3
Mar 10 May 23
ORCHIN
EDNESDAY, JUNE 2ND
hours of Divine Service In the COLO Batt A. M. past A. M. kurklogs 61 1 past 6 P
coria et Jone 1837.
VINCENT STANTON,
Colonial Chaplain.
NOTICE The houre of Publie Worship in the UNION [Narni, Si promujt aro 11 à. M., and past 6 FM.
Victors, 20 May 1517.
CANTON,
Pau Corsair carried up a detachment of 05 men. bonging to the Ceylon Railes. They will relieve the company of the 18th Royal Irish. There was
an impression that the troops were to be withdrawn from the factories; this was incorrect, and we think Sir John Daris is only showing a proper regard for the interest of the community in affording them a nilitory guard until existing difficulties are ar ranged
From the tenor of His Exellency's reply to the Ponen petition, (or in receiving the petition at all) we were farfal that the grant of fifty acres was to be abandoned. We are told that such is not the case, Sir John being determined to enforce all the stipulations of the new agreement Be has also resolved to retain the 18th Royal Irish and the 42d M. N. I. for a few months. Apart from political motives, this is commendable, as a passage to India at this season would be tedious and uncomfortable; endangering the health of the men. There may be some difficulty in accommodating so many troops in this garrison, but it will be hard if they cannot procure better quarters than a crowded ship during the S. W. monsoon
The Chamber of Commerce has declared unani- inously that, they cannot paint out a more eligible place for building than Hong. Without entering upon a discussion of the manner in which the grant was obtained, it is fortunate that the community are satisfied as to its eligibility. His Excellency is thus fortified by the opinion of an influential body, and will probably have more confidence in en- forcing a compliance with the terms of the agreement than he would have feh bad there been a division of opinion. We cannot but regret that immediate possession was not taken of the ground. A delay of two months must have strength. rued the people in, per fad them to believe that he will not insist upon enforc- ing his tile to the land. His Excellency would have acted more prudently had he refused to receive the petition. In this he stepuld have followed the example of Mr Macgregor, who was aware of the impropriety of accepting a memorial from the subjects of a foreign power.
CHINA.
TEC
THE FRIEND OF CHINA AND HONGKONG GAZETTE.
Jolin Paris by his predecessor in office, and of their ses which pave lod existing condition
10. a relpogrERSION BO
When the Committas
Flos matter is discussed
eir report, and the Commons, 11. 18ths, probable that the despatches of Sir John Davis will be ordered to be printed. This was done in the case of New Zealand, and it is only reasonable that equal justice be done to Hongkong. The result of
the investigation of Captain Fitzroy smismanagement caused his immediate recall, and the appointment
of a successor under whose sway a bankrupt settle ment is rapidly being brought into a Bear/shing condition. It is to be remarked that when Governor Grey was appointed to South Australia, that colony was on the verge of ruin, by adopting a Mbera! policy and calling into the Legislative Council some of the leading men of the place, in a few years he left it in prosperity In New Zealand the same resulta are exhibiting themselves, showing that much depends upon the character of the Governor and the policy he follows out Captain Fitzroy was allowed by all parties to be a clever man and in pri- vate life in every respect estimable, but he was un fitted for the office he held. It is a mistake to be. lieve that any man of ordinary capacity is qualified for a Colonial Ruler, Brilliant talents are not essential but other essentials are too often overlook- ed in making appointments. This is clearly proved by the condition of the colonies-under the sway of one man they flourish under that of another they fade. One great point is mutual confidence between the ruler and the ruled-without this there can be no co-operation, and unless the ruled have a voice in The Legislature they cannot have perfect confidence in the Executive.
In some respects Sir John Davis's appointment was an experiment. A junction of gubernative with diplomatic powers has been singularly unsuccess fal, and it is questionable whether it will be re- peated. So long as China refuses to receive an Ambassador at the Imperial Court, Canton will be the most suitable point for the residence of a Com We an. missioner or Envoy of the second class. ticipate that Great Britain will follow the example of France, by the appointment of a political Agent to reside at Canton; the office of Superintendent of Trado bring discontinued, and all commercial ar rangements put under a Consul General also baving his ubode at Canton, with Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents at the other ports.
