FREEDOM TO THE SLAVE—A

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 78, 4 August 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

FREEDOM TO THE SLAVE— A

NORTHERN VIEW OF IT. The Times gives tlie following report of, and comment on, a late Abolition demonstration : —

Lane is not a pro-slavery Democrat, but an Anti-slavery Republican, and the fiercest of all the "exterminators" who have arisen during the war to throw odium on the form of Government that could produce such politicians as he is, and make senators of them. A few of the salient points o{ his speech wil! show the ideas he entertains of liberty, and the manner in which he would enforce them. ** It is a disgrace to the country and the Government," he said, " that a sypathiser with treason, whether male or female, should be permitted to rest his or her foot on the soil of the district of Co--Inmbia. I would purify the soil of them by fire and sword.' 1 (Cheers.) In Kansas, where I lire, a Copperhead is not allowed to remain in the State. If he does not leave when he is ordered to leave, we shoot him down." (Loud applause, and cries of "That's the way,'') I am informed by the Governor of our State that no longer ago than lasfc Saturday a Copperhed, who refused to leave the State in tlie morning, was found before night with two bullet holes through his body. (Cries of " Good, good.'') It had been said that we ought not to use the negroes. So far as lam concerned, I would rather that every rebel should be sent to hell by a negro than by a white man.'' (Great laughter aud loud applause.) I would like to live long enough to See every white man now in South Carolina in hell, and the negroes occupying his territory. '' (Cheers.) " All this may sound to you very wicked," (Cries of '* No, not at all.") *' but no place on the face of the earth ought to be desecrated by a traitor. I bid you God speed in clearing out sympathisers with treason iv the district of Columbia. It would not wound my feelings to find the dead bodies of rebel sympathisers pierced with bullet holes in every street and alley of the city of Washington." ('Vociferous applause.) " I would regret loss of powder and lead." (Laughter.) " It would be cheaper and better to hang them, and save the xopes. Yes, hang them ! and let them dangle till their stinking bodies rot, decompose, and fall to the groui.d piece by piece." (Enthusiastic applause).

The published reports do not state what sort of an audience it was which greeted this disgusting brutality with approval. Possibly the audience was largely composed of the thieves by whom Washington is infested, who come to listen in the exercise of their vocation, with the double hope of amusement from the mouth of a kindred rowdy, and a stroke of business to to be done in the pockets of any contractors or settlers who might have been attracted by curiosity to the gathering. Certainly they could not have been intelligent, honorable, or decent men, or such blackguardism, if uttered in their hearing, would have been hooted down after the first mouthful. Senator Lane's aflection for bullets may be explained by an incident of his early life in Kansas, where he deliberately shot a neighbor for presuming to drink or draw out of a well on his property. How he escaped the gallows for that offence is only to be accounted for on the supposition that that there was no law in Kansas at the time, and that every man was judge, juryman, and executioner inhis own cause

LETTER TO LORD LYTTELTON, ON THK RELATIONS OF GREAT ERITIAN WITH THE COLONISTS AND ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND! BY TIJE HONORABLE CROSBIE WARD. To Mr Crosbie Ward belongs the merit of having condensed into a small compass a history that, extending over many years, has hitherto been only written in many volumes. Avoiding controversial grounds and collating his facts from the vast array^of official returns that New Zealand affairs have given rise to, he narrates with astonishing succinctness and fidelity the whole course of events that have led to the present unhappy condition of native affairs. His pamphlet is no less remarkable for its artistic compilation than for its clear and lucid reasoning. Its object is mainly to dispel much of the misapprehension which exists at home as to the part which the colonists have hid in bringing about the difficulties with the natives. Our author starts with a reference to an able leader which appeared in the limes, and which he considers embodies all the charges made against the colony. These are mainly that the colonists are responsible for the wars ; that these are mainly undertaken for territorial aggrandisement ; and that whilst Imperial troops are furnished, the settlers are not only unwilling to help themselves, but encourage war, for the sake of the expenditure it involves. Starting with these accusations as a basis, our author first shows that what he calls the " technical responsibility" for Native Government, has rested only with the Imperial Government. He traces the course adopted by the representatives of the mother country, since the introduction of Constitutional Government, and shows how- jealously the Colonial Ministry has been prevented from controlling Native affairs. Coming down, in the succeeding chapter, to the close of Colonel Browne's regime, he demonstrates beyond cavil that the separate administration sj'stem was rigidly carried out, both in theory and practice. In the third chapter, he deals with the "Moral responsibility for the war." In this he shows thafc besides that the "technical responsibility" has always rested with the Imperial autho- ; rities, the colonists are not morally responsible; since to the Imperial policy — in contradistinction to that favored by the colony, the Native difficulties j may all be traced. One pomt — and that an important one he brings out clearly ; that the late war arose not from a question of title to land, but of the jurisdiction of the Crown. At the conclusion of this chaper he sums up the results he has arrived at as follows : — "First, that the colonists are not technically responsible for the war and its consequences. "1. Because the Imperial Government reserved to itself the management of native affairs. "2. Because tbe Governor strictly carried into practice the exclusion of the colouists from the control of the na ive race. "3. Because the war was commenced by the Governor in person on behalf of the Imperial Government : and the only share in it taken by the Colonial Government was one of loyal and subsequent co-operation. "Secondly, That the colonists are not morally responsible for the war and its consequences. " 1. Because their plans for the better government of the natives were rejected. " 2. Because they in no way provoked the war, or induced a breach of tlie peace leading to it. "3. Because they brought no pressure to bear upon the Governor in the matter. " 4. Because the war was not begun for their sole or special benefit.'' The remainder of the pamphlet deals with "Minor charges against the Colony," "Imperial Policy," "Future prospects," and " Financial Question." Iv them our author shows that the colonists are not in a position to undertake the cost and responsibility of controlling native affairs, whilst these remain in the condition to which Imperial policy has reduced them. We are sorry our space does not permit our noticing more at length this branch of the subject. We congratulate Mr Ward on the temperate and argumentative tone which distinguishes the whole of the pamphlet, and recommend it to the perusal of all who desire to make themselves acquainted with the history of the policy of the past.

A True Prophecy.— -In November, 184-8, Cavour wrote in his newpaper the Risorqimento :— " An ignorant and unprincipled party has raised itself on the basis of a chimerical hope as old as history itself, and as suicidal as the blindest egotism. It finds opposed to its science, natural affection, man's individual wellbeing, the family tie, exery fundamental law of the human race What matter! It has a living faith in revolutionary means to attain its end ; it is sure of victory, and the' 24-th June is the result of its projecls. French blood flows in torrents. France awakens on the verge of an abyss, and hastily strives to put down the new madness. What has heen the upshot ? We were trying after a democratic and social reptiblic ,* we held in our grasp the germs of many an idea which, if peacefully developed by ordinary means, would probably have ripened into some new form of scientific progress. And instead, we have at Paris the state of siege ; in l'iedment, a slow and hesitating mediation ; at Naples, a disgraceful cordiality between the Envoy of the Republic ancl the Bourbon tyrant ; and we shall soon see the crowning result of the revolutionary means in Louis Napoleon on the throne ! " There are 78 mi'es of macadamised streets in Dublin and 32 miles paved, and the present scavenging ot 1 10 miles within the city costs the public nearly per annum, wiih only two persons to superintend the operations. The estimated number of Militia men of all ranks in Lower Canada is 100,000, and in Upper Canada, 280,000.