MR. FOX AND HIS "MINUTE." (From the "Wellington Spectator," Aug 21 )

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 675, 2 October 1852, Page 3

MR. FOX AND HIS " MINU TE." (From the " Wellington Spectato r," Aug 21 )

It was lather an injudicious step on the part of the Wellington Independent to bring- under the notice of its readers the pamphlet published in England by Mr. Fox, containing what he with great affectation designates as his " Minute on the Government of New Zealand." It is clear Mr. Fox never intended that publicity should be given to in the colony, where the many gross falsehoods with which it abounds would 'not for one moment pass current. It was only to be circulated privately at home, with the view to deceiving by infamous misrepresentations a particular set as to the true political position of New Zealand as a colony. Had Dr. Feather&on at the present time any control over the Independent, no allusion whatever would have been made in reference to the existence of such a pamphlet, the greatest secrecy would have been maintained on the subject, and were it not that happily we are in possession of a copy, the settlers would have been kept in utter ignorance of the scandalous manner in which Mr. Fox has tried to identify them with his proceedings in England in regard to the public affairs of the colony. From this precious document did Dr. FVathereon frame the resolutions which appeared in the Independent of the 4th inst., and which were said to have been adopted by persons "styling themselves the settlers' Association." To these resolutions we propose, at a future period, to call further attention in reference to the way in which Lieut. Governor Eyre is made a stalking horse of, and who, by all accounts/is said to have given himself up to the entire guidance of one who made a Northern settlement too hot to renderjhis residence there at all comfortable. But we are digressing — " Mevenovs a nos moutons" In its, remarks on the pamphlet before us, and in the extracts given from it, the Independent, we must admit, did its best to present Mr. Fox in as favourable a light as possible, and no doubt it will be with much chagrin that Mr. Fox'& friends will find that, in spite of allj the care and ?ecrecy adopted, the settlers are to have " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing hut the truth." We publish in our columns or to-day the correspondence with which Mr. Fox prefaces his " Minute ;" in what way he expected that this correspondence would tell in favor of himself we cannot conceive, unless lie wished his friends to see that he had corresponded with a Secretary of State, after the manner of the old woman who boasted of having once been spoken to by Royalty, and when asked as to the nature of the conference replied, " I was told to get out of the way." It is very certain that Mr. Fox was told to "get out of the way," for our readers will learn with no surprise that Earl Grey declined not only to give him a personal interview, but also looked upon him as an impostor, and would not acknowledge him as in any way representing the opinions of the settlers, or recognise him as their agent. Mr. Fox was not to be " put down" by this well deserved snubbing, he wrote again to the Colonial Office, but his letter seems to have been treated with contemptuous silence. Indeed Earl Grey well knew that in saying with such cool impudence, " of the fact of my representing the "Wellington colonists, there can be no doubt," Mr. Fox was asserting that which was notoriously untrue, for he never was selected as the " Honorary Political Agent of the Wellington colonists ;" the colonists never would have inflicted on themselves the injury which must have resulted from the appointment of a man so devoid, as Mr. Fox has shewn himself to be, of honorable principle and integrity of purpose. Indeed we have only to refer to his conduct as Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company, to the Duppa-Compen-sation-Job, to his making a violent partisan of Dr. Featherston by holding out hopes of his succeeding him as Company's Agent ; — the legal adviser of the Faction being kept as active as a little ferret, by promises of the emoluments to be obtained in preparing the conveyances from the Company to its land purchasers ; loans of money at a high rate of interest, but promises of " no pressing .* " — by these means did Mr. Fox hope to organize a party to embarrass the Government. At home the publication of his book on " the six colonies of New Zealand," and now his u minute" give ample proofs of the justness of the estimation in which the colonists of Wellington held Mr. Fox. On his leaving the colony his parasites invested him with the title of Political Agent, but against such an assumption the colonists almost unanimously protested : and of this Earl Grey had been made acquainted. Again, on referring" to the correspondence, which fry the bye only contains one laconic reply from the Colonial Office, it will be seen that Mr. Fox has the, assurance to state that "it will be a serious disappointment to the colonists that, after travelling so great a distance for the purpose of laying their views before her Majesty's Government, at this important crisis of the affairs of the colony, I am denied the facile and effective method of communicating their sentiments by a personal interview, with Lord Grey." Now tins is just part and parcel of Mr. Fox's deceitful character. Is there, we would ask, a single individual in New Zealand — aye, eveiiDr.Featherstonehiniself — yrho could with any regard to truth assert that Mr. Fox's object in " travelling so great a distance" was " for the purpose of laying these views before her Majesty's Government ?" Are there, we would ask, half a dozen persons in Wellington who suffer " serious disappointment:' ' because Mr. Fox was unsuccessful in obtaining the interview sought with the Colonial Minister ? Is it likely, we ask, that Mr. Fox, a man of penurious habits, would have incurred all the expense of a voyage home and long residence in England, unremunerated, for the sole purpose of laying " the views of the colonists before her Majesty s Government?" Is there the smallest particle of munificence or patriotism in the man's character which would have led him to the performance of such an act? And, we may further ask, is it at all likely, if the colonists had appointed Mr. Fox their Political Agent, that they would have sent him home, and allowed him to defray his expenees out of his own pocket ? The whole thing is so absurd we have scarcely patience to write about it. The " minute" is a tissue of gross falsehoods and perverted facts. Our language is strong, but we mean it, and challenge contradiction. Mr. Fox's public character is as much in pur power from the statements he has made, as is a mouse in the claws of a cat. He has falsely declared himself to be the agent of the colonists, and as an organ of the public we will expose the falsehood. Will the Independent dare to come forward in justification of Mr. Foxs conduct, past and present, and, say it has received the full concurrence and approbation of the colonists of this settlement ? Can any truly honest man say that he conscientiously approves of Mr. Fox's conduct ? — Will his friends alledge that it is to be justified by the pernicious and Jesuitical maxim that the end sanctifies the means ? Away with such base argument; it cannot justify dishonorable actions. It is not our present intention to bring before our readers the many falsehoods inserted in the "minute," which is a recapitulation, a heaping together of those contained in his book on the colony. We took the opportunity in the eai ly part of this year, in reviewing that book, to exhibit in true colours Mr. Fox's real character: the remarks we then made will, in most in->Unce?, ap^ly nl=o to the statements coi t lined in thti " minute" and in the appendix. But we can assure our renders they may rely most faithfully on our doing justice to the character of the pamphlet and of fh'e writer. Mr. Fox has made himself public property; when in the colony he anonymously made assertions which he knew to be unsupported b> facts, I'ut now that he is re moved from us and does not dread immediate detect ior, he does nut hesitate to put his name to them,