HC Deb 13 June 1873 vol 216 cc934-59
MR. M'ARTHUR,

in rising to move— That, as the Chiefs of Fiji and the white residents therein have signified their desire that Great Britain should assume the protectorate or sovereignty of those Islands, it is desirable that Her Majesty's Government, in order to put an end to the condition of things now existing in the Group, should take steps to carry into effect one or other of those measures, said, that last year, in bringing this question before the House, he spoke at so much length, that it was not necessary for him now to do more than call attention to the main facts upon which he rested his case. On that occasion he pointed out that the Fiji Islands occupied one of the most important positions in the Pacific; that in the opinion of high naval authorities no better station for our ships of war was to be found in that great highway between America and Australia; that the islands were exceedingly fertile, producing all kinds of tropical fruits, and that they were the natural home of the cotton plant, which could be cultivated to almost any extent; and that so long ago as 1859, the principal chiefs offered the country to the Queen, and that that offer was declined on grounds which were now admitted to be untenable. He also pointed out the interest the Colonies took in the question, and, finally, he urged that kidnapping—that monstrous system of slavery which had grown up in the South Sea—could not be extirpated unless Fiji, the great centre of traffic, were placed under the protection of the British flag. The events of the past 12 months had confirmed his belief that the course he recommended was the right one. He complained of the course pursued by Her Majesty's Government in reference to this question. It was unworthy of a great country to endeavour to shift the responsibility on to other shoulders and to ask the Government of New South Wales to take either the Protectorate or the Sovereignty of these islands. In acknowledging the de facto Government of Fiji also, and the right of British subjects to throw off their allegiance and to form themselves into an independent State, the advisers of the Queen would be admitting a principle at once dangerous and unprecedented and subversive of the interests of Imperial legislation. Such a course, moreover, would be dangerous to the interests of the native population, who would in that way be left to the mercy of mere adventurers. There had recently been laid on the Table of the House an able and statesmanlike Paper in which Sir James Martin put this view most clearly and strongly, urging that the recognition by the Imperial Government of an independent State formed by a mere handful of British subjects in a group of islands numbering 146,000 native inhabitants would be highly inexpedient. Sir James Martin's view was, that Her Majesty's Government would be perfectly justified in at once establishing a Sovereignty or Protectorate in the islands. It would be in the recollection of the House, that last year the ground taken by the Government was, that no official intimation had been given by the authorities of Fiji of a desire to be annexed to Great Britain, and the right hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies declared that nothing like a formal offer had been made on the part of the islands, that Her Majesty's Government should assume authority over them. The right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister also said that the Government ought not to be compelled to force the Fiji Islands to become annexed to this country, no evidence of any such desire having been manifested. Now, in 1871 a Memorial had been agreed to by the King, the principal Chiefs, and White residents, praying that the British Government would grant Fiji protection for 10, 15, or 20 years, so that the native Chiefs might have time to create a form of government analogous to that of the Sandwich Islands. The Memorial, which was addressed to Earl Granville, concluded with the following prayer:—"In the event of the Government entertaining this Petition, your Lordships' memorialists pledge themselves to acknowledge all the obligations which the Government deem it wise and necessary to impose." That Memorial was signed by the King, by Mafua, and two others of the principal Chiefs, representing the entire native population of the island. That Memorial was sent to the Foreign Office, and while he exonerated the two right hon. Gentlemen respectively from any desire to lead the House astray, yet the conduct of the Foreign Office was very much to be blamed. A document so important should have received an answer. It was similar conduct on the part of the Foreign Office which offended King Theodore and led to the Abyssinian War, which cost the country several millions of money. Had Theodore's letter been answered, that expedition would not have been necessary. The right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister told the House that Her Majesty's Government would not annex any territory, without a well-understood wish on the part of the people, authenticated by the best means which the case afforded. That statement, coupled with a similar remark made by the right hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, was regarded as a pledge, that if the great majority of the people of Fiji were desirous of annexation, the British Government were prepared to accede to their wishes. Since the Petition sent to the Foreign Office in 1871, the feeling had intensified throughout the whole of the islands. Besides the expression of feeling in the Fijian Press in favour of annexation, there was abundance of other evidence which pointed in the same direction. He might refer to the authority of Mr. Thurston, the "Prime Minister of Fiji," who stated that it was his opinion and that of the majority of the settlers, that annexation was a necessity, and that native Government was an impossibility. So strong was the feeling in all the islands in favour of annexation, and in regard to the powerlessness of the native Government to enforce order, that many of the Members of the Legislature unfavourable to annexation had been asked to resign. A Memorial had been got up in Fiji, which was expected to arrive by the last mail, and which was being signed by all the White inhabitants of Fiji. It was from Her Britannic Majesty's subjects and others resident in Fiji, likewise addressed to Earl Granville, and was in favour of annexation to Great Britain. The Memorial dwelt upon the increasing supplies of cotton, the fertility of the soil, the growth of tobacco, and the undeveloped resources of the Fijian Archipelago. The petitioners wont on to state that the friendly feeling frequently expressed by a large section of the aborigines towards Her Majesty's subjects in Fiji, and the regard they entertained for Great Britain and the Queen, indisputably proved the strength of the wide-spread affection of the Fijians for the British people. Further, they stated that the United States had recently taken possession of an island belonging to the Navigator's Group, which, from its proximity to our Australian Colonies and New Zealand, might, under certain complications, be menacing to British commerce in the Pacific Ocean. That was an additional reason why the Fiji Islands should be forthwith included in Her Majesty's dominions. The petitioners also urged the advantages afforded by Fijian waters for the establishment of a permanent naval station, and in connection with it a Vice Admiralty Court, which would be the means of placing the labour trade on a basis of beneficent security. The Petition proved, to quote the language of the Prime Minister, that there existed in Fiji "a well-understood wish for annexation, frequently expressed and authenticated by the best means the case trill afford." Under those circumstances he (Mr. M'Arthur) asked Her Majesty's Government to fulfil the implied pledge they gave last year, that on ascertaining the wish