Correspondence.

Colonist, Issue 3, 30 October 1857, Page 3

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the Colonist. "I will have none on't; we shall lose our time, Ami all bfr turned to barnacles or to apos With foreheads villainously low." Tempest, Aci ! 4, Swnc 1. g IR) — I consider that article upon " Poet's Heads," copied into your paper from the Inverness Courier, to be altogether wrong. It is an incontrovertible fact, that men with small brains, and " the liead a pyramidal," are invariably deficient in morality and reasoning power. Homer tells us that the basest fellow that went to the seige of Troy was a man with a conical head. Aristot m says, " Those who have a large head are sagacious, are like dogs; those who have a small head are stupid, are like asses; those who haTe a conical head have no shame, are like birds with curved claws." This was written more than two thousand years ago, yet it is in exact accordance with phrenology." I think no one acquainted with tho biography and writings of Scott and Byron, will place them in the same category with the Greek, or affirm that they were like " asses," or 4i birds with curved claws'." Scott was deficient in cautiousness and concentmtiveness; comparison, wit, and ideality were little more than average: the hat measures the lower part of these organs, unless it be slouched : but then his head was remark ably high, and amply developed in the region of the sentiments, and these are not reached by the hat. As a-whole, his brain was large and active. Byron's head, above the hatband,-was larger than Scott.-;; those organs which in the latter were barely full, in him were sovereign kings. His wit and sarcasm, his luxuriant fancy, his sublimity, terseness and melancholy, sprung from that part of the brain we are now considering. In moral feeling perhaps he was inferior to Scott; but he was benevolent and just, and the very soul of honour. The head of James Wood, the Gloucester banker, who died worth a million and a half sterling," was like a shallow inverted basin. How ho amassed his property, it is not for us to enquire: to which class he belonged, it is easy enough to determine. Whilst a good sized mature male brain weighs three pounds eight ounces, and Cuvier's was three pounds ten and a half ounces, Byron's weighed three pounds three quarters, and what was of greater importance than its size, the anfractuosities in it were fully one inch in depth. This extension of the surface of the brain gave great energy and activity to his mind. The skull of Burns, when disentombed, measured 22 inches and a quarter around the forehead, with the integuments on it could not have been less than 24; thus ranking its possessor with Daniel O'Connell and Daniel Webster, two of the largest headed and most able minded men in the northern hemisphere. No one with a small brain ever yet transmitted his name to posterity, nor ever will. Look at the portraits of Ariosto and Tasso, of Ch.tucer and Dante, of Michael Angelo and Columbus, and see how the head expands from the temples upwards. Nature is always consistent. She does not confer immortality upon one man by giving him the brain of a Piricles or Napoleon, and extend the same boon to another with the grovelling head of a Gloucestershire banker. S. P. TUCKER.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sir, —On Monday, the 10th instant, a public dinner was given to Dr. Monro find Dr. Renwick, at the Wakatu, Nelson ; Charles Elliott, Esq., in the chair. A former advertisement stated that Donald Sinclair, Esq., was likewise to have shared in this honor; for what reason he did not, I cannot tell. It may be, that being an unsuccessful candidate at the election for town members, and not likely to be connected with the Provincial Council, he has declined the honor of being paraded before the wondering ejes of a public assembly. Feeling indignant, as he well might, at the rec-kless manner in which his friends voted at the last hour of polling, and therefore refused to be propitiated by " one of the best dinners ever provided in Nelson." All honor to him, if such was the fact. I respect the spirit of the man. He is one of our oldest settlers, gentlemanly, honest, and independent, as his conduct in the different'departments, of Superintendent, Magistrate, Lawyer, and Speaker of the Provincial Council, can fully testify, not stooping to pander to the passions of the low, by setting them agf inst the high, and then deserting them, as some have done. His loss will be felt by both sides in the Council, and it is to be '• hoped'that, he will not long remain out of it. You must pardon me, Mr. Editor, for this digression on one of our old and respected settlers, and I will promise you not to be so lavish of praise; towards the others. I wish I could with justice break that promise ; but deeds are tlie things, not words: and you will very soon find, in the discussions that take place in the Council on