THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 1906. A RATIONAL LOSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13201, 12 June 1906, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 1906. A RATIONAL LOSS.

-B.Y'the death of Richard John Seddon. for over 'thirteen years Premier lot' New Zealand and still in the flood--■ti.de of his career, the people of tins colony have suffered personal as well as 'public loss. The suddenness of I the: blow brings more closely home; 'to all of us the unique position won < by the dead statesman, not only at 'the head bid in the hearts of his ■fellow-colonists.' For, he was preeminently a personality and an essentially human personality, one iwhom it was easy to follow or to oppose, to agree with or to differ from, one whom, it- was never possible to overlook or to, ignore. That ihe rose to such unprecedented authority in our colonial politics testifies to the political insight and to the undaunted energy which .were both his in unbounded measure, but however the future may applaud his statecraft, those who have lived with him and beside him 'will-ever tend to •forget the statesman and; remember •It-he man. The future can never know very much of the real Seddon, can only judge him by his work and by that part of his work which ensures the. test of time. But. his fellow-colonists, in the solemn hours when his death lies heavy on their hearts, are paying him a surer and a truer tribute. Whatever he did, whether wisely or unwisely, whether he -wrought soundly or made. h)is T . takes, he was one of them— man full of energy and. vigour, ; whose death in harness was fitting close to his most strenuous life.'; a man who dared make mistakes rather than vdqnothing; a ••stout and' worthy opponent; a still stouter and worthier friend ; above all and- before all,' British •in every .fibre of. his being,; and to the very marrow of hipbones; We believe that the future will find him place; among the great Englishmen, who have sailed away from flic old-Home to take heroic part in the building of New Englands over sea, and that the children of New Zealand for generations will learn to respect Ids name. Bat whether this be so or not, he is a poor New Zealand ev who does not feel to-day "thailie is the poorer by the death of Richard. John Seddon.

When a public man lies dead, slvuck down in. his .service to tin 1 State, men always suspend all unkindly criticism, and bethink them of what they can say to show that old political differences do not: affect personal relationship. But here there is no need for searching thought, for if we dismiss the superficialities of political warfare there is little that has 'ever been said of the great Premier living which cannot be, said of the great Premier lying dead. And if we can say this in regard to his public life and public career, how much more can we not say it in reference to his private life and personal affairs. His marriage was the most fortunate incident in a life that was synonymous with good fortune, and the wife who shared his name and his Fame- deserved the honour so freely accorded her. and has 1 o-rlajV the profoundest sympathy of I he people of New Zealand. During his long' Premiership, when year after year added to his influence, when his Parliamentary majorities emerged unshaken from the storm of election, when he was an uncrowned king as few statesmen have ever been or can be. the example of his domestic life, his simple pride in it. his calm proclamation of if, has helped to ennoble niev and to enfranchise women as only such examples can. And his incessant movements throughout the colony, with his royal memory for faces and names and the kindly interest* in,the fortunes of those he knew whick was

always inhevefnt. in" nihil placed hi hi cm , a ..'personal arid intimate footing with .move of.our colonists than any other politician has known by sight. His refusal of title was but the." expression-" of his democratic mind. What need then to think of kindly things to .say of'•Seddon dead when he was blessed ,in his outgoing and in. his incoming, arid when his strongest political opponents were often his ■■warmest friends'?

We have said that the Premier was British to the core. There we have the epitome of his character and his qualities, of the .strengths and of the weaknesses for which so'many loved him and all men held him in respect. He was the soul of courage and the incarnation of energy", he was loyal to the. race lie sprang from and passionately proud of the nation he was helping to build. This we all knew, everybody knew. The sense of it, the universal, unalterable faith in it. bridged domestic differences and made him,-as we have so gladly and so often declared him .to be, the trusted chief of a united people. Nowhere else in the Empire was ' (here a statesman who could speak for a whole Slate as Richard John Seddon could speak i'oi New Zealand, knowing that the patriotic instincts within him were and partaken of. by the overwhelming mass of his fellow-countrymen. This consciousness . of- chieftainship—a chieftainship for which in his life as after his death we have ever held him worthy—gave confidence to his voice in Imperial affairs and an influence to his utterances which other Premiers might cavil at but could neither deny nor explain. Bough and strong, burly and courageous, in public and in private life, in war and in peace, on small local bodies or on the greatest, Council of the greatest of Empires, Richard John Seddon was always the same. When one thinks of the baby born to that. humble Lancashire home and of the man who died the strongest and most influential of all modern colonial statesmen, it is impossible not to do homage to the mere ability displayed. Yet there was more than ability in the man who has played so long and so large a part in our New Zealand life. Mr. Ma-ssey's wholehearted tribute to his memory proves it more than that. Amid the clash of politics, the doubtful expedients of party strife, the' hurried compromises of majorities, which exist in all countries . but- appear most vividly in one's own, Richard John Seddon tried to do good. He blundered sometimes and made mistakes often—-as who does not who "does .anything at all? But he, never 'forgot, .that he had wrought for his :daily, bread any>■ more than he ever forgot the flag under which h© was ihorn. And when .blunders are forgo)ten and mistakes amended, there will still. remain*with■■ us a grateful 'ami kindly recollection of the impetuous, masterful Premier/ whose plans v, ere as great as himself and whose (beams were of empires, and whose fate it was to ' die worthily like an Empire-Builder, in harness end at sea—returning from a great mission to meet a new Parliament ■(.hat. emphasised a people's confidence. Great is our national loss, but: when time has tempered grief arid men look back' with, resignation upon the past, it will surely be seen that our, great/Premier had the death die-, would have chosen had choice been his, and that the ! wonderful .fortune that"makes a romance of his life field to him. and remained with him to his death.' ' ' ' ': "'.'