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THE FRENCH SYSTEM OF LAW MAKING AND ADMINISTRATION.

In the French colonies the law-making bodies are in a few cases elected by the people of the colony, and in others-especially the less advanced communities-partially or entirely appointed; but the power of the elected bodies, even in the more advanced colonies is, however, restricted by the fact that the tariff and fiscal laws of the colonies are made by the legislative body of the governing country; while the presence in that law-making body of delegates from the colonies results in a much larger proportion of the local legislation being performed by it in the mother country than in the case of the British colonies, where practically all legislation, including tariff making, is performed by the local law-making body, whether elective or appointive.

The French colonies which have legislative councils (conseils général), wholly or partially elected, are Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion, St. Pierre, Miquelon, French Guiana, Senegal, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Mayotte, Comoro, with a total population of about 4,000,000 out of a total population of 56,000,000 in the French colonies. The second group, which possesses a more rudimentary administrative organization, includes French Congo, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Somali Coast, and Madagascar, with a total population of about 15,000,000. Algeria is considered as a part of France and sends its representatives to the French Parliament in the same manner as the provinces of France.

In the Dutch colonies the power of control through appointment is even more absolute, and this is also the case in the German colonies and in the Kongo Free State, which is under the control of the Belgian Government. In all of these the government in the colony is created in part by a series of regulations framed at the seat of the home Government and in part by regulations framed in the colonies by appointees of the home Government.

VIEWS OF M. LEROY-BEAULIEU.

On this general subject of the location of legislative power for the colonies, M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, in his excellent work, De la Colonisation chez les Peuples Modernes, originally published in 1874, and reissued in 1882, 1885, and 1891, says:

"During the period of their infancy, colonies may be ruled directly by the mother country, and it is not then expedient to have recourse to colonial assemblies; as Merivale justly remarks, during this first period of colonization the colony stands in need of simple and practical institutions; it is not yet ripe for representative government. If, then, the government has the right during this stage to direct, without control, the colonial affairs, it should, however, try to substitute for the representative guaranties, which are lacking in the colony, all sorts of subsidiary guranties which can be accorded to them. Therefore the claim can not stand which the executive power made and realized in certain countries, of ruling colonies by decrees and orders without the interference of the national legislature, or even of granting to a nonelective chamber, as, for instance, the Senate of the Second Empire, the power to modify the administrative régime of the colonies. This system is unreasonable from a good many points of view. Its object is to take away from the natural representatives of the nation the power of scrutinizing matters which seriously affect the present and future interests of the nation. It is an encroachment of the executive power upon the essential attributes of popular representation; moreover, it causes artificial silence about colonial questions, often leads to the shelving of important matters without giving them publicity, or to decisions with the least possible discussion and information, and, therefore, quite justly excites the defiance and discontent of the colonies. The colonial régime should never, therefore, be decided upon by administrative decrees, orders, or senatus consulta, but only by law.

On the other hand, every nation which intends to do serious work in colonization must have a special ministry for the colonies; to subordinate colonial affairs to the ministry of the navy or war means first of all to put them in the second place, and, secondly, to turn them over to functionaries who, possessing ordinarily only military habits and ideas, lack the special knowledge and insight and the necessary qualities for the satisfactory transaction of matters essentially civil. England and Holland have had a ministry of colonies for a long while; Spain, a few years ago, adopted the useful plan of creating, or rather resuscitating, one; France, in 1858, made an effort in the same direction, but this experience lasted but two and a half years, giving, however, excellent results during that time. Personal and fiscal considerations put an end to this scheme. The possible objection that the colonies have not sufficient importance for France to warrant the establishment of a special ministry is not valid, for slight observation will show that there are ministries with us whose functions are much less extended and whose business has much less common interest. To create a special ministry for Algeria and our other colonies is, furthermore, the means of putting a little life into our colonial establishments, to direct to them the public attention, to attract toward them immigration, and thus to hasten the progress and development of our dependencies. If, for reasons which I can not divine, there is hesitancy about the creation of a special ministry, the colonies should be subordinated at least to a civil ministry rather than a military one; thus, for instance, they should be attached to the ministry of commerce rather than to the ministry of the navy;1 the subordination of colonial questions to the navy or the war departments has, as a matter of fact, been one of the chief causes of the stagnation of our colonial establishments. 2

