petual sessions, composed not of judges, but of magistrates. Every person apprehended might be taken on the spot to this sessions, and, without a grand jury, or a petty jury, on the sole opinion of the magistrate of these sessions, be condemned to transportation for seven years. But will it ever be objected to a British ministry, that under the influence of another system of government, and personally accustomed to an administration upon different principles, they felt a natural reluctance to renew the provisions of an act of this kind, and that they were slow to invest themselves with this tremendous power. If they had consulted only the facility of administration, they would naturally have coveted the possession of a power, which, however severe towards its objects, must necessarily be effectual in its end. If they had consulted only the present interest, the readiest means were the best, and the most powerful were the readiest. But they could not forget that Ireland had suffered much under the erroneus system of former times, and that in the excesses committed by her population, there was much to commiserate, as well as to punish. Upon these principles, the administration of Irish affairs has been directed towards the two objects-of attempting improvements by a gradual return to the ordinary progress of law and government; and applying force only to those occasions, where local disturbances might demand it. If new excesses, and in an alarming degree, should require the renewal of the Insurrection Act, renewed it must be, however the occasion may be lamented.

To any one who will cast his eyes over the history of Irish legislation, for the last twenty years, these remarks will be obvious. From this principle of amelioration by measured steps, and by bringing round the habits of the people to the influence of better morals, as well as of fixed laws, have arisen innumerable acts. By the Irish Peace Preservation Bill, his Majesty's ministers endeavoured to return, by one step, towards the maintenance of public order in Ireland by the ordinary administration of justice. This act was a departure from the severity of the Irish Insurrection Act; retaining so much only of the rigor of that statute, as was unhappily still necessary to restrain the excesses of the disturbed districts. The object of this act was to assimilate, as nearly as possible, the local administration of the law in the two kingdoms. If the local magistracy of Ireland, (it is said, without offence, and speaking only generally, and with numerous exceptions) be still very far removed from the character of the country magistracy in England, the fault is not from any want of effort on the part of his Majesty's ministers, but in that prominent feature in the condition of Ireland-the absence of her great local proprietors. It is impossible for government to work without suitable subject-matter. It is

impossible to procure in Ireland the same weight, condition, habits, and respectability, which characterize the magistracy of England. It was under the sense of this inconvenience, that government endeavoured to repair it by a provisional magistracy, appointed from the bar. Here again, is another example of difficulties; the intentions of his Majesty's ministers have been illiberally slandered; this most salutary measure being imputed more to a desire of augmenting their patronage, than of improving the local administration of the laws. The Grand Jury Presentment Bill was a measure of similar character. Its object was to cure an abuse leading to much practical oppression. But a still more useful measure of the same kind, was the sacrifice of government of its ancient appointment of sheriffs of counties. Here, ministers gave up a very important portion of the patronage of the crown. But it is unnecessary to enter into further detail of the numerous measures flowing from the same principle; that of gradually amending the administration of law in Ireland, and of departing, step by step, from that extreme and rigorous system, which had affected the good-will of the two countries.

It is but just however to add, in conclusion of this subject, that none of the present distractions in Ireland can be ascribed to religious differences-Catholics and Protestants are alike sufferers and aggressors. It is but rank faction, therefore, to refer her present state to tythes, taxes, and the absence of a complete Catholic emancipation.

ment.

So much upon the general administration of the Home DepartBut it would be ungenerous to conclude this part of the subject, without the expression of the public obligation to the Noble Lord, so long at the head of this office. It is surely not too much to say, that in the execution of his arduous, and it must be added, his invidious functions, he has carried the virtues of his private character into the performance of his public duties. In the history of the last ten years, his long administration of this department will be characterized for its lenity, moderation, conciliation, and benevolence. Most truly, his office has been no sinecure. Most truly, it has had nothing of that secura quies, that otium cum dignitate, which every one must now wish him to enjoy.

The ordinary branches comprehended under this department have been before mentioned. But it has not been mentioned, that this high officer has likewise the administration of the most painful duties of the executive. It belongs to him, in great measure, to designate the objects of punishment and royal clemency. But mercy, like justice, has still the sword for her emblem, and must participate in the invidiousness accompanying the performance of her austere duties. What she spares, is too often forgotten in what

she is seen to strike. Her blows make a more forcible appeal to the senses, than the exercise of her lenity and compassion. But is it necessary to insist, that, under the administration of this high officer, this branch of the prerogative has been aided by the feelings and sympathies of private character; and that no one has suffered, whom any public consideration could admit to escape.

COLONIAL DEPARTMENT.

THE next division of public business is the Colonial office, which, for the sake of comprehending a more enlarged view of the subject, may be considered in conjunction with the Board of Trade, though not officially belonging to this department.

It has been stated in a former part of these observations, that our colonies admit of a convenient distribution into the two classes, of the Old Colonies and the New Colonies. Without insisting further upon this division, it will be sufficient, as regards the present head, to confine our attention to the three principal subjects of Canada, Jamaica, and the Free Port Islands in the West Indies; adding a few observations upon the Cape of Good Hope, and the Ionian islands. These heads will conveniently embrace the actual principles of our colonial system.

