SIR GEORGE BOWEN ON THE CRISIS IN VICTORIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 56, 6 March 1878, Page 4

SIR GEORGE BOWEN ON THE CRISIS IN VICTORIA.

Sir G-Porge Bowen, in his speech at the dinner given on the occasion of the opening of thfl Juvenile Industrial Exhibition at Ballarat oa the 15sh ult , thus referred to the political crisis ia Victoria :— l! I would once more recommend to both Houses of Parlhtneufc mutual forbearance nod mutual concessions. (Cheer?.) As icy hou. friond Mr Jenner ea'ul just now, I believe the clouds that hang over ua will soon be dissipated by the good sense and forbearance of both pirliea. Gantlemeu, I need scarcely cay that this ia not a place or time to introduce parly politics, but the position of the Governor being absolutely neutral, is not a question of party politics. His position becomes in troublous times very difficult and i3olalated, end one that ahoaKi command (he sympathy of every generous mind. (Hear, hear.) The Governor is (he only public man in the colony who has Dot abundant opportunities of explaining and defending his couduct, for recollect, gentlemen, I have really none. My countrymen, of all claaees and parties — (bear, hear) — will do me justice, and my few critics will be covered with ridicule and confusion. Apain I have been accused of apparent insouciance in stormy periods, but, gentlemen, maik my words, that the time will soon come when it will be universally agreed that it was fortunate for Victoria that during the gust of passion which has lately swept over the land there was at 1-aat one public man, and that mau fliH Governor, who has kept his temper unrtffl-d, bis heai coo', and his hand firm aG<l steady. (Cheers.) On the other nsnd we well know that there are a set of excellent and well meaning pp. 1 sous in this colony, and chiefly in Melbourne, generally respectable, in nil ihe social relations of life, but with little political influence, and for the most pan hostile fo free Parliamentary institutions on the English modtl. Tht^e i-.ra th* people of whoua my amiable predecrssor, Lord Canterbury once wrote, " They bitterly revile every Governor who reu ses blindly to enlist himself as a member of their party." (Cheers.) Nay, more, these worthy gentlemen, generally so harraldßs and respectable, — 3eem to be occasionally— whan the poliiieul barometer points to Btormy, seized with a strange homicidal mania. I am told they have been roaming about the streets of Melbourne, boaaiing they have already killed two Governors, find that I may expect a similar fate at their hands. Keally at first sight, no one would suppose that my worthy friends are killing in any sense of the word.Many of you have probably heard the Btory of the lady who had a very stupid old housekeeper. " Ob, Sarah," said her mistress, one day, provoked by some blunder mere annoying than usual, •• You will never set the Thames on fire." "Lawks, mum," was the rßply, "I hope I shall never do anything so wicked," (iaughter). No one certainly would have supposed that my friendly critics, like the old woman in this story, could have been so wicked as to Bet the Yarra on fire, or to kiil any of their fellow-creatures. Anyhow, I defy them to kill me either politically or physically (cheere) Nay, more ; I would give odds that I shall long survive most of my critics. Putting aside all other considerations, there is nothing that prolongs life so much as a good temper and good digestion. Now, the hearts of ray friends seem just now to be overflowing with bile. j\]y heart, on the contraiy, is overflowing with tha milk of human kin (ness towards them and alt the world (luughter.) In all sincerity, if uny man in this colony bears ill-will towards me, " the reciprocity," as the Irishman saidj " is all on one Bide." I hops thafc I shall leave Victoria, as I left Queensland and New Zealand, with the consciousness of no enmity willfully provoke!, of no duty wilfully neglected. (Cheers.) This much is certain, that if I had live years more to pass in Victoria, I heartily wieh them to be like the last have been — five happy yeara for my family and myself — and I should putsue exactly the eatne course iv all r. a^ecis that I pursued hitherto. Li.lee ', I r-annoi <> better ih-in rtpcif wi.at I mer!'/ 8m »i P(.u:ta>ii ..e mf,- Hsu iir.i-.--n-. oridibegan, miitVjU, -.':,■£' v is th - rift <tu<Of a GtiVrniOr i(! m;!'. v (•:>.)*■ .y ili" c-:i:-Blituiionat i»u :oc v; r-.n -.> «.»<). Sovrrei}?.n wLoili h ■ -- ■;■,: "--Qig. W all kuow tli.it '.'*!■ Q■ ;i , H -, r .» walkt-d in thestri.li mi ! o ; . „ j.. u is, Of the COUBU QIIO'.i "Mir- bhH ( V . surrounded li«rs:".f wi<h a cain>i uli o BOtret and irresponsible advisers, >>v eh- has always uiven her full suppon to the Ministry which ha* eoinniuudH • for the time beiog she cocfi leuca of toe majority of tv« House of Omuons — onayearto the Liberals, the Rtxt to the Conßi-rpativee; one year to a GUdstour, ihe ih-t: u-. D — ash. You •/. i ; : vec.ollcc* vwi. :■ I i'-iiiut <i itu.ii h.ii^lv,u i, juni two yen 6 a. •>, L i>ju.,'l S.i Jim s Mt-Cullo'jk iv i.ffio* nud Mr tie^y in Opposiiioa. Mttinner of h.\m LiOc-ra p.rty Under the atsspicrfa of ?h» Nanom-l Reform League, ihun aiUlrr-s.ie I peuiiuns to me, jji-njioi/ me io di^nis.*. Hp James MeCallock aud to <ii .« |y t - P.i lhimant. Woi.i did I jo wi L. i.i.-o petitions. I reftrre-j Diem io m\ > tponsiole advisers, wbo coinm^uat-d iiu confidence of the majority ot the representatives of the p ople, that is, tu.i Commons of Victoria. It has oken beeu Said that extremes meet, and it is umusing tos-e that the extreme conservatives Lave now tukon a leaf of ihe feegfe of (he extreme liberals, out of the

records of the National Reform Lsagoe, and have called upon me, through the origin in the Press, to dismiss Mr R j rry, and to dissolve Parliam u n'. <^-nt "m>n, T say with Virgil, " Tros Tyriusve mihinullo discrimine agelur,' which being interpreted means, ihat I shall treat Mr Bsrry exactly as I treated his.predoce&sor, Sir James McCullock (cheera). Assuredly, it ia astonishing thas there Bhould exist in any British community even a few persons who think it possible that an English Go vernor should follow the example of a JYench Prasident by supporting — in matters, (00, of purely colonial policy — the minority agoiast the majority of the representatives of the people. No.t less astonishing is it that any such persons should dream that it is possible for English slatemen or the Imperial Parliament to permit any Governor to depart thus utterly from the timehonoured principles of Kogliah P«rli«linmrntary Government. Io conclusion, I will repeat once more that so long as I have the honor to hold my present office I shall continue to maintain those principles with increasing vigilance, with inflexible resolution t and with strict impartiality. (Loud' cheers.)