THE AUCKLAND EXAMINER. Thursday, December 18, 1856. PUBLIC GOOD. PROGRESS.

Auckland Examiner, Volume 1, Issue 2, 18 December 1856, Page 1

THE AUCKLAND EXAMINER. Thursday, December 18, 1856. PUBLIC GOOD. PROGRESS.

Eord Bacon thought the stubborn retention of custom a most turbulent thing and. philosophical liberals have ever contended. for change not for change sake but upon the principle that resistance to change is sometimes more revolutionary than conservative. It often happens, however, that men of progress are content to move on aimlessly, bigotedly, and blindly, caring little whether, so that they do progress, it is 41 to the devil” cr in some other direction. We believe in Progress but not in Progress parties except when they have a well defined policy based upon intellegible propositions or, in other words, except when they know (which seldom happens) exactly what they want, and how to get it. We have at this moment a Progress party without an intelligible programme or a definite and defined policy although that party embraces some of the wisest and wealthiest men in the colony. It is a party without a flag, without a rallying cry, without so much as a good grievance. Anteus of old touched the earth only to rise therefrom with renovated strength. Our progress party after its heavy backfall seems incapable of doing more than scold. Over that party Constitutional-

| ism has triumphed ; and now Constitutionalism is on its trial. We soon shall see the stuff of which it is made. Hitherto Constitutionalism has done little else than abuse progress men. Indeed the war between our rival parties has from the first been rather a war of persons than of principles. Progressioiiism is identified with Brown and Campbell, merchants, and Constitutionalism with Williamson and Wilson, printers. From the very first all has been personal —a case of Brown versus Williamson or “ New-Zealander” versus “ Southern Cross.” Meanwhile the Colony has progressed very much after the manner of crabs. Perpetually at fisticuffs our partisan politicians allowed the Colony to achieve the unenviable pre-eminence of being governed more absurdly than any other in the known world. What we want, and have a right to demand is a government equal to the work of giving profitable employment to capital in these islands, and thereby attracting to them the labour of other countries; equal to the work of educating our children cheaply and unsectarianly ; equal to the work of settling at once and for ever all Land Claims ; equal to the work of preparing our people for that “ good time coming” when being millions strong and well able to defend themselves they will no longer call upon the mother country to fight their battles ; equal to the work of repealing all laws which forbid us to obtain land by direct purchase from the native population; and equal to the work of reversing that idiotic and unjust policy, which while it enables Maoris to humbug us also enables Missionaries to humbug Maoris. Measures of the character here indicated are indispensable and inevitable. Did the Progress party include them in their programme, or rather we ought perhaps to say, had that party a programme in ■which such measures were promised, they would soon become more than ever influential. Constitutionalism with its stereotyped formula, antiquated prejudices, sectarian spirit, and sworn devotion to Native Rights and Native Barbarism cannot be expected to conceive much less to carry through a series of measures such as we propose. They would rather see the Colony “ ripen into rottenness” than abate one jot of their disposition to plunder one religious sect for the benefit of another to dishonor civilization by cracking up the virtues of barbarism, or to perpetuate by modes infinite in variety the dominion of cant and bigotry. Devoted to Progress we will gladly help Constitutionalists when they do the right thing, but we fear they will offer us few opportunities to range ourselves on their side. Now they are in office with authority over “ the loaves and fishes,” of course opposition will be deprecated ; of course some of them who out of office were prepared to do wonders in office will be prepared to do nothing at all but eat their pudding and hold their tongue. In which case khat my Lord (then plain Henry) Brougham hinted with regard to certain members of a certain house of incurables we shall do, it being our intention if Constitutional Officials do not move on, progress in the sense developed in this article, to kick sharply at their heels, and if they put spurs upon their heels why we will put spurs upon our toes.