EXAGGERATION IN EULOGIANS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 439, 17 January 1857, Page 4

EXAGGERATION IN EULOGIANS.

(From the " Nelson Examiner.") "We men are a little breed." So says the somewhat cynical hero of our greatest living poet's latest poem —it is to be feared with something of truth. And with all the great feats of a material kind for which our own age is re. markable, with all its triumphs over external nature, and the extraordinary results of the practical application or scientific discoveries which are so continually surprising us, we cannot help feeling that the evidences of our " littleness" are in some respects more prominent now than ever. One of the most curious of these is our habit of perpetual self-glorification. Time was when men did great things without being conscious of their greatness. Then they were greatest of all. At a later period, descendingby degrees from that elevation, they were at least content to do the great thing before assuming the credit of having done it; to win the spurs before they buckled them on; to- plant, and prune, and tend, and rear the towering tree of glory before attempting to pluck its fruits. Nay, they seldom tried themselves to pluck the fruits at all; it was left for other hands and later times to bestow them, when their golden maturity had proved the worthiness and skill of the planters of the tree.

But now we scorn all this. No sooner do we conceive the idea of something that may possibly turn out a great thing—that may be the germ of some future success —no sooner, at all events, have we taken the first, perhaps feebl& and tentative steps on the road to such a result, than we gather together and chuckle over the proceeding, and throw ourselves into frantic attitudes of astonishment at our extraordinary daring and wonderful cleverness. The egg is scarcely laid— may, in many a way, turn out addled after all—nevertheless, we immediately set up a distracting clutter of glorification upon the mighty event. And, in another particular,, we ape with slavish exactness our feathered fellow-bipeds. For the moment any one of us has delivered himself of his embryotic idea or project, a number of oar noisy brethren get about us and join in the deafening chorus. There must be a great meeting, a great dinner, speech' ification and clutter incalculable —a bandying to' and fro of compliment and congratulation without end.

Why is all this ? Is it that no one in this age of ours has confidence in himself— can rely on his own inner convictions of what is right and great —can trust to and be satisfied with the verdict of his own heart, his own conscience (conscience! a sti'ange and " parlous thing" to bring into any reference to matters of business, like introducing " a lion among ladies"), on the evidence of these inward witnesses of his proceedings ? Is there not something sadly ludicrous in this necessity for gathering together with so much fuss and noise of people engaged in any noble work, as if they stood in such sore need of each other's encouragement (like small children huddling together in a dark lane for fear of bogles), and waiited, at every step of their progress a loud uproar of applause and assurance that it was all right—that they need not falter and look behind them—that keeping close and hurrying on they would get safe and out of the reach of the haunting spectres and waylaying Appollyons that hover about hearts and imaginations not filled with the light of faith—that is, conviction in the ultimate success of what is right, and noble, and true. .

Without speculating further on the cause of this peculiar phase of the littleness of our age, we will remark) that a notable example,, of it is recorded in our paper to-day, in the report of a great dinner at Liverpool, given on the occasion of the sailing of the first of a new line of emigrant ships for New Zealand.

Compare the whole tone of such a gathering for a moment with the preparatory meetings of some of the old Puritans—the pilgrim company, already exiles, starting from Holland in their small ships the " May Flower" and the " Speedwell." Does not one fancy a better omen of success in their very doubts and fears for the future, in the humility yet grandeur of their hopes and aspirations, than in all the toasts, and selflaudation, and enthusiastic cheering, and extravagant puffing of the Liverpool meeting ? " And now," says Bancroft, " the English at Leydan, trusting in God and themselves, made ready for their departure. *. * * Anticipating their high destiny, and the sublime doctrines of liberty that would grow out of the principles on