of the inhabitants they would be prepared to take this question into consideration with a view to annexation. Turning next to the political aspect of the question, he had no hesitation in expressing his belief that, considering their geographical position, the Fiji Islands were as important to us in the Pacific Ocean as Malta was in the Mediterranean. Captain Washington said in his Report— in looking over the subject, I have been struck by the entire want by Great Britain of any advanced position in the Pacific Ocean. We have valuable possessions on either side, as at Vancouver's Island and Sydney, but not an island or rock on the 7,000 miles of ocean which separates them. We have no island on which to place a coaling station so that we might get fresh supplies. Similar opinions had been expressed at the colonial conferences held in Melbourne and Sydney. With regard to the commercial advantages it was obviously important for us to have a station on the great highway between British Columbia and San Francisco on the one side, and Australia on the other. The exports and imports of Fiji had steadily increased, their value being $50,000 in 1869; $90,000 in 1870; upwards of $120,000 in 1871; and upwards of $300,000 in 1872. Moreover, that country, which lately was so deeply degraded by the most dreadful crimes, now contained a population advancing in education, civilization, and Christianity. An official statement, made by Mr. Clarkson, the treasurer of the Government in Fiji, showed that the population of the islands numbered 150,000, of whom about 2,000 were Whites; that there were in the islands 611 chapels, 1,389 schools, with 45,243 scholars, while the number of attendants at public worship was 107,250. He regarded all that as a remarkable fact, in connection with the history of the Fiji Islands; and he felt sure that if they gave those islands a strong Government, capital would flow in, people would resort there, and they would add to the dignity and strength of the Empire. With regard to the philanthropic view of the question, he believed it would be utterly impossible for any Government to put down the slave trade in the Pacific Ocean, unless those islands were placed under the protection of the British flag. To show the character of that infamous traffic, he would cite the testimony of Captain Palmer, who stated that on one of the islands slaves were flogged, Cayenne pepper was applied to the wounds, and a toe of one of them was cut off. The Reports of two officers in Her Majesty's service, Captain Palmer and Captain Markham, showed that a traffic in natives, which was really a slave trade, was carried on, natives being torn from their homes and often brutally treated by men calling themselves Englishmen. According to Vice Consul March, girls—sometimes only 13 or 14 years of age—were bartered and sold to planters in the most disgraceful way, the settlers regarding this as a normal and inevitable state of things. The hon. Member for Warrington (Mr. Rylands) had, it seemed, an Amendment on the Paper, to the effect that any attempt on the part of Great Britain to assume the Protectorate or Sovereignty of the Fiji Islands, by suppressing the de facto Government of Fiji, would be contrary to public policy, and an unjustifiable interference with the rights of an independent people; but he (Mr. M'Arthur) contended that it was unnecessary, from the fact that the existing Government, though more respectable than its predecessor, was not recognized by the majority, either of the White or Black population, ambit was unable to enforce the law, to prevent the slave trade, or to repress scenes of turbulence and bloodshed. A requisition to one of the Representatives, asking him to resign, in order that the country might come under the protection of England, stated that self-government had been a signal failure, that the country was deluged with worthless Treasury notes; and that the price of many articles had doubled; while in complying with the requisition, that Gentleman said he endorsed all its statements. As to the objection that a large expense would be involved in annexation, he denied that it would throw any charge on the Imperial Revenue. The requisite officials would not cost more than £6,000 a-year, and a small Native Force with one or two gunboats at the Governor's disposal would suffice, while the Treasurer, Mr. Clarkson, anticipated a Revenue of not less than £30,000, and believed in two years it would reach £100,000. Considering, moreover, that, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, £250,000 had been spent in five years in putting down the East African Slave Trade, and that the men-of-war now stationed in the Pacific were unable to suppress a similar traffic, it would be an economical measure to take possession of Fiji. Colonel (now Major General) Smythe, who, when sent to report on the matter, gave an opinion adverse to annexation, now admitted that it did not apply to the existing circumstances. He stated that the condition of affairs had undergone such a change that he was now of opinion that our best course would be to accept the offer of the Sovereignty of the group which had been made by the Chiefs. He was glad to find that a communication had been made to the Government by the Government of Fiji through Mr. Thurston, in which that gentleman stated that he had been officially authorized by the King to put the question of cession direct to Her Majesty's Government, and if they were willing to entertain it the Fijian Government would make a proposition to them. That Paper the noble Lord the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had promised to lay on the Table of the House in a day or so, and he trusted our Government would duly consider the matter. In concluding his remarks, he (Mr. M'Arthur) wished to make a personal appeal to the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister. Last year the right hon. Gentleman did not express himself as hostile to the spirit of the Resolution; but he deprecated premature or precipitate action before circumstances made the duty of the country perfectly clear. They had waited a whole year, which was surely sufficient time for deliberation. In the space of that year new outrages had taken place. Slave ships had scoured the South Seas in search of their human prey. Slavery practised by Christian Englishmen had fastened its roots more deeply in the soil of Fiji, and the best and most orderly of our countrymen, with the full sympathy of the native chiefs, had again and yet again prayed the mother country to give them the blessing of a stable government based upon just laws. The right hon. Gentleman had filled the office of Colonial Minister. He was therefore no stranger to the traditions of that office, and to the glorious history of our colonial dominion. He knew that the Motion accorded with the best of those traditions, and with a just view of both the interests and duty of the nation. Would he then take upon himself the responsibility of a further policy of delay—a policy of ignoble timidity and vacillation—a policy which would perpetuate in the year to come, as it had done in the year that was past, those crimes and outrages which Her Majesty in her Speech from the Throne had so fervently deplored? Our representatives in Fiji and Australia had done their duty, while public opinion both there and at home had urged the Imperial Government to perform its duty. It, therefore, remained for the right hon. Gentleman to decide whether he would allow the present state of things to remain, or whether he would realize the legitimate wishes of his countrymen, and by accepting the annexation of Fiji, open out new fields for British commerce and British enterprise, and thus add another to those magnificent colonies in the southern hemisphere which had contributed so largely to the wealth, the prosperity, and the power of the British Empire. The hon. Gentleman concluded by moving the Resolution of which he had given Notice.

