Kitabı oku: «The Last Voyage: To India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam'», sayfa 25

On the 5th of December the gale subsided to a calm, and the voyage homewards was commenced under steam. In a few hours the engines broke down, and sail was made to a light breeze from the north-east. In the succeeding days favourable winds were experienced from the westward. On the 11th the wind shifted to the south-east, accompanied by drizzling rain and fog, rendering observations impossible, which continued until the Scilly Island lights were sighted in a fortunate lifting of the haze on the evening of the 12th. The run from the Scilly Islands to Spithead was made at the rate of 11½ knots before a south-westerly gale. The total distance from Fayal, including the call at Terceira, was 1,440 miles, of which 60 only were under steam. The average speed was seven knots. The 'Sunbeam' entered Portsmouth Harbour at noon on the 14th of December. The total distance covered during the voyage was 36,709 nautical miles, 25,800 under sail and 10,909 under steam. The runs under sail only included 39 days over 200 knots, 15 days over 240, seven days over 260, three days over 270. The best day was 282 knots. The total consumption of coal was 330 tons. Though the quality taken in abroad was in many instances inferior, an average distance of 33 knots was steamed for every ton of coals consumed.

When the 'Sunbeam' reached the Cape it was found that the tubes of the boiler had been seriously injured by the great varieties of fuel burnt during the voyage. The pressure of steam was considerably reduced, with a corresponding loss of speed. On leaving Terceira the boiler broke down completely, and for the remainder of the voyage the winds were the only resource.

The crew, consisting of 24 men in various ratings, have behaved in a highly creditable manner. The offences when in port have been few, and at sea every duty has been carried out in a manner worthy of British seamen. Three men joined at King George's Sound. They had been sentenced to a short term of imprisonment for insubordination on board a yacht returning from a cruise in Australian waters. To oblige the Government Resident, Lord Brassey consented to receive these men on board on trial. Better men it would not have been possible to obtain had they been recruited through the usual agencies.

PART III

SPEECHES IN AUSTRALIA, TO WHICH SPECIAL REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE LAST JOURNAL OF LADY BRASSEY. REPRINTED FROM THE AUSTRALIAN PRESS

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA

Adelaide, May 27th, 1887

The annual meeting of the South Australian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia was held at the Society's rooms, Waymouth Street, on Friday afternoon, May 27th. Sir Samuel Davenport (Vice-President) occupied the chair.

