Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 29, 2 April 1881, Page 304

Pen and Ink Portraits.

No. 17.— Sir William Fox,

Sir William Fox must have come early to New Zealand in the forties. He was a partner, I am told, in the firm of Shore, Jobbing, and Fox, solicitors, in Durham, before he came south of the Line. There is an uncertainty about his age, of a similar character to that of the late Baroness Burdett Coutts, which "Men of the Time " fails to clear up. In 1843, at the time of the Wairau massacre, he was in Wellington waiting, as a barrister, for briefs. The death of Captain Wakefield opened for him the appointment as resident agent for the New Zealand company in the Nelson district. When Colonel Wakefield died— a wooden tablet, to -whose memory will be found in the Mortuary Chapel, in the Wellington cemetery, in a singularly neglected condition — he was appointed the principal agent of the company, and found again residing in Wellington. While acting as Nelson agent for the company it was asserted, with what truth we know not, that he purchased the land orders owned by the hard up emigrants in that part of the colony. Those who feel any interest in the matter will find the charge published in the Wellington Advertiser of 1858-59. An official complaint was made by Mr. Bowler, we believe, to Mr. Alderman Thompson on the subject, who, having read the statement put before him, threw it into the lire, remarking, "Never present such a letter to me again ; we do not pay Mr. Fox £1000 a year to trade upon the necessities of the immigrants committed to his charge." All those details will be familiar to Mr. James Mackay or Mr. Richard Wakehn, of the Wairarapa, who, if any injustice is done to this knight of St. Michael and St. George ■will, on application, give a true version of the affair. , . 1 When the New Zealand company abandoned their charter in 1851, Mr. Fox finding his occupation gone, went in a wool ship from Wellington to London. In the latter end of 1850 or ISsl— our dates are all from memory it must be borne in mind— there was formed, in Wellington, what was called "The Settlers' Constitutional Association." The object of the association was to possess the control of the waste lands of the Crown in the Colony, under the pretext of obtaining a system of constitutional government. The early settlers had no money, and they were in a constant state of fear lest wealthy men from New South Wales would come and purchase the lands in New Zealand over their head. Sir George Grey, in our opinion, unwisely adopted and furthered the wishes of the men anxious for self government ; and New Zealand ceased to be a Crown colony at least ten years too soon. Before the departure of the wool ship, a meeting was called of the association to receive a report of a committee appointed to prepare a memorial to the Home Government as to the form the new constitution should assume. The meeting was duly packed, and the report adopted, notwithstanding the opposition led "by Mr. Hart, and Mr. Fox was appointed political agent for the association in London, a kind of a nondescript office. The most notable feature of his English journey was his seeking an interview with Earl Grey in his official capacity, and being refused an audience. He remained in England during the passing of the Constitution Act, The alteration the Act received through his instrumentality was the removal from the Bill of the clause empowering superintendents of provinces to be paid £500 a year. The agent of the association said, that plenty of capable men in New Zealand could be found to undertake the duties of the office for its honour alone, j It is hardly necessary to state how this prediction has been falsified by experience. In 1854 he returned to New Zealand, accompanied by Mr. Henry Bunny, a member of the present House of Representatives. On his return to Wellington lie was appointed Provincial Treasurer for Wellington, at a salary of £400 a year. Messrs. Fitzherbert and Featherston had kept the place open for him, and then began the Government in Wellington of the three F's. In 1855 he was sent to Auckland to represent, in the General Assembly, the treble F interest, and in the following year we find him made Attorney-General in the^ Fox Ministry, which succeeded the Bell-Sewell administration, an office he held from the 20th of May, 1856, to the 2nd of June following, a period of two weeks. During the period the Stafford party remained in power — that was until July 1861 from the time of his two weeks duration in office — a change, complete and singular, came over the subject of our sketch, . In the previous phases of his life he had been content to act as the agent of others, now he aspired to be a principal himself. Thus we find him federating with Reader Wood and Pollen, and holding office either as AttorneyGeneral or Colonial Secretary from the 12th July, 1861, to the 6th August, 1862. It was not, however, until the downfall of the Domett Ministry, in October, 1863, that we find him associated with Messrs. Russell and Whitaker. He held office as Colonial secretary from 30th October, 1863, to 24th November, 1864. We have no space to glance even at his actions and conduct as a Minister during those critical periods in our Northern history. His character had become formed, however, and from 1860 to the present time he may be considered to have substituted the claims of party for the dictates of principle. In 1865 he was found in London, writing letters to the London newspapers, defending his New Zealand policy. About this period of his life he went on his celebrated pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The valueless character of these travelling penances to reform political backsliders was clearly shown on his return to New Zealand. Soon after his arrival he continued to assail the Stafford party, in the House of Representatives with the unbridled license of a mischievous tongue. The Provincial party then federating, chose Mr. Fox as their leader, and the Stafford Government fell before the combination in June 1869. At this period Fox and Fitzherbert had taken different sides in the House. On the 28th June, 1869, he took office as Premier of the Ministry formed by the Provincial party. Previous to this period Mr. Stafford's desire for a central government were well known. On his (Mr

