the social state would be dissolved, and the country would revert to its primitive barbarism. The consequence of requiring a price for land is, that the labourer is compelled for a time to labour for hire, until he has amassed a sufficient sum to enable him to become a purchaser. The proceeds are devoted to defraying the cost of removing people from the country in which population is redundant to that in which it is deficient. A supply of labour is thus kept up, the colony is made attractive to the capitalist, and the combination of labour with capital rapidly produces its necessary effects, in the developement of every natural advantage with which the settlement is endowed.

A Government, nevertheless, is guilty of an unpardonable neglect of the highest duty to its colonies if it suffer society to grow up without an attempt to give it a generous direction and developement, and is content with viewing only a reflexion of the sterner virtues of the parent state, and with the formation of a national character without purity of feeling, refinement of manners, dignity of thought, or propriety of conduct. Some of the higher elements of civilisation should be introduced concurrently with the more indispensable ingredients of labour and skill. They would check the natural tendency in all new communities to democratic coarseness of manners, and set bounds to the open manifestation of intense selfishness and egotism. A colony, however rude its origin, will, doubtless, in conformity with the laws of nature, and in the progress of time, produce an aristocracy within itself, deficient, however, in many of the qualities which chiefly contribute to its influence. All political writers of eminence have strongly insisted on the importance of a class qualified to act as the leaders of the people, but possessing interests identical with theirs. Let us endeavour to communicate to our dependencies this characteristic excellence of our own social system. We do not affirm that their permanent allegiance to the British crown depends upon such a policy, but it would greatly contribute to their present happiness and raise them more rapidly to an equality with the civilised nations of Europe.

We trust that this fine and interesting portion of our distant possessions will continue to receive a large measure of attention, and that its progressive colonization will be narrowly and jealously watched. It comprehends, in extraordinary abundance, all the requisites for a long career of happiness and progress, and presents to noble minds and generous natures objects not less exalted than exciting. In material resources it is, perhaps, superior to any of our colonial possessions. It contains an abundance of fertile land, many navigable rivers, deep and capacious bays, admirable harbours, possesses a climate in many respects resembling that of Great Britain, and is adorned by scenery of surpassing magnificence. No colony of the British empire offers, at the present time, so many attractions to an educated, intelligent, and enterprising emigrant. We know that it has proved peculiarly attractive to many who rejoice in the latent energies which it has developed, and the animating prospects which it presents. If the emigrant population does not yet exhibit all the virtues which may be justly expected from English settlers, it is, we trust, making advances towards them; and it certainly presents, in many particulars, a very favourable contrast to some neighbouring settlements. There, at least, is no taint of convict blood to infuse mistrust and bitterness into the social state; and the native population is rapidly becoming worthy of the fellowship of Englishmen. Let, then, the Government beware of polluting the pure source of a future nation by directing into it the turbid stream of an indiscriminate emigration. No crime could equal that of introducing the seeds of disorder and vice into a country already raised, by its own efforts, high in the moral gradation of the world. The rude but sensitive virtue of the native population would rise in just rebellion against so monstrous a wrong. If settlers are encouraged to resort to these islands, they should be scrupulously selected, and carefully prepared. In the recently projected Church of England colony, we recognise the true spirit which should preside over all future settlements in New Zealand; and we are disposed to augur most favourably of this en

terprise, if care be taken to exclude from it every description of intolerance, and to guard it from extravagant hierarchical pretensions. We have condemned the premature attempt to establish a free government; but we see no reason to doubt that, under the fostering care of the parent state, and at a period not very remote, political power may be safely intrusted to both races alike, and that New Zealand may ultimately reflect in an opposite hemisphere a faithful image of the British constitution.

The theories of colonization are as conflicting as they are numerous. We trust that the doctrines of an utilitarian school of material philosophy will never obtain an ascendancy in this country. We allude to the system of which the late Mr. Mill was the acknowledged leader and ablest expounder. Colonies are regarded in this contracted philosophy only as a heavy burden on the resources of the mother country, as the appendages of an exploded commercial system, or as the supports of corrupt administrations.

We

have no sympathy with these opinions, and reject the reasoning which conducts to such false and degrading conclusions. We protest against an application of the rigid principles of economical science to a subject involving such vast and various consequences as colonization, and hold it quite unjustifiable to exclude from a philosophical disquisition on the subject all the moral elements of a problem pregnant with results of the deepest importance to the highest interests of man. We regard the extensive territories of the British empire as a high trust confided to it by Providence, to be exercised less for its own immediate benefit than for the ultimate advantage of the human race, in carrying out His great and benevolent designs for peopling, civilising, and Christianising the globe.

Let these magnificent possessions be wisely governed, and firmly retained! They present obvious resources against the evils of a redundant population, without which, only the most calamitous results must ensue from our prodigious manufacturing developement. They may be the future homes of intelligent and virtuous, but depressed and suffering

multitudes, duly prepared by educacation to comprehend the principles which alike cause the fluctuations of employment and determine the limits of trade, to submit with resignation to the consequences, and to seek an alleviation of their misfortunes in the destined remedy of emigration.