SIR CHARLES WINGFIELD,

in seconding the Resolution, observed that the propositions made to our Government by the inhabitants of Fiji had been for either annexation or a protectorate. He should support the Resolution in the sense of annexation, for he knew what that was, but he could not tell what a protectorate really involved. For his own part, he had no confidence in the present White Government of Fiji, as the Members of it were participators in the slave trade and slave owners. This had been stated from the bench of the Supreme Court in Sydney. He referred to the horrors of the bloodstained ship Carl, and the murders which had been committed on the natives who had been caught and imprisoned in the hold and fired upon; a Member of the Government being the consignee of the cargo, and having actually disposed of the survivors at a commission of 5 per cent. At that moment one-half of the Whites repudiated their authority; so much so, that the Government had been obliged to ask for assistance from Her Majesty's ships to reduce the Whites to obedience. The Premier Woods had been dismissed, first of all, from Her Majesty's Navy, and then from the Australian Navy; and another Member, Smith, was the owner of one of the most notorious slave ships the Nukulau. The effect of the policy of treating the Fijian Government as an independent de facto Government had tied the hands of our naval commanders, had weakened the authority of our Consul, and had lowered the dignity of Her Majesty's Representative in New South Wales. The Governor of New South Wales had recognized Woods as Premier, and he had been remonstrated with by his responsible advisers for doing so; and it had been also decided that the jurisdiction of the Australian Courts might be exercised in the case of British subjects who complained of acts of violence if they declined to recognize this Fijian Government and its Courts of Law. He trusted that the exertions made by the Consul March to put down the slave traffic and to bring' to justice those who had been engaged in the recent massacre were appreciated by Her Majesty's Government. Had Mr. Consul March truckled to time de facto Government of Fiji, he might row be a prosperous plantation owner; but he did not. On the contrary, he risked his own life in the endeavour to bring the guilty parties to justice, and in this effort he had succeeded. His acts in that respect had incurred for him the bitter hostility of the Fijian Government, and apparently had brought him into bad odour with our own Government, as he had been transferred to a part of Brazil where two of his predecessors had lost their health. Such a proceeding on the part of the Government was not very likely to encourage British Consuls to interest themselves in putting down the slave traffic. He supported the Resolution, mainly because he believed that annexation was the only way in which this traffic which brought such reproach on the British name could be put a stop to. He did not see with what justice or consistency the English Government could force the Sultan to put down the slave trade at Zanzibar, while they permitted an equally bad slave trade to be carried on in those islands, almost entirely in British ships and by British subjects, when they could effectually suppress it without spending a shilling of money, and with the entire approval of the English people. The native inhabitants had now asked on two separate occasions that the Government of the Queen should assume the Protectorate of their territory; the de facto Government had applied to them very recently to the same effect; and under those circumstances the objections urged to the Resolution being thus removed—he trusted Her Majesty's Government would accept and the House adopt the Motion of his hon. Friend.

Amendment proposed, To leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "as the Chiefs of Fiji and the white residents therein have signified their desire that Great Britain should assume the protectorate or sovereignty of those Islands, it is desirable that Her Majesty's Government, in order to put an end to the condition of things now existing in the Group, should take steps to carry into effect one or other of those measures,"—(Mr. M'Arthur,)

—instead thereof.

Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."

