The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 650, 7 July 1852, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Be just nn'l fear nut : Let all Die ends thoii aim'st at, be thy Country's Thy (jou's, and Tiutli'tt. '

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1852.

It having been specifically enacted by the 17th clause of the Provincial Councils Ordinance that the first Writs for the Election of Members should be issued at some period not later than twelve months after the passing of the Ordinance, and the Ordinance having passed on the 9th July 1851, it isnecessarily to be expected that now the Writs will forthwith be issued. We have heard that the Writs are accordingly prepared, and either are already, or will immediately, be in the hands of the proper Officers. An easy calculation may thus lead to an approximately accurate conclusion as to the dates of the. several elections. The Writs are returnable within sixty days— that is, all the elections must be over early in September. But the whole month of J uly is open for preferring claims to registration : the List of Claims cannot be perfected till the first of August : then objections may be brought forward to particular claims, of which ten days' notice must bo given to the Resident Magistrate and to the parties objected against : and it is only alter a Meeting of the Justices of the Peace shall have determined such cases, and otherwise revised the List, that the "Electoral Roll," containing the names of those actually entitled to vote can be formed. The elections must therefore take r lace between the date of these Meetings, which cannot be held earlier than about the" middle of August, and the end of the first week in September. We believe we shall be found correct in stating that the Meeting to form the Electoral Roll here will be held on or about the 18th of August, and that the Nomination of Candidates for the City will take place on the Ist of September, and the polling on the next day (the 2nd.) '

According to the time-table given from week to week in the Spectator, the House of Lords had met thirteen times, the sittings occupying twenty-three and a half hours, from the opening of the -Session to the adjournment on the 27th of February. Within the same period the sittings of the Commons had been sixteen in number,— the time occupied by them eighty-three hours. With few exceptions, however, these hours were fruitless as to all practical results, the change of Ministry so unsettling all political arrangements and schemes of parties as to render it wholly uncertain what would or would not be the course respecting any particular question. The Befoim Bill, which was to be amongst the foremost subjects of ministerial management, was, we know, contemptuously cast aside by the new Premier as worse than worthless. So it probably would be with many other of " the best laid schemes" of the Whigs. Almost the only thing actually done was t/ieir own expulsion from office. Unless therefore in a few instances, and as illustrative of detached points of public interest, it would be loss of time and space to sum up the detailed history of the Governmental and Pai'liamentary abortions during the merely introductory action preparatory to the real legislative drama which was to commence on the 12th of March. The more copious reports of the proceedings which we have in the daily papers however, of course give us fuller information, by which we may revise the conclusions to which the summaries of our colo nial contemporaries (on which we were previously dependent) had led us. Thus, additional and interesting light is thrown on the causes of Lord Palmerston's ejection from the Foreign Secretaryship. We have now reason to believe that, although the course taken by. his Lordship with reference to Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat was the immediate occasion of final rupture, yet this only brought to a point old and continued feelings of dissatisfaction on account of Ms habit of dealing with important questions in an independent manner, without consulting his colleagues, or duly laying the documents and facts before Her Majesty. It turns out that so long ago as August, 1850, the Queen had in an autograph letter given decided expression to her royal opinion to this effect. The following is the extract from this remarkable communication, as given by Lord John Kussell in his speech on the Address. Lord John said, — But with regard to his noble friend, it so happened that in August 1850 the precise terms, were laid dawn as to the transaction of business between the Crown and Secretary of State, He was the organ of a communication to his noble I friend and he was responsible for a document which lie was about to read. He omitted the former part which refers only to past transactions. It is as follows :~ "The Queen, requires, first, that Lord Palmerston will distinctly state what lie proposes in a given case, in order that the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is giving her royal sanction. Secondly, having once given her sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the minister. Such an act she, must consider as failing in sincerity towards the crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that minister. She expects to be kept informed of what passess between him and the foreign ministers before important decisions are taken based upon that intercourse ; to receive the foreign despatches in good time ; and to have the 11 draughts of her approval sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with their contents before they must be sent off. The Queen thinks it best that Lord John Russell should show this letter to Lord Palmerston." The obvious inference from this communication is, that previously Lord Palmerston had not acted in conformity with these regulations ; and indeed he virtually admitted that it was so by his reply (also quoted by Lord John Russell), "1 have taken a copy of this memorandum of the Queen, and shall not fail to attend to the directions which it contains." He did not attend to them, however, in the case of the French President's coup d'etat, and there- ! fore, argues Lord John, it became the Prime Minister's duty to require Lord Palmerston to resign. Still, as the Examiner puts it, " It is sufficiently clear that the commencement of Lord John .Russell's explanation only introduces us in madias res of difference's. 1 It is the old