"It is not enough to turn over the colonial matters to a civil ministry which has the special competency for a full understanding and the proper administration of affairs; the administration of colonies should be given a unity of plan and thought, such as changes of cabinets would be unable to affect. Porter, in his work (Vol. III, p. 120), remarks that a great number of colonial secretaries, succeeding each other after the victories or defeats of parties, is an obstacle to colonization, and insists that the statesmen who have seen tervice in the colonies, irrespective of their views on general public matters, should form a permanent council, of which the cabinet minister should have but the presidency. This would be an imitation of the celebrated India council of the Spanish monarchy. Portugal has created an analogous institution under the name of the "council beyond the seas," which guarantees the perpetuity of colonial traditions and studies. In England, Porter's plan has found the beginning of realization in the founding of the "colonial land and emigration commission," the work of Lord John Russell.

"The choice of colonial functionaries and the system of advancement and promotion of the service are also of the utmost importance. Every nation which wishes to colonize effectively and not ostentatiously alone must have a special personnel of colonial functionaries; the work of these officials being of a singularly delicate nature, requires a special education at an early stage. It is highly imprudent to intrust the colonial administration to functionaries taken from the administrative staff of the mother country, for as a matter of fact there are essential, sometimes enormous, differences between the proper mode of ruling an old country like France and

1 In 1881, during the short existence of the Gambetta ministry, the colonies were attached to the ministry of commerce.

2 Since this was written a ministry of colonies has been established by the French Government.

a new country like Algeria. It is no less imprudent to call to the government of the older colonies military functionaries, such as military and naval officers, though by chance one might be met who is endowed with excellent qualities for colonization, but this is an exceptional case, and ordinarily the ideas gained during a military career are out of all sympathy with the spontaneous and free ideas of the colonists. But the most obnoxious factor is the continuous changes in the colonial personnel. In the French system the governor is generally a man of very little stability, who sees but short service and leaves the colony the moment he begins to know and understand it a little. Careful calculation show that our dependencies change governors every three years and sometimes even more often."

TWO DISTINCT METHODS OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE FRENCH COLONIES.

The forms of government in the French tropical colonies are of two distinct classes: (1) Those in which certain laws and regulations are enacted by a local body, in a few cases wholly elected, in others partly elected, and in others appointed, the laws being administered by officials appointed by the home Government. In this class the system is somewhat similar to the Crown colony system of England already described, though a much larger share of the general laws and regulations originates with the home Government. This is especially true with reference to tariff regulations, which in all British colonies are established by the local government, while in all French colonies they are framed by the home Government either through legislative action or by decree. Ireland, in his Tropical Colonization, discussing methods of government in the French colonies, divides them into two classes, those in which the government is carried out to some extent by the passage of laws, and those in which all matters are settled by the simple decree of the governor. "To the first class," says Mr. Ireland, "belong Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Réunion; to the second, most of the other French tropical colonies. In the first class the principal subjects to which the passage of laws is applicable are the exercise of political rights, the regulation of contracts; matters relating to wills, legacies, and succession; the institution of juries; criminal procedure; recruiting for naval and military forces; the methods of electing mayors and municipal deputies and councilors, and the organization of the local councils generally. In regard to all other matters of importance all the French tropical colonies are on the same basis of legislation, that is, government by decrees issued by the governor or the minister of colonies. The governor of a French colony has very wide powers. He is commander of the local land forces and of such vessels of war as may touch at his station, as well as of the local militia. He can of his own authority declare his colony in a state of siege, and has at all times the power to open courts-martial for the trial of military offenders. In his administrative capacity he has absolute authority to regulate nearly all the internal affairs of his colony, and he is above the local law, for he can not be brought before the local courts for any cause whatever. The governor is to some extent guided by the advice of two bodies-the privy council, which is a nominated body consisting of official and unofficial members; and the general council, which is made up of councilors elected by the votes of all male persons over 25 years of age who have resided for more than one year in the colony. Generally speaking, these bodies merely advise, but in a few matters the governor is bound to follow the advice thus given him. In addition to the privy council and general council, some of the colonies have local councils and conseils d'arrondissements. The principal officers under the governor are the director of the interior, the military commandant, the chief of the health department, the permanent inspector of finance, the attorney-general, and the judges of the supreme courts. Martinique, Guadeloupe, and some of the other colonies send representatives to the French Assembly, usually one senator and two deputies, but it is difficult to see that the colonies derive any advantage from this arrangement." In support of this view that the presence in the French Assembly of members from the colonies does not prove advantageous, Mr. Ireland quotes M. Paul Leroy Beaulieu, as follows:

