THE VICTORIAN POLITICAL STRUGGLE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2217, 29 January 1868, Page 3

THE VICTORIAN POLITICAL STRUGGLE.

A short time ago we gave a sketch of the political struggle which has been going on in Victoria for nearly two years. Thai sketch, as we informed our readers at the time, was mainly from a point of view antagonistic to the Ministry and the majority in the Legislative Assembly. But we are now in a position to give the other side of thequestion, and to state from a Ministerial stand-point the issue which tho electors of Victoria are asked to decide. We closed our history on a former occasion by informing our readers that the Government of Victoria was being carried on under a system by which the public creditors became suitors against Her Majesty for the amount of their claims, judgment being, as it were, allowed to go by default by the Ministry. We stated also that a dissolution of the Parliament had been resolved on, and that a general election was at hand. By our latest Melbourne files, we find that the election has actually commenced, and that the more prominent members of the Ministry have given their views to the public. It is these which we purpose to examine. Before doing so, it is necessary to state again the cause of the struggle, and to remind those who desire to obtain an intelligent view of the subject, that the battle is not so much between two sections of electors as between the two branches of the Legislature—the Legislative Assembly, or Lower House, and the Legislative Council, or Upper House. The cause of _ the struggle is simply this, that the Ministry endeavoured, on two distinct occasions, and in two distinct cases, to pass a bill through the Upper House in which either a constitutional principle was infringed, or the prerogative and dignity of the higher branch of the Legislature trenched on. The struggle culminated in the refusal of the Upper House to pass an Appropriation Bill, in which a sum of £20,000 was granted to Lady Darling, wife of the late Governor. The opposition to the grant was based on an express rule of the Colonial service—that no Governor either while holding the Governorship of a colony, or after he has retired, shall receive a graut or reward, directly or indirectly from the Colouial Legislature.

We select the addresses delivered by the Premier and Attorney General of Victoria, as representing the views of Ministry on the question at issue. And first for Mr Higinbothain, Attorney General. He addressed what is described as a monster meeting, held in the old Exhibition Building, Melbourne, for the. express purpose of declaring the Ministerial issue to the country. If we may believe the Argus —the persistent opponent of the Ministry—an attempt was made at this meeting not only to strangle the free expression of public opinion, but to overawe the opposition by a display of physical force in the shape of a compact body of policemen, who were instructed to arrest everyone who gave expression to any disapprobation of the Ministerial views. Whether this was really the case or not, the meeting was a very stormy one, aud the opposition, if not strong, was at least loud and pertinacious, so much so as to cause Mr Higinbothain to curtail his speech. Mr Higinbotbam came forward to propose the following resolution : "That in the opinion of this meeting public honour and public interests demand that the vote of £20,000 granted by the Legislative Assembly to Lady Darling be carried into effect in the form and manner determined upon by the representatives of the people." After declaring that he does not believe there is a mau with a spark of honesty, or who has the remotest conception of what a public obligation is, who does not feel in his inmost heart that the payment of the money is a public obligation, and that if it be not fulfilled not merely the Legislative Assembly but the people of Victoria and their fair fame and credit will sustain irreparable damage, Mr Higinbothain goes on to explain the constitution of society aud Government in Victoria. He says :

We have three estates in this country. The events and circumstances of a young society gave us two—the representatives of the Crown, and the people at large, We ourselves created a third artificial estate-un-wisely, perhaps—perhaps in the spirit of vulgar ambition ; but we have a third estate, created by ourselves—an oligarchy of wealth. Now, gentlemen, in order to maintain the Constitution that we have in working order it is absolutely necessary that the balance between these three estates should be preserved. I am thankful, unfeignedly thankful, to the Legislative Council that it has selected this Lady Darling vote as the occasion on which it has for the first time publicly and distinctly declared its intention to be the paramount estate in this country. The Legislative Council has declared that the Legislative Assembly is not the House of Commons of Victoria—that it shall not have the power of granting the public money to the Queen, and that, even if the Legislative Council should be induced to concur with the Legislative Assembly in granting the money, the Legislative Council shall dictate the manner and the form in which those grants shall be made. It is for the people of the colony, continues Mr Higinbotham, to say whether this asserted claim on the part of the Council shall or shall not be successful, He then describes the relative position of the two Houses of Assembly : The Legislative Assembly bears, and necessarily bears, the chief burden and labour of legislation in this country, and its members receive no remuneration for their services, except, indeed, it be in the form of vituperation and calumny, which I ndmit are, on somo occasions, and coming from some quarters, a high and valuable distinction. Gentlemen, it is not easy to find in a community like this—where all'of us, or the great majority of us, are really, truly, and properly working men-it is not easy to And seventy-eight men with leisure and inclination and ability to undertake these heavy anil unrequited labours; and the difficulty of finding candidates for seats in the Legislative Assembly is increasing with -every election. But, gentlemen, these labours are labours which may be borne by politicians who can see the true uses and ends of politics, a nobler study than which cannot engage the human attention. Even from frustrated efforts and wasted labours, the true politician can gain hopes, and find fresh motives for the renewal of his toils, upon one condition. That condition is, that hope "is not taken

