PARLIAMENT ASSERTING ITS DIGNITY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 591, 25 March 1878, Page 2

PARLIAMENT ASSERTING ITS DIGNITY.

NO. 2.

After the "prisoner" had made his defence, he felt that it was getting uncomfortably hot in the Assembly Chamber, and, with the "Speaker's" permission, he retired, accompanied by his v..let, the Sergeant-at-Arms. Seated in an easy chair in that gentleman's ro an, surrounded by all that a man could wish for, the "prisoner" culd not help pitying the Representatives of the people who were in the Chamber wrangling over his body. The "prisoner's" friends were permuted to visit him in his exile, and every lew minutes the doe]' Would op.-n and in ecstasies someone would ex lain), So-and-so "is a staunch friend, and is giving your opponents ' i.ea-.s ;'" or, with woe-!>.-gone visage, -'.[;..- ail U-P, and you had bet: -rmake your wi i." 'l'h" "prisoner" would at sueh times saw " What will von have to drink?" for he had

the privilege of d:biking and .-.ir.ol.ing-, ami enabling his fj lends to drink the choicest oijiiors and smoke the finest cigars at Government expense, while he was kept in good sprits by ;he newspaper represeuta-

taves who congivgated in the next room t refresh themselves ami talk over the affair <>r the State. Major I'aul, the mrjteeu-' old soldier anil a gentleman, and .so attache l did the " prisoner' become to his apart meut that when the debute was over, an lie had tu appear once more before the "liar to receive his sentence, it was with a hear heart he left behind him a box of deliciou cigars and sundry other comforts only to b found in a State prison or in the houses c the rich. A glance at the faces of hi enemies betokened the result of the debati and the "prisoner" was not surprised w'iie lie wa- informed by the "Speaker" than Mi Whitaker. the lie. n Attorney-! !en> -ra', won! iie instructed by the Government; to prosi cute the "pi-oner" i'o a libil against member of the l Mivei'imiijnt; And this : the way in which the House di-po-ed of man charged with having committed a breac of jirivil: ge. The fact is that th-ir rau'e v.'t SO great that it could be satisfied with in tiiittir !e-s than :-r> avti-mjit to crn-di the m furiunate journalist who dared to wii e il: truth, ami. finding that they could not ii liict a punishment sufficiently severe to aj pease their wrath, they sent the case to lower tribunal to be dealt wit!). The ne> Seene opens at the Resident Magistrate Court at t: e expira'ion of a week after t! t -iminntio.'i c f tin- debate in the Tlousi ample time having be- il givi 11 to the accuse to ap log he. Stid "bdurate, he found bin if before ili; " beak. ' Wil.T. an indignit 'roei the Assembly Chamber of inrelh u'euee and u|'fed honesty, and t! hiji e r ttil-ii'iH 111 t!ie Sfj-, ■ . to till* t.-ilm-i. wi.er-3 ' he vulvar do coiigia,-gaio. Mr. W'hit; k'-i 1 I','iis to have a "p.-are-i here, but he begji. i l;. ami was onh hei;ii for a moment, «he oe was -,\ ;u : mi:!!- ea:a i .ai'vica to ihe Crow • '■•osecntor. Th; ; i•• way i:i which tli la-e A. ■ t"i ii'y-i'tae.a ai keot: h;a pr.- mise thr lie won!'] pho-e eo «»i.sri-«.-ti»-»i« in the wsm iiu; woui.l p isonal y allbrd tile '-prison; r every facility during the. tiial. There was, accoraiiig to the idea el" th tliree Justices ot ihe Peace who sat upo the bench on the occasion of the trial of th '• prisoner '' in the Wisiiinub'n Resident M; io-trate's Court, a prmix i'o.Cr' case. and ii was "committed to take histiial at the ne> criminal se-sious or the Supreme Court i Ituiieibi!. Ii was at this period of ;he pn seen turn th A. t lie aeeitsed became the sul iiet of very considerable ;itI;1 i■: sympathy. 'l'll i a ! ii:g again.-t the n<-t'<>n of ; he (lovernmei; was so .-ti-oiig in Wellington liiat even i Unit hot-bed ot oi.aaiaidom, had it been m. e; *ssary, a handsome public subseripiio foii!«l have been .-. cured to enable f] IU "pr soner ' to paoicct himself aeninst the actio of the Go. eminent Cue by one, as th trial in the 1 mi-i: proceeded, ihe iVieml ot the I lovcrninent liad become alienated : fo it. was apparent that die impeaelmi 'lit. of Mi Junes had more political significance tha had shown it-elt" at the outset, and that i Mas no: only the character of Mr. Wliirake thai: was sought to ;,e vindicated, but a poi rion of the policy—nay, v.he very existene of the Aikinson (Government itself—wi jeopardised, unless something were done t •.vhin.-wash it from the serious charges laii at the door of at least one of its members and with which the Government it-elf Inn become ideniitiod. Mr. I!islop's motion tha 01 tiie event of acquittal, or the disagree incut of the jury, .Mr. Jones' expenses, a between attorney and client, should be pai< bv the Governnieht, therefore, met with tin approval of a majority of the House, which whatever might haves been its other failings realised that it had made a blunder i: summoning Mr. .Jones to its Bar at all and that it had been led astray by tin unguarded conduct—the result of immo derate and unbecoming indignation—of Mr W Intake;- and his immediate supporters The House felt that it had proceeded alreadj too far, ami gladly would it have retrace! its steps had it been possible, to the period when Mr. Whitaker hail asserted his innocenee by contradictions whose, only virtue was that they were boldly made. Perhaps the iate Attorney-General's legal acumen enabled liini to foresee that at the worst inquiry could be quenched in the Supreme Court- as it had be; 11 stilled in the House from time to time. "Well had that gentleman succeeded in'incting hon. members, under the pretext of asserting tiie dignity of the House, with the idea that he might succeed in putting hicself right with the -'olonv, to make the abortive attempt which iias rendered more than one man famous. i"d proved the funeral dirge to which ihe tox-\ ogei-Atkinson Government marched nto obscurity, and the pitfall from which nore than one of Mr. \\ hitaker's colleagues nay never expect again to aspire to the conidcnce of the people. How did Mr. iV hi taker hope to attain this end, and what ,vas the cause of his failure ? iSuch men live 11 a charmed circle, and in their own disriets are respected for their power more ,han for their principle. Men bow the knee -here because of th-ir great possessions and he inline ace with which such invest them. Phe late Attorney-General erred when he bought that whatever miirht be his acions. ,nd whoever the arbitrators, lie was saf ■.