"We have introduced French liberty into our colonies, and we give them civil governors; we admit their representatives into our parliament. All these reforms are excellent in themselves, but it is to be feared that they will in practice result in abuses; that unless the mother country is very watchful these very powers which she has granted to her colonies will become powers of oppression. * *** The deputies whom Martinique and Guadeloupe send to our parliament serve only to represent the malign prejudices and ignorance of the blacks. The weak executive power in France allows itself to be intimidated by these deputies, and sends out to the colonies cowardly and incapable governors whose indecision of character feeds the more or less barbarous hopes of the negro majority. The hatred of the negro for the white man is complicated in these islands by the hatred of the poor for the rich. Great caution is necessary, for as things are going, the history of Santo Domingo may easily be repeated."

THE NETHERLANDS COLONIAL SYSTEM.

In the Netherlands colonies, where a handful of Dutch officials govern 35,000,000 of people, the governor-general, who is appointed by the home government, has very large discretionary powers, and is responsible for his actions directly to the Sovereign of the Netherlands. The framing of laws and regulations in Java is by a council composed of the governor-general and a nominated advisory board of five members, whose advice, however, the governor-general is not bound to follow if his views of policy do not coincide with theirs. These officials are in constant communication with the head of the department of colonies at The Hague, and the important laws and regulations are submitted to that department for consultation, advice, and final approval. The European officials, both in the home office and in the island, are carefully chosen and required to pass severe examinations in the history, geography, law, ethnology, and customs of the natives, and those who serve in the island must learn Malay and Javanese in order to be able to communicate with the natives with whom they come in contact. No effort is made to instruct the natives in the Dutch language. "All appointments," says Ireland, "to the higher administrative posts in Java follow a rigid examination in the history, geography, and ethnology of the Dutch East Indies, the political and social institutions of the natives, and in the Malay and Javanese languages. The officials who are to be charged with the administration of justice must hold the degree of doctor of laws from one of the Dutch universities, and in addition pass examinations in Musselman law and local common law." The same writer, describing the form of government of the Netherlands colonies, says: "The colonial system of Holland, or more correctly the system adopted by Holland in the government of Java, is undoubtedly, if measured by its general results, the most efficient type which exists. In its general outline it resembles the English Crown colonial system, but in most of its details it is superior to that system. The head of administration in Java is the governor-general, whose powers are almost as extensive as those of an absolute monarch. The extreme legislative and executive power rests in his person; he can declare war and conclude peace and negotiate treaties with the native princes of the Dutch East India posts. All offices are within his gift, and he can expel from his dominions any person who, in his opinion, is an enemy of public order. He is president of the Indian council, which consists of a vice-president and four nominated members. This body is an advisory one, except in regard to a few matters speciNo. 9-6

fied in the laws relating to the colony, but the governor-general has the power of acting contrary to the advice of the council even on these specified subjects if he declares that the public interest demands it. The governor-general of Java is in fact a viceroy. He is responsible to the Sovereign only for his actions, and the Sovereign can only proceed against him by impeachment before the Second Chamber of the States-General. The central government in Java is conducted, under the orders of the governor-general, by five officials called directors. They control, respectively, the departments of the interior, of finance, of education and trade, justice, and of public works. For administrative purposes the island is divided into twenty-two residencies, each under the control of a Dutch resident. Each residency is divided into several regencies, administered by regents who are usually natives of high birth."