It has been too much the practice of popular writers to undervalue the possession of Canada. Canada is of three main uses to the British Empire-The first, that of constituting a point of contact with the United States; secondly, that of administering to the maintenance of the British navy, by the employment of a large amount of tonnage, and by the formation of seamen in long and rough voyages; and thirdly, that of consuming a very considerable portion of our manufactures.

Under the first of these heads, it has been the policy of successive administrations to regard the possession of Canada as a point of primary importance. It would be ungracious to anticipate events yet hidden behind the clouds of time, and which every man hopes may be of very remote occurrence. But, as empires are not the creatures of the day, political prudence must extend its reach beyond the precautions of a living generation:-Quid brevi fortes jaculemur ævo, is not a rule of political wisdom. In the vicissitudes of human affairs, a breach with America is assuredly not an impossible event. But if former statesmen have justified the retention of Gibraltar, a point of much more questionable wisdom, upon the sole ground of its affording a position on the Peninsula, and a port and station in the Mediterranean; and if the experience of the last fifty years has sanctioned this policy; how much stronger is the

argument for the same provisional precaution with regard to British America, and the West Indies. In any future war, a large naval force could be promptly applied from this quarter to the American seas. Possibly this may be considered as of no inconsiderable importance.

Under the next head, the seamen and tonnage engaged in trading with Canada are not to be overlooked. They compose a very material proportion in the total amount of our navigation. It has been before mentioned, that the vessels employed in our trade with Canada amount to nearly one-fourth of the tonnage of the British Empire: add to this consideration, her supply of timber in any event of a war with the northern powers of Europe. Under the third head, the consumption of British manufactures in Canada exceeds the amount of the consumption of the East Indies. A further and a final circumstance, not to be omitted, arises from the late American navigation laws. Under the operation of these laws, our West India colonies, without the aid of Canada, would be subjected to great occasional distress. So much as to the importance and value of Canada.

The colony next in order is Jamaica. It has been stated in a former part of these observations, that this colony is of the utmost importance to the revenue, wealth, and navigation, of the British Empire. It is the chief place for the growth of sugar: the corn of the Tropical world, and now become so much an article of necessity throughout civilised Europe, and so largely consumed, that, in value and importance, it occupies the next place to the agricultural produce of our own lands. As regards revenue, the gross receipt of the customs for sugar amounted in the year 1821 to five millions; a sum exceeding by two hundred thousand pounds the gross receipt of the whole revenue for Ireland. As respects its comparison with corn, the gross actual receipt of the excise for all the malt duties of England, in the year 1821, was four millions and a half. The gross actual receipt for the sugar duties, as above stated, exceeded five millions. If we add to this sum the amount of the revenue on the colonial articles of rum, tobacco, and snuff, cocoa-nuts and coffee, pepper, indigo, spices, and drugs, it will appear that the customs and excise on our colonial produce afford little less than eight millions two hundred thousand pounds to the revenue of Great Britain. Now the total of all the sums raised upon the land in Great Britain and Ireland, under the several heads of beer, malt, hops, and land-tax, for the year 1821, was in gross receipt about nine millions. So just is the claim of our sugar colonies, indeed of our colonies in general, to a degree of political relation next only to our landed interest-nec longo intervallo proximus. So absurd are all the systems, which, for the temporary

purpose of inviting particular attention to one interest only, invidiously exclude and undervalue all others.

Of the total amount of colonial produce, Jamaica alone exports annually one hundred thousand hogsheads of sugar, employing twenty thousand tons of British shipping and five thousand British seamen, and affording two millions net receipt to the revenue of the country. Of such value and importance is Jamaica. As regards the general conduct which has been observed in the civil policy and administration of this colony, suffice it to say, that it has received a protection equivalent to its importance. Whilst a necessary concession to public opinion has compelled his Majesty's ministers to carry the scythe of retrenchment into all the military stations in the empire, and whilst the means of public defence, not to employ stronger terms, have been thus curtailed to a very narrow point, ministers, through all the embarrassments occasioned by this clamor, have retained nearly its original force on the Jamaica station.

The next point for consideration are the Free Ports, so wisely established and enlarged in the West Indies, and particularly those in the Bermuda Islands. Enough has already been said of the general purpose for which these free ports were first established, and with a view to which end they have been continued and extended during peace. It is here sufficient to repeat, that the object of their maintenance is two-fold; the one, reflecting much honor upon the political generosity of the country; the other, more particularly directed to the maintenance and advancement of our own interest. The first of these ends was to afford a more convenient magazine of colonial supply to the United States, and thus to save the people of America the double voyages and expensive freights from that country to Great Britain. This object was necessarily attended with some sacrifice to the interest of our own shipping and navigation, and was so far a departure from our ancient system. But we deemed that friendly states had some claim upon us, and we cheerfully made the concession. The second head of the free port system, which in some degree indemnifies us for the sacrifice under the first, was to promote a larger consumption of West India produce, and to procure a preference for our own colonies. Both these ends have in a great degree been fulfilled. If the passing of the American Navigation Law have cut off the former direct commerce between our West India islands and America, the Bermuda Free Port system has repaired the inconvenience, and the United States may still receive our colonial produce without a voyage to Europe. It is sufficient here to add, that in the colonial administration every facility in practice has been given to this system, and that every regulation has been made