The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 330, 19 July 1849, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all the endb tlion aims't at, be thy Country s, Thy Goo's, auri Truth's.

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1849.

We this day present our readers with a double sheet, in order to lay before them at once com • plete and authentic copies of the Judgments of their Honors the Chief Justice Martin, and Mr. Justice Chapman, on the important case of the Queen versus Taylor (on behalf of the Kawau Mining Company), the decision in which was briefly notified in our last. Notwithstanding our double sheet, however, we are compelled by the great length of these documents, together with our insertion of the Notices from the Government Gazette of yesterday, to make some postponements until our next.

As injudicious, however well-intended, interferences have often given a man reason to cry " Save me from my friends," so injudicious at • tempts to forward a good cause have often tended to frustrate the object they were professedly designed to promote. An illustration of this is found in some of the recent proceedings of the Anti-Transportation " Protesters "at Sydney. In setting themselves to oppose and denounce the government scheme for the importation and location in their colony of convicts, the filth and off-scouring of Great Britain and Ireland, they occupied a solid and thoroughly defensible ground :— but in directing torrents of abuse against Sir Charles Fitzroy, because the tones of his voice, the " depth of his bow," the attitude in which he stood, and such like matters were not wholly in accordance with the taste of their deputa-

tion, they descended from the proper eminence of their position, and manifested a littleness of mind and a fretfulness of temper veryunbecoming in men who aspired to be the leaders of an important public movement. Had his Excellency's manner been so chilling, repulsive, and discourteous as was represented, however unworthy of his station, and unsuited to the occasion it might have been, the question at issue would not have been materially affected by it, and the deputation would have taken a course more dignified as respected themselves, and better adapted for the attainment of their object, had they passed it over without any recriminatory display of irritation v_ and peevishness. But that his Excellency had not merited the accusations by which he has been assailed, is openly declared by parties whose character and opportunities of information entitle their opinion to respectful attention. One demonstration of this appears in an Address to Sir Charles, presented by a deputation with the Mayor at its head, and bearing, not as our Auckland contemporary strangely misstated it on Tuesday, " a few signatures," but no less than eighteen hundred names. We briefly adverted to this address in our last, but as it and his Excellency's reply are short and pertinent, we subjoin both. To His Excellency Sir Charles Augustus Fitz Roy, Knight, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chiof in and over the colony of New South Wales and its Dependencies, and ViceAdmiral of the same, &c, &c.,&c. We, the undersigned, being thoroughly satisfied that your Excellency has on all occasions, since your arrival amongst us, used your utmost exertions to promote the prosperity of the colony, and to further the wishes of the colonist* ; and believing that your Excellency has uniformly acted in the most courteous manner to all those %\ho have been admitted to your Excellency's presence on public occasions, beg leave most respectfully to express our sense of the injustice of the imputations which have been so unwarrantably cast upon your Excellency by coitain speakers, at the late public meeting, and adopted by the " Sydney Morning Herald " in several articles in that journal. Sydney, 20th June, 1819. [Here follow 1800 signatures.]

REPLY. Mr. Mayor, and Gentlemen, I am much gratified at receiving nt your hands an Address bearing the signatures of so many respectable and influential inhabitants of this colony, expressive of their confidence in T,\y administration of its Government, as I can very conscientiously declare, that in performing the duties of my oflice, I have on all occasions been solely guided by an honest and earnest desire to promote the prosperity of the colony, and to further, f» far as laid in my power, the wishes of all classes of its inhabi- ' You do me no moTe than justice in believing that the imputations which have been cast upon me, of having acted discourteously towai,ls a deputation from a public meeting which recently waited upon me, were not warranted by the circumstances which then took place. On the contrary, it has at all times been my endeavour to treat with perfect courtesy such person 3 at have had occasion to wait upon me on public business. (Signed) CHAS. A. FITZ ROY. Government House, Sydney, 29th June. We advert to this matter the rather because it suggests to us considerations which reach beyond one particular case or an individual Governor. We have bieathed British air too long, and imbibed the spirit of British freedom too deeply to be the sycophants or the slaves of any Ruler. We regard the public conduct of public men as public property, — the legitimate lubject of public scrutiny and comment. But we know that the highest authority enjoins submission to the lawfully constituted powers ; and w e have a sufficient idea of the nature and complexity of the difficulties which Governors of Colonies are called upon to meet and surmount, to lead us to give them credit for whatever of good we find la their proceedings, and to restrain us from pronouncing more of censure on them than duty demands. At all events we feel bound to discriminate between the measures and the men ; to avoid the rash imputation of evil motives ; and to abstain from 'personalities, in which some seem to luxuriate, but which, while they frequently wound, vex, or make obdurate, never convince the understanding, and rarely mould the will of statesmen and legislators. Now, we seriously and calmly ask, what but unmitigated injury can result from such efforts as we have sometimes known to be made, not merely to oppose a Ruler's policy, but to write down the Ruler himself? Their effect on a Governor's own mind cannot be beneficial; the constant reiteration of personal attacks, and that even in cases where he may be most conscious of his own integrity of purpose, must gradually lead him to treat them with contemptuous indifference, if not tempt him to yiew them as the ebullitions of splenetic vindictiveness, rather than the outbreak of a disinterested and high-souled patriotism. The bearing on the cause which it is ostensibly sought to advance by these means must be injurious ; the presumption in many minds will be that where there is so much abuse there can be but little argument ; intelligent men, however strongly they may disapprove of parts of the Government policy, will be unwilling to identify themselves with such weapons of warfare — non tali auxilio nee defensoribus istis — and honourable and generous men will be disposed to sympathise with, and, as far as they can, support an officer against whom bitter shafts are so incessantly aimed. And, let us add, the effect of such writing on the general interests of a colony must be prejudicial. Within the sphere in which it can wield influence, its operation is to create and nurture discontent, and to lead men to satisfy themselves with angry murmurings against the Go vernment, even in matters in which much might be accomplished if they would only put their own shoulders to the wheel and help themselves. And at a distance, such statements can only tend to deter emigrants from venturing into a colony, which, they are, perhaps, told, is vilely wronged, cheated, fettered, and so trodden down beneath the iron foot of official despotism as to afford little it

