HOME VIEWS.

Southland Times, Issue 1007, 21 August 1868, Page 2

HOME VIEWS.

♦ ■ ; -■ It seems but justice to the English journalists to point out to the Australian reader that the infrequency with which colonial topics are jhandled by the home press is due not to any belief that then is a want of interest in such topics on . -the patirof the home reader, but to th* conviction that a bystander at so great * distance from the game cannot see -enough of it to enable him to advise the players; We speak unaffectedly in saying that, whatever Aay have been the case some years back, before the antipcM dean colonies had developed into their present magnificence, and before some* thing like regularity of communication had been established, there is now a great and a growing sympathy with Australia; one which has been still further stimulated by the proofs, given on occasion of the royal visit, that the colonies are more | resolved than ever to regard themselves 1 as integral portions ofthe Empire. With the detail of colonial politics an English writer must be exceptionally well informed, and his knowledge must be incessantly refreshed from the .best sources, to enable him to offer a judgment Upon the proceedings .of our distant countrymen, and we pay a better compliment to their genius for self-govern-ment by accepting, as a general rule, their own statements, of what is most for their advantage. They would gain very: little, and possibly would feel some imtation, at being favored with arguments and . illustrations drawn from our own political and Parliamentary history, Mid from finding their difficulties and struggles discussed with that imperfect acquaintance with facts which is manifested by most persons who are not living and moving in the .scenes they endeavor to describe. Bat there are , sometimes considerations of a large and general character which may be addressed alike to all portions of the empire, and it appears to us that at the present moment . there is a word in season which may not be unacceptable to those for whom these lines are penned. Home politics are at this time in an anomalous condition. The question of a great enlargement of the franchise,; for many years treated theoretically, and next and more mischievously as ft partisan lever, at length assumed proportions which made it absolutely necessary to deal with the subject and to ( concede much that had been demanded. Then came the stress upon the two great parties in the State, and, contrary to all expectation, the newly - discovered elasticity of Conservative statesmen gate the advantage to the party which bad, previously and successfully hindered all important changes. The history of the last two years has been told by instalments in this journal, and needs not repetition. Enough 7 to" say that' one party, having achieved office, declared without shame or hesitation that it would not be turned out upon the question of Beform, and that its measures should be constructedi not with a view to the interests of fche nation, but to that of the retention of power. This declaration was made by Lord Derby, and will not be remembered to his credit. But the Conservatives kept their vow. They had defeated a bill of a moderate kind, and had thrown out the Cabinet which proposed it, and they brought in a bill into . _which, for the sake of appearance, they had introduced a variety of " vital features," every one of which they threw over on pressure and finally forced the measure through a hostile _ House of Lords, and obtained for it the royal assent. Division after division; humiliated but could not eject them, and the repeated charges of the Liberals,' though they broke the Conservative ranks again and 7 again, were vain to prevent reconstruction of force on the basis of office at any price. Thoughtful men of all * opinions lamented this sacrifice of all constitutional principle, but such men in presence of such tactics were feeble, and as Q-ibbon has said, 'it is the weak, who argue, and the arguments of the weak seldom triumph. This state of things, however, could not possibly endure, and already we 'see' it coming to an end. The doggedness or the shiftiness of a party cannot long vanquish the traditions of a nation. They are even forced to accelerate the arrival of the day of doom, and unless saved for a brief time by some new device, or by the chapter of accidents, will be forced, before Christmas next, to : meet a point blank vote, the issue of . which cannot be doubted. When, therefore, we read in the Australian press, and in the colonial correspondence, that there is a strong disposition to manifest organised hostility "to the colonial government, we feel ourselves justified in advising the Australians to wait. There is a change coming. "We are not prepared to say that an Administration which will probably include a Btrong element of "advance" will necessarily give calmer or more generous consideration to colonial affairs, but_ at all events the advanced party hare > well-known opinions on such matters, * and within the present week their leader has advocated such opinions in an uncompromising address. It seems to us that the situation Will be greatly j and needlessly complicated by.any.mime? diate actiou on the part of aggrieved colonists, as, before that action can . be complete, colonial questions will . be in the hands of new men, and a double revision of policy is surely tp be depreciated. In a period that may almost be reckoned by weeks from the receipt of this mail, the English nation will be agitated to its depths on political questions, and •an enormous and all-important experiment will be shaking society. This is not a time when an important question of colonial interest can receive that attention it deserves, and delay will not only be ' masterly' on that account, but. because in all human probability the direction of home politics will in a short time Wen- * trusted to those who at all events hare principles of action, — * Home News.*