New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1842.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 17, 27 September 1842, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1842.

Great pains have been taken by persons whom we know, but will not now name, to disseminate an opinion that the line pursued by this paper is calculated, and even designed, to injure this settlement. We know that the persons by whom this opinion has been most industriously diffused, do not themselves believe the latter portion. But it is possible that there are persons who, ignorant of the facts, and relying upon the supposed honesty of their informant, may be deluded into a belief even of this. On this account, therefore, and because it is to a certain extent the duty of every one who seeks to influence the public, to be prepared to explain his motives, and vindicate his conduct; we propose to say a few words as to the principles by which this paper has been guided, and the policy which it has advocated.

First, however, we must refer to the personal part of the charge—that we design to injure the Colony. This is a statement which, with all our charity, we cannot but believe was felt to be utterly unfounded by those who made it at the time it was made. If we have such a design, we must be the veriest idiots that ever, from whatever motive, plotted their own destruction. In this Settlement, all our property lies, and in its cause our fortunes are embarked. We have land—unfortunately very little —but it is all in this immediate vicinity. We have no interest, even of the smallest, in any other settlement. In the ruin of this place, our own ruin would be inevitably involved. If, therefore, we were sufficiently criminal to desire the ruin of all the others whose fortunes are dependent upon the prosperity of this settlement, with whom we are on terms,, of friendly intercourse, we can hardly be supposed foolish enough to intend our own. Our view of the true interests of this place, and the mode by which these interests will best be secured, may be erroneous, but it is at least sincere.

The topic, with regard to which these statements have been chiefly made, is the native question. It is alleged that the time we have chosen to urge the consideration of this question is injudicious and premature ; and that the mode in which we have dealt with it is likely to lead to serious disputes between the two races. To the first point we can only ask, in reply, what time our accusers would consider judicious, so long as there was any chance of effecting good for the natives ? No doubt, when the whole question was irrevocably decided; when nothing that might be done or said could have the least influence upon the fate of the New Zealanders —then, as a matter of philanthropic speculation, these questions might be safely agitated, and all parties might give vent to their no longer dangerous sensibilities. But we have

read the records of experience in a widely different way, and have learned from them a totally opposite lesson. We believe that danger lies in the existence of injustice, not in its being proclaimed; and that to remove the evil complained of, not to stifle the voice of complaint, is the true source of safety. We do not think that justice has been done to tjie natives, and we have never conversed with any one who asserted that it had. We believe that, to allow this injustice to continue, would be not merely impolitic, but hazardous ; and we imagine that there are yet time and means to provide and apply a remedy. Therefore it is that we have referred to this topic, and we are happy to believe that our labours have not been without their result. We have reason to know that measures for quieting the native claims are in progress, which will probably terminate in enabling all parties to enter upon possession of their land; and we do not think we arrogate too much for ourselves, when we attribute this in no small degree to our exertions. There is no doubt that, next to the want of roads, the difficulty of obtaining possession of the land, owing to the interference of the natives, is one of the most serious obstacles to the progress of the settlement. It is true that this difficulty is by no means so great as it appears, and will, in almost all cases, prove to be temporary. Still it has operated to a considerable extent, and as the range of settlement widens, it will, unless due preventive measures are taken, he felt yet more extensively. On many occasions, the summary interference of the Police Magistrate has been called for, but it has uniformly appeared that the circumstances were not such as to authorise his interposition. It is only by ncgociation that the rights of the natives can be legally extinguished. This will now be tried upon an adequate scale, and with- due securities for the assent of all who ought to be parties to the bargain. But when this is done, as we trust will shortly be the case, and when, consequently, the legal title of the settlers has become unimpeachable, we may still require aid from the Government, in order to enforce the law, and secure the undisturbed enjoyment of property rightfully acquired, and legally occupied. This is a point which we think it would be well for the people to urge upon Captain Hobson and the Home Government, and it is one upon which their representations would be entitled to, and would probably possess, considerable weight.

We have been informed by Dr. Evans, that an inaccuracy has crept into the report of his speech on Wednesday last, contained in our last number, inasmuch as he did not mention the name of Mr. St. Hill, in connection with the representatives of absentee proprietors. The confusion which, we understand, reigned during the address of the learned gentleman, must be the apology of our reporter for this (rror, which we thus hasten to correct.

We take the present opportunity of recurring to the advice tendered to the meeting upon that occasion by the learned Doctor. The main topic to which his arguments and exhortations were directed, was the policy and propriety of abandoning all lists, so that each burgess should, without previous any other, put down upon paper the names which he preferred, leaving it to fortune to decide what party should predominate in the Council. Sage advice this, truly! Admirable for its profundity, if sincere; or for its honesty, if intended to lead to ulterior results. We scarcely know whether more to admire the wisdom or the sincerity of the person from whence it emanated.

Let it be supposed, though it is a most improbable supposition, that all parties acted upon this advice, and that every elector, without taking any means to ascertain the opinions or intentions of his fellow burgesses, should, on the morning of the election, go down with his own list, comprising eighteen names, which he had culled out of the burgSss roll. It is clear that the result of this would be only one degree less fortuitous than if the Council were decided by lot. Nor would the election of any person be, under these circumstances, a test, even in the slightest degree, of the general opinion of his fitness for the office. It might even happen

that a person should be elected who had not more'than from twenty to thirty votes; and that those whose capacity and suitableness were universally recognised, might be left out, because every one might imagine that his vote was not needed to secure the election of these individuals. If it were meant that this advice should be followed, we say, unhesitatingly, that nothing more calculated to destroy the benefits supposed to be inherent in popular elections, was ever propounded to an audience. But there is another view which we may take of this counsel. There are two lists in the field, for one of which the sympathies of Dr. Evans are supposed to be engaged. May it not be supposed, without any grievous breach of charity, that this advice was designed to operate only upon the public,* and. that the coadjutors of the learned Doctor were among the initiated for whose guidance it was to bear a contrary import. In this case, to the full extent of its influence, it would redound to the profit of the Doctor’s party. Those who were weak enough to imagine that it was tendered in sincerity, and who therefore acted upon it, would find that their scattered and uncombined efforts were utterly fruitless, and that an easy triumph would be given to, their opponents. We do not imagine that any one will be foolish enough to act upon this advice so soon as he has an opportunity of considering its tendency* but it is not therefore the less expedient to expose the true character of what appears to have passed current for sound argument and sage counsel.

There are, perhaps, few persons in the community better able than Dr. Evans to convince .

by argument, or to guide by counsel. There are not many, probably, who surpass him in the soundness of his deliberate judgment, and certainly none who equal him in the power of enforcing his opinions by oratory. It is only needful that he should argue for truth, not for victory —that he should be above the petty contests for a triumph in which he sacrifices so much—and that he should pursue, by consistent means, a worthy and intelligible end, to render him one of the most influential persons in the Colony. We cannot allow his fallacies to. pass unexposed ; but we always regret the.necessity of detecting and disclosing the artifices which, for unworthy ends, he so often stoops to employ.