ANTI-EMIGRATION RADICALISM.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 17, 2 July 1842, Page 68

ANTI - EMIGRATION RADICALISM.

To the Editor of thk Nelson Examiner. ,

Sir — I have been looking for some time past with considerable anxiety for some notice in your columns on the subject of the Anti-emigration Radicals in England. lam well aware, and it cannot be offensive to you to say so, that a newspaper which either represents or directs, as the case may be, the opinions of so small a community as ours, cannot have any very great influence in the mother-country; but still it has some, even if it be only on the minds of those who are interested in the place as having friends here, and those who, having half determined to emigrate somewhere, put themselves out of the way to- obtain information as to the various fields that are open to them ; and you should remember that there is always a possibility that " cast thy bread upon the waters," &c, &c. It has appeared to me that the Radicals at home may many of them be perfectly conscientious in their opposition to any scheme of emigration. Demagogues of course oppose it. It takes the bread out of tlieir mouths by removing their supporters, and thereby lessening the ' evils which have made them what they are, and without which they must certainly cease to exist. But — to leave such men — a conscientious Radical in these days cannot, I think, be a revolutionist — meaning by that term one who would call in physical force to bring about the political and social changes which appear to him to be desirable. Upon what ground, then, can he oppose the affording relief to his suffering fellowcountrymen by so simple and, as far as it goes, so effectual a means ? Well he must know that physical force can produce neither social nor political good of any permanent character. He cannot but have learnt by experience that beneficial changes are those which result from the application of moral power. A people who are in such a state as to be capable of being stimulated into actual warfare with their government are not in a fit state to receive the legislative benefits which the Radical is so anxious to confer upon them. The amount of good which can be done by bringing the moral power of a people to bear upon its legislators must always be limitedjby the extent to which that power exists in*tne people. Its place cannot be supplied by the physical. It may be vexatious to see plainly the way to ultimate relief, and to be denied the use of what we imagine to be the quickest and easiest means of laying it open. This quickest and easiest means would render it impassable when laid open. The want and misery produced 'by overpopulation are not the best of civilizers ; •on the contrary, they brutalize. It is true that increasing wretchedness is increasing evidence «rf an evil existing somewhere, but it neither :rnore clearly points out what is the evil, nor ♦gives any additional clue to* the remedy. If •excess of misery could be effectual in producing ■beneficial social or political changes, we should mot have waited for them until now — Turkey .and Persia would be patterns to the world, and jgrateful Egypt would anew have deified her •oppressors. It is necessary that the people themselves should be so far advanced as to have some idea of the evil, the remedy, and, most of all, the mode of applying the remedy, before it can be successful. Does Radicalism in England -expect to produce such results by opposingfitself to every scheme for present and partial relief? • Yes, sir, there is much conscientious Radicalism united with views thus lamentably mistaken — men who feel strongly and reason weakly — enthusiasts who believe all, but Jnave reasoned up to only half— who, having the most undoubting faith in the peaceful progress of improvement, are more anxious to see its speed increased than careful to provide against obstacles which they look upon as too unimportant to impede it. All improvement is gradual, that of the human race especially slow. It is to delay^that improvement — it is to put off the time when the moral power of the mass shall be sufficiently great to bear with effect upon their legislators — to add to the misery which debases, to prolong unnecessarily the pinching want which is the most prolific source of vice and ignorance. To ameliorate the condition of tbe working class, by whatever means, is to hasten the time when they shall be able to demand, "vitii a power, peaceful, yet irresistible, the rights which have been so long denied them. But I must stop. I have written already much more than accords with my original intention, which was only to throw out some hints on a subject which appears to me to be important, that you might, if you thought proper, present them in an improved form to your readers. I remain, sir, Your obedient servant, Fiducia.

The following is the letter referred to in our last as addressed to the editor of the Neva Zealand Gazette :—: — '* Sir — The commissioner appointed by her Majesty's Government in England to inquire into and investigate the titles of the several claimants to land in New Zealand, having arrived in Wellington, with instructions from Captain Hobson to proceed to investigate and adjudicate upon the titles of the New Zealand Company, and the several parties claiming land within their terr toriea, I, with the body of the settlers, felt assured that proceedings would be adopted to settle speedily this long and vexatious question. " Two years have already elapsed, and this question, which has hung over oar heads like the sword of Damocles, casting gloom and dismay upon our prosperity, bears as little appearance of being eventually Bettled as it did the first day that it was raised by the British Government.

" The Court of Claims, and its mode of investigation, appear to me to have a tendency to embroil us deeply with the natives, and of eventually bringing on that collision which has been with difficulty prevented by the forbearance and good conduct of the settlers. " On a careful perusal of the agreement entered into between the Company and the Crown, it is clear that, by the appointment of a commissioner, it -was not the intention or the policy of her Majesty's Ministers to throw any doubts upon the titles of the Company, provided they had been fairly anil equitably acquired; and that, under their agreement, it is sufficient for the Company to prove that the chiefs of the tribes of whom they had purchased their lands acknowledge the validity of their purchases, without entering into the evidence of every petty chieftain and freeman who subsequently choose to dissent from the sales made by those chiefs whom they had deputed to represent their several interests. Nothing can be more impolitic than the latter course. A spirit of avarice, which is the predominant trait in the character of the natives of New Zealand, is thereby fully raised, and a hope of repossessing those lands which have been improved whilst in the possession of the settlers, or of obtaining further exorbitant payments, will prompt every petty chieftain and freeman (with but few exceptions) to deny their former contracts, however formally and solemnly they may have been entered into.

" It is very easy for men lately arrived in this colony, and but imperfectly acquainted with the character and usages of the aborigines, to prate and hold forth that common justice and humanity require such an investigation. These are mere idle words, the fallacy of which these very parties will acknowledge after a longer residence in New Zealand and a more practical intercourse with its natives.

" I have been assured that the commissioner had stated in open court that the titles of the New Zealand Company would be confirmed. Then why this unnecessary and idle investigation, which has done already much harm, and answered no other purpose than to raise false hopes among the Maories, and expose to their derision the institutions of the Pakeha. "A Settler."