The ordinary business of the meeting having been concluded, and speeches of welcome having been delivered by the Chairman, Lord Brassey said: 'You have spoken of the voyages that have been taken on the "Sunbeam" as adventures not unworthy of those old Northmen in whose distant fame England and Australia equally share. I cannot take to myself the credit of being an adventurer in the same sense in which our northern forefathers were adventurers. I will not speak of the morality of their proceedings, but simply of the feats of navigation in which they engaged. Those northern forefathers of ours were not provided with all the information which geographers and explorers have given to the navigators of modern days. Consider for a moment the hazards and the difficulties encountered by Captain Cook. Going about as I do with all the facilities afforded by the most recent discoveries in science, and still finding the art of navigation not made so very easy, I confess that when I look back to a great man like Captain Cook, who entered these seas with no information, and with no other resource but his general seamanship and knowledge of navigation, my admiration of his achievements grows continually stronger. I particularly rejoice that so excellent a society as this has been established in Adelaide. I understand it is a society collateral with others which exist in the other colonies of Australia. It seems to me that you are doing a most valuable work. Exploration must precede settlement. It is a necessary process, by which alone you can arrive at the proper settlement and development of this country. A previous speaker expressed deep satisfaction that the control of this fifth continent had devolved on the Anglo-Saxon race. In coming to these colonies I touched at two seaports, which, by the contrast they present, brought forcibly to my mind the advantage of a liberal policy in dealing with commerce. The two ports to which I refer are Singapore and Macassar. Singapore dates from some fifty or sixty years ago at the most, but it has grown to a magnificent emporium of trade; and how has it reached that position? By declaring on the very first day that the protecting flag of England was hoisted that equal privileges should be given to men of commerce to whatever nationality they might belong. When we turn to Macassar – a place which might be not unfairly compared in regard to facilities of position with Singapore – we find the Dutch determined to close it to the enterprise of every foreign nationality. The result of this selfish spirit is that Macassar presents all the indications of languor and decay, while Singapore presents all the indications of prosperity and wealth. Before I sit down, may I refer to some portion of the report, in which reference was made to recent spheres of exploration in which the society is interested? You refer to the exploration of New Guinea. There are some delicate questions connected with New Guinea, on which I certainly shall not now touch, but I may say that what I have seen of the world has tended to impress on my mind most deeply the conviction that latitude does fix in a very decisive manner a limitation upon the sphere of the Anglo-Saxon race for direct physical labour. I feel convinced that unless you have temperate weather, such as we are now enjoying in Adelaide, to make up for the hot season, the Anglo-Saxon race cannot undertake outdoor labour. You may direct and administer it; you may be able to go through figures in the office; but, to go out into the field to dig and delve is impossible. Despite this, however, the tropical countries may prove of inestimable benefit. Although they may not be suitable for the employment of the Anglo-Saxons as field labourers, it does not follow that they are not to be of great benefit – even a direct benefit – to our own race in regard to the employment of labour. If we can succeed in developing these tropical regions by employing the labour of the tropical races, the increasing prosperity will serve to extend the markets for the products of Anglo-Saxon labour in countries adapted to our race. A visit to Australia must be a matter of deep interest to every patriotic Englishman. In the old country we are becoming more and more sensible that it is the highest statesmanship to keep together every limb of the British Empire. There is an increasing affection to the colonies in England, and an increasing pride in their advancement. National sentiment and enlightened self-interest will bind and keep us together, so that not one limb of the great British Empire shall be severed. I have said more than strictly belongs to the motion, but I was prompted to do so by my friend in the chair. I move a vote of thanks to the Chairman.'

ADELAIDE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Adelaide, June 1st, 1887

The hall of the Chamber of Commerce was crowded on Wednesday afternoon, it having been announced that Lord Brassey would deliver an address. The audience included most of the prominent merchants of the city, and others interested in commerce, and Dr. Kennion, the Anglican Bishop of Adelaide. Mr. A.W. Meeks presided, and said that a special meeting of the Chamber had been called to hear Lord Brassey give an address on mercantile affairs. The Committee knew the great interest he (Lord Brassey) had taken in all matters referring to maritime and mercantile affairs, and the voyages made in the 'Sunbeam' had made Lady Brassey well known. Lord Brassey's father was well known in connection with great public works.

Lord Brassey said: 'Your Chairman did not give me any information as to the kind of subject which I should address you on, but I presumed that the Chamber of Commerce would be most interested in the labour question.

'The policy to be pursued by the Government of this colony in relation to the admission of Chinese or coolie labour into the Northern Territory is, I understand, among the pressing subjects of the hour. Approaching the subject without prejudice or bias, it does not seem difficult to determine the principles by which the action of the State should be guided. If we have faith in the superior qualities of our own people we shall do well, even at the cost of considerable delay in material development, to reserve for our own race those parts of the country in which they can succeed, in which they can not only labour, but preserve and perpetuate from generation to generation, the qualities which have made them great. While the policy seems clear in relation to regions adapted to the physical qualities of our own race, it seems not less clear for the regions beyond. To refuse the aid of the tropical populations for opening up the resources of countries where the Anglo-Saxon race cannot perform manual labour, and still less establish a permanent settlement, is not to advance but seriously to injure the true interests of this colony. By opening up portions of your Northern Territory with imported labour, a new outlet will be afforded for the investment of your capital, and a new market created under your own control for the sale of your manufactures.

