The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBEUARY 18, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 40, 18 February 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBEUARY 18, 1867.

Me. Curtis's speech produced by us as well as our means would enable us to give it, has been some time before the

public,' and has, no doubt, been well read and freely commented on. It naturally divides itself into two portions, his annunciation of the policy he would pursue if elected as Superintendent of the Province, and his vindication of his past conduct from the aspersions of his political opponents. It is hardly to be expected, considering the state of parties in this province, that the speech will be regarded by the majority of readers from any other stand point than that of party feeling, and it would be a waste of time to recommend the majority of politicians to treat it upon its own merits. Almost every elector has made up his mind how he will vote, and we are not foolish enough to imagine that any comments of ours would turn the scale in one direction or the other. In reference to that portion of Mr. Curtis's speech which consists of a reply to his political opponents, we think it a subject of regret that it should have been deemed necessary. The management of the affairs of a province like this could surely have been conducted without the introduction of s° much deadly hatred between the principal actors as is apparent from the recent exhibitions we have witnessed. According to Mr. Saunders, the election of Mr. Curtis to the Superintendency would be a great calamity, and if Mr. Curtis is to be credited his attempt to promote public works in this province has been systematically prevented because he was the encourager or author of them. If reliance is to be placed on the statements of Mr. Saunders, his opponent is utterly unreliable and untrustworthy, whilst the individual so represented retorts, that but for, the unscrupulous opposition he has received from party motives, the prosperity of the province would have been indefinitely advanced from the low position it is in at present. If it were possible to take an unprejudiced aud unselfish view of the question, the person so reasoning, might be tempted to ask whether all this acrimony and bitterness was necessary in carrying out the objects of the provincial system, and whether men of unquestioned ability would not have been better employed in acting in concert for a common and beneficent purpose, than in wearing out life in mutual recriminations and expressions of hatred and disgust. Party has, been defined to be the madness of many for the gain of a few, and although many advantages arise to the public from the clashing of mind with mind on the part of public men, these advantages are purchased too dearly when progress is impeded by party feuds and animosities. Probably there is no cure for this state of things, but a system of mutual concessions in matters of no importance, which is quite compatible with the idem sentire de republica, without which progress is . quite out of the question. The question of the election of Superintendent is simply one of fitness, and the electors are called upon to exercise a similar discretion, to what they would do in selecting their tailor or shoe"

maker. Is the candidate who solicits their suffrages, qualified on the score of enlightened views, administrative ability, and the political and social influence needed to insure success. These qualifications, rather than the circumstance of his being a party man, would influence the judgment not biassed by prejudice, and envenomed by political animosity. It excited some surprise at the meeting on Thursday evening last, that the friends of Mr. Blackett preserved an absolute silence. There was no attempt to controvert any of the statements of the candidates, or show that he was unworthy of confidence. It might have been the silence of fear, or the silence of contempt. They might have felt unable to show that Mr. Blackett was the right man in the right place, or they felt so sure of his election as to refuse to condescend to employ the public means considered usual at elections. Time will show the tactics of the candidates who have not imitated Mr. Curtis in the fearless manner in which he has courted investigation of his policy, whatever may be thought of the merits of some particular statements he has made.