THE WOULD-BE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF CANTERBURY.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 741, 21 May 1853, Page 2

THE WOULD-BE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF CANTERBURY.

Amongst the characteristics of the Canterbury Association, — as developed under the prac* lical directorship of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield. and a few (o'onizers of congenial views and objects—no attentive observer of its pr°" eeedings can fail to be struck with >ls egotistical, intolerant, and domineering spirit. Puffed up with a conceit of its own superiority, the darling of Peers and Prelates

who meant well, but judged, in ibis manor, indiscreetly, it would, i fit could, have exorcised an authority amounting to despotism both in ecclesiastical and civil concers. It would have shut out from a rich and broad district of New Zealand all who did not conform to its views of religions doctrines and ritual; or, failing this, would by a system of unmitigated compulsion have forced them to contribute largely to the support of its own Church, however conscientiously they might dissent,from it; and, in political matters, it would have established for its settlement an imperlwn in imperio which would render the Governor of the colony the mere agent mid administrator of whatever schemes the Committee could manage by their influence or intrigues to get sanctioned in Downing Street. One of the most offensive manifestations of ihe disposition to domineer in the hitter sphere of action may be found in their efforts to dictate to the Governor as to the appointments he should make to public offices in the Settlement. Common sense as well as constitutional principle would surest that the Queen’s Representative, on whom the weight of so great a responsibility especially before a representative consiiVuiion bad been granted to the colony,— should be at liberty to exercise bis judgment

in placing in those positions of local trust the patronage of which usually rests in the hands of a Governor, the individuals whom he might deem most likely to advance the interests of the public service; but the Association, however it jpiighl concede to him litis right in the ether Settlements, would not, if they could help it, permit him to exercise it at Canterbury. Accordingly, we fmd in die recently issue Blue Rook a lengthened eorrespou lence on the appointment of Mr. Howard to be post-master at Lyttelton, which was protested against by the Committee of the Association, as well as bv some in the Settlement, “because a stranger instead of a resident colonist bad hem appointed to a local office.” The ‘•stranger” was—according to the Governor’s explanation to the original complainants,— “ati old and deserving servant of the local Government in the same colony, and in the same department in which he had served for several years;” and Mr. Under Secretary I. Peel (in a letter to Mr. Alston. Secretary of the Association) intimated Lord Grey’s confidence that the Governor bad acted rightly, and added “Ills Lordship tints! remind the Association that lie did not give them anv reason to expect that all appointments ai Canterbury would be necessarily filled bv Canterbury colonists,”

Our immediate object, however, is lo point (Milan at tempi at this kind of dictation, in which the name of Mr. Henry Sewell the doughty leader of the opposition to the Cheap Land Regulations—occupies a conspicuous place. This gentleman was Deputy Chairman of the Association, and. Lord Lyttelton being witness, was “more conversant with the details of its affairs than anv other member of it.” Now, the labourer is worthy of his hire, and the Association will inclined to provide after its own fashion for Mr. Sewell, and another active member, Mi*. Henry Selfe. Accordingly, in April •f Bo I. the Committee wrote to Lord Grey, thanking him for his previous kindness in recommending, “upon their application,” that Captain Simeon should be appointed a Resident Magistrate, and now “venturing to request the same favor on behalf of Mr. H. Selfe and Mr. Sewell for the respective offices of Judge and Attorney-General in the province (of Canterbury) when constituted.’ A glimpse of the more secret working by which the Association pursued its ends, is afforded in the sentence following,—The Committee may perhaps he allowed to refer lo Lord Lyttelton's private letter to your fr rdship of the 219 th of March , for a more particular account of these gentlemen .” Mr. Hawes, (then Under-Secretary), in reply staled, that Lord Grey “would give full weight lo the recommendationbut added the discouraging intimation that his Lordship was not satisfied that, even if Canterbury were formed into a separate Settle meat, a separate Judge would be required for it.