away from him ) and hope will be taken away from him unless he, m a member of the body to which he heinous, retains to their fullest extent, and in their freest exercise, all the powers which tho Constiiutionhns given to the body of which ho is a member. If, gontlcmen, you take away from the Legislative Assomhly one jot or tittlo of the power which the Constitution has given to it, and if, in ire than that, you tran<fcr that power to another Chamber of legislation, which owns no responsibility, which undergoes comparatively no legislative labour, which does not present, cither in its constitution or in its history, one single element that can command or conciliate respect—a Chamber which upon one momentous question stooped to become the confederate, ami at all times has been proud to be made the instrument of any section or interest that might do it the honour to use its services. I sny, gentlemen, that if you do that, you deprive public men -you deprive your representatives-of all motive for taking part in public affairs with an honest public purpose, and you degrade the Legislative Assembly into a body of which no honourable man who respects himself will care to he a member.

Mr Higiubotham next proposes to describe the effect of this aggressive act of the Legislative Council upon the other estate of the country —the representative of the Crown. The following sketch of the position of a Colouial Governor is worth some consideration. It does not seem overdrawn : The Governor is, of all public men, the only defenceless man in this community. Other public men if I hey are assailed have always the opportunity of vindicating themselves, The Governor alone, from his position, is unable to defend himself, and he stands in the presence of calumny or outrage like a sheep before its shearers-dumb. Gentlemen, the difficulties that a Governor lias to encounter are sometimes incredibly great. He has to do that wliich.it has been said no mortal man can do-he has to serve two masters. He is, in the performance of his duties to the people of this country, under the obligation to obey the will of the people as it is expressed by the representatives of the people, and as it is interpreted and administered for him by his advisers, who have the confidence of the people. And in regard to Imperial questions, it is his duty to obey the instructions of the Secretary of State for the colonies, a statesnvm residing at a distance of 16,000 miles from this, and who is supposed, from his office in London, to survey with careless omniscience, like a god of Epicurus, and administer with wisdom the affairs of all' communities of Knglishmen all over the world. These two lines of a Governor's duty often touch, and they sometimes cross one another ; and it must be evident that when they do interfere with one another, the position of a Governor is one of extreme perplexity and difficulty.

So far, the description applies to Colonial Governors generally. Mr Higinbothain tells us how Victorian Governors have been treated, and the history is not without instruction : We in this colony, from the time the Constitution lias been established, have been fort: nate enough to have Governors of ability and integrity, and honesty, and, in some cases, more than average capacity; and yet, gentlemen, here, as elsewhere, the Governor alone, and the Governor always, has been the victim in this one-sided and, therefore, dastardly warfare. Sir Charles Hothum, our first Governor, had his days embittered, if not his life shortened, by the attacks of the squatter class, aided by Unofficial class, which at that time was a powerful and turbulent body, but which sia<e then has happily been reduced to discipline. Our next Governor, Sir Henry Barkly, was grossly insulted on the anniversary of the Queen's coronation, solely because he thoughi fit, under the advice of his Ministers, to exercise the prerogative of dissolving Parliament. He was pursued from that day to the day he left the colony by the rancorous enmity of the same class of opponents. You all know how Sir Charles Darling was treated.

The following is not a very flattering picture of the constitution of parties in Victoria, But, in drawing it, the astute Attorney-General seems to have forgotten that it cuts both ways—that it applies alike to his allies and his opponents : Every political party tlmt I have seen in this country has originated with some sordid sectional interest aided by low and unworthy motives of personal ambition, by public men. Every one of them has tended to subvert the foundations of government in this country, and it has used calumny and outrage as the principles by which to obtain success, Almost everyone of them has ended and been broken up amidst jealousies and quarrels of their promoters, resulting in no benefit to the public, but of infinite damage to the characters of public men. Gentlemen, the party that were opposed to Sir Charles Darling resembled in its family features all its predecessors. They opposed and calumniated the Government, and endeavoured to obstruct the Governor in the performance of his duties, and in one respect that party has gained for itself the bad pre-eminence over all its predecessors. I will tell you in what respect that party alone of all other parties in this country, deliberately addressed itself, for its own political purposes, to the task of undermining and ruining the pecuniary fortunes of an innocent and helpless man—and that man the representative of the Crown. Gentlemen, I say that the party opposed to Sir Charles Darling add essed itself to the task of des troying the pecuniary fortunes of an innocent and helpless man—that man the representative of the Crown of England, and being, as all that knew him must admit, as highminded and honourable a gentleman, as faithful a servant to his Royal Mistress, and as true a friend to public right and free institutions, as ever trod the soilof Victoria. Gentlemen, it was believed that the present Governor of this colony was sent out hera for the purpose of • crushing responsible government, but lo! he hath jessed it altogether. He has proved, like his predecessors, that be knows the nature and is determined to fulfil the duties of his position, and for that reason ha too is resisted and disliked.

