The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 17. 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3195, 17 May 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 17. 1873.

We fear that instead of time and consultation tending to unravel the complication. in til© Provincial Connell, tlie breach is becoming wider, and that no other course is possible than an appeal to the constituencies. The malcontents are loud in their denunciations of this summary method of dealing with the matter, and ask what issue is to go to the country. The answer is plain and simple : those who are in office are not allowed to carry on the business of the Province, and no other Ministry has been proposed possessing the confidence ,f the House—certainly not that of the Province. When men lose their tempers, they are apt to expose those ■secret motives that policy has hitherto prompted them to conceal. Personal uitipathies crop up, and allusions to the vrelched past, which widen the breach dready existing. Yesterday was a regular field day, on which the spirit of he Ishraaelites shone conspicuously, t was a mutual weighing up of merit nd demerit, of action and motive, .’he battle began by Mr Reid, in his isiiftl “ ttftforgiviug” style, not a^know*

lodging in his account of what passed between himself and the Superintendent, that his Honor, in his conference with him, expressed a qualified rather than a dogmatic opinion as to the degree of confidence the. House would have in the proposed Executive. His Honor wrote ;

The ipdssima verba were as nearly as possible that “having carefully thought over the names submitted, I regretted to say that they were not altogether satisfactory to myself—that most certainly they would not be satisfactory to the country, and I doubted if they would be satisfactory to the Provincial Council itself, although, as regards the latter, it might be said to be no business of mine.” These were, 1 believe, the exact words used by me.

We do not see why the Superintendent should be debarred expressing his opinion freely on the subject to a person sent for in the capacity of a confidential adviser; but wo do see a very good reason why that person is bound in honor not to abuse that confidence, by leaving out of his account of the affair those very words that prove that his Honor was aware that the House might differ from him in judgment. Had Mr Heid frankly acknowledged that the Superintendent had added, “as regards the latter, it might be said to be no business of mine,” the matter would have ended. Nobody would have thought the worse of him, but the better, because he would have shewn that lie was desirous of doing that justice to the Superintendent that the accidental omission of the words had rendered necessary. But we hold that it was unnecessary for him to state to the House the opinion expressed by his Honor ; that that part of the statement was altogether uncalled for; and from the additional tom-foolery exhibited in the minute detail he entered into yesterday, Mr Reid has laid himself open to the suspicion of purposely endeavoring to widen the breach between the Superintendent and the section of the Council with which he has connected himself. To say the least, Mr Reid’s version of the affair, as lie told it yesterday, was on a par with the humor of a clown at a circus; calculated to please those whose humble nurture esteems bulfoonery wit. It did please them : they thought it racy, and they applauded; and, as is natural, the wiser members laughed to see the vulgar so easily pleased— and despised it. In proof that this view is not too harsh, let us turn to the utterances of honorable members. We may, however, first remark that some nine or ten years ago the office of the Superintendent w r as held in respect by all members of the Council. Executive and ex-Executive supporters of men in office and opponents to them, held it to be their duty not to speak disrespectfully of one whose office precluded him from giving those personal explanations which one member of the Council is able to give to another. His Executive for the time being represent him, but they cannot correct such statements as Mr Reid chose to make; and speaking with due diffidence, we think Mr Speaker was not mindful of the deference due to his Honor’s high office, when he allowed such personal attacks to be made upon him. When Mr Bathgate used the term “indecency” with regard to the conduct of Mr Reid, although as a parliamentary epithet it was rather too strong, he might have substituted the word “ indelicacy ” with great propriety ; for it has been for the faction of which that honorable member is the head to forget the respect due to the office of Superintendent. That dreary dreamer, Mr Thomson, informed the House “it appeared to him that the intention w r as unduly to exalt the office of Superintendent of this Province.” Mr Stout, as a young member, may be excused saying the only question was “ whether the Superintendent’s choice of certain members to form his Government should be upheld or not.” There is really no question of the kind. Those members have resigned, and the Council is left to nominate an Executive, subject to his approval. If such a Government cannot be formed as will command the confidence of the House and his confidence, the affairs of the country are in a deadlock, and, like a jury that cannot agree on their verdict, there is no help for it—the Council must be dismissed. But Mr Duncan let the cat out of the bag when he gave as a reason why Mr ToLMiE should not be at the head of the Government, that he “represented a City house with which the majority of the runholders in the Province were connected.” The old sore is rankling—“ squatter v. farmer” —class against class. Did Mr Duncan, when he accepted office as Provincial Treasurer, raise the objccjection, that he was disqualified, because he was member of a firm with which most of the leading formers in the Province were connected I We trow not; clodocratic sensitiveness is all on one side. The clodocrat claims the right to form a Ministry, to dictate to the Superintendent, to say what he chooses, when he chooses, and how he chooses, but nobody else’s dog iliuat bark without his leave. Mr Duncan says the causes of grievance subsisting three years ago are unreraoved. His party have had the rule during all that period, and therefore he pronounces its condemnation. They have had the opportunity, they have had the majority, and they have shown themselves unequal to the task, if Mr Duncan’s view is correct. The present grievance is this : they are now too weak to carry on the work themselves, but strong enough to prevent abler men. The country is tired of this feud of class against class. Its interests are now too important to he bandied about from squatter to farmer, and back again. The time has gone past when they alone should be consulted, and men are wanted who, with due regard to both, can see what is necessary for that Provincial development which must be retarded by regarding special interests only.