THE NEW GOVERNOR OF VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 408, 1 October 1856, Page 5

THE NEW GOVERNOR OF VICTORIA.

(From tho "Times," of the 21st May.) Sir Henry Barkly is to be the new Governor of Victoria. After having passed seven years in the West Indies, and conducted the Government of two important colonies with eminent success at a critical , period, he will almost immediately return to England and receive his appointment to • the charge of the new and wealthy society '. which has lately sprung into existence on jtlje shores of Australia. We may, without

any affectation of prophecy, say that the vast and singular emigration of the laet two years has planted on the Australian continent communities which are destined to become one day a powerful nation. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Hobart Town are to us what New York and the cities of the American coast were a century ago. The colonists of Australia have gone forth, carrying with them the independent spirit of the mother country, and exhibit, even in an exaggerated form, the old self-will and impatience of control. Happily, the colonial policy of England has changed since the days of past calamities, and even the last few years have witnessed an advance on the former system of minuteand troublesome interference from home. The Governor of such a colony as Victoria must be a man to deal wisely and temperately with representative institutions, and to bear patiently butjfirmly with the roughness of a new people suddenly placed on a rich territory, with great opportunities and aspirations, and uncontrolled by settled customs or the traditions of a fixed society. He must be to- some extent a constitutional sovereign and a responsible minister in one. No man will bold that, like the occupant of a throne, he can do no wrong, and yet he cannot, like a minister, disclaim the responsibility of anything that is done against his consent. He has duties to the mother country, and duties to the colony. To the sovereign who appoints him, he owes it to uphold the rights of England and the general interests of the Empire, while the recently established institutions of the colony demand that he should govern according to the wishes of the people ; so complex are the duties, so difficult is the position, of the man who rules, by a commission from the Crown, the proceedings of what may be almost styled an independent State. *

Yet that this task may be ably executed we have had instructive examples. Canada, a country lying on the frontier.of a people who are proud to be called aggressive, was less than twenty years ago in open rebellion. Yet under a system of responsible government it has become firmly attached to the British throne; while its internal resources have been developed even more vividly than those of the United States themselves. It is, indeed, only by the careful choice of men that so delicate a machinery can be expected to work. Civilians of a high order of administrative ability, accustomed to the moderation of English political life, must henceforth be the Governors of our great colonies. While Gibraltar or Aden, places which are held for military or postal purposes, may be conveniently placed under the sway of generals or naval officers, it is found more and more unwise to appoint such men to the government of largely peopled dependencies. Distinguished services by flood or field must in future be rewarded by other means than by an appointment to manage the political, commercial, and partly the religious concerns of an intractable race of settlers, proud of independence and rapidly acquired wealth, little inclined to respect anything, and least of all the rank;' and insignia of the Horse Guards.

It seems, indeel, that the Government of the chief colonies must henceforth demand the services of men who may be justly termed statesmen. It remains, therefore, to consider whether some additional rewards ought not to be given to those who devote their time and health-to a difficult and often ungrateful task. The high position of a minister at home, the social regard, the public fame which he obtains, are sufficient to attract the most gifted men to seek the honours of the State. But the case of a colonial Government'is widely different. He quits his country for an indefinite period ;

he breaks up old friendships and associations ; he throws away all the chances which a steady career at home might give, in order to administer in a distant region the affairs of an unset-led people. It is said that in more than one case the expenses of the post are such, that at the end of the year little remains to the Governor out of his official salary. At the close of his term of office he returns to his country some years older, but as poor as he went; he finds himself almost forgotten among his old connexions, and his chances for the future far less favourable than if he had idled away the intervening period in England, instead of labouring at arduous and honourable duties abroad. That these are not mere suppositions is well proved in the present instance. It is no secret that the Governorship of Victoria has been offered to a number of peers and gentlemen, and refused by all. Yet the appointment is worth £10,000 a year, the climate is temperate, and the position as exalted as can well be conceived. But it is supposed, with some reason, that the Governor of Victoria must spend nearly all his salary, and it is known that there is no pension afterwards. We think it would not be unbecoming if the country made some provision for those who have spent a certain number of years in the colonial service. It is surely as just that the laborious administrator who has passed the best years of his life under a tropical sun, or amid the rude politics of the Anti, podes, should be assured a competence in. his age, as that ex-Chancellors should receive their pensions. But this is a wide question. With regard to the particular appointment which we announce, we think we may congratulate the colony and the minister who has last found so able a Governor as Sir H. Barkly. In bestowing such a piece of patronage, the difficulty and responsibility of choice are very great, and the Colonial ..Secretary must be above all others happy to think that the trouble and uncertainty of an interregnum are so for; tunatelv ended.