THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1879.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1717, 21 August 1879, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1879.

Thebe is on© cry taken up by tho inferior class of Government journals which it will be well to treat of, although the subject is somewhat a delicate one. "Wo allude to the reference that is being constantly made to the age of Sir George Grey. It is assumed by the " Star," and papers of that type, that any attack on the Premier is indecent because he is advanced in years. Now we yield to none in reverence to old age; we are well awaro that, in the words of tho Preacher, "the hoary head is a crown of glory;"and that it behoves all men to do by its possessor as they would some day bo dono by. But all this is entirely beside the question, and is liable to lead astray from the real point at issue. It would be in tho highest degree undesirable if the principle were once to obtain that it was right to confound the statosman with tho man. It is most necessary that the two should be kept perfectly distinct. If any other course were pursued a state of affairs would supervene which would rendor all right government a matter of impossibility. Once place an old man at the helm of the State, and let th« doctrine be accoptod that, through a fooling of sympathy for the burden of years he is carrying, it is indecent to attack him, and all chanco of constitutional government vanishes into thin air. Tho whole idea is based on a fallacy. A statesman is an abstraction. His deeds are to be judged with no more reference to his ago than to his height. Ho has accepted a position and certain responsibilities which lift him above tho ordinary run of men, and, whothor ho bo twenty or eighty years of ago, ho has no more right to fall back on his youth or his ago as an excuse for his shortcomings than ho has a right to claim from the same source any extra merit for good works dono. It is childish to argue othorwiso and we should not have thought it worth while advancing such a self-evident proposition if the journals we have alluded to had not endeavoured to make capital in behalf of their party by talking in the maudlin s'zrain against which these lines are

directed. For instance, the " Star" talks o£ certain, members of the Opposition as going " all ovor the country howling against one solitary, aged, infirm, and patriotic public servant." An appeal a d misericorclham of this description is beneath contempt. It is not against Sir George Grey as a private individual or as an old gentleman that the Opposition members have been speaking. It was the actions of the Premier of New Zealand, as Premier, that called down the storm of indignation that resultod in the carrying of tho vote adverse to the Government. Members would have been wanting in their duty to their constituents and their country if they had for one instant takon into consideration any circumstance personally connected with the gentlemen at tho head of the Government. As friendship must sink bofore duty, and personal likes and dislikes bofore patriotism, so it is necessary that those who engage in politics must give up all claim to indulgence on purely personal grounds. By their deeds alone •thoy must bo judged. Sir George Groy was forced by no set of circumstance to become Premier; he took the position of his own free will, and was well aware of the conditions which attach to public life. No one knows bettor than he does that it is ridiculous to suppose that tho gentlemen who differ from his views and who consider his course of conduct crooked and his administration foeblo have any eye whatsoever to tho individual while blaming tho statesman. Sir George's knowledge of tho world will have long taught him that fact. His age may in their eyes bo an extenuation of his shortcomings or it may bo the contrary, but it matters not one iota which it is ; Sir Goorgo Grey is the Premier of New Zealand, and his position entirely swallows up his indontity. Ho had no right to accept the position if he were not fully prepared to abido by its conditions. Those conditions are as much attached to tho offico as is the salary given to him as Premier. And every public man holds his position exactly on tho same terms. It is false sentimentality to treat the question in any other light, and it would bo nothing less than a calamity if, in a Constitutional Government, any othor state of affairs were to exist. It may suit party tactics to flaunt Sir Georgo Grey's advanced ago in front of the battle, and to treat all those who blame or write against the statesman as wanting in respect to the man, but tho plan is not a straightforward one and it "would bo laughed to ridicule in a larger community. Tho Opposition consider the Premier, as Premier, to be false to his word, weak in administrative ability and utterly unable to conduct the public affairs of the country, bnt with Sir George, K.G.8., tho ex-Imperial officer and the polished gentleman they have no quarrel whatsoever.

There will bo a perfectly unique entertainment at the Theatre Boyal to-morrow-evening. The performance is under the patronage of Sir George Grey, who will, we believe, take advantage of the opportunity to address the public from one of the private boxes. No extra charge will, it is understood, be made by the management on account of this addition to the programme, for the Premier has consented to assist the Juvenile Dramatic Troubadours without receiving a sou from Messrs. Hiscocks and Hayman for his invaluable services. " Struck Oil" or "The Ponsylvania Dutchman," will occupy the boards, and the range of characters and tho ago of the performers will bo extremely extended. Master Salvador Parlato will take tho part of John Stofel, while the political interlude will bo undertaken by tho illustrious stranger from the North. The whole matter has been got up under the auspices of the new Association, who will occupy tho stalls in vast numbers and smother tho performers in bouquets. We believe that the Association has not yet decided whether Sir George shall go in costume or mufti. Tho members with tho more advanced ideas are of opinion that it is desirable that he should got up in some sort of national costume, say tho Swiss, and they also think that the address should be rythmical, and bo relieved at intervals with some such chorus as " tra la la, li iti, li iti, li iti," and that, even if the Premier cannot play on tho guitar, he might well movo his fingers over tho strings in dumb show, while the band did the accompaniment. But the loss advanced members of the Association fancy that tho affair would go off better if Sir George wore in plain evening gear. They think the proposition of tho other section savours of levity, and having studied a book of national dresses, are doubtful whether tho Premier would be able to carry off satisfactorily tho colored ribbons which render tho Swiss gala costume so picturesque. But in whatever way this knotty point is settled, it is very certain that the playgoing public are "in for a good thing" to-morrow evening. Affairs theatrical have boen slightly dull of late, and have, for some tirno past, required a fillip. The monster programmo, therefore, will bo sure to be well patronized.