3tory of the liair that breaks the camel's back, or the drop that makes the glass overflow." But what is to be thought of Lord John Russell's own conduct in the matter ? In June 1850, when Lord Palmerston was censured by the House of Lords, and only escaped censure in the House of Commons for his policy in the Greek affair, Lord John vindicated, and identified himself with, his "noble friend's" conduct. And yet, just after, ho felt himself obliged to invoke the Queen's authority to control this lauded colleague! Moreover, as respects the immediate point (the indiscretion of Lord Palmerston in expressing his favourable opinion of the coup d'etat to the French Ambassador) his Lordship was able to retort upon his colleagues that they (and that Lord John himself in particular) had done almost precisely the same thing, and in the hearing of the same personage ! The conclusion plainly is that the quarrel was not so much with the policy of tho Foreign Secretary, as with the man: his colleagues wished to get rid of him, and the French question furnished the opportunity. The whole transaction gives no favourable view of oither of their Lordships' conduct, viewed in the light of high ana honourable principle. The Spectator well remarks, — "This disclosure lias inflicted serious damage on the political reputation of both Ministers. Honest people cannot understand the sincerity of a Premier who could have a public and private opinion so diametrically opposed, nor the constitutional pride of a statesman who could for party convenience retain in office a colleague so insubordinate. Neither can the public understand the self-respect of that nobleman who could remain in office eighteen months under so humbling a rebuke. The disclosure reveals the degree to which the standard of political morality has been lowered in high places. The way in which the Assembled Commons made light of it is the reverse of consoling or reassuring. On the public it has had a very painful effect." It could scarcely be possible for a Cabinet so internally divided as this revelation shows the Russell to have been — and having within it, moreover, such an clement of continual disturbance as Lord Grey's temper and policy — to hold together much longer ; and we have here a contribution to its history which we have entered upon somewhat fully because it has a measure of historical value. The number o£ elections to take place in consequonce of the change of Ministry was necessarily large enough to excite considerable interest in various districts, although there was little doubt that most, if not all the members would be re-elected. The following is a list of the new Writs, as ordered at the last sitting before tho adjournment, for the vacancies created by the change : — Seats vacated. Persons. Buckinghamshire Mr. Disraeli. Midhurst Mr. Walpole. Droitwich Sir John Pakington. Stamford | Mr. Herries. Oxfordshire Mr. Henley. North Essex Major Beresford. Abingdon Sir. F. Thesiger. Colchester Lord John Manners. Portarlington Colonel Dunne. Kildare Lord Nans. Dublin Univ Mr. Napier. Enniskillen Mr. Whiteside. Londonderry Mr. Bateson. Buckingham ( bo. ) Marquis of Chandos. Chichester Lord Henry Lennox S. Lincolnshire Sir John Trollope. N. Lincolnshire Mr. Christopher ( Chiltern Hundreds.) Dorsetshire Mr. Bankes. Yorkshire (E. R.) Mr. A. Duncombe. Tyrone County Lord Claude Hamilton, Wenlook The Hon. C. Foster _ A writ was ordered alsb for Coi'k ; Dr. Maurice Power having been Appointed Governor of St Lucia, by the late Ministry. The results of two elections not included in this list were reported. For East Kent, vacated by the retirement of Mr. J.P.Plumptre, thez*e were two candidates, Sir Brook Bridges, and Sir Edward Dering, both Conservatives, but the former was against, the latter for the Maynooth Endowment — a question which the Protestant Alliance and many others who had not joined that Association, were strenuously urging as a test for candidates. The Anti-Maynooth candidate, Sir Brook Bridges was returned by a majority of 198 At Perth, vacated by Mr. Fox Maule's removal, in the last days of the Russell Administration, from the War Office to the Board of Control, that gentleman was re-elected. Mr. Gilpin, the Quakers' publisher in London, had been expected to contest the seat, but did not come to the poll. The following Private Secretaries had been appointed by the new Ministers respectively :—: — " The Earl of Derby has appointed Lieut. Col. E. Wilbraham to be his private secretary ; Mr. C. W. Stronge, of the Treasury, is also acting as the Second Private Secretary to the Prem ior. The Right Hon. S. 11. Walpole has appointed Mr. Spencer Perceval, grandson of Mr. Perceval, the Prime Minister of George 111. The Earl of Malmesbury has appointed Mr. G. Harris. Sir J. Pakington lias appointed his son, Mr. J. S. Pakington. Mr. J. H. Cole, of the Treasury, is appointed Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke of Northumberland has appointed the Hon. F. S. P. Pelham." Amongst the recent appointments announced were the following : John Fiennes Crampton, Esq., Secretary of Legation at Washington, to be British Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, in place of Sir Henry L. Bulwer, who was appointed Minister at tho Court of Tuscany, replacing James Hudson, Esquire, whose diplomatic duties were transferred to Sardinia :— Sir Alexander Mallet to be Minister Plenipotentiory to the Germain Confederation Mr. Henry Cartwright had been appointed Superintendent of the new Penal Settlement of British Guiana.... Sir John Dodson had been appointed to succeed the late Sir H. J. Fust, as Dean of the Court of Arches. Various popular movements woro in progress, more or less connected or stimulated by the change of Ministry. In our last we mentioned the revival of the AntiCorn League: to day we publish an account of the^ proceedings at the meeting at which this step was resolved upon, together with a scourging— and we think, so far as the scourging is concerned a most just article— on tho movers in it from the limes.... Several " Reform Meetings" had been held, particularly in tho Metropolitan

