JUDGE RICHMOND ON "COLONIALISM."

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 158, 16 February 1871, Page 7

JUDGE RICHMOND ON "COLONIALISM."

His Honour Judge Richmond presided at the Nelson College on the day of " breaking-up," and thus addressed the boys : —

Whatever else your education may have done for you, I hope and believe it will save you from a certain very base type of thought and sentiment, which, for want of another word, I will call " colonialism. The better to explain my meaning : — When people of education and i*efinenient at home read in our newspapers, as they may too often do, of some transaction in public or private business, in which a seliish and grasping spirit is combined with a display of ignorance, presumption, and extreme bad taste, they are apt to exclaim (with shame I say it), "How thoroughly, how truly colonial." It is grievous to think and have to confess that there is much in the manner of modern British Colonies to warrant the severe judgment implied in this way of speaking. We, in New Zealand, quite as much, perhaps, as the Australian Colonies, are, at the present day, obnoxious to the implied censure. But it was not always so. Many of the. founders of our settlements, those of Cook's Straits as well as those of Canterbury and Ota go, had ideas on the subject of colonising, which were not pt all colonial. With them to colonise was deemed a work not un worthy to be called "heroic." They came here not simply, as the saying is, "to better themselves," but with worthy ambition of founding new communities which, whilst they preserved all that is best in the civilisation of the mother country, should be free from many evils incident to old societies. When I express a hope, then, that you will never become " colonial " in the bad sense, understand that I hold the character of a true colonist to be a great and worthy one. The true colonist should be "good all round." The leaders of a new settlement should be, as I am thankful to say many of our leaders were, scholars and gentlemen, and at the same time able to turn their hand to any useful work which occasion demands. Amongst the early immigrants to Canterbury, I recollect it used to be boasted that there were men who could drive a straight furrow, drench a, cow, write Greek iambics, and understand Newton's Principia. Be then, if you can, good stockmen, good axemen, good sawyers, good •teamsters, able to catch, saddle, and ride a buck-jumpei", to round up a mob of wild cattle, climb a crag, or swim a river. Be or do all or any of these things, but bo also gentlemen in the best sense of the word, and 1 shall call you the truest sort of colonists. But of this other odious type of low colonisation you may, alas ! find specimens enough — not so much in our country districts as amongst tha traders, speculators, and indescribable jobbers of our colonial cities. You have, perhaps, been once or twice in your lives in what may be called a crowd. There are not many at Kelson, but now and then we have something like a crowd. There

yon m.xy have soon some vulgar fellow, not so much stronger, pcrlnps, than his neighbours in the press, hnt moiv <!etrtrmined to have his way, ,\!><] siiiovo all less regardful thin otlu, ■; of the comfort and of the riglit-; of U.^e about him. Him you may hava ob-; rved, hy dint of elbowing the ribs and treading on the toes of those in front, by squeezing and jostling and hustling, partly by force, but more by impudence and the odour of onioiis which he exhales, and by taking base advantage of the civility or the sqeamishness or the peaceable disposition of others, work himself a way to the entrance, and at last triumphantly seat himself, " dusty and deliquescent," with an air of self-com-placency, as of a man who has attained his object, on tho front benches. Thai man typifies vulgar " colonialism." Its one idea is self-advancement ; and by advancement it means neither more nor less than getting rich as fast as possible. Or, take an anecdote I got from an American traveller of n. gross fellow at a table cV Jiote, who seizes promptly the only dish of early peas, and shovelling the whole into his own plate, grunts out in explanation, c: I'm a pig at peas." A pig, indeed ! Well, we have colonial pigs enough of this very breed, whose whole idea in life is to grasp as much and give as little as they can. But ifc may bo said that gross selfishness and low material views of life are not peculiar to the colonies ; and that of conr.se is true. In England there are no doubt many who, if not arrived at full-blown colonialism, are leady to expand to it on the first opportunity, when the pressure which keeps them in check is withdrawn. For there is something in the older countries of the world which does keep such men in check. There is a something which the most conceited and the mosb ignorant feel compelled to look up to, and which, if it does not excite their reverence, restrains their piesnmption. They may not relish the teaching of the Church of England Catechism, which warns them to order themselves lowly and reverently to all their betters, yet they arc compelled to acknowledge to themselves, and that perpetually, that they have " betters," true superiors, to whom they owe obedience as a duty, however unwilling tl^ey may be to pry it. In European life the most callous must oflen be reminded that the true ends nnd objects of our common humanity do not termi nato in solf, but are external to self, involving self-oblivion and self-saci'ifiee. Consider the effect of such a national movement as we have just witnessed in the uprising of the mighty German nation. Fancy yourself in the fortress of Landau, when the battalions of the Prussian Guards ti-amped past, with heavy tread, through the stillness of the night, in seemingly endless columns, lilting out their patriotic songs in chorus, as with a single heart and voice ; marching by thousands and tens of thousands to lay down their lives for Fatherland on the fields of Woerfcb and Gravel otte. Would you not have felt, must not everyone feel, witnessing such a scene, that there exists, for each of us, interests and dudes which t-iko a man completely out of himself? And though it is not often in the ages that men may see a mighty nation thus arising as a single man, shaking, as Milton says, "her invincible locks," and girding herself for some great effort ; yet in the daily life of the states of Europe, public feelings, duties, and authorities make themselves felt, and l'emind the least sensitive that he is but a drop in the great ocean of social interest, and that wa are truly, as the apostle teaches, " members one of another."

On Wednesday morning last, between 3 and 4 o.clock, a most daring attempt at escape from the Stockade was made by throe prisoners now awaiting trial, and had iv not been for the courage ami presence of mind of the warder on duty, Mr. C. Martin, they would have succeeded in effecting their escape, and thus have caused no little expense and trouble ia their recapture, if ever they had been recaptured. From enquiries made we have been enabled to gather the following particulars : — The warder, Or. Martin, was goiu? his rounds at the hour above stated, when on opening the door or the corridor into the mes?ror>rn he was rushed by three men. With admirable presence of mind he threw the keys away into the middle of the yard, "and tackled the throe desperadoes single handed. The attack was so sudden and unexpected, that Martin had no time to draw his revolver, so there was nothing for it but main strength and pugilism. He struck out manfully with fist and the bull's eye lantern he had in his hand, and as a last resource threw ihe lamp at the prisoners. Tbis alarmed them, rind they retreated, giving him time to draw his revolver, which completely cowed the desperadoes, who retired in admirable disorder. He at once closed and bolted the door and went and procured assistance, but on visiting the cells ho found all ihe prisoners in bed. But in throwing the lamp the lij*ht was thrown on the countenances of all throe prisoners, so t'.jat lie was able to recognise them. One of them is the notorious Dunn ; now awaiting trial on several charges of robbery from dwellings. 'Such conduct on the part of the warder deserves coino a ibstantial recognition on the part of Ihe authorities, for had it not been for iiis courage and presence of mm 1, the prisoners would have escaped — '• ,-\u«'l: land Weekly Herald," Jan 23th. -