Only two months had elapsed when the application to Lord Grey was renewed, and, this time, not Mr. Alston, but Lord Lyttelton himself was the applicant. There evidently was “haste” in some quarter to secure the appointments. We are not warranted to assume that it was on the paid of Mr. Selfe; at all events, we should wish to believe that it was not, if there were any likelihood of his being made a judge in the colony, as it is quite enough to have one Judge in New Zca- » laud who cannot “wait for the slow and tardy process of the law.” Perhaps i; was Mr. Saveli who was in a hurry. Re this as it may, Lord Lyttelton, in Jane 1851, wrote to Lord Grey, expressing the hope of the Committee that his Lordship “may not be indisposed to act at once" as they had requested, and urging him to “ write h;i the first opportunity to the Governor of New Zealand,” recommending Mr. Selfe as Judge,

and Mr. Sewell as Attorney-General. Lord Lyttelton further asked that Lord Grey .would communicate to the Committee “a copy of any Despatch he may write to the Governor on the subject.” Lord Grey comp ied with this latter request, by sending to the Committee an extract from a Despatch to Sir George Grey, dated July 3, 185-2. As this has a general bearing reaching beyond lids particular case—we copy the whole of it:

“The Committee of Management of the Canterbury Association” have expressed their x\ish that in the event of your having at any lime to recommend names for appointment to the offices of Judge and Attorney-general of the Canterbury Settlement, you will consider that of Mr. Henry Selfe Selfe in reference to (he first, and of Mr. Henry Sewell in reference to the last ol these offices.

1 do not intend in anyway to fetter your discretion in selecting the gentlemen whom you may have occasion to recommend for these or any other appointments which it may be necessary to make. In doing so, and in making provisional appointments subject fo iler Majesty’s conlir. nialion, you will of course be guided by your own judgment as to the qualifications of (he various candidates for employment, and as to the arrangements best calculated to be of advantage to the public service ; but as it appears that the

gentlemen I have named possess, the confidence of the chief promoters of the Canterbury Association and of the settlers, I should he clad ifyou should be able to select them for these offices,

should ild)e necessary to create them. Rut considering (lie small amount of legal business which appears to be as yet transacted in the several Settlements of the Southern Provinces, and the improbability of its rapid increase, it appears to me that, even if Canterbury should lie formed into a separate Province having is lined courts of its own, an arrangement might he made by which the judicial and other legal appointments within it might be held by the same persons who hold similar appointments in other Settlements or Provinces. A similar arrangement has been adopted in some of the West India Colonics, and hitherto with success,” The import of all this is sufficiently intelligible. Lord Grey wished to be civil to the Association, but at, the same lime he did not wish these appointments to be made, seeing that it could not be done without actually creating unnecessary places for the purpose of quartering Messrs. Selfe and Sewell on the public. The friends of those gentlemen had certainly been early enough in their application, for, at its dale, Canterbury had not been erected into a separate Province. And when subsequently this was accomplished by the division of the Colony under the Constitution Act, Mr. Sewell was as early in the held as was well possible, so that—although bis mission was declared to have a special object distinct from an At-torney-Generalship —yet if the AttorneyGeneralship were open, be would—whether by intention or accident we do not presume to say—be within call. Rut thesehemesof mice and men areoften frustrated; and such has been the fate of not a lew of the schemes of the Managers of the Association as to colonial appointments. If, as some well informed persons at home believe, they aimed so high as even the nomination of a Governor, they have not get succeeded ; and we are under no serious apprehension that either Mr. Go: Hoy or Mr. Gibbon Wakefield will be inflieied on the Colony in that office. Mr. Jackson was, at their desire, made the V>h\u)\)-designate of Canterbury ; but be visited the settlement, saw for himself how matters stood, returned to Enghmd (as tin 1 good people at Canterbury fondly supposed to come back their consecrated P shop,) but. having changed his mind , has stalled down in the comfortable and sicure Suburban benefice of Stoke Newington, presented to him by bis old friend and palron Ihe Bishop of London. His retirement from the colonial dignity is understood to have been a I tog ■! her voluntary ; bnl alas for the would-be legal functionaries. the two Henries—Selfe-Sewell, and SewellS I,'e-Selfe—(the repetition is a suggestive coincidence!) —They bad not, and are not likely to have, any opportunity to choose whether or not they will be respectively a .lodge and an Attorney-Genera! in New Zealand.

We leave it to the reader’s own sagacity to determine whether this chapter in Mr. Henry Sewell’s history throws any light on the temper and spirit towards tin; Government which that gentleman has manifested since his arrival in the colony, kis however a fact confirmed by all experience, that disappointed suitors for place are frequently the most hitler and unrelenting fault-finders and agitators. Perhaps this is human nature: but it is human nature not in one of its most amiable aspects.