NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, August, 10. 1854.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 944, 19 August 1854, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, August, 10. 1854.

Thej two official documents which we have reprinted to-day supply the material facts connected with the resignation of Mr. , Fitzgerald and his colleagues. In what is called the " confidential memorandum" addressed by theso gentlemen to the Officer Administering the Government, the grounds are set forth which have prompted them to adopt the course which has ended in their resignation, while in his Message to the House of Representatives his Excellency in a very, temperate and masterly manner reviews tHe whole proceedings, and shews most unanswerably that he has on his part fully carried ' out", all tho arrangements lie originally entered into with them, that he has even done more than he promised, and that Mr. Fitzgerald and his friends must be heldi responsible for,.this serious interruption of the business of 'the colony occasioned 'by their late , proceedings. When some weeks ago Mr. Fitzgerald was a]3pointcd to the office he 1 has now resigned, the arr angements sanctioned by his Excellency met with the entire concurrence of himself and his colleagues ; the House of Representatives expressed their unbounded sa- • tisfaction with what had been done, and a testimonial was forthwith unanimously voted to Col. Wynyard for his wise and liberal concessions. What 'has occurred since to interrupt the mutual good un- [ derstanding then entered into, — what has •beeri "clone to disturb the harmony then Juclged td.be so complete ? Has his Excellency. faiktfHn "his engagements in any respect—has he refused in any way to fulfil the conditions on which Mr. Fitzgerald and his friends accepted office ? We find, on' the contrary, he has done more than hef was at first asked by them to do. The appointment of Mr. Bell to the Executive Council and to represent the Government in' the Legislative Chamber, (which in the hurry of his arrangements was at first overlooked by Mr. Fitzgerald), and on his resignation, the appointment of Mr. Bartley to the same office, .giving Mr. Fitzgerald and his colleagues a majority in the Executive Council shews tnis, and afforcls the best proof of the earnest, desire entertained by His Excellency *- to promote the success, of the arrangement. The late crisis looks as though.it was the result of an afterthought, | that MivFitzgeraldis acting on thesuggesI tion of J others, that he was in too great '

a hurry at first to secure the position which chance had assigned him, to weigh maturely the consequences, or to see clearly the results ; and that now he is desirous to take advantage of circumstances to force his Excellency to do .what he distinctly stated from the first he had not the power to do, — and what it was not originally expected, he should do. It is also worthy of remark that Mr. Fitzgerald and his friends have always represented themselves as a Provisional Ministry, whose functions would probably cease at the<end of the session. The policy of those .from whom Mr. Fitzgerald and his colleagues receive their impulse, and whose bidding they follow, appears to bo to provoke a collision between the Legislatures and the Executive, to bring matters to a dead lock, and to derive their, advantage from fishing in troubled waters. But in this expectation we hope they will be disappointed. In the meantime, as far as practical legislation is concerned, — the business for which they had met, — the two chambers arc not much further advanced — {{ a plague o' both your Houses" — than they were at the commencement of the session.

On Thursday evening the Rev. J. Moir delivered a lecture at the Wellington Athenomm, "on the principle of Habit viewed in its relation tothe human mind and the advancement of society." The lecturer introduced his subject by a few general observations, and by a variety of illustrations and some excellent anecdotes shewed the influence of habit on individuals and communities. In illustration of a bad state of habit in' communities, he adduced the tendency to commit crime with impunity in" some parts of Ireland, and the " Peculiar Institution " of America as exemplified in her Slave-holding states; and pointed out the necessity of the enactment by rulers and legislators of such laws, and .the establishment of such systems of Education as would direct the minds of the people to habits of industry and order. Owing to tho unfavorable state of the weather the attendance was not so numerous as usual, but the lecture was listened to with great attention and highly applauded, and at its conclusion a vote of thanks was given to the lecturer.