'I pass to another subject which must be dealt with, not by legislation, but by mutual good feeling and by common sense. Wherever business is carried on upon a large scale, difficulties must in the nature of things be anticipated in the relations between labour and capital. Each of these elements in the operations of industry may be helpless without the other, but when we pass from the stage of production to the appropriation of profits the conflict of interests is inevitable. Strengthened by the experience in the old country, I would earnestly recommend for all your larger trades voluntary courts of arbitration and conciliation. If we go back to that dark time in England which followed the close of the long struggle with Napoleon, the hostility of classes was seen in all employments, and in none was it more conspicuous than in the collieries. A happy change has passed over the spirit of the scene. Nowhere has the method of arbitration been more successful than in Durham and Northumberland. A scale of wages for miners has been agreed upon, varying with the price of coal, and arbitrators have been found to apply the scale to the conditions of the time, in whose justice employers and employed have implicit confidence. Among these valuable men Mr. David Dale is an eminent example. He and other men of his high stamp and quality – men such as Rupert Kettle, Mundella, and Frederic Harrison – occupy a truly noble position in relation to labour questions. They have won the confidence of the masses, not by truckling to prejudices, not by disavowing the sound and well-tried rules of political economy, but by listening and by explaining with unwearied patience, by showing a sincere sympathy with the working classes, and by taking a deep interest in their welfare. The mention of these distinguished names leads me to the adjustment of difficulties by Courts of Conciliation. They may be described as committees consisting of equal numbers of employers and workmen, appointed to meet at frequent intervals, and to discuss in a friendly open way, and on terms of perfect equality, all the questions in which there is a possibility of conflict. The practicability of the plan has been proved by experience. It is impossible to exaggerate its good effects. By frequent and friendly meetings knowledge is acquired on both sides which could be gained in no other way, and suspicion is changed to sympathy. I hope that no bad influences of false pride on one side, or of unmerited distrust on the other, will deter the employers and the employed of South Australia from rapidly bringing into operation the excellent method of averting disputes, which Courts of Conciliation both in England and on the Continent of Europe have never failed to provide.

'Free trade and Protection are topics which wide-spread depression has thrust into prominence of late. The present Government in England, in deference to the demands of Protectionists, appointed a Royal Commission. Its members were the representatives of conflicting views, and after an exhaustive inquiry they separated without changing the opinions with which they entered upon their labours. We may draw the inference that the subject is not quite so simple as the most earnest partisans in the controversy would wish us to believe. For the United Kingdom I am a convinced Freetrader. I admit that the old country, where half the population subsists on imported food, which must be paid for in exported goods, is not on all fours with a colony capable of producing in abundance all the necessaries of life for a population infinitely more numerous than at present exists within its borders. But while the conditions are different the fact remains that under a protective system customers are precluded from buying in the cheapest market, agriculture is heavily charged for the benefit of a less important interest, and labour artificially diverted from those spheres of industry in which it might be employed to the greatest advantage. Certain it is that cycles of commercial depression would not be averted, but rather prolonged and aggravated, by a policy of protection. Impressed with the weight of evidence on this point, the recent Royal Commission of Trade declined to recommend Protection as a panacea for commercial depression in the United Kingdom, and I hesitate to recommend it to the Chamber of Commerce in Adelaide. While, however, I would deprecate the imposition of burdensome import duties for the purposes of Protection, I fully recognise that moderate import duties are necessary as a means of raising revenue. The first duty of every Finance Minister is to obtain an income for the State by the methods which are the least irksome to the taxpayers. In new countries, not exporters of manufactured goods, import duties are universally found to be the least irksome form of taxation. If under a moderate tariff industries are established earlier than would be possible without some Protection, the incidental advantage is secured of varied employment for the people. Where all depend on the same pursuit or the same industry, an unfavourable season or a fall in price may cause a general depression. There is less risk of universal melancholy and decline when the public wealth is derived from various and independent sources. My conclusion is against import duties on a high scale, levied, as in the United States, for the purpose of exclusion. I recognise the necessity in certain circumstances for the imposition of import duties on a moderate scale for the purposes of revenue.

