A View of the Art of Colonization, With Present Reference to the British Empire; In Letters Between a Statesman and a Colonist. Edited by (ONE OF THE WRITERS) Edward Gibbon Wakefield. “There need be no hesitation in affirming, that Colonization, in the present state of the world, is the very best affair of business, in which the capital of an old and wealthy country can possibly engage.” — John Stuart Mill. Batoche Books Kitchener 2001 Originally published John W. Parker, London, 1849. This edition published 2001 Batoche Books Limited 52 Eby Street South Kitchener, Ontario N2G 3L1 Canada email: [email protected] This Book Is Affectionately Dedicated to John Hutt, E S Q., Lately Governor of West Australia, Who, More than Any Other Individual Known to Me, Has Combined Study and Experience In Learning the Art of Colonization. Contents Preface. ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Letter I.: From the Statesman: The Statesman Invites the Colonist to Discussions of the Subject............................................... 8 Letter II.: From the Colonist: The Colonist Suggests the Alternative of Written Communications. ............................................ 8 Letter III: From the Statesman: The Statesman Describes the Condition of His Own Knowledge, Calls for Some Definitions, and Asks Questions Relating Both to the Subject, and to the State of it as Matter of Public Opinion. ................................ 9 Letter IV: From the Colonist: The Colonist Proposes Some Definitions, Which State and Limit the Subject of Inquiry, and Indicates the Course of the Investigation............................................................................................................................. 11 Letter V: From the Statesman: The Statesman Objects to the Proposed Course of Inquiry as Being Confined to a Particular Project of the Colonist’s, and Desires That a More General View of the Subject May Be Expounded. ............................. 12 Letter VI: From the Colonist: The Colonist Explains that He Always Intended to Expound a Theory, Not to Recommend a Project. — Narrative Concerning Lord Grey. — Lord Grey’s State of Mind and his Proceedings with Regard to Coloniza- tion, Described. ................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Letter VII: From the Colonist: Mr. Mothercountry Introduced. ................................................................................................. 17 Letter VIII: From the Statesman: The Statesman Desires the Colonist to Proceed. ................................................................... 17 Letter IX: From the Colonist: State of the Subject Twenty Years Ago. — Colonization Society of 1830. — Practice Without Principles in the Business of Colonization. — The First Theory of Colonization. — First Effort of the Theorists of 1830. — Foundation of South Australia — Mr. Henry George Ward’s Committee on Colonial Lands and Emigration. — Commissioners Appointed by the Crown. — The New Zealand Association of 1837. — Lord Durham’s Mission to Canada. — Influence of the Colonial Gazette. — Success and Failure of the Theorists of 1830. — State of Opinion Concerning Religious Provisions for Colonies. — Summary of Present State of Opinion Generally................................. 17 Letter X: From the Statesman: The Statesman Divides the Subject into Four Main Parts, and Indicates the Order of Inquiry. 23 Letter XI: From the Colonist: The Colonist Proposes a Further Division of the Subject, and Settles the Order of Inquiry. ..... 24 Letter XII: From the Colonist: Different Objects of Colonization for Different Parts of the United Kingdom. —— Want of Room for All Classes a Circumstance by Which Great Britain Is Distinguished from Other Countries. —— Competition Amongst the Labouring Class a Momentous Question. —— Influence of Economical Circumstances in Political Revolu- tions. .................................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Letter XIII: From the Colonist: Competition for Room in the Ranks above the Labouring Class. — the Anxious Classes. — Women in the Anxious Classes. — Hoarding, Speculation, Waste, and the Spirit of the Gambles. ................................... 26 Letter XIV: From the Colonist: The Peculiar Characteristic of Colonies Is Plenty of Room for All Classes; but Wages and Profits Are Occasionally Reduced by Gluts of Labour and Capital; and Whilst Colonial Prosperity is Always Dependent on Good Government, it Only Attains the Maximum in Colonies Peopled by the Energetic Anglo-Saxon Race. ............. 28 Letter XV: From the Statesman: The Statesman Objects to a Great Diminution of the Wealth and Population of Great Britain, and Complains of a Patriotic Head-ache. ............................................................................................................................ 30 Letter XVI: From the Colonist: As a Cure for the Statesman’s Patriotic Headache, the Colonist Prescribes the Doctrine, That Emigration of Capital and People Has a Tendency to Increase Instead of Diminishing the Wealth and Population of the Mother-country. ................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Letter XVII: From the Colonist: Further Objects of the Mother-country in Promoting Colonization. — Prestige of Empire. — British “Supremacy of the Ocean” for the Security of Sea-going Trade. ............................................................................ 33 Letter XVIII: From the Colonist: The Colonist Incloses an Essay on Colonization by Dr. Hinds, and Presses it on the Statesman’s Attention as a View of One More Object of Great Britain in Colonizing Systematically. .............................. 35 Letter XIX: From the Statesman: The Statesman Wonders Why the Natural Attractiveness of Colonies Does Not Occasion a Greater Emigration of People and Capital; Points Out, with a View to the Objects of the Mothercountry, That the Emigra- tion of People and Capital must Be Largely Increased ; and Asks What Is to Be Done in Order That Enough People and Capital May Emigrate to Relieve the Mothercountry from the Evils of Excessive Competition. ....................................... 40 Letter XX: From the Colonist: The Colonist Begs Leave to Preface an Account of the Impediments to Colonization by a Notice of its Charms Fob the Different Classes of Emigrants. ............................................................................................ 41 Letter XXI: From the Colonist: Emigrants Divided into Labourers, Capitalists, and Gentry. — How the “Shovelling out of Paupers,” and Emigration as a Punishment, Indispose the Poorer Classes to Emigrate, and Especially the Better Sort of Them. ................................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Letter XXII: From the Colonist: The Shame of the Higher Order of Settlers When They First Think of Emigrating. — The Jealousy of a Wife.— How Emigration, as the Punishment of Crime, Affects Opinion in this Country with Regard to Emigration in General.— Colonists and Colonies Despised in the Mother-country. .......................................................... 45 Letter XXIII: From the Colonist: Low Standard of Morals and Manners in the Colonies. — Colonial “Smartness.” — Want of Intellectual Cultivation. — Main Distinction Between Savage and Civilized Life. ............................................................ 48 Letter XXIV: From the Colonist: Difference Between Colonization and Other Pursuits of Men in Masses. — Religious Women as Colonists. — A Disgusting Colony.— Old Practice of England with Regard to Religious Provisions. — Sectarian Colonies in America. — The Church of England in the Colonies. — Wesleyan Church. — Church of England. — Roman Catholic Church. — Dissenting Churches. — Excuse for the Church of England. ........................................... 49 Letter XXV: From the Colonist: Combination and Constancy of Labour Are Indispensable Conditions of the Productiveness of Industry. — How Colonial Capitalists Suffer from the Division and Inconstancy of Labour. ........................................ 52 Letter XXVI: From the Statesman: The Statesman Points out an Appearance of Contradiction Between the Two Assertions, That Labour in New Colonies Is Very Productive in Consequence of Being Only Employed on the Most Fertile Soils, and That it Is Unproductive in Consequence of Being Much Divided and Interrupted. ............................................................ 53 Letter XXVII: From the Colonist: The Colonist Explains That Scarcity of Labour Is Counteracted by Various Kinds of Slavery and by the Drudgery of Capitalists. — Evils of the Presence of Slave Classes in a Colony. ................................. 54 Letter XXVIII: From the Statesman: The Statesman Almost Despairs of Colonization, and Asks for a Suggestion of the Means by Which Scarcity of Labour May Be Prevented Without Slavery. .................................................................................... 56