The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 543, 17 August 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1869.

The attitude assumed by the English Government towards New Zealand is likely at last to bring about some results of a decisive character. All through the long correspondence which has taken place between the Colonial Office aud the Colonial Government, we have been at a loss which to wonder at most—the coldblooded policy justified, or the down right ignorance of facts exhibited. Mr Stafford ably dealt with a portion of that correspondence, and ruthlessly demolished the fallacies and absurd contentions of the Imperial Secretary. Since then, however, the cudgels have becu taken up in the Mother Country. Sir George Grey and other gentlemen more or less intimately connected with New Zealand, have boldly rushed into the breach, and, in a forcible protest, have appealed to the reason, aud the feelings too, of the English people. The thanks of New Zealand are due to these gentlemen, and there can be little doubt that the temperate, yet irresistible, force of their opinions will have a marked effect upon public opinion in England. In what shape the result will present itself it would be difficult to predict ; but whatever change may happen it cannot fail to be advantageous. At

present the Colony experiences all the inconvenience consequent upon a subordination of its officers to the Imperial Government, and it receives at present no practical or material benefit in return. While English Ministers conceive it their right to call the colonists to accouut for ottering rewards for murderers and rebels, they deliberately close their pockets when we demand their assistance, and coolly sneer at our almost super-human exertions to avert the evils their own policy has

produced. If relations as at present subsisting are to continue, we see little hope for a speedy solution of our present difficulties. Belianco upon the justice and liberality of England to a certain extent paralyses our arms, as dependence upon others invariably cramps the action of individuals. Let us at once know that we are to bo abandoned to our late, and that England refuses us justice as well as sympathy, and wo shall put on our armor and buckle to the contest in earnest. But in that case, let us have no officious interference at the hands of the power which abandons us. Let us dispense with every thing which reminds us of the unprofitable connection. How many thousands of pounds has New Zealand paid, and is still paying to the representative of the Colonial Office ? And how, we would ask, has the Colony benefitted by the expenditure ?

Such a consummation as that indicated, is very likely to startle many of our readers. "We confess ourselves not to have outlived the feelings of our youth, when in the good oIJ time it was regarded a matter of hearty pride to belong to the English Xation. We are old fashioued and conservative enough to hate change, and to be suspicious even of reform ; and we gloat over the recollection of the time when England's might was ever ready to defend the honor of her Hag and the lives of her meanest citizens. Therefore it is that we naturally shrink from a suggestion which strikes at the root of all those feelings, and threatens destruction to all those asso-

ciations which we have so long treasured in our very heart of hearts. Enfc the alternative is apnarp.ufc. and ngland herselr forces it upon us. Heaven knows our loyalty to the Throne is unbounded, and our affection for England is a part of our nature. To the very utmost have wc striven to put down rebels against England's flag, and England's Queen. Fearlessly wc have fought England's battles. Readily we have spent our thousands to uphold England's honor, and in our extremity England deserts us, and bids us help ourselves ! Can we be blamed then if hurt by the want of sympathy, and galled by the injustice of England, wc seek to sever a union which is productive of no benefit, hut on the contrary retards and embarrasses us in every direction.

We well know what course would have been adopted had New Zealand been a French or an American Colony. It seems almost a pity that Sir William Hutt and his colleagues were too energetic and too prompt for the Trench Government of their day. If the French nation had ruled New Zealand the war of ISIS-6-7 would have been the first and last difficulty of the kind, and long ere this the Maori would have been " improved " into submission.

We shall look with anxiety for the effects of the protest we have alluded to. If its arguments are received with fairness, without prejudice and that obstinacy which unhappily seems to characterize the Colonial office, a better spirit will prevail. The struggles of the Colonists will be better appreciated, a generous aud a practical sympathy will be evoked, and real and tangible assistance afforded us in such a inanuer as to stamp out once aud for ever the elements of strife at present within us. If such a result folfows, well indeed, will Sir George Grey aud his friends deserve the credit we have accorded them, and England's recognition of our rights will be none the less warmly welcomed because it has been but tardily conceded.