THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1859.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 208, 18 October 1859, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1859.

Forty-eight days past, Europe was at peace; and whilst congratulating ourselves upon that, we must remember that it is a peace "patched up," the result not so much of effect ot war, as the quiet colloquence of two men, placed by adventitious circumstances in power. The hero of Strasbourg and Boulogne met, much to his astonishment as we should think, the descendant of an Imperial race. And after consuming the supper prepared for his " confrere •"■ on the night previous, they with, as it is stated, a "brilliant staff" waiting outside, portioned out the plains of Italy. It is almost impossible for us at a distance < from actual events, to judge of their relative value as far as it- concerns ourselvfs. We may assume that an eruption of National Power in Europe will affect us, and we are left in fear and trembling as to the result. We might find an hostile armament threatening our own L shores ; and although-we have the- Dun Mountain to reward them for their enterprise, there are still some more valuable portions which we .would readily preserve. So far as we ourselves are concerned, we may possibly be treated as a " waif upon the ocean " of not sufficient importance to be noted in a great European

struggle; and, on the contrary, our potijß^ lying as it does between the Isthmus of \ Panama and the auriferous land of Australia, may cause some apprehensions. Toreview the position in which we, stand, we Bhould take notice of the expressions used by the different European powers; and to do so carefully,. we will rgather from the Home News of. August 18th, that the Emperor of the French has left 50,00,0 soldiers in Italy, and "great.discontent at the terms . of the Peace continues to'be manifested.in * most parts there." We ..will first give the- •<-. expression of opinion which our. own representatives have recorded. On the 18th of July a conversation took place, in which Lord Malmesbury accused Lord John Russell of not having followed the pacific course which had been taken by the late Ministry; and on the 20th July Mr.- Horsman, in a powerful speech, advocated the sustaining of the naval supremacy of England. Mr. Oobden, with a prudence which does honor to his mercantile education, looks at firstrate ships of war as but huge slaughterhouses. He asks if diplomacy is utterly vain, and if the intercourse between two powerful nations is "simply ridiculous?" ■To the honor of the Free-trader, be it said, that he has during his parliamentary career assisted in one great movement, which, will send his name down to posterity as not simply ridiculous. In spite of the opinions 'expressediby Lord Elcho, we hold that Italy, a country from which has sprung the germs i of art and the 'developmenfe of science, has a right to be reckoned amongst the free nations of the earth. Not from the mouthings of Kossuth, but from the sterling' worth of. a Garibaldi can she be assisted. A neighboring Emperor may please to make the fertile fields of Lombardy a battle place on which to erect a new respect, for a second Napoleonic regime. The first Napoleon, after battles which made him master ,'of Vienna, brought an Austrian princess to share his bed and throne. Her dissolute life, after her husband's capture, can speak to the respect she showed to the first .Imperial dynasty. Is the second Napoleon so anxious to ally himself in amity with the, house of Hapsburg, that granted his uncle a wife, and only under compulsion recognised him as a Sovereign of Europe ? From all parts of Italy pour in letters of . ■ discontent: it required even the autho-'. rity of the Governor of Lombardy to suppress "the cry of horror" which burst from.' the universal press of Italy. Born in a land ' where freedom was.a tradition, and liberty had been their boast in olden .days, the ■ descendants of a race who knew but to at- . tack to conquer, they have been made by . that very civilisation which they themselves diffused through neighboring countries the slaves of those their arts advanced and their literature enlightened. Recognising Italy by her geographical position and historical recollection, we have to-deplore that the treaty pi Vienna should have left her in the .. position of servant to an- untutored race, to which she once gave laws. Sardinia, governed by a king, the first to break ' through the bonds of Papal supremacy, and who has given to his people a constitution which even a Briton might regard with respect, has by the late war gained an addition to his territory and-r-a display of fireworks.- We have-no^ doubt that when • Napoleon the Little, as Victor Hugo calls him, appeared before the Paris .public, he was sufficiently self-wise- to have the initials V.E. combined with his owirin the illumi-' nations o£ the Champs Ijlysees. The power of Germany depends upon an ignorant adherance to institutions which more enlightened countries have abandoned as worthless or effete. On their face they I carry with o them the marks of a system of feudalism fong since expunged by those to whom nature has granted a sea coast, and as its natural consequence, a more extended . intelligence. Bounded by hills or rivers, guarded by a cordon, whose greatest pride' was to restrict inFormation, we could hardly expect the serfs of a Prince Metternich, or his co-peers, to have enlarged views as to the value self-government or the franchise. • Born on the soil, they regarded their hereditary lords as the centre of power ; and ignorant of the institutions of other countries, they submittedj if hot willingly, yet without complaint to those whom the accident of birth had made their masters. - ■- • The position which Russia has taken in this great continental struggle seems to be one of most unqualified neutrality. Whe- . tber the present Emperor has studied the clauses of the will of Peter the Great, we cannot say; but reviewing the attempt which his father and himself made not long . ! ago upon that choice position, the Bos- • phorus, we cannot suspect him of viewing so extensive an effort on the part of three : powers without having some deep and ' Russian, i. c. synonimously, secret interest, in it. "When the Times newspaper told the j world that a secret convention hadbeen established between France and Russia, the • ! politicians of the world were amazed, and. . | the surest test of an important event was / ; i shewn by the depreciation of the value of the English funds. . What position Russia may take in any future struggle time alone can show. She has a large sea board to defend, and unbacked by another maritime - power, she would be unable to support the honor of her flag in any sea not immediately adjacent to her. Her fortifications 'may > guard her from a direct invasion of her r shore; she therefore is in great hazard., j Should she make a combination with Aus- j tria, which the advance of her army plainly shewed that she was.willing to do, she, would, make to herself enemies of,.most other European powers. A display of force too premature'on the part of Austria f to crush the rising independence of Hungary, could receive no aid from even those ; vessels which were risen from the bay of ~ Sebastopol. And we • have reason to think. - ; that from placards which have been posted even upon the walls of Vienna, that t^

