THE ELECTIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1694, 22 May 1866, Page 2

THE ELECTIONS.

li' |oji ploaso, dear roadersj you. und wo aro fl c#n '* ' ie 'P "• down an jluthdHty on and snobs thsf.)re;js '|ust' subitlpt. l'whapg yojpo nob Ittifijv liable to did wo, till y eiterduy. u£ bow' tjib'tromias come out. Mr, Lance's supporters' are gentlemen; Mr. are snol/B. The Lyltelton Times supports Mc, and therefore the Lyltelton Times is a snob paper. And youj dear readers, if you will read the Lyltelton Tinies, you must be content to hear the same accusation levelled at you by our indignant friend, the gentleman's own journal. Perhaps you would like to know why that honoured epithet, which makes our blood boil, has been launched at us. Well, we do'nt know exactly ; but, as near as we can guess, we . can't say, as Lord Russell once wittily observed. But we conjecture that it has something to do with a doubt we recently expressed whether Mr, Lance and his friends are the only gentlemen in the place, and if they are, whether the being a gentleman is an irresistible title to the Superintendency. We are not altogether graceless; we did admit that birth, white hands, good clothes, and a fine drawing-room manner, entitled the possessor to the name of gentleman in some circles, especially on the floor below the drawing-room in the country, and in town on the floor below that. But we had the hardihood to doubt whether the term was correctly used in the circles referred towe thought the word gentleman meant something better; that it included many men whose clothes are coarse, and their hands hard; that in this sense the term ought not to be monopolised by the " Gentlemen of Canterbury Society, Limited," but might be applied to thousands of men who never thought of standing for the Superintendency ; and we thought, finally, that though all gentlemanly qualities may be possessed by any individual, he must have brains and experience too before he can claim the right to rule. We really thought we were right in making these observations; but we have been put down with a high hand. The rebuff to our audacity hascome. " You dare to question the attributes of a gentleman 1 Fellows! Know that the ' Gentlemen of Canterbury Society, Limited,' comprises the only gentlemen of the province. Know that we have chosen a Superintendent for the province from among ourselves, because he is so very genteel; and as for you, you others, you are but snobs!" If we were frightfully vindictive, mad with party passion, and as weak in argument as the other side, we should here begin to assert that they are" no gentlemen." believe, is the proper Billingsgate retort suited to the present occasion. On the contrary, we are ready to go further; there is only one reason why they should not claim the character of thorough gentlemen in the common use of the word; and that reason is rather to their credit. In ;truth they have something too feminine about them to,justify an exclusive use of the masculine word. Ladies don't fight, you know, but .they talk; they don't argue, but they sometimes (may we whisper it ?) spread scandals; they gird the sword on the warrior's thigh, and (in Ireland) tenderly harden his sprig of shillelagh in the chimney: but, should the conflict approach themselves, they fly shrieking away, and bury their heads in one another's laps. Was it not a moving example of womanly, nay, motherly tenderness, which we witnessed m the Town Hall on that famous Thursday nigbt?. When Nurse FitzGerald rose, quivering with alarm, and while she snatched her fcheruh nurseling to her bosom with one .hand, picked up her petticoat with the other, and scuttled off the platform into silence and safety. 1

The Press does not say, and never intended to say, that Mr. Moorhouse and Mr. Travers are not gentlemen. What then does it claim for Mr. Lance? That he is something superfine, extra-genteel, a kind of sample aristocrat, . This does not alter our argument about, fjtness for the office. But it giv«s us the right to ask the Press, when it gives a man a character for high, honour, to prove that it knows the meaning of the words. Mr. Luck wrote a (etter to say that, as chairman of Mr. Moorhouse's committee, he had heard of a false report going about Christchurch on Thursday. The Press calls this "a distinct confirmation of the report that it was the determination of Mr. Moorhouse's supporters fa create a riot.'' There is a trifling departure here from what is considered "high honour j" and there is a short and sharp name for statements of the kind in 'ordinary parlance. ' If we call,it a complete intentional equivocation by the Press,' it will' >be understood that we sacrifice something to 'politeness. And again, as to the unlikelihood of a jcaiididate' packing'' a riiefeting with ' iiiij 'own supporters in order to hoot ; him. 'down. This is a roundabout way of making 'an incorrect statement. It is begging'the question that Mr. Lance wat hooted down, which is not true.- Mr. Lance was interrupted' poristantly', by noises emanating in a great measure from his own supporters,— ; riot " hoots against" him,' but" hoWls" iff" his favour,I—and 1 —and thd riot from which'he retreated wai the of an endeavour by his friends ' and others to remove a noisy intruder from , the platform. ' ■ ' ' ' Of coursethere must be some other qualiflI cation in Mr. Lance for the office of Superintendent, besides the fact of being i gentleman. After some trouble, we have succeeded in discovering one. It is simply this, Mr. James Lance is fortunate enough to be brother to Mr. Henry Lance. It will be reinembored that about twelve months ago the party was anxious to choose 'a successor to Mr. Bealey. Mr. Henry Lance was the first but not the final choice of the party, which afterwards fixed its affections on Mr, Rolleston j and Mr. James Lance was patsed over as inferior to both ia the qualifications necessary for the office of Superintendent. It was urged in favour of Mr, Henry Lance, imprimis, that he was a gentleman; item, that ho kept race' horses j item, that Lord Derby kept race-hones, and that Lord Derby is a very eminent man. The more finished logicians of the party argued that therefore Mr. Henry Lance must be a very eminent statesman. Talent certainly sometimes runs in families. Eldon and Stowell were brothers; the Napiers were all great men ; the Stephensons were father and son; there was an elder and a younger Pitt; then why not an elder and a younger Lance ? Mr. Rolleston would not; and Canterbury is deprived of the younger Mr. Lance by his absence. But in the absence of the greater light, the lesser shines more brightly. We must deeply regret

Mr. Henry Lance's departure. Had he stayed, the SiperinUndency might have been put in commlssldn, and the Brothers Lance have performed their feats of statesmanshipin company. Nowjwe are left with Noilly oije brother, and that the one without 'tjije racehorses and the similarity toytorcMDerby. Nerer mind I To be own! brother to a man who is like a great statesman is something;. Never mind what his name or hie antecedents may be, Never mind whether he is Lord Derby, or somebody like him, or\ brother to his likeness, or only thirty-first cousin, Never mind whether his name is lienry or James, or Jack, or Tom, or Dick, gay the wire-pullers; anybody, so long as they can keep out Mr. Moorhouse.