New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1843.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 45, 3 January 1843, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1843.

The recent intelligence from England is of a gloomy, and, indeed, of an alarming character. The pressure of distress appears to have led to the commission of outrages which, if not speedily and effectually checked, could only result in the production of a state of distress more painful than has yet prevailed, and, worst of all, irremediable. The destruction of machinery, which was commenced by the mobs assembled in the great manufacturing towns, could in no wise alleviate the sufferings, or forward the cause of the people ; but, by preventing the resumption of employment, in the event of any favorable turn in affairs, it would have retained thousands ; hundreds of thousands, probably; in a state of destitution, at a time when otherwise they might be restored to comparative ease and plenty. It is, therefore, a subject of congratulation to all who are interested in the well-being of England, that these outrages should be checked; even though this be done by means of the military, and at some sacrifice of the life of the reckless or misguided rioters. There are too many persons, who, like our contemporary, are too short-sighted to see, in these conflicts, anything further than a struggle between the and the poor ; and, though affecting to veil their real feelings under a decent shew of disappi obation, it is easy to perceive that, in truth, they consider it a good -joke that a mill should be burned, or a steam-engine destroyed, and are shocked at the 'ferfince of soldiers to prevent harmless and' excusable recreations on tfye part of the tppb. If it were, in truth, rich and-the poor, this ? feeling would, perhaps, have some claim to indulgence,"in common with many other errors which result .from an individual allowing his .sympathies to prevail over his judgment. But we cannot forget that, in its results, this destruction is a war upon industry; —it is an attack by one class of the working people upon another class ; the violent against the temperate; —too often the dishonest againstalways the improyident against the. the manufacturing artisan who*

hns Contrived to subsist by means of painful self-denial, -until a plenteous harvest, and its concomitant,* a low price of bread* may bring him r and who is deprived of this when it was about v to become available, by the destruction of the factory where he would have found work, it is no consolation that a rich man has "also suffered. And if, by the multiplication of these destructions, a whole district were-thrown out of bread; of* prevented from -earning subsistence wßeri a partial return of plenty might place it within their reach, it would be no alleviation to their distresses to know that the capital which set their industry in motion was absolutely annihilated, and were involved in the same ruin f§mHßß|H|Blmselves. Machinery destroying the those to whom that maemployment; and of all the devised for relieving the distresses of*|ne|poor, that of depriving them of the means of exerting their industry, is surely the maddest. We should hardly have adverted at any length to this Subject but for the extraordinary, and we must be permitted to say, not very creditable article of the Gazette of Saturday. Our contemporary himself appears to apprehend some attacks on account of the intemperance of his doctrines. From us at least he need fear nothing of the sort. It is not the violence but the futuity of his doctrines—their almost incredible folly as proceeding from a person who contemplates all these affairs as a spectator, which strikes us. If the working classes were to gain by these attacks, we might then consider our contemporary as manifesting a somewhat unscrupulous zeal for their interest, and as entitled to some of the epithets which he anticipates. But as it is, the epithet we should apply, if we applied any, would be more brief, and less courteous than any he has suggested. Let it not, however, be supposed that we are indifferent to the sufferings, or blind to the wrongs, of the people of England. We admit that the distress which they have endured, arising, as it does, from unjust and practical legislation, might well drive the most moderate into rashness. There ought to be no country on the face of the earth more abundantly provided in proportion to its masses, with every article of necessity, and with whatever might might minister to the comfort of its inhabitants. But laws, which we dare not trust ourselves to characterize, interpose between the manufacturers of England and the corn growers of other countries, and by making the former dependent upon home produce, expose them 1?o periodical distresses which, with every recurrence become more severe and hazardous. That under the pressure of almost hopeless want aggravated by a sense of injustice, excesses should be committed, is a matter perhaps of regret rather than of surprise ; but for the sake of the sufferers themselves it is essential.that these excesses should be restrained and punished. ' And as the ordinary civil force is apparently., insufficient for this purpose, the aid of the military must be invoked. It will, we trust, be many generations in this country, before any exciting causes can arise, such as are now operating in the United Kingdom ; but it cannot be superfluous, with the example of our contemporary before us, to repeat, that to destroy capital, can never advance the cause, of industry; and that the interests of the labouring classes cannot be secured by'depriving them of the means of employment.

We to intimate, that in consequence of a press id/ business, Mr. Hanson’s Second Lecture on the ‘‘Principles of Colonization,” will not be delivered to night as intended, hut will take place on Tuesday the 10th inst.