READINGS IN MELBOURNE.* Is Lord Beaconsfield's " imperialism " were

like that of Sir Archibald Michie, what might we not hope from a Conservative Government ! If—instead of making our name a terror to uncivilised nations, frightfully increasing our liabilities and responsibilities all over the world, undertaking what we cannot compass, incurring expenses which we do not even attempt to provide for, dividing and subdividing the forces at our com- mand, till we reverse the proverb of the bundle of sticks, and fritter away our strength, so that its annihilation does not seem an impossibility even to blindly self-confident John Bull— we were to follow the admirable teaching of Sir Archibald Michie's first lecture in the book before us, and, considering wisely the wants and wishes of our vast and already existing dependencies, were to foster and cherish their loyalty and devotion to their mother-country, how infinitely better should we fulfil the duties and responsibilities already undertaken ! We should strengthen our bonds with those whom we cannot even wisely, much less rightly, disregard; and extend not our nominal, but our real empire in every quarter of the globe, by securing the good-feeling and co-operation of our dependencies, or of those nations who were once dependent upon us ; so that in case of danger from without or of the necessity for inter- ference for the protection of the weak, instead of breaking up our bundle, and sending small and inadequate portions of it in all directions to attempt the necessary chastisement, we may depend, on the contrary, on finding powerful auxiliary bundles ready for us wherever they are wanted,—wherever the interests of the great Empire are threatened, or its honour involved, or its help righteously invoked. The imperialism that makes the name of "Briton" one to be proud and fond of, to those who can claim it—though generations may have come and gone that never saw Old England at all—and one to be respected and admired and feared by those who cannot claim it, so that, as our author quotes, men shall warn each other, as they did of old about a Roman,—" Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman ;" the imperialism that makes men of British blood share as much as possible their honours and prosperity, help each other in ad- versity, assist each other's success, and impart each other's knowledge and ideas ; and that shall not, instead, foster the unbrotherly, protectionist spirit of selfish exclusiveness that, on the one hand, turns out the young colonies to shift for them- selves or refuses them the natural independence of manhood ; or, on the other, breaks all ancestral ties, deserts the land of their fathers in their affections, and sneers at its dimensions, its old fashions, and its slowness ; the imperialism, in fine, that improves and cultivates and nourishes what it has got, instead of fretting after more, and that binds together every true son of Britain, instead of fostering grudges and jealousy—such im-

. perialism is great and wise, and of infinite capabilities, and is worthy the respect of every Englishman, be he Liberal or Con- servative. Such Imperialism Sir Archibald Michie teaches wisely and thoughtfully, when he endeavours to cherish the love of their adopted country in the hearts and minds of Australians, and to wean the discontented amongst them— always a numerous faction in a new colony—from the vague-

belief that happiness and honour are only to be found " in the old country :"--

"Are we not parcel of the old stock Socially and politically,

ought we not to be one ? What Englishman, mindful of what his country has gone through for liberty and civilisation ; what Scotch-

' Readings fa Melbourne. With an Essay on the Resources and Prospects of Victoria. 1 vol. By Sir Archibald Michie, Q.C., 11.0.31.G. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. man, whose soul is warmed by the traditions and glorious story of the ' land of the mountain and the flood,' and who at his uprising and down-lying, perhaps, thinks of the wimpling burn in which he fished when a laddie ; what Irishman, whose warm and susceptible nature fills his eyes sometimes with tears at the sad, yet not inglorious story of the poor old land of the Green Isle—which of these, after all, does not find himself yearning with fond affection for the old country, now perhaps—even now—in her dark hour of tribulation and deadly strife, for her own existence, and for the liberties of a world ? Which of us would not, if a wish could do it, fly to her, and stretch out a helping hand even if the feeblest ? Proud, dictatorial, valiant, benevolent, grand, and petty as she has so frequently shown herself in her mar- vellous and unique history, she is surely, both in what she has done and in what she has suffered, the greatest nation that has ever lived in the tide of time. That Providence will spare her to be yet, in the coming generations, the intrepid champion of liberty and free-thought throughout the world, I do most fervently trust ; and that all her loyal and loving children scattered amongst the uttermost parts of the earth will—casting aside the petty animosities of the hour— stand by her in these dread days, I do most devoutly believe."

