The Lyttelton Times

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 78, 3 July 1852, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times

July 3, 1852

Oitr readers will find in another column Mr. Brittan's letter to which we alluded last week. With the opinions it contains in reference to the Government Proclamation we shall deal upon another occasion ; but there are other features in the letter, whether more ridiculous or painful it is hard to say, which demand especial notice.

The first paragraph is suspicious ; when no one had accused Mr. Brittan of change, he obtrudes an officious and egotistical parade of consistency, in a paragraph containing the largest number of /'s which were probably ever compressed into the same space. Protestations of consistency are not unfrequently suggested by conscious infirmity of purpose. In his recent publications Mr. Brittan has changed his style and tone ; and we fear his attachment to his opinions and his party are in an equally critical position.

We do not quarrel with Mr. Brittan because he objects to the suggestion we offered as to the best means of defeating the Provincial Councils Ordinance, but because he betrays an intention not to resist the attempt to force it it into operation—because, having pledged himself in public to oppose that Ordinance, he. now enunciates principles which, however true in the abstract, would, if universally applied, condemn any plan of resistance equally with that which we proposed. " / say nothing," he says, "of the manifest duty of all loyal and peaceable citizens, not to say Christians, to yield due obedience to the laiss and poivers that he." It would, indeed, have been much better if he had said nothing about it. Any man who declines to place his name upon the electoral roll, is not a loyal or a peaceable citizen ! he is not even a Christian ! It is plainly impossible for the force of twaddle to surpass this. —* * " nor to take part in any movement even for the redress of grievances, tohich does not confine itself to strictly constitutional means." Mr. Brittan's idea of " constitutional means" appears to be rather obscure; for a little farther down he contemplates having " recourse to an organized system of %gislation." What! Agitation! Agitation allowable ma loyal, and peaceable man, and a good Christian, who is shocked at the rebellious proposal to abstain from votin°- for a candidate! °

But despite of the extreme respectability of these sentiments, Mr. Brittan, like the Quaker, is troubled by the old man risin°within him. He invokes the warlike spirit of his fathers. "It was not thus that the great cause of freedom and constitutional liberty was fought by our fathers. Let us fight, if indeed we must fight, with constitutional weapons." We do not know how Mr. Britain's fathers may have foujjht: if he has inherited their style, they probably fought, as Harry Wynne, the Blacksmith, of Perth,—each for his own hand. But we do know how Hampden fought, and how Charles fell : we know how the hand that signed the great Charter trembled amidst

naked blades ; and how a treacherous Prince who would have revoked the liberties of his subjects, became a wanderer and an outcast on the face of the earth • and we leave Mr. Brittan to settle with the spirits of his " fathers" how much of these doings were " constitutional." Let us not be misunderstood. We have not used this language to recommend violence; but simply to correct absurdity.

There is another point in this remarkable epistle which demands notice. Mr. Brittan asserts that " in the recent attempt to establish an universal Colonists' Society, the Council of the Society of Land Purchasers found their great, indeed insuperable, difficulty to lie infixing the franchise." It is an equal act of presumption in Mr. Brittan to undertake to express the opinion of the Council of Land Purchasers,- as it was in his letter of the 15th of May, to profess to interpret the opinions of the people. In both attempts he has been equally unfortunate. Notwithstanding- the opinions Mr. Brittan then expressed, the people have shown that they do take an interest in public affairs, and in spite of the insuperable difficulty, the Society which the Land Purchasers contemplated, has been formed. The only material alteration from the proposed plan is, that instead of one Society consisting of two or more brandies, it was found bettor to have two distinct Societies. That at Christchurch is already as lar°-e, or larger, than the Land Purchasers' Society was ; that at Lytlelton is doubly as large.

As Mr. Brittan has raised this question, it is necessary that we should recall the facts which occurred. The Land Purchasers determined that a Society ought to be formed comprising all classes iv the settlement. Mr. Brittan acquiesced in, if he did not originate, the idea. The report, signed by his name, and agreed to by all the Land Purchasers, contains the following language—

" The time lias arrived for a complete and effective organization of all the inhabitants of the settlement, for the consideration of all objects connected with the public welfare.* * In die absence of all constitutional Government, and of all prospect of obtaining it, they [the Council] are persuaded that such an organization can no loiiyer be delayed with safety. There is a serious and pressing need for the exercise by the public of that wholesome influence over the acts and policy of the Government, and that check upon the expenditure of the public funds which have been universally recognized in our own country as essential conditions of' all o- o od government; and where no legitimate method of exercising these powers is afforded by the constitution of the country, the deficiency must be supplied, as far as possible, by voluntary popular organization "

