ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 571, 22 January 1851, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the “New Zealand Spectator.'' Wellington, January 17, 1851. Sir, —“ Who is here so base that would be a bondman?”—thus emphatically asked 8.-ulus • of the Romans: the same question might well be put to the Wellington Settlers, for too many are indeed blinded by the deceiving glare with which the traitors to their country and fellow r co!onisti> allure the unwary to their own desI. traction. Surely’ there are some who have not become so debased, so apathetic, as to forget ; that they are not bondmen but freeborn Englishmen, men who ought to burn with shame at the very idea of being cajoled, and without a struggle deprived of one ofthe greatest of privilege's, - that of being able to come boldly forward and express each man unreservedly his opinion on those subjects which are now being mooted in ; reference to the future form of Constitution for i this Country. It is to be feared almost without 1 a doubt that very many of the settlers in Welj lington are the slaves of a few miserable facI tious creatures, who are striving with fiendish | energy to strengthen the chains which bind | their unhappy’ victims. | It :s, difficult to conceive how anyone can ? watch the proceedings of the meetings, | or, with feelings of disgust read the wretched I productions which from time to time appear in | the Wellington Independent, and fail to perceive I settlers who are thus cajoled really aye | “the puppets and obedient servants” of | a weak faction,, the members of which, | when concocting together in private the poison ? to be instilled into the minds of their obedient I servants, chuckle at the idea that they are s cleverly deceiving the settlers at the very time | they are only working for their own selfish interests. The very way in which the public -meetings are conducted should open the eves pofany intelligent person to the practices adopted i »y tnese conspirators. | The question of the principles involved in a Representative form of Government is one | which has for centuries, and to the present day ■ does still, puzzle the wisest heads in Europe. Nevertheless the would-be considered wisemen lof Wellington come forward and produce a form of Constitution, drawn up in a crude huri ried manner, and containing all sorts of absur- ■ dities which they call upon the settlers at the next meeting to pledge themselves to adopt. ’ I he wisemon are unable to, and would notif they r could, instruct those most interested in these subi jects, and yet though ignorant, the settlers are I so enslaved that they are actually expected by ; these men to assent to the resolutions to be t proposed, and to stultify themselves by lending ■ themselves to the carrying out the object for which themeetinghasbeenrealiycalled. Those whoattend are very likely to be cajoled by clap-trap speeches, by sophistry which only perplexes but cannot convince, until at last their minds are so bewildered that it becomes almost impossible for them to perceive the true motives which actuate the speakers. And ifit should happen that one more cautious than the rest, more : alive to the trickeries of mob orators, discovered | tnetrue andattempted to warn those pre- ' °ent not to be led away by seemingly plausible i arguments, would he be able to command atention? Most certainly not; for the truth would 'ot be palatable, since a fair honest statement ot facts, it is well known, would completely exJ ) / )Se , be absurdities and misrepresentations of 4 act ' on ’ w h° by means and at all times ueavour to prevent free discussion. t °* ore . **• ’ 3 to ° late, let the men of Wellir.gour t on ®*d e £ w ell whether they are following whotk , fullest extent their own desires, or not t ’’7 nre blindly led by those who do Tnpm 13 V 0 'eave them to their private judglend H 01 .’f *b e y a llow a miserable Fact' ■ lein > they will assuredly bring . 1

on themselves, and they should remember there are some among them who will witness this degradation with shame, some who hold communication with other settlements, with other colonies—with Home— and are not likely to remain silent on such a subject, the contemplation of which can only fill the breast of every true Englishman with indignation and surprise, that a small band of his countrymen should have been so ensnared by the machinations of a few pretended zealots, as to become enervated and unworthy of belonging to that great nation on whose dominion the sun never sets.

Before it is too late let the men of Wellington shake of! their dangerous apathy,—the Circean charm can and must be broken, —then will they be filled with abhorrence and recoil, as from the slimy embrace of a serpent, from the society of those who are trying to hold them spellbound; then will they bitterly reflect on the degraded position they have so long occupied; then will they see that the self-styled defenders of liberty wereonly actuated by ainalignantfeeling towards Sir George Grey; that, filled with intense malevolence, their object was merely to impede his government, and, if possible, by screening their motives, placethemselves in the position of taskmasters and despotic legislators over their fellow-colonists (one sickens at the bare idea of classing them as fellow-colonists). No generous sentiment ever emanated from them; in no way do they stimulate and encourage the settlers in legitimate pursuits; from their acts one is led to believe that their design is to impede the industrious from gaining that competency which would place them far above their evil advisers, out of whose hands they would soon take the control offuture legislation. Fellow Settlers ! consider these things well; and ever remember, particularly on those occasions when smooth words are addressed to you by the Faction, that the definition of the word Party (speaking collectively of those who band with the Factious) is “ The madness of many for the gain of a few.”

Your obedient servant, Achates.