who would have emigrated to this country, and who would have become absorbed amidst the po pulation here; and thus bave relieved Ireland of ny immense amount of its pressure. In place of this, it is notorious time not half the usual members. of Irish came to this country, and that our farmera, who usually employ them, were seriously inconve nienced by their absence Not only, then, was Ireland deprived of the food which there people consumed, but of the money they would have earned here. But this was not all. There is much evi dance to show that even a number of Irishmen, who had been for soms time regularly employed in this country, flocked back to Ireland, to the public works, and thus again swelled the number who had to be sustained by the deficient harvest
But not only was the great source of relief, by means of voluntary emigration, entirely neglected, but the usual immediata means of obtaining food at home were nearly equally so. It was with great difficulty that the grain harvests were secured. And it is a notorious fact, that entire districts of potatoes, amall and indifferent in quality, no doubt, were left undug, until they rotted in the ground.
property is to be rated, yet the rates need not be collected; but the moment the rate is struck, the Government propose to advance the whole sam their own half as an absolute gift, and the her inlf as a loan on security of the rate so made, Bat the experiment hitherto tried, in order to chan the co-operation of local landlords, by charging the whole sinis advanced for the public works on pa vate property, has so completely failed, then wit right have we to expect that it will now succeed, by the proposed plan of charging their propers with a local rate, to be collected at a future time This co-operation is of the utmost consequence, and chiefly as the only practical test which can applied to prevent abuses, even of a more exte character than have existed under the presem system. Without some test, and that an effLove one, the numbers of people who will become de- pendant upon the new system of relief will increas more rapidly than under the present one. It is true that some, who are now attracted to the public works only on account of the money wages, may not apply to the relief committees, but it is to be feured, that after this entire destruction of habits of steady industry and of self-reliance, which he taken place during the last year, the numbers w will be willing to receive relief even in food rathe than by labour, will be found still rapidly to crease. We have, therefore, to apprebend a com tinued cessation of productive industry.
Then, again, the fisheries, under such a system, would have been more industriously prosecuted than over; and some considerable addition would thus have been added to the food of the western coast. Instead of that, under the course which has been pursued, the fisheries on the coast near the
Under the circumstances, as they now exist, me town of Galway, which usually are the means of maintaining many thousand persons, were entirely believe the only mode by which we could retin to a sound state of things, would be to adopt the plan abandoned. Their fishing bonts left on the shore
of relief committees proposed by the Government, with bare poles, their tackling pawaed, and them- selves on the public works. In short, the whole but to make it an absolute condition that the local order of things has been reversed. In place of the rates should be collected and paid to the committee additional industry, providence, and private efforts before any part of the Government money was ad which the people would have used, if left to them-vanced; or, at least, that the latter should be ne
vanced only in the same proportion as the rates selves, they have neglected all the ordinary sources
had been actually collected. At the same time, it of present as well as future subsistance.
But what are the resources of the great mass of should be determined to reduce the portion of the the people, it is impossible to defiue. There is entire funds advanced by the Government t stated periods, until within a reasonable time, the nothing which would so puzzle men of the most extensive experience and knowledge, as to explain whole sum should be collected from the local pro satisfactorily, how the great masses of the people,perty. Let it be determined that, for the next even in ordinary times, and much more so in times three months, the Governmem will aid relief com. of scarcity, obtain a subsistence. Therefore, when
mittees with sums of money, equal in amount to the local rates wich they actually collect--that, for we withdraw a people from a reliance upon them- selves, it is never known of what they are deprived. the second three months, the Government will ad
vance sums of money for the same object, equil ta one half of the local rates collected for this purpose -and that, after that time, if these relief coininit. tees are to be kept open longer, it must be done altogther at local or private expense. By this means alone does it appear probable that local and and casuperation can be procured, or that that va gilance will be exercised in the administration of this fund, without which Ireland will be reduced to a state of irremediable ruin and degradatice.
But let us for a moment consider what we have
To say
given to Iceland. In round figures the sum in 2,500,000l in six months. That sum has been scattered over four-fifths of Ireland, where these works have been proceeding; and, therefore, among about six millions of people. nothing of the large portions of this sum which has been admittedly abused, it has given an average purchasing power to the whole population of less than ten shillings per head during six months.