MR. GLADSTONE

said, with every respect for the abilities and character of his hon. Friend who had seconded the Motion (Sir Charles Wingfield), he could not but regret some of the statements he had made. With one portion of his speech he fully concurred—namely, that which referred to the course adopted by Mr. Consul March. That part of the speech he thought he could deal with in a way that would be satisfactory to his hon. Friend, for he might at once dismiss from his mind the apprehension that the services of that gentleman were, by anything they had done, attempted to be at all depreciated by Her Majesty's Government. On account of changing circumstances, it was deemed wise by the Secretary of State that Mr. March should receive another appointment, and he had been removed to another post, which did not greatly differ in point of emolument from that in the Fiji Islands, although the salary was somewhat higher than that he enjoyed there, and it was not necessary to construe the transfer as involving any censure upon Mr. March. As to the other part of the personal matter, he felt a still stronger regret. His hon. Friend had catalogued the Members of the Government of the Fiji Islands, and had described them as men engaged in the slave traffic, as men tainted with crime, and degraded with dishonour. ["Hear, hear!"] That he found was cheered; but it was a serious matter that at this end of the world, at the opposite point of the diameter, and in a House where there was no one to meet the charge, they should be set down as men who ought to be standing at the bar of a criminal Court. That was, he repeated, a very serious matter, and not consistent with that equity and fairness which required that they should not enter upon criticisms of that kind upon the character and conduct of gentlemen—or if that term were objectionable—of persons who were not present to defend themselves. It would have been desirable that his hon. Friend, before he so blackened the character of these men in a speech which would go forth to the world, and when weeks and months would elapse before they would have an opportunity of replying, should have given some Notice of his intention, so that some inquiry on the subject might have been made in the country itself to see if there were a unanimity of testimony in support of his statement. Of course, he (Mr. Gladstone) could not say that they were not engaged in the slave trade; but accounts which reached the Government from persons, probably not less trustworthy than those who informed his hon. Friend, were by no means so unfavourable to the character of the persons composing the Government of the Fiji Islands. He meant Naval officers who commanded the ships of Her Majesty in those waters, and they did not find generally in the proceedings of the Fiji Government a disposition to render nugatory the measures for the prevention of the abuses and cruelties of the labour traffic. One of those gentlemen was Mr. Thurston, whom his hon. Friend had by implication severely stigmatized as an accomplice of those men. He sat in the Cabinet; he was Premier, and succeeded another Premier; Premiers were dismissed in that hemisphere as well as in this. Another gentleman was Mr. St. Julian, who filled the office of Vice Consul on behalf of Australia in the Fiji Islands for some time—a person who enjoyed general respect, as he believed was the case also with Mr. Thurston. Far be it from him to assert that every one of those gentlemen was immaculate in the absence of distinct information; but, in the absence of distinctive information, he hoped some reserve would be shown in endorsing a sweeping and indiscriminate condemnation of men who had not the opportunity of securing anyone to defend them in that House. He came now to the Motion of his hon. Friend the Member for Lambeth (Mr. M'Arthur), which was a matter requiring great thought and care, and while premising that there was much of abstract opinion contained in it which he was not prepared to adopt, he thought it would be well if he stated where he agreed with, and where he differed from, the hon. Gentleman; but at the outset he would assure him Her Majesty's Government did not propose to treat the matter either in a negative spirit or with indifference. The hon. Gentleman's speech divided itself into three branches—the territorial, the commercial, the philanthropic, and incidentally, the financial. He would not follow him into the territorial part of the question, but he would observe that in his experience there was nothing more popular with the House, or with that portion of the House who felt a lively interest in this class of questions, than speeches tending to incite and encourage the Government towards the annexation of new territory; nothing was easier than to make out a plausible case for appropriations of this kind, and nothing was more acceptable; the hon. Member's heart must have been cheered by the warm expressions of approval which accompanied those portions of his speech in which he insisted on the advantages of enlarging the territory of this country; but, he must add, nothing in the world so much excited the odium, suspicion, and displeasure of the same portion of the House as the manifestation in any other country of a similar disposition. Now, he commended to all the philosophers of the 19th century, and to all practical politicians, the desirability of having one and the same measure of justice for ourselves and for other people. It might be the chill of age which was coming upon him; but he confessed he did not feel that excitement for the acquisition of new territory which animated the hon. Gentleman, especially as, with all the efforts which Parliament made to meet the wants of the territories we already governed, the arrears were accumulating in advance of the most persevering efforts they could make. Simi- larly, with respect to commerce, we had, by asserting the principle of liberty in trade, opened the world to the commerce of Great Britain to such a degree that our ingenuity, enterprise, skill, manual power, and machinery were scarcely able to cope with expanding opportunities; and, under those circumstances, he could afford to say he did not feel the great pressure of the argument for securing particular guarantees for our commerce in this distant part of the world. England had mounted so high by the assertion of sound principles of trade, and had felt so greatly the advantages