The New zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO. AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, SEPT. 30, 1864. RUMOURED RESIGNATION OF THE MINISTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 276, 30 September 1864, Page 3

The New zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO.

AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, SEPT. 30, 1864. RUMOURED RESIGNATION OF THE MINISTRY.

" Give overy mau thine cur, but lew thy voice: Take cacli mau's censure, but reserve tliy judgment. This above all,—To thine o\rusolf bo true; And it must follow, ua tlio night tbo day, Tliou cunst uot tucn bo falso to any mail."

It was currently reported ill town yesterday that the Ministry hail resigned. This, howover, was not- the ease, but it is an event which may, wo believe, be daily expected. The diti'ereiieo between Sir George Grey and the Ministry is, we understand, ill this wise. His Excellency is desirous of at ouee concluding the war, and to do so lie is jn-e----pared, we hear, to issuo a proclamation calling on all rebel natives to come in and take the oath of allegiance, which act will be taken as condoning _all past offences, and they will moreover be allowed to retain possession of their arms and of their lands. nst this intention of the Governor the Ministry have of course protested, but in vain, Sir George Grey, declaring that lie takes his stand on Mr. Cardwell's despatch, preserves a dogged determination to act oil his own responsibility in this matter, and the Ministry, can we blame them, wash their hands of participation in anything so monstrous. t an we blame them if under such circumstances they resign a position which they can no longer hold with honor, — that they refuse to sanction by the weight of their names the inllietion of tiio greatest calamity which could befall this Colony. Had the}' done otherwise they would have deserved the openly expressed indignation of the settlers—they would have merited the scoffs and sneers of the small party which has consistently and persistently maligned them. it is quite possible that if the present Ministry retire from ollice to-day or to-mor-ow, Sir George Grey may obtain the serices of as many men, ready and subservient ools, prepared to carry out Lis own peculiar lews, even if those views tend to the ultiliate butchery of the country settlers, and hu causing of grass to grow in the streets of ~nd ; but. unless we are to be deprived )t' all constiliitttional rights whatever, we cry much doubt whether such a Ministry ■ould stand a single day after the meeting )f the General Assembly however much uischief they might effect between now md that tune. The people of this LTolony will endorse 110 policy, as regards the one all-important question of the .lav, but that of putting down the rebellion, lirmly and effectually. To do so, land must be confiscated for the purpose of producing L'.xfeniled European siulcment, and the inns of the rebel Natives must be surrendered as the only guarantee wo can Lake for their future order and peaceful ness, itherwise, when tiie troops shall have been moved and the country lulled into a state of false security, the red-handed deeds of 1808 will be again enacted, and another and a bloodier war be the inevitable result. 'We do not believe that a greater calamity could happen to JSew Zealand, at the present crisis, or even lo Sir George Grey, than the forced resignation of the hitaker-Mi-nislry, and the reversal of their sound and peace-securing policy for the " let byegones be byegones"' crochets of his Excellency and a" few theoretical Maori enthusiasts. The country will be ruined politically and commercially. A short peace and then, war war to the knife, in which Colonist and Maori will engage —neither asking or receiving quarter from the other —will as surely follow. A commercial crisis will at once impend. Of what; value will be landed property, the country manufactories and mills, under the regime of tliat Maori terrorism which will at once set in on the issue of such a proclamation, and the conclusion of a hollow peace t What emigrant will chuse this island as a field for the investment of his capital and labour? Nor will Sir George Grey come triumphantly out of the scheme which he is planning. His object is undoubtedly to make short work of the war, but he takes the wrong path. His act will place him in direct antagonism with the people and representatives of Kejv Zealand, and he will awake a lirm resistance to the unconstitutional encroachments of the imperial Government which, instead ot bringing him the coveted peerage, for which he is staking the future peace and happiness oi the Colony will, "when kt'.OA\n at home, overwhelm him with disgrace and tend to his immediate recall as a more convenient alternative than entering on extreme conclusions with the Colonists ot JNew Zealand. Sir George Grey himself must be insane to take upon his own shoulders so heavy a responsibility as this. To the colonist's of jSTew Zealand the assumption ofsupreuie autocratical power 011 t he part of Sir George Grey will be as unexpected as, when oiu-e known, it will be loudly and persistently condemned and by every legal means eouibatted. Is it foi tilts that our young men have died of over exertion and disease in the field—that our homesteads- have been ravaged and our settlers killed in dci'endiugtheir homes and families— that the peopleof this Provincehave deserted their peaceful avocations and garrisoned the outposts, and, by taking for months the severe and harassing duties near Auckland set free the military to prosecute tiiewarr Have we suffered and endured all this i- and steeped t he colony in debt, that 111 the very moment oi victory, tne itedd shal be yielded to the enemy and ourselves, witi 1 anus reversed, march beneatii tiieyoke of thos( who have brought by their wanton insurrec l ion this loss of blood andtroasure, this stop pa ,r c of comluereial progress, this polm caf disquietude upon us "r We canno believe that any people, with guarantee! constitutional rights, will tamely sit dowi under such a state of things. \\ hateve di lie roil ces of opinion may have oxistei as to the working of tlie minor details ot tli affairs of the Government, whatever persona

disi ik esiiutl prcdj ud i ccs may exist intheininds ot some towards oiie or others of its members, all must acknowledge and. will freely and openly exclaim that the native policy of the present Ministry, expressed _thc feelings and wishes of the Colonists of Rew Zealand, and faithfully carried out the enunciated views of its Parliament. To these men, whether in office, or out of office, the Colony owes a deep debt of gratitude, and where men have been luke warm in their expression of this feeling towards a Ministry holding the reins of power, they will openly and fearlessly proclaim it on the occasion of that ministry'a enforced retirement, and in that hour of tribulation and sorrow which now awaits the Colony.