As far as the large sums of money which are Though this soo has actually been paid to an average of perhaps only 150,000 meu, yet the de. already been expended on Ireland, and the still moralising effect of the systers has influenced the larger sums that it is proposed to expend is the property, habits, and morals of the whole popula.future, are concerned, we have viewed them only, tion. Now, it is a thing utterly incredible that the resources of so large a number of people have not ven toisted by an infinitely larger average amount during that period, by such a state of things as the correspondence in the two parliamentary
volumes disclose.
"
if, at the commencement of this crisis, meuns had been taken to give to Ireland an efficient go- vernment, equal to the occasion, if the people had not been led to look to the Government for support from the supply of food, and the necessary queans -if all restrictions had been immediately removed had been taken to facilitate the sale of lands, improvement--if these things had been done, which or the borrowing of money upon them, for their are all within the scope of the duties of a Govern- meat and all classes of the people had been left to their own resources, aud the efforts of private charity, we sincerely believe that real destitution would have been better provided for-that the trial, however severo, would have tended permanently to iroprove the various relations of society in Iro
state,
relation to the interests of Ireland, Aurve believe that these sums, large as they are, would not be grudged by this county, if their expenditure condition of Ireland; but when it is seen that they were calculated really permanently to improve the have only tended further to degrade and demoralise that country that they have acted only as a lure from steady industry, and as a bait for the most
principled jobbing, it is impossible to see the this system without feeling the most poignant
deter ination of the Government to persevere in
regret.
WHY DOES NOT INDIA SUPPLY US
WITH COTTON?
No. UI.
(From the Economist, February 20.)
cles to our obtaining cotton from India, azose from We stated in our last that one of the great obeta- the fact that much of it was required for bone consumption there in a half cleaned state; and we may add also, that it is no longer wanted properly
Hongkong is now a military, possession, and whether it assumes a commercial character for a long term of years, admits of a doubt. The reputa to it holds among the Chinese traders, as well es among foreign merchants, is not favorable to a speedy regeneration. Under a new Governor, and better polity, something may be done, commencing with a repeal of all the antiquated restrictions that have been put on trade. But a place of limited di. mensions and resources cannot afford the salary drawn by Sir John Davis; nor is it fair that it should be charged against the colony. One half at least should be borne by the home government for di plomacy. A Lieutenant-Governor with an allow hooping with a small revenue and duties not very from £25003, 05300 a.paar.. would basin. arduous, and there would not be much difficulty in finding a suitable person on these terms. It is sur- mised that as this is not the command a General Officer, a change will shortly take place in hat de- partment, the garrison being placed under a Com. mandant holding the military rank a Colonel. In that case, he may also be appointed Lieutenant. Governor; in addition to his military pay, drawing from one to two thousand a year from the colony. "In the Hour of Commons, this day, on the motion of Of late years there has been a growing dislike to Lord Sandon, after a few words from Mr Hastie, a select
military Governors, nor is the dislike without good committee was appointed on this present elete of our com. mercial relations with China. The noble lord made a few | grounds In many instances, old men have been observations on the state of these relatione, but deemed it rewarded for military services with colonial appoint- unneccesary to go into the subject af length, as the motionments; an act of injustice towards the Colonists, who was not to be opposed."
have to give a handsome salary to a man who only We have not heard the names of the members of injures the place he is sent to govern. The pro- Committee, nor do we think they are to be found in fasion of arms does not necessarily disqualify a man any of the English papers, Lord Sandon's motion for civil office, though not in itself a recommen having been brought before the House on the 23d of dation. We could refer to naval and military of March, the day before the mail closed. We learn, ficers who have made excellent Governors; but they land, instead of leaving the country, as it ndwit however, that his Lordship has for some time been have been men in the vigor of manhood with an un- in communication with the East India and China impaired intellect. We might also cite instances
tedly now is, in a more degraded and demoralised Association of Liverpool, and bad any opposition diametrically opposite, they being men worn out in
than at any former time. been offered, he was fully prepared to lay before body and mind, saddled upon the colony most uncommitted in relaud, leave it in a state now more The unhappy errors which have already been the house an exposition of the causes which have fairly by the mother country. We do not anticipate than ever difficult to deal with upon any sound led to the derangement of Brnish interests in China. thet Hongkong will have to bear such an incubus; principle. To go forward on the present plan, Her Majesty's Government is not altogether unac-as it, like the smaller of the West India Islands, with the people every day becoming alore and inere quainted with the backward tendency of commerce is not, or ought not to be a government to offer a under the present Superintendent. Our involved
dependent upon Government aid, is to hurry the General Officer. diplomatic relations are exhibited prominently in the
country on to certain ruin. To get back to a sound trealy transmitted by Mr. Elmslie a year ago, the
system is a most difficult task, which, under the fate of which has never been made public. Before
most favourable circumstances, can only be accom- the labours of the Committee have been brought to
plished by time. But the plans now proposed to a termination they will hear of the now agreement
be adopted by the Government will only oggravate of 6th April, and it is gulto possible, that their
the difficulties. They appear 10 have been formed report to the House will be heralded by the announce.
