rom
the corruption which, according to the statement of the
Receiver-General, has attended the administration of these
services by the Government, are more serious than any evils
that can result from those services being transferred
unreservedly to the hands of a private individual or
corporation; and that, in fact, they consider that it is
beyond the means and capacity of the colony to provide for the
honest and efficient maintenance of these services, and that
they must, therefore, be got rid of at whatever cost.

9. That they have acted thus in what they believe to be the
best interests of the colony I have no reason to doubt; but,
whether or not it is the case, as they allege, that the
intolerable burden of the Public Debt, and the position in
which the colony was left by the contract of 1893, rendered
this sacrifice inevitable, the fact that the colony, after
more than forty years of self-government, should have to
resort to such a step is greatly to be regretted.

10. I have to request that in communicating this despatch to
your Ministers you will inform them that it is my wish that it
may be published in the _Gazette_.

I have, etc.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.

Some of the inferences set forth in the Colonial Secretary's lucid
letter were questioned by the Newfoundland Government, but
substantially his conclusions were not assailed. The decision of the
Imperial Government by no means stayed the voice of local agitation,
and the stream of petitions continued to grow. In a further letter to
Governor Murray, dated December 5th, 1898, Mr Chamberlain laid down
the great constitutional doctrine which is the Magna Charta of Greater
Britain. Every student of colonial politics should be familiar with
these passages:

"The right to complete and unfettered control over financial policy
and arrangements is essential to self-government, and has been
invariably acknowledged and respected by Her Majesty's Government, and
jealously guarded by the colonies. The Colonial Government and
Legislature are solely responsible for the management of its finances
to the people of the colony, and unless Imperial interests of grave
importance were imperilled, the intervention of Her Majesty's
Government in such matters would be an unwarrantable intrusion and a
breach of the charter of the colony.

"It is nowhere alleged that the interests of any other part of