Sir Archibald Michie is a sensible, clear-headed, humour- ous, and kindly-hearted man, if we may judge him by his writings. He does not endeavour to influence either by rhetoric or sneers, but talks vigorous common-sense ; and if he does not exhibit the logical order and accuracy of the trained teacher, he interests and exemplifies with the aptness and humour of a student of human nature. The first lecture in this volume was delivered twenty years ago, but the lecturer's views of the rela- tions of the old and the new countries are as important, and the advice to his fellow-citizens as sound now as they were then and if not quite as appropriate or necessary to Victoria and Melbourne, in their greatly added importance, are just as useful to, and as much needed by, colonists in general. The settler's nature, like human nature, is always much the same, and is only too apt to look grudgingly on the greatness and import- ance of the mother-country, and to grow discontented, when the first novelty is past, with the humble status of the country of its adoption. Sir Archibald Michie does not content himself with generalities ; he points out, in detail, ways and means by which the Home Government may attach and gratify the Colonies, while benefiting itself ; and at still greater length shows how the colonists may, at the same time, increase the imperial importance of their adopted country, and greatly strengthen their individual devotion to and interest in it. The following are amongst his arguments on these two points.. After quoting the late Sir Arthur Helps on colonial peerages,

he says :—

" Let there be peerages, then, if Mr. Helps likes ; but confer them not ridiculously, and confer them so as to effect more good if you can. Make highly-successful governors of colonies peers if you like ; a Metcalfe and a Poulett Thompson, successive Governors of Canada, were not improperly ennobled ; there was some sort of consistency between their work and its reward. There is a strong savour of sense, too, in such a proceeding as this. A few retired Governors in the House of Peers might really be of substantial use, as they could throw much light upon much home darkness respecting the capa- bilities and the interests of our colonial empire, as returned proconsuls taken into the Roman Senate frequently contributed much by their experience and advice to the good government and prosperity of the provinces. What work colonists could do in the House of Commons I hardly know. But it is not difficult to suggest other modes in which Home powers might demonstrate their respect for the colonies. The Judges of Westminster Hall, who only within the last generation or two have taken notice of the decisions of American Judges, might extend the same courtesy—not to say justice—to well considered and carefully prepared judgments of Supreme Courts of British colonies. A double advantage would thus be secured, one of sentiment, the other of substance. A compliment would be paid, which is something ; and secondly, the cheapest possible kind of substitute for a Court of appeal would by such means be provided ; for Supreme Courts would certainly mind what they were about, with all Westminster Hall looking on."

And after relating some curious and very interesting facts, which we greatly regret we have not space to extract, in Australian natural history, Sir Archibald asks :—

" Are not such facts as the above worthy of record for the use of

the scientific ? Do not the enormous number of new observations, accruing from so many instructed men now wandering over every part of the globe, almost require that our treatises of natural history should be rewritten? What wonderful fossils and other palaeontolo- gical specimens have we not already sent to our able and scientific friend, Professor Owen ? Is it at all probable that anything like the

whole, or even the larger part of the animals, or of the vegetation of Australia, is known to the science of Europe ? How large a portion of this uncollected wealth of Nature's handiwork is scattered among and possessed by shepherds, whalers, squatters, and gold-diggers, seeming to them, perhaps, to be too familiar to be garnered into printed books ! And yet, men persist in running from this land of marvels in search of a more stimulating state of existence in the stereotyped civilisation of Piccadilly or the Strand. They fly from a good climate to a bad one—from sunshine to fog ; lastly, they seek happiness where it never will be found—outside themselves, instead

of within. Even a heathen can teach them better. I say to Mr.

