The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1873.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5358, 30 May 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1873.

The leaders of public opinion in New Zealand have generally been soundhearted, patriotic men, who united to the ardent love of the old country, which they brought out with them, the energy and practical ambition of colonists. They desired to leave to their children a better country than they found on their arrival here, and so to modify the institutions they carried with them from England as to adapt them to , the new and altered circumstances. But they never dreamt of wavering in their allegiance to England' because they had transferred themselves from the centre to the remote confines of the Empire, or of exchanging English liberties for cosmopolitan dreams of political license. : In the future we shall be governed by men born in the colony, men who may be expected to be" actuated by that love of their native land which is one of the strongest and most cherished instincts implanted in man. But, happily, experience has taught us that such an instinct does not make native-born Canadians or Australians one whit less patriotic denizens of the. British' Empire, and that we may look forward to the strengthening rather than to the relaxation, of the bond which unites the colonies to the mother country. We have not yet, in New Zealand, arrived at the time when the counsels of men educated in the old country are to be superseded by those of men born in the colony. Happily, for a time, the new men and the old men will work side by side, and old traditions will imperceptibly leaven new aspirations; so that the transmission of the conduct of‘affairs from the'Englishborn colonist to the, native-born ; New Zealander will be no more' than the natural succession of one generation to" the responsibilities and labors of another. But as if it was intended that one of those Providential warnings which so often figure in history should not be wanting to the young generation of New Zealanders,. it. has happened that by a peculiar process, not yet understood by the people, a man who is neither a colonist nor a New Zealander has seized the reins of power at the very time of transition, when the younger generation is beginning to come to the fore. To this fact that the Prime Minister is not a colonist may be attributed a great deal of his ignorance as to the wants and feelings of the people. Although crowds can be whipped up to cheer the second-hand claptrap which was tried and failed on English hustings, it will make no permanent impression here ; the utter want of loyalty to England, whoso Government he so long served, and want ; of' loyalty to those who endeavor to work with him in New Zealand, will soon tell its own~ tale. We do not care to recapitulate now. all the proofs of insincerity which have accumulated since the last session; but at a moment when we feel- humiliated at the-.attitude assumed by .the Government in the face of questions affecting the ,whole Empire, it is impossible not to think without a heartsore feeling on the difference between the present and the past. That the future may wipe out the disgrace which has now been inflicted on us, and that bur sons may emulate the feelings and actions of their colonist fathers rather , than those of a soured Imperial official is our earnest hope. We are reminded of what has been and what might be in . New Zealand, by the earnest and heart-stirring words which an old New Zealand Premier, Mr. Weld, now Governor of Tasmania, recently addressed to an enthusiastic; audience at Launceston, in view of possible war. The tone of his speech is such as we have been accustomed to in New Zealand, and is very different to that of our present Premier’s utterances. Mr. Weld does iiot advise the people of Tasmania to do nothing, and trust -to the British navy to protect them; he does' not spread apocryphal stories abroad to the effect that colonists are to be taxed against their will for the support of the British navy; he does not prefer his own comfort and convenience to the advantage of obtaining the best professional advice as to'the defence of the ports of the colony; but he comes forward, as he would have come forward, in New Zealand, if he had been Premier ' again here, to urge the colonists to remember, that they are sons of‘ the . British Empire, and that on every ground, imperial, provincial,; and personal, they should undertake the defence of their country. Mr. Weld’s speech applies so closely to our own circumstances, as well as to those of. the colony, ho governs, that wo publish an abstract of it to-day. And wo are sure that the enthusiasm it evoked in Tasmania will he to a great extent •re-echoed hero; although it is a melancholy task- to compare the language of our former Premier-with that of our ; Premier of to-day. One remark in this speech curiously;illustrates what, wo have said as to Sir George Gbey’s incapacity to outer into tho feelings of

colonists. Mr. "Weld .said : * I have “ spent my life in constant commnnica- “ tion o'f the most intimate nature with “ colonists, and I have never yet heard a “ colonist maintain that ho would prefer “ to live in a small republic and elect his “ own President for a term of years, to “ living under a representative of the “ Crown and a free Constitution.” No! ho never hoard a colonist maintain anything of the sort ; but he might have heard Sir George Grey hold forth on the advantages of such a state of things, if he had had the misfortune of listening to the extravagances which are admired-as eloquence in certain circles of this colony. Tasmania is a poor country compared' to New Zealand ; but that colony thankfully paid for the services of Sir William Jervois and Colonel Scratchley, and did not shirk the steps necessary for defence on the ground of deficient means. Put what message has Now Zealand for the mother country ? That, while Sir George Grey and his friends travel about comfortably in the Hinemoa, the British fleet must bo relied on for defence against foreign enemies. Contrast with this ignoble view of our duty the following manly words of Mr, Weld:— “Men as individuals “ owe protection to their families, “and if they have self-respect they “ must feel that nothing is more “ contemptible than a community that “ will not raise a hand for its wives and “ daughters, that only cries for some one “ to protect it while it Jives in ease and “ makes money ; money, perhaps after “ all, as bees make honey, vos non volis, “ a spoil to the first strong hand.” There is unfortunately at the present moment another point of contrast between the positions of Tasmania and New Zealand with respect to this question of self-defence. Mr. Weld is able to say,' immediately after a time of party conflict, “Our Opposition will, I doubt not, be “ true to their action when in office, and “ loyally support the Crown and Minis- “ ters in a well-considered, real, and solid “ scheme of defence, not as a spasmodic “ effort, but as a permanent and durable “ scheme, to be one of the institutions “ of the country, capable of expansion “ indeed in time of danger, but for that “ very reason to be efficiently main- “ tained in time of peace.” Ho is able to reckon on the patriotism of the public men of the country, and need not fear that any leading colonist would refuse to carry out what his political opponents had commenced for the safety of the country. Lord Normanby, whom we all know as the mostloyal, straightforward, and practical of Governors, has unfortunately not been able to hold such language. When he urged their duty in the question of defence, on the present Ministry, the Premier met him with curt rudeness. The representative of the Crown and the Ministry which had been in office before him had obtained from the Imperial Government the services of officers who had been sent to advise all the colonies in these seas as to their defences. This was quite enough to induce a man who is not a colonist offensively to decline those services. It has remained for his colleagues to make at the last moment “a spasmodic effort,” on finding that the most bitter indignation was growing up in different parts of the colony ; and that, if war found us unprepared and disaster was to ensue in any one of our chief ports, Sir George Grey and his Government would disappear amid such a storm of angry contempt as no Government could earn in the ordinary course of political warfare. _ ’ The whole of Mr. Weld’s speech is well worth reading, and we would: especially draw the attention of volunteers to the'practical advice which he gives to' officers and men. !