precarious possession. But the Romans never gave the name of Colony to any of their Provinces. There were Roman colonies in Britain, but Britain itself was not a Colony; it was a Province. In modern usage, whenever the word colony is applied to a country, it includes all the territory of such country. The Northern tribes who overthrew the Western Empire did not found colonies; they overran or conquered whole provinces, and established new states and kingdoms. The same may be said of the Saracen conquests in Asia and Africa. But, after a lapse of several centuries, when Europe had resumed a more settled form, the system of colonization was revived by three maritime Italian republics. Pisa, Genoa, and Venice. Their first settlements on the coasts of the Levant and Egypt were mercantile factories; which the insecurity of the country soon induced them to convert into forts with garrisons, in short into real colonies. The Genoese established colonies at Famagosta in Cyprus, at Pera and Galata, opposite to Constantinople, and at Caffa in the Crimea, in 1266; they also acquired possession of a considerable extent of coast in that peninsula, which was formed into a district subject to Genoa under the name of Gazaria. Another tract, on the coast of Little Tartary, called Gozia, was also subject to the Genoese, who had there the colony of Cembalo. In the Palus Mæotis they had the colony of La Tana, now Azof. On the south coast of the Euxine they possessed Amastri; they had also a factory with franchises and their own magistrates at Trebizond, as well as at Sebastopolis. These colonies were governed by consuls sent from Genoa, and the order and justice of their administration have been much extolled. In the archives of St. George, at Genoa, there is a valuable unpublished MS. containing the whole colonial legislation of the Genoese in the middle ages. The Pisans, having taken Sardinia from the Moors, sent colonies to Cagliari and other places. Their settlements in the Levant were mere commercial factories. The Venetians established colonies in what are now called the Ionian Islands, and in Candia and Cyprus. Their sys | tem resembled that of Rome; by means of their colonies and garrisons they governed the people of those islands, whom they left in possession of their municipal laws and franchises. These were not like the settlements of the Genoese, merely commercial establishments - they were for conquest and dominion; in fact, Candia and Cyprus were styled kingdoms subject to the Republic. The Venetians had also at one time factories and garrisons on various points of the coasts of the Levant, but they lost them in the Morea, Euboea, Syria, and the Euxine, either through the Genoese, or afterwards by the arms of the Ottomans. We can hardly number among their colonies the few strongholds which they had until lately on the coast of Albania, such as Butrinto, Prevesa, and Parga, any more than those once possessed by the Spaniards and Portuguese on the coast of Barbary, Oran, Melilla, Ceuta, and others. They were merely forts with small garrisons, with no land attached to them. name used in the Mediterranean for such places is presidii; and they are often used as prisons for criminals. The An essential qualification of a Colony in the Roman sense, and in the present sense of the word is, that it should have land, and contain a body of settlers who are cultivators. The question agitated in France, with regard to Algiers, turned upon this,-whether the French were merely to occupy the towns on the coast as military and in some degree commercial colonies, or to establish an agricultural colony in the interior, by taking possession of and cultivating the land. This question touches several points both of justice and policy. When a colony is sent to a country occupied by a few hunting tribes, as was the case in North America when the English settled there, and as is now the case in New Holland, the taking possession of part of the land for the purpose of cultivation is attended with the least possible injury to the aborigines, while, at the same, it has in its favour the extension of civilization. [CIVILIZATION.] The savages generally recede before civilized man; a few of them adopt his habits, or at least the worst part of his habits, and the rest become gradually ex have prevented him from seizing on the lands of the naves, and punishing their resistance with death. British colonization is at present conducted on principles more consistent with justice and humanity, as we see in the case of New Zealand. [CIVILIZATION.] tinct. When the limits are confined, the | the religion which he carries with him, progress towards extinction is exceedingly rapid. The aborigines of Van Diemen's Land having been reduced to a very small number, were wholly removed to a small island in Bass's Straits; and there is every probability that their race will soon be extinct. This has been, from the earliest times, the great law of the progress of the human race. But the case is much altered when the natives are partly civilized, have settled habitations, and either cultivate the land or feed their flocks upon it. The colonists in such case do what the Romans did in their colonies; they take part of the arable land, or the whole of the common or pasture land, and leave to the natives just what they please, and if the natives resist they kill them. Such was the system pursued by the Spaniards in various parts of America, by the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope and the Molucca Islands, and by all maritime nations in some part or other of Asia, Africa, or America; and this is now done by the French against the Arabs and Kabyles of the state of Algiers. The French have sent numerous colonists to Algiers, and among the colonists are many old soldiers who have received a grant of lands after the Roman fashion. The case may be one of greater or less oppression: according as the land is either enclosed and cultivated, or merely used for pasture or the chace; and according as the natives are more or less numerous in proportion to the land, colonization may proceed on a milder or harsher system. The system of purchase from the natives has been practised both by the English and AngloAmericans in North America; but though it has the specious name of bargain, it has often been nothing more than a fraud, or sale under compulsion. The man of Europe has been long accustomed to regard the possession of the soil as that which binds him to a place, and gives him the most secure and least doubtful kind of property. His habits of