AMERICA.

New Zealander, Volume XIX, Issue 1972, 14 September 1863, Page 3

AMERICA.

To the Editor of the Nkw-Zeai..vxdeu

Sir, —The American war is the direst event which has transpired since the great French revolution. What issues it may ultimately produce is a question which no human creature can pretend to solve. Whatever may have been the immediate occasion ot the war, it is rapidly becoming a war of sentiment and principle, and every defeat inflicted on the North which docs not go the length of disabling them tends mo'e decidedlv to this result.

The new Act for the encouragement of immigrants is i. piece of legislation produced by the present lamcntab e war, which has passed unnoticed, during the cxciti ment oi military proceedings. Slavery indirectly led to the disruption of the Union principally by causing the Southern half of the United Stares to grow rich much slower than the Northern haland by aggravating all the differences in taste am* feeling which that decisive difference in circumstances produced. This was shown especially by the rapid advance of the Free States in population—an ad- ance caused chiefly by the number of immigrants which they received from all parts of Europe. The war has naturally checked immigration; and in order to stimulate it to the utmost, a law has been passed through Congress, which was proposed and vetoed in the time of President Buchanan, and which makes such an offer to the poorer population of Europe as never was made in this world before, namely that any one foreigner or native may, on the payment of ton dollars, be put in possession ol 160 acres of public land on undertaking to live on it live years and to become a citizen of the United States. The quantity of unoccupied land in the States is said to he larger than the whole of Europe put together, with the exception of Russia; immigrants will also have the power of choosing any climate, any sort of employment, and the society of natives of almost of any country that may happen to suit their tastes and habits. *Up to this time the public lands cost a dollar-and-a-halt an acre, so that a lot now offered for ten dollars used to cost twenty-four times that sum. No doubt the effect of this law will be to stimulate immigration to the utmost. Wiiat the result will be in the population of the States it is quite impossible to guess, hut it may produce results which will last long alter the agony of the present miserable war is forgotten. The inteiile interest which wo as Englishmen have felt in the war has caused us to losi sight for the moment of the enormous resources of the States. One fact may he taken as a sample of their amazing extent. Congress has but lately passed a bill for a direct railway to California, which, when complete, will he more than 1500 miles in length, running for the greater part through a dreary wilderness. Our minds seem to sink under the contemplation of the amazing masses of wealth which arc stored up for the use of mankind in that marvellous magazine, the North American continent.

Vast rivers, lakes like seas, boundless plains, almost inexhaustibly fertile, the richest mines in the world, of gold, silver, copper, and coal, enormous forests—in short wealth in every conceivable form and in boundless profusion—are there ; and the whole is presided over by a government ot which one great object appears to be to summon every human creature who is discontented with his lot in this world to come and help to consume it all. Even alter making full allowance for all the horrors and miseries of the present war, it is probable that no other nation in the world contains so enormous a mass of well-to-do people. The wonderful tiling is, that anyone should draw from that fact any particular Inference about the American form of Government.

The circumstances of the country have done infinitely more to produce the government than the government to produce the circumstances. Set down in die midst ol boundless wealth, many millions of Europeans, all or most of whom originally left Europe because they had intelligence and spirit enough to feel dissatisfied with narrow circumstances and to wish to be rich—and of course you have a democratic government, and a vast number of well-to-do people. But to infer from this, as some do, that there is any specific virtue in democracy is like drawing a similar inference from the fact that a particular democrat has had a large fortune left him. To give the Americans their fair proportion of praise and blame would he a difficult task; but very little of eitticr ought to be derived from the fact that they are very numerous and exceedingly well off. The contemplation of the present most miserable state of affairs in this colony has led to the above reflections, which I have committed to paper and forwarded to you for insertion, if you think fit, in your widely circulated journal. Yours, &c.,

South Pacific

September 11, 18G3

To the Editor of the New-Zealander

Sir, — Two heads arc said to be better than one, and I presume upon the same principle three are better thru two. Then, again, another equally wise old adage says, “ Too many cooks spoil the broth,” and I fear if present appearances are any test for the future they will make a hash of it. lam strangely of opinion that, in our present great undertaking, one head, one mind, one line of action, one mode of carrying it out, one unswerving course without halting, would be of infinitely more value than so many cooks, be they even Sover’s and Men are marched or galloped up'from one station to another, by one authority, and then marched back again, directly, by another authority, so that men are frequently kept marching and countermarching, without any conceivable object, to so short sighted an individual as myself. But we John Bull’s ate noted for blunders at the outset, and we know very well at the same time that all is sure to come right in the end ; but if we could only make it right at the beginning it would save much troulle. It is a great comfort, not being a soldier, militiaman, or volunteer, that I can write thus freely ; for although there are some few who would like a little gentle gagging of the press, the great majority of thinking and common sense men would not but believe that, although there may be some slight inconvenience in allowing the press so much freedom, on the whole the country are the gainers by it. Old Practical. Drury, 14th Sept.

To the Editor of the New-Zealander

Sir, —I am sure you will allow me to state a case which I consider a most unfair one, particularly under the circumstances in which we are placed. I w r as requested to go with my team of horses to cart slabs, timber, &c., for building the Stockade here, and I agreed with the committee to do so at 20s. per d av for my cart, two horses, and self. Men were also engaged to work at the Stockade at 6s. per day. After these accounts had gone in for many weeks they came bark with „ome remarks that the charges were exorbitant, particularly as the settler’s were working to protect their own property, and that the 20s. must bo altered to 155., the Gs. to 55., and so on. Why I had offers of 30s. and 355. per week for myself and horses at the very same time, if I liked to go from my own hone with them, and men could have got Bs. and 10s. for the same labour elsewhere. I would ask the “ war minister,” who seems to be the ruler in these matters, is he not working also to protect his own property, and does he reduce his salary from £I,OOO to £SOO per annum, or does anybody do it for him? I may say for one, that I wi l not take one penny less than the very moderate charges which 1 have made, although I am nal orally very desirous of making all I can lor the support of my relatives and myself under the losses enttiled upon us by having to desert our homes, and not wishing to be offered “ Pauper Batons, ” in the plentitude of Provincial charity. Your obedient, Heywood Crispe.