EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 181, 18 July 1911, Page 3

EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD

THE JOI NDER OF NEW ZEALAND. PROPOSAL I < )R A MEMORIAL. A <-;d>ic published on Saturday announced that an iiillimutial co.nmiitcc iiad been formed in London with the object of providing for the erection of a -tame in Wellington in memory of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Tills news will hr lercii cd Vk itir genuine pleasure by main people in New Zealand, but I hat pleasure must, to a certain extent. be tinged with regret 1 hat

tilts lardv recognition of a great man should hate fi’-* come, not from the colony on whose behalf lie rendered such yeoman service, but from tho-e in the Old Laud more kecnlv appreciative of his worth. !“.<■ that it may. however, it is to Lie hoped that New Zealanders will uni fail to give ready i espouse to rhe invitation for enthusiastic ci> opera! loti. Looking back over the story ; f the past, we see the narre **f Wakefield standing out boldly in all tlie great events vininecteil with our colonization. i ; ri.>in the lauding of the good ship Tory" in IMO. to the establishment. of representative government in I''sl. Wakefield was unceasing in his efforts to promote the welfare. and secure the sound progress of tin- colony lie ha<l founded. A!) the wealth of bis magnificent ability, ail the obstinate courage for which lie was noted, all the enthusiasm he could put into a ai’se. and all I ho subtle diplomacy at bi command were poured forth in a generous ami never-fading stream for the hem-tit of this i-onn-try. The very Constitution under vvhi'h we have ihvelopi d our de movratir institutions and •si »>•••! our freedom and prosper *y i- tne direct outcome of liis tnll -x Ge <‘»- termination to breathe life into his ideal. (ribbon Wakefield did not make a promising start in his

Young Days. He was the descendant of a wellknown Quaker family, and first saw the light in London on March 2oth, 1796. as the eldest of a family of nine. His grandmother apparently took upon lier.scdf the responsibility of his education, and from the old lady's d : arv it can be seen that lie gave her a pretty anxious time, ami she mentions that “ his obstinacy, if lie inclines to evil, terrifies me.” He had. however, plenty of ability, and in Isl 4. he found employ inent in the diploma tic service with Lord Berwick, envoy t<> the Court of Turin. Two years later he made his first- big sensation by eloping with Miss Eliza Susan Patrie, the orphan daughter of a wealthy East Indian. He was later, however, reconciled to his mother-in-law. and lived happily with his wife, until her early death in His second matrimonial venture was by no means so pleasant or profitable. Indeed, the results were so disastrous that it effectually blighted a career which loft open the way for him to become one of the first statesmen of England. He took the idea into bis head- either from a spirit of bravado, mad jest, or some hidden motive not revi ah-d to his chronic lers. to abduct a young woman iiaiiiol Ellen Turner. On March 7th. I *'26, he lured Miss Turner from her -< b .oj. ami informed her that her father’s affairs were in smh a state that the only way to retrieve them was to marry him (Wakefield). Unluckily for him. she was tin* daughter of a very wealthy man who was sheriff of the county of Cheshire. He made things warm for the delinquent, and Wakefield, after expending .GGog ,-,n his defeme, found him self sentenced t*>

Three Years in Newgate Prison. Out of the ashes of his social ruin he, nevertbetess. rose a stronger ami a better man. He appears io have borne his detention with remarkable cheerfulness, and employ ed hi.- time in writing and reading tietpiv. He devoted considerable time to the study of prison reform, and issue*! a book entitled ‘The Punishment of Death.” But from this lie ttirtu'd to take up his life's boLLv. the work of colonisation. He wrote imaginary letters from •Sydney. / -etting forth the requirements ot the new colony, and such was the versatility of the man that Within eleven years of bis sentenev to prison he was appointed confidential adviser to Lord Durham, upon ii-- memorable ('omntission of Pacificai ion in Canada. Tim ;'<.>rmarion of the New Zealand Company found him hard ;u work. Writing in May. ISI7. he savs : ' I have set on foot a new measure of voioni-a; u ;t «m the prim iplcs which have worked so well for South Australia. The country is New Zealand, one of the tine-t countrie- of the world, if not the finest, for British settlement. ’ Having set on loot this project for colonisation. he never took his hand from the plough until death removed him from the sphere in which he

had played so fine a part. In spite ’,,f official obstinacy and stupidity, i he educated the British nation to t the po-sibilities. of colonisation. H<- ' persistently urged tin- wisdom of selling Crown lands and devoting the proceeds towards the cost of bringing out immigrants. He pointed <mt the exits by winch young settlements were being strangled, f uight hard, anil fought MUTP.’ ■isfully for the cessation of criminal transportation, and while his brothers and other dist ingiiish'ed early settlers were laying the foundation stones of onr cities and towns, be v. as working eeasclesslx and tirelessly to gain recognition of the voting coimtrv and the adoption of some common-sense method of administration. The Fruits of his Labour. are to be seen to day in the Noting, vigorous nation which is rapidly winning power and importance, lit tie dreamed of by those who stuIpidlv amt obstinately frustrated ‘ Wakefield at cverx turn. It has; linen said that '•there is no part oft 'the British Empire which does not! i feel in the actual cirenmstanees of 'the .lax the t ffeet of Edward Cib-’ bon Wakefield’s practical labours; ins a statesman, and perhaps the same amount >4 tangible result in. administrative and constructive re-j ! form can scarcely be traced fo the' I single hand of any other man dur

ing his own lifetime.' He was not 'all good. Who. imteed. is free ! fr ;m faith ‘ And in such a coin J plex man there was much to praise I and a. good deal to blame. If he i was unscrupulous, it. was not for j in.s oxvn personal ends, but rather Ito carry through the purposes and ; ideals for which he laboured. \\ e i cannot do better than emielude 'with Lord Lytton’s tribute: •'He ‘was possessed in these latter days. bevoiid comparison, of the most genius and lhe widest- influence m the great- science of colonisation, I both as a thinker, a writer, and a worker, whose name is like a spell to all interested in the subject.”