resulting to themselves and the whole world from them, that they did not feel the pressure of the argument which had been used in favour of this country acquiring the commerce of the distant islands of the world. When the hon. Gentleman referred to not allowing Australia to interfere with the commerce of the Fiji Islands, he would ask him whether he knew what was going on in Australia at this time. The hon. Gentleman said it would be of immense importance to us to prevent the commerce of the Fiji Islands with this country being restricted; but the hon. Gentleman should remember what Parliament had been doing this Session. They had passed a measure enabling the Australian Colonies to restrict their commerce by creating differential duties between themselves; and it would be difficult to confine the operation of that measure to those colonies. He now came to what he regarded as by far the most important part of the speech of the hon. Gentleman—namely, that which he had called, in no taunting spirit, the philanthropic part of the speech. As he agreed in the main with what the hon. Gentleman said as to the deplorable nature of some of the occurrences which happened in the region of Fiji, it was not necessary to follow the speech in detail; but he desired to say that both he and his Colleagues felt very strongly the importance of that country taking all proper and reasonable steps in order to put an end to a state of things in which British subjects, removing themselves from the territorial jurisdiction of the Home or Colonial Governments, planted themselves in a region of the earth having no political relation with us, and defiled that region by what was, either avowedly or virtually, a traffic in human flesh, with its usual accompaniments of moral degradation and physical cruelty. This country had endeavoured to prevent that traffic in human flesh, and had made it a part of its duty to diminish in that respect the woes of mankind, and therefore the hon. Gentleman would understand that he did not deny that what had taken place in the Fiji Islands was a serious matter and would call for the careful consideration of the Government. He did not deny that the hon. Gentleman was right in basing certain expectations on remarks which fell from himself and his right hon. Friend near him (Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen) in the course of the debate last year, but he desired that those expectations should be well understood. The hon. Gentleman said it was declared or implied in those speeches that, in the event of a clearly-expressed and well-authenticated wish for annexation to England on the part of the White and native populations of Fiji, Her Majesty's Government would proceed to annex the islands. Let him in the first place consider whether, according to the statements of the hon. Gentleman, the condition had at the present moment been fulfilled. The hon. Gentleman said the Government of Fiji had already made an application for annexation, and that there was now on its way to England a Petition to the same effect signed by the natives; but would he say further that in that state of things the case was ripe for the specific step which he called upon the Government to take? He did not think that view could be held, even if the hon. Mover and Seconder of the proposition under discussion possessed a tolerably good opinion of the Government of the islands, which was not however the case, so far, at any rate, as the hon. Seconder of the Motion was concerned. It had been stated further that the Government was entirely powerless, and was not recognized by the majority of the people. If that was so, what weight or authority could attach to its declaration when made the basis of a demand for annexation to the British Crown? How much weight and authority could also be attached to a Petition, which had not yet arrived, emanating from such a Government? In the absence of precise information on the subject, he could not enter into a controversy with regard to it, but he recommended the point to the considera- tion of the hon. Gentleman. There had been cases in which the Government of Fiji had struggled successfully in the cause of right and justice; but it might also be that they preserved a little indulgence for their own personal views and predilections. Then, with regard to the Petition which was said to be on its way to this country, it was not as yet known by whom the document was signed, and, in the absence of information on the subject, he did not think the House should be asked to adopt a proposal of so definitive and conclusive a character as that now before the House. The Government would, however, take steps to procure such accurate information as would enable them to cope with the difficulties under which they undertook to investigate a complicated question at the other end of the world. At the commencement of his speech the hon. Gentleman contended that it was a most dangerous doctrine to lay down that British subjects might by withdrawing themselves from the British Empire, throw off their allegiance, become de facto Governments in other lands, and claim to treat with England as independent States. There was a great difficulty in the way of any such admission, but did the hon. Gentleman close his eyes to the difficulty on the other side? Were they, because they admitted the difficulty which had been pointed out, to rush to the extreme of declaring that wherever any body of British subjects, in the use of the personal liberty provided by the law, transported themselves into a foreign land, and became an important community, the British Government was bound to follow, and establish a dominion over them? The hon. Gentleman surely would not make any such monstrous assertion, for if one doctrine was dangerous the other was little short of absurd. Under those circumstances, the Government were taking what appeared to them to be the rational and only real means of making progress in the handling of the question by instituting a responsible and trustworthy inquiry into the facts which bore upon the conduct of the case in all its essential particulars. The hon. Gentleman had studied and learnt much with regard to the question of Fiji, and he (Mr. Gladstone) hardly knew how to express the sentiment with which he heard the statement that a population of about 140,000 natives and some 2,000 Whites produced 107,000 attendants upon Divine worship.

