NOTABLE FIGURES

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 18, 21 July 1934, Page 10

NOTABLE FIGURES

NEW ZEALAND HISTORY

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

HENRY SEWELL

(By Guy H. Scholefield, 0.8. E., D.Sc, F.R.Hist.S.)

(Copyright.)

[We publish today the first of a series of articles by Dr. G. H. Scholefield on a number of prominent figures in the history o£ New Zealand. In choosing his subjects the author has taken not necessarily the most import ant or prominent men of the time, most of whom have already been frequently written about, but rather some very notable men about whom not much has been known or written. The particulars of the early life of colonial pioneers sare occasionally very difficult to. obtain, and Dr. Scholefield has drawn from sources which in many cases have not been previously accessible. The articles should therefore form a distinct contribution to the biographical history of the Dominion.]

Henry Sewell ranks with Gibbon Wakefield as one of the creative minds from which sprang the Constitution of New Zealand. Born in the Isle of Wight in 1807 he was educated at Hyde Abbey School, near Winchester, qualified as a-solicitor and joined his father's firm. He practised successively at Newport, Pidford, and Brockhurst. In 1834 he married Lucinda, daughter of General JNTeedham, who was a member of the last Irish Parliament (1798-1800). On her death ten years later Sewell went to live in London, where he married again in 1850. Sewell soon became interested in the affairs of the Canterbury Association, and it was on his motion that the Society of Canterbury' Colonists was formed. In July, 1850, he was appointed chairman of the committee of management and shortly afterwards deputy chairman of the company. Edward ' Gibbon Wakefield, always the power behind __ the throne, described Sewell at this time as "a. conscientious and able man of business, of high character, with his heart in the thing as*an intending colonist, with no defect that I know of unless his Puseyite name should prove hurtful." Wakefield suggested .that Sewell might make a permanent post of it., He was much impressed by' his talents and character. "Highly gifted with"'acuteness, circumspection, judgment,' industry, elevation of view, and refinement of taste, all governed by " strong "conscientiousness and a single-minded, unambitious wish for the success of the work which he was undertaking^ f om love of it." A little later, however, we find Wakefield confessing to a cerain amiable weakness in his "treasure." About this time Sewell appeared as the chief adviser of the South African delegates in resisting the intention of Earl Grey to withdraw the constitution already granted to South Africa but held in abeyance owing to the Kaffir War. Thoroughly versed in constitutional law, ho contended'that the Crown had no power to withdraw a franchise once granted except for cause shown in the courts. . . ARRIVAL IN NEW ZEALAND. Sewell had by this time determined to_ emigrate. The New Zealand Constitution Bill was being laboriously framed and he played his part in the task, collaborating with Norton and Wakefield in the deliberations at Hams Hall.- He also propounded to Gladstone a very attractive scheme for the union, or federation of colonial settlements. Towards the end of 1852 the work at home was finished and Sewell' was sent out to settle financial matters on the, spot. •He arrived in Canterbury in February, 1853, at the very moment when the new constitution was published. Fitzgerald, elected first superintendent of the province, eagerly availed himself of the great knowledge Sewell possessed of the constitution and of the association's affairs to induce the Canterbury Provincial Council to accept the powers of the association and its financial liabilities. This agreement (carried through in 1855) was completely satisfactory t the association. "Nothing could be more creditable,". says Godley to Lord Norton, "both to the association and the colonists than the way in which it has been done, no verdict could be more complete on the merits of i the association's work. - That a colony four years old should be able to adopt a liability of £ 30,000 without , serious, indeed ruinous, inconvenience, is a most remarkable proof of its material prosperity, and. that they should be willing to do so is "an equal proof of moral well-being." The deeds embodying the transfer were formally transferred to the superintendent, in the presence of the council. ' ENTRY INTO POLITICS. Sewell had not been able to resist the temptation to participate in provincial politics. Fitzgerald had appointed him provincial solicitor at the outset as the best way of utilising his knowledge, and in March, 1855, he was elected to represent Lyttelton in the Council (resigning in June, 1856). He was deep in colonial polities by this time. From 1853 to 1856 he was member of Parliament for the town of Christchurch, and in June, 1854, he found himself a member of the colonial executive without portfolio. But he was not altogether at home in the rude young colony. His habits of thought did not :easily 'atcept the democratic omission of "Mr." by people who called a carpenter "Mr. Smith." To the rank and file of the colonists he seemed cold and: aloof. Sewell entered the first Parliament almost as the tool' of. Wakefield. Sharing with him a passion for responsible Government, he allowed himself to be nominated to the Executive (along with Weld and Fitzgerald). ' Matters came to a quick crisis on August 17, when the Administrator' (Colonel Wynyard) refused to adopt full responsible Government. Determined not to be baulked, Sewell and his followers locked the doors to preserve a quorum, and Sewoll moved a series of resolutions asserting the right of Parliament to control expenditure and protesting against the position of Wakefield as the secret adviser of the Administrator. When a member (Mackay) appeared in the Chamber withhis hat on, claiming that Parliament had been prorogued, Sewell lost his temper, seized him by the collar, and commenced to belabour him, thereby precipitating a melee. During the recess a new Governor (Gore-Browne) assumed office empowered -to grant full responsibility.' COLONY'S FIRST PREMIER. Parliament met again in May, 1856, and Sewell, called upon to form a Government, took office as first responsible Premier of New Zealand, with Bell, Whitaker, and'Tanered as his colleagues.; : The strong provincial following in. the House treated him with suspicion, and his'; Ministry lasted: only a fortnight.1 After a few days of opposition while; Fox was in office Stafford, tho only'man with whom Sewell could work, succeeded' him as Premier, Sewell being Colonial Treasurer and later Commissioner of Customs. When Parliament prorogued Sewell resigned his seat (he ■ had already withdrawn from tho Canterbury Provincial Council) in order to go to England on private and public business. Ho retained his seat on*tho Executive Council and vias authorised to negotiate for an Imperial guarantee for .the £500,000

