THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1881. WHO IS TO LEAD THE OPPOSITION?

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2380, 18 November 1881, Page 3

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1881. WHO IS TO LEAD THE OPPOSITION?

One of the principal of the problems which are occupying those who are interested in forecasting the political future is connected with the leadership of the Opposition. It is very evident that Sir George Grey will not be accepted by his own party at any price—not to mention Lis own price. Mr. Macandrew has sueceeded in fossilising himself hard and fast into the Otagonian old red sandstone, and it is not at all probable that ho will ever be looked upon as an active entity again. Mr. De Lautour, though at one time he raised some hopes, occupies the singular position of a man who is always considered too young to be of much account. Philosophers have before now wasted lifetimes in searching for the elixir that is to give them perpetual youth. Mr. DeLautour has apparently found some such potent drug, for nobody can succeed in hatching him. Sir George Grey’s best efforts cannot turn him into a full-blown lawyer; the best wishes of his youthful associates of the Young New Zealand school cannot succeed in pushing him permanently to the front. And then there is Mr. Ormond, to whom many looked as to a man who had the ability, if he only had the will. But Mr. Ormond does not seem to have the slightest desire to pilot a party. Perhaps he is not so confident of his own ability to lead as his friends appear to be. Perhaps ho enjoys taking a “ lone hand,” snd playing skittles with things in general without the trouble of picking the pins up. Perhaps ho thinks he can look after his own interests best when acting as a free lance. Anyhow, he evidently has not the slightest intention of exerting himself for either one side or the other. His speech at Waipawa shows this clearly enough.

Who then is to lead the Opposition P Of course among the number of new members who will put in a first appearance at Wellington after the present election there may bo found a man capable of organizing, and carrying on the business of, a legitimate Opposition, and a very good thing it would be if such a man could be found ; but at present there really seems to be nobody who could be entrusted with such a post. It might be well, therefore, if the Opposition were to take into consideration the feasibility of clubbing together the intellects of, say, three men, and forming these three into a species of committee of management, to which it might look for guidance,* as it would ordinarily have done to a regular leader Much care in selecting the three would of course bo necessary, in order to assimilate the result to the genuine article, and to ensure such a tout-ensemble as would work smoothly. In the first place, the qualities of the three should bo of a varied character—should, in fact, be complements of one harmonious whole, no quality being doubled so as to bring one part of the combined effort into unnatural prominence. Again, the three individuals should not separately be too powerful, for fear that when run into one a monster might be the result. When Frankenstein, in Mrs. Shelley’s terrible tale, created his man, to save himself trouble he made the separate parts of the body larger than life, and the consequence was that when the pieces were put together and the breath of life animated the whole mass, a creature was seen out •of all proportion to the requirements of civilised life—a monster and not a man —an endless source of anxiety to the genius which had constructed it. So it will be seen that, on these two points, and also in others that might be mentioned, considerable care would have to be taken in picking out the three men. But still the idea may be worth something, and we present it to the Opposition for what it is worth. Say, for instance, that Messrs. Treadwell, S. P. Andrews, and J. Holmes are elected, might not these three together form a very respectable machine to guide the destinies of the quondam Grey party? Would not they combine a number of qualities which, rolled into one, would prove invaluable ? And yet no one of the qualities would be an exact duplicate of another. In the matter of eloquence, for instance, which is so necessary for a leader in Parliament. Are not they all eloquent ? Mr. Andrews, when he has a “Hansard” to fall back on, is extremely difficult to stop ; nobody has ever yet been known to curb tho flow of language of Mr. Treadwell when well under weigh ; while, as for Mr. Holmes, we all know his opinion of his own powers in this direction, and his contempt for gentlemen who “ are not accustomed to public speaking.” While all these candidates are eloquent, none of them are so in exactly the same way. Hero is successful combination number one. Then as to their qualities of mind. Every leader of men should possess imagination, a philosophic breadth of intellect, and executive ability. Here again our three candidates would come well to the front. Few men have a stronger imagination than Mr. Treadwell. The amount of foreign matter ho can import into tho commonest subject is something astonishing. By simply diving back a few hundred years he unearths curious phases in the careers of nations and with marvellous ingenuity makes them apply to present crises. Ho is, in point of fact, almost all imagination. Mr. Holmes, on the other hand, is as philosophic as a German professor. Look at bis celebrated confession of faith on tho 14th of last month—“ Tho will of the majority Jmuat prevail.” “ Tho greatest good to the greatest number.” Has the greatest philosopher ever said anything more true ? Certainly not. Mr. Holmes is by nature a philosopher. Mr. Andrews, for his part, though not possessing imagination or philosophic genius, sets up for being a practical man, and would, according to his own showing, if ho had but tho chance, straighten the crooked ways in a manner that would make the oldest politician stare. Ho is evidently the man of the throe for executive ability. Here there is successful combination number twb. And other combinations might be worked out, all tending to show that these three gentlemen might between them supply an acknowledged want, should they happen all to find favour with tho constituencies. However, we do not mean to infer that these are the only three candidates rnnnining in tho Opposition interest who could be found to form together a species of executive, capable of guiding the career of their party. Ho doubt there aro other gentlemen who might bo chosen with advantage to act in concert for that purpose, and who would answer equally as well as Messrs Tfe.adwell, Holmes and Andrews.

However, as wo suggested above, the coming man may put in an appearance out of the mass of newly-elected members. If he does so, all the bettor. If he does not, our suggestion may prove valuable.