Boroughs, the politicians in which seemed anxious to make the most of the anticipated struggles of parties; but, says the Spectator, "the feeling is that Reform stands in less danger from Lord Derby's open hostility than from Lord John Russell's fatal adoption. A huge sigh of relief," our contemporary adds "is given by the bothered public at being quit of that particular bi11."... .Tw0 or three meetings had also been held to petition against the calling out of the Militia, which the orators of the Peace Society denounce as " unnecessary, oppressive, and injurious to the morals of the community." More convicts for Australia ! The Fairlie having embarked prisoners from Cowes, sailed with the pestiferous living cargo for Van Diemon's Land on the 3rd of March. There are still various articles in our late files meriting a place in our summary, to which we shall return.

Yesterday was appointed for the Meeting of Justices of the Peace to prepare tlie Burgess Roll for the Borough of Auckland for the ensuing year. The only Justices who attended — in addition to the Resident Magistrate — were Aldermen Dignan and O'Neill, and Mr. M'Lachlau. The Lists for the several Wards as prepared by the Police were submitted for inspection and sanctioned ; and they will now be publicly exhibited for examination, in order that objections, and claims from Burgesses accidentally omitted, may be brought forward at tho adjourned Meeting of Magistrates, which is fixed for Friday the lGth instant.

Kawhia. — On Monday, the 7th June, an accident happened to the native postman, in crossing this harbour, which had well nigh been fatal to him and caused the loss of the mail. The wind was strong, and the weather stormy. He was disappointed of an expected passage in the boat of one of the settlers, who are always kindly ready to accommodate the mailmen, and, with a canoe and sail, attempted the passage. He had got twothirds of the distance, when a sea filled his canoe and turned her over, lie dexterously secured the mail-bag, and even two loose letters he saved by holding them between his teeth. He got on the bottom of the canoe, and, after throwing away his garments, with one hand he grasped the bag and with the other he swam to the shore. Almost perished with cold, and nearly exhausted, he managed to get along the beach to the houses of the settlers, where he was kindly attended to — and, after obtaining clothing from them, and recovering from tha effects of his disaster, he pui'sued his journey to Auckland, where he arrived, with the mail, on Saturday, the 12th June It is to be hoped that the gallantry of his conduct in thus saving the mail at the risk of his life, and at the sacrifice of his clothes, which were his all, will not go unrewarded This is the first accident that has happened to the native postman since the commencement of the overland mail, more than eight years ago, although they have to travel in all seasons of the year, in all sorts of weather, and often in canoes, in crossing rivers and harbours, anything but safe. — Communicated,