CAPTAIN CARGILL TO MR. VALPY. Dunedin, 30th May, 1850.

Otago Witness, Issue 9, 7 June 1851, Page 4

CAPTAIN CARGILL TO MR. VALPY. Dunedin, 30th May, 1850.

My Dear Mr. Valpy, — I stated in my last that there were subjects on which honest men could agree to differ. Yours in reply, which I received on the 28th, will, I trust, be an appropriate illustration of the sentiment. We certainly do differ, and that most materially, on some of the matters referred to. But as my object is, that the friends of Otago at home, and the body of our colonists, should have the subject fully before them, so as to form their own judgment, I have to thank you, not only for desiring your letter to be published, but also for its clear and full exposition of your views on the matter at issue, and which makes it unnecessary for me to say much in reply. It will be seen by your letter that you had come to our Class colony with a cordial approval of the principles of our people in matters ecclesiastical, but without the slightest idea of their piinciples being equally fixed on matters of civil liberty, as had been secured for them by Act of Parliament, but now temporarily suspended, you state your belief that, under popular elections (including, of course, Otago), ' the noisy and turbulent would prevail, and that very few of the upper class would be admitted into the Legislature.' And you further state, in connexion with the Representative aspect of your call to the Council, that < you should have freely offered to promote any object which any of the people might suggest, so far as it might agree with my own view,' — that is to say, notwithstanding the unanimous declaration of the people in December of views in opposition to yours, that you would still hold to your own. This is the natural result of representation by appointment in place of election. But you had already said, notwithstandding the above-stated sentiments, thai of the two things asked in December you would support the first, — that of a Local Council, twothirds elected, and which the colonists are willing to accept ; whilst, on the other point, — that of no new appointments, — you have been carefully silent. Now it is currently reported that new appointments are being called for by parties expecting to hold them, and that they are looking to you for support in the same. And as the case of Mr. Coronor Williams for the creation of, and his pppointment to, the office of Colonial Surgeon is especially and openly avowed, and believed to be under your auspices, it is, on the whole, inferred, that on this point you go to the Council to vote for appointments at the charge of the Otago revenue, in opposition to the recorded opinion and application of the people in their Resolutions of' December last.

It will further be seen, that whilst you adhere to us in matters ecclesiastical, and have contributed to the- same, you have linked yourself on the present occasion with a small party in open and honest hostility to these institutions, and that it is upon the shoulders of that little party, by means of Mr. "Williams, its new head, having got up a certain address that you assume in spite of the public meeting which virtually rescinded that address, that you have a call from the rank and intelligence in the colony to neutralise in the Council what was asked in December, and adhered to in May.

You accuse me of bringing forward private conversations. My code of honor is pretty well known, both in the old country and the new ; and I can freely leave this point to be judged by the public. But you must allow me to say, in my somewhat veteran experience, that 1 can draw a line of distinction, in matters of public import, between what is really public, and -what private. Often and earnestly had I urged upon you in private conversation your unhappy ignorance and depreciation of of the people you are here cast among, but to no effect ; and in the meeting of 9th inst., when, as I and all present understood you to say, that what you were inclined to accept at the hands of the Governor, you would decline at the hands of the people ; — that sentiment, so stated by a public man, taking a public part at an interesting crisis of a young community, is not, in my opinion, to be held as private. Such an idea would be treason to the people. It will not do, my friend, after having voluntarily allowed yourself to be drawn into the arena of politics, and finding yourself in an ungenial element, and in a faise position, to erect a shield of ' Christian charity, benevolence, and so forth,' under which, to hide yourself and blink the matter at issue, as if your political opponents had dragged you into the arena. These opponents have borne, and ever will bear, more decided testimony to the excellence and value of your character as a Christian gentleman, than any of those who are using you for their own purposes can possibly do. Depend upon it there are none in Otago •who have a higher veneration and respect for your character as a settler, than the body of the people who are honestly opposed to you on the present political question.

You allude to a public officer, sent to us from Wellington, and who had long done injury to our cause, as having at last abandoned his hostility, and even contributed to our ecclesiastical establishment. You have no doubt patted him on the back, and told him to be a good boy -for his own sake ; and I hope he will continue so, because, if not, it is pretty evident that the Otago public and the Association would have to move the Government for his removal, and for reasons you are not ignorant of, — reasons which it has at last been my duty in some measure to report to the Association, in reply to their complaint of having been embarrassed by unfavorable and ill-founded reports emanating from individuals in the settlement, in respect of its Class character and its people. But I forbear, and earnestly hope the change you refer to may be permanent.

You deny, and with truth, ever having used the phrase ' spouting Cockney.' I admit having so far modified your words, in order to avoid the publication of a colonist's name. Nor even now do I like to do so. ' Orator ' has been your phrase, as indicating the class of persons whom our people, in your opinion, would delight to honor. No wonder, therefore, your dislike to popular elections. I would again thank you for the frankness of your statements. They will relieve the colonists from all apprehension that your sentiments of Civil Government should be considered as a representation of theirs ; and, therefore, that your appearance in the Council on this occasion can do much harm.

I repeat, that in all such matters we ought to agree to differ. In my opinion, a system of Government based on popular election is alone suited for Biitons and their descendants, and your thinking otherwise should be no cause of difference between us. If my expressions have appeared in any degree discourteous or offensive, I beg most earnestly and sincerely to apologise, and to express my readiness to adopt any other phraseology that can be sho-wn me for equally expressing the truths and arguments I have felt it my duty to state. I remain, My dear Mr. Valpy, Very faithfully yours, W. Cargill. William Henry Valpy, Esq., J.P., The Forbury.

P.S. — In my P.S, of 21st inst., in place of saying ' friends,' I should have said, you ' political allies,' — meaning the little party which figured in ~No. 1. of the '"Witness ' as concoctors of a petition, and in No. 8. as the getters up of an address. This explanation will remove your difficulty of understanding what was there stated. W. C.