396
BRITISH
EMPIRE,
THE
the colony and dependency, or group of colonies and these the supreme executive authority in India is vested of dependencies over which they preside. Their powers vary in the Viceroy in Council. The Council consists of five according to the position which they occupy. In all cases ordinary members besides the existing Commander-inrepresent the authority of the Crov n. Chief. For legislative purposes the Governor-General’s they As a consequence of this organization the finance of Council is increased by the addition of sixteen members Crown Colonies is under the direct control of the Imperial nominated by the Crown, and lias power under certain Government; the finance of representative Colonies, though restrictions to make laws for British India, for British not directly controlled, is usually influenced in important subjects in the Native States, and for native Indian subjects departures by the opinion of the Imperial Government. of the Crown in any part of the world. The administra- In responsible Colonies the finance is entirely under local tion of the Indian empire in England is carried on by a control, and the Imperial Government is dissociated from Secretary of State for India assisted by a council of not either moral or material responsibility for colonial debts. less than ten members. The expenditure of the revenues The total revenue, expenditure, and trade of the is under the control of the Secretary in Council. Colonial empire for 1900 were as follows:— The total revenue, expenditure, and trade of India for £58,815,700 Revenue . . . • 1900 were as follows :— 56,563,660 Expenditure £67,617,800 181,846,110 Revenue . Imports . . . • 64,976,920 192,330,040 Expenditure Exports .... 64,185,440 Imports 78,646,690 Exports In federated groups of colonies and dependencies The Colonial empire—exclusive of the Transvaal and matters which are of common interest to a given number Orange River Colonies—comprises forty-three district of separate governments are by mutual consent of the governments. It is divided into colonies of three classes federating communities adjudged to the authority of a common government, which, in the case of self-governing and dependencies; these, again, are in some instances colonies, is voluntarily created for the purpose. The associated for administrative purposes in federated groups. associated states form under the federal government one The three classes of colonies are Crown Colonies, Colonies possessing representative institutions but not responsible federal body, but the parts retain control of local matters, government, and Colonies possessing representative and exercise all their original rights of government in institutions and responsible government. _ In Crown regard to these. The advantages of united action aie Colonies the Crown has entire control of legislation, and thus secured for larger questions without impairing the of independent initiative in matters of individual the public officers are under the control of the Home vigour concern. The two great self-governing groups of federated Government. In representative Colonies the Crown has only a veto on legislation, but the Home Government colonies within the empire are the Dominion of Canada retains control of the public officers. In responsible and the Commonwealth of Australia. India, of which the provinces are under the control of the cential Colonies the Crown retains a veto upon legislation, but the associated Government, may be given as an example of the practical Home Government has no control of any public officer federation of dependencies. Examples of federated Crown except the Governor. . In Crown Colonies—with the exception of Gibraltar Colonies and lesser dependencies are to be found in the Island group of the West Indies and the and St Helena, where laws may be made by the Governor Leeward alone—laws are made by the Governor with the con- federated Malay States. This rough system of self-government for the empire currence of a council nominated by the Crown. In some Crown Colonies, chiefly those acquired by conquest or has been evolved not without some strain and friction, by cession, the authority of this council rests wholly on the the recognition through the vicissitudes of three hundred Crown; in others, chiefly those acquired by settlement, the years of the value of independent initiative in the developcouncil is created by the Crown under the authority of ment of young countries. Queen Elizabeth s first patent Sir Walter Raleigh permitted British subjects to local or Imperial laws. The Crown council of Ceylon may to accompany him to America, “with guarantee of a conbe cited as an example of the first kind, and the Crown tinuance of the enjoyment of all the rights which her council of Jamaica of the second. enjoyed at home.” In colonies possessing representative institutions without subjects This guarantee may presumably have been intended at responsible government, the Crown cannot (generally) legislate by Order in Council, and laws are made by the the time only to assure the intending settlers that they Governor with the concurrence of the legislative body should lose no rights of British citizenship at home by taking up their residence in America. Its mutual interor bodies, one at least of these bodies in cases where pretation in a wider sense, serving at once to establish m a second chamber exists possessing a preponderance of elected representatives. The Bahamas, Barbados, and the colony rights of citizenship equivalent to those enjoyed Bermuda have two legislative bodies—one elected and in England, and to preserve for the colonist the status of British subject at home and abroad, has formed in applicaone nominated by the Crown; Malta and the Leeward tion to all succeeding systems of British colonization the Islands have but one, which is partly elected and partly unconscious charter of union of the empire. nominated. . The first American colonies were all settled under royal Under responsible government legislation is carried on grants. Each had its own constitution, and looked to no by parliamentary means exactly as at home, with a other head but the king. Their governments were free cabinet responsible to parliament, the Crown reserving the executive being responsible to the elective element only a right of veto which is exercised at the discretion of in the legislature, as now in the colonies which enjoy the Governor in the case of certain Bills. The executive responsible self-government. The immense distance councils in those colonies designated as at home by parliamentary choice are appointed by the Governor which in those days separated America from Great Britain secured them from interference on the part of the home alone, and the other public officers only nominally by the authorities. They paid their own most moderate governGovernor on the advice of his executive council. expenses, and they contributed largely to their own Colonial governors are classed as governors-general; ing defence. From the middle of the 17th century their trade governors; lieut.-governors; administrators; high commissioners; and commissioners, according to the status was not free, but this was the only restriction from which