'I have one more remark to offer in connection with the labour question. Among the many gratifying things which I have seen in your colony, nothing has exceeded your system of education. I congratulate your people, and I honour your Government for their efforts in the cause. It may not, however, be superfluous to refer to that tendency to look disparagingly on manual labour, which is so frequent and fatal a result of the very perfection of educational work. Education may become a curse rather than a boon if it relaxes that physical energy which in all communities, and especially in a new country, is the indispensable condition of progress. It has been truly said by the poet Browning: —

 
The honest earnest man must stand and work,
The woman also – otherwise she drops
At once below the dignity of man,
Accepting serfdom.
I count that Heaven itself is only work
To a surer issue.
 

Society must take to itself the responsibility for the preference given to clerical over mechanical employments. We have not done our duty in giving to our skilled workmen that social recognition which is their due. But I am happy to say that in the old country we are decidedly in the way of amendment. The return of working men in greater numbers to the House of Commons has been productive of much good in a social point of view.

'In conclusion, it may not be inappropriate to the occasion to dwell for a few moments on the influences of honest trade in raising the standard of civilisation and elevating the character of men. The prosperity of commerce depends on intelligence, on industry, but above all on character. Cleverness may sometimes win a stroke. There have been financiers in the City of London whose career might have been painted in the language applied by Earl Russell to Mirabeau – "His mind raised him to the skies; his moral character chained him to the earth." I can quote no instance in which men of this stamp have achieved an enduring success. It is not the men whose craft and cunning people fear, but the men in whom they trust and whom they love who in the end succeed. It is the office of commerce to give to the world perpetual illustrations of the homely but ennobling truth that honesty is the best policy. Commerce puts before those engaged in it many temptations. The good man of business must rise superior to them all, and thus it is that in his life and work he can do so much to communicate advantages, to advance material welfare, and to raise the tone of morals. Such, and not less, is the mission of the merchant and the trader. For myself, I am proud to know that I am the son of a contractor for public works, whose good reputation was the best part of the heritage which descended to his sons.'

Melbourne, June 25th, 1887

A complimentary dinner was tendered to Lord Brassey, K.C.B., the hon. treasurer of the Imperial Federation League, by the members of the Victorian branch of the League, at the Town Hall on Saturday evening. The banquet was laid in the council chamber, and about eighty gentlemen sat down to the tables. The chair was occupied by Mr. G.D. Carter, M.L.A., president of the Victorian branch. On his right were the guest of the evening, the Premier (Mr. Duncan Gillies), and the Postmaster-General of Queensland (Mr. M'Donald Paterson), and on his left the Mayor of Melbourne (Councillor Cain), the President of the Legislative Council (Sir James MacBain), Mr. Justice Webb, and Mr. Nicholas Fitzgerald, M.L.C. The company included a large number of other prominent citizens, many of them not being members of the League. In giving the toast of 'The Queen,' the Chairman said that they could not better have given expression to their loyalty to Her Majesty than by meeting to advocate the unity of the empire over which she reigned. The assemblage of representative citizens for such a purpose formed a most appropriate conclusion to those rejoicings in which we had so happily shared during the week of Jubilee.

The toast was received with enthusiasm, and a verse of the National Anthem was sung.

The Chairman gave the toast of 'His Excellency the Governor.'

The toast was received with cheers.