loan which the colony required to raise. This was embodied in the Imperial Bill of 1857, and Sewell returned to the colony with enhanced reputation (February, 1859). The Stafford Government soon went out of office. During most of 1860 ho represented the town of Christchurch again in Parliament, resigning in November to assume the office of Registrar-General of Lands. In August, 1861, Fox called Sewell to the Legislative Council as AttorneyGeneral and Leader of the Council. This office ho held also in the succeeding Ministry of- Domett, resigning in January, 1863. MINISTERIAL VICISSITUDES. Towards the end •of 1864 Sewell again took office as Attorney-General in Weld's Ministry. During this term, in May, 1865, ho resigned from the Legislative Council and was elected to represent the town of New Plymouth inthe Lqwer House. In October the Ministry went out. of office. In January, 1866, Sewell became counsel under the Land Registration • Act, which necessitated his resignation from Parliament. His political opinions we're apt to be dictated by prejudice. At this period he was as bitter a critic of Stafford as he had formerly been an admirer. The financial difficulties of the sixties gave Sewell a new opportunity of visiting,"England to arrange matters with the Imperial Government. He spent many months there collaborating with Fitzgerald and Weld. Shortly after his return to New Zealand he was again called- to the Council by Fox and appointed Minister of Justice. The importunities of tho rising Vogel became troublesome. 'Squabbles ensued., The portfolio of Justice was transferred to Vogel, and Sewell resigned and joined the Opposition. Within a year he was again in office as Colonial Secretary to Stafford. . When the Ministry was defeated a / month later Sewell retired, and in 1873 finally left New Zealand politics. In the spring of 1876 he went to England for good; and he died at Cambridge on May 5, 1879. "NEVER KNEW HIS MIND." It is not easy to account for Sewell's failure in New Zealand politics, except on the grounds of inherent political weakness. Gisborne says that he was an apt administrator and a good debater, occasionally eloquent. "His nature was supple and pliant; it was not robust enough to stand alone. His mind had breadth, but it was slippery and unable to.grasp closely great principles; its strength was dissipated on small things. There was an utter want of repose in his1 temperament. He was fussy, restless, too easily impressionable, and full of false alarms." Cox found him a capital departmental head with an erratic mind and fertile resource; to meet difficulties., He was probably the best debater in the House. "He had a wonderful mastery of Blue Books and figures; yet there was probably never a time when he knew his own mind for : two days consecutively."

Sewell wrote a number of pamphlets,, notably "The New Zealand Native Rebellion" and a letter discussing his constitutional differences with Sil George Grey. Then there was, of course, the journal which he kept from 1853-56, and which is in possession of the Bishop of Christehurch. A brotheJ of Sewell (Richard Clarke Sewell) was a prominent legal writer and afterwards reader in law at Melbourne University. Two brothers, James' Edward and William, were- Puseyite divines, and'a sister (Elizabeth) was a wellknown novelist. .