Even had the Auckland public been called upon to decide the question, originated by JSlr. Whitaker iu the House, that either he

or Mr. Jones should be imprisoned, we ■would not have feared the result. In Auckland everybody knows the facts of the case too well in reference to native land purchases—in other portions of the Colony some doubt has existed on the subject which the late trial has done much to dissipate. The programme had been arranged. Mr. Jones was to be put to but little trouble. An apology was to- be demanded ; he was to express his c ntrition ; bow the knee ; be admonished and dismissed by the House, with the words, "Go ; sin no more." Others had previously adopted this course, because of the trouble, anxiety, and expense entailed by any other ; and it was reckoned a moral certainty that the conduct of an obscure journalist would prove no exception to the rule. But the mighty principles involved would not admit of showing the white feather ; for it became a question of whether the serious accusations which were said to have been made against the late AttorneyGeneral by the Mail were true or false. The accused believed them to be true ; and expressed himself quite willing to retract if, after inquiry by the House, he was found to have falsified the conduct of Mr. Whitaker. This, however, was what that gentleman appeared to dread ; and the inquiry requested by Mr. Jones having been refused through the opposition of Mr. Whitaker and his friends, he declined to adopt a course which would not only have the effect of defeating iho object he had in view in denouncing what he conceived to be unfair practices! namely, their discontinuance, but would admit himself to be guilty of untruthfulness or rash conduct.

(To o. conlinncd.)