Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 754, 20 January 1870, Page 3

There is ever an element of vulgarity iii the irreverent soul. Civilization.—The world cannot advance much, cannot make real substantial progress, till people learn to devote fewer hours of the day, fewer days in the week, fewer weeks in the year, and fewer years of their lives, to the mere art of money^getting. A rooit fellow having with difficulty procured an audience of the late Duke of Newcastle, told his Grace he only came to solicit him for something towards his support, and as they were of the same family, both being descended from Adam, he hoped he should not be refused. " Surely not, said the Duke, " surely not—these is a penny for you : and if all the rest of your relations will give you as much, you'll be a richer man than I am,'

%EW ZEALAND AND TIIE IMPERIAL * " ' .GPYEIINMENT.

[From the Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 30.] ■The condition of New Zealand and fhe incidents of the war seem to, jjsave impressed the mind of Lord with serious dread. This nobleman is one of the most eminent, jfn political circles. He has filled situations ot.the highest order, and particularly he has held the seals of the Colonial department. Earl Grey, also heretofore Secretary for the Colonies, has given his quota to the general contributions on this vexed subject, but. finds partly in the exorbitant demands of the colonists the jexcuse and even the justification of English indifference. Lord Granville, the present Secretary,maintains that the recall of the last regiment from New Zealand was an act of justice, and will prove to be hereafter 'a benefit to the colonists themselves, by forcing them to defend their position and come to terms with the native enemy. These various opin ions and leanings are largely attributable to the political bias of their several parties. It is the part of men in public life, as in armies, to fire in platoons . and a distinct and impartial view of all the items of a subject is hardly to be expected from any who have been removed from power, or who are aspiring to its possession. Earl Grey's deliverance is, however, somewhat sympathetic, and Lord Carnarvon proposes a pecuniary aid in the prosecution of the war. Lord Granville alone maintains the stern purpose to force the colonies into absoluts self dependence. A short step will probably convert self-dependence into absolute independence. In many respects the colonies have been unfairly blamed. Looking through the whole history of New Zealand colonisation up to a very late date, we find that England was the dictator of its policy; that the governors had the entire charge pf the native department, and it was for them to assert the views of the Crown. At all events, New Zealand was regarded as specially subject to the watchful care of those societies which take interest in the native civilisation. The time arrived when the Governor of New Zealand called into the field in support of the civil power certain soldiers. The native* resolved to have a field day, and they fought as they had been accustomed to °do in former times; probably without any intention of carrying the war beyond the potato crop. We believe that a grand error has been committed, both in England and among certain of its agents, in regarding the native as peaceably disposed. Thi>' lie never was, He possessed certain tendencies which found a momentary sphere in the achievements of a civilised state; but his ruling passion was war. The Home Government have undervalued the efforts as well as the sacrifices of the colonists themselves. The Auscolonies furnished a large number of men to the relief of New Zealand, and Volunteers peiformed services here by which the Queen's troop's were released. But it ought not to be forgotten that the Australian colonists, and indeed many in New Zealand itself, have as little to do with the war and its consequences, as a personal affair, as the people in Oxford street. It is a saddening spectacle, indeed, to see towns burnt, and women and children massacred. It is saddening to see savages triumphant, and returning to the most barbarous habits of their original condition. But it is of no consequence to the Australian colonies except as their sympaties inspire them. The New Zealand colonists pame from England, and not from Australia. Thus it is that when it is stated in England, that the colonies, as a whole, must defend them selves, a grand absurdity is perpetrated —since the colonies have no call to take up amis against an enemy a thousand miles away, and to mix themselves in a quarrel far from any interest they possess England, in favoring, or at least, in ■ allowing and afteiwards protecting and encouraging colonisation, became chargeable with the safety of the settlers; .and it is a scandalous relinquishment of duty, after quarrel-1 lino- with the natives by its own '. agents, who indeed could hardly, -ftyoid it, that the weight of comse- i

' quences is upon the unfortunate persons who might be on the frontier. It is one of the standing arguments of English politicians against helping New Zealand, that the colonies had an interest in war—that the spending of money was beneficial to them! But to whom was it beneficial 1 Not certainly to the victims. It was beneficial to those who had anything to .sell that the troops wanted, just as it is beneficial to the merchants in- London to dispatch goods for similar uses. It is ridiculous to complain that private persons in the pursuit of their ordinary business are not actuated by transcendental motives, but simply want to make a profit out of their traffic. It always was so, and must continue so. But to assert that the people of New Zealand were accomplices with an enemy at their door, with the destruction of their farms and houses, with the massacre of their sons and daughters, and all the miserable consequences of an onslaught to which they have been so frequently subjected is the sheerest of absurdities with a tinge of cruelty. The light of a country to withdraw from the duties of sovereignty, and indeed from its exerc se, is of course one which no Court can try; but it is one which the instinct of civilisation at once decides-. It is perfectly irue chat the slaughter of 300 perSOll2 is of no consequence to a great nation that counts its subjects by tens of millions. Taken as a mere question of human lite, it is little more than an average weekly mortality in a single city. But it is of consequence that the British nation should appear before the world as a mean deserter of long acknowledged duties; that it should take advantage of a technicality or a bargain which those who made it probably subscribed to only in desperation. Nor is it less pernicious to the fair fame of the British Empire, or less likely to shake the foundations of that power which has .returned so largely to the national purse. When Earl Grey speaks of the colonies refusing the control of the British Government in their inter nai affairs (for to this only he can refer) he forgets that the more eminent of British statesman enforced that change, and thai they did ho by rendering more demoonitic a Constitution which was sure to make all internal affairs subject to the will of the greater number. They now turn upon the colonies and say, —Since you have all this power you must have all the responsibility and all the loss—a kind of reasoning which might be admissible in a private affair, but which will hardly be presentable to the world in the presence of those great calamities which have fallen upon so many of her Majesty's subjects. If it were true that the colonists had by their own consent been placed in a position of iin minent peril, the Government of the Empire is not discharged from meeting the consequences of that error in judgment shared both by the Government of Great Britain and her dependencies. We believe, however, that reaction has set in, and that maxims so subversive of mutual confidence will be abandoned. England must give substantial aid or the whole world will cry shame upon her.