The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4311, 20 December 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1876.

Both our morning contemporaries are anxiously analysing Mr Donald Rum’s conduct during the late session, and his explanations concerning it as given in his speech last week. He could not expect to have the sympathy of the ‘Guardian,’and may well feel proud that he has incurred its displeasure. That journal, true to the tactics of the party with which, unfortunately for itself, it is identified, seeks now to weaken Mr Reid’s influence by ill-deserved attacks upon him, and by attributing to him a course ot conduct utterly foreign to his nature, and of which we believe h?m to be incapable. Although Mr Reid’s political views have m many instances clashed with our own, it has not been so much on principle as on administration that we have differed. We have opposed him on many points because we have considered that the course he followed tended to cramp the industry of the Province and prevent its progress. His ways were not our ways, although time, m most instances, has tended to bring them nearly together. Changes of circumstance and the turn of events seem to have justified him in adftepting policy that at one time he did not deem advisable. But however diverse the views of Mr Reid were from those advocated by this journal, we have never failed to recognise the sterling worth of the man. We have always supported him when we thought him light ahd never hesitated, to condemn him when we considered him wrong. We have always believed him to be actuated by sincere motives, and have invariably given him credit for honor and ability. The thin film of a leading article that shields the writer from publicity cannot so hide the man that his style shall not betray him. Inhere is little difficulty in guessing truly who has labored so ingeniously and trickily during the last few days to prove Mr Rfeib to be a traitor. If occasion served, the same pen, guided by the same sophist, would prove mm, in like fashion, to be an angel of light. It is a pity for the writer’s own sake that one so able to advocate what is honorable and straightforward should have chosen paths of thought and action so devious, crotchety, and unfair. It is to be feared it has become a habit with him, and thus the usefulness of a life may be destroyed, because evil has been chosen as a means to do good instead of the straightforward course of candor ahd integrity. It is not true that Mr Reid has been a traitor. Mr Reid did not forsake Provincialism when he refused to go with the party into a course of useless obstruction. Was anything to be gained by perpetually opposing the Government and harassing their supporters 1 Had there been one particle of common sense in the Opposition they would have known that such a course could but have the effect of convincing every right-think-ing man that a party that would bring the public business of the country to a standstill foi the sake of opposing a measure approved by the bountry at a general electlofi» and cUpjjoi'teu by three to ohd in the House of Representatives, was manifestly unworthy of public confidenoe. It was abundantly SnnWh by the groundlessness of the charges brought against individual members of the Ministry that the leaders of the Opposition were as Unscrupulous as they were unreliable. No atridltut of vituperation or reiteration will ever convince educated men that the Riako Swamp sale Was “a corrupt one.” “Irregular” it may have been, as Mr Reid truly observed, but every tittle of evidence during two sessions of Parliament showed that, if irregular, the country and district would he the chief gainers, and that the irregularity was justified, < All this was already established by previous parliamentary inquiry, but the party that tried to sell to three or four persons 64,000 acres of land in Otago, already occupied and profitable, had the unblushing assurance to condemn that sale of unreclaimed and unprofitable land in the North. And why? Merely to bring discredit on the Ministry. Had it proved to have been a “ corrupt ” transac tion, .u did not affect the question of Abolit’.m; and. the folly of the proceedings as a a Opposition measure was aggravated by the'acknowledged fact that had the Ministry been -asted on any question, the Oppus'v, < 1 ■ u; ;.>f men to take their places tli it tiie Hon ■ and the country would have fell:-.afj with. .And .such wns tiie style in whi' hj Sir OEonoE Guey and hi\s satellites were prepared to act throughout tlie session —such the questions with which tViey were to pi-.10 hj it iiMlcfiui'eiy. That Mr Reid, having fulfilled ids pledge to support any measure tending t > restore Provincialism, should feel degraded at being associated with men who could stoop to such iuw>t«r*

fnges is not surprising—We should hare been snrprised if he had not left them. As a matter of prudence, if merely in view ; of further testing vuC question on its merits, he acted judiciously } because every step taken In so ill-con-Cei i t - P?hticftl course ai that marked out by, the leader of the Opposition could but have the effect of weakening public confidence ( in men who adopted it. The ‘ Guardian is very virtuous in its indignation about Mr Rtib revealing the secrets of the Opposition. Revealing secrets 1 Is the country then to be governed by conclaves of conspirators meeting in holes and corners of concoct artful political dodges ? Verily these men betray themselves m every utterance. Is a man to be made the butt for every artful dodger to shbot dt, and not to be allowed to explain the reasons why in matters of general public import he acted in a course condemned unsparingly by former political associates t With such men no reputation is safe—no conduct, however straightforward, is likely to be fairly represented ; and is an honorable, straightforward man to keep silence and they alone be allowed to tell their tale ? The country ought to know the characters of those it selects to represent its interests ; and it is sincerely to be hoped that the experience of the 'last session will teach the very useful and much-needed lesson that in politics, as in business affairs, the course that will bear the closest investigation is that which is the most likely to succeed and benefit the country, _