558 1756 Settlement checked by transportation. AN AMERICAN COLONIST ON TRANSPORTATION. of his property. The delight of such company is a noble inducement, indeed, to the honest poor to convey themselves into a strange country. "In reality, sir, these very laws, though otherwise designed, have turned out in the end the most effectual expedients that the art of man could have contrived, to prevent the settlement of these remote parts of the King's dominions. They have actually taken away almost every encouragement to so laudable a design. I appeal to facts. The body of the English are struck with terror at the thought of coming over to us, not because they have a vast ocean to cross, or to leave behind them their friends, or that the country is new and uncultivated; but from the shocking ideas the mind must necessarily form of the company of inhuman savages, and the more terrible herd of exiled malefactors. There are thousands of honest men, labouring in Europe at fourpence a at fourpence day, starving in spite of all their efforts, a dead weight to the Labourers a day. Repeal of the Transportation Acts. Employ ment of convicts in the docks prohibited; respective parishes to which they belong; who, without any other qualifications than common sense, health, and strength, might accumulate estates among us, as many have done already. These, and not the others, are the men that should be sent over, for the better peopling the plantations. Great Britain and Ireland, in their present circumstances, are overstocked with them; and he who would immortalise himself for a lover of mankind should concert a scheme for the transportation of the industriously honest abroad, and the immediate punishment of rogues and plunderers at home. The pale-faced, half-clad, meagre, and starved skeletons that are seen in every village of those kingdoms, call loudly for the patriot's generous aid. The plantations, too, would thank him for his assistance in obtaining the repeal of those laws which, though otherwise intended by the Legislature, have so unhappily proved injurious to his own country and ruinous to us. "It is not long since a bill passed the Commons for the employment of such criminals in his Majesty's docks as should merit the gallows. The design was good. It is consistent with sound policy that all those who have forfeited their liberty and lives to their country should be compelled to labour the residue of their days in its service. But the scheme was bad, and wisely was the bill rejected by the Lords, for this only reason—that it had a natural tendency to discredit the King's yards, the consequences of which must have been prejudicial to the whole nation. Just so ought we to reason in the present case; and we should then apply that soon be brought to conclude, that though peopling the colonies, principle to the colonies. Which was the laudable motive of the Legislature, be expedient to the publick; abrogating the transportation laws must be equally necessary."-Smith, History of the Province of New York, pp. 266-9. to 66 ADMINISTRATION OF THE COLONIES IN 1787. for the established. Trade and IN the instructions given to Phillip with respect to the exploration of the coast and the occupation of Norfolk Island, he was directed to transmit any remarks or observations" which he might obtain our Principal Secretary of State for Plantation Affairs "; but his despatches from Sydney Cove were addressed to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and to the Lords of the Admiralty. It is not easy at first sight to understand on what principle matters relating to the colonies came to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Home Office; while a reference to "Plantation Affairs" takes us back to the early days of Virginia and Maryland. The office of Secretary of State for the Colonies, to which we are now Secretary accustomed to look as the head of colonial administration, was first Colonies first established in 1768, but the Minister was then known as "the Secretary of State for the American Department."* At that time the Council of Trade and Plantations, established in 1672, had Council of control of all matters, not purely executive, relating to the colonies Plantations. -then generally known as plantations. This Council, which was an amalgamation of the Council of Trade and the Council of Foreign Plantations created by Charles II in 1660, continued to exist after the appointment of a Secretary of State for the American department. Both the Secretaryship and the Council, however, were abolished in 1782 by an Act of Parliament known as Burke's Burke's Act. Act; a measure probably suggested by the loss of the American colonies, which left the departments in question very little to do. The executive administration of colonial affairs was then vested in the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and all Home matters of detail connected with them were committed, after the passing of that Act, to a subordinate branch of the Home Office, composed of an Under Secretary and three clerks, and styled the "Plantation Branch" of the Home Office. A law officer was also appointed to report on colonial Acts. Two years after Burke's Act was passed, the ancient Committee of the Privy Council, to which were referred all questions relative to Trade and Plantations, was practically revived by an Orderin-Council which appointed a Committee for the same purpose, *Lewis, Government of Dependencies, p. 162n. Secretary. 