Colonial News.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 355, 26 March 1856, Page 3

Colonial News.

CIIAttr.E3 OAVA.N IJUFI-'Y AT OT3KLONO. There appears so much sound practical sense in the following speech of .Mr. Duffy atGeclonu: thai, wo reprint it entire from the Sydney Morning " ILuald " of the 27th ult. " Theinhabitunts of Geelong having invited Mr. Duffy to a public dinner, about a liundred of his friends and admirers assembled on the evening of the 18ih instant, in the long room of the British Hotel, when; they sat down to a sumptuous repast. " The chairman, having discharged his duly of proposing the 1 -yaland patriotic 1 oasts customary on such occasions, then gave the toa«t of the evening—" Their guest, Mr. Duffy." To which that gentleman responded in a manner worthy of his former fame as an orator, expressing it as his wish that the people of these colonies should believe that he was sincere in their interest, and he had no desire to advocate those interests, at the expense either of political or religious principles;. Mr. Duffy commenced hv asking, was this Australia and the antipodes ? From the jrenerous beaming faces around him, and the cordial welcome, he could fancy himself at home neaiir One thing alone reminded him that he was*iu a new country; the chairman had thought it necessary to answer the imputation that he (Mr. Duffy) was coming among them to foster religious differences, and foment sectional divi- ' sions. At home, no answer would be necessary to such a charge ; there everyone knew that his life had been spent in religious feuds and fusing divided parlies into one common people. Fourteen years ago, when he established the "Nation" newspaper, it was in conjunction with I horn.is Divis, the descendant of a Welsh father and Irish mother, one of the most gifted Protestants that ever sprang from the soil of Ireland ; and they preached together the necessity of forgetting all distinction of creed or race in the common interest of their native land. Eight years ago, when he staked his life and fortune in the cause of.lreland, it was in union with O'Brien, by religion a Protestant, by birth and fortune one of the aristocratic classes, hut a man who agreed with him (Mr. Duffy) in thinking that the interest of Ireland superseded all party distinction';. Four years a?o when he mounted the hustings at New" Ross, to meet and defeat a leading member of the Irish Government, among the friends who appealed to the constituency on his behalf were a number of Presbyteria.i ministers including, if he remembered aright, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. And four months ago, when he left Ireland, he had been attacked in the columns of the " Times " and among the first journals to defend him were the Standard," the organ of High Church Protestants of England; the "Commonwealth," or organ of Scotch Presbyterians. How unjust anil unpardonable then in men who were necessarily ill-formed on the subject to attribute designs to him at variance with his whole hie? but it was said that he w.is at war with the Government at home, and must necessarily heat war with all Governments. What rubbish"! because a man opposes an ignorant and tyrannical Government, did it follow that he must oppose a Government sprung from the people ? Why the very reverse followed. He «'«l left a country where the people had no snare 1.1 the Government, and no control over h, and lie louiul himself in one where it would only exist for the futiue at the will and pleasure w n l )Gn Pc- Was U "pessary or likely he would fall here as he fell*,,, Ireland? Last I'ttoruary, in the old country, he wore a "resit and carried an umbrella, and covered his oet with galoshes, l m t did he do any of these nngs here now? ft would be as gross a b "ckhead.su. not to recognise that he was in a new polmcal atmosphere, as that he was in a ■■■IrcTJ n S1° <Hie' I Wh'"«-erhe had done in 1 cUnd he was ready to justify before the whole EVT' "• ",' lh° V"Ue- y llf J«»"«l»«plmt, ci , !l° 'sst5 st J"'JSeJ i»>'tl'e entreated English-' ■XL 8w}»»"» i«» this country t<f vise . -uve; home „re,,i,l,ceS , to forget the fables of iw«l- i S T t'Onsi ier for themselves whether as 1 kely that, generation after generation, Uan'n "V lllltlwwt1 '. «»e" of ancient lives on' iU'*, e »>ossessill»s > would stake their In twe l( v Insll CUllSe if h ware "«ta j«ißt one. .ich Iwf T n; 110"S ' lllere wcl' e i)!lt two in offered f had UOt. bee» »™ed resistance ou^ctl to the oppressive and iniquitous Go-