To that Report Mr.Brittan's signature was appended. This is the policy to which he is pledged. How did he redeem his pledge > He attended a meeting called, in spite of our remonstrances, in the morning, and finding, as we-predicted, no attendance, he assumed that he had been deceived in the idea that the people generally took an interest in public affairs. Others were not so. deluded. An evening meeting was called, and the Society was formed. Mr. Brittan, who had gladly taken the credit of original ting a popular movement b/ signing the Report, deserted it the moment ,a failure threatened. He attended none of the subsequent meetings. He exerted all his ml fluenee to aid the failure which he fancied was inevitable. And to what a position has he reduced the Land Purchasers who followed his advice ? To the ridiculous plight of having proposed that all classes should amalgamate to form one Society, and as soorfas the people act on their advice, of themselves forming the- only class who do not join it. >1S ThL aCt °f seil*iUe or consistent men ? Is Mr. Brittan's conduct that of an honest leader ? The language used in the -Ueport is earnest and emphatic : could any man who disbelieved those sentiments have honestly attached his name to them ? Could

any man who believed them have deserted the cause he had adopted without treachery ? There was insincerity either in the adoption of those opinions or in the desertion of them. Mr. Brittan may select which alternative he pleases. That is not the way to secure an honest or enviable public career: rulers and people alike admit the wisdom of the Proverb " a double minded man is unstable in all his ways," and those who forget it are despised by the party they betray, and_ mistrusted by that they would join. Mr. Brittan, perhaps, will say the Society formed is not such a one as he contemplated. This is no excuse; for he never attempted to give it the form he thought most desirable. He deserted it. ' We regret to be compelled to speak so •strongly of the conduct of a gentleman who has many, valuable qualities, and has done the settlement some service; but the man who has been the first to introduce disunion into the community deserves the unenviable notoriety which he has gained. Since writing the above we have seen a letter in the Christchurch Guardian, in which Mr. Brittan publishes his grief at our rejection of his letter last week. No doubt the editor of that journal is sufficiently grateful for the valuable advice which Mr. Brittan is so kind as to give him. For ourselves we repeat that there being another Organ of public opinion in the settlement, we shall use our own discretion in selecting from the materials in our hands such matter as we conceive may be most interesting to our readers. And we regret we cannot agree in the view so modestly assumed by Mr. Brittan, that his letter was of greater interest or importance than the other matter at our disposal last week. ' We had intended to treat at large tins week of the Objections winch have been made to the policy which we suggested a fortnight sir.cc, in reference to the formation of the Electoral Soils under the Provincial Councils Ordinance. We are not sorry, however, to be compelled by want of space to defer our observations for another week. The question'is one in which entire unanimity is so essential that we had rather follow than so before the feeling of the public generally. Unanimity is the best mode of defeating tins movement, and is essential not only amongst ourselves, but with our friends in the other Settlements. In the meantime we are rejoiced to see that the question is occupying the attention of the Colonists' Societies. ■ We print in another column a letter addressed to Mr. Godley by Mr. Valpy, who recently left Christchurch on an overland expedition to Otago. It is gratifying to iind that Mr. -Valpy met with no serious opposition in his journey, even the long dreaded Waitaki river presenting no difficulty in crossing. The journey was effected in 12 days, and Mr. Valpy expresses an opinion that he could do it in seven or eight, and that a cart may travel from ChristcLurch to the WniUki Plain. We have been informed on the authority of a private letter received from Mr. Taylor, formerly attached to the Customs in tins Port, and who left for Melbourne in the " Canterbury," that the "Bangalore," Captain Morgan, was totally wrecked on its passage home from India, at the Cape, but that the Captain-and all on board were saved. Mr. Taylor's information is derived from a Cape Paper which records the event. An Inquisition was taken on Monday before the Coroner and a Jury upon the body of George Shute, who was drowned on the 12th May. It appeared from the evidence of two men who were in the Dingy when the accident occurred, that John Mc'Kenzie, who was 'also clvowned, was leaning on a tea-chest, when bis elbow slipped, the boat lurched and tilled, and the two men were seen no more. Mrs. Shute and one man clung" to the guuwhale. A Maori canoe picked them up, and the other man swam ashore. The unfortunate man was only married a few days previous to the accident, and was returning to the head of the Bay when it occurred. Verdict, " accidental death."

We made an unfortunate lapse last week in stating that William Mason was committed for the robbery at Mr. Laurie's store: it should have been George Johnson, who was again brought up before the Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday on a further charge of robbing Mr. Sutcli.iie, and fully committed for trial. A strict examination of the prisoner leaves little reason to doubt that he is an escaped convict, as his personal appearance and various marks on his body, fully tally with a description given of an escaped convict, committed a few years since at Adelaide for 15 years. On Thursday, morning Johnson made a desperate attempt to escape ; taking advantage of the jailer's being engaged, he locked that functionary up, and seizing a brace of pistols, made off. Another prisoner released the jailer, when immediate pursuit was made, and Johnson, who had hidden under a culvert near the former Custom House, was threatened with being shot unless he surrendered, which he eventually did. It was a fortunate cirenmstance that the pistols had a patent spring, which disenabled the prisoner's using them. He made another attempt at escape yesterday, and is now heavily ironed. We understand it is intended strictly to examine all suspicious characters who may be^ apprehended, and compare their appearance with the list of escaped convicts in the Resident Magistrate's Court. We hope this plan will clear our colony of Earl Grey's friends.