of order and good government in our West Indian colonies; for nowhere have we properly or adequately availed ourselves of those advantages which we have, or of those advantages which we might procure, to give security to life and property in those islands, and to maintain peace and tranquillity among their inhabitants.  The communities in the West Indies are all small societies; and there is not a man in any one of them, not in Jamaica, even, which is the largest of them, who is not within the reach of authority.  The government of each of those islands is strong in the means of exercising authority—­strong in garrisons, strong in troops, strong in a police force, and in everything necessary for the preservation of life and property, for carrying the laws into execution, and for affording security to every individual, even to the very lowest of the people;—­but yet, I will venture to say, since the enactment of the law for the emancipation of the slaves, there have been and are no societies, in the whole world, in such a state of disorganization, disorder, and anarchy, as are those very West Indian islands of ours; but which, if they were well managed and governed by the noble lord, nominally at the head of the colonial department, instead of by the different factions that resort thither to interfere with the business of that government, ought, and are calculated, to be of the greatest advantage to this nation.  There are no societies in the world more capable of being well governed, than those islands are, if the noble lord opposite would only perform his duty in an independent manner, and keep all factions at a distance, instead of allowing every faction in this country to interfere, on all occasions, with the business of the government in relation to those colonies.  But this is not all; let your lordships look round in all directions, and you will see the same lamentable state of things existing.  Look at Lower Canada, look at Upper Canada, at Newfoundland—­look where you will, you will see nothing but disorder and anarchy—­and resulting from what? from nothing but the interference of factions in England; who, let your lordships recollect, have nothing to do with those colonies.  These disorders result solely from the interference of those factions in the affairs of each of those colonies; and till the government shall put an end to such interference, and act altogether independently of it, it is impossible to hope for a restoration of tranquillity.

August 23, 1839.

* * * * *

The Melbourne Administration no Government.

I can assure the noble viscount, (Palmerston) that all I desire—­and all I have desired for some years past—­is this,—­to see a “government” in the country.  To see the country “governed.”  I wish that I could say that I had seen it “governed” for some years past; and I hope that the noble viscount will now turn over a new leaf, and “govern” the country a little better than he has done heretofore.