CONTEMPORARY OPINIONS

Colonist, Volume VIII, Issue 801, 30 June 1865, Page 3

CONTEMPORARY OPINIONS

MR. FOX'S RESIGNATION.

(From the Wellington Advertise?, June 20.) When one of the foremost of the statesmen of New Zealand retires from the Legislative Council at a most trying crisis in the history of the colony,; when, at the very moment that the coming strife is distinctly heard, and the Houses of Parliament are about to be convened for the consideration of questions of such magnitude as to dwarf all comparison with those that are past —when such is the time chosen for retreat by a statesman of no mean calibre, we may be sure that the reasons which are adduced will be subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. The retirement of Mr. Fox is, without doubt^ a public calamity; whether as the leader of the House of Eepresentatives, or as occupying the chief seat on the Opposition benches, he was ever recognised as a tower of strength. /We shall miss the biting gibe—the withering sarcasm—the deliberate scarifying—and the good-humored joke, which characterised his varying moods; and, what those who knew

him beßt, and he was familiar with all, will miss the most, was that frank and loyal bearing which so well became him when he had turned his back on the dull routine of office. But as one of the earliest of our constitutional statesmen, as one intimately acquainted with all the varying phases of New Zealand political history, as the close and practical reasoner, and the skilful debater, we shall in vain seek to find his equal. He has thought fit to retire, and in his address to his constituency of Rangitiki he has given the reasons which have induced him to act as he has done.' While we give Mr. Fox erery credit for earnestness and sincerity, we regret to find ourselves at variance with him as to the sufficiency of the arguments he has submitted. He has been for some time absent, and was remote from the scene of political strife when he penned his farewell address to his constituents; had he been present we believe he would have acted differently. Are there no disturbing elements to be seen in the undivided and unmitigated hostility of the seventeen Auckland members of the House of Representatives ? Is there nothing to guard against in the probable resuscitation of the Separation movement in the South ? Is the stigma publicly attached to the influencing motives of colonial legislators and administrators a thing of nought ? Is the apportionment of past burthens between Province and Province, and the arrangement of future burthens, matters of indifference? Is the adjustment of the representation—on the eve of the dissolution of the House of Representatives, owing to the effluxion of time —a consideration of little moment ? Is the introduction of the new system of selfdefence an object to be classed with those which are indifferent ? And is the propagandism of a fanatical creed infesting loyal and disloyal alike, a question that may be passed by as the idle wind which we regard not ? If these are trifles light as air, then we are at a loss to conceive the nature of those considerations which should fix a man at the post of duty.

Mr. Fox expresses his conviction that so long as Sir George Grey remains in the Colo iy there is " not the remotest prospect of the satisfactory solution of the native difficulty," and that "the Assembly cannot exercise any appreciable influence upon this question; " and, yet, still further, " that the possibility of such an exercise is greatly lessened by the terms of Mr. "Weld's resolutions." But if Mr. Fox's convictions are so strong on these points, why did he at the last session allow these resolutions so to become embodied in the expression of the will of the Legislative Assembly as to make any alteration impossible, should they meet with the approval of the Imperial authorities? Then was the time for decided action, now it is likely to be too late; then was the hour for retirement, now there should be no shrinking. Suppose the Government should resolve that the time had arrived when, at least seven or eight regiments might leave the Colony, and the Governor, whom Mr. Fox so mistrusts, should decline to accede, and energetic action should be determined on by both Ministers and the Houses of Assembly, will not Mr. Fox regret that he has put it out of his power to stand up in defence of constitutional rights ? * Suppose it should be thought by the Houses of the Legislature that Mr. Fox was right in his view of the impossibility of a satisfactory solution of the native difficulty while Sir George Grey was Governor, and were disposed to ask for his recall, would not Mr. Fox feel humiliated in the thought that he could give no aid in the assertion of so vital a principle ? Is he willing that he, who had hitherto stood in the front of the battle, should sit listlessly at home while the scene he depicted was being enacted in New Zealand, " and the Colony and all its interests were plunged deeper and deeper into financial and other difficulties, from which it will take years to recover." If, under such circumstances, we could fancy that he was willing to say good-bye to his constituency of Eangitiki "in the hope thai they might meet again at some future time under happier auspices," we have certainly mistaken our man, and the past political existence of Mr. Fox is a mere delusion.

Doubtless lie has been greatly disheartened by the secession from Parliament of the men with whom, in an evil hour, actuated by the purest and most self-denying motives, he became associated, and by whom was carried out that scheme of colonization of which Auckland is the focus. His leader, Mr. Whitaker, forsook the helm, and retired from the Legislative Council; the Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Eeader "Wood, and the Postmaster General, Mr. Gillies, vacated their seats in the House of Assembly ; and now, at the eleventh hour, Mr. Fox secedes, leaving the late Minister of Defence, Mr. Eussell, to bear the brunt of whatever political animadversion may be hurled at him. The House of Eepresentatives, ever generous in its intuitions, will not fail to recognise the unflinching resolution which induced one at least of the late Ministerial band to stand his ground.

In 1862, when the question of selfgovernment first advanced towards the mag. nitude it has now assumed, Mr. Fox's Government, strong in the confidence of the House, would have been retained in office had he not, in a matter of mere punctilio, presumed to deny his followers the independence they rightly asserted. When the Domett Ministry exploded from internal combustion, he would doubtless have been again called to the helm, had he not consented to serve where he could have commanded, and had he not placed himself almost a willing captive in the hands of a Ministerial compact, comprising three Auckland men and one Southerner of Auckland sympathies. We know that he acted from the best of all intentions, but it was a false move to place himself, bound hand and foot, at the mercy of a Northern clique. Once enlisted, he felt a natural repugnance to shrink from responsibility, and, doubtless, some of his finer susceptibilities were dulled when he found himself once more in direct controversy with the Governor. The dormant fires were resuscitated, and he threw aimself headlong into the conflict. While we thus write we feel we should be doing Mr. Fox an injustice, were we not to say that, in withholding from opposition during the last session, we believe that he was influenced by a desire not to throw any obstacles in the way of the only Ministry who could be found to work with Sir G. Grey; and that even now he may be

acting under a mistaken sense of honor, in absenting himself from the coming session from a desire not to thwart the Government in a confessedly difficult duty. Still we think he should be at his post, ready to take the helm if called thereto, or to assist in the formation of a Government which might possibly command the confidence of the House. We know not what may be before us. There are indications of a coming strife already visible to the casual observer, and there are other points of vast importance on which the Government have not as yet given clear indications of their intentions. We await the future with anxiety, we wish we could say with confidence. But, when men like Fox and Whitaker retire from the field, we confess that the elements necessary for Constitutional Government are not so visible as we could desire; better that such men were arrayed in the firm front of a strong opposition than that they should allow their cause to go by default. There has been lately too much obliteration of the land-marks of party to please us; there have been political patrons and political proteges more than enough; much better that the sides should be defined and the colors displayed.