Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/116

 principle’ is as pretty a little philosophical expression as may be; but reflection will show the commissioners that it is not strictly applicable in the present case; for that the very existence of the colony, as we see by the Act of Parliament, depends upon a loan of 200,000 l. from the good folks in England; that is to say, upon extraneous support: what then becomes of the ‘self-supporting principle?’ The Commissioners must mean ‘loan-supporting principle,’ and the word ‘self’ was an accidental slip of the pen? And how is my demand at variance with this loan-supporting system? In case the loan of 200,000 l. should not prove sufficient to establish the colony, to pay its own interest, and to defray the cost of Government, till the state of the colony produces a revenue equal to all this expense, I demanded to have a pledge from the British Government, that it would supply the deficiency, and enable me to protect the colony, which might otherwise be destroyed by the miscalculation of people in London, on whose correctness alone I do not think it safe to hang the destinies of some thousands of people: therefore, my demand was that, in case of need, the British Government should advance the loan, instead of private people. How, in the name of common sense, this is at variance with the ‘loan-supporting principle’ I cannot imagine, and must leave the Commissioners to explain.

“As to the troops, I recommend sending out 200 British soldiers, because they would be by far the cheapest force that can be employed. Some force must be employed, and, besides being the most effectual force, English soldiers would save expense, both to the mother-country, and the colony. If the Commissioners abandon the really ‘self-supporting’ system of economy, they will soon see the result.”