PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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LUC.O.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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now long since they have been the source of any patronage to the Government at home, which is of the slightest value as a means of influence. In the great majority of the Colonies, all subordinate offices are virtually disposed of by the Governor, and are very properly conferred on residents; the chief patronage, therefore, which remains to the Home Government is that of appointing Governors, which is rather a source of embarrassment than otherwise, since the advantages of these appointments are not such as to make it easy to induce those whose ser- vices would be most desirable to accept them, and those who are unequal to the duties are frequently recommended in a manner which it is difficult to resist.
This being the policy now acted upon by the mother-country towards the Colonies; as the utmost freedom of which circumstances admit is extended to them in their internal government, while we no longer attempt to derive from them a commercial tribute by a system of restrictions, or to render them subservient to purposes of patronage; they ought no longer to expect that, in point of expense, they should be so heavy a charge upon this country as
they have hitherto been..
The chief source at present of expense on account of the Colonies is their military protection, as the charges of their civil government are now in gene- ral paid by themselves; and the naval expenditure, which is frequently charged against the colonies, cannot, in my opinion, be so with any justice, since, if we had no Colonies, I believe that the demands upon our naval force would be rather increased than diminished, owing to the necessity of protect- ing our commerce.
Our military expenditure on account of the Colo- nies is certainly very heavy, including the charges the for the pay of the troops stationed in them; cost of barracks and ordnance works; that of trans- port; and the large proportion of the dead weight of the
army which is fairly chargeable to the Colonies. This expenditure ought, in my opinion, to be very largely reduced; and the Colonies, now that they are relieved from all that is onerous to them in their connection with the mother-country, should be required to contribute much more, than they have
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hitherto done to their own protection. This would, in point of fact, be only a return to what was for- merly the practice of this country, In the early days of our Colonial history, it is well known that the settlers in what are now the United States were thrown very much upon their own resources in their contests, not only with the Indians, but with
wars.
the French, and that the mother-country acted rather as an ally than as a principal in their In the West Indies, the Colonies were also required to contribute very largely towards their own military protection; indeed it is only within the last twenty years that Jamaica has ceased
to provide rations and barracks for the troops quar- tered there; and even now there is a relic of the an- cient system, in the charge still borne by the island
on account of the forts, though the keeping up of these forts and garrisons has, I believe, now dege- nerated into a job in favour of persons who have
an interest in the Assembly.
I believe it was not until the time of the great revolutionary war with France, that nearly the whole burthen of the defence of the Colonies was under- taken by this country; but for the last fifty years this
has been so generally done, and the charges on this account borne by the Colonies have been so few and inconsiderable, that a sudden change of system is hardly possible.
But the importance of returning to a sounder system has never been lost sight of, and it has been my object, by degrees, to establish the principle that the Colonies can only look to the mother-country for military support in any dangers to which they
⚫ may be exposed from a powerful foreign enemy; - that Her Majesty's troops are not to be expected to undertake the duties of police, and of maintaining the internal tranquillity of the Colonies; and that the Colonies ought to undertake to provide for the expense of barracks for such of Her Majesty's troops as may be stationed in them for their protec- tion, except in the case of those important naval
and military stations which are maintained rather with a view to the interests of the Empire at large than those of the particular Colony-such places, for instance, as Malta, Bermuda, &c., where the fortifications are of far more importance to the Empire than to the Colony. In conformity with
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