measures that arc hroiigiit forth, that our great men are not all per- ; fection, any more than those they afreet to despise. I do hope' that when any public dinner is given, '• the Editor of a paper may be there, and be made ' Chairman of it too. What .a delightful sensation ■ must have been felt by the company present, when the Dr. and Editor related their little squabbles, ! in trying their mental strength, as to who should take the lead in Little Pedlington, to hear how the Dr; physiced the Editor, and how the Editor blackballed the Div. and how they foun 1 out c ich other's strength, and shook hands, and joined interests. Well the Editor may be pleased—it has made a man of him in a pecuniary sense, if not in a political one. It does one's heart good to read all the fine speeches of the Stars of the evening— the Chairman s address, his response to the toast in full bumpers, at the end of the meeting, when every one is supposed to have his spirits elevated. Why, Mr. Editor, I should think, had you been that fortunate individual, you would have fancied yourself in the seventh Heaven; and then look at the eulogium passed on Dr. Monro by the Editor. On reviewing the past services of the Dr. he must certainly be possessed of one of those glasses which magnify things many thousand times. How he dilates "on the great abilities of the Dr. on every great question. (All fudge.) I believe there is many a vestry clerk in England that has shown more talent, and done more for the interest of his parish, than all the clever men in Nelson have done for the interest of the Province, since the New Constitution Act has been in force. The thousands that have been spent, and the little good done, is a disgrace to the Province: and now, forsooth, all the blame is thrown on the present Superintendent and his advisers, when those same advisers were the advisers of his predecessor. Dr. Monro, in a letter he published not long ago in the Examiner, tells Mr. Saunders that figures were not his forte. Perhaps not. I never heard that gentleman say they were, but I must say details are not the Dr's. forte; he likes to deal in generalities. Any one would have thought he was a good hand at dissection ; perhaps he is in a surgical sense, but not in a political one. He is too lofty to descend to details, besides, sometimes you destroy the effect produced, by taking it to pieces. Witness that statement of the Dr's. respecting the Bills sent to Auckland for the Governor's approval ;he could only tell the fact —it would have spoiled all to have gone into detail. The same with the Electoral Roll of New Zealand : the Dr. states there are many dead men's names on it. It has been stated as a notorious fact that there are such names on the Electoral Roll of Auckland, but I am yet to learn whether such is the case with the Electoral, Roll of Nelson. I believe the individual there hinted at will appear in person and answer to his name, as expressed on the Roll, to the regret and discomfiture of some of our great talkers in the Council. I will now, at the risk of being considered tedious, make a few comments on the ..speech of Mr. Travers. He seemed ?uite delighted that a party had been formed; What lawyer would not?) proposed the newly elected member's health on the right side, bowed to Dr. Monro's sense as to how he chose to define that expression, of course allowing him to be the greatest judge in an affair of such moment; rather a difficult matter to find out, as Mr.-Travers has found to his cost, although I believe Mr. Travers has managed to come at it, at last, in one sense,

by becoming tlie proprietor of the Raglan Brewery; but time will tell that, so I must not be too fast. I certainly must give him credit for foresight in seeing his way clear in doing himself some good, in the plans lie brought .forward for the amelioration of the working classes. They certainly failed to produce the effects promised to the parties, but I belie ye as theirlegal adviser he benefitted as much as any one by the plans proposed. Mr. Travers was quite surprised, and yet gratified to see Mr. Mackay at the dinner. He congratulated him on finding him in respectable company, talked ofdldreminiscenses at Auckland, said that his prdsetice at that meeting indicated that the ship he (Mr. Mackay) Was supposed to have joined, was in a sinking state. Strange they could not have discovered that at Auckland when the ship went down with all hands. Now, I believe that Mr. Mackay is a good deal like Sir James Graham, (1 hope I am not flattering him), personally and politically; and I do not believe that Mr. Travers, however acute he may think himself, will find out on which side Mr. Mackay will be; indeed, Ido not think that the honorable gentleman himself knows. I'll be bound to say myself, although I do not profess to be a prophet, that it will not be on the losing side. Hoping Mr. Editor that you will excuse the length of this letter, I beg to remain Your