THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1860.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 323, 23 November 1860, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1860.

.herb are breakings-up which are very jj vinous, and breakings up which are very | oyful, and breakings-up which when .not. jj oyful are very advantageous to society- j| tYhen a bank breaks up, the process is alii | oss; when a school breaks up, all joy;. I vhen a pod breaks up, all fruit. Which. | ){ these is the case with regard to the-1 jreaking-up of the House of Representa- | ives ? "Whether ruinous or joyful ? Whe- | her a loss to the colony or a gain to the' | jody politic? Whether the proceedings.}! ire redolent with fruit, or ending with un- | .inpromising blossom which the wind of ! political expediency has blown away? AIL j nust be determined by the issues which-, are- I ret in prospective. .There are some points however to which ye are involuntarily led, and upon which ye dwell with no degree of satisfaction, as jart of the business ~of the session and the layings and doings of the house. - During a sitting of between three and bur months a great number of bills were introduced, opposed, and supported, with at good deal of energy and a display of talent >n both sides that would do credit to any terribly: not a few passed into laws; and j

somevery important ones in reference to this province lost by the mismanagement tof those members who seem to have beeif infinitely more concerned for the fixidity of the Stafford ministry than for the interests of their constituents.

Many big words and little deeds may be given as the return of the parliamentary essay of * our representatives.' We know to whom to attribute the loss of the Compensation Bill. We know that in the midst of the troubles of war and its horrible consequences, one man. found time to vent his spite on an absent political opponent, because the quality of mercy had been extended to him in mitigation of an unusually'harsh sentence; and this, we believe, was the only symptom of opposition to the ministry displayed by him. Here is another instance of want of tact. The ministry to whom our representatives seem to have .sworn fealty, what have we to ithank 'them for? what are the great obligations which the province of Nelson is under, that the men whose business it was to look well after our concerns, should, by their cohesive support, entitle themselves to the sobriquet of the ' Nelson Contingent ? '

The ministerial silence on many important points (more particularly on the • new [war] policy') has been broken by a few set speeches, and secrets of the council chamber set forth by the dragging out from the pigeon-holes of the Secretary's office certain state papers, which, doubtless, it would have given more satisfaction to well-paid officials had they remained in their quiet restingplace. Government has explained. And what have we learnt from their speeches and papers beyond what is patent to all the world ? namely, that the Government has hurried on the course of experimental legislation without sufficient clearsightedness as to the probable cost of life, property, and revenue, until the colony has drifted into a war with the very people for whose ostensible benefit so much red-tapeism has been fruitlessly exhausted.

We owe much to the Wellington opposition, since but for their opposition and the leech-like determination they exhibited to come at the life blood of the ' new policy,' we might have remained in amiable ignorance respecting the very little that was done by those whose responsibility rests simply on the tattered rags of statecraft, to stave off a war ot races, which, in self-jus-tification, it has been asserted must inevitably have come on some time—if not now, yet in the uncertain future. To those of our readers who may have watched the proceedings of the house and the action taken by the Nelson representatives on various matters of provincial and colonial interest, there have been given some beautiful specimens of the influence of that cunning and self-complacent philosophy, the axiomatic wisdom of which is soon learnt, and profitably acted upon—viz., 1 Follow my leader.' We might break off our statement of facts at this point, for, beyond the information which we have just had the gratification of communicating to our readers, we are unable, (after carefully looking through the debates) to discover that anything material has to be told. If the leader (whom to follow was much easier than to oppose) had announced to that expectant body, the representatives, at once, that there was nothing to communicate beyond what they already knew from otherjjsources; if he had in a delicate, diplomatic manner, only hinted that really ministers ought not to be harshly judged, for, instead of having been doing a great deal on the sly, they had simply done nothing, surely it would have been better for die interests of this colony, which have hung in suspense upon some anticipated revelation of astute state-craft; and inasmuch as honesty and frankness are the best policy, it might have been better for ministers themselves. True, there might have been a curl of the lip and a civil suppressed sneer on one side of the house, and some rather provoking laughter on the other. But this would have been better, we imagine, for the interests of the colony, than the state of feverish excitement in which the public mind has been for so long a time kept by the uncertainties and mysteriousness of the instructions given to the military commanders at Taranaki, which has inflicted upon us an amount of mischief which it is not easy to estimate. Within the last few months this morbid feeling has reached a degree of intensity unparalleled for many years. The alternatives of a war with the natives, or an abrogation <m- the part of this country of all her claims to honor and respect at home and abroad, have been presented in startling contrast as the only ones which the skill of our statesmen has been able to provide. In these circum-r stances public opinion, while still clinging to a desperate hope of some intermediate course, has unequivocally declared itself in favor of war. And here the. matter rests for the present—a slow and expensive trial of the might of the stronger over the weaker. .

Our own opinion has been already so distinctly pronounced, that we should suppose it almost unnecessary to reiterate it. Should however any of our readers have so far; misconceived us as to suppose that we undervalue the blessings of peace, it may be necessary once more to say that, we value peace not' as a simiple negative, condition ot society, but in respect of the great social influence for good which constitute its distinctive - analysis when genuine and true. We believe that siach a state of things as that to which some are .inclined to give the name of 'peace' w&idd be found wanting in some of the most important ingredients of the true analysis;' .and that thus incomplete it not only is destitute of the guarantees of permanency, and h&m^fife prosperity which true peace presents.'bvit is also the inevitable precursor to a state of things in which the very name of peace cannot possibly be preserved, while the .moral deterioration which-.ensugg-. from its tempor v ary usurpation will add fresh '((i.ra

horrors to .our: late calamities. It is as if the administering; of a powerful healing medicine had been converted, by the omission" of ', solne of^'jjts component parts, into the deadliest of poisoning draughts..'.: With our Government now rests the solution of one of the gravest questions which ever presented itself to the minds of the statesmen of this colony. Can the requirements of a true peace be reconciled with the continued abstinence of the Government from meeting the wishes, wants, and present condition of a?? its subjects? And if the native race are now to be Created as rebels, and punished as such—when the happy time of peace does come, let such an adjustment be made for their advancement in civilization and social progress, as will really place them under the influence and authority of British law. We have said what we think on this subject also. We believe the extreme gravity of the question is owing, in a great measure, to the weakness our of Governments at early periods. We firmly believe that the alternative of war need never have presented itself, if justice had been heard in tones of fitting earnestness at the proper moment. Several such opportunities of a dispersion of the storm have been allowed to pass by disregarded; the clouds have consequently become blacker and blacker, until now the most hopeful eye can scarcely discern a chink in the stormy canopy, which might let in the bright beams of returning day. We are too sensible of the extreme seriousness of the task devolving on Government to press nnduly oh the feebleness of their 'new policy;' but it is imperatively demanded of us in the ensuing election to take care and send such men to represent our interests and those of the country at large as will comply with these reasonable requirements. We know how to judge of the Stafford Ministry, and we must know how to act at this particular juncture. 'By their fruits ye shall know them;' and it remains to be seen whether the men of Nelson will give an unqualified approval of the doings and misdoings of the candidates who are now soliciting their votes.