We may be permitted, in conclusion, to indulge in a brief retrospect and anticipation. Less than two thousand years have elapsed since Great Britain was peopled by painted savages, and immersed in a barbarism almost as deep as that which recently distinguished the inhabitants of New Zealand. Owing to a happy intermixture of races, the influence of climate and the advantages of position, the inhabitants of an island long considered as lying beyond the confines of civilisation have acquired a moral and territorial dominion unprecedented in the history of the world. We know not whether Providence, in the decrees of His inscrutable wisdom, has fixed a necessary limit to the duration of empires, or whether states bear within their constitutions the principle of an inevitable decay. A period may undoubtedly arrive when the commerce of England shall perish, her marts become deserted, and her power pass away. It may be consolatory, therefore, even in this the noonday splendour of our greatness, to think that there may be forming, in an ocean the most remote from our shores, an insular people deriving from us their religion, emulating our virtues, acquiring our language, perhaps destined to resemble us in our enterprises, and to rival our renown;--that from this new abode of energetic industry and living faith there may go forth a spirit and a power before which the decrepit empire of China may at length fall, from which its effete civilisation may receive a renovating influence, and the multitudinous islands of the Pacific a fresh and invigorating life, -that Wellington or Auckland may become the seat of arts yet to be invented and of science now only dimly revealed, and possibly the metropolis of another empire as mighty as that which now extends its benignant sway over so large a portion of the human race.

2,300,000 Persons.

The above is given merely as a probable scheme of distribution, for the purpose of shewing that the required amount might be realised, provided parties were willing to join the Association. But supposing there should be an entire failure of the last class of contributors, the amount realised would fall short by one-fourth of the sum required; or, in other words, there would be a deficiency of two hundred millions: a comparatively small sum, which might be made up by a prolongation of the period of final payment to twelve or thirteen years. The machinery now employed for the collection of the Income-tax might be made available for the collection of the proposed subscriptions, and the subscribers reimbursed by being engaged in a really national plan of Colonization.

1. Suppose the National Subscription Association were to receive a charter of incorporation, and that the Crown made over to them a considerable tract of country, say Northern Australia, as a territorial possession, including all the space to the northward of Eastern Australia, or New South Wales; and Western Australia, or Swan River.

2. Suppose it were provided in the charter that one million of the amount which would be saved by the reduction of the interest on the debt during the ten years of liquidation should be made over annually to the company, to be employed by them in purposes of emigration, including the costs of surveys, of providing suitable religious and medical establishments, as well as for the incidental expenses attendant on the management of the company's affairs.

3. As the charge for interest on

Total Shares.. 8,000,000

the debt would diminish in an arithmetically progressive ratio, it would only be equitable to provide further in the charter that the Association should have the full benefit of this relief, by being exempted, after the first or second year, from the Income, Assessed, and other direct taxes, with the whole amount of which the country would be able to dispense. And as emigration extended, it is but reasonable to hope that the amount of Poor-rates would likewise be diminished to an extent which would be felt.

Other privileges than these might advantageously be conceded to the members of the Association. And on the mere score of pecuniary compensation, there seems good ground to assume that in the end the subscribers, either directly or indirectly, would recover the full worth of their subscriptions.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyorgeneral of New South Wales; Čaptain Stokes, late of H.M. ship Beagle; and Dr. Leichardt, have demonstrated that Northern Australia affords a highly eligible territory on which to found a colony deserving of the name. On the banks of the River Albert, at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, we might, perhaps, find the most suitable locality wherein to fix the first settlement; and a second might by and bye be formed at the Victoria River, to the westward of Port Essington. It would also be desirable to establish a port at Cape York, as a point of communication with steamers passing through Torres Straits. Experienced surveyors from New South Wales, who have had practical knowledge of bush-surveying, might be appointed to report

upon, and make surveys of, sections and allotments of land preparatory to the arrival of emigrants.

The eighty millions paid off annually in the manner above described, would throw so much money into circulation, that it would then become a question with many how to dispose of their capital. Now it is evident, that in founding colonies the more money you can apply to bring the waste land into cultivation the better chance there is of success; because, if the settler has to part with a portion of his capital in the purchase of land which is valueless without his labour, he is, of course, divested thereby of so much means of adding to his own prosperity and that of the colony, by hiring labourers and keeping them profitably employed. Suppose, then, the company were to encourage emigration into their territory, by offering to all settlers proceeding thither within the first ten years free grants of certain limited portions of land, say one hundred acres each; and to add, as an inducement to small settlers, rations for the first six months. Suppose, further, that the land thus granted were given upon terms which should prevent the sale or transfer of all or any portion, except to the heirs of the individuals in actual possession; and that town allotments were disposed of

on building leases, for a period of, say thirty years; the results would inevitably be, that cultivation would spread with astonishing rapidity, and that, long before the ten years of payment ran out, towns and villages would have sprung up, the settlement of which would give to the districts adjacent a largely enhanced value, and enable the owners out of the sale of portions of these to reimburse themselves, and more, for the outlay to which they had temporarily submitted.

The rapid progress made by the colonies of South Australia, Port Philip, and New Zealand, affords sufficient proof that, even under disadvantageous circumstances, success may safely be calculated upon in all undertakings of this kind. The proposed plan would, however, enjoy the superiority over all former schemes, that parties embarking in it would have the advantage of past experience to guide them, and be able to avoid mistakes into which their predecessors

ran.

A board of elected directors in London ought to manage the general affairs of the company, and they only should be qualified to act as directors who held, say ten shares at the least. And the fullest information could be obtained, both from Government and from individuals practically conversant with colonial matters.

HER

in a love-reverie. He sat, leaning his chin upon his hand, in an easy, careless, dolce far niente attitude, before a large mirror. His eyes were earnestly fixed, Narcissus-like, upon the shadow of himself imaged therein.

Many said that young Herman Waldhof was the handsomest man in Leipzic, and Herman himself was scarcely disposed to deny the fact.

It had been forced upon his notice so often during the last five-and-twenty years, that at length he took it for granted. Yet he was too high-minded to be very vain. He bore his honours as a monarch does his crown, conscious of the dignity which Fortune has bestowed, and, therefore, taking no pains to assert what must be obvious to all. But in the earnest look which Herman directed towards his