accumulation, and of transmitting to his children a permanent possession, make him covet the acquisition of land. In whatever country he has set his foot, and once got a dominion in the soil, neither contracts, nor mercy, nor feelings of humanity, nor European colonies in Asia and America have been formed partly on the Roman or Venetian and partly on the Genoese or old Phoenician principle. When the Portuguese first began their voyages of discovery in the fifteenth century, they took possession of some islands or points on the coasts of Africa and of India, and left there a few soldiers or sailors under a military commander, who built a fort to protect the trade with the natives, and afterwards also to keep those natives under a sort of subjection. No great emigrating colonies were sent out by them, except in after times to Goa and the Brazils, which latter is really a colony of Portuguese settlers. The Spaniards, on the contrary, when they discovered America, took possession of the soil, and formed real colonies kept up by successive emigrations from the mother country. In the West India Islands the natives were made slaves, and by degrees became extinct under an intolerable servitude. On the mainland they were exterminated in some places, and in others reduced to the condition of serfs or tributaries. The Spaniards colonized a great part of the countries which they invaded. The Spanish American colonies had for their objects both agriculture and mining. The English North American colonies were the consequence of emigration, either voluntary or produced by religious persecution and civil war at home. The Puritans went to New England, the Quakers to Pennsylvania, and the Cavaliers to Virginia. They formed communities under charters from the crown, and local legislatures, but were still subject to the sovereignty of the mother country. The mother country sent its governors, and named, either directly or indirectly, the civil functionaries. The precise amount of obedience that the colonies then owed to the mother country cannot be exactly defined. The American revolution only showed that it did not extend to a certain point, without showing how far it did extend. A new feature has appeared in modern European colonization, that of penal colonies, which was an extension of the principle of the presidii on the coast of Barbary, already mentioned. Convicts were sent by England first to North America, and afterwards to New Holland, by France to Guiana, by Portugal to the coast of Angola, and by the Dutch to Batavia. They were either employed at the public works, or hired to settlers as servants, or were established in various places to cultivate a piece of land, for which they paid rent to the government. The policy of penal colonies has been much discussed. They may afford a temporary relief, but at a great cost to the mother country, by clearing it of a number of troublesome and dangerous persons, especially so long as criminal legislation and the system of prison discipline continue as imperfect as they are at present in most countries of Europe; but with regard to the convicts themselves, and the prospect of their reformation, everything must depend upon the regulations enforced in the colony by the local authorities. If we look, however, at the horrid places of confinement to which convicts are sent by most continental governments, and which are sinks of every kind of corruption and wretchedness, we cannot help feeling disposed to think more favourably of such colonies, under proper management, and to prefer the penal colonies of Great Britain to such ill-regulated places of punishment, which do not even affect to be places of reformation. [TRANSPORTATION.] The advantages which may result from colonies to the mother country appear to be, the extension of the manufactures and the trade of the mother country by the demand for home products which arises in the colonies, the consequent impulse given to industry in the mother country, and the opportunities which industrious labourers and small capitalists have of mending their condition by emigrating to a country where labour is wanted, and where land can be had at a moderate price. The establishment of a colony' draws capital from the mother country, which is a disadvantage to the parent state, unless the colony also draws off superabundant labourers; and without a due supply of labour the exportation of capital to a colony is unproductive in the colony, while it diminishes the wealth and the productive power of the parent state. If a colony is to be a matter of expense to the state, if the administration of it is to be maintained entirely or in part at the expense of the mother country, that is a direct loss to the parent state. And if, in order to support such colony, or the interests of any body of persons that are connected with it, the trade of the mother country is encumbered by regulations which diminish the free interchange of commodities with other countries, and render foreign products dearer to the citizen of the parent state, that is another manifest loss to the parent state. The history of modern colonization, on the whole, shows that the parent states have sustained great loss by the system of colonization that has been adopted; but it cannot therefore be inferred that colonization may not be placed on such a footing as will make it both advantageous to the parent state, and to those who live in the colony under its protection. Much has been written upon this subject by political and economical writers, and the advantages of colonies have been exaggerated by some, and too much underrated by others. In a general point of view, as connected with the progress of mankind, a busy prosperous colony on a land formerly desert is undoubtedly a cheering sight. Commercial colonies or factories are likewise useful for protecting traders in remote and half-barbarous countries. The Colonies of England are mentioned subsequently. France has the French West India Islands, and French Guiana in America; Senegal, on the coast of Africa; the island of Bourbon; Pondicherry, in the East Indies; and Algeria, on the north coast of Africa. Spain has lost her vast dominions in Mexico and South America, but has retained the fine islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico; she has also the Philippine Islands. Portugal has lost the Brazils, but has still numerous settlements on the coast of South and East Africa, at Angola, Benguela, Loango, and on the Mozambique; but these settlements are the most degenerated of all European colonies. In India, the Portuguese