obedient servant, AN OLD SETTLER. To the Editor of the Colonist. Sin —Some few years ago, when Dr. Monro was a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives, a "mechanic" was brought forward to oppose him, and was politely told by Dr. Monro, on the hustings, that he had always altered his political views to suit his private intercut, and that lie had better "go home and look to his printer's types and his printer's devil." This mechanic, sir, in spite of a4'ew such attempts as that, to " keep him in his proper place," has risen by talent, industry, and enterprise, to be almost as groat and as influential a man as Dr.' Monro himself, and was in fact the President of that small dinner party lately held to rejoice over Dr., Monro's return to the Provincial Council, an event naturally thought of great importance —as, after some very narrow escapes, his friends had accomplished it with very great exertion and by an immense sacrifice—the sacrifice of truth, honour, and honesty. 1 of course admire Mr. Elliott's forgiving disposition; but I do not admire his good taste in now joining the Doctor in an attempt to hunt down another man in every respect as worthy and very much more consistent than himself, because he also happens to have been a mechanic. Like many other persons who have risen rather rapidly in the world, Mr. Elliott now speaks very contemptuously of his old friends. He describes Messrs. Poynter and Adams as " a wretched and miserable sham, and quite unworthy of the position they occupied/ Unworthy to be the advisers of a mere mechanic!! Yet, strange to say, both of these nincompoops were chosen as advisers by that Superintendent who, if we are to believe what Mr. Elliott used to say, was incomparably the cleverest man in all New Zealand. And only one year ago they never did anything wrong, but were, in Mr. Elliott's estimation, perfectly infallible. Within the short period of twelve months, too, Mr. Travers was itinerating through this Province delivering lectures upon Dr. Monro's " Toryism," Mr. Elliott's want of principle, cunning, and trickery, and describing the manner in which he had tried to bribe him in Auckland, and assuring us that Mr. Elliott had been directed by Mr. Stafford to bring forward Dr. Monro for the Superintendence, so as to prevent the people from bringing forward any man not connected with the sheep runs; but at this dinner we find him flattering Dr. Monro, and Mr. Elliott too, as if he thought " Who popperM the highest-, wv.s surest to please." He nevertheless talks quite freely of other persons' "political dishonour," and appears quite enraptured with his newly-found " ruspivtable company." We are moreover told that he "paid a high compliment to the manner in which tho Examinsr had been hitherto conducted," although for at least four years (a much longer time than he ever professed one opinion upon any other subject) his energetic tongue had lost no opportunity to impress upon every one that the Nelson Evamin:r was the most unscrupulous, lying, onesided paper tliut had ever yet been printed in the English language. I am at a loss to understand Dr. Monro's speech, except upon the supposition that a great part of it was written when Mr. Travers was his opponent, and made use of on the present occasion for want of time to prepare one more applicable to Mr. Robinson, lie says—" the Superintendent, instead of being a moderator of un hie movement or excessive; velocity—instead of being a drag to check a dangerous movement down a steep decline— would, on the other hand, be more aptly likened to an impetuous and unbroken horse harnessed to a team, adding to its velocity, its danger, and the disorder of its movements/ To which his admiring audience arc reported to have jcricd " hear, hear." I wonder if Mr. Travers said " hear, hear?" During the late contest, amoHgst all the cries which his enemies tried to set afloat against Mr. Robinson, we never heard one complaint about his " velocity ;'• on the contrary, every complaint was founded on his want of " velocity,' or his being too much of " a drag." One tremendous attack was made upon him because he had made no arrangements for hanging the Chinese as soon as they landed. Mr. Travers was trying to set all the diggers against him because he had not overwhelmed us in debt by making roads to every gully in which a few ounces of gold had been found. Mr. Elliott wanted him to precipitate us into something very like a civil war, ancf to prevent all chance of the diggings being fairly developed by rashly putting a tax on the diggers, and to make a clean sweep of the runs by selling them at a shilling an acre. Dr. Monro tried all his eloquence at the hustings to get an expression of censure upon Mr. Robinson for not having collectc d the Education rate under an Act which had never received the Governor's assent. In the Council, the Superintendent proposed an expenditure about equal to the estimated income; but Dr. Monro insisted upon voting away several thousand pounds more than we were ever likely to get. The Superintendent proposed to borrow £10,000, but Dr. Monro and his Council would have nothing tess than .