vevnment of Ireland. Perhaps they would think it was a religious war ; but ever since there had been a Protestant population in Ireland, Protestants were at the head of the Irish party. Jonathan Swift, a Protestant ecclesiastic ; Molyneux, a Protestant philosopher; Gratton, a Protestant barrister: Wolfe Tone, a Protestant barrister ; Lord Edward Fitzgerold, a Protestant nobleman; Robert Emmett, a Protestant studen i; Smith O' Brien, Protestant legislator ; had in succession led the party of resistance in Ireland. Perhaps they would think it was mere Irish peculiarity to rebel against authority. But the volunteers of'B2, who declared the Irish Parliament free of English supremacy for ever, were chiefly of English blood; and the place where these officers met in convention, was the Protestant Church of Duniraunon. The insurrection of '9S was planned and originated among the men of Scottish blood and tongue in Ulster ; and the night before the battle of Billynahinch it was the hymns of the Presbvteridn Church that rose from the ranks of the United Irishmen. Look at Ireland to-day. We talk of squatters! Why, the whole soil of Ireland was taken from its original owners and bestowed upon a few thousand soldiers and court parasites in fee for ever. You talk of the £50,000 a year on your civil list for religious purposes, and there was a meeting in Geelong- to-night to protest against it, though it is fairly divided among the population according to their numbers; but the Catholics and Presbyterians of Ireland had to pay twenty times as much, of which not a shilling returned to them, but all went to endow a church of a sm^ll minority of the population. They talked of the Lenleys and Spooners who were sent from England to fill high offices in Australia, but for centuries all the patronage of Ireland was reserved for the scapegraces and dependents of the English aristocracy. If a spy, or a kind's mistress wanted a pension ; if a blockhead of good family wanted to be quartered n.n the public purse, or a turncoat to be rewarded, he or she was infallibly sent to the Irish Exchequer. If they found these things oppressive in Australia, he thought it only candid to consider whether Ireland was not to be excused for objecting to them in a more aggravated shape. He would bid them mark this: he knew many of the foremost Englishmen of this generation, and he never knew one who did not admit that if he were an Irishman he would have done as he (Mr. Duffy) had. He had read an article in the Geelonq Advertiser of that morning, which lie thought laid down in a very fair find satisfactory manner the relation of the politicians and Press of this country to a new comer like myself. The writer said he was for an Australian party devoted to Australian objects, and animated "with an Australian spirit; and that he could not distract his own thoughts or those of his readers to disputes in Europe of no practical importance here. And he added that, men alive to ihe interests of this country had been too busy with the affairs of Australia to hare any adequate knowledge of the right or wrong of party questions in England. This was a fair ground to take. If a man came here with an unblemished character, if they had guarantees of his personal honour in the welcome of those who must necessarily know most of his position i\i the old country—his own countrymen—then, whether he was English Tory, Scutch Radical, or Irish Repealer, Australia had room for him, and need of him, and ought to s.iy, " S;u to work, my friend, at whatever you are fitted 10 do, and if you do it well you shall have thanks and applause." There was plenty of room Coins all in Australia, plenty of work for us; wealth and honour for all who labour for them ; and what we wanted was not men to divide us into angry factions, ready to fly at each other's throats, lnit men who would show us by the light of science how to take readiest possession of the blessings which awaited us. or by wise laws how to improve and maintain ih<>m ; and who, instead of dividing and weakening us, would bind and rivet us into the unity of our people. He was amazed to find that the petty details of persona! position could occupy the car of the public at such an hour as this. !ht> present era w.ts t *io lurnin_>-p lint <>f their hU-

lory ; tlio eoimnonwualtli in K;i<il:tml, tho £it^t revolution in Fnmee, the declaration of independence in America, were not mom imisorum eras in those oountnes than the Cull esmliusiimcnt of the New Constittiition wonhl l>f in Australia. They had won the most {trtviims ri^jht] any people could possess, the ri^ht of