The Chairman next proposed the toast of 'Imperial Federation.' They had no definite views at present on the subject of Imperial Federation. The point to which they had got was this, that they desired to see the empire united as one inseparable whole. We were bound together by the ties of kindred, kith, and kin, and he even dared to hope that the view expressed by Mr. James Anthony Froude when he was here would be realised, and that there would eventually be a union of the English-speaking peoples of the world for the purpose of mutual defence. On behalf of the Victorian branch of the Imperial Federation League, and of the colony generally, he offered a cordial welcome to Lord Brassey, and trusted that he would carry away with him pleasant recollections of his visit to Victoria.

Lord Brassey said: 'As the treasurer of the Imperial Federation League established in London, it affords me the greatest gratification to be your guest this evening. Our work in the old country would be of little value, unless it were approved and supported by public opinion in these great and growing colonies. Speaking on behalf of the Imperial Federation League in London, we have no cut-and-dried plans which we are anxious to put forward. We see great difficulties in arriving at any solution of the question of federation; but with their growth in population, in wealth, and in resources, we anticipate that we shall see more and more a manly resolve on the part of the colonies, not only to make provision for their own defence, but to share in the responsibility of the defence of the united empire. With your increased participation in the burdens, you must necessarily receive an increased share in determining the policy of the empire, and thus we see looming in the not far distant future the necessity for further consideration of the problem of federation. We do not desire, we should deprecate, a hasty solution. We believe that probably the wisest course will be to deal with circumstances as they arise. We wish to pave the way by timely and temperate discussion. The views of the founders of the Imperial Federation League were well put, in one of his latest speeches, by a grand statesman of the old country, Mr. W.E. Forster, the first president of the League, who said: – "The idea of the permanent unity of the realm, the duty of preserving this union, the blessings which this preservation will confer, the danger and loss and disaster which will follow from disunion, are thoughts which possess the minds of Englishmen both here and over the seas. These thoughts are expressing themselves in deeds; let this expression continue; at present it helps our cause far more effectually than any possible scheme." I am not one of those who ever doubted the loyalty of the colonies to Old England. If any Englishmen were in doubt as to the feeling of the colonies towards the mother country, the events of the past week in this noble city of Melbourne would dispel effectually any uncertainty. On Tuesday last we saw your militia march past like a wall, to the tune of "The Old Folks at Home." That may be a somewhat homely melody, but it conveyed a touching sentiment to the spectator from the old country. On the following day a ball was given at Government House, an entertainment the splendour of which could hardly have been exceeded in any capital in Europe. That entertainment owed its character not merely to the graceful hospitality of the host and hostess on the occasion, but to the eager desire of those who were present to seize the occasion for showing their attachment to the Queen, in whose honour and in whose name that ball was given. On the following day in your Parliament Buildings, which, by the beauty of their design and the amplitude of their proportions express your greatness in the present and anticipate your growth in the future, a noble hall was dedicated, with a generous spirit of loyalty, to the name of the Queen. On the evening of the same day we attended a concert at which thousands of your citizens were present. On four several and separate occasions the National Anthem was sung, and on each occasion with increasing fervour. On the following day 30,000 children were brought together, trained to utter the sentiments of their parents in that National Anthem which they sang so well. In journeying in some of the remoter parts of this colony, it was touching to hear "God Save the Queen" sung at every opportunity by the little children, who are thus early trained in the sentiment of loyalty. If we pass from these momentary incidents of the week to circumstances of a more permanent and perhaps more serious character, what are the conclusions which an intelligent traveller from the old country may draw, with reference to the ties which bind the colonies to the mother country? If he looks at your society and your family life, he finds the same manners, the same habits, the same ways of viewing circumstances and things. Your English tastes are shown in the houses which you build, the clothes which you wear, the food which you eat, and in the goods you buy. The national character of the Anglo-Saxon race is shown as strongly here as in the mother country in your spirited devotion to manly sports and pastimes; and when we think of the other ties that bind us – a common faith, a common literature, the same dear mother tongue – what other conclusion can be drawn by the intelligent traveller than this – that the ties which bind the colonies