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

The method by which the British Government administers law and preserves order among 300,000,000 people of an entirely different nationality, climate, and condition, 6,000 miles from the home Government, maintaining a permanent and orderly government, promoting production, commerce and manufactures, and developing roads, railways, irrigation systems, municipal organizations, and educational facilities, is worthy a special and detailed study. Of the advance which has occurred under British administration, Morris, in his History of Colonization, 1900, says:

"The progress of India has been especially remarkable from a material point of view. Reforms in domestic conditions have aided agriculture and industry so that in spite of famine and pestilence the advance in both these pursuits has been enormous. The greater portion of these domains has long been free from war, the avowed struggle for conquest long ago ceased. * In public improvement,

roads, telegraph and telephone service, as well as harbor facilities and interior waterways, India lately has been making phenomenal strides. The main obstacles to steady and unrestricted prosperity are the scourges of plague and famine. The task of the future is the introduction of proper sanitation, to accomplish which the deeply rooted prejudices of the native races must be overcome; but when that happy period shall arrive, the highest blessing conferred by European occupation will have been achieved. The problem of freedom from periodical starvation is of equally difficult solution, but the palliatives already well known are being provided in the extension of works of irrigation and the construction of railways."

The population of India, according to the census of 1901, is 294,266,701, including the so-called native States, practically all of which are now under the general supervision and control of the British Government. The total number of educational institutions in India is 149,948, including 169 colleges, the total attendance being 4,358,000. Of the boys of school age, 22 per cent now attend school.

The laws are administered by 72 judges of high or chief courts, 1,818 judges of districts courts, and 7,565 judges of subordinate courts. The total revenue raised is over 1,000,000,000 rupees, or upward of $300,000,000, and, to quote a distinguished officer of the Government in India, "the whole cost of Indian administration and of public works and improvements is borne exclusively by the Indian taxpayer. Every rupee spent in British India, including the cost of the British army in India and His Majesty's vessels in Indian waters, and every shilling spent in England on account of India, including military and civil charges there, and the cost of the Indian office is raised from the revenues of India." The railways, according to an official report of April 30, 1901, aggregated 25,125 miles, of which 1,237 miles were added in 1900. The number of passengers carried by Indian railways in 1899 was 163,000,000. The telegraphs are 51,769 miles in length with 160,650 miles of wire; they handled in 1899, 5,500,000 paid messages. The postal system included in 1899, 29,122 post-offices and boxes, against 753 in 1856, and carried in 1899, 489,000,000 pieces of mail. The roads maintained by public authority aggregated 152,000 miles. The imports of 1899 were $297,000,000 and the exports $379,000,000, making India sixth in the list of great exporting countries of the world.

The method by which the British administration of India is conducted at the seat of the home Government and in India is described by Sir W. W. Hunter, who served for many years in India, and has prepared an elaborate series of volumes discussing every detail of administrative, commercial, and physical conditions in that country, as follows:

BRITISH ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA.

"The act of 1858, which transferred India from the company to the Crown, also laid down the scheme of its government. Under the company the governor-general was an autocrat, responsible only to the distant court of directors. The court of directors had been answerable to the shareholders or court of proprietors on one hand, and through the board of control to the Sovereign and Parliament on the other. The act of 1858 did away with these intermediary bodies between the governor-general and the British ministry. For the court of directors, the court of proprietors, and the board of control it substituted a secretary of state, aided by a council appointed by the Crown.

"The secretary of state for India is a cabinet minister, who comes into and goes out of office with the other members of the ministry. His council was originally appointed for life and consisted of fifteen persons. Its members are now appointed for ten years only, but may be reappointed for another five years for special reasons. Their number may also be diminished by the secretary of state by his abstaining from filling vacancies so long as the total shall not be reduced to fewer than ten members. The secretary of state rules in all ordinary matters through the majority of his council. But in affairs of urgency and in questions which belong to the secret department, including political correspondence, he is not required to consult his council. The viceroy or governor-general is appointed by the Crown and resides in India. His ordinary term of office is five years.

"The supreme authority in India is vested by a series of acts of Parliament in the viceroy or governor-general-in-council, subject to the control of the secretary of state in England. Every executive order and every legislative statute runs in the name of the 'governorgeneral-in-council,' but in certain cases a power is reserved to the viceroy to act independently. The governor-general's council is of a twofold character.

