"THE DEBATES."

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVI, Issue 945, 30 November 1861, Page 3

"THE DEBATES."

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sik, —The debates in your Provincial Council are rare fun. I must tell you that lam perfectly indifferent to the subject-matter of their wrangling matches, but I do really enjoy their patriotic riot of eloquence. The opposition is my especial treat. It deals in splendid argument, and rejoices in the tallest talk I ever heard outside St. Stephen's. The height of certain honorable members' principles is something surprising; the intensity of self-respect entertained by honorable members is truly refreshing; their vigilance in the protection of public rights equally noteworthy: and what is most admirable of all, is the extraordinarily honest case, that no unmerited credit by any chance be allowed to be appropriated by what is called the ' responsible ministry;' who, I may here observe, scarcely ever deserve any. The main point to be established is, that the country is going to perdition, in the view of men of advanced political opinions; that its Executive, as they call it, are fools; and that there are or have been some grounds for suspecting the ' Super.' of felony, or whatever the great lawyers of this place call robbing and cheating the public of their political independence and private property.

Now, sir, there is I contend great ground for protest against the infamous system of government that these opposition members talk about so earnestly; and it appears to me that an alteration should be at once effected. They tell me, for instance, that the Superintendent is elected by the people to be the head of the Government. How ridiculous! How profoundly ignorant folks hereabouts must be of human nature! I was indeed pleased to see that the gentlemen who were most eloquent in the Council, and seemed most anxious to reform abuses, shared with me that distrust of all men which is characteristic of a true knowledge of the world and of oneself.

I know too much of the tricks of life, sir, to believe all I hear. The Super, as you call your chief constable, ought to be watched closely. You may depend upon it, he is after no good. He is a regular coxcomb; he must put his clumsy finger into everything. I must say, although lam a perfect stranger, I could not help sympathising with those honest men who were so brutally robbed of their property by old Charlesworth. The little dark gentleman did their story up firstrate; and for that matter', so did the tall man who talked so feelingly about the old gentleman who sold his land to a ruffian, who actually gave him his price, without expressing his opinion that it was worth twice as much; and all the other men who did voluntarily sell their estates, and were certainly cheated in the same fashion. What an impudent busybody that Super., as they call him, is. Who is he, it may be asked, that he of all men must be interfering with the ordinary course of business, defrauding respectable gentlemen of their natural claims upon the public? My opinion is, sir, that although it may be very decorous and all that sort of thing to have a little wholsoine parade of authority—what that rery eloquent gentleman with the long face called " pomp and state "—yet, sir, I contend that the man who wears the cocked hat and carries the bauble should content himself with his playthings, and keep out of mischief.

Is not.the public money the property of the Provincial Council, whom you elect to keep your head man out of irregularities—does not the public money belong to everybody ? To be sure it does. Then how can one account for the absurd anxiety for the public interests pretended by Mr. Super.? He was not elected to interfere with private interests.' It is quite clear that the poor old gentleman, and the brewer, and Mr. Collins might have had a chance of making a good share of say £6000, except for the disgusting deceptions practised upon them. As I have already observed sir, the public purse is public property and no obstacle can be constitutionally placed by any man across any man's claim to a share of it—that is—as much as he can manage to abstract from it. I could not help smiling during the debate the other night at the childish simplicity of the little dark man and the long faced man. They only half did their work. If they had properly understood their duty to themselves and everybody else they would not have let that Super, off so cheaply. After such damaging evidence of treasonable machinations against the sacred private vested interests of the country, after the mysterious and unaccountable connexion that was proved to exist between the Super, and that fellow Charlesworth, it was, I am bound to say, weak and unmanly to let his Honor off so charitably. It was quite evident to us in the gallery that duty was sacrificed to mistaken generosity. Just like an Irishman. The Irish are impulsive but generous and forgiving. I certainly never suspected the little dark party of such weakness. This child never could have been induced to speak contrary to evidence and his own convictions. I should certainly have condemned the sneaking humbug to the death. Wasn't it pleasant to hear the poor soft parties talking against their own conscience, iv order to let the malefactor off gently. Yet I could not avoid seeing that their charity was covering a multitude of sins, or rather endeavoring to cover his sins; for they both let out accidentally what to a man of the world like me was abundant evidence of what the honest parties' real opinion of the ' Super.' was. But as every body does not study the world as closely as I do, I suppose very few twigged the under current except myself: be that as it may, to a man of sensitive apprehension like myself,enough was said to entirely contradict the inference that might have been drawn from the set terms in which they endeavored to make us believe, that they did not think the 'Super' to be such a scoundrel as he had been painted. As it is always an advantage to hear the opinion of strangers, I am sure you will frankly accept and record the impressions I have formed of your institutions. I do most particularly admire eloquence and public spirit; and I freely confess that the pale party with the long face was uncommon eloquent. The ladies (bless 'em) who have an infinitely more acute perception of and value for the beautiful than we, seemed to claim that little passage about the roofing and rafters of the Provincial Council Chamber for their own. It was real music. I don't pretend to give you the words themselves; but I can't forget the general effect. I do think that Irish party must be a poet—most probably a fiddler. His whole being must be pregnant of euphonies. The effect of his peroration was mesmeric. The witchery of his rhetoric would at any time convict the Bishop of Exeter before his Peers of Wesleyanism, or any high crime whatever. It is not too much to state that his language admitted of a sort of universality of application quite wonderful. As they say, in high art, grouping is the soul of effect. Such a word painter! Even now my ears are tingling with nervous echoes of the beautiful language the pale party gave us in one oleaginous stream of melody. Just fancy! Ample and voluminous, capacious mouthed philosophers and patriots, vestry meeting, pomp and state, form and ceremony, due development, canopy, beautiful'overshadowing rich architecture, historic memories, handed down ancestors, legislative independence, dignity, decorum, caution, tap, tavern, nation, short pipes, beer, Queen and Parliament. But, sir, I should weary you if I attempted a skeleton of the masterly harangue which so entranced us. To sum up, it was what a real orator would most desire, it was inspiring of a thousand imaginations. Any " spirituelle" girl might have fancied an historical novel of three volumes and a book of poems' right off the reel by mere force of sympathy with the awful talent of the speaker. As to the men folk, any man who heard that speech and was afterwards unable to fancy himself a member of a great parliament of a free country, would be undeserving the privilege of a second opportunity. The 'Super' did get his gruel! Yours, &c, VANDEMONIAN.