to the mother country are stronger than those which any legislature or statesmanship could contrive, and that they are inherent in the innermost life of the people. Gentlemen, you may call the union which binds us an empire, you may call it a federation, you may call it an offensive and defensive alliance of the closest kind – you may call it what you will – the name is of subordinate consequence while mutual sympathy and sentiment retain that binding force which, as we have seen in this Jubilee week, you are all so generously prepared to acknowledge in your relations with the old country. Perhaps I may say a few words on this occasion with reference to the mutual advantages which are afforded by our remaining together as members of a united empire. There was a time when the connection was less valued than it is at present by some of the eminent statesmen of the old country. Since the days of which I speak great changes have taken place. The map of Europe has been reconstructed on the principle of the recognition of nationalities. The Germans have made themselves into a nation; the Italians have made themselves into a nation. Our tight little island is small indeed in area, in comparison with the great territories of Continental Europe. It is small in area, but if we and the children descended from us – these great English-speaking nations which have overspread the world – remain united together, we are the first of the nationalities of Europe. I think there are some indications that the maintenance of the unity of the British Empire may be less difficult than might perhaps in former days have been anticipated. Science has done much to shorten distances; it has given us the electric telegraph, an improved and improving steamship, and railways. As the colonies grow in importance, it must necessarily follow that the Imperial policy will be concentrated more and more upon objects which are common to them and to the mother country. The foreign policy will be directed to the maintenance in security of the communications between the mother country and the colonies, an object of common interest to yourselves and to ourselves. Looking forward to a not very distant time, it is evident that your growth in population and power will give you the command of the neighbouring seas. Your relations with India will become closer and closer, and you will be in a position not less strong, and your interest will be as great as that of the mother country in preventing the hoisting of any flag hostile to your own upon the ports of India. All the countries of the British Empire will hold together, because it will be for their advantage. Trade follows the flag. While other branches of our foreign trade have been languishing, the trade with the colonies has remained flourishing and elastic. We lend you our capital on much easier terms than we would ask if you were under a foreign flag. We hold before you in external relations the shield of a great empire. The advantages of the present arrangement, from a colonial point of view, were happily put a short time ago in a speech by Sir John Macdonald, from which I will ask leave to quote two or three sentences. Speaking at Montreal, he said: "We want no independence in this country, except the independence that we have at this moment. What country in the world is more independent than we are? We have perfect independence; we have a Sovereign who allows us to do as we please. We have an Imperial Government that casts on ourselves the responsibilities as well as the privileges of self-government. We may govern ourselves as we please, we may misgovern ourselves as we please. We put a tax on the industries of our fellow-subjects in England, Ireland, and Scotland. If we are attacked, if our shores are assailed, the mighty powers of England on land and sea are used in our defence." There may be some who think that the union of the empire cannot be maintained, because it is difficult to reconcile the impetuosity of youth with the prudence of old age. They think that in the impetuosity of youth, you will resent the prudence with which the mother country holds you back. Upon a wise view of it, we find in the distinctive qualities and defects of youth and age the elements of a felicitous combination. The father of the philosophy of history, Thucydides, has attributed to Alcibiades a great truth: "Consider that youth and age have no power unless united; but that the lighter and the more exact and the middle sort of judgment, when duly attempered, are likely to be most efficient." I hope that the wise policy with which the affairs of the British Empire may be conducted will illustrate the advantage of the mutual and combined influence of the young colonies and the old country. I feel deeply grateful for the privilege of being your guest on this occasion, and for the presence of many eminent men at your table. They have not assembled here merely to pay a compliment to an individual. They have come to express their deep interest in the Imperial Federation League. I shall go back deeply touched by the love I have seen the people of these colonies show Old England, whose greatest pride it is to have been the mother of mighty nations. I cannot sit down without acknowledging on behalf of Lady Brassey the kindness which you have shown in the mention of her name. I shall be a faithful reporter of your proceedings to my dear wife. She will greatly appreciate the kind reception given to her name.'