by the overwhelming
power of the representatives of the mother
country. Whatever may be in the distant future,
there does not appear to me to be, under present
circumstances, the slightest advantage in at
tempting to consolidate the empire by a legis-
lative union of all its parts in one great Parlia-
ment of the whole.

Is there any other form of confederation ad-
vocated ? Yes, there is another ; but, to my
mind, it does not appear to be confederation at
all. It consists of a Council, whose president
would be the British Colonial Minister, and
whose ordinary members would be representa-
tives from all the different colonies. The pro-
posal is utterly impracticable ; and, even though
practicable, is utterly useless. On the first point,
the colonies have not asked for any such council,
and they could never agree as to the amount of
representation each ought to have were it to be
created. On the second point, as a consultative
council, the whole advantages of the proposal
are already obtained by the establishment in
London of Residential Agents of all the great
colonies, by the constant intercommunication

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 123

which takes place between these agents and the
Colonial Secretary, and by the easy access
which every Residential Agent has to the
members of both Houses of Parliament, and
to the general public, with the view of
bringing the demands or complaints of their
constituents before the legislature of the United
Kingdom, the press, the people at large, and the
whole world. Further, and on the supposition
that a deliberative council is intended to be con-
stituted, I believe, that either the Colonial
Secretary would become the mere puppet of such
a council, or he would be the sole ruling spirit of
such an assembly. In the former case, the affairs
of the empire would suffer ; and, in the latter,
the council is unnecessary.

Gentlemen, the rapid growth of the British
colonies is something wonderful, and is un-
paralleled in the history of the world. Let us
give full scope and freedom to this growth. Let
the colonies expand, in their own way, as much
as possible. Let us avoid all attempts to restrain
them in the swaddling clothes of infancy ; but
let us give them, as our favourite offspring, all
the advantages, as far as we can, of our experi-
ence, our enterprise, and our wealth. Let
us encourage emigration to our own colonies
rather than to other countries. Let us, in a
firm yet kindly spirit, do all we can to
encourage our fellow-subjects in the colonies to
become great, powerful, and free as we ourselves
have become great, powerful, and free. Let
us establish a full and complete line of de-
fence for our whole empire in a broad and

124 THE BRITISH COLONIES.

prudent spirit, and capable of resisting all the
possible contingencies of the present century at
least. Let us encourage all our colonies to
walk in the footsteps of equal freedom and just
laws. Let us urge upon them to join in such
groups as their position, necessities, and
common interests demand. Finally, let us, at
all times, in all seasons, and in all parts of the
world, be prepared to act our part as the parent
state of a fraternity of free, independent, self-
governing communities, which do not require
confederation in order to be placed on a footing
of political equality, but already enjoy all the
advantages of such equality as integral parts
of the British empire, united together in the
strongest of all unions, namely, of a common
origin, common language, and common interest.

JAMBS P. MATHEW AND CO., PKINTEKS, COWGATE, DUNDEE.

OUR INDIAN EMPIRE.

DUNDEE :
HUNTED BY WINTER, DUNCAN AND CO,, CASTLE STREET.

TWO SPEECHES

ON

OTJK INDIAN EMPIEE:

ITS KXTKILXAL RELATIONS

AND

ITS MORAL AND MATERIAL PROGRESS AND CONDITION
DELIVERED IN DUNDEE,

BY

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, M.A.

*H

BARRISTER- AT- LAW.

DUNDEE:

WINTER, DUNCAN & Co. 10 CASTLE STREET.

187ft,

Dedication.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD CRANBROOK,

§ecretaru of <State for Inbin.

MY LORD,

Having attentively watched the course of recent
events in the East, I, sometime ago, resolved to give my fellow
townsmen in Dun.dee a brief outline of the External Eelations
and Internal Condition of British India. I accordingly
delivered the Speeches contained in the following pages. How
far some of my views, enunciated several months ago, are in
harmony with the Foreign Indian policy of Her Majesty's
Government will easily be seen by aD, who take the trouble to
to compare my first Speech with the latest information com-
municated to Parliament, without the necessity of my pointing
out the coincidences, or the discrepancies. Where there is
discrepancy, I naturally feel sceptical about my own opinion ;
where there is coincidence, I naturally feel confidence in my
own conclusion : because Her Majesty's Government are,
beyond all doubt, in a far better position to arrive at a just
and prudent determination than any private individual can
possibly be.

VI. DEDICATION.

For the great favour your Lordship has conferred upon me
by kindly acceding to my request that my two Speeches might
be dedicated to your Lordship, I beg to tender you my most
sincere and hearty thanks. Allow me, however, to avail myself
of this opportunity to state, as in honour I am bound to do,
that your Lordship is in no way, and ought not to be held,
responsible for a single statement or opinion expressed in this
pamphlet. I make this timely, although perhaps unnecessary
acknowledgment, lest your Lordship should be accused of
opinions which ought to be solely imputed to me.

Thoroughly convinced that impartial history will approve
of the Eastern policy of Her Majesty's Ministers, and that
none of your predecessors in the high office you now hold —
hold with the approbation of the country at large — ever took
a deeper interest in the welfare and prosperity of British India
than your Lordship,

I have the honour to be,
MY LORD,

Your most obedient servant,

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.

22nd August 1879:
TERKACE, BROUGHTY FERRY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

IIKST SPEECH: EXTERNAL RELATIONS.

Pages 1 to 39.

Europe has passed through critical period. — Late war closed by
International Treaty of Berlin. — Intimate relations between Dundee
and India. — Unless Ottoman Government reformed, momentous changes
impending. — Britain must have future policy clearly defined. — She
is determined to defend India. — External danger to India from
Russia alone. — Britain must defend freedom of trade and navigation
and maritime supremacy, guard interests in Egypt, and promote good
government in Asia. — Reasons for acquiring Cyprus. — Asia-Minor
important to us in regard to sympathetic influences, and to overland
route to India. — Britain's duties under Anglo-Turkish Convention. —
Nature of tribes in Central Asia, and of their territories. — Russia's
advance in Central Asia should not alarm us, but should be
attentively watched. — India impregnable except on North-west
Provinces. — Past measures adopted against dangers of British and
Russian territories being coterminous in Asia have failed. — Nature
of tribes and territories on North frontier. — Four phases of British
policy towards Afghanistan. — Attitude towards Sheri Ali condemned.
—Vindication of late Afghan war. — General principles for a peace
with Afghanistan. — British policy towards Persia expensive, and
doubtful in results. — Persia will probably be absorbed by Russia. —
Burmah causing excitement, but does not call for British inter-
vention.— Further annexation of Burmah should not be encouraged. —
Duty «.>!' r.ritain u> wards India.

vili. TABLE OF roNTKNTS.

SECOND SPEECH: PROGRESS AND CONDITION.

r<t0eg 41 to 85.

Statistics of India and different Provinces. — Sanitary Improve-
ments.— Condition of people of India. — National system of
Education. — Indian Press. — Missionary enterprise. — Government
Officials. — Local Government. — Military forces, cost, and reduc-
tion.— Finances. — Indian Communications. — Land Revenue of Pro-
vinces.— Salt monopoly. — Opium monopoly. — Loss by exchange. —
Administration of Justice, — Agricultural produce, food, cotton, jute,
rhea, silk, tea, coffee. — Irrigation. — Trade and Commerce. — Cotton
exports and trade, seed, rice, jute and jute trade, tea, wheat,
coffee. — Suez Canal. — Indian trade might be developed in Afghan-
istan, Turkestan, and Tibet. — Policy advocated towards India.

OUE INDIAN EMPIRE

ITS EXTERNAL RELATIONS.

(DELIVERED IN DUNDEE, 7m APRIL 1879.)

MR. PROVOST AND GENTLEMEN :

No one, who, for the last two or three years,
has attentively watched the course of events in the
East, can deny that Europe has passed through a very
critical period of its history. Indeed, since the revolt
of the Bosnians and Herzegovinians against the
Ottoman rule, and still more since the Czar declared
war against the Sultan in 1876, the peace of the
whole of Europe has, several times, trembled in the
balance, and the greater part of the civilized world
has been on the brink of a frightful and gigantic war.
The truth is that Russia has long been intriguing to
paralyse our influence in European and Asiatic Turkey,
and on the shores of the Mediterranean ; and in
executing her schemes, she has been availing herself
of her influence in Central Asia in such a manner as to
demand our most serious attention. We must, there-
fore, keep our eyes open as to what is happening in

2 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

Europe and in Asia. Since Russia became mistress
of Georgia, she has had the keys of Armenia
in her hands, and, with the keys of Armenia, the
sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which open
up Turkey in Asia to the blighting influence of her
spurious humanitarianism. With Roumania and the
new Bulgarian State under her power, the next great
effort of Russia will be the expulsion of the Ottoman race
as rulers from European Turkey ; and with her frontiers
continually approaching nearer and nearer the ter-
ritories of British India, we have, at no distant period,
the certain prospect of being called upon to settle, for
some generations, what is to be the form of govern-
ment, and who are to be the rulers, at Constantinople
and its surrounding territory, and what the future
relations and possessions of Russia and Britain in
Asiatic Turkey and Central Asia. At the present
moment, no two powers in Europe can be said, in the
proper sense of the word, to be allies. The interests
of the great Western Powers in the future govern-
ment of European Turkey or Asiatic Turkey are
by no means identical ; and those of Asiatic Turkey
and of Central Asia are almost exclusively Russian
and British. We must, therefore, as of old, be pre-
pared to look after our own affairs ; and, if necessary,
to defend the interests of the British Empire.

Happily, by the efforts of European statesmen,
the deplorable and calamitous effects of war, for
the present, have been confined to the Turks and
the Slavs. Happily, the interests of the contending
parties, and of Europe in general, have been definitely
settled by an international treaty, which, whatever its
imperfections, will, at all events, secure the peace of

ITS EXTERNAL IM-I. ATM >VS.

Europe for some years to come. At several important
junctures during the recent war, I thought it my duty
to express my views in a public manner upon the late
war as regards our own and European interests ; and
I am glad to know that my humble efforts to keep the
real questions involved clearly before the minds of some
of my former fellow townsmen have not been altogether
useless. The time has now arrived, as it seems to me,
to lay before you some information as to the external
relations of that mighty Eastern Empire which has
had, and must always have, no small effect in defining
our foreign policy, and in determining our attitude
towards both of the parties lately carrying on
war against one another. The general ignorance
which exists in our midst on Indian affairs will doubt-
less extenuate, if not excuse, my well - meant
efforts to do something to dispel misapprehensions
which might lead to grave consequences, and might
ultimately compel us to make a stupendous effort to
repel the open or insidious attacks of an astute foe,
or to maintain our supremacy in India against internal
revolt.

Considering the intimate commercial relations
between this great and industrious town and India,
the source whence you obtain the raw material for
your great staple trade, and considering the great
interests involved in our national connection with
India, I am justified in asking your serious attention
to that part of my subject upon which I am to
speak to you on this occasion. My subject falls
naturally into two portions — namely, the external
relations of our Indian Empire ; and secondly, the
internal relations. To-night, I have to ask your kind

4 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

attention to the first portion, and, on a subsequent
occasion, I hope to have the honour of addressing you
on the second.

While I am firmly persuaded that the Treaty
of Berlin will be carried into execution, I have not
the slightest doubt that momentous changes as
to the Ottoman Empire are hidden in the womb
of futurity. Turkey has got her last chance of setting
her house in order. She has lost many large and
rich provinces, and her power as a great and en-
during empire is seriously endangered. She is upheld
by the bayonets of foreign powers, and her hereditary
foe will renew his intrigues to effect her downfall.
Permanently to retain the Turkish Sultan at Con-
stantinople is an utter impossibility, and, sooner or
later, the Mohammedan ruler must give way to a
Christian sovereign, seated on the throne in the great
city on the Bosphorus. But, whatever may happen
in the future, the great Western Powers of Europe
will oppose, and, if need be, the powerful countries
of Austro- Hungary and Britain will prevent, by all
means at their command, the conquest of Constan-
tinople and the surrounding territory by the Russian
people. The opinions of the great statesmen of
Western Europe are almost unanimously in favour
of this view, and have been endorsed by the several
countries which sent representatives to Berlin to bring
about a peace on a European basis. Diverse as the
interests of the different European States were as
regards the so-called Eastern Question, there is not the
shadow of a doubt that, if Russia had obtained pos-
session of the Turkish capital, and had insisted upon
the full rights of a conqueror, a great European war

ITS EXTERNAL KKLATIONS. 5

would have been inevitable, and the British and
Austrian forces would have fought, side by side, on
behalf of the Ottoman empire, till victory crowned
their efforts in defence of their 'own interests, and
of the interests of Western civilization, and of
the world at large. On this point, there ought
to be no room for doubt or mistake. To be under
any misapprehension on this subject may lead to
grave disasters and terrible calamities. Observe to
what the permanent conquest of Constantinople by
the Czar would necessarily lead. As regards Austria,
it would raise the ambitious aspirations of Pansclavonic
dreamers, endangering the stability of the Austro-Hun-
garian monarchy. Do you imagine that the statesmen
of Austria would calmly allow these aspirations to be
realised ? As regards ourselves, it would place Russia
in a situation to control our passage to India by the
Suez Canal, and to extend her dominion over Asia-
Minor, and to hold possession of one of the great
highways, and, perhaps, at no distant period, the
most important and speediest approach, to our mighty
Empire in the East. Do you suppose that any con-
siderable body of our countrymen would have
allowed such a position to be held by the only foreign
power which, so far as human eye can foresee, can
ever endanger our supremacy in our Indian dominions ?
As regards the general interests of Western Europe,
it would have brought a strong military, semi-
barbarous people into the very heart of Europe, and
would have led to pretensions as preposterous and
absurd as they are wild and chimerical, and to contests
which would have been as fierce, bloody, and destruc-
tive as the wars carried on, in early times, by the

6 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE !

barbarous hordes which arose to power on the ruins of
the Roman Empire, and, for many generations, involved
Europe in the most horrible cruelties, and the blackest
midnight. Were these considerations likely to escape
the most enlightened statesmen of our time ?
Under such circumstances, Her Majesty's Ministers
were wisely on the alert to prevent any possible
danger arising against the British Empire ;
and they would have been justly condemned
to eternal infamy had they neglected to take
precautionary measures for the defence of the
high interests committed to their charge. How they
have fulfilled their duty, future history will best show ;
but, I believe, they richly deserve the honour and
the confidence which the nation, as a whole, has be-
stowed upon them. For the present, at all events,
European interests need not further give us any cause
for serious alarm. But, on the other hand, Asiatic
interests must earnestly engage our attention, and to
the consideration of these I now proceed.

As to these matters, we must endeavour to reach
£ome clear and well-defined principles, and, at the
same time, attempt to lay the foundations of a prudent,
just, and yet flexible policy, in defence of our Indian
dominions and our Indian fellow -subjects.

