GEMS FROM “HANSARD.”

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4892, 25 November 1876, Page 2

GEMS FROM “HANSARD.”

No. 11.

SIR GEOROE grey’s “ EARNESTNESS” AND “ELO QUESCB.”

The lounger in the gallery of the House of Representatives during the past session had to listen to much strong, language, abundant vehemence, and too frequent bad . temper. There was great glibness of speech; but the thoughts were usually; flimsy, and the glibness was: of ‘the debating Club order. -Sir George Grey alone. approached eloquence. His lieutenant, Mr. Rees, was: rarely able to shake off the style of the small legal advocate, who believes that he has before him a not very, intelligent jury and who therefore permits himself reiteration ad nauseam. So Mr. Rees’s fluency, plus his passion, never suggested that he was capable of being eloquent. Sir George was a puzzle. His reputation has been high; his style of speaking is good; he has -a fine presence. He certainly did not appear to be able to think rightly; but he thought clearly though wrongly and he clothed his thought in fit words. An outsider listening to" him would not doubt his earnest-, ness ; those who did doubt it had no doubt of the skilful seeming of earnestness he could assume. To the outsider, it was a mystery why Sir George should strive to impress his hearers with the belief that he believed the many wild things he said;. but, most of his speeches had an effect in the House far greater than will be attributed to them by any student, of Hansard,

That, this was so is a tribute to, his ability as a speaker. The look, the voice, the wellcompacted sentences, the ring of earnestness mellowed by sadness or made sonorous by inindignation,' '.combined to impress others besides loungers, and caused much to be said and to be written about .the eloquence of the hon. gentleman’s utterances. Those who did not believe in the reality of the earnestness, or the sorrow, or the indignation, could not deny the skill or the power of .the speaker;, and not a few of the sceptics had ’ feelings ’ of regret, which_ were really. earnest, that -such a. man was either -.fighting' shadows or seemingly intent on working mischief. Sir George started with a fine estimate of the House, Did he really believe all the non--sense he talked about the Piako Swamp 2 He cleverly hit the feelings of the' young members by! his “catch” motion for suspending the standing orders, so that he might make a motion upon that question; and when he had succeeded, note how skilfully he played upon those whom he had not unnaturally roused ; “ Why, Sir, thoee gentlemen assembled from all parts of New Zealand; who had come fresh from their constituencies ; the moment I raised the cry that a' public 'wrong had been perpetrated, in one instant they assumed their privilege of first considering grievances, and showed truly that they iwere representatives. of the people of this Country. It was with'wonder and delight that I saw that a great and noble instrument of right had struggled through the throes of birth into a healthful existence, and showed a determination that right should be done. It was with pleasure I saw that the moment a band was laid on this new instrument, it - vibrated with emotions and ■ feelings, that right-should be done, that justice should run its course. 1 I felt in my own mind that which the Premier felt not whence made that speech. I said to myself,. ‘Thank Heaven, at last the hour and the men. are met together.’ I felt that I was- surrounded by men equal to the greatness of the task they had to achieve. It is with suejr a House I wish to set myself right.” He had to admit later in the session tnat he could not “ sound what stop” he pleased upon the representative instrument; he.had to deny that it was such an instrument; but when he was pleased to “ Thank" Heaven” ,that “the hour and the men are met together,” he hoped to see Abolition prevented, and with, a master hand he strove to tune; the "instrument to sound the knell .of that detested measure. •- Even when; he saw" that he was not to triumph on the Pisdco Swamp question, he still strove on. Never before were men promised such an “ eternal blazon” of fame for doing so little and doing that little upon impulse, as were those who voted for tlie suspension of standing orders 1 . “I tell you that what this Parliament did at the commencement of this session will forma great example in the constitutional history of New Zealand. I tell you that that act will secure an imperishable and undying fame; that in every book - hereafter written on the constitutional history of New Zealand it will be (recorded in terms of glowing eulogy, and that every historian will inquire into the circumstances which led to that proceeding on the part of this Parliament; and that each historian will ha ve brought under his notice the act which* I hold to be so wrongful, and will record the names of those who voted. Upon the one hand there will be undying fame,, upon the other I believe undying obloquy will rest, and-both will go,down to posterity together.” “Venus rising from the sea” becomes a dowdy, when one thinks of “Mataura’s member risen from the swamp;”- lapped in “imperishable and undying fame,’! but ever poised to swoop and smear his name! Perhaps of. ail Sir George’s speeches, none was delivered with finer effect,-so far as , the utterance of words was concerned, than-one during the debate upon his motion for time to enable him to choose between the Auckland City West and the Thames seats., In the course of that speech, he said— " ;■ “I have asked the House now, when, for the first time, a new'case has come before it, to lay down a precedent—a, rule for all time—and to lay it down wisely andiwell. .‘,. After all, the great constituencies - 1 represent may think it of infinite importance to consult with me with regard to their views, and to decide for which of the Ttwb’" constituencies they would desire me to sit. I would further say this : that the horn” member for Dunstan took 'charge; of my conscience. ‘ If the House gives me seven days to make up .my mind, I shall act according to my conscience, to the best of my knowledge and ability. •- In deciding, I •shall act as I think best for "my constituents ; and no law binds that horn gentleman; or ainy other hon. gentleman, to be my adviser upon such a subject. If the House grants me seven days,.!] shall consult my own intellect and conscience; and shall take my own course. That is what I really believe I ought to do ; and I simply ask the House well and wisely to determine on the precedent it will lay down. Whatever precedent we lay down, hon. members may rely upon it that 1 will endeavor so to accord myself to their .decision that ,no just ground ;of complaint shall lie against me ; and if they give a proper example in their position, I will give a proper example in mine—an example worthy of them and of myself—one worthy l of this Assembly which I regard as being a very august one indeed.”. The sceptics dared to say that Sir George wantedj time only to receive a telegram from Mr. Rees, as to whether the chance of getting a; blind: adherent returned .was’ better at the 'Thamesjor in City West; and it is a fact, that the speech quoted from "having-. been' ma.de during the evening of July 10th, the choice wa 3 made so as to enable the same speaker to move on the 11th, that a, new; writ for City West should be issued. ' ■ ,<