retain Goa, and they have a factory at Macao, and a settlement on the northern part of the island of Timor. The Dutch have the islands of Curaçao and St. Eustaz, and Surinam in Guiana. In Asia they have the great colony of Batavia with its dependencies, various settlements on the coasts of Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and the Molucca islands. The Danes are possessed of the islands of St. Cruz and St. Thomas in the West Indies; Christianburg, near Accra, on the Guinea coast; and Tranquebar in the East Indies. pointed by the crown and the remainder are elected by the people. The colonies which are governed by the secretary of state for the colonies without the interference of a local legislature are termed Crown Colonies. In such colonies there is an executive council, which consists partly of ex-officio members who hold offices at the pleasure of the crown, and partly of persons selected from among the principal inhabitants, who are likewise removable at pleasure. The foreign commerce of these colonies is regulated by the sovereign parliament of the mother country, and put on such a footing as generally to allow the products of the colonies admission into British ports on more favourable terms than the like products of other countries. To the amount of this protecting duty, the colonies then have the advantage of a monopoly in the markets of the mother country. The old strict colonial system of excluding foreign countries from direct com The Swedes have the island of St. Bartholomew in the West Indies. A society of North American philan-mercial intercourse with the colonies. had thropists has founded, since 1821, on the Guinea coast, a colony of emancipated negroes, who have been transferred thither from the United States. The colony is called Liberia. On the subject of modern colonies, Raynal, Histoire des Etablissemens des Européens dans les deux Indes, may be useful, though it is often exaggerated and turgid; but the best authorities are the original accounts of the various discoverers and founders of the colonies, such as have been published by Navarrete for the Spanish, and Barros for the Portuguese. England was not the first among European nations that planted settlements in parts beyond Europe. But by her own colonization, and by the conquest of the settlements of other nations, she has now acquired a more extensive dominion of colonies and dependencies than any other nation. The English Colonies have, as a general rule, local legislatures, elected by the people, and a governor and executive council named by the crown. In New South Wales, which obtained a legislative council in 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 76), twelve of the thirty-six members are ap the double object in view of securing all the supposed advantages of the exchange of British for colonial products, and giving employment to the British merchant navy. The rigour of this system, however, has gradually relaxed, and given way to clearer views of self-interest. Still the colonial system, as maintained by Great Britain, presents in many instances examples of foreign possessions which are expensive to the country without any equivalent advantages; and also of foreign possessions the trade with which is so regulated as to be designedly put on a footing which shall be favourable to the colony and unfavourable to the parent state. This is effected by discriminating or differential duties, as they are termed, the effect of which is to make the consumer of sugar (to take that as an example) in Great Britain pay to the favoured colonists a sum equal to the difference between the duty on colonial sugar and the higher duty on other sugar. The mother country which imposes this additional duty to protect her colonial subjects, not only gets no revenue by such ill-timed partiality in favour of her foreign dependencies, but she loses the increased revenue that she might have, if she would allow her own people to buy foreign sugar on the same terms as the sugar of the colonies. The direct expenditure in some of the colonies for the purposes of administration is beyond the means of the colonial revenues to meet, and the deficiency must of course be supplied by the parent state. Colonial possessions put some amount of patronage at the disposal of the home government, and colonies are therefore looked upon as profitable things by those who participate in the advantages of posts and places in them. On the other hand, those who only contribute to these expenses may reasonably ask for some proof of solid advantage to the parent state in return for the deficiency which she supplies. Setting aside the interests of those concerned in the administration of the colonies, it is asked, in many cases, what advantage does the rest of the nation receive? So far as some colonies may be desirable posts for protecting British commerce and shipping, the advantage of maintaining them may be fully equivalent to the expense. But in every particular instance the question as to the value of a modern colony to the mother country (omitting, as before mentioned, the value of the patronage to those who confer places in the colonies, and the value of the places to those who receive them) is simply this;-what advantage is this said colony to the productive classes of the country a question not always easy to answer; but this is the question, the solution of which must decide whether a colony ought to be maintained or not, if we look only to the interests of the mother country. If we look to the interests of the colony, it may be in many, and certainly is in some cases, the interest of the colony to remain as it now is, under the protection and sovereign authority of the mother country; for it is protected at little or no cost to itself, and it often gets commercial advantages which, if the relationship to the mother country were to cease, would cease with it. But again the question recurs, what is the advantage to the mother country? If some advantage cannot be shown, the maintenance of a useless colony is a pure act of national benevolence towards the colony and to those few of the mother country who have places or pro- The colonial administration of the British colonies is an important department of the general administration. At the head of it is the principal colonial secretary. Historical and Statistical View of British Colonies, &c. The word Colony is not applicable to all the foreign possessions of Great Britain. Gibraltar, Malta, and Heligoland may be more correctly termed Possessions, Port Essington, on the northern |