£30,000. In short, this complaint of Dr. Monro's is the first I have ever heard about Mr. Robinson's " excessive velocity." Look, again, at what Dr. Monro says a Superintendent should be. He tells us—" he should be a potent, grave, and reverend seignior—a man of experience, of learning, of moderation, and of caution. * * * The Superintendent should be a man who should look at the measures submitted to him through no medium of youthful or speculative illusion, but with the calm and sober and literal gaze of knowledge and maturity of experience." To whom does Dr. Monro think this description applies ? Would he think of calling Mr. Saxton " a potent, grave, and reverend seignior ?" Or would he call the man of his first choice, Mr. Jolly, a man of " maturity of experience ?" It would apply a little better to Dr. Monro himself, but not one half so well as to the present Superintendent. Mr. Robinson, even as compared with Dr. Monro, is the man of most age, of most experience, of most political knowledge, and particularly of that very necessary knowledge of the feelings, the prejudices, the necessities, the virtues, the "vices, and the ruling motives of men, not in one contracted sphere, but in every different class and grade of society. He is the man of most " cau ion ;" and as to " moderation," whilst Dr. Monro has proved the most ultra of all our ultraaristocrats, Mr. Robinson has from the infancy of the Settlement been the archmoderator of our little Province—constantly using his influence to suppress every symptom of tyrannous overreaching and contemptible arrogance in oiie class, and discouraging every approach to violence, anarchy, unjustified suspicion, and unwarranted discontent in the other. From all the speeches at this dinner, it appears that the great object of this violent pastime of Dr. Monro's party has been to return men to the Provincial Council who would make it their principal object to throw every obstacle in the way of the

present Superintendent. I always make great allowance for after-dinner speeches, and although it is quite true that men, labouring under the excitements that usually accompany such interesting occasions, give expression to truths that at other times they are wise enough to conceal. I cannot but think we should be doing a great injustice to Dr. Monroes party if we were to suppose that the majority of them were actuated by the same vindictive feelings towards the Superintendent as those which were so injudiciously displayed by the two principal orators on that occasion, both of whom profess to be under the impression that but for Mr. Robinson having been so unfortunately brought forward, they would themselves now be occupying the position which they have seen with so much regret conferred and confirmed upon their much hated and villified rival. The members of that party who have suffered less from Mr. Robinson have not had so much difficulty to forgive him the great crime of enjoying the people's confidence^ and will not all follow even their favorite leader in his frantic pursuit of retaliation under the pretence of legislation. And although it is perfectly true, as Dr. Monro says, that a very large majority of the Provincial Council " voted against the present Superintendent," I am much mistaken if Dr. Monro docs not lose4 his leadership even in such a Council unless he takes a little more care to conceal the motive which has so evidently actuated all his public conduct during the last twelve months. I am, &c\, DUSTIDOS.. Nelson, October 28, 1857. To the Editor of the Colom'xt. Siu. —'May I be allowed, in welcoming; your arrival among us, to pass a remark on your assertion in the columns of Tuesday last, concerning the Educational rate. You naturally supposed" that after my observation on the inconvenience of 'paying the rate twice a year, " I should this year be permitted to pay the whole rate at once;" but here I must tell you in confidence, that since I paid last year's rate in aid of government schools, the government have not granted me any thing in aid of my own. Pray, is this fair play \ "But I am Ted to suppose that our government will shew better feelings this time, and not find me culpable if I decline paying that ratc^ as I know tor a fact that the favour has been bestowed upon several householders who have not yet paid last year's rate. Moreover I have ju.it been to v great expense in improving my own school; therefore I consider that I, together with those who have generously assisted me, have already paid more than our own share to promote education in the Province. Hoping that by your valuable journal you will be a fair supporter of individual rights, I am, Sir yours obediently, "• - A. M/GARIN, Catholic Priest. Nelson, October 28th, 1857.