The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, JULY 24, 1865.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1440, 24 July 1865, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, JULY 24, 1865.

It is rather singular that one of the first effects produced by the of the Weld ministry upon the English view of colonial affairs should be to aggravate the dislike and suspicion with which the maintenance of a large regular force in this colony has always been regarded at home. The Weld policy embraced the removal of the troops; bnt the Weld Ministry have fallen into serious displeasure at the colonial office, because it has been made to appear that they not only wanted to keep the troops now in the colony, but even asked for more. They intended to stop the war, but are accused of renewing it; they meant to create a system of defence but are taxed with committing a new aggression; they declared their intention of sending away all the regiments now in the colony, but have incurred the odium of aiming at the possession of two regiments besides. It is not difficult to explain how this has come about. In the first . place, each succeeding year renders the anxiety of the regimental officers to go home more intense. The service required of them in 1865 is harder than that of 1864, by the lapse of twelve months. And as the letters of officers appear in swarms in the English papers, both London and Provincial, the feeling of irritation at the delay which keeps the soldiers in the colony is spread abroad rapidly by the easiest means. But the real basis of the official indignation against the colony and its present Government is traceable to Q-eneral Cameron. We are unable to say whether Mr. Weld calculated that the British force then available might succeed in the Wanganui-Taranaki campaign if left alone, and without reinforcements ; but it is pretty plain that from the first he did not rely solely upon the regular forces. A volunteer colonial force, and one of friendly natives, were organised and dispatched to the scene of the new operations. But General Cameron, looking only at the number of the Queen's regiments under his command, and ignoring the possibility of any other force being employed except that which he was accustomed to, protested against the campaign altogether on the ground of his force being insufficient. If the campaign was to be proceeded with, he urged, it would be indispensable that he should have further reinforcements. We know that such was the General's view before ever leaving Auckland for Wanganui; and, therefore, when the campaign had been forced upon him by the Governor, it was natural that he should to the War Office to seek for fresh reinforcements. Such an application may have had a double object—either in reality to get the troops, so as effectually to perform the work which was entrusted to him; or else, by the mere mention of a demand for reinforcements, to alarm the War Office into a speedy stoppage of the New Zealand war, which was thereby made to appear to be almost endless. If the latter was the General's intention, it succeeded admirably. Mr. Cardwell, moved by his brother Secretary of State, has renewed his demand for the withdrawal of the force now in this colony. And the demand is repeated with expressions by no means complimentary to the colony or its Government. As it happens, the reproaches directed against Mr. Weld's Ministry are totally undeserved. Not only were no more regular troops required by them for the prosecution of the Wanganui campaign, but even those which were made use of at first were very quickly done without. The work of conquest was effected by the Forest Bangers and the native force ; and the principal result of this campaign upon the questions at issue between the colony and, the mother country, ought to be to prove how unfounded is the claim made by the Imperial Government upon the colony for services rendered by their troops from first to last.