great object, which proved utterly impossi without any reference to the obvious causes of the meat that the new agreement has been found ble when the Government was relied upon for failure of the system which is about to be abandon. snoperative. The enquiries of the Committee will every thing, would have been dictated by privateed. The more we examine the correspondence not, we learn, he restricted to trade and diplomacy,
interests, and a sense of common danger; these which has been published, the more it is apparent the state of the colony will also he brought under would have put the whole machine of Erish society, that the failure of that system may be referred, first, review. Legislation, the Municipal court laxation, from the nobleman downward, into motion and to the convicifos, on the part of all classes, that ahe necessity of fixing the laud-tax in perpe and commercial restrictions as they respectively bear regulation. Under these circumstances, every public provision was secured upon the prosperity of Elongkong will be the subject difficulty would have been more easily met, and condly, by the disappointment in the expectation generally admited by all the public servants for
tuity
y in the Company's provinces in India was very every abuse more easily detected and suppressed.
Abat the aid of the local landlords and people of many years previously to the time when it look etter for all parties that this scrutiny should. The really destitute would have been much fewer property would have been secured in administering place in Bengal, and both the Ministers of the Committre, as the truth will be number, and their felief, through the means of the public funds. But nothing has been proposed Crown and the Court of Directors hailed with p
the workhauser would have been more certain as in the new plana, now 16 be undertaken for the slightest rates would not only have been better enforced, purpose of remedying these obvious evils. On the
parent satisfaction the permanent settlement made but more prudently applied. That there would contrary, a parliamentary vole has secured to Ire
by the Marquis Cornwallis, in 1793, in the three enormous difficulties, both of an execu land the expenditure of dght mil.
provinces of Bengal, Behar, Orissa. Nothing could i kind, cannot be doubted which
millions doing the next eight nonton The people of Ireland will
be more wise than the principle which limited the added the firmest administration. henceforth consider that som smtch their own, and admit of the son vielding a rent to the landheder, demand of the Sials for ever on the land, so as to overy change would have been calculate upon its receipt with as much certainty, and becoming a vainable saleable ave tended to the permanent im-
48 it were their own careluly hoariled earning improvement of which overy motire of self-interest people and the country.
But the relief is now to be given in plain charity, munder the immediate effect of this and no longer in un ductive works. Bill what with the labouring classes for there lies guarantee is proposed We cannot subscribe to the doctrine expenditure of the t luver closes of the Irish Sare a helpless cracti
The contrary, all experience shows the relief funds are only He class of people, when really ust to by the Government to
The modes in that the other hall. With a ferroperty Hadi astoral conte Governulent waisted
of a searching investigation.
hist Lord Grey
V Colonia
application.
This
IRELAND.
From the Economist.)
Concluded from No. 43.]
Al Demich ferge nume to do supplied
in Bigland furnished to the rolit Eid lave, mosey was adva
THONDUR
cleaned for the manufacture of the pace-celebrated produce of our steam engines in this country. There Indian fabrics, which have been superseded by the
land tax and the slate of the roads with when we have to deal, and it is on the former of these we are, however, the two other obstacles, namely, the
now propose to touch,
all our Eastern legislators from the time of Has
The land tax of India has been the stumbling of ings down to the present day. The subject, think, was never understood till the work of the not intend to inflict an eassy on our rexdere, we neral Briggs appeared in 1830, and although we do must enter into it in order to show whether o Englishman can or cannot venture to process India to superintend cotton estates, as some of them sugar and indigo with so much advantage, General are now doing those, whereupon they are growing Briggs observes
combine
Infortunately the
property, to the
lernent was made and the real proprietors by a viewed as cultivating
er of the delrict Withel bis question, on which ** mayust remark, the itself a small republis Ws and managing
belong
dae language of th
and the
brouhht together,