My fundamental proposition is that we have
undertaken the sovereignty of India, and are deter-
mined to defend it. The sovereignty of India was not
undertaken when, in 1876, the legislature authorised
the Queen to assume the title of Empress of India in
all matters directly concerned with the government of
I India. It was taken in hand by the people of this
I country as far back as 1773, when the greatness of the

ITS EXTERN \ I. DELATIONS. 7

East Indian possessions compelled the British legisla-
ture to interfere directly in the government of the East
India Company's affairs as regards matters political.
It has been, for more than a century, sanctioned by the
clearly-defined and unequivocal action of the nation by
its public acts, and, for long years, by the conduct of
its responsible statesmen. It was finally and irrevo-
cably undertaken when the possessions, jurisdiction, and
authority of the East India Company passed into
the hands of Her Majesty by an act of the British
legislature in 1857. To change the nature of all these
public acts is impossible ; and to attempt to do so
would be the strongest possible evidence of the ap-
proaching decrepitude of the British Empire. The
power of ^^tajr^pr^ec^s^njiiaLfrom internal disorder
and external aggression ; and I humbly believe that
it is the umversaTwish and the fixed resolution of the
people of this country to fulfil their obligations to India
and its people. Nay more, I feel assured that, if,
directly or indirectly, our power in Asia were to be
assailed, the whole of Her Majesty's subjects would
rally round the throne, and defend British India
against any and every aggressor who attacked, or
even menaced, or seriously threatened to endanger,
our supremacy in Hindustan.

But not only is our national reputation involved
in our relations with India, we have large
pecuniary and material interests in India, — interests
which we are not likely to be foolish enough to allow
other people to manage for us. We have spent
millions upon millions of money in securing our
Empire in the East, in developing its trade, and in
improving its communications. These sums are a

8 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE !

portion of our national wealth, and to allow them to
be under the control of any invader would be an
instance of transcendental generosity of which the
world has as yet never had any experience.

We are told, it is true, that there is no one seek-
ing to invade India or likely to do so ; and, if any
attempts were made to invade it, disaster would
necessarily befall our foes. I am convinced that, in
the present generation, there is no known power
capable of overthrowing our authority and dominion
in India. But I am not prepared to believe that
threats or feints may not be made by Russia, either
for the purpose of keeping us in a state of alarm
and agitation, or with the view of paralysing our in-
fluence in the councils of Europe. Besides, Russia is
the only great power which can really endanger our
peace in the East ; and her rapid advance into Central
Asia, her intrigues with the late Ameer of Afghanistan,
and her recent efforts to strengthen her position in Asia-
Minor, all go to prove the necessity of being on our
guard against her in Asia. Our Indian Empire rests
on a European basis. We would therefore be mad to
close our eyes as to what is taking place in the Black
Sea, on the Bosphorus. and in the Mediterranean.
But we would be infatuated were we to overlook the
long-cherished aspirations of a large and influential
portion of the Russian people, who believe, and
publicly assert, that any loss of our prestige in
India would bring us face to face with a hostile Asiatic
league with Russia at its head, and, at all hazards,
are ready to make no inconsiderable sacrifices to
endanger our position in the East, and are fully
persuaded of the certain and inevitable victory of the

ITS EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 9

mission of Holy Russia in Asia, and even within the
principal dominions of British India. In Russia,
there are large numbers of the people who look upon the
fertile and extensive plains of India as a kind of pan i-
dise, in which all the good things of this world
are to be obtained by defeating the small British
armies in India, and by taking possession of what to
them would be a land flowing with milk and honey.
Hitherto our main object has been to stop the progress
of Russia in Europe, and uphold the Turkish Empire
both in Europe and Asia as a barrier to Russia ; but,
within the past few years, we have been roused into
great activity by the rapid advances of Russia in the
direction of Herat and Cabul, and we have now no other
alternative than to allow Russia to hold Afghanistan,
or to take political control of it ourselves. From
1814 to 1830, we never dreamed of Russian interference
in Indian affairs, but, for more than a quarter of a
century, not a few have seen that, on a suitable
occasion, such interference was not improbable.

This state of things clearly points out what we
ought to do. It shows us what our European interests
involved are — the maintenance of freedom of trade
and navigation, and our maritime supremacy ; and
that our Asiatic interests are bound up with the
present and future destiny of the Ottoman Empire,
and its subordinate dependency Egypt ; and with
the happiness and prosperity of the inhabitants of
Asia-Minor, Central Asia, Persia, and Afghanistan.

As the freedom of trade and navigation depends
upon, and has its life-blood from, our maritime su-
premacy, I would merely observe that we must ever be
ready to make great sacrifices for the purpose of

10 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

keeping our naval forces in a perfect state of efficiency,
and that thus, and thus alone, so long as the great
continental powers maintain their huge armies, can we
hope to be at peace, and in full possession of our wide-
spread dominions, and our liberties both at home and
abroad.

As regards the maintenance of the Ottoman Em-
pire, the Treaty of Berlin will sufficiently guard it
from present serious hostile attacks ; and as regards
Egypt, and its reckless ruler, we may trust to a French
and British arrangement being sufficient to bring
matters at Cairo to a satisfactory termination. Let us,
therefore, see what are the direct effects of recent
events in the East upon our affairs, and what effects
they will probably have upon our future conduct.

By our possession of Malta and Gibraltar, we have
a predominating influence in the Mediterranean.

What, then, were the reasons for acquiring posses-
sion of the Island of Cyprus ? They were — (1.) that,
in the event of the Sultan being unable to pacify and
rule his subjects in Asia-Minor in harmony with the
enlightened views of Western Europe, he must give
way to a power which can satisfy the requirements of
justice and good policy ; and (2.) that the possession
of Cyprus will greatly enable us to fulfil our obligations
to the interesting peoples who occupy the countries
which are on the border edges of the Mediterranean.
Believing, as I do, that we have as much territory as
we can well wish to hold, or hope to govern with
success, I hope that the Sultan and his Ministers will
be able to govern Asia-Minor to the entire satisfaction
of Europe ; but, well knowing the weakness and
corruption of the Ottoman Empire, I shall not be

ITS i:\Ti.i;\.\L RBtATtOa 1 1

surprised if the Sultan will, in the end, and before
long, be obliged to confess that he has not the power
to carry his wishes as to Asia-Minor into execution.
In the meantime, our intervention cannot fail to be very
useful to the Sultan, and afterwards, if his failure
should be complete and acknowledged, cannot fail to
be of vast service to us in the future government of
Asia-Minor. Cyprus was not acquired by us on
its own account. It was taken over by us in
consequence of our fear that, at some future yet not
distant period, we would be obliged to undertake
the government of Asia-Minor. If this fear should
turn out to be unfounded, Cyprus can be handed back
to the Sultan, or some new arrangement can be made
in regard to that Island, so as to secure its prosperity
and future welfare. If, on the other hand, we are obliged
to see to the welfare of 4#P=^Iifc»^and its various
peoples, we will, by our^^session oMJvprus, hold an
advantageous situation/jjfmch will eila-lble us to act
with more power and celerity than we could otherwise
have done. Therefore, mose who object/to our occupa-
tion of Cyprus on grouncn^&culiar to the Island itself,
must raise their minds to amgher subject than the
Island itself, and must endeavour to see its connection
with our probable future relations to Armenia and the
neighbouring country. In Asia-Minor, as in every
part of the Turkish Empire, it is the duty of all the
co-signatures of the Berlin Treaty to enforce security
of person and property, the impartial administration
of justice, and the abolition of unjust and irregular
taxes. For this end, an effective police force, and a just
administration of the laws already in force would have
the most beneficial results throughout eveiy part of the

12 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

Ottoman Empire. Moreover, as far as we can, we
especially ought to advance the interests of free and
constitutional government in Turkey, and above all
things prevent Asia- Minor from falling into the
hands of any despotic power. Our obligations under
the Convention of June 1878 are clear and un-
ambiguous. If the Sultan performs his duty to
his Asiatic subjects, we are bound to aid him with all
the strength of the national resources ; but, if he fail
to do so, we must find some other means than the
Ottoman power to obtain the primary rights of
political union for the inhabitants of Asia-Minor.

As regards India, the importance of Asia- Minor
is twofold : 1st, Disturbances in Asia-Minor are apt to
be propagated towards India, and dangerously to excite
our fellow-subjects in our Eastern possessions ; and,
2ndly, Asia-Minor affords great facilities for
railway communication between India and this
country, which must always be the centre of
national policy and military power of our Indian
Empire.

On the first point, I need merely remind you of
the subtle influences of alarm and panic so common
amongst Eastern people, and of the invasions of
Asia, originating from the neighbourhood of Asiatic
Turkey — of the invasions of Alexander the Great and
of the Mohammedan conquerors, and, in later times,
of the rapid southern advances of the Hussian people.
The last war between Russia and Turkey having
endangered the permanent existence of the Sultan's
power in Europe, and the Asiatic provinces being
hostile to Ottoman rule, we were brought face to
face with the alternative of Russian conquest, or

ITS EXTERNAL UK NATIONS. 13

British supremacy, in Asia-Minor. Between these
two, no other alternative, in a few years, would have
been open to us. Which alternative, then, were we
called upon to adopt ? Which alternative do you
think ought to have been adopted ? Between British
supremacy and Russian conquest, whether we
consider the human rights involved, or the rights and
capacity of the two greatest Asiatic nations to govern
alien peoples, or the advantages to the peace of
the world at large, I, at all events, have no difficulty
in making my choice. As the friends of free and
constitutional government throughout the world, we
ought to guard against the possibility of Asia-Minor
falling into the hands of a despotic sovereign, or a
semi-barbarous people, alien to it in race, language, and
religion, and we ought, by all lawful means, to
do all we can to extend the inestimable advantages
of free and enlightened government to this portion of
the world, rich in natural resources, and full of
highest promise to the welfare of the human race.
Our position in India makes us deeply concerned in
the happiness of the inhabitants of Asia- Minor ; and
if, by a policy of selfish isolation, we neglect the duty
which clearly devolves upon us in regard to them,
we will be blind to our own highest interests, and will
reap a bitter harvest for our weakness and pusillanimity.
Our duties as to Asia-Minor do not arise from the Con-
vention of June 1878. They spring from the nature of
our Empire in India, and they are merely formulated,
not originated, by that much maligned instrument.

Let us not be alarmed at the supposed enormous ex-
tent of our duties as they are disclosed before our eyes.
What are they? To cause the rights of property to be

14 oun INDIAN EMPIRE:

respected, to enforce security of life and members, to see
to the just administration of the laws, and to compel all
unjust and irregular taxes to be abolished. Are these
objects worthy of our Empire, worthy of our high
character in the history of the world as leaders in the
foremost ranks of civilization and progress ? Yes,
they are highly worthy of us ; and, doubtless, when
the time comes, if come it should, for the enforcement
of these primary rights of mankind, no public man
will refuse to lend a helping hand in the restoration
of an industrious and peaceful people, in the
development of the great capacities for trade,
commerce, and agriculture of one of the most
favoured places of the earth, and in the introduction
of Western ideas and practices into that once happy
and smiling region.

With regard to the second point to which
I referred, I have to say that, whatever may be
the route which the future Asiatic Railway will
take, whether the route by the Tigris and Euphrates
or by some modifications of that course, Asia-Minor
will be the territory from which it will start from the
shores of the Mediterranean. Probably, before the end
of the present century, the Cape and the Suez Canal
routes to India may be abandoned as the main high-
ways of our intercourse with India, and a great
central Asiatic Railway will still further abridge the
distance between ourselves and our great dependency
in the East. If such a railway is to be undertaken,
it will involve a vast outlay, must be national in its
character, and must not be undertaken until after the
fullest inquiry, and most ample consideration. With
such high duties before us, with such mighty and

ITS EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 15

beneficent works in contemplation, I believe that we
have an ample defence for our recent conduct as
regards Cyprus and Asia-Minor ; for, in thus defending
the interests of our Indian Empire, we are not opposing,
or acting in a hostile spirit to, the general interests of
Europe, or of the world, but acting in the highest
interests of civilization and of human progress.

Let us now approach somewhat nearer the frontiers
of India, and endeavour to get some idea of the con-
dition of Central Asia. Here we come into contact
with huge tracts of territory occupied by rude,
barbarous, pastoral, warlike, and predatory hordes in
a state of almost incessant conflict with each other,
and frequently attacking and plundering the peaceful
subjects and the caravans of civilized nations. The
dangers of this condition of things are self-evident, and
have compelled us to chastise the marauders, and in-
duced Eussia to annex large tracts of Asiatic territory.
With this territory, or these tribes, we have no desire
to have any greater concern than we can help. By
themselves those people can do us no serious harm ;
and, at the utmost, can only compel us to maintain
larger bodies of armed men than at present to watch
and defend our frontiers, and protect our own subjects
and merchandise from their hostile incursions. Still,
we are deeply concerned in their absorption by any
great, compact, and warlike European power. Russia
is such a power, and no one, even slightly acquainted
with the history of Central Asia for the last half
century, and especially since the Crimean War, can
iliil to observe that the advance of Russia into Central
Asia has been great and incessant, and that the
advantages which she has derived therefrom are

16 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

extremely small. Her ostensible aims in Central
Asia are to protect her ever advancing frontiers, and
to establish commercial relations with the Asiatics.
Her real aim is the reduction of Persia, and of all
the tribes intermediate between her present
boundaries and the British frontiers, and, if possible,
to annex Merv and Herat.

Now, with this condition of things before us, with
this advance indubitably placed beyond the shadow
of a doubt, I beg leave to say that I do not think the
advance of Russia is likely, within any determinable
period of time, to endanger our supremacy in India,
nor do I look upon such advance with anything like
alarm or disapprobation. I believe that a still further
progress of Russia in Central Asia than at present
will contribute to the civilization of that part
of the world, and that, even although her
territories were coterminous with our own, as sooner
or later they certainly will be, we have no need to be
afraid of her immediate proximity to our Indian
Empire. But, let it be remembered, that this latter
contingency is to be kept fully in sight with the object
of enabling us to see what is our duty in regard to
the safeguarding of our own possessions in the East.
Let us, by all means, welcome Russia in her mission
of civilization in Central Asia ; but do not let us be so
blind to our own interests as to throw away the best
and most effectual means to preserve the bonds of
peace and goodwill between Russia and ourselves.
To wish those engaged in a good work God-speed is a
duty we owe to ourselves, our neighbours, and
humanity. But to neglect measures of defence against
almost certain perils is unwise and absurd. Russia

ITS RXTBRNAL BELATIO1 17

still advances, and inevitably annexes the territory
she conquers. The progress of Tamerlane and his
barbarous hordes was swift and destructive, and
speedily came to an end. That of Hussia is quite
different. Russia does not advance her forces in
Asiatic Turkey and Central Asia, overturning,
plundering, or devastating the country, and then
withdraws her forces. No, she retains her conquests, .
introduces her own administrative machinery, her laws,
and her civilization.