governing themselves: what use were they goinf to make of it ? They were like an heir com t to a great inheritance: they might squander i upon ignorant and vicious excesses ; they migh* permit it to he wasted by agents and servants ' or, by a wise and generous public economy, they might found a new race and nation, which would carry their name with honour to the remotest posterity. He trusted the installation of a new system of Government meant with them something beyond getting one set of men out and another in—that it meant great principles to be established, and gieat works to be accomplished. They wanted a responsible Government, but what sort of a one? Not" tweedledum in the place of tweedledee. They wanted men to rise from parish politics to the necessities and aspirations of a new nation. They wanted, for example, a Minister of Finance worthy of the occasion, not merely one who would keop the public accounts with as much exactness as they kept their private accounts, and who would not beg, borrow, or steal, though that also was necessary ; but a man who understood that it was useless to have inexhaustible wealth if it did not bring us good roads and perfect security for the enjoyment of our property and the speedy administration of justice, and comfort and cleanliness in our streets and in our houses—a Minister who would understand that such a project as a railway from Ballaarat to Geelong, or from Mount Alexander to Melbourne, was of more importance to a new country than idle trappings of state, or public edifices that contain nothing. They wanted a Commissioner of Public Lands who would know how to attract the best population from Europe, instead of whatever surplus the old countries were eager to get rid of. Every new agriculturist planted in the Barrabool Hills was a new customer in Geelong, who would want necessaries and luxuries which their ships would be employed to carry from the ends of the earth. Why should not they have viuegrowers from the Eliine and the Gironde ; and cidergrowers from Devonshire: and agriculturists not merely from Great Britain and Irelaud, but some of those Swiss and Belgian peasants, who out of a few acres of sandy or avid soil knew the secret of making a prosperous home ? They wanted a minister of Public Works who would give them true possession of their country by bringing its distant places within their reach by railway communication. Look nt what had been done in Europe by steam. It was a shorter distance by half from England to France than from Melbourne to Geelong; one would go from England to Germany and back again while you are going from Melbourne to Sydney. To reach one of the gold fields takes almost a day. In August last, in one day he (Mr. Duffy) had breakfasted in Germany, dined in Belgium, supped in France, slept in the Straits of Dover, and at daybreak was in England. He would export such a Minister of Public Works to teach them by what contrivances of aqueduct and reservoirs the hot countries of Europe supplied the deficiencies of. nature, and bloomed like the Promised Land. Ho would expect him to ascertain what sort of edifices and private houses they used in these countries; what sheltering plantations they made in public places, what baths were established, and other contrivances to mitigate the climate, instead of leaving the people of Australia to live, as at present, in a southern climate with the edifices and customs of a northern one. But, above ail, they wanted a first miniser nblo to inspire and control the rest —a')le to survey the entire field, and set eacli man to his appointed task—a man who would know how to give the people what they wanted, an interest in public affnrs, by extending to them a larger control over the expenditure of money and the 'Management of public works in their localities. The curse of this country at present was th.it men swarmed u:>on it as upon a wreck, to seize their share of the plunder and ily on" with it to some more secure retreat. To-day we hear of a man who is at the head of the municipality, a member of the Legislature, or even an incipient Prime Minister ; to-morrow he seiis oil and vanishes to Europe. We want a great >n;ui who would know how to slop tins hankering alter the u!<l countries, and who wouUi ni;ke the land venerable in the eyes ot' its p.-n;:^ —.1 place they mean to live and die in. \\ ;;; :.cr these things would M>e accomplished ik-r*' nl in the fust instant on the constituencies. I ■■•-•/ liad demanded self-government ami •■''-'- " :t ; tiicy must now show they were able <>;■■■';' it. One could not make a r.ii'vsav without v\r. ■;•..■>«.,

nor commerce without sailors, nor war without generals, and without statesmen they could not make a state. They must send the best men the country contained into the new Parliament, or the experiment would fail. Among the best men were undoubtedly those who had guided the country from the condition o* a despised dependency to that of a free self governed state, the "chief representative of whom was among them to-night. He hoped the ablest men of all parties would be elected: they could not have too much brain or too little mere tongue. Such men, whatever were their opinions, would give weight and dignity to their Parliament. He differed on important principles with Mr. Stawell and Mr. Foster, but he would sincerely regret to miss either of them from the musterroll of the new house. He relished that courageous exclamation of Roderick Dim, when he heard that the great Scottish earls were in arms against him. By Alpine's soul, high tidings those : I love to hear of worthy foes. In conclusion Mr. Duffy proposed the " Health of the Chairman' 5 in very complimentary terms : he thanked him the more for occupying the place he did, that they differed in country and creed : but they were united, he trusted, in the desire to be good Australians."