As a;sample of invective,, the folhiwing is a good average, even for Sir Gebige Grey:—“Now, sir, my heart.has been filled with at seeing the reckless waste of public money which the Colonial Treasurer has carried on. | My heart has : been .filled with concern at! seeing - him 1 squandering the ; public lands : on his favorites; my heart has been filled with concern at seeing him tax unjustly her Majesty's subjects in this country, and at seeing, him save from taxation those classes who he I thought .would keep him in power. Sir, when I think of these things lieel what I can hardly describe.. And now, when I see that he : could, if he pleased, make reductions such as I speak of ; when I see that he could restore speedily the prosperity of the Country; when 1 see that lie could relieve the producing classes by taking off them the taxes which, unjustly press upon them; when I see that he 1 could put taxes upon those friends of his who draw large incomes from this country and spend .them elsewhere, then, sir, I am determined to force my resolution on the House.. I wish to bring him under: the notice of the people whom: he has so cruelly, wronged,. robbing them of their lands and property, and all to gratify his lust of power.” That was uttered-in Committee of Supply on October 10th. , Its subject was not Sir Julius Vogel, but Major Atkinson.. It had been said in substance earlier in the session,, and more than once ). much the same: will doubtless be said of any other Premier, if there comes into office another who does not agree in all things with Sir George ; but if one can forget that its bases are assumptions lor disproved assertions, the cleverness and forceof the attack must be admitted. The despatch of his Excellency respecting Sir George’s bombardmenl-of-Anckland letter, afforded great scope. In that, debate, Sir George. no doubt had strong feeling, and he showed it:—

“ Then I was told that I had acted wrongly in seeking the interference of *a foreign Power. I wonder so little'shame rests on men’s tongues that they can apply such terms to the mother country; A foreign' Power ! The Power that gave us these institutions, and that took such care of us—is that a foreign Power ? The Power that has a right to! protect us in the enjoyment of these institutions—is that a foreign Power ? They know it is not a foreign Power. Was it to a foreign Power they addressed this despatch to ruin, me if they could ? - Was that a foreign Power ? No, sir, they knew it was a Power that we all reverence—that is the mother of us all. And that is the Power to which they forwarded accusations of this kind.. When they forward such accusations themselves,. they call it then a patriotic

Government, and a Government to -which we idways look. But the 'moment we seek to have our rights maintained by that Power whose duty it is to do it, it is a foreign Power, and we are traitors for seeking sympathy there. . . I feel certain in my own mind that this very document written about myself, will hereafter become. in this country an historical document. The people tvill_ trace from a wrong of this kind reforms which will be beneficial to New Zealand—-changes in our institutions which will secure the happiness of the future millions who are to inhabit this country. It is well that the real character of the men who are doing these things should have been brought to light 88 they have been in the present 'instance. I hope the House will rise to a consideration of what it ought to do on this, occasion, and that it will leave an example behind it which will testify to future times that it did not fear to do its duty against, the frowns of power, and that there are in it men capable of determining that justice should be done, and that, whoever the offender may be who has wronged his fellow-man, his offence shall be stamped with the reprobation it undoubtedly deserves.” A sadder and a wiser man- was he who uttered that appeal, than he who. four short months before, had. hailed -the meeting of the hour and the men ! The Abolition Act ; \vas not to be meddled with. ‘ The House had shown that its sympathies did. not beat responsive to those of the champion of mankind f Thence the lowered tone, the wailing cry, “ Arouse, at duty’s call: ■_ : Mr. Andrew is not above being poetical; and he bit off' Very happily, early in the session, Sir George Grey’s position of political uselessness. Air. Andrew could not find anything like accordance between what Sir George wanted done ve the Piako Swamp, and what Mr. Stout wanted. “ I shall make,”, said the hen. member for the Wairarapa, “no attempt to account for the motions of these satellites. The orbit of the primary is, beyond my power to reduce to a formula or political expression. It were easier, if the orbit were an astronomical one, to calculate and account for the; course of some wandering star, some lost Pleiad, which, shaken from its proper place, has become a vagrant in the, sky, shining sometimes with a flicker of its former brightness, but useless as a guide to the traveller or the pilot, or to a party of marauders. “ Useless indeed ! ’Tis true, ’tis pity, ’tis pity ’tis ’tis true.”