Horne,—

Quod petis, hic est, Eat Mnbria, animus alto non deficit regime

Which I translate—' What you seek is here,—here, in Melbourne, if your mind is not wanting to itself.' You may be happy on Robinson

• Crusoe's island ; you may be miserable in Paris or in London. It must depend upon yourself whether you are the one or the other. And this, I cannot but think, must partly depend upon whether you have enough to do. No man can be troubled with ennui who has work before him. Children and household cares are pleasant troubles in this country, as in any other. If beyond these cares you would take upon yourselves some public one, everything is open to you in a democratic country, much more so than it is in what you call home quite as much so as ever it was in Athens, or is now in America. Here, if anywhere, in public affairs it is the tools to the workman.' " But we are leaving ourselves scant space for the not less valuable, and often very much more entertaining, remainder of

the book. The lecture upon protection and strikes, immigra- tion and crises in trade, is full of lucid reasoning and humorous illustration which put the evils of the two former and the advantages accompanying the two latter in so clear a light that he " who runs may read ;" and yet it is all said with such an evident sympathy for the feelings of his opponents, and such genial good-humour, that his hearers must have been unanimous in their enjoyment and admiration, if not in their

acquiescence. We do not think the Robinson Crusoe illustra- tion is quite new, but probably it was so to the majority of the

Melbourne audience ; and, at any rate, it is advanced so humor- ously and concisely, that we venture to quote it. Sir Archibald is almost epigrammatic, here and there, in the terseness and pointedness of his remarks :—

" There never was a colony less exposed to foreign competition, more thoroughly enjoying protection, than that of which Robinson Crusoe was the governor, and his man- Friday the governed. And what was the state of their pastoral, agricultural, and manufacturing interests ? Look at Robinson Crasoe's trousers and cap in the old wood-cuts ; then turn to some of our colonists, rigged in slops from top to toe. Why, Robinson Crusoe, in all his glory, was not arrayed as one of these."

Onr author's remarks on the effects of periods of depression in -trade, or bad times, are very striking and interesting. He

shows how depression stimulates thought, and results in -developing unexpected resources :—

" Have I said all that I have to say about the depression? Well, nearly, but not quite. It seems to me that great public disasters frequently contain the seeds of still greater public benefits, and that even depressions, crises, and commercial revulsion have their uses. They set men thinking, devising, casting about for modes of es- cape ; to giving practical effect to new and valuable thoughts ; to -developing resources of the colony, the thought of which may not have occurred to prosperous and contented and uninquiring minds. 4 Sweet are the uses of adversity.' " And he goes on to show that the Merino sheep, the Angora goat, the vine, the olive, cotton, silk, tallow, were all introduced or thought of as the result of a search, in bad times, for new sources of wealth.

The description of the colony which follows these very humorous and chatty Lectures, and which takes the form .of an essay, divided into ten short chapters, is concise and exhaustive, and more readable and amusing than we generally find an orderly business statement to be. It re- presents the colony of Victoria as exceedingly prosperous. In the thirty-two years ending in 1871, its population had multi- plied itself by 122. Its climate is delightful, its scenery sylvan, varied, and beautiful. The mining population is rapidly declining to what will probably become a healthy, normal condition ; and the prospects of agriculture are not and cannot be very good, from the nature of the soil. But sheep-farming and trade, on the other hand, seem to be steadily increasing both in extent and profit, and to be the directions towards which emigrants' attention should be turned. Intelligent men, Sir Archibald assures us, learn rapidly and with ease the sheep-farmer's business. No doubt, with increasing population the professions might also find work in the outlying settlements of Victoria ; but in the -cities they seem to be amply represented, and we should think would rapidly supply deficiencies from the rising men of their -awn ranks. The introductory chapter, urging upon our Govern- ment the expediency, for owr own sakes, of assisting emigration, and suggesting the use of our unengaged vessels-of-war as -transports for the purpose, seems unanswerable in both its departments. But how comes Sir Archibald Michie to make the mistake of speaking of Mr. W. H. Smith as the first First

Lord who was not an old admiral, full of professional prejudices against the profanation of shipsof-war to emigration purposes P What of Mr. Goschen, Mr. Ward Hunt, &c. P We have only to add that there is a most full and valuable appendix, from which everything about the colony can be learnt that books can teach, and experience suggest.