"UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.'

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 7, 16 November 1878, Page 2

"UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.'

Bt Maooubfin.

"A chiel's amang ye takin* notes, An' faith hall prent 'em.**

How the Mighty has fallen ! Lost week holding forth from the pinnacle of his presumptuous greatness ; to-day, biting the dust into which he sought to grind and trample the erring Loudon. The whirligig .of time- brings about queer changes, axsA ; life is at best but a see-saw — one day at the ' high,, and the next at the low end. Ernest ■ Stephen Thynne you have been taught a '■■ deep and bitter lesson, and have bought*. ■ dear experience of the fickleness of popular I favor. You now know that none soar so high but that they may find their level, and ; that all powerful as you supposed your stronghold to be, it has been levelled with the dust. Iv the plenitude of your arrogance, pride and presumption, I became your foe; by your misfortune you claw, my support ; and by your humility you can win my friendship. You have the ability and qualities to make a good and useful member of the community, hut your egotism destroyed your value, and your pride, like Lucifer, ended m your downfall. Your airy fa brio of personal greatness has been rudely shattered, and you find, when too late, that you had miscalculated your strength and the extent of your influence. The glamor whioh ycu have thrown over your former supporters has been rudely dispelled ? the spell is broken, and you stand to day upon the ruins of your former greatness. In this your hour of tribulation and desolation the pangs will be none the less when you remember that you did not spare a fallen foe ; and that, deeming yourself invincible*, you laid on the lash with no sparing hand. Were my words prophetic when I said that it was just possible you would be allowed to sip of the delights of obscurity whioh you were so anxious to provide for your foe. Like your opponent you have erred ; like him you have been deeply punished, and that the lesson will make each of you the better men, and the more useful citizens, is the worst wish of " Magguffin.*' It is extraordinary how candidates take their constituencies into their confidences at election times, and acquaint them with little facts which have been buried m oblivion, only to be exhumed upon those especial occasions. Mr Henry Sanson has lately been on the stump, and m his selfglorification he has been indiscreet enough to " let the cat out of the bag." For the first time I learn that Palmeraton regrets the day upon which it became a borough. Well, this ie news to me ; and were it not that it has come from the lips of such an authority, 7 should first demand to " see the documents" before accepting the statement. Far be it from me tc eontvadi.t Mv Sanson ; far be it from me to hint that the regret is purely mythical, but it certainly would have been more satisfactory had Mr Sanson stated the source of his inf ovulation. Then again, Mr Sanson declared to his admiring audience that he had been offered the County Chairmanship, wliich hi* innate modesty and humility precluded him from accepting. Mr Sanson did not tell his hearei-s that he ever regretted doing so, and as he was evidently making a clean breast cf it, I suppose such was not the ence. This also is news to me, and upon consult, ing the " documents " of the Council I grieve to say there ie no record of that heroic act of self-denial. Perhaps Mr Sanson was offered the Chairmanship at one of tho. caucus meetings for which the late . County Council was so celebrated, but if so,

I Mr Sanson should have made that fact I known, and not have gained credit for magnanimity and sacrifice of ambition. It is one thing to make promises or offers over walnuts and wine, and another to hare motions carried iv solemn conclave. Fie, [ Mr Sanson, I would aot have thuuk it ! " All the' world's a stage .... and one man ir* his time plays many parts." .So | sang the immortal Bard of Avon three hundred years ago, and Colonial experiences | are not calculated to. falsify the . words of "tlie poet.. The pedlar of to-day is- the preacher of to-morrow ; and the auctioneer of one week is the author or artist o£ the next. Little did the struggling Julius Yo* ;gel dream when he pounded- his. pill., and weighed his drachms m a shanty upon an obscure- Victorian goldfiel-?, that he would ' yet become a belted knight -, or when, pounds were so scarcey tha. his- name would one day carry weight upon, the London 'Change, and the negotiating- of millions be .eft to- his charge-. Did little Ben. F_rjeon ever dream when he was snatching type, as journeyman printer, that he would one day become the first living, writer of fiction, upon whom, the mantle of Dickens, is- said, to have fallen ? Could anyone have imagined that that very' commonplace member of tlie" ■ Sydney Legislature — Robert Lowe — would; one day become the- Chancellor of the English Exchequer, the rival of the great Disraeli ; or that Hugh Ciiilders, who never attained mediocrity m the Colonies-, as a statesman, would become First Lprd of the Admiralty of the first navy m- the world ? Did the whaling; companions of poor Vincent Wallace, dream that their happy-go-lucky messmate* who was, never out of a. scrape, would have his name handed dawn, to posterity as the composer .of " Maritana," perhaps, tlie most popular opera ever placed upon the stage ?- These men have all achieved greatness, and I ' notice another star has.arisen m the firraanent, and one who has hitherto done not a : little to make his name famous — or perhaps. I should more properly say, notorious. I allude to the Rev. George McCulloch Reed. That member of tlie Church militant, not being of a meek, and lowly, nature, the cassock of the parson sat uneasily upon his portly person, so, the ctobb was laid down for the pen, and the pulpit forsaken for the editorial sanctum. Since then the ex-reverend gentleman has. appeared m many roles. Auckland was favored: with presence for some time ; then his name figured conspicuously m Dunedin. m an. attempt to reduce the rate of wages — out of pure philanthropy — *md bring the printers of that city to a state of serfdom. The attempt signally failed,, the paper came to grief, when by som& means the ex-Rev. George became proprietor of the Guardian. His breath, like the upas tree, had a blasting influence, and the Guardian sliared the fate of the News. Aidad by the money of the Proudfoot Ring, and a contemptible ruse, the Otago Daily Times changed hands, the Rev. George was placed at its head, and from that day its death-warrant was sealed. ' Ab rata desert a sinking ship, Mr Reod. has an eye to Number One> and t now hear- that he is. about to recuperate his shattered: health and empty pocket at the- expense of the Colony, by a two years-*' residence m Epg- ; land as an emigration, agent. It was not for nothing that Mr G. M. Reed acted, as chief bugler to. Sir George Grey on his trip to Waitara,. and sounded his peans of triumph so lustily. "One good turn deserves another," and the truthful scribe is at last to get lhe reward of his services. I cannot but smile a.t the following compliment paid to him m the. columns of tho Wellington Chronicle : — " Mr Reed is an able writer, a fluent speaker,, and- possesses. a charm ol manner which servos to, d*aw men towards him." A charm which- draws men towards him. Well, so he has ; but such a charm as that possessed by the snake which lures its victim to destruction