The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, December 23.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 536, 23 December 1857, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, December 23.

Wednesday, In place of the quiet confidence and selfreliance which distinguishes real strength there is generally to be found among those who are successful beyond their deserts an unsettled tone, an anxiety about others' opinion of them, a bouncing manner substituted for triumph, and self assertion for calm superiority; in short, the consciousness of holding a false position which cannot fail to be manifest to all observers. This-is the pervading tone of an article which we reprinted on Saturday from the Wellington ' Spectator,' a. journal which has lately been writing in aid of the Reform party of that province. If the party be represented in all points by that paper we must have serious doubts as to the stability of its political ascendancy. The article, it will be seen, is in reply to some comments of ours upon the proceedings of the_ Reform party in the elections, and is an interesting specimen of a certain style of journalism suited to the times. As siich we reprint it, and at the same time take the opportunity of asserting the right, of which the 'Spectator' would deprive us, of observing and commenting on the affairs of neighbouring' provinces. We are first attacked by the ' Spectator' for venturing to give an opinion upon the state of affairs in Wellington at all. The political warfare of a province which we do not represent we are told that we are not to interfere with. But the 'Spectator' will find in its New Zealand ' exchanges' that the late events of Wellington are discussed freely in all the other provinces. Do the actions of the reformers at Wellington so little bear the light, indeed, that they had better not be known out of the heighhourhood ? We must heg leave to use our discretion as to whether the affairs of other provinces are useful or unprofitable subjects for our consideration; in the present case we have received a very useful lesson, if it were only that we know something of the manoeuvres and tactics of a gentleman who has been before now an ardent electioneerer in this province, and may be so again, and who was a prominent orator of the <Spectator's' party. We are further accused of giving our opinions without quoting our authorities. It is meant, of course, that this ought to have been done for the satisfaction of our readers, who might not have seen the Wellington 'Spectator.' Now, we have -only to refer to our columns to show that we gave as much information from time to time on the subject of the Wellington elections as was necessary for our readers to form their own opinions on the subject. Longer quotations would have cramped our space at a (time when our own provincial elections required unusual room, and would •only have gratified curiosity by the extravagance of the absurdity which they would have contained. Does the 'Spectator 1 require that we should have quoted rat length the canvassing speeches of Dr. Welch, who was the first ostensible head of the party? " Or, when we found that the «lect of the Reformers talked nonsense, are j •we to be blamed for not searching out the '■■ grains of sense uttered by those apparently j less esteemed by his partizans,. since they i are less talked of and quoted by the ' Spec- | tator V Is the careful oration of Mr. E. J. j Wakefield at the Reform Banquet to be j taken as indicating the spirit of the party j rather than the pretty song there sung by the j man whom that party made their leader? . If so, if Dr. Welch is not the prominent j apostle of Radical Reform nor Welchism ; its natural characteristic, then the 'Speeta- ; tor' has beguiled us with falsehoods, and ; the party has acted a He throughout the . elections. ' We believe that something of this sort must be the case; there are indications that the active men of the Reform party are falling back upon its more substantial elements, finding men to lead it who have been averse to mixing in the noise and folly of the first excitement, but who see, as we do, in "the movement a change lull of good consequences. Such men as these, we venture to affirm, were never represented by Dr. Welch, and are not now by the * Spectator' newspaper. With the general •views of these gentlemen it is more than probable that we coincide; the 'Spectator, in the middle of its anger, has not neglected to quote our expressions of disagreement with the Featherston Government policy; and we shall be glad to see the. views we hold forwarded in Wellington by a fair opposition. But we should bo sorry for the sake of suoh support to countenance practices such as those we have condemned. The 'Spectator' questions our assertions

of fact as to the practices which have prevailed. If our judgment cannot be taken, let us see what the press in other provinces think about the Reforming men and measures of Wellington. The 'Nelson Examiner' "utterly condemns their unscrupulous tactics and unjustifiable language." The 'Southern Cross/ whose opinions of the Featherston Government policy agree with our own, says— It must be admitted that the new Provincial Council, at Wellington, is not equal in a »»regate talent, by many degrees, to the old°Sne. Ur b eatherston will himself be the only man of acknowledged ability in his own Government. His party will in all probability come in a^ain in due time, if they keep their temper meanwhile. They are undoubtedly the abler party and will recover by degrees the confidence which they have forfeited.

( And the 'New Zealander,' exulting in the success of the Wellington revolution, and revelling in every exhibition of what it calls manly spice and personality, admits that Wellington politics are conducted on both sides in a manner worthy of its approbation. It says: There is one feature in connexion with this wirthe late contest in tbe Province *of Wellington we must notice in justice to our own. It is the very spicy and personal tone of the discussions on the platform, of the articles in the press (in the ' Independent' especially), and of the election-squibs on both sides. Our friends in Wellington and the other Provinces have often been merry at the expense of Auckland politics and politicians, and at "the incessant personalities" of the opposing papers. Doubtless we have had enough of such things on both sides; but we have never come up to wholesale charges of fraud, gambling, and theft against political opponents—charges echoed by a_ direct accusation of perjury against five individuals whose names cannot be mistaken.

The conclusion of the ' Spectator's' article is certainly amusing-to any one knowing* the circumstances of the elections in Canterbury. The private motives which led the 'Lyttelton Times' to libel the Reformers of Wellington are cleverly investigated and delineated with a similitude of truth very nearly convincing. It is impossible to follow the l Spectator' into the personal remarks which that paper has thought fit to make; we can only say that we are sure, that the imputation of annoyance at the "revolution" which prevented " one of the proprietors of the l Lyttelton Times'" from"*getting in on the "wouldbe aristocratic side," will not be believed by any one in Canterbury. And, in conclusion, we can assure the 1 Spectator' (and the ' Independent,' by whom we were last abused), that if we can at any time point a moral from Wellington politics we shall do so; and we recommend the Reform party and its organs, if their intentions are pure and they wish to have credit for them in neighbouring provinces, to speak and act accordingly.