TRACTS FOR THE TIMES .

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 2, Issue 63, 4 December 1858, Page 3

TRACTS FOR THE TIMES .

"Dare lucem et dare servem"

No. 6. — Honey-dew Tobacco.

"He hath been a courtier, he swears. If any man doubts that let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure ; I have flattered a lacly ; I have been politic: with my frieud, smooth with mine enemy ; I have undone three taj'lors ; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one." Jast so, O thou inimitable Shakespeare ! "We live in an age of adulteration and paint, when impudent quacks and charlatans strive to c irry their own pi-ivate ends under the guise of serving the public. Strongly reminding, one of Iha ugly vampire bat of S. America, which, by the aid of its wings Happing arid fanning, gently sucks a man's blood until it 3 huge belly is full. That " truth is stranger than fiction" is a truism ; yet it is astonishing, that men who ar3 sensitively alive to their own interests, and who even seek to follow the deductions of science, should in general consent to be hoodwinked in matters o <% Relig'on and Politics. Why should black be called white, or bitter sweet? Why, (for histanee,) should spirituous liqxioi-s strongly adulterated which have killed and are yearly killing their thousands, be called " Cream of tlu Valley," and the " Water of Life" ? or, why should a most horrible nauseous and highly poisonous vegetable substance be launched into the world under the Christian name of "-Honey-dew" ? For no other re ison than thi ; , that men, rational Lnowing 'cute white men, are content to- be gulled by the knavish and designing, equally with the Fu'gian and Australian savage, who is the dupe of marinira and chapmen through thtir gewgaws and trinketry. . Even iutel ijent men too often forget, that there are msn tb be found now-a-days whose -vocation seems to be how best to club their .vits to deceive the unwary and confiding. " Men, who," as Sir W. Temple s :ys, " under the disguise of public good, pursue their own designs of power, and such bastard honours as attend them." — Especially in matters df state (large or small,) and theg3tting-hold-ofand reta'ning power in thsir own hands ; — for this they will roar as gently as a sucking-dove ; — use perfumed words dropping honey, — and hesitate not to speak all manner of ill (privately and anonymously, if they dare not openly,) concerning the man who sees through their ; stratagems — the honest man who is better than themselves.

May not a dog ba choked with pudding ? or a man with hoiiey-comb ? Cjin we cjonce? ye tha Duke of Clarence' to have had asweeter denth in his choosing to be dro.vned in a butt of malmsey in the Tower, than if he had been "droVhcd in the Tham: s ? or, would a silken, halier effeetuiilly difeguise the. rough and unwelcome hands.. ojNTadk jfcctpli. ? , These thoughts, and many sirailar, }|a^e paigßei rapidly through my ..mind during the Veei ; mainly owing tp what I heard* at Jfa^ier; ; . ' v Here comes an old troatj tickle him-Trell arid; takehioi." At Napier an elector infornred : ine \ that he had been called onby a certain person (A,)

who end avoured to induce him (B,) to pledge his vote^afc the coming election for a third (C,) and by no means to' vote for another ( D, ) whd had bean spoken of as a Candidate. And thus A began *— " You know, B, what is good and proptr, for you are an old settlor ; now you must vote for C, because he is a religious man ; as to D, you must not think of him, for he you know is an, atheist &c, &c." [For the tune I omifc thenaine3, as well as the blarney and soft sawder.] Now I should Ike to know even believing (which Ido not) the statement of" A, that C is a-" religious" man, and that Dis an "atheist," — I should like to know, I say, -what such has to do with the matter of a rii man as member-of-Council or Superintendent ? Am I again to hear of such vagaries in the present year of grace, 1859, a3 that an ascetic or an imbecile or "a friend" •or any man or want you please is fit to govern a free and rising people because he is " religious" ? This would be to go back to the thirteenth century, to the times of Peter de Murrlio (or Celestine r.) ; who was chosen Pope and Head of Christendom because of his being such a " religious" man ; and who, after a short 3 months reign, abdicated, as unfit for the office of governing ! Am I indeed to hear of a gift od man of comprehensive mmd — a man to whom N. Zealand as a whole Colony is indebted — a man who, when even rasiding at a distance and using his talents in the service of a rival Province, was by that town and that province where he had former lv dwelt chosen solely on account of known merit as their representative in the great a-sembly of the Colony — a mnn to whom Napier and the Province of Hawke owes much, and to nothing more than to his conscientious uprightness aud integrity : — ami to hear, 1 ask, and to he pained •in hearing, such a man spoken of as being unfit to steer our craft because he is an " atheist" ? At present I purpossly abstain from asking, whether Ai' able' to judge in such mailers ; or, whether A is not a liLtle indebted to I) for cartain kind offices ; or, whether A has not somewhat deviated from the golden rule of charity or apostolic religion in thus speaking ill, and that too of an absent one ; or whether A really knows what constitutes an " atheist," or what a " religious" man. The time,- too, to the thinking mind, in which such an attempt was made, was singularly and strikingly uhfiiicitous. The day on which we recsivedyrar long-looked for July and August mails —which, informed us of the breaking-down of more of the barriers of superstition and bigotry at home, in the admission of a Jew into parliament, — and of the s»vc?p;ng away cf those blots from the Prayer Book of the Church of England, as the religious services fcr Gunpowder plot, and Charles Ike Jilartyr (!) and the restoration of his precious son Charles 11. Yes : this very time was that in which A made his nefarious attempt in the town of Napier ! Brother electors !— especially you of the town of Napier and neighbourhood — once more I say, be on your guard. Beware of honied words and fine promises and sauotified appearances. You have thosu among you who know how to play fait and loose, who know well how to run witii the hare and walk with the. hound. You have those among you actively working, who have opeuly avowed their holding to "all fair in love war and politics." Those men have hitherto opj>osed, and those men will ever oppose the true advancement of our province in its entirety. Believe not their honied words ; believe not their planned their studied phrases; beibve not their "sympathy with the working-man' ; 'tis all syllabled moonshine used only to befog your brains. Take a hint from ,L.Estranges thrush : — "Mother, says the thrush, never had any such a friend as I have of this swallow. No, says she, nor ever mother such a fool as I have of this same thrush."

Honest, settlers of the province, you know me well. "I cannot cog, and say that thou art this or that, like many of those lisping hawthorn buds, that come like women in men's apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury in shnpling time." As I said in tract No. 4, vote for no man mei'ely because of this or that qxiality or qualification, if he is deficient in FITNESS FOB OFFICE A^D HONESTY OF -PUJUPOSE. A truly "religious" mkn, is indeed a great blessing, a treasui'e, an example, but such are very very rare; of such I need not speak. Jesus Christ was such ; and all His real followers will ever be known by His one unerring badge of iOVE. But this one thing I will say, and I say it after long studying the subject and as a Christian man, — that I would rather be under an Atheist, or Jew, or Turkish Superintendent, if he possessed the proper fitness for his office, than under the greatest saint that ever wore a gown or cowl, without it. Wsi. Colesso. Waitsmgi, Nov. 26, 1858.