Not desiring to weary you with details, let me
simply ask you : What are the territorial results of
her recent conquests ? The territory and tribes of the
Caucasus have been subdued by Russia since the
Treaty of Paris in 1856. The annexation of the
Caucasus has opened the whole of the north of
Persia, and the eastern provinces of Asiatic Turkey, to
Russian invasion and Russian commerce. There has
also been a great advance of the Russian frontier to
the east of the Caspian Sea in the last twenty years.
In Central Asia, the Russian conquests began in 1848,
when Russian fortresses were erected in the heart of
Kirghese Steppe, and the old Russian frontier was
connected with the long-coveted line of the Jaxartes.
So long as Russia remained on the north side of the
Oxus, we had nothing to fear, nothing of which to
complain ; but this new condition of things brought
her into contact with the three Khanates of Bokhara
Khiva, and Kashgar. Our relative positions were thence
entirely changed. The march on Khiva in 1873 gave
rise to much distrust, annoyance, and alarm in India
and in this country ; and, as it was evidently part
of a general scheme, the explanations offered to us

18 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

by the Russian Government were not believed
by those who best knew Russian statesmen,
their plans, and even their necessities. The Russian
scheme was believed to be, and I believe was,
to advance to Khiva, then to Merv, and then to
Herat. Khiva has been vanquished ; will Merv and
Herat fall under a similar fate ? The former stands
in an oasis of the desert, is of great consequence from
a strategical point of view, and is inhabited by a
numerous and brave race of mountaineers, who might
be converted into a powerful cavalry force. It is
situated amidst steppes and sandy deserts, and is
defended by several hamlets, whence an invader
will find his advance extremely tedious and
dangerous. From this region, the brave but barbarous
Tekinze direct their hostile forays, by crossing the
Oxus in boats, and plundering the territory of Khiva
and Bokhara, and sometimes bursting into the fair
and rich Persian province of Korasan. The Tekinze
are cattle lifters and men-stealers, and all attempts
hitherto made by the Russians, or Persians, to punish
them have disastrously failed. Other and greater
attempts will soon be made ; and, if successful, will
speedily bring Russia to the border edges of Afghan-
istan. To oppose Russia in punishing those robbers
would be unjustifiable ; and to oppose her in annex-
ing their territory, I believe, unwise. But, with the
conquest of Merv clearly before our eyes — a conquest
which will give Russia full control over the whole of
the Turkoman tribes, whose territories extend along
the frontiers of Afghanistan, from Kojah Saleh on the
Oxus to the Persian frontier — we must have Herat
completely under our control. With that town

ITS I:\TI;I;V\L i;i;i. \T1ONS. 19

in our possession, or in the hands of a faithful nlly,
we can ;t lll.nl to look upon the Russi.-.n annexation
of Merv with supreme indifference. Herat is, by its
position, the north-western key oi" Afghanistan ; and
to prevent it from falling into the hands of Russia is,
I believe, all that we need attempt to do. In our
arrangements with Afghanistan, when peace comes to
be made, Herat must be placed at our disposal. Let
us make no mistake on this point. Herat is the key
of Cabul, and Cabul of India.

How far, in what way, and when, the Russian
plans will be worked out is uncertain ; but how far
we should be prepared for every contingency
ought not to be doubtful. Russian conquests
in Central Asia have not been so easy or rapid
during the last twenty years as formerly.
Still, they have been considerable, are all of them in
the direction of British India, and Russian forts have
been erected at all the most important strategic
points to protect the newly acquired territory, and
will, of course, if necessary, be made the basis of future
hostile operations. As I have said, the march on Khiva
gave rise to alarm and distrust. Explanations were
asked, given, and disbelieved. No annexation, we
were told, was contemplated, and yet, all the same,
annexation took place. Before long, the same or
similar things will be done in the same region. Let
us neither be deceived nor alarmed, nor caught unpre-
pared. We must be prepared with some clear,
well-defined plan, and unhesitatingly act upon it.
A beggarly policy of temporary expediency is
unworthy of our country, is unsuitable to our
Indian Empire, and will, if persisted in, end in

20 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

disaster and disgrace. We must guard against the
coming danger being exaggerated, and also against
measures of defence being adopted on sudden im-
pulses. Thus, we must very soon determine where
our permanent frontier in Central Asia is to be fixed.
Was it to be the Hindu Kush, or the Sufed Koh,
the Suleiman range, and the mountains round about
Quettah ? If the former, we must defend Herat
and the Persian Gulf as strategic points of the utmost
importance ; and, if the latter, we must fix our eyes
somewhat nearer the present frontiers of British
India, and defend Jellalabad, Candahar, and Quettah
as the defensive outposts of our Indian Empire. This
is a great problem, and can only be wisely solved by
military and political considerations which demand
the highest efforts of military genius and states-
manship. The decision of such complicated matters
by the popular voice, is one of the wildest fancies,
which could possibly enter the most disordered brain.
Our Indian dominions are impregnable, except on
the north-west frontiers, which are situated close to
the mountains through which India has been invaded
from the earliest ages. In the Punjab, lying at the
foot of these mountains, we have long had, and must
always have, a considerable military force ready for
any emergency ; and, at the points where the Kyber
and Bolan passes open into the plains of the Punjab,
strong outposts are placed to protect us from surprises,
and from the predatory incursions of the neighbouring
hill tribes. Burmah on the East can give us no cause
for permanent alarm. Supreme at sea, possessor of
the most powerful navy in the word, we need not fear
invasion from the West or the South.

ITS EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 21

To provide for the security of India against the
probable dangers of the Asiatic territories of Britain
and Russia being coterminous, various methods,
which may, at the time, have been sufficient, have
been adopted ; but, in the present condition of
affairs, all of them have been, or must be, abandoned
as unsuitable.

The maintenance of the independence of the
Khanates of Kashgar, Bokhara, and Khiva was one of
those methods. It has utterly broken down, and
these three Khanates are under the authority and
dominion of Russia. Nothing else could have been
expected. In Central Asia, the causes for war
between rude and uncivilized tribes and a strong,
energetic European power are inevitable, and annexa-
tion follows as certainly as daybreak emerges out of
the gloom and the blackness of midnight. Another
favourite scheme with some of our Indian states-
men, was the establishment of a neutral zone. The
suggestion was somewhat rudely exposed, and its
failure predicted by Russian statesmen and others ;
but it was accepted by both parties for a time, and
has since been cast into the limbo of past temporary
and untenable expedients. Another favourite, and
certainly more permanent plan, was the independence
of Afghanistan. How it has crumbled to pieces is
matter of history, and its destruction will be a necessary
result of the present war between India and Afghan-
istan. It will, however, be advantageous, and
it is highly desirable that I should indicate the
nature of the whole of our northern Asiatic frontier,
and the character and strength of the tribes in
that neighbourhood, and then trace the origin of

22 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE I

recent events in Afghanistan, and inquire what must
be our future policy in regard to that important
frontier country of India.

A group of Indo-Chinese tribes, with Chinese or
Burmese affinities, forms a fringe round the Govern-
ment of Bengal. It comprises Nepaul, Sikkim,
Bhutan, Kuch Bahar, and the neighbouring hill
tribes.

The state of Nepaul lies among the deep ravines
and ridges of the Himalayas, and is separated from the
plains of India by a belt of pestiferous forest called
the Terai Luckhimpur. An English-resident is
settled at Katmandu, but we have practically little
influence over this frontier kingdom. On the eastern
border of Nepaul is the small Himalayan state of Sik-
kim, which lies under the shadow of the loftiest moun-
tain peaks in the world. On the east of Sikkim is the
state of Bhutan, where the mountains are inhabited by
a turbulent race in close connection with Tibet, and the
Bhuteas, and their frontier neighbours. Indeed, all
the inhabitants from Bhutan to Burmah are
wild and lawless tribes, who have been very
difficult to manage. They have involved us in many
petty wars, and sometimes serious contests ; and,
although vanquished or driven back from their hostile
raids of blood and plunder, have received money from
us in lieu of the black-mail which they levied from
the people whose persons or goods they seized in their
predatory excursions. Mutual intercourse and an
effective police force have here considerably advanced
the interests of peace, and our own happiness. Left
unknown in the obscure hills and jungles, there is no
security against their raids ; but, when inter-

ttfi !.\ I I ': . M- HI- 1 \ Tl«>\>. 23

course is established, these niuiint.-iiiieers soon become
amenable to our authority.

Next, the Afghan and Biloch tribes occupy the
land beyond the Indus. These border tribes were
long exceedingly troublesome ; and, until recently,
have been a source of disquietude and anxiety to
the Indian Government. Between 1849 and 1855
there were fifteen expeditions against these robber
tribes, and seven between 1856 and 1864. They
occupied territories on our frontier from Kaghdn, at
the north- west of Kashmir, to the confines of Sinde,
extending to the length of about 800 miles. In
the same region, are the Hasanzais, on the left
bank of the Indus ; the Swats, the Momands, and
the Afredis, and many other small yet brave clans.
The Afredis occupy the territory in the neighbour-
hood of the Kyber pass, are desperately
fickle, treacherous, and cunning ; and, although
long paid by us for keeping the Kyber
pass open, have, on several occasions, cut our
men to pieces. They are fine, tall, athletic high-
landers, lean but muscular, with long gaunt faces,
high noses and check bones, and dark com-
plexions. The different clans are often at feud with
each other, but some of them have always been our
allies. The Waziris tribe is one of the largest and
most important tribes on this frontier ; for it holds a
pass through which much of the traffic between India
and Central Asia is conveyed. It has 43,900 fighting
men. The Waziris owed no allegiance at Cabul, and
hold the Gomul pass, and other parts of the Suleiman
range.

The Biloch frontier tribes, further south, including

24 or 11 INDIAN EMPIRE:

the Kasranis, Bozdars, Khutraris, Kosahs, Lagharis,
Gurchanis, Murris, and Bugtis, number about 130,000
fighting men. These tribes are always, more or
less, at enmity with each other, are very debased, and
are often guilty of robbery and cattle stealing.

As to Afghanistan, our policy has, in the
present century, passed through four phases — namely,
supporting Persia against Afghanistan, maintaining
the exiled Ameer Shah Soojah on the throne of
Afghanistan against the wishes of the Afghan people,
inactivity during the reigns of Mahmood and Sheri
Ali, and declaring war against the latter.

The first phase of our policy was eminently success-
ful. It was adopted and carried out when our northern
Indian frontier was the River Sutlege, and when the
danger of an irruption into the Punjab was very con-
siderable ; for then the Punjab was not conquered by
us, and Afghanistan made pretensions to certain
portions of Sinde. The next phase was one of blunder-
ing and disaster, and ended by our army being cruelly
and- treacherously butchered in 1842. One man
alone escaped this terrible disaster ; and he, wearied,
maimed, and almost dead, carried the sad tale of
our miserable failures to our countrymen at Jellalabad.
Afterwards, under the gallant and heroic Sale
and Pollock, an army of retribution soon entered
Cabul, took vengeance on the Afghans, destroyed a
large portion of their capital city, and, subsequently
withdrawing their forces into British India, left
Afghanistan and her rulers to themselves.

Thereafter, a period of indifference was the main
characteristic of our Afghan policy. This lasted thirty
years, and ended with the ultimatum sent by the

ITS I:.\TI:I;\.\L i;i:i. \TI« ».\8. 25

Viceroy of India to Sheri AH in 1879, demanding
satisfaction for the insult cast upon the Indian
Government by the Ameer's refusal to allow our friend-
ly mission to proceed to Cabul to confer with him on
matters of common and international interest.

Previous to this insult upon our national honour,
two attempts were made to bring about a cordial
state of relations between the authorities of British
India and the Ameer of Afghanistan. The results of
these attempts are recorded in the British State
papers as to the conferences at Amballa and Peshawar.
The Amballa conference between the Viceroy and
the Ameer appeared to be highly satisfactory ; but,
after all, was really nothing more than a good
illustration of the truth that the real intentions of
an oriental Court are not to be discovered by the
use of the glowing language of eulogium, but from
the character of the actions of the Sovereign and his
people. On the other hand, the conference at
Peshawar plainly disclosed the real nature of the
complaints and objects of the Ameer. His
ambassador complained that we had interfered with
his just rights over his son Yacoob Khan, and with
the hill tribes lying between the Afghan and Indian
frontiers. He was told every thing would be done
to remove all just grounds of complaint, but that the
sine qua non of the conference — namely, the residence
of a British Officer in Afghanistan — must be first
accepted, and that the British Government in India
could no longer be satisfied, with the unreliable
character of the information transmitted by the
native British Agent at Cabul. The conference
ended abortively, and both parties continued in the

-2() OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

same condition of dissatisfaction, resentment, and
distrust, in which they had been for some years
previously.

We now approach the last or present phase
of our Afghan policy. Under the influence of
Russia, a storm had long been gathering in the
East, and a war with Afghanistan became
inevitable. As far back as 1870, letters had
been addressed to the Ameer by Russian officers.
When an explanation of this undoubted breach of a
distinct understanding was demanded from the
Russian Government at St. Petersburgh, all knowledge
of such communications was denied, and when proof
was adduced, a feeble effort was made to explain
them on the ground of courtesy. Afghanistan had, by
mutual consent, been placed by the supreme Govern-
ments of Russia and Britain beyond the sphere of Rus-
sian influence, and the explanation offered was in
direct contradiction to the terms of the letters them-
selves. Again, in 1875, preparations were made for
sending a Russian Mission to Cabul ; and subsequently,
in 1878, a Russian Mission, under the General of Samar-
cand, reached the Afghan capital. The Ameer thought
he had been meanly treated by the Indian Government ;
he thirsted for revenge ; and, at a time when peace
between Russia and this country was in great
jeopardy, he ostentatiously received the Russian emis-
saries, whose object was to gain the Ameer to the side
of Russia in the event of hostilities between Russia
and Britain. There was no longer room for a policy of
procrastination. The Russian advance in Central
Asia during the last quarter of a century, and the
then critical state of European affairs, clothed the

ITS I:.\TI:I;N.\L EUEBLATtONS. 27

Ilnssian Mission with an importance which had never
attached to any previous communications between
Russia and Afghanistan. Inaction would have left
Afghanistan as much under the influence of Russia
as the Khanates of Central Asia. Afghan neutrality
could no longer be depended upon. Our north-west
frontier must, therefore, be secured against all possible
attacks. Thus, we reach the justifiable object of the
present war. It was to gain the control of the three
great highways which connect Afghanistan with India.
With these great highways in our possession, our
Indian Empire is invulnerable from without. We
have no wish to destroy the sovereignty of Afghan-
istan ; but we must have a strong, just, and merciful
government in Afghanistan under a wise and just
prince, who will allow his foreign policy to be guided
and determined by that of the British nation. Russi.-i .
or Britain, must be supreme at Cabul ; and, in any
future war with Russia, we must be prepared to
defend India on the north from Russian attacks.
Here was a serious juncture, which had to be met by
boldness and great prudence, and met it was with
becoming dignity by Her Majesty's Ministers.

During the epoch embraced by the reign of
Mahmood, who succeeded Shah Soojah, and of Sheri
AH, who was Mahmood's successor, cordial relations
can hardly be said to have ever existed between the
Indian Government and the people of Afghanistan.
The Afghan people bitterly resented the injuries
inflicted on them by the British army of retribution ;
and their princes and chiefs, usually treated with
disdain by the British authorities in India, were not
in a mood to accept assistance from us unless forced

28 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

upon them, or to be inclined to help us in any way
unless in a purely selfish spirit, that is to say, exclusively
from the value they attached to our power, or to the
benefits they were likely to receive from us, or the
fears they entertained of an attack being made on
the independence of their country either by Eussia
or ourselves. As we all know, Sheri Ali became
positively hostile to our country ; and, had we, last
year, been involved in war with Russia, as we almost
were, he would undoubtedly have become the ally of
Eussia, and have endeavoured to create a diversion of
our forces by making, or threatening to make, an
incursion into our Indian territories.

