EXTRAORDINARY LETTER FROM SIR GEORGE GREY.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2006, 9 June 1875, Page 2

EXTRAORDINARY LETTER FROM SIR GEORGE GREY.

The following was telegraphed to the* Auckland Star by' its 'Wellington correspondent :— ; - •_, t . ■ ■ ' ■ Sir George Grey writes a most extraordinary letter of two polumns and a half! long to tlio Editor of the Wairarapa Standard. The pertinacy is not really discoverable. It might be apropos of the : medireval times, for it is full of blood, murder, judicial and otherwise; the Inquisition, Tower of London,'and the Venetian Council of Ten, with its daggers- and poisons.

The New Zealand Times wants to know what it is all about, and says the only apposite heading for the letter would be', " Sir George Grey in RforfcaLTerror." It gays, "It is purely out of respect to Sir Geor-ge thg,t we c[o not publish the remarkable production,' 1 but adds that" one thing is certain namely, thatany practical politician who reads the letter must come to the poncljision that Sip George ; Grey's day is past and gone, The only ■" moral" at all to be twisted out.of the lettej? is that deadly class antagonism exists in England, and an apprehension that a, similar state of things may growup in New Zealand. As illustrative of the view, Sir George referstotho case of Townley,. an English gentleman, who, having deliberately murdered the young la:d£ h,e was : engaged to, was not executed as % pOQr.-jß&ii would have been ; but, through money and; connections, obtained,a; reprieve on the plea of insanity. ;He then details the case of "Wright, a poor' uncultured man, who., jq. a violent quarrel with his para.mour,*'an un^oyernj&le.. vipgp, hppened to kill her.' He was'executed notwithstanding a large amount of public symp^thy expressecjLon hisbehalf by working mek acquainted with, tjie; facps of the case, and the Judge actually refused to allow Wright to withdraw his plea of guilty which he made through ignorance while the leading papers misrepresented the details of the execution. Sir George also mentions a case which occurred at Bri^b^neduring the Governorship of Sir Qeorge Bbweft, aiM "^liiere t|ieihelp pf black' fellows had to be ob'tkiu^ to assist the criminal to the gallows.' ; "" 'f ■'

The Times says :~<<: Although these incidents are entirely foreign to the subject of Constitutional ■'reformj on which Sir tfceel'|jo; jarofesseg ip f srrite, h^ endeavours tp.Jdentify iheni" -n-im 't£e. ; ltfrd|>osal 'tq., abolish; Provincial" GoTernmentij'.: aid. : if he really means anything and is'not squandering himself, his argument is to the

effect that without Provincial institutions the poo*' hian would be in danger of being done to death under colour of law and in accordance with English precedent, or by secret murder, after the Venetian pattern. That the Superintendent of Auckland is in mortal terror for his own life, we must "reasonably conclude from the quotations : which close his long and painful letter." ' The letter says;:—" For the third time in this shocking case in Brisbane goal the poorer classes appear again to have been worsted, but probably from this case will spring this advantage which will ultimately produce great effects, and this is, that in many minds a stern resolve will be formed that, no matter what may be the risks or difficulties encountered, persistent efforts shall be made to prevent the establishment in New Zealand of. a system by which such class feelings can be endgendcred here, and to insist that money taken by taxation from the people of New Zealand shall be no longer applied to assist in maintaining' srich system in Great Biitab. The nature of'the proceedings "in the Tower of London, Baslilo and Inquisition are probably sufficiently known, but for numerous persons who know little of the mode of action of the Council of Tea at Venice, I quote a few extracts from a recent number of the Quarterly Review. <• This, is one of the maxims for their guidance. Las Jy, if any party leaders arc found in the province they must be "exterminated, under some pretext or another, but there, must be no recourse tioHinary justice, let poison do the work of the executioner, 1 this is less odious and more profitable."