THE VICTORIAN IMBROGLIO.

West Coast Times, Issue 316, 27 September 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE VICTORIAN IMBROGLIO.

The "Daily News" of July 19, referring to the call of Sir Charles Darling and the appointment of the new Governor of Victoria, remarks i 'Mr Cardwell's instructions strike at the root of all responsible government. The colonists know and feel it, and they are determined to. defend their rights. Mi- ..Cardwell "wrote, for the guidance of General Carey,^that "in the event of an occasion arising in which it would be clear to his judgment that the advice of his ministers for. the time being would involve a violation of the law," he was to dismiss them. Imagine % any constitutional minister writing thus to the governor of a British colony ! Mr Cardwell did

not proceed to inform General Carey how he was to carry on the government of the colony after, dismissing the minis*-ters-who had the ponfidence of the Assembly. In England the Crown follows, the opinion c-f .its responsible ad visers upon points of law, and never ' thinks of setting vp x a mere'ly'personal conviction against their authority. The new t Governor of Victoria, however", is to do this — to presume^jto know, better 'than his responsible law v officers, ' who are sworn to advise him, 'what is lawful and what is not. , The folly of this act is inconceivable. Why is the- individual judgment of a military functionary to be deemed a better guide on points of constitutional government than the public judgment of the 'responsible advisers of the Crown ? And, supposing the new governor and the council to Be united in opposition to the House 'of Assembly, how is the Government to be carried on ? Of one thing the British prigin and character of the colony is a pledge ; it will not be carried on under such conditions. The colonists will not allow an Upper House, elected on the basis of a restricted suffrage, and a paid public servant who has no interest in the colony, to overbear the Assembly whicß. represents the people. The " Daily Telegraph," while approving of the recall of Sir Charles Darling, enters its protest against a style of discussing Australian politics which is only too common in Great Britain. It proceeds to say : — We are tired of those tirades -about the " failure of democracy," in which every Tory whipper-snapper is accustomed to indulge.. We have assuredly no love for democracy in the abstract ; but it is only a doctrinaire who will maintain that- a system which would be undesirable for a country like England, is therefore unsuitable for a new community. We join issue, moreover, not only on the theory, but on the Yapts : and we ask, without much" anticipation of receiving an intelligible answer, in what respect the government of 'the Australian colonies is a failure. Under enormous difficulties, the statesmen of the new continent have made life and property as secure as they are in any country of the world, and with a motleypopulation to disturb them, they have succeeded in maintaining order and tranquility. Even in the great constitutional crisis at Victoria, have there been any breaches of the peace, any turbulent outburst of democratic passion? The whole question has been argued as calmly in Melbourne as our -our own Reform Bill was discussed at .Westminster ; and although there was an overwhelming numerical preponderance in favor of the Assembly, the bare idea of coercing the' council by physical force was never for one moment entertained. Nay, mor,e^-the chief offender against the Constitution was the. vicegerent of Her Majesty, who is now on his way home '; he it was who strained the law to suit the purposes of his advisers. It is pitiful to point a schoolbpy theme about the weakness of democracy, 'with taunts ' at men who are as loyal and as law-abiding as ourselves. Failure ? We know upon the earth no grander example of political success than that presented by Australia; no nobler proof of the worth 'of English institutions for an English people than the way in 'which they $re, working' at the 'Antipodes. Too many of us are, accustomed to think of colonial parties as insignificant and petty. Why, the statesmen of the new land have "to deal with the distribution . and the gover%r ,raent of territories compared to which

the boundaries of«sthe British islands are parochial ; they have to guide and direct the growth of States which, in the far future, will probably eclipse our own; and yet they ai<e to be created ! as though they were parish vestrymen squabbling about a rate of twopence in the pound ! &is because we utterly repudiate and despise a tone of thought at once so ungenerous and so silly,, that even whilst applauding the 'removal of S/r Charles. Darling, we hasten to do justice to the'good feeling of those who are still his staunch and firm, adherents.