The discouragement of colonization is certainly not the feeling of the great majority of the people of England, and it is equally certain that it is not the policy of this empire. Whatever may be the fate of the several British colonies at some future and distant period, it is something at least to have spread our laws and language, and moral character, over the most distant parts of the globe. The colonies that speak the language of Old England--that preserve her manners and her habits--will always be her best customers; and their surplus capital will always centre in the mother country. It was not the opinion of our ancestors, that colonies were an incumbrance; they--good, stupid souls--imagined that colonies enlarged the sphere of commerce---that commerce required ships--that ships created seamen for manning the royal navy, and that the whole contributed to individual wealth, to the national revenue, and the national strength; and such we believe still to be the opinion of men of sound practical knowledge, whose minds are unwarped by abstract systems and preconceived theories, to which every thing must be made to bend. Such, too, was the feeling of that extraordinary man, who, with the solitary exception of England, exacted homage from every crowned head of Europe. This man, in the plenitude of his power, felt that something was still wanting to enable him to grapple with one little island, invulnerable by its maritime strength, the sinews of which he knew to be derived from its colonies: he felt that, deprived as he was of "ships, colonies, and commerce," England was able to stand alone among nations, and to bid defiance to his overwhelming power. That cunning fox, too, by whose councils he was occasionally guided, knew too well the degree of strength that England derived from her colonies, which he described to be her very vitals, and which could only be reached by a powerful navy. He designated them as the sheet anchor of Great Britain--the prop that supported her maritime superiority--the strongholds of her power. "Deprive her of her colonies," said Talleyrand. "and you break down her last wall; you fill up her last ditch."--_Fas est et ab hoste doceri.--Quarterly Review_. * * * * * INVITATIONS. As a certificate of your intention to be punctual, you may send your friends, a similar billet to the following:-- My dear Sir, The honour of your company is requested to dine with ---- on _Fry_day, 1828. The favour of a positive answer is requested, or the proffered plate will be appropriated as it was when-- _Sir Ill-bred Ignorance_ returned the following answer:--"I shall be quite happy to come if I possibly can." Such words the committee voted were equivalent to these--I'll come, if in the mean time I am not invited to a party that I like better.--_Dr. Kitchiner_. * * * * * GENEVA