Our conduct towards Sheri Ali was blind, per-
nicious, and indefensible. As soon as he was in full
possession of the throne of Afghanistan, and had
vanquished all his competitors for the Afghan crown,
we ought to have made an offensive and defensive
aliance with him, and, without injuring his sovereign
rights, done all in our power morally, and, if need be,
physically, to bring his subjects under his sovereign
authority; or we ought to have left him entirely to
himself, and given him no assistance whatever in the
government of his kingdom, in his relations with foreign
states, or in his pecuniary difficulties. We should
either have taken up the position that his country was
most important to our Indian Empire, and generously
treated him as a useful ally ; or, that Afghanistan was
of no consequence to us, and left him to make what
alliances he pleased, and receive assistance from what
sources he could. Instead of this, our policy was
marked by fear, weakness, imbecility, and impru-
dence. We gave him arms and money which were

ITS EXTERNAL I.T.I.. \TIONS. 29

used against ourselves ; we treated his well-founded
dread of Russia as the dream of an over-heated brain.
He acted towards us in the day of possible danger
exactly as might have been anticipated, and, accord-
ingly, insulted us in the face of the world, and hoped
to escape the recklessness of his conduct by the help of
his Muscovite ally. Vain delusion! The ministers
in power would not allow the national representatives
to be treated with such contumely. The great body
of the British people held that the condition of affairs in
Afghanistan was no longer bearable. The British
forces entered the enemy's country to compel satis-
faction to be given for a shameful act of contumely
inflicted on us, and in order to place our relations on a
new basis, by which insecurity would be replaced by
security, a chronic state of unfriendliness by a
complete state of goodwill, indifference by active mea-
sures against all foreign interference in Afghan affairs.
We have thus arrived at the present condition of our
relations with Afghanistan, and we have great
hopes that we will soon enter upon another, and more
satisfactory phase.

The vindication and purpose of the present war
with Afghanistan are well and truly expressed by the
Viceroy in his address to the Princes of India at the
commencement of the war. He said: "The supreme
Government would be unworthy of the loyalty of its
subjects, and its noble allies, were it unable, or unwill-
ing, to punish an unprovoked insult, or effectually to
protect from foreign menace the peace and prosperity
which it was endeavouring to promote within its
borders." The vindication of our national honour
from the contumely of the late Ameer of Afghanistan,

30 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

and the defence of our own territories and of our own
subjects were the causes of the war, and indicate the
principles upon which the war ought to be terminated.
We are now happily in possession of all the
important passes by which India has been invaded
from the north, and from which we have the greatest
cause to look for any future attempt at invasion.
So far as these are required for defensive purposes, we
will certainly keep them, and thus prevent them from
falling into the hands of our enemies at any future
time. We have also obtained possession of a large
tract of territory in the Khost Valley, and we
have already virtually annexed it to our territories
by the military proclamation of the officer in com-
mand in that district. How far, and to what extent,
further annexation will take place is a question upon
which I am not qualified to give any opinion. This
is a matter which can be decided best of all by
military men who are on the spot, who are intimately
acquainted with the geography of those regions, with
the inhabitants, their habits and condition, and who
are well informed as to the past history and present
aspirations of that part of the world, and conversant
with the general policy of the supreme Government
of India. Let me state, however, one or two prin-
ciples which, I think, ought to guide the public
authorities towards a right solution. We ought,
above all things, to secure a government which
will satisfy the wishes of the Afghan people. In the
next place, we ought not to annex any more of the
Afghan territories than will give ample security to
our own frontiers. And, lastly, we must now put an
end, once and for ever, to any foreign intervention by

ITS EXTERNAL I.T.I.. \TION8. 31

any foreign power in the national policy of Afghanistan.
Good government, security of frontier, and non-inter-
vention must be the essential conditions of our future
policy in tli;tt w.-irlikc. dangerous, ;m<l hitherto hostile
country. Beyond this, and outside of Afghanistan
proper, and between Afghanistan .md British India,
we must adopt a policy of conciliation and friendli-
ness towards the Afredis, and other border races,
who are almost wholly independent of the Prince of
( ';it>ul, and we must do our utmost to wean them
from their savage habits, and accustom them to the
manners and practices of civilized nations. Unless
we act in this spirit towards these border
tribes, we will be involved in a perpetual state of
warfare. We must be prepared to tame and civilize
the wild tribes with whom our new, advanced outposts
will bring us into contact. Acting thus, we will obtain
peace on our own border, advance the cause of
civilization, and be able to watch and guide the
course of events so as to diminish every chance of war
on our north-west frontier, and, at the very least, be
prepared, if such a war is inevitable, to defend our-
selves and our possessions with the greatest hopes of
success. Let us hope that the present Afghan Wai-
will be speedily brought to a safe, just, and honourable
conclusion.

The relations of Persia to British India must
now engage our attention. Upon these, all I
luive here to say 'will be in answer to this question :
What is the real abstract value of Persia to our
Indian Empire? This question will be best
answered by briefly considering what has taken
place between British India and Persia,

32 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

Our first connection with Persia began towards
the end of last century. The Shah of Persia
was then hostile to India, and he was subsidised
by the East India Company in order to restrain the
Ameer of Afghanistan from giving any assistance to
Oude, with which the Company was then at war.
In 1799, Futteh Ali Shah, accordingly, took the field
to conquer Candahar and Herat, and reduce them to
his power. The Shah's movements prevented the
Afghan chief from following up his projected conquest
of India, and the expulsion therefrom of the
Feringese or English. India also indirectly felt the
terrible throes of the first French Revolution ; and
revolutionary France and conservative Britain were to
be pitched against each other in battle array, and
both, as will always happen, endeavoured to
do each other as much harm as possible in order to
obtain the victory. British prodigality gained the
the day, and we, not France, secured Persia,
for a time, as our ally. This happened when
European menace against our Indian Empire was
expected to arise in the Persian Gulf, at the instiga-
tion of the French Republic, and not from the Russian
Cossacks on the shores of the Caspian. But the time
arrived when Persia gradually gave way before the
arms of the Czar, who joined Mingrelia, Ganjeh,
Sheki, Shirivan, and Korabagh to his territories, and
totally defeated the Persians at Erivan in
1804. The Shah soon afterwards refused to lend us
any aid against Russia, and the French star, then
allied to the Russian eagles, rose in the ascendant.
This took place in 1807, and both the Home and the
Indian authorities began to perceive the rising of a

ns K\ I ERNAL RKt \TloN3.

new danger. Whatever may be the specific direc-
tions of the will of Peter the Great, there can be no
possible doubt as to what was one of the great objects of
the famous conference between Czar Alexander and the
Emperor Napoleon at Tilsit. It was the division of
the East between France and Russia. Moveover,
that Napoleon seriously entertained the idea of
contesting our Indian supremacy is beyond all doubt.
He even innde some proposals, which turned out to
be abortive, with the view of getting the authority
of the Sultan and of the Shah to allow him to carry
his army to India through Constantinople, Asia-
Minor, and Persia.

The British authorities in India, therefore, nego-
tiated a preliminary treaty in 1809 with Persia for
the purpose of settling our relations with the Shah and
his people. This treaty lies at the bottom of all our
relations with Persia. It imposes on India the
burden of subsidising Persia with arms, ammunition,
officers, and artificers to be employed against Russia,
the supposed common enemy of both countries. It
was adopted by Lord Minto as Governor-General of
India. This was an entirely new attitude for us, in
conjunction with Persia, to assume against Russia.
Hitherto our relations with Persia had been based on
two principal objects : the establishment of a counter-
poise to the power of Afghanistan ; and, 2ndly, the
neutralisation of French ambition in the councils of
the Shah. Both objects, as you will easily perceive,
had immediate reference to the defence of our Indian
Empire. The English contingent in Persia was with-
drawn in 1812, and the weakness of the Persian forces
became apparent. Persia was seen to be utterly

34 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

worthless, except with the guiding intelligence and
physical power which naturally spring from the
more hardy nations of the north, and from
none more than ourselves, who are, on all
hands, acknowledged to have the power, vigour,
and talents of a conquering and ruling race. Another
treaty was made, two years later, in 1814. It
was abrogated by the Persian war of 1856, and its
abrogation has facilitated the progress of Russia to
Khiva, Kashgar, Bokhara, and Samarcund. Its main
clauses were to this effect : Persia shall not allow any
European army to proceed towards India ; Persia
shall be subsidised by the British ; the spontaneous
acts of Russia against Persia shall be considered as
demonstrations against India. As I have said
already, this treaty must be looked upon as abrogated
by the war of 1856; but, I think it worthy of
notice, that this treaty of 1814 still rules our general
policy as regards Persia to this day. Thence spring
the understanding with Russia as to the independence
of Persia, and the maintenance of our military and
naval station at the head of the Persia Gulf.

In 1826, the utter worthlessness of the Persian
forces against Russia was again disclosed, and we speedily
negotiated a release from a subsidy which was absolutely
thrown away. Russia, at that time, acted at the
Court of Teheran with the most irritating and con-
temptuous arrogance, and looked at the absorption of
Persian territory north of the Arras as a question of
time, and as absolutely essential to the geographical
boundaries of her Empire. The Indian officials, at last,
awoke to a sense of the utter worthlessness of Persia for
defensive purposes connected with our Indian

ITS i:\TKK.\AL KLLA I LONft

Empire, and saw, with panic and dismay, that their
proteges, upon whom money, arms, ammunition, and
instruction had been largely bestowed, were utterly
helpless in the presence of the hostile attitude of
Russia ; and, in a word, that Persia existed only at
the will of her colossal northern neighbour. A panic
was the result. Another panacea must be dis-
covered for their misfortunes. Attention was,
accordingly, directed to the territory lying between
Persia and India. How this scheme has also failed,
I have already had occasion to observe when speaking
of Central Asia.

Here, however, I may still further notice that the
Khivan expedition of 1832, led by Persia, was the
germ out of which sprang our first Afghan War.
That Persia was instigated by Russia to undertake
this movement is certain ; but what were the real
motives for the expedition has been much doubted by
historians. Whether Russia wished to urge Persia
forward into Asia as her own pioneer, or simply to
estrange British statesmen from Persian interests,
the result is the same ; for Russia has gained the
advantages of the plot, and doubtless intends to keep
them to herself.

Passing over the large supply of officers and men to
Persia in 1832-3, and the motives which instigated the
supply, I come to a very important event, which
happened in 1834. In that year, diplomatic notes
passed between Russia and tins country, that the
integrity of the Persian Empire would be respected
and maintained by them. What is the exact bind-
ing force of diplomatic notes it is difficult to say,
but I venture to doubt if the integrity of the

36 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

Persian Empire will much longer exist. The main-
tenance of the Shah's Empire is, I am afraid, practically
under the power of Russia. Persia has long been
upheld by the opposing pressures of her powerful
neighbours. She is passive, not active, in her national
life. She is periodically subjected to dangerous
national convulsions. She is utterly deficient in
moral confidence. She is, and has long been, verging
on the decrepitude which precedes dissolution ; and
Russia, or Britain, must eventually absorb her ter-
ritories into their own. Which will absorb them ?
As we do not wish them, the ancient monarchy of
Persia will, by-and-bye, perhaps, before many years,
disappear, and be incorporated as an indissoluble
part of the territories of the Czar. Had we meant
to oppose this result, we should have taken another
course than we have done. How to protect our-
selves against such a contingency has already been
indicated, and will be most effectually secured by
keeping our highways to the Mediterranean open, by
maintaining our maritime rights in the Persian
Gulf, by protecting our overland route to India
by the Tigris and .the Euphrates, and by secur-
ing the power and the friendship of the Afghans
to ourselves.

Before I conclude, let me say a few words as to
Burmah, which lies on our eastern frontier. Its
condition is at present exciting no inconsiderable
degree of attention. Former wars with Burmah have
given us her best provinces ; and entire annexation,
although favoured by a large class in India and British
Burmah, is not at all desirable from an Imperial point
of view, which must comprehend the effects produced on

tTB I:\TI. i;.v\i. I;I:L. \TIM.VS. 37

our whole relations with other nations, particularly
China and Russia. ;md with Burmah itself. We did
not enforce our strict rights of war wjth Burmah in 1 826
and 1852, because we did not find those rights advan-
tageous to the Empire at large. The immediate cause
of our present concern in Burmah arises from one of
those deplorable massacres of the King's relations which
occur on almost every accession to the throne. That
frightful and abominable cruelties have been per-
petrated by a Ruler who seems to be little else than
a drunken madman, whose actions are the sport of
scheming flatterers, whose chief object appears to
be to rouse up this modern Caligula against the
British Empire, in the vain and futile attempt of re-
gaining the territories which were taken by us in the
wars in which former Burmese Sovereigns were
conquered, is too clear. As yet, the King's acts do
not call for warlike interference from British India.

How far the infatuated King of the Burmese
Empire has been influenced by the tidings he has
received of what has passed lately in Afghanistan, I
am unable to say ; but not improbably the Afghan
War and the Russian-Turkish War have not been
without some influence upon his conduct. How little
they ought to have influenced him, he will bitterly
learn should he compel Lord Lytton to march
against him. In the meantime, British forces have
been sent to Rangoon, and these will doubtless
help to allay any uneasiness in the minds of our
Burmese fellow subjects, who are unquestionably
entitled to our protection -from massacre, plunder, or
any other injury to themselves, or their property. We
may well hope and expect that the speedy despatch of

38 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

those troops will have a tranquillising effect upon the
young tyrant's warlike propensities ; and, although the
Governments at home and in India have every con-
fidence in the able resident at Rangoon, we cannot
help feeling a high degree of satisfaction in the
determination of the Home Government to allow no
war to be undertaken against King Theebau, unless
for purely defensive purposes, until the approval
of the Home Government has been first of all
obtained. We will guard and defend British Burmah
at all hazards; but we will not easily be tempted
to extend our territories at the expense of the
Burmese people. If we are forced into a third
Burmese War, annexation would inevitably be the
result. We must have no more Burmese Wars after
the next ; and, whatever may be our own loss by
the annexation of Burmah to British India, the Burmese
people, at all events, will have no cause to complain that
their conquerors were ignorant of the rules of humanity,
morality, justice, and mercy. Upon the wicked rulers
alone, we must inflict summary and condign punish-
ment ; upon the helpless and cruelly-treated subjects
of the King, let us deal, according to our custom, with
kindness, justice, and mercy,

Gentlemen, I fear I have detained you too long.
But, with so great a subject before me, I deeply feel
that I have omitted many things which I ought to
have noticed, and treated many much too briefly.
Be that as it may, I must now bring my present dis-
course to an end.

Gentlemen, we have put down disorder, anarchy,
and confusion in British India, and conferred upon all
its diverse races the blessings of civil and religious

ITS EXTKIJNAI. UKLATIONS. 39

freedom. British India is no longer the estate of a
few British subjects. It is an integral portion of the
British Empire. We are therefore bound to defend
it from external aggression by all the strength of the
Empire. Let us not be faithless to the high duty
which devolves upon us by our connection with our
great Indian dependency, whose history is intertwined
with the grandest epochs of pur national existence.
Let the Government of India and of Britain be laid on
the firm basis of our common interests, rights, duties,
and obligations, and on the eternal principles of justice,
equity, and truth. Let us endeavour, by all the means
in our power, to advance the best and highest interests
of our Indian fellow-subjects. Acting thus, we will
secure the happiness and prosperity of the people of
India, and erect the most powerful bulwark, which
human ingenuity can invent, for the defence of our
mighty Empire in the East.

OUE INDIAN EMPIEE:

ITS MORAL AND MATERIAL PROGRESS AND
CONDITION.

(DELIVERED IN DUNDEE, 29TH JULY 1879.)

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :

I am sure I express the sentiments of
all present when I say that I am glad to see my
friend Colonel ALISON here this evening. He has,
as you all know, taken up his headquarters in
London; but he still keeps up his connection with
the old town, in which he has so many friends.
Knowing how ready he was to assist in any work,
which promised to be useful to the community, I asked
him to take the chair on this occasion, and at some
personal inconvenience, he, at once, agreed to my
request.

