The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1863.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XX, Issue 1165, 3 December 1863, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1863.

No settler in this island can read without alarm the history of the late transactions in the General Assembly. Certainly New Zealand will have cause to repent again and again the defeat and expulsion from office in 1861 of the Government which under Governor Browne, commanded so long the respect and general confidence of the colony. Since that time the inconsistency and vacillation of our public men has lowered the country in the eyes of its best friends. Mr. Fox was the leader of the so-called " peace party in 1861—the party that thwarted and maligned Governor Browne and his ministers, and who finally succeeded by a majority of one in bringing on a political crisis at a most dangerous moment. What came of their ' peace' cry, we all know now; indeed, it was easy to foretell some of the consequences of making the most critical moment in the history of the colony the occasion for a party struggle. All the conseqnences we do not yet know, and shall not know for some years to come. One of the most serious of these consequences, and one which is likely to affect every question that may arise in colonial politics for a long time, is the want of confidence in public men. As to some of them, not only is no political consistency expected from them, but it has come to be considered quite a right thing that no consistency should be shown. Men have learned to confound that consistency which is based on principle with the spurious and so-called consistency which is really a mulish and obstinate adherence to personal fancies and prejudices. It has become the custom in the House of Assembly to hold a sort of love-feast or Agapemone at the commencement of a session; when in a dramatic and somewhat maudlin manner everybody professes that he believes in and loves everybody else, and a general reconciliation takes place at the expense of everybody's principles. We don't believe in all this noble and magnanimous embracing, and see every day more reason to trust those men who hold aloof from it. We must not be misunderstood or supposed to object to reconciliation between political rivals and opponents: but when reconciliation means a change of sides and a renunciation of formerly avowed principles, it must be looked on with distrust. We have been before now accused of injustice because we expressed distrust of Mr. Fox when he came forward, nominally as a philo-Maori and the champion of the peace party, and when he affected to believe that men who had always been sincerely interested in the native race were anxious to plunder and oppress the Maoris. The virtuous indignation with which he denounced the so-called " war party " is fresh in the recollection of our leaders. Well, what is Mr. Fox doing now ? At a moment when the greatest difficulties of Government are over, —at a time when we can see our way to the final extinction of the rebellion ; of course the man who thought it his duty to denounce and thwart the Government of Colonel Browne in its utmost need, when soldiers were wanting and before unlimited means had been voted, —of course he is to be found checking intemperate counsel, and protesting against an immoderate use of power at the moment of victory. We could not expect less, —if his opposition in 1861 had been founded on fixed principles. But Mr. Fox is, to say the least, one of those enlightened men who despise consistency as the sign of a weak, if not imbecile, mind. At anyrate he is not unnecessarily trammelled by it. At present he is out-heroding Herod in his advocacy of war measures, and holds constitutional rights as cheap as " peace " doctrines. It is true that he is in office now, and was not in office at the time he was so great as an advocate of constitutional law and peace at any price ; but that can have nothing to do with his change of views. We are inclined to attribute it to an enlightened and liberal view of political consistency and party engagements, and to an anxious desire to examine practically both sides of an important question. Such a laudable motive ought to shield him from ill-natured criticism. But such changes are calculated to puzzle and bewilder, if not to disgust the uninitiated. Mr. Whitaker, the present Premier, was the able and zealous Attorney-General of the Stafford Government; and it was whispered that his zeal had sometimes to be moderated by the constitutional views of his colleagues. Now he is virtually chief without control, and Mr. Fox is his most zealous lieutenant. We are not surprised to find prominent members of the party which Mr. Fox used to nick-name the war-party, attempting to control the headlong war course of the present Government. There is no room for surprise, because men like Messrs. Weld and Atkinson and .Richmond were always anxious for the welfare of both races, and for the constitutional rights of the people. They are not surprised to find themselves in opposition to Mr. Fox, even when he has changed sides, because they knew that men who have no fixed principles alway run into extremes. Men like Mr. FitzGerald, who hold views of their own on the native question which are not generally accepted, and who have found themselves consistently in opposition to every Government that has been formed, may feel surprised at the defection of their quondam ally. That the war must be vigorously prosecuted all will agree, but that there is necessity for such a law as has been introduced by the Whitaker-Fox Government for putting the lives and liberties of all inhabitants of New Zealand into the hands of the Governor, will be warmly disputed. Among our own members we find men like Mr. FitzGerald and Mr. Weld, who have differed so much on questions of native \

policy, equally opposed to so unconstitutional aud at the same time unnecessary a measure. Our readers may remember that when the Executive of Governor Browne thought it necessary to introduce comparatively mild measures such as the " Arms Restriction Bill," and the Native Offenders Bill," Messrs. Fitzherbert and Fox worked themselves into paroxysms of constitutional frenzy. And yet the latter measures were free from the most objectionable features of the Act passed this session by the Assembly. Everyone of us is at this moment at the mercy of the Government at Auckland ! And this is the doing of a Government of which Mr. Fox is a prominent member. By this step he has lost the support of his old friends, Dr. Featherston among others. There appears to be a desire in the midst of all this turmoil and change to let the "Waitara question drop through. But this will not be allowed. Sir Greorge Grey has made statements in his despatches which will not be allowed to pass unnoticed. It would be unjust to everyone concerned—to the Maoris above all, —to the late Governor, — to his advisers, —to the whole colony, that Sir George Grey's verdict should be allowed to be conclusive. He has, so far as in him lay, attempted to burke the enquiry demanded and to pass judgment himself. Whether Mr. "Weld's motion for an enquiry in the House of Representatives be agreed to, or whether Mr. FitzGerald succeed in having a high Court of enquiry instituted, the truth must come out at last, and right must be done. The matter cannot be left in the hands of Sir George Grey and the present Government.