"First, the ordinary or executive council, ordinarily composed of five official members besides the viceroy, and the commander in chief in India, which may be compared with the cabinet of a constitutional country. It meets regularly at short intervals, usually once a week, discusses and decides upon questions of foreign policy and domestic administration, and prepares measures for the legislative council. Its members divide among themselves the chief departments of state, such as those of foreign affairs, finance, war, public works, etc. The viceroy combines in his own person the duties of constitutional sovereign with those of prime minister, and usually has charge of the foreign department. As a rule, the viceroy is himself the initiating member of council for foreign and feudatory affairs. "Second, the legislative council, which is made up of the same members as the preceding, with the addition of the governor of the

province in which it may be held; certain officials selected by the governor-general from Bengal, Madras, Bombay, or other provinces, and nominated members, representative of the nonofficial native and European communities. The official additional members thus appointed to the legislative council must not exceed in number the nonofficials, and the number of the nominated additional members must now not exceed sixteen or be less than ten. The meetings of the legislative council are held when and as required, usually once a week. They are open to the public, and a further guaranty for publicity is insured by the proviso that draft bills must be published a certain number of times in the Gazette. As a matter of practice, these draft bills have usually been first subjected to the criticism of the several provincial governments. Provincial legislative councils have also been appointed for the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and for the lieutenant-governorships of Bengal, and of the Northwestern provinces with Oudh. The members of these local legislative councils are appointed, in the case of Madras and Bombay, by the governors of those provinces; and in Bengal, and the Northwestern provinces with Oudh, by the lieutenant-governors, subject to the approval of the governor-general. The acts of these provincial legislative councils, which can deal only with provincial matters, are subject to sanction by the governor-general.

"An important act dealing with the legislative councils has recently been passed. By it the number of the nominated additional members has been raised to not less than ten or more than sixteen for the governor-general's legislative council; to not less than eight or more than twenty for the Madras and Bombay legislative councils, and to not more than twenty for the Bengal, or more than fifteen for the Northwestern provinces with Oudh, legislative councils. Further, by section 2 of this act power is given to the governor-general's and to the local legislative councils to discuss the annual financial statements of the supreme and local governments, and to ask questions about them; but it is distinctly laid down that 'no member ** shall have power to submit or propose any resolution, or to divide the council in respect of any such financial discussion, on the answer to any question asked.' The most important feature of the act is paragraph 4 of section 1: 'The governor-general in council may, from time to time, with the approval of the secretary of state in council, make regulations as to the condititions under which such nominations, or any of them, shall be made by the governor-general, governors, and lieutenant-governors, respectively, and prescribe the manner in which such regulations shall be carried into effect.' this paragraph it becomes lawful for the viceroy to permit all or a certain proportion of the legislative councils to be elected by their fellow-citizens.

Under

"The presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and the lieutenant-governorships of Bengal and the Northwestern provinces, have each a high court, supreme both in civil and criminal business, but with an ultimate appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council in England. The chief justices of these high courts are appointed in England from among the distinguished leaders of the English bar, and the puisne judges are selected in certain proportions from the Indian civil service and from the English or the local bars. The legal capacity of the natives of India has long been recognized, and native judges sit upon the bench in all the high courts, and have proved thoroughly competent for their important duties.

* * *

"The law administered in the Indian courts consists mainly of-(1) the enactments of the Indian legislative councils (imperial and provincial) and of the corresponding legislative bodies which preceded them; (2) statutes of the British Parliament which apply to India; (3) the Hindoo and Mohammedan laws of inheritance, and their domestic law, in causes affecting Hindoos and Mohammedans; (4) the customary law affecting particular castes and races. Much has been done toward consolidating special sections of the Indian law, and in the Indian penal code, together with the codes of civil and criminal procedure, we have memorable examples of such efforts.

"But although the governor-general in council is theoretically supreme over every part of India alike, his actual authority is not everywhere exercised in the same direct manner. For ordinary purposes of administration, British India is partitioned into provinces, each with a government of its own, and certain of the native States are attached to those provinces with which they are most nearly connected geographically. These provinces, again, enjoy various degrees of independence. The two presidencies of Madras and of Bombay, including Sind, retain many marks of their original equality with Bengal. They each have an army of their own. They are each administered by a governor appointed direct from England. They have each an executive and legislative council, whose functions are analogous to those of the councils of the governor-general, although subject to his control. They thus possess a domestic legislature; and in administrative matters, also, the interference of the governor-general in council is sparingly exercised.

