THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 701, 19 July 1869, Page 4

THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

(From the Wellington independent.) Jt is a most remarkable thing, and tut that it is staring the country in the face, it would be incredible, that the legislature has not yet made up its mind whether a struggle for supremacy between the colonists and the disaffected part of the Maori race can or can not be avoided. We had, last year, and again this year, a Ministry blamed, and justly, for want of preparation for defence. The colony was, no doubt, particeps criminis, but the Government of the ostensible leaders in action, are the most blameworthy. During the recess, the press and men in high position were •* instant, in season and out of season, in urging greater activity and energy in prosecuting the war. Now the Legislature learns, from the lips of Us new leaders, that the late Government Lad attempted, and, indeed, done too much,—had damped the inclination to assist us by showing Great Britain that we could assist ourselves, —and exerted themselves beyond the means of the colony. Either we are forced to go to war, or we are not; we are in great danger, or we are safe on couditbn of a little vigilance. Which is it ? It imports much to the whole country to be perfectly clear on this question before next election, and the Legislature should make up its mind before it passes the Estimates. The readers of the debates of this session —and they will be many—throughout the country, have reason to complain that during hours of crimination and recrimination, and with two sets of proposals shadowed forth under the name of "policies," no attempt has been made to put before the Legislature a general view of the actual po sition and prospects of the colony in relation to the Maori race ; We owe it, no doubt, to the want of such an es'timate that Southern constituencies and public meetings have sought to compel the representatives of the South to refuse all means for further war in the North. Of course, anyone carefully studying "Hansard" may discover that there are two assumptions made by the speakers, but not argued out in any case, and doubtless many votes were determined, and will again be determined, by opinions only implied or casually stated. Mr Stafford, in warning the Southern constituencies that the consequences of disaster in the North could not be arrested by Cook's Strait, implied that means which the Southern members have it in their power to grant or refuse, are necessary to avert such disasters. Mr Hall, Mr Curtis, Mr Richmond, and Mr Carleton, from one end to the other of their speeches, went on the same assumption—that war was forced upon us by our barbarous neighbors, and was not optional. Mr Eolleston, on the other hand, suggested that the choice of peace or war was in the hands of the colony. He showed sensitive sympathy with Mr G. Graham's views, and all but asserted that the Maori had wrongs which justified his reprisals, and the removal of which would remove his animosity. Entering the harbor of Wellington, the lighthouse and its barren site reminded him of other reserves wrongfully appropri ated ! Evidently our system had not shielded the Maori from

(' The •whip" and scorns of time. The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes," • —and Mr Rolleston's observations, il they meant anything but a vague, un practical protest against " the ills that ilesli is heir to," meant that the droit sacre d'insurrection was not unreasonably exercised by men suffering such ills, and would be allowed to slumber whenever they were remedied. Mr Ormond, in his labored invective, ad duced some supposed injuries suffered by the East Coast tribes at the hands of Mr Stafford's Government. But he has not been hitherto an advocate of peace, and his complaint can only be yead in extenuation, not in justification of the hostility of some of Te Kooti's allies. Mr by a single word, gave his view of affairs, He asked that the n&oney expended on this f unnecessary" war should be laid out in peaceful works, to be executed by natives. Such a conflict of opinion, exhibited casually, and without argumentative support, is certainly some gjcuse for the confusion and bewilder-

ment of mind visible among those who see events from a distance ; but, however excusable their ignorance, it will not relieve representatives of distant districts or their constituents from the consequences of any ill-advised step. As men of business, they ought to drop the idle repudiation of responsibility, and apply themselves to understand the case. It will be strange if in case of ruinous misfortune, the people of any part of the country are satisfied to learn that their members had gme through the idle ceremony of washing their hands of the work,

Before attempting to sketch concisely the position of the North Island, we may poiut out a distinction in the character of the authorities above cited as to the actual condition of the country. Messrs Stafford, Curtis, aud Hall represent Southern constituencies, and their property and personal interest lie outside the scene of immediate danger and distrust, aad Mr Stafford was charged last year with systemati cally making light of our case. They are, comparatively, disinterested wit nesses. But Mr Williamson candidly exposed a motive which may be sup posed to influence every Superintendent —more or less—the desire for public works. Mr Ormond's whole speech poured forth lust for revenge on men who had presumed to disregard the authority of Mr M'Lean. His complaint was not on behalf of the injured natives, but against the late Government. Mr Rolleston is a Superintendent and an economist. His idiosyncracy is not favorable to a judicial investigation of facts, where the result of the enquiry affects his own wishes materially. An able administrator — not second in this to Mr Stafford or Mr Hall —he is more intense than comprehensive in his intellectual character. He has a passion for truth, justice and first principles, and seems to imagine that political conclusions can be deduced like a theorem in pure mathematics, directly from a few postulates, without reference to the friction of ex? ternal circumstances and the strife of human wills. From the days of the spikenard ointment, and long prior to that history, down to this hour, the latent basis of many a bitter censure, and seemingly strong opinion, has been in facts widely different. We do not charge Mr Rolleston and his allies with hypocrisy, or even conscious want of candour ; but it is significant that a large proportion of those who adopt the idea that peace is optional, have special wishes as Provincialists and Southern men, tending to distort their judgment; whilst those who think the dangers of our position great and inevitable, hold that opinion notwithstanding the intense longiug which, in common with 99 men out of every 100, they feel for the return of peace and confidence to this most distracted land. But the most startling evidence of a view of a party in the Legislature is supplied from the Government bench. Mr Fox's programme, and the reiterated statements of Mr Yogel, in Committee of Supply,—that the country cannot support the expense of the war, aud that the Government will retrench expenditure, and draw in the frontier, —imply with all possible clearness that, in that gentleman's opinion, and in that of Mr M'Lean, who sits by in silence, the ch .ice of war or peace is with us. How Mr M'Lean can recon cile this aciion with the records of his terrified earnestness to press on active operations during the recess, we are at a loss to understand; but that is a point of small importance. The weight of his name —for it is little more than a name which he brings—is given in favor of a diminution of defensive measures, at the most serious and dange/ous juncture in our affairs; and it will be hard to blame the Southern gentlemen who act on such authority, for turning their backs on countrymen in deep and inevitable difficulty.