THE SOUTHERN GROSS. Saturday, March 4, 1848.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 3, Issue 141, 4 March 1848, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Saturday, March 4, 1848.

LUCEO NON URO. "If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore."

As week after week has rolled round, and called us to tho discharge of our journalising duties, wo have repeatedly, when seated pen in hand at our desk, paused, and cast our thoughts abroad with sincere endeavour to discover some pleasing topic, some gratifying feature of our Governor's policy which we might record, and upon which, awhile forgetful of our many grievances, we might dilate with pleasure, and loose amidst the kindly feelings which the contemplation of even one act of good government might engender, tho rankling sense of the generally, unjust and oppressive character of the present administration. But, though at such times, we have turned over in our mind the records of tho past, and caused to pass in review before our memory, the prominent events of Captain Grey's government, we have never been able to fix upon any important public act of unequivocal merit. We have sought in vain for any great measure standing out in bold relief from the ordinary surface of our Governor's conduct, upon which we could honestly bestow the meed of unqualified praise. We might indeed extol his ability, and do admit that he possesses quite sufficient talent to constitute him a clever man, but as he has proved himself to be deficient in those attributes of the mind, which are essential in the character of a good man, his being possessed of talent, only increases the regret that it should be so misapplied. He commenced his career under the most flattering auspices, but with a strange shortsightedness, he built the fabric of his future reputation upon the sandy foundation of systematic misrepresentation. Witness the fact of the adoption of the highly imaginative despatches giving an account of the storming of Ruapekapeka, when every one here knows well, that it was taken by surprise, and that not even by a preconcerted stratagem, but by a most unexpected chance. The history of the land question also, since the arrival of Governor Grey, furnishes nought but evidence of the evil animus with which he has uniformly regarded the claimants and their claims. He first conveyed an erroneous impression to the home government relative to the general merits of the land question, and then poisoned the minds of her Majesty's ministers against particular claimants, and while thus setting in motion the distant wheels of the machine that was to cat up the prospects of the claimants, he was diligently employed in arranging those connecting links which, acting locally, were intended to ensure the consistent operation of the whole. For instance, it was hardly considered sufficient to prejudico the minds of her Majesty's ministers against the land claimants, and, inculcate the opinion that their pretensions were so intrinsically unjust and opposed to the interests of the community, that they ought to be evaded, wherever it was possible to do so by means of legal subtleties, "but it was deemed necessary to make such provision as would ensure the success of any legal quibbles that might be raised against them. Hence, with the most consummate art, long before the purport of his despatches became known, and his Jatent designs became clearly manifest, his Excellency contrived to pass a law, which virtually deprived the Chief Justice of his power, and made the Supreme Court inferior to the Executive Council. The object of this insidious measure, though not immediately discovered at the time, is now apparent to the most sluggish intellect, j If by any chance, one of the unhappy individuals for whom these toils were woven, should defend his causo, and prove successful in defeating the scire facias process with which he has been assailed, his victory would still be fruitless ; for the Attorney-

General, as a ready instrument in the hands of his master, would be instructed to appeal to the Executive Council, — the supreme tribunal where the will of tho Governor reigns triumphant — and thus the advantage gained by the successful claimant, would be rendered nugatory, and tho chagrin and anguish of his ultimate discomfiture only made more poignant by the extinction of the hopes which his temporary success had engendered. Such deep laid schemes may accord with the genius of an unscrupulous adventurer, who has a certain aim to accomplish, and stakes his fortune upon the die, but they ill consort with the dignity and honor which ought to characterise the governmental proceedings of a great and benevolent nation. If we thought it would be of the smallest use, we would ourselves, though unaccustomed to tread the uncertain paths of legal argument, take up the question of these scire facias writs,*aud provo its merits by the test of law. But we are convinced that the adoption of such a course, would be but labour thrown away. When informed some short time since, that writs had been served upon the Missionary claimants, — individuals who have been specially honored with the persecuting favor of his Excellency, — we hazarded the opinion that the peculiarity of their position would in all probability prevent them from contesting their rights ; and the event has proved that we were so far correct. We understand that one, if not more, of tho cases have been decided without opposition, and of course in favour of the Government. We do not imagine that the parties interested have acted unwisely in thus allowing his Excellency to walk round the course, but on the contrary, we think that if even they had laid aside the scruples naturally arising out of their peculiar functions, and had contested the point, they would, n the end, have found themselves in the same position, not only for the reason we have already alluded to, but because of the now confessed inability of the Supreme Court to interfere with the proceedings of Government. If the power of the Judge only extends so far as to regulate the proceedings of inferior courts, as long as the Governor chooses to continue them in operation, and if he cannot prevent the Governor from abolishing them when he pleases, it is hardly possible that he could have the power, even if he had the courage, to pronounce a verdict in opposition to the Governor's known determination. Until, therefore, the independence of our Court of Law is restored, and its supremacy re-established, we consider that it would bo useless to waste money in defending any cause which, in its issue, affects the will and pleasuro of the Governor.