42 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : In a former
address, I confined myself to the foreign relations of
British India. On this occasion, I propose to direct
your attention to its internal progress and condition.

British India comprehends a population exceeding
240,000,000, composed of different races, who
speak a great variety of languages, and are in
very diverse stages of civilization. Not long ago, for
example, infanticide and human sacrifices were not
uncommon in many districts of India ; misgovernment
reigned supreme in several states, which we have been
obliged to annex ; and bands of armed robbers, such
as the Pindaris, the filthy dross of a corrupted and
savage people, ranged, with fire and sword, from one
end of Malwa to the other. Of this huge population,
the Hindu and Mohammedan elements are the most
powerful. Of the total population of British India,
190,000,000 are directly subject to our rule, and more
than 50,000,000 are governed by native sovereigns,
who acknowledge the British power as paramount in
India. Some of the protected native states merely
acknowledge our supremacy, some agree to act
on our advice, and some pay tribute, or provide
a contingent of soldiers in time of war. Several
of the native states are large and prosperous
kingdoms. Thus, the Nizam of the Deccan in the
province of Bengal rules over a population of nearly
11,000,000, has a territory of 95,000 square
miles, and an army of 30,000 men. The total
area of British India is 900,000,000 square miles,
and of the native states 610,000 square miles. What
an immense territory ! What a large population to
be under the Government of such a numerically insig-

ITS PROGRESS AND (o.NMTioN. 43

niiicant people, whose most powerful centre is
almost situated at the opposite end of the world
from India itself!

Till the census of India was nearly completed in
1871, there was no accurate information as to the
growth and rate of increase of the population, the
sufficiency of the food supplies, the incidence of taxation,
or the spread of education. The census has entirely
changed the common ideas as to the population of
British India — its distribution in different regions, its
races, arid its religions.

In the provinces of Bengal, the population in 1871
was close on 67,000,000, of whom 2,000,000
belonged to the tributary states. The population of
Calcutta was 447,000. Some parts of Bengal
are amongst the most densely populated districts
of the world. In the food producing area, the
average density is not less than 650 souls per square
mile, or one for every half acre. The country occupied
by this swarming population exports grain in seasons
yielding an ordinary crop ; but suffers the most ter-
rible miseries when a single crop proves a failure. Of
the population in Bengal, two-thirds are agriculturists ;
and, in the central and eastern portions, one-half are
Mohammedans; and, in some districts, the Moham-
medan population largely predominates. These pro-
vinces contain 21,000,000 Mohammedans, or more than
any other country in the world, and they are probably
on the increase.

The census for the north-west provinces was
taken in 1872, embraced an area of 81,400
square miles, and gave the population as
30,750,000. There were 378 inhabitants to the

44 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE 1

square mile. The densest district, exceeding any
even in Bengal, was Benares, where there were
797 souls to the square mile ; in Agra, 575 ; in
Allahabad, 501. The vast majority of the
inhabitants are Hindus. The latter are
26,500,000 ; the Mohammedans fully 4,000,000 ;
and the native Christians nearly 8,000. More
than one -half of the Mohammedans live in
the district of Rohilcand. They are called by the
name of Sheikhs, or supposed descendants of Arab
invaders of India — a title generally assumed by
all Mohammedans who do not come under the
other three classes, namely, Saiads, Moghuls, and
Pathans. Of the Hindu castes, the Brahmans number
3,250,000, congregating chiefly in Benares, Allaha-
bad, and Agra. The Nakurs, or Rajputs, number
250,000; the Baniyas, 1,000,000; and thirty
other inferior castes nearly 20,000,000. The agri-
cultural population includes 56 per cent, of the
whole. The inhabited villages number 90,600 ;
and of the towns there are 204 with a population
above 5,000, and 13 where the inhabitants
exceed 50,000. Benares is the most populous
city in these provinces, numbering 174,000 souls.
Agra has 149,000 inhabitants, and Allahabad,
143,000.

The last census of the Punjab was taken in 1868,
when the population was 17,500,000. It is now
roughly estimated at 19,000,000, or 173 to the square
mile. According to the last census of Oude, taken
in 1869, the population was 11,250,000, or 459 to
the square mile,

The last census of the Central provinces was taken

ITS PBOOBEBfi \M> <<>M'moN. 45

in 1872, and proved the total population to be
9,250,000, over an area of 113,800 square miles, or
8 1 to each square mile, and showed a sparsely peopled
region, with abundant room for future increase.
The bulk of the population dwell in small scattered
villages. Included in the total population of the
Central provinces are 1,000,000 inhabitants under
feudatory chiefs. The agriculturists form 64
per cent, of the population, and about 2,000,000 are
hill tribesmen. The Hindus are 71 per cent., the
Mohammedans nearly 3 per cent, of the population,
and the Christians are said to be 10,500.

The last census of the Madras Presidency was
taken in 1871, and gives the population as
31,500,000. The most densely peopled district was the
fertile, rice producing region of Tanjor, where there
were 540 souls to the square mile. Then followed
Malabar with 376, South Arcot with 360, and Trin-
chinapolli with 341. Besides a few Uriyas in the
northern extreme of Ganjam, the population is divided
into four races, speaking branches of the Dravidian
group of languages. In Kurnul, Kadassa, part of
Balari and Nellor, are the Telugu speaking people,
numbering 11,500,000. The Tamils, spread from a
few miles north of Madras to Cape Comorin along the
east coast, count 14,750,000 souls. The Kanarese,
in part of Balari, Mysore, Coimbator, Salem, and
North Kanara, number 1,500,000 and the Malaya-
lum speaking people of Malabar, Cochin, and Travan-
core number 2,250,000. The distribution of caste
and religion in the Madras Presidency is particu-
larly interesting, because it indicates the extent
and relative completeness of the successive waves of

46 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

invasion. For instance, the 1,000,000 Brahmans
in the Presidency are chiefly found in the northern
districts. The Chetties, or merchants, number
714,000; the Vellala, or agricultural caste, count
7,750,000, who acknowledge Siva, but worship their own
village gods. There are 1,750,000 of the shepherd
class, 750,000 of the artizan, 1,000,000 of the weaver,
250,000 of the potter, and nearly 4,000,000 of the
Vannia, or labouring caste. The outcasts, i.e. the
Shanars, or toddy drawers in the far South, exceed
1,500,000 and the Pariahs are 4,750,000. There are
nearly 29,000,000 Hindus, or 92 per cent, of the whole
population ; about 2,000,000 Mohammedans ; and
490,300 native Christians, of whom 103,000 are
natives of Tinnivelly. The Moplahs, who are in-
dustrious but fanatical Mohammedans of Malabar,
somewhat exceed 1,500,000. The population of the
city of Madras in 1871 was 397,000.

The census of the Presidency of Bombay was
taken in 1872. The whole area, excluding native
states, is 125,000 square miles, and the population
16,250,000, or 131 to the square mile. About 76 per
cent, of the population are Hindus, 17 per cent.
Mohammedans, and nearly 4 per cent, aborigines.
In Sinde alone is the majority of the population
Mohammedan, being in the proportion of four to one.
The population of the city of Bombay is 644,000,
and therefore, with the exception of London, is the
largest population in any city of the British Empire.

The census of Mysore was taken in 1871, and
gives the population as fully 5,000,000 or 187 to the
square mile, of whom 4,800,000 are Hindus, 209,000
Mohammedans, and 25,676 Christians,

ITS PiKMiHESS AND CONDITION. -17

Of late sanitary improvements have been largely
introduced into Indi;i. ;uid the effect of those mea-
sures is wonderful; for, in a Ilcj.urt made to the Indian
Secretary of State in 1872, the decrease of mortality in
five years had been from 20,000 to 1 0,000 a year. "Yet
if the facts are considered, this result is not surprising.
Fifteen years ago, there was no drainage at Calcutta.
The filth of the city rotted in the midst of the
population in pestilential ditches, or floated backwards
and forwards with every tide. The inhabitants drank
the loathsome water of the river, which was not only
the receptacle of filth, but the chief graveyard of
the city, or else they resorted to the still filthier
contents of shallow tanks. Now, Calcutta is drained,
and possesses a water supply far better than that of
London, and as good as that of Glasgow." I take
this extract from the masterly Government Keport
for 1872, and beg leave to make another from the same
source : " The climate and sanitary condition of India
give rise to pestilences, which periodically carry desola-
tion over the country, while disease in its worst forms
is never absent. Hospitals, richly endowed and
admirably regulated, supported by Government as well
as by private munificence, exist in the large towns ;
and great efforts are constantly made to bring the
benefits of medical skill and knowledge within the
reach of the poorer classes."

Much of the disease in India is due to bad water
and bad drainage. As regards rural towns and
villages, improvements must mainly be the work of
the people themselves. In the cities of Madras and
Calcutta, a new supply of water has had a marked
influence on health ; and, in various directions, science,

48 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

art, and experience are working wonders on the habits
of the people. Fever is, by far, the most prolific
cause of death in India ; and, unless cholera is raging,
carries off more people to the grave than all other
diseases and accidents put together. At least
1,500, 000 die annuallyfrom fever, and one-half of them,
it is said, might be saved by selling the febrifuge alka-
loids, such as quinine or chinchonidine, to the people at a
price within their reach. These fevers cause a great
loss to the imperial treasury, diminish the value of
land, and reduce the people to the utmost depths of
misery and destitution. The cholera is very seldom
absent from India, and is a terrible scourge to the
people. Since vaccination has been rigidly enforced,
smallpox has steadily decreased.

An extraordinary feature of Indian life is the
number of human beings destroyed by wild beasts.
Death by snake bites is very frequent, and caused
the death of nearly 15,000 persons in the year
1869. Further, in 1871, the total deaths caused by
dangerous animals of all classes amounted to 18,000.
A systematic organised destruction of these wild
animals — these terrible enemies of India — should be
undertaken by the Government.

I shall now attempt to give you some idea as
to the actual condition of the Indian people, and
the extent to which they enjoy life.

The condition of the Bengal ryots is miserably
abject, and shows much suffering and even a want of the
absolute necessaries of life. In the North-west Provin-
ces, the wages of the agricultural labourer have hardly
varied since the early part of this century. These
labourers only taste salt two or three times a week, and

ITS I'Koi.KKss AM» CONDITION, !'.'»

many of them live on a coarse grain called kesari, which
is most unwholesome, and produces loin palsy. The
small tenant farmers are hardly better off, except
that they can have salt daily. This extreme poverty
among the agricultural population makes any im-
provement in farming and cultivation almost an
impossibility. In the Bombay Presidency, wages are
much higher than in the North-west Provinces. A
skilled labourer receives from 2/- to 8d. a day, and
an unskilled labourer from about 6d. to 3d. ; and the
average price of exported husked rice in 1877 was
about 6/6 per c wt. About half a century ago, an account
of the labourers of the Bombay Presidency was given,
and is still perfectly accurate as to their condition and
mode of life. The clothes of a man cost about 12/- and
the furniture of his house about £2 ; and his food
consists, not of rice, but of dry grains, such as bajri
and jawari, with pulses and salt. The people of
Mysore and most of those in the Madras Presidency
also live on dry grains and pulses. Throughout India,
the cultivators receive advances from money lenders
to carry on their farming operations, and, every now
and again, rebel against the exorbitant demands of
their oppressors.

As regards the morals of the people, whatever
may be said of those of the larger towns, those who live
in villages are no better, and no worse, than the same
classes elsewhere. As a rule, the people of British
India are temperate, chaste, honest, peaceful, singularly
docile, easily governed, and patient. Of course, there
is as great variety of temperament and character as
there is of physical appearance in the different latitudes
over which our rule extends.

50 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

Let me now ask your attention to the state of
education in India.

A complete system of national education for the
people of India was inaugurated in 1854, and was in-
tended to provide first-class education for the wealthier
classes, and instruction for the great masses of the
people. The language to be used as the medium of
instruction was that which was alone understood by the
people; the improved arts, the sciences, and the philo-
sophy of Europe were to be widely diffused among
them ; and the teaching of English was to be carefully
combined with the study of the vernacular languages.
More than £1,000,000 is spent on education by the
imperial, provincial, and local governments.

The whole machinery has been in admirable
working order for several years, and a great and
successful system of education has been developed
in India, exactly on the principles laid down
in 1854. For the higher education, universities
have been established at Calcutta, Bombay, and
Madras to test the qualifications of students, and
grant degrees on the same plan as the University of
London in arts, law, medicine, and civil engineering.
The Indian Universities were incorporated in 1857 ;
that is to say, were calmly founded in the regular
way of routine during the worst times of the Mutiny,
when our power was at its lowest ebb. This was
conduct befitting us, and worthy of the great name
we have in the world as conquerors and as rulers.

Colleges are affiliated to the universities. Below
them are Zillah, or middle-class schools, to prepare
students for the colleges, and for the entrance exami-
nations at the universities. " The high schools supply

ITS I'KOMILSS AM; «>M>111<>.\ j 1

the candidates for the entrance examinations at the
universities, and also furnish training for natives
who seek employment in the higher grades of the
civil service." The system has scholarships at-
tached to it, by which the best pupils may be led up
from the Zillah schools to the colleges, and thence to
university degrees ; and grants in aid are given by
Government to private schools.

In the rural elementary schools, the vernacular is
taught, and the course of instruction includes elemen-
tary arithmetic, bazaar accounts, reading, and writing.
" As the primary village schools supply instruction
to the children of the poorer agricultural classes, so
the middle-class schools provide for the education of
the children of the shopkeepers and other dwellers
in towns, and for that of the young men who fill the
lower grades of the public service." Some provide
instruction in English, others teach only in the ver-
nacular. These classes combine primary instruction
with a higher standard in their upper classes.

Female education receives much attention in all
parts of British India. It is of the simplest kind,
and a system has been organised at Calcutta for
teaching hundreds of girls in the Zenanas, or private
houses. But, as yet, there is no real demand for the
education of women and girls among the natives.
" Progress is very slow in all Eastern countries, and
the dead slumber of ignorance still shrouds the women
of India."

Schools of art and museums, as powerful instru-
ments in the spread of education, have been established
at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The first school
of art in India was established in Madras in 1850.

52 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

Another important influence is largely contri-
buting to the intellectual movement which is
making rapid marches in India. I mean the
number and character of the published books and
newspapers. Whether these Indian publications
are considered as regards their number or their
character, there is no room for doubt that they exer-
cise very considerable power in India. Some of
them treat the Government with great freedom ;
and, although the native press is loyal, and
frankly admits the advantages of British rule, it often
contains acrimonious attacks on particular measures,
and on the conduct and actions of individual officers
of the Government. Last year, at a critical period,
very extensive powers were conferred on the Viceroy,
and the executive powers in India, for the suppression
of publications issuing from the native press, and un-
justifiably libelling the Government and its officers.
I believe that, at the time, these measures were
necessary ; but, seeing the crisis has passed away, I
hope that the Government of India will abrogate its
exceptional legislation as to the freedom of the native
press, and leave the criticism of its conduct to the
ordinary course of the common law. To allow public
writers to poison the minds of the people is neither
just nor prudent, but to put fetters on the free dis-
cussion of public affairs is a dangerous remedy, and
can only be justified, in a free country, by very excep-
tional circumstances.

