NOTES BY A DESULTORY MAN.

West Coast Times, Issue 635, 7 October 1867, Page 4

NOTES BY A DESULTORY MAN.

(fEOJI THE HOKITIKA DESPATCH, OCT. 5.) So it has come to this! William Sefton Moorhouse, the self-announced and universally-believed-in-Saviour of Westland, has been hung and burnt in effigy ! Not in a moment of hasty populai*passion; not by a thoughtless inconsiderate mob ; but of deliberation, with set purpose and leisurely preparation. The effigy of Canterbury's Superintendent and Westland' s representative, was prepared artistically. A skilled craftsman was employed to attire the victim for his doom : to set up the gallows ; and to compose the combustibles for the grand Auto-da-fe. Duly legended was the effigy of our illustrious representative. That there might be no mistake as to whom the compliment was intended for, the name of "MOOKHOUSE"—henceforth and for ever to be distinguished in our annals, was posted " all round his hat." The hat was of the billicock style, and the "set of the article, and the inevitable short pipe gave a very correct idea of the propria persona. But oh, to what depths of indignity does grandeur sink ! Upon that manly breast there was fixed the damning legend of " The Archtraitor," and as he was turned about, on his back were seen inserted the words " The Traitor's Doom" — an inscription which derived notable significance from the overhanging gallows. When I add to this note of what I saw and heard, the fact that a band paraded the street, playing the Eogue's March, I think I shall have put on record a pretty little practical homily on the greatness of kings, and the fleeting fortunes of popular men. Alas, I remember me well of the visit of this great man, when a Reception Committee sat night after night and met day after day, to devise means of accumulating honors upon him; when he was met at the Wnkrf side by a marshalled procession; c"irrried in triumph like a big lion, as -', he was then, through the streets of the town, listened to in wrapt attention, broken only by vociferous plaudits, as he made his immortal Speech of Promises from the window of the Commercial ; and entertained with such magnificence as it was within the compass of our appliances to provide. Facilis descensus averni, as Martin Tapper observes in his proverbial philosophy* — and which may be freely translated " Slippery was Moorehoiise's ground." There are several unsafe positions a man can hold. But I think a public man who stands on the apex of a pyramid of promises, is in danger of reaching the depths of Avernus much more speedily than Blondin would be to try conclusions with the sawdust if he trulled his wheelbarrow along a greased rope. What, I wonder, could have been Mr Moorehouse's motive in being such a spendthrift in promises. I can understand his being somewhat prodigal in his undergraduate news when he was merely a candidate for honors. When he first came amongst us, promises were the best cards in his hand. They were his trumps, by which he won every trick. And a fine hand he had of them, and a dashing game he played with them ! What I find a difficulty in understanding, is his trying to play the same game after his election both to the Superintendency and the Assembly had been carried. He had no electioneering object to gain then. Still a thought suggests itself to me. It became him to be a great man in the Assembly. It became him to be a great man with his own Provincial Council. The confidence of forty or fifty thousand people could give him a prestige over most of his compeers, and for an open demonstration of that confidence it was perhaps worth Ids while to bid high. But is a man honest who bids beyond his means of paying the purchase money ? Did Mr Moorhouse act worthily in making the elaborate promises ho did, very well assured — as he must, or ought to have been — of his absolute want of power to fulfil them ! To what extent are we to allow a sanguine temperament — a blind faith in possibilities, without reasonable regard to probabilities — to cover the sin of deluding people for tho purpose of obtaining popularity P Well, it is a question of political morality we do not care about prosecuting too closely. If Mr Moorhouse has sinned, ho is likely to receive his punishment. Perhaps, no man in New Zealand will ever again play the game of false pretences with equal temporary success, or equal after discomfiture ; and, perhaps, no people will ever be found equally ready to be imposed upon by promises, and equally careless to test the foundation on which they rest. _______