SECTION I.

GENERAL VIEW-PLAN-NOMENCLATURE-SETTLEMENT

PROVINCE-SYSTEM.

As I do not intend to adopt the nomenclature employed by the United States, I shall make one for my purpose, and explain the terms as I proceed.

Every colony ought to go through two stages of political existence.

It ought to be first in a condition similar to that of a TERRITORY, as contemplated in the system of the United States, in which condition or stage of its political existence I shall call it a SETTLEMENT.

Its second stage of political existence ought to be similar to that of a STATE in the system of the United States, and in this second stage or condition I shall call it a PROVINCE.

When certain PROVINCES are grouped together-united for certain federal purposes—each group or federation I call a SYSTEM.*

The first step with respect to the formation of a

* This term is employed by modern astronomers very much in this sense with respect to groups of stars and constellations.- See Nichol's Architecture of the Heavens. I am by no means wedded to this my nomenclature. Some words were needed for the purpose I had in view: The above have been chosen not because they are the best, but because they are sufficient. If any small wit feels at all inclined to assail them, all I ask is, that he will replace them by some others, and adhere steadily to those he selects.

colony should be a survey-a survey not merely to determine the boundaries of private property, but with reference to its political existence and government.

Territorial divisions are necessary for the purposes of government, and the same system of division should be adopted throughout.

The first point is to determine the BOUNDARIES of the colony itself.

The next is then to divide the colony-that is, the lands contained within the determined boundaries—into COUNTIES.

Then the counties should be laid out into TOWNSHIPS. And lastly, the townships should be divided into

PARISHES.

pro

For the purposes of deciding upon the rights of perty, each parish should be divided into LOTS, and sold by authority. This would enable a perfect registration of landed property to be at once established, and thus most materially contribute to economy and justice in all judicial decisions on civil rights, resulting from or connected with the land.

With respect to British North America, Australasia, and South Africa, immediate steps should be taken to determine the boundaries of the existing SETTLEMENTS and PROVINCES, which have been formed in these three systems.

All the lands which lie beyond the boundaries of these SETTLEMENTS and PROVINCES I shall for the moment consider vested in the Crown, and all the unappropriated lands lying within the boundaries of these settlements and provinces as belonging to the governments respec

tively of each of them, subject to certain conditions, to be hereafter described and explained.

We have now, then, spoken of colonies as to be considered and provided for as SETTLEMENTS, PROVINCES, and SYSTEMS. The two last conditions are permanent, that of a SETTLEMENT is a state or condition of transition.

SECTION II.

SETTLEMENT-MODE OF ESTABLISHING-SURVEY-FIRST SALE OF LAND-GOVERNMENT-EXTENT OF INTERFERENCE BY THE MOTHER-COUNTRY-COLONY SELF-SUSTAINING-MEANS, LAND, ETC. THE MONEY OF THE COLONY HOW DEALT WITH-CENSUS -WHEN SETTLEMENT BECOMES A PROVINCE-FRAME OF THE POWERS OF JUDICATURE

GOVERNMENT

CERNING LAND FUND.

DIGRESSION CON

The earliest condition of the colony is that of a SETTLEMENT. It is that in which it receives the greatest aid from the mother-country, and during which it is most subject to her direct authority-her immediate interference. All interference, however, is not of the same description. The mother-country may interfere by means of the executive-that is, of the administration who act by the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the name of the Crown-or she may exercise her authority through parliament. Theoretically, the last mode of interference can be subjected to no rule-parliament is omnipotent in theory, and may do what it pleases-but such is not, either in fact or in theory, the case with the Colonial Secretary, acting for the Crown. His interference ought in all instances to be according

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MODE OF ESTABLISHING A SETTLEMENT.

to a predetermined rule, and if he be given any discretionary authority, the limits of that discretion ought to be carefully settled, and definitely stated.

Hitherto the interference on the part of the Crown, though directed according to some vague notion of law, has been without any system-and has been in no two cases alike. The earlier colonies were all settled in consequence of certain powers conferred by the Crown in the form of a charter. These charters of the Crown were sometimes very rational, and judicious delegations of power-and liberal and wise grants of territory—on other occasions they seemed rather the results of some disordered dream, than the sober dictates of royal reason. For example, what has been termed "the most ancient American state paper of England,"* was a patent or charter granted by Henry VII. to John Cabot," empowering Cabot himself and his three sons or either of them, their heirs or their deputies, to sail into the eastern, western or northern sea, with a fleet of five ships at their own proper expense and charges; to search for islands, countries, provinces, or regions hitherto unseen by Christian people; to affix the banners of England on any city, island, or continent, that they might find; and as vassals of the English Crown, to possess and occupy the territories discovered." *** The exclusive right of frequenting all the countries that might be found was reserved unconditionally and without limit of time "to the family of the Cabots and their

* Bancroft, History of the United States of America, vol. i. p. 9, and note 1.

MODE OF ESTABLISHING A SETTLEMENT.

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assigns." A wilder document could hardly have been devised, had the author been the narrator of the stories of The Thousand and One Nights, and not of the grave and astute Henry VII. If, however, we look at the charter granted to Rhode Island by Charles II., or rather by Lord Clarendon in his name, we shall find a constitution established, which Rhode Island retained almost unaltered when she became an independent state. Such were the wide oscillations of the royal will. But in the present times such vagaries are not likely to occur though there has been as yet no approach to anything like a system, or rule.* The fact being that the persons who have exercised power, whether open and avowed, or hidden and circuitous, have never looked upon the subject with any view or purpose of establishing a rule for the continued guidance of colonial ministers in the great and noble duty of increasing indefinitely the colonial dominion of England. What we need, however, is a rule. We want an authorized explanation of the steps necessary to be taken by those who propose to lay the foundations of a new colony-we need also an Act of Parliament which, contemplating men laying such foundations, shall before-hand determine accurately what laws, and what authority, shall at once, upon the formal declaration of the boundaries of a new colony, obtain, and have power within those limits. Such an act we want, for without it, there is no hope of escaping from

* If we are to judge by some late doings of our Colonial Office, I fear we must allow that the days of vagaries have not entirely passed away. New Zealand has been a favourite field for the freaks of Colonial Secretaries of State.