Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1863.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 97, 13 March 1863, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1863.

That much is expected of Mr. McLean, and that that much is multiplied to an extent heyond the powers of that intelligent gentleman to realise, we are prepared to assert. Of this we may safely judge from the unanimous voice of the Provincial Council, which has ever so ably and so effectually represented public opinion as existing in this Province. That august body to a man are of opinion that if we have a right to look for the assistance of any one fellow man, that assistance, when given by Mr. McLean will prove the very thing required ; and that in consequence, to use the expression of one of the members for the Town upon a public occasion, “ property will rise at least ten per cent, in value."

"We, however, much regret that the naturally defective slate of our powers of comprehension will not allow us to admit that such an agreeable state of things as the increased value of property before-mentioned will result from the present prospects held out under the new administration cut out fur this Province. As the Provincial Council is at present constituted, without one single independent member in it, there is little hope of i\lr. McLean lindmg that wholesome support and valuable counsel which can alone be derived from a healthy, vigorous, but not factious opposition. We look upon the gentlemen who are called upon by the placid iudifierence of the electoral body to act as Councillors for the Province, as merely so many useful and pliant tools placed in the hands of Mr. McLean, to use in support of his own arbitrary acts in just such a manner as he may find convenient. We, therefore, anticipate that with such an obsequious and respectable Council to back him, Mr. McLean has only to run riot in his independence, and act in that manner, and that manner alone, which will seem unto him good. Unhappy McLean ! that the fates should have been so unpropitious as to place him in such a dangerous and unenviable position. Himself but an undecided man, a man who will endeavour to fit himself to circumstances, but has not resolution enough to endeavour to make circumstances fit him, he presents to our vision a fine specimen of that class of public men known as “ trimmers and his fall will be more rapid than his rise, and the astonished multitude 'will look aghast at the crumbling ruins of their almighty god Dagon lying prone and prostrate on the floor of the temple. If some honest out-spoken man had been placed near to Mr. McLean’s elbow, and had upon occasion jogged that sensitive member of his body, and given him a useful hint or two, or now and then put a plain and pointed question to him which would oblige him to declare some definite line of action, we should yet have hopes that the predictions of our friend over the way would be fulfilled to the letter.

Mr. Wood, the most ultra-supporter of Sir. McLean in the Councils of the Nation, has retired from that responsible position, and taken refuge behind the inaccessible fastnesses of his printing establishment, from

which vantage ground he can keep up a galling fire of boiled peas upon the enemies of his favorite. 0 ! Wood, Wood ! thus to desert the man of your choice in the hour of his greatest peril,—thus to abandon the honorable position of leader of the forlorn hope, when the laurels to be gathered were within your reach. Fie on thee, James shame ! shame ! !

However, since Mr. Wood has thought better of the matter, and has with consummate generalship kept open his line of retreat in case of his little army sustaining a reverse, it was to be hoped that in his place some more daring and adventurous spirit would have come forward to volunteer to lead the gallant little band of martyrs boldly onward to the goal; but we don’t see that the gentleman who, with becoming modesty, has recommended himself to the consideration of the electors for the Town of Napier is likely to answer our expectations. However, we will not interfere with the choice of our townspeople ; they have but a small selection of responsible men, and must make the most of them. We should, however, like to see Mr. Colenso back in the Council again; he always was a good and hardworking member, sticking up through thick and thin for his Town constituency, and showing a considerable amount of courage in attacking that course to which he objected and in supporting that course which he approved.

Seeing, then, that Mr. McLean begins his career as Superintendent of this Province under such encouraging auspices as to have a Council full to the brim of out and out supporters, without the alloy of one iota of opposition in it, we hope that he will take advantage of this satisfactory state of affairs, and act with firmness and with wisdom, such as we have a right to expect that he will show. But unfortunately his lot is cast in troubled times ! —times which will require a very able, ingenious, and original character to bring us through without serious accident. We Hatter ourselves that, notwithstanding the Herald's assertions to the contrary, we are the only real friend Mr. McLean has got, for we have done for him what no other person or paper has at present done, and that is, reminded him that “ all flesh is grass” and that man—sinful man—is not infallible, and that mere grovelling servility is no criterion of lasting friendship.