any prospect of the realization of those benefits which colonists reasonably anticipate as the fruits of their energy and enterprise. Such a course of journalism is the abuse, not the proper use, the licentiousness, not the liberty of the Press. . The foregoing remarks are not without their applicability to more than one newspaper on this side of the woild, The train of thought into which they have led us, suggests, however, the propriety of our saying a word or two respecting an attempt by our local contemporary to embarrass the Governor of this Colony, and hinder the progress of public business, by preventing the satisfactory formation of the Provincial Council which is expected shortly to assemble. He writes as if he would willingly scare gentlemen from the acceptance of seats in that body, by representing their doing so as a sacrifice of independence and a betrayal of principle at the shrine of personal "vanity." But the effoit will, we are persuaded, prove abortive. The peisons to whom that office is likely to be offered can afford to treat such unseemly dictation as it deserves to be treated; and it will be abundantly in their power, by their conduct in the Council, to manifest their freedom from improper control, and their paramount regard for the public weal. The question of the practicability and desirableness of full and immediate popular representation of New Zealand in a Legislative Assembly, stands upon its own separate merits; and the acceptance of a place in the Council as at present constituted, does not necessarily involve any expression of opinion upon it. Moreover, the non-official members (who form the majority) can do much towards giving a clear and poiveiful utterance to the public voice on the subjects submitted to their deliberation. An enlightened, honest, and straightforward man, actuated by no promptings of either " gratified vanity" or mortified vanity in relation to his seat, will have opportunities of usefulness, in the right employment of which he may smile at obloquy, and secure for himself a title to respect and gratitude.

Although we hail with pleasure the number and strength of the demonstrations of public opinion and feeling on the Convict Question, %ye must say that we read with some regret the proceedings of the Wellington Branch of " The Evangelical Alliance " on the subject. This arose not from any dissent on our part, from the reasonings advanced at their Meeting, or from the prayer of their Memorial (which was inserted in our journal a few days since); but, simply from our belief, that in taking it up in (heir avowed capacity of members of the Alliance, they overstepped the limits within which the fathers and founders of the organization with A\hich they are connected, for very sufficient leasons desire that its operations should he restricted. The movement for the fuller manifestation of that union which undoubtedly always existed amongst true and scriptural Christians, has had many difficulties to encounter, not only from the hostility and sneeis of scoilei-s, but from the caution, if not jealousy, of good men, who, while they longed for the attainment of the object, doubted its practicability in the present state of the church and the world. The eyes not only of foes, but of timorous and hesitating friends are intently fixed upon every step taken in the name of the Alliance ; and those most intimately conversant with its affairs, and most deeply interested in its progress, deem it of great importance that it should not be identified with any topic of a semi-political or secular character, or mixed up with movements other than those which were distinctly defined at its several conferences. We much doubt whether the convict question, although it undeniably involves various weighty moral and religious considerations, would be considered by them as coming within its proper and allotted sphere. We trust this observation will not be 'mis-understood. We highly appreciate the motives which prompted the meeting, and the Memorial referred to. We recognise and maintain the right of those who were concerned in the matter, as citizens, as Christians, and as Ministers of religion to exert their personal and official influence in opposition to the threatened evil. Our sole objection is to their publicly connecting the name of the Evangelical Alliance with affairs not contemplated in the frame of its original constitution, and thus introducing a precedent which, for aught we can tell, may, at some other time, or in some other place, be adduced in support of some interference with passing events which, may be less capable of vindication than the present. We heartily desire the prosperity of the Alliance •, and for that reason it is that we respectfully but earnestly advise that its members, as such, should confine their operations within the boundaries which the wise and good men who moulded the parent organization have deliberately and prayerfully fixed upon as expedient and necessary =

The " John Bull," schooner, Captain Robinson, arrived from Hobart Town, on Tuesday, on her way to California. She has brought papers to the 30th of June, several of ■which have been kindly forwarded to us by Mr. Nathan. The press of mailer, however, prevents our extracting from them to-day.