Fox's) accession to office— or shortly after— he made his celebrated journey up the W est Coast, and told the settlers no Maori hre should a^ain be lighted in the district. It is only iustice to him to state, that could he have had his wicked will, his wicked vaunt would have been carried out. Holding office as Premier until September 1872, he found that he was Premier only in name, the mmd of Yogel being supreme in 'the Cabinet. After the six weeks life of the Stafford Government, and the short duration of the Waterhouse Ministry, we find him again acting as Pre mier and Colonial Secretary from the 3rd of March to the Bth of April, 1873, since which period he has ceased to be a member of any Cabinet. Every combination has fought shy of having anything to do with him, save in one instance to be hereafter related. Yogel taking the place vacated by his chief Mr. Fox, again went to England by way of America, to ' study the working of the Temperance movement in the States, and especially in Maine. Arrived in England, he formed in conjunction with Mr. Broomhall and others, an attempt to acquire— for the purpose of forming a Temperance settlement — the le Aroha lands. The speculation broke down on account of Mr. Broomhall being unable to find the purchase money. In the first Session of 1879 he moved what is called a No Confidence

that of Degree of Philosophy in a German University. The most valuable tiling connected with the order are the fees for admission to the companionship. Sir William Fox is physically and mentally a small man. His strength as a politician has been found in his lack of principle, and in the unbridled nse of his tongue. It is related many, many years since of a man in England, who was brought before the Court in order to have his sanity tested, that the presiding judge thought the man under examination a rational creature, until the counsel wrote on a slip of paper the word Ezekiel. The judge was quick to catch the clue, and after talking with the man about the poetry of the Jews, said, " Will you kindly tell me your opinion of the prophet Ezekiel ?" The examined mused for a moment, and remarked : — "I do not see why I should not inform your lordship of an important fact. I am. the prophet Ezekiel." As a hydropath, Sir William is insane. It seems to be the one subject he has mastered, and he considers it a panacea for all physical, social, and moral diseases. On this point he is as sincere as the man who believed himself to be the Jewish prophet. He is as profound a believer in his speciality as Warren wa.-> in his blacking, or Morrison in his pills. He has displayed a

motion against the Grey Government. The. singular fatality in mismanaging every thing motion was carried, but" the Governor granted! in State a Hairs that lie has taken in hand, fie a dissolution. He was not ahle to obtain a. seat j forgets to-day what he said yesterday, and will in the new Parliament, and his place as leader be found advocating contrary opinions. At of a party Avas taken by the present Premier, one period in his career he set his tongue He Avas shortly afterwards returned for Kangi- ! against colonial borrowing; at another he detiki, a aeat vacated for him. Since that period I claimed about the heroic work of colonization, he lias been mainly engaged as Commissioner I What principles he has are founded on a on the West Coast. Such are the salient out- 1 hydropathic base, and they vary in line and lines of a busy life. ! tramjuility, as the clouds sweep over and

When he returned to England as agent for the Wellington association he published a book called the "Six Colonies of New Zealand," a woi'k we have never seen. On his second journey Home he published an account of the Maori war, a book readable enough, but tainted by a partizan spirit, and unreliable as a record. In 1879 he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, a modern distinction conferred on people desirous of titular distinction. It was an order of knighthood adopted by the English Government for the purpose of affording marks _ of honour to the natives of Malta and the lonian Islands. By letters patent, in December 1868 and May 1877, the order was extended for conferring "distinction upon such of her Majesty's subjects as "may have rendered, _ or shall hereafter render extraordinary and important services to her Majesty as Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, within or in relation to any of her Majesty's Colonial possessions, or who may become eminently distinguished therein by their talents, merits, virtues, loyalty, or services. As for none of these services nor qualifications could the order be conferred on Mr. Fox, Sir Julius Yogel obtained it for his old leader as a token of gratitude for past services and support. The liberality with which the order has been distributed, coupled with the newness of its origin, and the character of its recepients renders it only of a slightly greater value than

colour, or the winds of political agitation, disturb its surface. He is more at home at a tea fight than in any other place. His tongue, more than his temper has brought him into disrepute. He has always been the tool of abler men than himself. He assumed virtues to which he could lay no claim. He has been a source of weakness to every Ministry with which he has been connected. His fatal lapses of memory have brought Ids reputation for truthfulness into disrepute. He cares not what he says in debate if he can make a bitter statement ; at a tea fight his ambition is attained if he can raise a laugh. It was only through our dearth of public men that such a small man could have obtained such a prominent position. The force of the character of the man can be judged by the results his temperance mania has achieved. All his sincerity has been expended on this subject. It has obtained the constant and ardent advocacy of his fluent tongue. He has enlisted the aid of his facile pen to extend his views. Knowing as we all do that no action fails to entail consequences, it may be said without fear of contradiction that the Temperance Mission of the knight of Westhoe has "borne but meagre fruits. He may at times reach the heads of the people, but he can never touch their hearts. It requires sincerity of character to achieve this result; Sir William Fox has only a sincerity of conviction on the efficacy of the cold water cure. His political

principles are solely found in his determination and his practise to vote with his party. Sir William is essentially a combative man. He always wants to be fighting. It was this love of an enemy to hunt that lent zest to his temperance crusade. We never heard any man call him a philanthropist. He has no power of conception. He thinks out no subject, only over it. There is nothing in his speeches when you analyze them. He is ignorant of figures. He can patch a kettle very roughly, but he cannot make one. A Maori has very large perceptive faculties. The Maori is yet unborn who would trust Sir William Fox. Had it not been for his wicked tongue he would have been as the fly on the chariot wheel— crushed unnoticed. He has many personal friends. They like though they disagree with him. He might have been a useful member of society had he talked less and thought more. He 2 )Oses frequently before the people. This time he has chosen Bible reading in schools. He is everything in turn, and nothing long but — a party man. KoNEKE.