spirit of lijjtty is not yet quelled in the heart of HBgary. Whilst watching the proceedings of great European powers, we must not be blind to our own interests. .England has in her hands the commerce of the world* She has buttme antagonist; arid the statistics of the Cunard line of steamers shew that America does not equaV her in maritime influence. That antagonist; is not only friendly, but speaking the same language and inheriting from us the foundations upon which they have erected their own system of Government; they are those on whom we may claim in the hour of need, should such ever arrive, that brotherhood which the Atlantic, wide as it is, cannot form a path of separation. We may from them gather some hints as to how a land is to be preserved from an invasion. Like us rough cultivators they sought a home in a far distant land. They had, like us, to contend against the aborigines of the soil, and carrying with them hot only the weapon of war, but the mission of mercy, they have made themselves respected and feared. We exist to a certain extent in an oasis in the Southern Seas. It is left for us to prove whether we shall not only be able to make that oasis a paradise, developing that mission of mercy, and also show that we have not forgotten the means of repelling the rough and of an invader. And we may yet attempt herd to reproduce those' customs which time has endeared us to, and recollection makes us reverence. WAIRAU MEMORIAL FOR SEPARATION. To his Excellency Colonel Thomas Gore Brown, Companion of the most honorable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief, in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c.,&c. ...*., The humble petition of the undersigned electors . of the Wairau District* in the Province of Nelson, respectfully sheweth, — That, with the view of making better provision for Local Self-Government, and for that purpose to provide for the establishment of New Provinces, an act was passed during the late session of the General Assembly, entitled the "New Provinces Act, 1858." That, under such act, it is provided that, whenever not less than, three-fifths of the registered electors entitled to' vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives, resident within any district whereof the area shall not be less than 500,000 acres, shall petition the Governor in Council, to establish a new province, comprising such district, the Governor in Council, by order published in the JNew Zealand Government Gazette, shall with all convenient speed establish such province accordingly subject nevertheless to. the fulfilment of certain therein enumerated conditions. That your petitioners are desirous of securing the privileges of local self-government, as provided for under the above mentioned act. That your petitioners are 209, of which 160 are registered electors, resident within the boundary of the proposed new province, that number being1, as will be seen from the certified copy of the electoral roll appended hereto, not less than three-fifths of the registered electors, entitled to vote in the election of members of the House of Representatives, resident within the district. That, as your Excellency will perceive from the plan hereunto annexed of the Wairau district, it contains an area not exceeding three millions of acres, and not less than five hundred thousand acres. That, in January last,, a census of the population of the district'was taken by the order of the General Government .of New Zealand, and that the number of souls, exclusive of aboriginal natives, officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates of Her Majesy's troops, serving in the colony, bona fide residents within an area of one million acres, was eleven hundred and fifty one. That, in the Wairau district, there is a town, denominated the " town of Beaver," which can suitably be constituted the capital of the proposed new province." It is the port from which the greater part in value of the exported produce.of the district is shipped, coastwise or for exportation beyond seas, and into which the greater part of theimported commodities, consumed wifchnrsuch district, arc brought coastwise or imported from beyond seas. That the Wairau district comes under the Proviso in condition number 4 of the New Provinces Act, videlicet, " provided always, that this condition shall not apply to any boundary line, dividing territory drained by rivers falling into Blind Bay, from adjacent territory to the eastward thereof.'' That the district so proposed to be constituted a separate province comprises part of no other province than the Province of Nelson. That, therefore, your petitioners respectfully, pray that your Excellency will take the premises into your favorable consideration; and that, in the manner prescribed by .the aforesaid Act, your Excellency will be pleased to establish as a new province all that tract of land or territory, now portion of the Province of Nelson, and commonly known as the Wairau District f bounded as follows, videlicet :—On the north, by the Pelorus. river, from its mouth to its source, thence by the dividing range between the watersheds to Blind Bay and the West Coast, and that falling into the river Wairau to the source of the river Clarence; on the west and south by the river Clarence, to its southernmost bend, and by a straight line from the latter point to the Amuri bluff; arid on the east, by the sea. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c, &c. (Here follow 213 signatures.) MEMORIAL FOR MAKING WAITOHI A PORT OF ENTRY. To his Excellency Thomas Gore Browne, Companion of the most honorable Order of the Bath, Commander-in-Chief in and over her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c., &c. The humble petition of the Inhabitants of the Wairau District. Whereas a Petition is about being presented to your Excellency, praying that this District may be made into a separate province ; And whereas, there is an excerent .harbor at the Waitohi, capable of holding vessels of any size; and the country contiguous thereto being full of fine timber and in other respects having great commercial capabilities ; And whereas, there is a road now in formation which will make the Waitohi available for all the exports and imports to and from this district; and the levels of the country are favorable for the construction of a tramway if it should be considered desirable; And whereas, the only port of entry in this district is at the Beaver, which is not capable of affording any advantages, excepting for small vessels, and can never be available for the entry or export of any foreign trade; Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Excellency will direct the Waitohi to be mada a port of entry. . (Here fol'ow 42 signatures.)