"Of the other provinces, Bengal, or rather Lower Bengal, occupies a peculiar position. Like the Northwestern provinces and the Punjab, it is administered by a single official, with the style of lieutenant-governor, who is controlled by no executive council; but Bengal has possessed a legislative council, a sign of its early preeminence, since 1861, whereas the Northwestern provinces only obtained a legislative council in 1887."

A FRENCH VIEW OF THE SUBJECT.

"One of the most difficult problems of colonization," says M. Leroy-Beaulieu, "is the mode of administering and governing the colonial establishments. Of all nations which have pursued a successful colonial policy there is perhaps not a single one which should have followed, on this point, a just and constant policy and been able to escape the troubles which the majority of colonies so very often cause to the mother countries. But the teachings of history have brought about considerable modifications in the official doctrines on the normal and permanent relations between full-grown colonies and their mother countries, and it is to be hoped that a juster and wiser policy will prevent, in the future, those catastrophes which colonial history presents for the past.

"During the first period of colonization the thoughts of the colonists are turned exclusively toward the acquisition of wealth. The desire of saving and accumulating, which is everywhere one of the principal springs of national activity, is in the colonies almost the only motive of action. The pursuit of wealth is the almost only interest in the laborious existence of the settlers. Everybody is engaged in ceaseless work to obtain wealth; and since all are engaged in similar occupation and pursue the same object, the one that succeeds in becoming rich has the double honor of being, at the same time, the most powerful individual and of being regarded the most clever in the community. In the life of the colonist, filled as it is by the desire and hope of lucrative gain, no place is left for speculative thought; private life is to such an extent full of schemes, events, and efforts that nothing is left for public life; all the functions and dignities which constitute an object of envy in our old European societies are scorned and disdained by the first colonists as inconvenient burdens which might rob them of valuable time and form an obstacle for the acquisition of wealth-the only object of their thoughts and only goal of their efforts. During the early stage of colonization there prevails generally a striking equality between the people. Primary education being almost universal, whereas higher instruction is quite exceptional, the result is an identity of education which suppresses all class distinction. There is no place for the class of people so numerous in the old societies who, having a competence of old standing, holding aloof from all professions which have gain as their principal object, and versed in speculative disciplines, strive after the

administration of public affairs as the natural field reserved for their activity and intellect. During this first period of the colony the mother country is thus able to govern and administer without obstacle and control its new domain, secure of not exciting any complaint if it applies some moderation in its orders and skill in its decisions, for all that is wanted from it is that it establish security everywhere and not interfere in a vexatious manner with private interests. On these two conditions the administration of affairs of general interest is turned over to it without regret.

"But even during this first period of colonization there is a limit to the action of the home government. This limit is put by the community which springs up, beginning with the first days of the colony, by dint of the simple juxtaposition of a number of farms, or even huts, and which, from the very first days, again clamors for the fullness of its functions and insists upon its independence being respected. The commune, just like the family, is an institution of the natural no less than the political order; it is the fundamental element of all civilization, and the more this element is being developed the stronger and more active will civilization be. This independence of the local community, whose usefulness has been proclaimed at all times by the most advanced and progressive nations, is, in our opinion, even more indispensable for colonies than for other societies, and we dare say that the degree of respect shown by the people for the attributions of municipal bodies is the best measure of their colonizing abilities. In the colonies, moreover, the local community has an importance not to be found anywhere else, because, in the state of growth and rapid progress peculiarly characteristic of a colony, municipal interests are more often at stake than in old societies which have attained a degree of stability which requires only a certain routine. An administrative tutelage will, therefore, prove infinitely more vexatious in the colonies than anywhere else, since its action will necessarily be more frequent, more apparent, and perceptible. Such a tutelage will at the same time be more difficult in practice, because of the wide extent of the territory, the diversity of conditions, and the variety and mobility of interests; it will, furthermore, be much more subject to error, owing to the lack of precedents, the insufficiency and inexperience of the officials, almost all taken from outside the colonial ranks and lacking the knowledge of local circumstances and conditions. The colonists are, much more than the inhabitants of old countries, likely to resent the constant interference of an inexperienced administration. The interests of all at this stage of civilization being much more entangled and less distinct than during successive epochs, the authorities to which appeal from the errors and mistakes of subordinate officials might be taken being much farther away, communication being so much more difficult, and the time which is lost through formalities provided for by a minute administration having much more value in young societies, all these circumstances would make administrative tutelage particularly obnoxious in the colonies. Of all institutions of the Old World this is the one whose importation is likely to prove most pernicious. Any nation which applies itself seriously to the task of colonization and which has the praiseworthy ambition of establishing in a new country a vigorous and progressive society, should permit municipal life to develop without fetters.

