depart very widely from the plan that Congress adopts; and I do so, because I believe our own more favourable position enables us to do once for all, what Congress does upon every occasion of establishing a new TERRITORY and STATE. Upon the formation of such new Territory, and the reception of a new State into the Union, a specific act of Congress has been passed; except, indeed, in the case of the Territories which were created under, and by virtue of the authority of the ordinance of 1784, which will be found quoted in extenso in the body of my work. That ordinance provided for the government of the territory belonging to the United States, north west of Ohio, and contemplated from the beginning the carving of many states out of that vast tract of country. I, looking in the same way upon all the wild lands in the several portions of our Colonial Empire to which my work relates, as one whole, propose, as Mr. Dane did, by his celebrated ordinance, to make one law for all. The separate interests which press upon Congress and obstruct its legislation, do not, after the same fashion, lie in our path; so we may, if we legislate at all, legislate safely, for the whole of the colonies and wild lands in the several possessions of which I speak. One observation is necessary, in order to guard myself against the imputation of incorrectness in the statistics quoted which relate to the United States. Everything in her new Territories and States changes, and advances so rapidly, that the descriptions and the figures which are accurate this year are wholly incorrect for the next. I have done what I could to obtain the latest statistics, and where I am able, I state the year to which they belong. But my conclusions will, I believe, in no case be found affected by the sort of inaccuracy here spoken of. ASHLEY ARNEWOOD, April 23, 1849. CONTENTS. Object of the work-A colony, what?-English colonies classed -What classes treated of in this work-What objects sought in founding and maintaining colonies-Surplus population carried away-Trade-How proposed benefits English colonization in America-Virginia, 1606-Maryland, 1632-New England, 1620-Massachusetts-Connecticut American colonies- General description - Comparison- Boundaries of the United States in 1783-Boundaries in 1849-American system-Some results-Power of Con- SECTION II.-Settlement-Mode of establishing-Survey- First sale of land-Government-Extent of interference by the mother-country-Colony self-sustaining-Means, land, etc.-The money of the colony, how dealt with— Census-When settlement becomes a province-Frame of SECTION III.-Province-Declared-Tripartite constitution -Of what composed-Powers of-Civil list-Land fund -Trade-Disputes respecting powers-The church— SECTION IV.- System -What-New Zealand excluded- Provinces included-British North America-Australasia -South Africa-Boundaries and extent of provinces- Objections stated and answered-The united legislature- British North America-Circumstances peculiar thereto- Provinces existing-Danger of separation imminent-Plan for the union of provinces previously proposed-Lord Durham-Memorandum of plan-Changes proposed- A Graduated Table, showing the comparative amount of money appropriated by the different counties in the State, |