560 1787 Secretary for War and Colonies. Board of Secretary ADMINISTRATION OF THE COLONIES IN 1787. commonly known as the Board of Trade. By two Orders-in-Council made in 1786, a new Committee was appointed, and its establishment placed on a definite footing. The business formerly transacted at the Plantation Branch of the Home Office was transferred to that Committee, which continued to administer colonial affairs till 1794, when the office of Secretary of State for War was created, owing to the pressure of business arising from the war of the French Revolution. Lord Melville, the first Secretary for War, did duty as Secretary for the Colonies also. The active functions of the Committee of Council appointed in 1786 appear to have ceased, so far as the plantations were concerned, immediately on the appointment of the Secretary for War and Colonies. This Committee, known as the Board of Trade, is now chiefly occupied in the discharge of those duties which its title imports; as a committee of Council for Plantations, it acts simply as the referee of the Colonial Office. The two departments-War and Colonies-remained united for Colonies. until 1854, when the war with Russia suggested the expediency of separating them.* Office of Colonial The Colonial Office List for 1887 (p. 9) gives a concise sketch of the changes which have taken place in the history of the Colonial department; and also a list of the various Ministers who have presided over it. The office of Secretary to the Sovereign dates at least from the reign of Henry III. There was one principal Secretary only (who was already called Secretary of State) down to 1539, when a second was appointed. From 1708 to 1746 a third secretaryship existed, dealing exclusively with Scotland. In 1768 a Secretary of State for the American or Colonial department. department was appointed, in addition to the two principal Secretaries of State then existing; but this office was abolished in 1782 by statute 22 Geo. III, cap. 82. In 1782 the duties of the two principal Secretaries of State were divided into Home and Foreign, the affairs of Ireland and the colonies devolving on the Home department: those of Office for the colonies being placed in the charge of a separate branch of the Department called the Office for Plantations, managed by a separate Under Secretary. Plantations. At its commencement in 1793, the affairs of the French War were managed by the Home department; but in 1794 a principal Secretary for War was appointed, and the business of the colonies Mills, Colonial Constitutions, pp. 4-13. was, in 1801, transferred to this new department, which thenceforth was generally known as the Colonial, or Colonial and War, department. 1787 for Colonies In 1854 a fourth Principal Secretary of State was created for Secretary War, and the affairs of the colonies came under the exclusive charge of a Principal Secretary of State. Scotland. In 1858 a Principal Secretaryship of State was created for the India and affairs of India, and in 1885 a separate Secretary for Scotland was appointed. Secretaries of State who administered the affairs of the Colonies between 1768 and 1795. 1768-February 27. Wills, Earl of Hillsborough (afterwards Marquis of Downshire). 1772-August 27. William, Earl of Dartmouth. 1776 January 25. Lord George Sackville Germaine (afterwards Viscount Sackville). 1782-March 8. Welbore Ellis (afterwards Lord Mendip). 1782-April 15. William, Earl of Shelburne. 1782-July 17. Thomas, Lord Grantham. 1782-October 5. Thomas Townshend (afterwards Lord Sydney). 1783-April 18. Frederick, Lord North (afterwards Earl of Guildford). 1783-December 23. Francis, Marquis of Caermarthen (after wards Duke of Leeds). 1784 January 22. Thomas, Lord Sydney. 1789-June 5. William Wyndham Grenville (afterwards Lord Grenville). 1792 March 28. Henry Dundas (afterwards Viscount Melville). 1794-August 7. William Henry, Duke of Portland. PITT'S MINISTRY. THE Pitt Cabinet, which held office from 1783 to 1803, was, in the first instance, composed as follows: William Pitt-First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Earl Gower-President of the Council. Duke of Rutland-Privy Seal. Marquis of Caermarthen-Secretary of State for the Foreign Department. Lord Sydney*-Secretary of State for the Home Department. Lord Thurlow-Lord Chancellor. Lord Howet-First Lord of the Admiralty. The Cabinet was thus composed of seven members. to these, the Government included the following: In addition Duke of Richmond-Master-General of the Ordnance. Lloyd Kenyons-Attorney-General. Richard Pepper Arden||-Solicitor-General. afterwards Lord Grenville¶ Joint Paymasters of the Forces Lord Mulgrave Sir George Yonge-Secretary at War. George Rose, Esq...Secretaries of the Treasury. Duke of Rutland-Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Hawkesbury**-President of the Council of Trade and Plantations. * Retired in June, 1789; succeeded by Lord Grenville. + Succeeded by Lord Chatham, Pitt's brother, in 1788. Appointed to the Home Department in 1791 in place of Lord Grenville. § Appointed Lord Chief Justice in succession to Lord Mansfield, who retired in 1788. Appointed Master of the Rolls on the promotion of Lloyd Kenyon. ¶ Appointed to the Home Department on the resignation of Lord Sydney in June, 1789. In 1790, he was raised to the peerage and appointed to the Foreign Office, where he remained until the resignation of the Ministry in 1801. ** Charles Jenkinson, raised to the peerage in 1786 as Baron Hawkes bury, and in 1796 created Earl of Liverpool. The Hawkesbury river was named after him; Collins, p. 72. |