Another subject, which has a most important bear-
ing on the intellectual advancement of the people of
India, namely, the missionary enterprise, deserves to
be here noticed.

ITS PROGRESS AND CONDITION. 53

In 1873, the Protestant missions of India, Burm.ili
and Ceylon were carried on by 35 missionary societies
in addition to local agencies, and employed the services
of GOG foreign missionaries, of whom 551 were ordained.
This large body, composed of various denominations of
Christians, heartily co-operate with each other in all
good works. ' ' Apart from their special duties as public
preachers and pastors — their printing presses, their male
and female schools, and their training colleges are in a
flourishing condition, and are effecting great changes
amongst the natives of India." Within the last
1 i,i If century, several religious movements have deeply
affected the religious attitude of the natives of India,
and have left powerful impressions in all directions
throughout the Indian Empire, and especially on the
populations of the rural districts rather than on those
of the towns and cities. In the provinces of Tinne-
velli and Travancore, where the aboriginal population
has not been much affected by the Hinduism of
Southern India, the Christian missionaries have exerted
a powerful and lasting influence ; and amongst the Shan-
nar tribes, and their kindred, the advance of Christianity
has been most gratifying. Schools have been established
for the people, and training schools for schoolmasters
and native teachers. The districts of the Shannari
are dotted over with flourishing villages and Christian
churches, and there are hundreds of native teachers
employed amongst them. Order and peace rule
amongst these simple communities ; large tracts of
country have been brought under cultivation ; and the
peasantry generally enjoy a larger share of material
comfort than in days gone by.

The native Protestant converts exceed 250,000 ;

54

OUR INDIAN EMPIRE !

the Roman Catholic native converts must be thrice that
number ; and recent events show that the number of
native Christians is greatly increasing. The benign
influence of the Christian teachers, and of their people,
cannot fail to strengthen and uphold the power of Bri-
tain in India, and bestow on the people of India one of
the greatest blessings which can be conferred on them.

Let us approach another branch of our subject.

Since the days of Pitt, the Government of India
has been under the absolute control of the Government
at home. In this country, the Secretary of State for
India is entrusted with the direction of our diplomatic
intercourse with the neighbouring foreign powers, and
with all the dependent chiefs and princes of India.
He is also the medium of communication between the
Home Government and the Viceroy of India, and is
the Minister responsible to Parliament for the Govern-
ment of India. In India, the supreme Government is
conducted by the Viceroy, who is Governor- General of
Bengal, and by the Governors of the two Provinces of
Bombay and Madras. Besides those three high offi-
cials, there are the Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal, of
the North-west Provinces, and of the Punjab, and
also the Chief Commissioners of Mysore, of the Cen-
tral Provinces, of Sinde, and of British Burmah. All
the Governors, Lieutenant-Governors, and Commission-
ers are more or less subordinate to the Viceroy of India.
The three Governors of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay
are assisted by legislative councils in making and
amending laws for their several Presidencies. These
legislative councils are composed of civil and military
officers ; are appointed by the Government at home or
in India ; and are not, in the least degree, responsible

ITS PR<M,lM-:ss \\D CONDITION. 55

to the people of IIK li.-i forthdira£tion& As yet, British
India knows nothing of Constitutional Government.
In the different Provinces directly under our rule, the
functions of Government are entrusted to officials ap-
pointed by thejparamount power; and, in the tributary
and subordinate native states, the functions of Govern-
ment are discharged by the native princes and their
own officials, and the duty of superintendence alone
belongs to the British Government.

Lately, the principle of local self-government has
been largely introduced into the public affairs of India,
and, I am glad to say, with marked success. Local
self-government in India has its origin, in modern
times, from various legislative acts which have been
passed since 1840 ; but it was not extensively applied
till within recent times. Without doubt, it will be
extended till the whole country is covered with a net-
work of local self-governing bodies, which are the most
effective instruments with which I am acquainted for
the preservation of the lives, liberties, and estates of
a nation.

The local self-government of which I am speaking
must not be confounded with the old village com-
munities, which sprung into existence in the earliest
ages of Hindu society, and of which I shall here give
an example. "In the North-west Provinces, the
village communities have only been partially pre-
served ; but in the Punjab, including the Delhi district,
all the village communities are very perfect, each with
a cultivating body, and a complete internal system of
management. Each man has land to correspond to
his share of his own separate management, and the
grazing ground is common to all. Certain sums were

50 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

always set apart from the revenue for the remunera-
tion of village officials."

Thus, derived from ancient and modern times,
we have the primary elements of the free insti-
tutions which will be the best guarantees of good
government in India in future ages, and which we
ought to foster, strengthen, and develop to the utmost
of our power. From this source will arise the repre-
sentative government which, sooner or later, will exist
in British India. Neither external foes, nor internal
dissension, can stop the march of events in India to-
wards a free system of Constitutional Government.

But, let me here ask : What is the basis of our
present power in India ? It is purely military. We
must not deceive ourselves on this head. We have
conquered India by the sword ; and, for a long time
at least, we must maintain our authority in that
mighty dependency by our own right hands, and
by the prestige which belongs to our arms as the
result of many hard-fought battles.

The military force of British India ordinarily
numbers 200,000, of whom two-thirds are native, and
one-third British soldiers. Thus, in numbers, the
native soldiers largely predominate over the British.
Whether or not the present ratio between the British
and native forces should be maintained is a difficult
problem. Certain it is that, without our native Indian
army, we could never have acquired our mighty Em-
pire in the East ; nor, without its assistance, could
we retain it for a year. To doubt the fidelity of
our native Indian army is to doubt our power to rule.

The cost of the Indian army was estimated for
1878 at £17,000,000 sterling; and, for the

ITS HIOUKKSS AM) ( <>M>ri H'.V 57

present year, is put <lu\vn at £18,250,000, or
nearly £1,250,000 greater than last year. How
far this enormous sum can be safely reduced is
a matter upon which I am not qualified to
give an opinion ; but, even in times of absolute peace,
there does not appear to be any reason to
suppose that the ordinary cost of the Indian
army can, for the future, be estimated at less
than £15,000,000. We must bear in mind the
wide distances of the points liable to attack
from without, and also the large armies kept up by
the native princes. Of the defence of our Indian
frontiers, I do not intend to say anything here ; but,
when I tell you that there are 300,000 native forces
scattered through the subordinate native states of
India, you will, at once, perceive that the reduction
of the Imperial army is not such a simple matter as
some would appear to imagine.

Till the armies of the native princes are greatly
reduced, or, in some way, absorbed in the British
army, there is not much chance of the Imperial
army being reduced below the ordinary peace
footing, which, in consequence of our success in
Afghanistan, will soon be attained.

The great expense of our Indian army was the
subject of severe animadversion by Mr. John Bright
in London last week. He looked upon it as sufficient
to show that our government of India was an absolute
failure. With all submission, I do not agree with
him in his sweeping condemnation, or in the opinions
he expressed as the necessary consequences to
which he was led. To give up India would be to
involve our Indian fellow-subjects in the wildest

58 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

anarchy and confusion, and would inevitably lead
to its absorption by some great European power.
I, for one, am not prepared for this result ; nor, as I
think, are you, nor any great portion of the British
people. Strange that such a great man, as Mr Bright
undoubtedly is, should be so completely led astray
by pecuniary results, and should lay out of sight the
far more important advantages which we have bestowed
on the people of British India, and the honour, glory,
and even pecuniary advantage which we ourselves
derive from our connection with that mighty de-
pendency.

Let us now endeavour to obtain some idea of our
financial position. Much has lately been said as to
the finances of India, and a great deal yet requires
to be said. All I can attempt to do is to give you
some vague notion of its vast magnitude. The ex-
penditure for the year 1877 amounted to £62,500,000
sterling, and the revenue to £59,000,000. Thus there
was an excess in the ordinary expenditure for the year
of £3,500,000. Besides this deficiency, there was a
capital expenditure on productive public works to the
extent of £4,750,000. Hence, the total excess in
the year's expenditure was £8,250,000. Looking at
these sums in the light of the rent of land, the cost
of labour, or the expense of necessaries, we may well
be astonished at the magnitude of the national
resources of our Indian Empire ; for, on such a basis
as I have indicated, the revenue would be treble or
even quadruple the national revenue of the British
Government at home, calculated on a similar basis,
and, of course, all the particular items of the Budget
would be increased in the same ratio. You will be

ITS tbOGk&Sfi AND roNMTioN. 59

pleased to keep in mind that these vast sums are
wholly connected with the Imperial Government, and
do not include local and provincial taxation, nor the
taxation on inland transit, payable to the native
princes in their own dominions. What the latter is,
I do not know. But, according to the Budget
estimates for 1879, the provincial revenue is estimated
at fully £9,000,000 and the local at £2,500,000 ; and
the provincial expenditure at £13,250,000 and the
local at £2,725,000. The difference between the
provincial expenditure and revenue is provided for, by
the supreme Government, from funds appropriated to
provincial purposes, which include large sums for law,
justice, police, and public works. During the current
year, the Government will lose about £500,000 for
the maintenance and construction of the Indian rail-
ways ; and, by the same cause, enormous losses have
been sustained for several years past. The reasons
for this are that the railways in India have, for the
most part, been constructed by, or under the guarantee
of, the Government ; and that many of them are
purely military,- and not required for the ordinary
traffic of the country.

In India, the main system of railway communica-
tion is nearly completed, and the railways yet to be con-
structed are chiefly required to supplement the existing
trunk lines. About 6,000 miles of railway have been
constructed in India, at a cost of about £100,000,000.
We have also repaired or constructed a complete
system of roads intersecting the whole of India, and
have undertaken and completed most stupendous
works, at an immense cost, for improving the water
communications and the harbours of India. Such are

60 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

the Grand Trunk Road leading up the Ganges Valley
and parallel to the East Indian Railroad, the South-
western Trunk Road from Calcutta to Ganjam, and
the Harbour Works at Kurachi. The Electric Tele-
graph has also been in working order along every line of
railway for years, and connects every place in India ;
and, since 1870, nothing on the score of rapidity and
correctness, in our Telegraph communications with
India, remains to be desired. Nearly £4,000,000
sterling have been expended by private companies
and by Government in connecting Europe with India
by Telegraph; and large sums have also been expended
in constructing Telegraph Cables between India and
China, Australia, and the far East.

Let me give you, in round numbers, two or three
items from the Indian Budget of 1879. The Land
Revenue brings to the Imperial exchequer £22,000,000
and involves an expenditure of £3,000,000 ; salt yields
£7,000,000 and causes an expenditure of £400,000 ;
and opium is expected to yield £9,000,000 and to in-
volve an expenditure of £2,500,000. The net loss by
exchange, expected to be sustained by the national ex-
chequer for the current year, is put down at £3,500,000
sterling. The interest of the National Debt of India for
the current year, is nearly £6,000,000 sterling. Inas-
much as the revenue from land, salt, and opium, and
the loss by exchange are peculiar to India, allow me
to give you some facts about each of them.

The Land Revenue of India is intimately con-
nected with the daily life of the people, and has im-
portant political as well as fiscal bearings. " The
welfare and contentment of the people depend upon
the wise adjustment of the demand on the produce of

ITS PBOGBB88 AND < OKDtl [OK, Gl

the land ; and difficult questions relating to land
revenue have always had the most close and careful
attention from Indian statesmen."

A permanent settlement of the Land Revenue was
made in 1793 as to Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and
the assessment was close on £3,000,000. From various
CM uses, this assessment has been increased by £600,000,
and of this sum Bahar alone yields £400,000. In
this settlement, the Government made terms with the
Zemindars, or great landlords, and secured the rights
of the tenants, or ryots, and provisions for leases at esta-
blished rates, and fixity of tenure as long as the
ryots paid their stipulated rents. Most of these
great landowners have disappeared in consequence of
their mismanagement, and the result has been a great
increase in the number of owners, and a corresponding
diminution in the average area of the estates.

Various settlements of the Land Revenue have
been made in the North-west Provinces, which became
British territory in 1802. The last great revenue
scheme was completed in 1842, and was fiscal, admini-
strative, and judicial in its character ; for it aimed at
fixing the annual revenue payable to the Imperial
treasury, arranging by whom, and in what way, the
people were to be ruled and the taxes paid, and also
determining the rights of every individual in the soil.
The proprietors recognised were not always village
communities, or brotherhoods. The most common
tenure is in that in which a village belongs to a
family, and the cultivators are its tenants. The land
settlement of 1842 included 80,800 townships, and an
area of nearly 72,000 square miles, and fixed the
annual revenue at £4,054,000. For the year 1876,

62 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

the Land Eevenue collected in the North-west Pro-
vinces amounted to nearly £4,300,000.

As to Oude, a settlement, village by village, was
made after its annexation in 1856; and the actual
occupants of the soil, called village zemindars, or
proprietory copartners, were alone to be dealt with.
The Government determined to have nothing to do
with middle-men ; and, in many cases, deprived the
old landed aristocracy of undoubted rights in the
property of the soil. The policy of confiscation was
ultimately abandoned, and the talukdars were con-
firmed in possession of everything they held at the
time of the annexation, and the rights of the subordi-
nate proprietors were confirmed as regards all they
held at the same period. The Land Revenue collected
in Oude in 1876 amounted to £1,403,843.

Into the Punjab, on its annexation, was introduced
the land system of the North-west Provinces. An
essential difference, however, exists between the con-
dition of things in the North-west Provinces and in
the Punjab ; for, in the latter, the bulk of the pro-
prietors are actual cultivators ; while, in the former,
they are not. The whole area of the Punjab covers
105,000 square miles. Out of 32 districts, there are
returns of the land tenures for 29, which have an area
of 90,400 square miles. In these there are 29,500
villages held by close on 2,000,000 cultivating pro-
prietors, and only 1,300 villages held by 3,500
proprietors of the landed class. The great mass of
the land is held by small proprietors who culti-
vate their own land ; and the owners are associated
together in village communities with joint interests
and responsibilities. The organization of the pro-

ITS PROGRESS AND toNDlTION. 63

prietors of land into village communities has existed
from time immemorial, and is the work of the people
themselves. Each Punjab village undertakes the
payment, through its representative council of Elders,
of the revenue assessed upon it, and the payment is
distributed among individual members of the com-
munity in proportion to the land held by them. The
revenue is punctually paid, and sales of land are
unknown. The Land Revenue of the Punjab for 1872
was upwards of £2,000,000.

In the Central Provinces is to be found almost
every form of land tenure existing in India, namely,
feudal, zamindari, and tahutdari tenures. The nature
of the last is permanency of tenure by subordinate
holders and by village communities. The prevailing
tenure is called malguzari, and exists where the estate
is managed by a single proprietor, and the land is held
by cultivators whose rents are thrown into a common
stock. " Profits are divided, or losses shared, with
reference to the respective shares of the different pro-
prietors." In 1872, the Land Revenue of the Central
Provinces amounted to upwards of £250,000. Out of
an area of 36, 000, 000 acres, a little less than one-third is
cultivated, and about another third is cultivable.