rl ich their religious tenets were established, Fobiiwon gave them a farewell, breathing a .freedom of opinion and an independence of uthority suc h as then were hardly known in .tbi! world. ' After this,' says Edwards, one of the emigrants, ' they accompanied us to Delftluiven, "where we went to embark, and then feasted, us again ; and after a prayer performed ]>V a pastor, when a flood of tears was poured 'lit they accompanied us to the ship, but were notable to speak one to another for the abundance of sorrow to part. But we only, going abroad, <>-aye them a volley of musket-shot and three pieces of ordinance ; and so, lifting up our hands to each other, and our hearts for each other to the Lord our Grod, we departed.' " ilather a different style of feasting, rather a nobler spirit to animate a great undertaking, and a striking contrast to our Liverpool dinner, with its coideur-de-rose and three times threes —a contrast we suggest, not as implying that the feelings or the proceedings Si the long past' 5 ace should necessarily be repeated in ours, or would be the most appropriate to it, but merely that the very contrast may make more easily' discernible the objectionable features of our modern mode of proceeding. The speeches of one at least of the orators from New Zealand will be read with various feelings by their fellow settlers out here, who are acquainted with the actual state of affairs, and accustomed to the sight of the whole of the picture. Bub there are two things to be remarked on this point. One is, that possibly some of the statements made were of that land of careless exaggeration which the joyous abandonment of a convivial meeting might both excite and excuse, an exaggeration which the speaker ac the time intended his hearers should receive as such, and 'made recognisable enough to them by some qualifying laugh or expression or gesr tare indicative of his intentional pleasantry. One remark in particular, suggests this explanation —where Mr. Smith is reported to have declared that " when our New Zealand flax came into play, the cotton imported into Liverpool would be nothing to it.!' We cannot believe any one in his senses would seriously have'made such a remark. And the copper mine at Can- ; terbury suddenly opened in Mr. Stuart Wortley's : speech, looks to us, as we never before have ! heard of it (though this may be our ignorance), ; very much like a joke. But the evil is,that the \ words in such cases are gravely reported, and \ reproduced in print, and the looks or gestures 1 that might have shown them to be intentionally ■; almost meaningless have passed away as comi pletely as the viands devoured or claret imbibed at the feast, r And then these statements are • : read as sober matters of fact by perhaps huni dreds of persons whose whole life will be affec- [ ted by them. | The other remark, apologetic also, which sugf gested itself to us is, that the fluctuations in | agricultural and commercial prosperity are so j great and rapid in these colonies, that any per- | son going to England and even truthfully des- | cribing the state of things in the colony when \ he left it, may, probably enough, be describing | a state of things totally different to that exis- | ting in the 'colony at the time he is speaking. t Thus, the reduction in the price of flour and I agricultural produce, owing to the diminution in 1 tie yield of the gold fields, and the consequent < reduction in the price of labour, and in the | demand for it, is the circumstance which will I render the exaggerations of the highly-coloured J-pu hires of New Zealand prosperity given at the | meeting most exceedingly mischievous. It is h| probable the speakers were not aware of this; tl^ even^s ' that even though they knew the or certainty of the fall in wages and •jdemand for labour whenever the influx of gold ishould cease, they did not anticipate that opssa- , *tion would take place so soon, or perhaps did -JJiot expect it for many years.' ' Jf .rp^ these, we feel, are very lame excuses, and | -will scarcely relieve any reckless disseminators - ;i pt exaggerated notions of the advantages of to this country, of any portion of blame attachable to those who wilftdly others. And here, by the wry, we canhelp remarking how easily your sharp I'^nercautile men are deceived, in this age when yslurpness and keenness in money making is so ■jnueh admired— one of the really respected Virtues—how gullible are the great ones in this f ne ;. llow ttie voracious open mouth seems to a>»e its power of discriminating tastes, and in ,3jjs> eagerness for gain may swallow down a loss, self-punishment for indulgence in a not

very ennobling passion, Still, this is no excuse for those who intentionally, or from mere recklessness deceive them; and we hope there are more of our fellow-settlers who will feel a kind of inward blush at the exaggeration on the occasion we are speaking of, than those who will chuckle over it as a piece of successful puffing, or a dexterous stroke of allowable humbug. Our Nelson men, at all events, we hope, will distinguish themselves always by an avoidance of this objectionable mode of attempting to push their province forward.

For it will probably give some serious trouble to the Wellington Government to settle the immigrants brought out by it comfortably and quietly. The laboxir market in any. of our settlements is so easily overstocked ; the population in each is so small; our immediate means so limited ; that it is the first duty of everyone taking an active part in initiating emigration at home to keep this fact in view, and most carefully regulate their proceedings accordingly. There really is no excuse for overlooking it; on so many occasions it has been practically forced upon the attention of most who have mixed in public affairs out here.

In this settlement, too, it is not impossible that the depression which is felt here in money matters, as well as in the rest of New Zealand, may make the disposal of the emigrants that are soon to arrive here a matter of a little difficulty; one thing is at least certain, that we should endeavour to increase to the utmost the facilities for getting upon land. That is always our last and best resource; we know that the labour of every man upon land, will produce him all the necessaries and most of the conveniences of life, before many years are over, providing only that he is steady, industrious, and hopeful. The members of our Provincial Council should therefore make themselves thoroughly well acquainted (if they are not already so) with the working of our new Land Regulations; in order that if they offer any impediments to the acquisition and settlement of the Waste Lands, these may be removed, and any positive means experience may suggest, for more speedily throwing open for occupation any new district, or tempting new comers to settle upon good land, may be adopted in the shape of additional or amended regulations. We cannot conclude our ""remarks, however, without expressing our feeling that, somehow or other, all the new emigrants will get absorbed, into our population, and sometime or other, if they are true to themselves, get into a position which will make them well satisfied to have left the " old country." But this we say because of our strong faith in the destinies of the colony ; and not in retractation of any censure we may have passed in the mode of inducing them to come out. Nor should we refuse our mite of applause to the real work and zeal of the Liverpool merchants, whose energy has made them take up New Zealand —whatever we may think of the glorification and extravagant overlaudation of the country which, in compliance with the fashions of the day, have accompanied this first step in their new career.