MR. M'ARTHUR

said, he made the statement on the authority of Mr. Clarkson, one of the missionaries engaged in the islands.

MR. GLADSTONE

did not dispute the accuracy of the statement; he only felt surprised to hear that the Fiji Islands furnished a larger proportion of attendants on Divine worship than any country in Christendom. The hon. Gentleman would admit that there were a great many other points connected with this question upon which it was absolutely necessary to obtain further information before any decisive step was taken. He would not say that the experience of New Zealand had been unsatisfactory; but he would say that even in that case, it would have been desirable to have obtained a clearer view beforehand of the responsibilities England was about to undertake, than they actually possessed at the time when the annexation occurred. They ought to have known that they were about to be involved in a charge of about £10,000,000 for military expenditure, and in all the waste and destruction of life and property which the expenditure involved. There was no country in which missionary labour had been so zealous, prolonged, and successful as New Zealand when we annexed it, yet many of the difficulties which had since occurred in New Zealand might have been avoided if the Home Government had had a more careful investigation of the circumstances in New Zealand, before they finally took it upon themselves. Therefore, the Government were desirous—and he hoped the hon. Gentleman would join in that desire—to profit by their past experience, and not to commit the same errors with regard to the territory of Fiji which they had committed with regard to New Zealand. It appeared to them necessary that they should consider a number of points which he would briefly run over, and that there would be a variety of courses open. They did not agree with those who thought that the alternative should be absolutely cast aside, of using the Government actually established in the Fiji Islands as the instrument of governing the country. It was clear that if it could be done, and if the philanthropic measures of the hon. Gentleman could be attained through that measure, it was the best measure of attainment. If the Government really warranted the character given of it by the hon. Member who seconded the Motion, it would be by no means desirable to make use of that Government; on the other hand if the Fiji Government were shown to be one of tolerable capacity, if it exercised a tolerable amount of authority, and if it had the power of adapting itself to the wants of the people, these would be great recommendations. That Government had, however, one great recommendation in its favour—namely, that it had sprung out of the soil, it had its roots in the soil, it was born upon the spot, and it had made a certain though limited way towards the true character of a Government. The House must not suppose that he meant that it was a Government which they could treat as if it were a recognized Government in a civilized country. His hon. Friend the Member for Lambeth said, that Her Majesty's Government had recognized the Government of Fiji. They had, however, only recognized it as a de facto Government. His hon. Friend had illustrated his argument by referring to the Government of Spain, our recognition of which, he said, was equivalent to a full and unlimited recognition. If his hon. Friend would ask any of the gentlemen who formed the present Government of Spain, whether our recognition of that as a de facto Government was equivalent to a full international recognition, he would find himself undeceived. Every country drew an important distinction between that mere unofficial recognition of a Government—a thing which existed for the moment and for the necessary transaction of business, and a free and formal recognition of one independent and civilized State on the part of another. Such a recognition might be given to the Fiji Government, but only on certain conditions. It would first be necessary to ascertain that it would be practicable through the means of the Government, and by distinct covenants with it, to obtain practical securities for 'putting down the abuses now complained of. That would be the first question which it would be the duty of the Government to examine. Another method of proceeding which had been recommended and might be taken was to arm the British Representative in the Fiji Islands with a personal jurisdiction over British subjects, supported, of course, by adequate means for its enforcement, and arranged, as it must be, with the goodwill of the local authorities. He would not give any opinion as to the preference between one mode or the other at the present time, because a thorough and impartial examination was the duty which the circumstances of the moment imposed upon the Government. The third method of proceeding was, that which his hon. Friend had embodied in his Motion, but which his Seconder had thrown overboard—the assumption of a Protectorate in Fiji. He (Mr. Gladstone) would not venture to throw overboard that method of proceeding; but he thought there was, however, great force in the objection that that would involve the responsibility of annexation. Lastly came the proposal of annexation itself. That was a very large question, involving many consequences deserving of careful consideration, and requiring special examination of its own. For example, if these islands were to be annexed they would present to us, in the most aggravated form, the difficulty arising from marked differences of race, which occurred already in some of our colonial possessions. Where the superior race was very large in numbers, and the less developed and less civilized race were small, the difficulty was little felt. In Porto Rico, for example, although there was a very large number of negroes —now, happily, no longer slaves—yet the number of Whites was extremely large in comparison, and the slave emancipation had been effected without difficulty. Jamaica was not like Porto Rico. The Whites were very small in number in Jamaica compared with the less developed race. There had been a struggle to maintain free institutions from 1834 to 1864. Yet the Imperial Parliament had been reluctantly compelled to give up the attempt, and establish a Government which was no longer founded on the principles of liberty and representation. Fiji contained a population variously computed at 140,000, 160,000, and 200,000. Among the native Blacks were perhaps not more than 2,000 Whites, made up of several nationalities, although Englishmen were in the majority. Among these white settlers were men who were the agents in transactions almost more disgraceful than the avowed and open slave trade. How serious then were the political questions which opened to view. Could such a country be governed on the principles of freedom? Were the people to be allowed a share in the Government, and what was the share to be? The contention of the Government, and which he believed that public opinion would approve, was that no final step should be taken until after the Government had obtained the fullest knowledge on this question. With regard to the question of finance, he thought the estimates of his hon. Friend were too sanguine. He (Mr. Gladstone) knew of no country where 140,000 or 160,000 people were governed at an expense of £7,000 a-year. But that was a matter for examination, and another matter for inquiry was the demand likely to be made upon this country for the maintenance of a standing military force in these islands. This was a question not only of expense but of policy. For years past successive Governments in this country had laboured to correct the vicious system of dispersing the Army of England in little knots over the face of the world, to be exhausted in barren and worse than barren conflicts with aboriginal tribes in uncivilized countries. There must be no risk of anything like the recommencement of such a policy here; and it was important therefore to consider by what means the peace of the Fiji Islands was to be maintained. Would a military force be necessary, or could the natives themselves preserve the peace of the islands by something like a civil or a police force? An immense object would be gained, morally and socially, if we could find among the native population the means of maintaining order. The question was one upon which no positive opinion could at present be passed; but what was known as to the character of considerable numbers of the natives did not exclude the hope that their services might be made available, in case it should be the duty of the British Government to provide for the future tranquillity of these islands. No doubt, something must be done to put a stop to the abuses which his hon. Friend had assailed, and that something must be determined by the exercise of the best judgment of the Government. As yet, however, they knew next to nothing about the interior of the Fiji Islands, the character of the islanders, or to what extent the authority of the King and of the two Chiefs who had joined him extended in comparison with the entire population. Above all, we knew nothing of that vital question—the tenure and occupation of the land. It was defective knowledge on the subject in New Zealand which involved us in all our difficulties there. We must not again fall into that error, but must ascertain in Fiji how land was held and inherited, and in what way land could be lawfully and peaceably acquired by Europeans. For the purposes of inquiry on these points the Government had secured the services of two trustworthy and competent men. One was a naval officer of distinction, Captain Goodenough, who had just sailed for Wellington, New Zealand, from which point or from Sydney he would take his start in company with his coadjutor in the inquiry. There was no profession the habits of which produced in the minds of those who held command in it greater readiness for practical dealing with affairs than the Navy. Captain Goodenough, moreover, was known for general activity, intelligence, and resources; and to the prospect of his aid in the case, the Government looked with satisfaction. His coadjutor was the brother to our Minister at Madrid (Mr. Consul Layard), who had been appointed Consul at Fiji, and only waited his instructions to proceed by the mail route to Australia, so that in the autumn of this year these two gentlemen would apply themselves to their task and would prosecute it with all the despatch which was compatible with thoroughness of execution. He hoped his hon. Friend would concur in the course taken by the Government, who were sensible of the gravity of the subject and anxious to deal with it to the satisfaction of the House and the country.