The prevailing system of Land Revenue in the Mad-
ras Presidency is the ryotwar, which is a system based
on a settlement made yearly with each ryot or culti-
vator, and not with a proprietor or village community.
It was introduced between 1818 and 1827, and has
the great advantage of bringing the Government and
the great body of the cultivators into direct com-
munication with each other. A maximum rent is
fixed on each field ; and if the crops fail, the rent is

64 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

reduced. During the year 1854, reductions were made
on the Land Revenue to the extent of more than
£250,000 sterling, and a considerable increase
in the area of cultivation took place. This
increase is a clear proof that the people had been too
heavily taxed. Taxation may diminish the area of
cultivation, or the production of some industrial em-
ployment, and may even extinguish either of them
altogether. The Land Revenue of the Madras Presi-
dency for 1872 was upwards of £4,500,000. The area
of cultivated ryotwari land was 17,250,000 acres, of
which fully 3,000,000 acres were irrigated, and
14,000,000 acres unirrigated.

Until a comparatively recent period, the Bombay
Presidency did not comprise any considerable territory-
subject to a demand on the land. But, in 1847, the
present ryotwar system was introduced, and was based
on a rent settlement fixed on each field for a period
of 30 years, and not, as in Madras, on an annual
settlement.

Having the means of judging of the results of the
settlement made on land 30 years ago, we may con-
fidently say that they have been eminently satisfactory
by increasing the area of cultivation, the wealth, and
consequently the material well-being of the people,
and also by augmenting the amount of Land Revenue
payable to the Government. The Land Revenue of
Bombay, including Sinde, which became a part of
British India in 1843, was, in 1871, close on
£3,500,000, and had risen to £3,750,000 in 1872.

Having discussed the land system of British India
as far as circumstances would allow, I propose to make
a few observations as to the taxation raised from salt.

IT- PBOQBE88 AM> to.M'iTiON. 65

It is an absolute necessary for life in India, both
for human beings and for cattle. It has given rise to
a Government monopoly ; and salt agencies have been
established for the production of salt ; and, contrary to
all true rules of national finance, widely different rates
of duty on salt existed in different provinces. The
equalisation of these rates, and the abolition of an ex-
tensive Inland Customs line, have long been desired
by the Indian Government. With the most satis-
factory results, both objects have, at last, been almost
effected. The Customs line was nearly 2,300 miles
in length ; and, at an annual cost of about £162,000,
was guarded by 12,000 men and officers. The bene-
ficial effects of this financial change are these : An
expensive and vexatious internal barrier was abolished
on 1st April last ; at the end of July last year, the
duty on salt in the North-west Provinces and in
Bengal was almost equal ; and, even although the
cost has been increased to 47,000,000 of people, it has
been reduced to more than 130,000,000 of their
fellow subjects.

To carry out this much needed fiscal reform, agree-
ments have been made with the native princes in
whose territories salt mines exist. By those agree-
ments, the whole manufacture of salt will substantially
pass into the hands of the British Government ; and
the right to transit duties, imposed by these native
princes upon commodities passing through their ter-
ritories, is surrendered in several instances.

From the sale of opium, according to the Indian
Budget of 1879, the Government expect to receive a
revenue of £9,000,000 sterling. Opium is another
Government monopoly. It is grown by the British

66 OUB INDIAN EMPIRE :

Government in Bengal, and can be raised in Malwa
by the native princes of Bahar at a much less cost
than in Bengal. Therefore, in order to place Bengal
and Bahar opium on a footing of equality in the
market, compensatory duties are imposed on the Malwa
opium. " This has been effected by levying a heavy
duty on Malwa opium at Bombay, its sole legal port
of export. Up to 1842, the duty was only 125 rupees
per chest, and the quantity of opium exported from
Malwa was equal to that exported from Bengal. The
object has since been to equalize the duty in two ways:
first, by increasing the quantity and lowering the
price of Bengal opium ; and, secondly, by raising the
duty on Malwa opium. It is now — '1872-3' — 600
rupees per chest."

Thus, the revenue from opium is raised according
to a most objectionable principle ; and whether Indian
financiers like the prospect or not, they will be obliged
to remove the protective duty imposed on Malwa
opium.

The next point which demands our attention
is the enormous losses arising from exchange. The
loss borne by the Indian Exchequer under the
head of exchange is an important element in our
transactions with India, and must be paid by the
tax payers of India. But I venture to predict that
no process of temporary loans will sensibly diminish the
losses which will yet be sustained ; because they
naturally arise from the balance of trade being against
us, and from the yearly remittance of vast sums from
India to this country as the direct consequence of our
connection with India as its rulers, and as its largest
creditors for extensive public and private works con-

ITS rttoeMfle .\vn CONDITION. r>7

structed in India by means of British capital. Till
we have a recurrence of great commercial prosperity,
and thus be enabled to pay India by means of our
imported commodities, or by the remittances of the
merchants of this country to those of other countries,
owing money to India, the loss by exchange will not be
sensibly altered from what it now is. The imports of
commodities from India to Great Britain are greatly in
excess of the exports of commodities from Great
Britain to India, and the amount of the excess must
be paid to India in some way. To remit large sums
from India for public purposes, or . for private invest-
ment here, at a time when the balance arising from the
ordinary commercial relations of the two countries is
already against us, has the necessary effect of raising
the exchange against the Indian Government. Let
me point out to you one or two singular facts as to
this loss by exchange. By lessening the remittances
from India to this country for public purposes, or by
increasing the remittances from this country to India
for permanent investment, we would diminish the
loss sustained by the Indian Treasury by exchange.
Formerly, large payments had to be made to China for
excess of exports from China to England, and also by
China to India for the opium and other imports received ;
but, for sometime past, our home trade with China has
dwindled down to nothing, and the loss by exchange
as against India has been considerably, and as I think
necessarily, increased to an enormous extent. When
a great trade was carried on between this country and
China, the loss by exchange was reduced to zero.
Thus we have the wonderful result that the badness
of our trade with a foreign country has caused great,

68 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

and still increasing loss to the Indian Government.
On the other hand, if India had not been joined to
this country as it has been, neither the exports nor the
imports of India would have reached their present
magnitude. I would only further observe that
merchants carrying on business with India are also
great losers by exchange on their remittances from
India.

By the light of the most reliable information,
I now propose to show how far an effective admini-
stration of civil and criminal justice is attained in
British India. And, in the first place, let us see
what is the state of India as to crime.

In Bengal there were, in 1872, 72,800 arrests, and
36,800 convictions, and of 394 murders there were
only 160 detected. In this province, professional cri-
minals, embracing thugs, dacoits, and men who make a
trade of poisoning and robbery, scarcely exist; and yet
it is said that, compared with the amount of actual crime,
the convictions are insignificant. 3,550 persons were
flogged, or one for every eight persons imprisoned ;
and, after confirmation by the High Court, 78 capital
sentences were carried into execution.

In the North-west Provinces, as everywhere else,
poverty and crime are seen to be very closely related.
During the year 1872, food was dearer than usual,
and there was a consequent increase of crime. The in-
crease was chiefly in petty thefts. The same state of
things existed in Oude. For 1872, there were 20,000
convictions, or 69 per cent, of the accused, and in the
preceding year the ratio was 70. 4,600 persons were
flogged, of whom 780 were boys, and 74 capital sen-
tences were confirmed. To the police of the North-

rrs taooRBSfi AND <<>M>rnoN.

west Provinces are entrusted the supervision of the
hereditary thieves and the suppression of infanticide.
Strange as it may appear, various tribes in the Punjab,
the North-west Provinces, and Oude systematically
carry on theft and robbery. They live quietly in
their own districts for a part of the year, and spend
the rest in wandering about the country to rob and
plunder, and, according to a fixed rule, divide their
gains. By establishing reformatory settlements,
and allowing the predatory tribes to hold land at a
cheap rate, the Government is doing its utmost to
change the habits of those tribes and to induce them to
lead honest lives. Since 1870, very stringent rules have
been enforced for the suppression of infanticide, and
there can be little doubt that this abominable practice,
which in the North-west Provinces extends to the de-
struction of females only, will eventually be entirely put
down. In the province of Bombay, the crime of
infanticide is little known ; and there arrangements to
remove the motives for murdering daughters have
been voluntarily made by the people themselves.
These measures contemplate the reduction of the ex-
pense of the marriage ceremony. The causes which
have given rise to the crime of infanticide are very
obscure. Possibly the crime is now mainly attribut-
able to hereditary custom. Whether this is so or not,
it will most assuredly be extinguished by stringent
measures for its eradication.

In the Punjab, out of 358 murders in 1872, there
were 140 sentences of death. This is an improvement
on the previous year.

In the Bombay Presidency, a new system of Police
was created a few years ao-o. and there \vas ^ivat need

i

\< */

70 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

of it ; for crimes were increasing at an alarming rate.
In 1872, the convictions bore a small proportion to
the crimes — being only 39 per cent, or 2 to 5 — and
68 capital sentences were confirmed as against 66 in
the previous year.

As an example of the good effects produced by our
rule in India, I hope you will allow me to give you
an account of two semi-military police forces in
Bombay. They are known as the Khandesh Bhil
Corps, and the Gujrat Bhil Corps. The Bhils were
the aborigines of Khandesh, a fierce mountain tribe,
dwelling among steep rocks and pestilential jungles,
and practising robbery as a business. They were
the object of mingled terror, contempt, and detestation
to the people of the plains ; and, in their sudden
forays, spared neither age nor sex. I take my infor-
mation from the Statement for India for 1872 : "In
1818, Khandesh was ceded to Britain; and, in 1826,
Mountstuart Elphinstone conceived the idea of estab-
lishing the Bhils in agricultural colonies, and organising
a Bhil regiment. The agricultural colonies were con-
fided to Captain Ovans ; and to Lieutenant Outram was
assigned the dangerous task of disciplining these law-
less barbarians ; while Dr Willoughby established
order and peace among the wild Bhils of Rajpeela.
Outram commenced by attacking the Bhils in their
mountain retreats, at the head of a single detachment,
and compelled them to sue for mercy. Having con-
vinced them that their rocky defiles were not impreg-
nable, he sent back his troops, and throwing himself
among his recent foes, unarmed and unattended, he
claimed and received a reciprocity of the confidence
he reposed in them. He accepted their hospitality,

ITS PROGRESS AND CONDITION. 71

listened to their wild legends, taught them many
simple mechanical devices, dressed their wounds, pre-
scribed for their ailments, accompanied them in the
pursuit of tigers, and won their admiration by showing
his superiority in those very qualities which they most
valued in themselves. In less than a year he had
formed a Bhil Corps, which, when Outturn gave over
its command in 1835, consisted of GOO well disciplined

men."

But this digression has almost been too long. I
turn for a moment to the administration of civil
justice, and shall merely advert to two matters closely
affecting the well-being of our Indian fellow subjects.

The registration of deeds and other documents
in India plays an important part in our Govern-
ment. To the former class belong deeds connected
with land. For example, the number of wills registered
in 1872 was 1,200, or 300 more than in the previous
year. This points to a revolution in the ancient Indian
law of succession, which is being gradually superseded
by the English doctrine of freedom in testamentary
disposition. Again " in the North-west Provinces, in
1872, there was an enormous increase in the registration
of deeds for sale or mortgage of immovable property —
from 86,400 to 102,700. This is an alarming sign.
But it is uncertain whether the increase is in deeds
executed or in deeds brought for registration ; and
whether, if the former, the increase is due to the
poverty and embarrassment of the landed class,- or to
the rising price of land tempting men to sell." Tins
is a matter requiring the gravest consideration of the
Indian Government and the people of this country ;

72 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

and its gravity is not lessened, but rather increased
by the most recent information on the subject.

Such meagre particulars must serve for our expli-
cation of the administration of justice and police in
India. Agriculture must next engage our attention.

India is peculiarly an agricultural country ; but
unfortunately it is frequently visited by great droughts
and terrible famines. " The harvests of India, even
in years when they fail within certain areas, are
abundantly sufficient to feed the people. The preven-
tion of famine will eventually be achieved through the
increased well-being of the cultivators, improved agri-
culture, a more perfect system of communication, and
an effectively organised meteorological department."
These periodical devastations impoverish the country,
involve the whole of India, and even the British
Empire, in stupendous financial losses, slay millions of
people, and leave the survivors in extensive districts
permanently weakened. India also presents, in its
different regions, extreme modifications of climate and
geographical features.

Rice forms the principal food grain in Bengal. In
Bahar rice is also the staple food ; but, where
the fields are high and dry, one of the two daily meals
of the cultivators is usually of wheat, maize, or pease.
Rice is, however, the favourite food ; and the food of
the ordinary cultivators is one-half of rice and one-
half of cereals, millets, and pulses. In Patna and
Shahabar maize is largely used. Potatoes are chiefly
found in Assam and the hill districts. In the Upper
Provinces, the people are less dependent on rice, and
use other cereals in its place ; and in the Madras and

ITS IMMM;I;KSS .\ M > CONDITION, 73

Boml>jiy Presidencies, the dry grain cn>|>.^ t«>nu tin-
staple food.

Almost from the commencement of British rule in
India, the Government has recognised the duty of
making advances, called takavi, to owners and occupiers
of land, for the purpose of promoting the construction
of minor works of agricultural improvement.

For aiding improved agriculture in India, agricul-
tural societies have been established ; and, acting as
pioneers of a higher agriculture, have been fairly use-
ful. Moreover, the Horticultural Societies have
introduced several new vegetables to the notice of the
natives, e.g. potatoes, cauliflower, and pease. But,
however valuable these and such like institutions, the
native cultivators know a great deal more than the
Government officials give them credit for. The reason
of this is not far to seek. " The processes of the
natives are the results of most careful empirical ex-
periments, carried on for several thousand years."

In the Bombay Presidency, at least in the Dharwar
district, the introduction of American cotton has been
a complete success. Among the crops raised for sale
and export, the most important commercial staple, as
regards Bengal, is jute, which yields a soft fibre 12
feet long. Twenty years ago, it was cultivated by the
ryot for his own use on any spare piece of ground ; and,
in 1872, was the second article of production in
Bengal. The cultivation of jute has improved the
condition of the ryots, and has not injuriously affected
the supply of food. I shall again refer to this article
when I consider the trade and manufactures of India.

Another fibre, the rhea, is vastly superior to jute,
and yet has failed to become an object of profitable

74 OUB INDIAN EMPIRE :

cultivation. The rhea fibre of India is the same as
China grass, Boehmeria nivea, and is a stingless nettle
with a perennial root, whence rise nine or ten straight
slender stems to about six feet, and from the exterior
of which the fibres are extracted. Fresh sets of stems
will yield four or five harvests a year, but the manual
labour of extracting the fibres is too great to make
the cultivation on a large scale profitable. When
properly manipulated, the rhea produces one of the
strongest known vegetable fibres, and is three times
as strong as the best Russian hemp. All attempts to
develop the trade in this fibre have, as yet, failed,
because of the absence of suitable mechanical ap-
pliances for the separation of the fibre and the bark
from the stem. Large prizes have been offered by
Government for a sufficiently economical machine ;
and, although hitherto in vain, perhaps success will
attend the efforts now being made to obtain the
necessary article. Some day the machine will
be made, and the lucky inventor will make
his fortune, and establish a new industry for
large numbers of his fe] low-countrymen. I submit
these observations, as to the possibility of availing
yourselves of this fibre as an article of trade, to your
serious consideration.

Sericulture has been largely developed in India
since our connection with India. The East Indian
Company took great pains to foster the production of
silk ; and since the Company ceased its trading opera-
tions in 1833, and the trade has been carried on by
private individuals, the average quantity of silk ex-
ported has greatly increased, and the price very much
enhanced. Indigo is cultivated in Bahar and in

ITS PROGRESS AND COMHTIorf. 75

Bengal, and one-half of the produce exported in 1872
was from Bahar, and almost entirely from the districts
on the north side of the Ganges, Tirbut, Champarum,
and Saran ; and in 1877 the whole quantity exported
from India was worth £3,500,000 sterling.