***

THE GOVERNMENT OF TROPICAL TERRITORY UNDER TWENTIETH CENTURY CONDITIONS. Mr. Benjamin Kidd, an English writer and student, expresses the opinion that in the government of tropical territory, in which the people of the governing country can not make permanent homes, the government should be largely conducted from the home country through the agency of a small but carefully selected and highly trained corps of officials in the governed territory, and that these in turn should carry out the details of government through the best element of the natives. In his work, The Control of the Tropics, 1898, he calls attention to the growing demand of all of the well-developed Temperate Zone countries for the products of the less developed Tropics and the importance of a development of the producing powers of the Tropics, which will be followed by a mutual interchange of their natural products for the manufactures of the Temperate Zone, and thus both sections and their people benefited. This development of the Tropics, he suggests, is likely to be accomplished by the people of the Temperate Zone nations, which have within the past quarter of a century obtained control of such vast tropical areas. Commenting upon the methods of government which may best be applied in view of the impracticability of distributing the population of a Temperate Zone country over large areas within the Tropics, he says:

"During the last two decades of the nineteenth century nearly 5,000,000 square miles of the tropical regions of the world, or an area considerably greater than that of the whole of Europe, has been brought under the control of continental powers of Europe under the conception of colonial expansion. These regions continue to wait for the white colonists who will never come. But in the meantime the ruling instinct of the occupying power seems everywhere to be simply to fall back on the old idea of the factory or the plantation-the estate to be worked for the profit of those who have taken possession. It is one of the gloomiest spectacles at the end of the nineteenth century, this railing off of immense regions in the Tropics under the policy which has suggested their acquirement, regions tending, in the absence of white colonists, to simply revert to the type of States worked for gain.

*

*

"If we inquire what the colonies are with which the British colonial office is concerned, we shall have presented to view a curious list. At the head of it comes the great self-governing States like Canada, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, the Cape, Natal, New Zealand, and others, all colonies in the true sense of the word, offshoots of England in temperate regions of the world. * * * If we look farther down the list we have a strange medley-vast territories in tropical lands, acquired at various dates in the history of war and trade; countries inhabited by different races and governed under a variety of constitutions; regions representing every type of administrative problem-questions of war, of defense, of finance—which raise the whole modern policy of the Empire; questions of responsibility to weaker races; of the relations of the governing power to great systems of native jurisprudence and religion, which take us back to the very childhood of the world, and in which the first principle of successful policy is that we are dealing, as it were, with children. * * *

TROPICAL LIFE NOT SUITED TO THE WHITE RACE.

"The attempt to acclimatize the white man in the Tropics must be recognized to be a blunder of the first magnitude. All experiments based upon the idea are mere idle and empty enterprises foredoomed to failure. Excepting only the deportation of the African races under the institution of slavery, probably no other idea which has held the mind of our civilization during the past three hundred years has led to so much physical and moral suffering and degradation, or has strewn the world with the wrecks of so many gigantic enterprises. * *

*

HOW SHALL THE TROPICS BE GOVERNED?

"The Tropics in such circumstances can only be governed as atrust for civilization, and with a full sense of the responsibility which such a trust involves. The first principle of success in undertaking such a duty seems to the writer to be a clear recognition of the cardinal fact that in the Tropics the white man lives and works only as a diver lives and works under water. Alike in a moral, in an

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