Reception of Sir J. Vogel.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 87, 9 March 1876, Page 3

Reception of Sir J. Yogel.

(< Canterbury Times.'

When w« read the elaborate account 'of the'dvation which Sir Julius Yogel

has just received at Wellington, we are irresistibly reminded' bf the' description, given by Dickens in " Little Dprrit " of. the. public opinion of Mr Merdle— hot that there is the slightest likeness between Sir Julius Yogel and his policy and Mr Merdle and his schemes, but because in both cases there is an illustration, of the worship in the British mind of any human representative of Mammon, of any man who can, either in person or by proxy, dispose of enor-i xnous sums of money. Dickens tells us that this great. merit "caused the „air to resound more .and more with the ; name> of Merdle. It was deposited on every lip. and. .carried into every ear. There never was, there never hasbeeh, "there never again should be such a man $s Mr Merdle." We are also informed " s ''">it Mr Merdle had his special ad-, mirers among the. working men. "Mr Plornish, who bad a small share' in a small building-business in the neighborhood, ; said, trowel in hand, on the tops of scaffolds, and on the. tiles, of .houses, that people did tell them as "Mr Merdle i was the one, mind you, to put us all to rights in respect of things which all on us look to, and to bring us all safe home as much we needed, mind you, for toe to be brought." This great admiration was shared by fair workwomen, "The female Bleeding Hearts, when they came for ounces of tea and hundredweights of talk," informed Mrs Plornish, " that . how. it was reported

that Mr Merdle's words had been, that

if they could have made it worth his Vwhile to take the whole government, he would have took it without a profit, 'hut that take it he would not, and stand a loss. That how it was not to be expected, ma'am, that he should loose by it, his ways being, as you might say, •and utter, no falsehood, paved with gold, hut that it was much, to be regretted that something handsome hadn't been got up to make it worth his while ; for it. was such, and only such, that •knowed the heighth to which the bread and butchers' meat had.rose, and it was

such, and only such, that could and "would bring that height down." Even poor tenants, who were dunned and could not pay their rent, were wont to find an unfathomable excuse and con- ; solation in allusions to the magic name," and, moreover, in schools " the more

advanced pupils, who were in large -7 text and the letter M, had been set the

'fcopy, ' Merdle— Millions.' " It is ungracious to analyse ovations, and to investigate, their motives and their elements, hut we suspect, that thei-e was a good "deal of Merdler worship in this- enthusiasm on the part of 'the good people of Wellington. Certainly Sir Julius. Yogel, except it may "be for some hundreds of thousand of

pounds expended during his administration in that city on the General As sembly ; building s, ministerial residences and- barracks fbr the official army of martyrs—^has no special - claims to the 1 consideration of the city bf Wellington. He opposed the transfer to it of the seat of Government ; he advocated, the twojjrovinces schehie, which woliild shear Wellington of it's metropolitan glories ; he was, in fact, very shaky about the question of the seat of Government till he found' vacillation would- endanger the seat of his own Government : and he scarcely ever resided there excebt during the session. We regard, therefore, the.genuflec.tidn of Wellington at the triumphal car of Sir Julius as a morai tribute to the greatness Of ainan who could, in six years, borrow and spend eleven millions. The approaching exhaustion of this hour of plenty makes Tsuch devotion only the more creditable, and invests it With a reality which is quite touching*. At Wellington men do not " shut their dodrs against the 'setting sun ;" but they rush outside and prostrate themselves to the dust iri adoration of its rays With the'sitnplicity and the faith Of true, 'fire-worshippers. We only regret that their vespers were not couched iv more worthy terms.

Even to a superior being, ! the incense ■of grammer and truth must be more grateful than of solecism and adulation. The — so-called— address . of working 'men is a gem of vulgarity, a fault rarer in that class than in "their selffconstituted, instructors, iand we'imagine is no hiore.a gefiuine product of their handiwork than a Royal Speech— if we 'may'beypardoned 'the comparison- I—in1 — in ; Pariidinent is that of the Sovereign. The address Expresses the ideas of. a ■snob in the style of a 'flunkey. Here

•is an: extract I:—Whereas,1 :— Whereas, before the inauguration of: the scheme of public works, and. initnigratidn. we were with--'out unity of purpose or hope of future independance "—.a pleasant ; of ! the. British workmen in New Zealand

! for thirty years, before the. year -of grace - 1870, the Julian, Era, "your -policy,^, address continues, "* is 'the bond' which unites, ire, and the lever Whiclr '— raised us to our proper, level in the; '£rand scale df industrial civilisation."-; These metaphors are beyrincl our limited; 'Comprehension. TheorilyhonlL which; we . kaow in eonnecti6n with the policy ofßir -cFulius is the boncl toVhieh coupons al-e attached, and, for the periodical payment ; of -the interest Yoh\ Avhich, workmen .certairily, . . as. well -i as\ others, wil! itave to unite. Perhaps, it: •is meant that "when.' millions are broad:cast **. the bond, whibh unites "us " is a

share of the plunder, but surely such material love of lucre cannot properly be termed " the lever which raised .lis to our proper level in' the "grahd scale of industrial civilisation." This* Taising;, we see, is spoten of in the piast tense, so a wonderful phenomenon in the history of humanity— unparalleled, we believe, in any other place in the world — has occurred at Wellington ; in six years the thousands of "workmen " and "citizens" — we forgot the citizens— on behalf of whom the address speaks, have been raised to their "proper level," below or above which they cannot therefore with propriety wish to sink or rise, aqd the level, more powerful than that of Archimedes, which has done this wonderful' elevation, is this more wonderful policy of this most wonderful Sir Julius. After the splendid passage which--we have quoted, the allusion to his genius and the exhortation to continue in the same course— how eagerly would he comply, did he only know how ! — are somewhat of an ,anti-climax. The reply of Sir Julius requires no comment. It is good all round, • a circular of eulogy— a tissue of generalities any number of yards of which public men can produce at the shortest notice.

We have not much faith in public ovations and testimonials. This is the age of varnish, and these outward shows are only good to look at from a distance. The bower of bliss, the colored lights, the lovely fairies, their' brilliant jewels and their etherial apparel are coarse delusions by daylight, or on close inspection. We breathe an atmosphere of shams. Better, we say, a dinner of herbs, with one true smile, one warm grasp of the hand and one hearty word of welcome, than the stalled ox, with simulated glorification and all its sounding brass and tinkling* cymbal. A' class ot men has sprung up who can run one for anything, from a Presidency to a popular -banquet. We can be contracted for from the nursery to the churchyard. Everything' has its price. Adequate consideration will contract us to be crammed, for the prizes of education, to be married to heiresses or peeresses, to be taken the grand tour, to be got into Parliament, to be appointed to high offices, to be made statesmen or heroes, and. to be buried, if we wish it in Westminster Abbey. The worst of all this artificiality is its variableness. Adversity is the crucial test, the spear of Ithuriel which detects the truth. Shakspeare says well in Timon of Athens : —

" When Fortune in her shift and change of mood Spurns down her lato beloved, all his dependents Which laboured after him to the mountains' top, Even on their knees and hands, let him slip down Not one accompanying his declinm*-*; foot."