It will not strike the reader as extraordinary when he is informed that after giving vent to his feelings—for feeling, not reason, dictated the picture —in the above language, the uproar in the meeting became so great that Mr Higinbotham had to invoice the aid of the chairman and the police for the purpose of restoring order. After comparative quiet was obtained, he went ou to tell his audience what his opinions were regarding the difference between the two Houses of Legislature : I have been sometimes asked the question —and it is n question very pertinent and natural to be asked— '-y what means the present difference between the two Houses of Legislature is lie to brought to n close? I have always answered that question thug—that that difference cunnot be composed—l hare always replied to that question, that that difference cannot be composed by a fortuitous despatch from Downing Street, and that it cannot be composed by feigned issues in the Supreme Court, that latest and last resource of forlorn and disappointed politicians. The only mode known to Englishmen to settle a political difference is by an appeal to the opinion of the country; and that is the only mode in which this difference can be composed, lam aware that the proposal or suggestion of n dissolution and an appeal to the country is viewed with extreme disapprobation by the Legislative Council. I deiply regret to have observed that some eminent members of that body appear to connect a dissolution with the idea of either coercion or violence. I wish, gentlemen, I could dispossess the minds of thoxe distinguished persons of that idea, which I believe is wholly

without foundation, It would be strange indeed if Englishmen could not settle their political differences in the usual legitimate find constitutional way, without alarming the fears of the aged and weak, I have observed, gentlemen, that in this kind and light-hearted community signal weakness and infirmity are always treated in a spirit of indulgence and even of toleration, and that this toleration is "'it withheld even in cases where that weakness and infirmity display themselves in acts of eccentric and audacious mischief. In that feeling of toleration the members of the Legislative Council will ha?e abundant intimation of security ; but the revolution commenced by that body on the 22nd August Inst, when they rejected the Appropriation Bill of Inst year, will doubtless work out its own consummation. The conflict will come to an end upon the re-assembling of the new Parliament elected by the country. Mr Higmbotham wound up a speech which sounds singularly incomplete, and which, from circumstances, no doubt is, by expressing his opinion on what he calls that" old and pernicious maxim"—measures, not men. He is rather doubtful as to the result of the Ministerial appeal to the country, and speaking of the constituencies, says :

I wonder if they will allow themselves to be deceived by chi-ap and easy professions of general liberalism to the people. Alas! gentlemen, nothing is so common in this day as liberal professions. Nothing, unfortunately, is so easy, unless it be the weakness in human character, which sometimes forgets, and the insincerity of human character, which oc casionally deliberately falsifies liberal professions. Gentlemen, permit me to tell you that at this election it is" men, and not measures "—it is character, and not opinions, that the constituencies moitwant. Why, gentlemen, every question that is submitted to the people now is one of sentiment and clmr.cter, raiber than one of intellectual judgment. The sura of £20,000 will be paid as surely as a God exists if the hearts of the people are in the right place. I care not at present for the hitch; if this community maintains the self-governing instincts of Englishmen, the Legislative Assembly will not he weakened, or degraded, or disgraced by the manner or form in which that money will be paid. Gentlemen, look for men on whom you can rely, and let opinions for the present take care of themselves, "Oh for A still strong man in a blatant land, Whatever they call him, what care I? Arist icrat, democrat, autocrat, one Who can rule and dare not lie." If I might be permitted to say one word of counsel to the constituencies in this election, it would be this: Choose you out seven tyetglit men of honest report—men on whose characters you can rely-men who will not stoop to utter to you one word upon this great subject that they do not believe j and men with firmness and resolution to give practical effect to all they do sty, in disregard of all calumny, in the teeth of all opposition, and in the scorn of all parties. The '* still strong mau" for whose coming Mr Higinbotbam prays is interpreted by the opposition to mean a second Oliver Cromwell, and this interpretation is said to have arisen from the fact that a noted Ministerial supporter, afc a public meeting, expressed himself in favour of a Dictator in the style of Cromwell. We must reserve our notice of the Premier's speech till a future occasion.