To the Electors

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 220, 31 January 1861, Page 2

To the Electors

OF THE-7JA.NGI T f/RAKINA, AND MANAWATU.

/I ENTLEMEN, .The former Electoral district of Wanganui, Rangitikei, and Turakina, having been divided, into two, / beg to offer you my services as Representative in the General Assembly for the new district, of which you are electors; and of which I am myself an inhabitant and an elector. My political opinions on general subjects are known to you ; but in, reference to present circumstances it may be well thatT shbuUksay a few words.

1. As regards the war. / still retain the opinion that there-ought to be au investigation by the General Assembly into its cause and origin. , .The fact that the Government was afraid to submit to an investigation before a committee ; house of Representatives, evsn at a. jorityriri that house, Jroves to my hiind that it knew its case to be a' bad one. Its refusal, also, to produce Mr. Farris, the negotiator of the purchase of the disputed land, to be examined before the house, is an equally con • vincing proof of the fact. If the war were really justifiable, would not investigation have proved it to the satisfaction of all men ? If the purchase effected by Mr. Parris were valid, would not Mr. Parris’s evidence have established its validity ? If the Government had believed that investigation would have, resulted in their triumphant justification, would they not have taken care that be an investigation ? If they had believecTtliat Mr. Parris’s evidence would have swept away all doubt as to the sufficiency of the purchase, would they not have had Mr. Parris at the table of the house before the end of the first week of the session? Only one inference can be drawn from the course pursued, and that is, that the Government knew that its case would searching investigation. It was,much safer to put off the house .and the electors witli its own one-sided account of the transaction. Whether it was wise or honest to do so is another thing. It has left on my mind, and on those of many others, the firm conviction, that the Government is in the wrong, and knows itself to be so. 2. As regards the conduct of the war. Once begun, there is no doubt,.that clemency to the natives, no less than self protection, demanded that it should be vigorously prosecuted to a speedy and complete termination. A dilatory war, carried on in a feeble manner, aggravates at the same time the evils of strife and the risk of defeat.- Has this war been vigorously prosecuted ? Never in British history has there been recorded so "melancholy an exhibition of incapacity as lias marked the conduct of all concerned in its prosecution. To see a large body -‘‘of regulai troops, supported by a strong militia and volunteer force, armed with all the appliances of modern warfare, cooped up for nearly a year, within narrow entrenchments, by a foe .vastly their inferior in numbers, in armament, and in discipline—or when brought into the field, to hear of repeated reverses and constant failure—may well create both shame and astonishment in the minds of those who have heard of the achievements of our brave troops when led by a Havelock, a Lawrence, an Outrarn, or a Clyde. Those who provoked this war had little idea of what they were undertaking; as is proved by the Governor’s despatches to the Home Government long after the date of the proclamation of martial law. The recklessness with which they plunged into it, at the imminent risk of sacrificing the unarmed and unwarned colonists of this island, has been fully!equalled by the feebleness with which they have conducted it. Yet we are told that the men who exhibited- no foresight at the commencement, and no skill in the conduct of the war, are the only men in New Zealand to “ prosecute it with vigour, and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.” 3. The war, however, may be left on outside. It is not our affair any longer, further than as it is likely we may have to pay for it. Down to the middle of July last, the Governor, his ministers, and Mr. McLean, were directly-interfering with its conduct. Since that date it is understood that the sole respon sibility rests with the military authorities. What we have to look to is, that no advantage bg taken of the existence of this miserable war to mutilate our-constitution, and rob us of our liberties. It is au old art of despotic governments, in oseasofls of public turmoil, to avail themselves of tfie fears J .6f the people for their immediate safety, as a means of blinding them to a permanent robbery of their rights. Then it is that “ they slip the slave’s collar on, and snap the lock.” Attempts of this sort were made by the Government during last session, when they sought to carry their Native Offenders bill, their Arms bill, and their Militia bill-—to the defeat of which I am happy to think that I contributed my humble laid. A bolder stroke still I see now suggested by the Government newspaper at Auckland, [where a hope is expressed that the new Governor who is expected very shortly to. supersede Governor Brown, will not allow himself to be swayed by the opinions of the Electors. This means that for Responsible Government -—Government by the Assembly—is to be substituted the absolute will of the Governor, and that he should be encouraged to keep in their places, as advisers, the men who have lost the confidence ofrthe constituencies. Doubtless these suggestions are prompted by the Government. Hut if the fall in to the trap with their eyes open the fault will be their own. This, above'all others, is the time jealously to watch over our liberties. Let us not be carried away by this senseless war cry, got up by those who live under the

protection of '.the garrisons, and i echoed by ignorant boys ami militia officers. Let us not, to please such would be leaders of public opinion, relax our political vigilance for an hour. I believe, the present ministry to. be’bent on the destruction of the most valuable part of our constitution; and if they can they will avail themselves of this crisis to do it. Their object is to cripple and destroy the Provincial Governments. They have endeavoured to achieve their aim, ,not openly, manfully, and honorably, but by underhand acts and attorney-like devices; under the pretence even of enlarging those very powers of local self-government, which they really sought to abridge. Such was the sole aim of the New Provinces Act; such the object they had in view in keeping back those large sums of money which by law ought to have been paid, from time to time, to the Provincial Governments. If I am returned •• to the Assembly by your suffrages, it will be with the- view of securing to the Provinces the full exercise of the privileges conferred on them by the Constitution Act, and of preventing the further dismemberment of the existing Provinces. 1 shall also endeavour to prevent any such wholesale misappropriation of the Provincial Revenues, as that wJnch was attempted by the Treasurer of the General Government last year; and which nearly reduced the provinces of this island to that state of bankruptcy in which lam confident.he would have rejoiced to see them involved.

4. The Land Purchase and Native Secretary’s Departments, require an entire reform, which would he best effected by their abolition. Of the former it is enough to say that, while land was being purchased, the cost of the department amounted in one province to 40 p.c. —in all to an average of about 30 per cent, on the purchase money. Now that no land is being purchased, the expence is much the same. We are inundated with imaginary Zand Commissioners, who are really political agents of the government aud-not land com missioners at all. This cannot, and if I can do anything to prevent it, shall not go on. Of the Native Secretary’s department I need onlv say that the unanimous verdict of. the •* ffaikato Committee,” (which wj.'S really a Committee of enquiry into the state .of this department,) was, its absolute and unreserved condemnation; and that it must, in another session, he superseded by some machinery more likely to work in‘harmony with our institutions, and to benefit the native race. 1 agree with that committee, of which / was a member, that the position of the native race, cannot remain as it is; that when this unhappy war is brought to a close, if not before, attempts must be made, and can be successfully made, to introduce among them institutions of self-government in some degree analogous to our own, and which may in a future generation perhaps lead to a full parti cipatiou by them in those which we possess. I am, Gentlemen, Tour obt. Servant, WILLIAM FOX. Rangitikei, 19th Jan. 1861.