The mountainous districts of India yield valuable
crops of coffee and tea. Hundreds of acres have been
cleared in the hill districts, and rows of tea and coffee
plants have taken the place of tall forest trees and
tangled underwood. The extension of coffee cultiva-
tion in the hill districts of Southern India has been
very remarkable. Begun experimentally in the
Wynaad in 1840, there were 9,900 acres under coffee
cultivation in 1862 in that district alone. In 1872 the
total number of acres in India under coffee cultivation
was 29,600. The exports in 1860 amounted to 100,000
cwts. and has gradually increased to 300,000 cwts. in
1877. Hence, coffee has become an important and
increasing source of wealth to India. Tea cultivation
is carried on in Assam, Cachar, Silhet, Chittagong,
Darjiling, and Kanara. This industry has sprung up
within living memory. It began in 1826, and was
long carried on by Government and private enterprise
at great loss. But its prospects are now brighter than
ever before.

It was my intention to describe some of the irriga-
tion works undertaken by the Indian Government ; but
I find time will not allow me to do so. Some of
these works surpass anything undertaken in any other
part of the world. To such a country as India, the
importance of a complete system of irrigation cannot
be exaggerated.

I now come to the consideration of Indian trade

7G OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

and commerce, which is the last point upon which
I intend to touch.

A memorable feature in the trade of India consists
in this, that only a small part of it is represented in
the returns from the great seaports. This arises from
the bulk of the production being consumed in India
itself, and the value of the foreign trade being only
a fraction of the internal coast trade combined. Of
the home trade there are no complete statistics ; but of
the trade from port to port, there is proof of a steady
increase.

The value of opium exported in 1874 was fully
£11,000,000 sterling; and it steadily increased till it
reached £12,500,000 in 1877.

On the other hand, the value of raw cotton ex-
ported from India has steadily fallen from £15,250,000
in 1874 to £9,250,000 in 1877. Coincident with this
fall in the export of raw cotton, the quantity of twist
and yarn exported has been increased five times, and
the value quadrupled. The decrease in the quantity
of raw cotton exported is mainly due to American
competition, low prices, and to some extent to an in-
creasing demand for the cotton manufacture of India.

A large quantity of cotton is worked up in India ;
and the Indian duty on imported piece goods fostered
and encouraged the home manufacture. But the aboli-
tion of this protective duty will place the British
manufacturer in a better position to compete with the
home manufactured cotton goods of India. In the
Bombay presidency, the most important industry is
the manufacture of cotton cloth and yarns. This
manufacture has always existed there in nearly every
village. The cotton is cleaned and spun into threads

PTB PBOGRESfi ANI» r<»M>moN. 77

by all classes of the people. ;md there are weavers and
dyers in every town of the province.

Printed goods have also long been manufactured,
especially in the large towns of Gujrat, stronger and
more durable than European goods. But it is only
within the last 18 years that steam-spinning and
weaving have been introduced. They are largely
extending their operations. In Bengal, the Punjab,
the Central Provinces, and Mysore, large quantities
of cotton goods are manufactured for home consump-
tion. Notwithstanding all this, and exclusive of
cotton thread, twist, and yarn, the value of imported
cotton price goods for 1877 was £17,500,000 sterling,
of which goods to the value of £1,000,000 were re-
exported.

The local cotton mills have almost annihilated the
English trade in low class cotton goods and yarns.
The produce of the Indian mills find a ready sale at
paying prices, and India gains by saving the cost of
sending its raw material to Europe, and having it re-
turned in a manufactured shape from a country in
which the price of unskilled labour is much greater
than in India. Even in Aden and Sinde, the cotton
cloth of Bombay can, on equal terms, compete success-
fully with the English cottons. The effect of the
abolition of the protective cotton duties may, there-
fore, not be so beneficial to the English manufacturers
as some of them expect. The secret of the loss of
the Indian market by the Manchester manufacturers
is much deeper and more virulent than even protec-
tion itself. It is to be traced to a shamefully dis-
honest practice of introducing moisture into the
English cloth, and of using an excessive quantity of

78 OUR INDIAN EMPIBE:

size, to produce weight. This evil was so general in
1872 that 75 per cent, of the entire stock of these
cloths at Shanghae were unsaleable as sound goods.
Does this shameful practice still exist ? Do not let us
deceive ourselves. In business, as in everything else,
honesty is the best policy. If English manufactured
goods are inferior in excellency of pattern or durability
to the manufactured goods of India, or, under a
system of free competition, even of foreign countries,
we will ultimately and permanently be driven from the
Indian market in this as in all other articles of trade.
If we are to maintain our commercial supremacy,
we must sell our merchandise cheaper than any
of our competitors, and must find out the most
advantageous markets for our commerce.

Seeds are third in the list of Indian exports, and
show an increasing and flourishing trade. In 1874,
the quantity exported was 6,000,000 of cwts. and in
1877 it was doubled, and the value between 1874 and
1877 rose from £3,250,000 sterling to nearly £7,500,000
sterling.

The next great article of export is rice. For the
foreign trade alone, the quantity exported during 1877
was 18,500,000 cwts. worth nearly £7,000,000
sterling. Of rice exported from Madras, Ceylon
receives the most.

The most valuable special article of export from
Calcutta is jute. The quantity of jute exported in
1828 was 364 cwts., worth £62. The Russian war of
1854 destroyed the supply of Russian flax, and the
demand for jute rapidly increased. From 1858 to
1863 the average importation of jute from Calcutta
was 967,700 cwts.; from 1863 to 1868 it had risen to

ITS PROGRESS AND CONDITION. 79

2,028,000 cwts. The quantity of raw jute exported
in 1872 was 7,080,900 cwts., worth £4,142,500.
Since 1873, the export of jute fibre has greatly
diminished, and of manufactured jute largely in-
creased. During 1873-4, the jute fibre exported was
6,127,279 cwts., valued at £3,436,015. In the follow-
ing year, the quantity and value exported were, in
consequence of over production, still farther dimini-
shed; in 1875-6, the quantity exported was increased;
in 1876-7 was diminished ; in 1877-8 was increased;
and this year the quantity will be considerably larger
than in any previous year. Those who hold the Con-
servative Government responsible for the present de-
pression of trade would act more wisely by examining
the dates and the causes of that depression. Of
Indian raw jute, by far the largest quantity — nearly the
whole — has, until within the last few years, been
converted into cloth and yarns in Dundee and
its neighbourhood ; and the jute trade has enabled
several in this large and important community
and neighbourhood to acquire enormous fortunes.
Lately, however, a great change has taken place, and,
although evident signs of a revival of our staple trade
have made their appearance, demands the most careful
investigation by all who are concerned in the prosperity
of the staple trade of Dundee.

Large steam mills have been established for
spinning and weaving the jute fibre under European
management in India. Women and boys are em-
ployed in the spinning, winding, and sewing, and men
in weaving ; and just as the cost of living in India is
very much less than here, so are the wages of the com-
mon jute workers proportionately less there than here.

80 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE:

The work is practically confined to making gunny
bags and cloth. The value of manufactured jute ex-
ported was, in 1874, £250,000; in 1875, £500,000; in
1876, £750,000; and for the last few years, a large
and increasing export trade has been carried on between
India and Egypt, China, Australia, and California, in
manufactured goods.

The Indian import trade in coarse jute cloth has
thus received a severe and permanent check ; and
the export trade has enjoyed a great and steady
increase. For us to compete either in the Indian
or the neighbouring markets with India in the
manufacture of coarse jute cloth is hopeless ; but to
do so in the finer qualities, where improved machinery
and skilled labour can be usefully introduced should,
I humbly suggest, be one of the chief objects of our
local manufacturers. Here, unless I am misinformed
and greatly mistaken, lies the secret of the future
development of the local jute trade, upon which your
prosperity and happiness may to a large extent
depend for years to come. Of course, I do not here
speak of the Continental or American trade, as to
which different considerations apply.

There has been a great increase in the export of
tea, of which 17,750,000 Ibs. were exported from India
in 1872, worth £1,500,000 sterling, and the quantity
exported rapidly increased till it reached 33,500,000
Ibs., worth £3,000,000 sterling.

Wheat has also become a great article of export.
In 1874, the quantity exported was 1,000,000 cwts.,
worth £500,000 sterling; and in 1877, 6,250,000
cwts., worth nearly £3,000,000 sterling.

The special product of the Madras Presidency,

ITS IMIOGRESS AND CONDITION. 81

besides cotton, is coffee, the great mass of which is
brought down from the hill districts of Mysore, Curg,
Wynaad, and the Nilgiris, to be shipped from the
Malabar ports. The whole quantity exported from
India in 1874 was 300,000 cwts., worth £1,250,000
sterling; and in 1877 somewhat less than 300,000
cwts., worth £30,000 more than the quantity exported
in 1874.

The chief present interest in the sea-borne traffic
of India lies in the development of the transport of
merchandise by the Suez Canal. In 1872, out of the
total value of the trade of India with Europe and
America, about £40,000,000, or 60 per cent, passed
through the Suez Canal, and the value is annually in-
creasing. A trade has thus sprung up with the
countries bordering on the Mediterranean. The ex-
port trade in that region in 1872 was worth
£1,000,000 sterling, but India received less than
£200,000 worth of imports in return. There has
been a great decline in the trade with Genoa, and, on
the other hand, Austria, Syria, and Sicily appear, for
the first time, as direct customers of India.

In addition to the sea-borne commerce of India,
there is the land traffic through the passes of the
Himalayas, which lead from Sinde and the Punjab to
the lofty plateaux of Afghanistan, Turkestan, and
Tibet. In 1862 the trade beyond the mountain
frontier was estimated at £1,000,000 sterling, and it
has considerably increased during the time which has
since elapsed.

The trade of the Lohani merchants, called Provin-
dahs, or runners, who are the channels of communica-
tion between India and Central Asia, is a very old

82 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

one. Only militant merchants of this description
could have made a profit out of a commerce which
had to traverse difficult mountain ranges, through
tribes of savage robbers, and the countries between
them seamed with the customs' lines of greedy and
shortsighted chiefs. But the Provindahs banded them-
selves together in large caravans to resist exactions that
would render their trade impossible ; and, by bribing,
cajoling, bullying, and defying their enemies, twice a
year, did these hardy traders fight their way from the
deserts of Bokhara, the defiles of Paropamisus, the
Ghilzi plateau, and the passes of the Suleiman range,
across the Indus to the Punjab. Much of this is now
changed for the better, and with the natural result — a
vast development of trade. Once across the Indus,
the merchant finds himself in absolute security.
Were the rest of the route made safe, and the duties
in Afghanistan fixed at a moderate ad valorem rate,
the Provindah merchants might make four journeys
instead of two a year, and the value of the trade
would assume still larger proportions than heretofore.
Before the interference of the Russians in Central
Asia, English cloth and tea were exported from Bok-
hara to Samarkand, Khokand, and Tashkand, but the
Russians have prohibited the English trade in order
to establish a monopoly for themselves.

The commercial traffic between British India, and
Eastern Turkestan, across the Himalayas, only dates
from 1867. This trade might be largely developed by
British merchants. Kashgar is only 390 miles from
Ihilam in the Punjab ; and as the cost of transit is
less between England and Eastern Turkestan than
between Moscow and the latter country, it is plain

ITS PBQOBiBa AND roM>riioN. 83

that we could sell our goods cheaper than Russia,
whose great »l»jr<-t is to keep us out of this market by
all means in her power. All that requires to be done
is to send suitable goods to the market, and study
the tastes of the buyers. A treaty of commerce was
entered into between India and Kashgar and Taskand
in 1874.

In the Eastern Himalayas, there are trade routes
from India to Tibet by Nepal and Sikkim, and by the
country of the Tawang Bhutias. The prohibition of
trade between India and Tibet is solely due to orders
from Peking. The local officers in Tibet would gladly
facilitate a direct trade with us. Here is another
opening for our commerce in the course of time.
Various exploring parties have made considerable pro-
gress in acquiring a knowledge of the roads to Tibet
from India.

The statistics which I have submitted to you as to
the trade of India, and the few facts which I have
mentioned as to the possible new markets for the goods
of this country, and perhaps of this town, are,
I submit, not unworthy of your serious consideration.

Ladies and Gentlemen : I have sincerely to thank
you for the attention which you have so kindly ac-
corded to me. The Conquest and Government of India
by Britain surpasses everything of a similar nature in
the history of the world. Therefore, while we are
justified in looking upon our position in India with no
small pride, at the same time, we must ever remem-
ber that exalted station involves great responsi-
bilities. India is seldom wholly exempt from the
terrible calamities of famine and destitution, and its
population, in many regions, dangerously approaches

84 OUR INDIAN EMPIRE :

the verge of chronic poverty. Moreover, it is a country
essentially different from our own in all that pertains to
modes of life, its customs, its laws, and its religion.
It is also liable to the subtle influences of wild
paroxysms of religious hatred and fanaticism. It is
also the blissful paradise of a semi-barbarous and
great military and almost neighbouring people, who,
under the influence of almost uncontrollable im-
pulses, and, in numerous and not improbable circum-
stances, may, at no distant period, endeavour to
paralyse our authority in Asia in order to carry
out their schemes of ambition and aggrandisement
in Europe and in Asia. In our midst, some men of
great weight in the management of public affairs
pretend to ridicule this danger ; but they are
dangerous leaders at the present crisis of the history
of Europe. We must, therefore, be on the alert
against external foes as well as on our guard against
certain blind guides at home. We must have clear
ideas as to what the present and the future demand
of us, and act accordingly. A policy of supine in-
action, or of sublime confidence in the absolute recti-
tude of foreign statesmen, will not suffice to protect
us from disaster, and is unsuited to the age in which
we li ve. Success, honour, glory are the rewards of the
prudent, the active, and the bold. Keeping our eyes
open, ever remembering tha,t we are subjects of the
British Empire, we have no cause to be afraid of the
result.

Let tis study the past history of our country, and
especially of its connection with India, and we will
unquestionably arrive at a just and prudent course of
action. We must develop the boundless resources of

ITS PBOG&BM \\D CONDITIOK. 85

India to the utmost of our power. We must give it
the benefit of the most approved commercial, and
economic, and financial system. We must carefully
cut down unnecessary or extravagant expenditure in
all branches of the public service. We ought to look
upon India as affording unlimited scope for the profitable
investment of British capital, energy, and science.
We must, as far as consistent with the maintenance
of our paramount authority, avail ourselves of the
talents of the natives for imperial and local govern-
ment. We must also endeavour to keep down the
size and the cost of the military force in India, and
be ready to defend our Indian Empire from all dangers
within, or insidious attacks from without. Let me not
be misunderstood. If we would escape unspeakable
calamities, we must have no hesitation about the
preservation of our Indian Empire as an essential part
of our dominions. Let justice, mercy, and truth inspire
and guide our public conduct at home and abroad,
and we have no cause to be afraid of what may happen
either in Europe or in Asia. May peace, security, and
honour be the watchwords of our Indian policy !

WINTER, DUNCAN AND CO. PRIMTKB8, DtMDEB.

•a

o

t-

.2

o

£ JS

3 <-•

^ H

University of Toronto
Library

DO NOT

REMOVE

THE

CARD

FROM

THIS

POCKET

Acme Library Card Pocket
LOWE-MARTIN CO. LIMITED