COLONIAL POLITICIANS.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 202, 15 January 1866, Page 2

COLONIAL POLITICIANS.

TO THE EDITOE OF THE SOTJTHTiAND TIMES. -«. LETTERS TEOM AN OLD STAGES TO A WOULD -BE NEOPHYTE IN COLONIAL POLITICS. My Dear Tom, — You require me to advise you on the best means of ensuring your election to a seat in the General Assembly, on the attainment of which it would appear you have set your heart. You recollect Punch's advice to a young gentleman, ontheave of a matrimonial proposal— " Don't." This is the best advice I can give you now. Youth if rash, ardent, enthusiastic. The eneoniiumsjshawered on you at the domestic hearth are doubtle^ sweet, but possibly deceptive. You can hardly expect the electors to take as amiable a view of your acquirements as your relations ; if you do.youwillbe mistaken. Before youtakeupon yourself certain responsibilities, determine to place yourself in a prominent position, you should take care that you are fortified by more disinterested fpinions as to your qualifications than those which will be volunteered by your admiring mother — the object of your affections (should you be unfortunate enough to possess one) — or your friend — who, while drinking your sherry by the tumbler, considers it only fair to wipe off the obligation by administering large doses of flattery to your face, absolving his conscience by abusing and ridiculing you behind your back. I would ask you, have you carefully considered the awkwardness of the position which you are so desirous of occupying ? Has it ever struck you that before entering the arena of politics it might be as well to study its rudiments ? That it is a science, to obtain proficiency in which necessitates careful study, and hard work? I think it is Sydney Smith who says : — " Everyone Jcnows that he understands politics, though he has never studied them; while there are some who are modest enough to confess their ignorance of other sciences, simply because they have never learnt them." If this is true of sucking politicians in England, with, how much greater force does it apply to the same material in a Colony? You have doubtless read of the result of Mr. Icarus' attempt to fly too high ; be sure your wings are not fastened on with wax before you try to soar beyond your years and experience. You tell me you have never yet attempted to make a public speech ; in fact, beyond oratorical displays in the bosom- of your family, you are " unaccustomed to public speaking." Believe me, you may with perfect self-possession deliver a most withering and sarcastic crusher to the plaster-of-paris bust of Shakespeare or Bacon reposing quietly on the domestic mantelpiece, with the agreeable adjunct of the family encore to encourage you ; yet, to deliver the same before an assembly of 70 or 80 educated men, may possibly produce a slightly different result on your nervous organisation. The difference between snuffing a candle at ten paces, and fighting a duel at the same distance, consists merely in the fact that the candle does not hold a pistol, while your adversary does. All experience tends to prove that the effect on the nervous system is dissimilar. I will suppose you elected, having passed the ordeal of the hustings — not a very severe one fortunately — and that you find yourself in the General Assembly, totally unknown to anyone, either personally, or by social reputation in your own Province, political or otherwise. You will realize a greater degree of solitude than Robinson Crusoe. You will have not even a Friday, and may think yourself lucky if any one will, in some exigency, make use of you as a " Friday." I will not speak of the likelihood of your being of any service to your constituency, fer I cannot conceive that, even in your wildest moments, you can have entertained such an idea. You have heard the fable of the jackdaw who, tricked out with peacock's feathers, strutted into a flock of those birds, trying to pass itself off as one of the same species. The peacocks shortly undeceived the unfortunate creature, by plucking off the borrowed plumes, and left it reduced to its own shorn proportions. " The human species is worse in its treatment. They will leave you to yourself in such a manner that you will be only too glad to pluck off the plumes yourself. Should you ever be unfortunate enough to address the Assembly, the probability is, that you will be left in possession of the House. The attractions of Bellamy's will prove greater than your attempt to speak on subjects of which you aie profoundly ignorant. Addressing empty benches is far more severe work than bullying the little plaster of paris bust at home. I would advise you before attempting the higher flight, to try if your immediate neighbours have sufficient confidence in you to return you as a member to the Provincial Council. It is not a bad school, after all, to get initiated into some of the mysteries of political life. At anyrate it will enable you to breathe your maideneloquence, withoutencountering such severe rebuffs as you might expect, were the object of your young ambition attained. Burke, Sheridan, and others, not undistinguished men of their day, learned the lessons which enabled them to shine in Parliament, at humble debating club. Let the Provincial Council be your debating club, and for the present rest satisfied. Try to become a local celebrity, before you aspire to be a colonial one. In conclusion, let me remind you of the poet's advice — " Learn to labour and to wait." Yours, my dear Tom, AN OLD STAGES.