MR. R. N. FOWLER

said, he was glad to observe that the valuable services of Mr. Consul March were recognized by the right hon. Gentleman at the head of the Government, but he must appeal to the right hon. Gentleman to say whether those services had not been very ill requited by his country. It was admitted that Mr. March had rendered great service, and his reward had been to be recalled from Fiji and nominally promoted, but the promo- tion was to the pestilential climate of Para, and the inference was that his conduct had not been approved by the Government. Laudatur et alget, and he would submit to the House whether the inference drawn would not be that Mr. March who had rendered such services to humanity had not been recalled because he was disliked by the slave traders of Fiji. He should be one of the last persons to recommend any increase of territory by improper means; but there need be no such means here; and these islands would form a most valuable station for naval purposes, and also for effecting the suppression of the slave trade. He hoped the Government would avail themselves of any opportunity to put an end to that horrible traffic, and that the House would pause before they rejected the Motion.

ADMIRAL ERSKINE

said, he would only make a few common-sense remarks in support of the Motion of his hon. Friend the Member for Lambeth (Mr. M'Arthur). He could not agree with the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Gladstone), in thinking that we were not bound to interfere in cases where English colonists had settled in distant parts of the world. Not a century had elapsed since we took possession of Australia for our own selfish purposes, and now that those purposes were more than served, it would be the most contemptible policy to repudiate the responsibilities arising from our having changed the whole face of a large portion of the globe. It would have been wrong on the part of any Government to ignore the existence of these colonists, but if our own sense of duty did not point out the course which we should pursue, then Foreign Governments would have the right to claim from us the regulation of the proceedings of our subjects who had gone to these islands. There could be no doubt that a trade was carried on which would in olden times have been called a slave trade, and that the Government of Fiji was formed upon slave-trading principles; and that was clearly shown in proceedings which had taken place in Criminal Courts in reference to vessels which had carried on this illegal trade. Last year, it appeared 2,300 Polynesians were introduced into the Fiji Islands, for the return of whom to their homes, bonds for £7,000 were demanded from the planters by the Government. This amount was nearly equal to £3 a man, and could it be supposed that so small a penalty would be efficacious in accomplishing its object? The Government of Fiji was not only founded on the slave trade system, but was carrying on a traffic which, if carried on in Arab dhows, would be slave dealing, but which, being conducted through British ships, was called labour traffic. With respect to domestic slavery, last year Thakombau, with the assistance of the White settlers, had surrounded and made prisoners of the whole of the Livoni tribe, whom he afterwards disposed of to different planters. His informant had purchased the labour of men of that tribe for £3 for five years, £3 10s. for women, and 30s. for children. So much on the subject of slavery. There were strong reasons for connecting the former Fiji Government with this traffic. It was impossible for the present Government to properly regulate it, as it was not strong enough to do so, and consequently it could not insist on the men being returned to their homes after their term of service had expired. The land in Fiji was also disposed of in a most unsatisfactory way, and he had instances before him in which Members of the Government had played into each other's hands in making the grants, coolly disposing of them in fee simple—a tenure unknown to barbarous nations. If the British nation were to protect the rights of those unfortunate islanders, the only thing to do would be to establish some strong restrictive Government amongst those lawless Whites, otherwise, he believed that the tragedies of New Zealand would be repeated in Fiji. He desired to say, however, that he had not alluded in any way to the regulated coloured traffic which was carried on in Queensland; and in conclusion he hoped that the exertions of Consul March would be so recognized by Her Majesty's Government as to prevent the Fijians from believing that his removal was connected with the displeasure of the Home Government at his conduct.

