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Abounding in the materials of maritime strength,— in timber, coal, and iron,—possessing numerous fine harbours, and a climate peculiarly favourable to physical and mental energy, New Zealand offers an unconquerable position to a great maritime nation. On England, there fore, it seems incumbent to retain, with a firm grasp, this portion of her territories, to promote its colonization to the utmost of her power, or to remove every possible obstacle to the attainment of this national object through the agency of private capital. Mr. Sheriff Alison, whose philosophical inquiries into the principles of population entitle his sentiments to universal respect, has expressed his opinion, that the improvements daily taking place in the application of steam and machinery, have a tendency, by reducing the demand for human labour, to effect the complete de moralization of our labouring community. At the same time he has clearly demonstrated the expediency of ex tending and fostering our colonial dependencies as the only means of saving from progressive decay the com mercial interests, and consequently the maritime supe riority of the empire. He has further pointed out the means of accomplishing these great ends at a moderate, or rather, at no expense to the nation. At a meeting held at Glasgow in celebration of the colonization of New Zealand, his health having been proposed by the Lord Provost as a gentleman dis tinguished both as an historian and as a judge, Mr. Alison delivered an eloquent speech, the general purport of which will be gathered from the following passages :— “ Are we oppressed with a numerous and redundant population ? Are we justly apprehensive that a mass of human beings, already