MR. EASTWICK

thought that the proposal of the Government ought not to be accepted; but before referring to that he wished first to speak of the services of Mr. March. He must remind the House that that gentleman was a most distinguished officer before he went to Fiji. He had, when Vice Consul at St. Sebastian, in 1867, performed one of the most gallant exploits ever recorded in saving life at sea. On the night of the 7th of December in that year the French ship Nouveau Caboteur was cast on shore in the Bay of Zurriola during a frightful tempest. The sea was running so high that no one would venture to attempt to swim to the vessel, whereupon Mr. March plunged in alone and brought a rope from the ship to the shore, by which the crew were saved. One of them, however, a lad, lost his hold, fell into the sea, and sank; whereupon Mr. March, though benumbed with cold and exhausted with his former efforts, again plunged in, dived, and. succeeded in bringing the boy to land. For this noble exploit he received the Albert Medal of the First Class, the French Imperial Gold Medal de Sauvetaqe, and the Humane Society's Medal of the First Class. In his endeavours to put down the slave trade at Fiji, his life was more than once exposed to imminent danger, insomuch that the respectable inhabitants of Levuka enrolled themselves in a Volunteer rifle corps to protect him. The life of his child also was attempted by a ruffian, who hurled a huge stone at it, but luckily missed. The same ruffian, encouraged by the support of the so-called Government at Levuka, actually spat in the face of the Consul in public; and received for that brutal outrage at the hands of Consul March the chastisement he deserved. And now, after doing so much to stop the traffic in slaves, Mr. March had been removed in the midst of his useful career. That was a most impolitic step, and the source of triumph and gratification to all the dealers in slaves. It was said by our Government to be done with kind intentions to Mr. March; but the first result was a frightful calamity to him, for both his wife and. child had died on their way home. It was, indeed, a strange kindness to remove a deserving officer and. send him to a pestilential climate, where his last predecessor but one, Mr. Hemans, had not long since died. He trusted the Government would revise their kind intentions, and. bestow on Mr. March a post more suited to his merit. He would come now to the proposal of the Prime Minister, which was simply one for further inquiry. But there had been sufficient inquiry already, and what was wanted now was not in- quiry but action. Mr. Pritchard, our first Consul at Levuka, came to England in February, 1859, with a proposal from Thakombau, who called himself King of Fiji, with a proposal to cede the whole group to Her Majesty. In 1860, Colonel Smythe, R.A., was sent out to make inquiry respecting this proposal. He found that Thakombau was only one of the principal Chiefs, and not really King of the group; but that the other Chiefs were also desirous of becoming subjects of the British Crown. Colonel Smythe reported against accepting the cession; but the reasons he gave for this course were so insufficient, so puerile in fact, that they were evidently a mere cloak to conceal the real reason. That reason was that the cession involved a payment of $45,000 to the United States, which it was not in accordance with the dignity of the British Government to make. The claim for this payment arose in 1897, when the United States Consul in giving a salute set fire to the thatch of his house, which was burned to the ground. The natives, under pretence of rendering assistance, carried off some of the Consul's things, worth probably less than £200; but the claim was gradually magnified to $45,000, and Thakombau was so alarmed by the menaces of the United States Government, that he offered to cede the islands to the English provided they would pay the money for him. This would have been unadvisable, and no doubt Colonel Smythe was right in declining to recommend such a step. But things were now altered, and the cession no longer involved disagreeable consequences. It had also become more requisite to assume the government of the group, as in no other way could the objectionable Government which had been set up by Thakombau be put an end to. He trusted, therefore, that the hon. Member for Lambeth would not accept the proposal for inquiry, but take the opinion of the House upon it.

MR. KINNAIRD

also considered that the time for further inquiry had passed, and for this reason, that Her Majesty's Government had urged the Government of Australia to do the very thing which they were now themselves asked to do. The Government ought not, he thought, to leave this duty to any Colonial Government, but to do it themselves. If his hon. Friend the Member for Lambeth (Mr. M'Arthur) pressed his Motion to a Division, he should certainly support him.

MR. GOSCHEN

said, the Government had not, as the hon. Gentleman who had just sat down alleged, discouraged the Australian colonies in their wish to put down the slave trade.

MR. KINNAIRD

I stated quite the contrary, and that the Government had sought to throw upon the colonies a duty which it ought to undertake itself.

MR. GOSCHEN

said, that the House was not in possession of the expression on the part of the Fijian Chiefs or the White residents of their desire to be annexed, and that the document before them emanated from the Government, the authority of which hon. Members disputed. He agreed that nothing could be worse than to allow the present state of things in Fiji to continue. Either it would be necessary to have seine distinct understanding with the authorities there, that a state of things which was perfectly intolerable should be put an end to; or that other steps should be taken; but the Government felt that if they desired at that moment that annexation should take place, they had not the slightest information before them as to the disposition of the Fijians, or as to the terms upon which they would consent to be annexed. He hoped the House would agree, therefore, that further information was necessary, and in the meantime they were not indifferent to the state of things which existed, but were taking the best measures they could to deal with it on the spot by their own agents.

SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONE

expressed his surprise at the defence which the Prime Minister had offered of a Government, which consisted of a set of the most unmitigated ruffians in the world.

VISCOUNT ENFIELD,

on the part of the Foreign Office, begged to corroborate all that had been said in favour of Consul March, and to assure the House on behalf of his noble Friend (Lord Granville), that in transferring Mr. March from Fiji to another position, he did not mean to reflect, in the slightest degree, on the professional services which that gentleman had rendered during the time he held the Consulate of Fiji.

Question put.

The House divided:—Ayes 86; Noes 50: Majority 36.

Main Question, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair," put, and agreed to.

SUPPLY—considered in Committee.

House resumed.

Committee report Progress; to sit again upon Monday next.