THE "Wellington Independent." Wednesday, November 21, 1849.

Wellington Independent, Volume V, Issue 429, 21 November 1849, Page 2

THE "Wellington Independent." Wednesday, November 21, 1849.

We omit our own leader on tbe Govarament expenditure, in order to give insertion to the following article on Sir Georgo Grey, extracted'from the yifney Morning Herald, oi the 23rd of October. When we first undertook to prove the utter untrustworthiness of his Excellency's -Despatches—to dissect and lay bare the miserable artifices, the petty tricks and raanootivre by which he succeeded in filching from the Cook's Straits Settlers those Free Institutions which had been conferred on them by the Imperial Parliament.—when we first determined to expose his reckless and profligate expenditure of the public resources, aud the financial embarrassments he was creating for his successor in the Government, we fully calculated upon meeting with a cordial support and co-operation in r the neighbouring but we scarcely anticipated ih&i our efforts would so sooii be crowned with such complete success* as has already attended them. In South Australia, in New South Wales, and in Van Diemen's Land, the press without one single exception, has declarded itsel? in pur favour—admitted the justice of our complaints—and pronounced a strong condemnation of Sir George's conduct and career as Governor of this colony. Nor could it well be otherwise; for when we consider how easy it is for the Governor of any colony, separated from the parent country by a distance of 16,000 miles, to act the unworthy part Sir George has acted—to misrepresent the feelings, wishes, and opinions of the colonists—to traduce their characters—to deceive her Majesty's Ministers, and by means of such misrepresentations and deceptions to obtain the sauction of the Home Government to the carrying out of his own selfish views, no matter how opposed they may be to the present interests or future progress of the colony, it is evident that every colony in these seas is as deeply interest- j ed as New Zealand in exposing, counteracting, and defeating^the dishonest and unprincipled game which Sir George has attempted to play—a game which he once before played in South Australia with considerable success, owing to his having been removed before his misrepresentations to the Home Government returned back to the colony. But our triumph is not confined to tlie neighbouring colonies. In England already as we learn from. %. E. G. Wakefield, and other parties, file " Model Governor " is found out. His " adroitness "is denounced as "trickery"—his changes of mind as "timidity,"— and his "failures" as " blundering." The recent simultaneous bat unconcerted movements here and at Auckland —the resolutions of the Settlers Constitutional Association—and the Public Meeting at Aucklaud, will render the $xposure complete. And Sir George'e disgrace will be a salutary warning to all future Governors, not to follow out to the very letter, as he has done, the principles laid down by Macchiavelli for the rule and guidance of Princes.

The Sydney Herald says, " The Colojiists have done their duty," hut we would urge our fellow settlers not to relax in their efforts until Representative Institutions have been actually brought into operation—to remeraberthatasitis by the constant falling of drop after drop that an impression is made upon the pebble, so it is only by unceasing agitation—by petition after petition—memorial after memorial—remonstrance after remonstrance —that any effect is ever produced either upon petty Colonial Despots, or upon the Colonial Office. The game is in their own hands, if they will only play it out as they began.' The Sydney Herald is m error m one point. We have not petitioned for Sir George's recal — on the contrary, we are anxious that he should remain his five or six years—for the longer' he remains,'the,more certain is ; he to undergo the penalty ever, attaohed to such a systematic disregard of honour integrity,.and good faith, as he has'm'anifested ; in all his dealings both with the Colonists and, the Home Gevernment. Of course our contemporary, Monsieur Reac of the. Spectator, will discover in "its peculiarities of .style" above all in "its may dashes," sufficient evidence of the article in question having emanated from our pen. Knowing the incurable nature of the monomania under which! belabours, arid that-any- denial of the authorship would be useless, we are prepared to resign ourselves to the soft impeachment; but we frankly admit/that we were not prepared for the unkind tone assumed towards us in his last number. After having during a period of nearly twelve months given us the sole use and beneficial occupation of his columns — afterthe many flattering notices he has bestowed upon us and our writings,—after attributing to our paper an organization more complete than the Times, and acknowledging that we exercised an influence over public opinion in the neighbouring colonies greater tlian was ever 1 exorcised _by the press in any other part of the worl.l, - that we were m short here, there, and everywhere —

Figaro gui, Figaro lα, Figaro" say, after such manifold oompliments Ito our perseverance, talents, and influence, -we did not expect that he wcmld, all nt once turn round upon us, and- precluim to the whole settlement that "he cares not a — either, for us or our paper." "I cares for uobody, and cares for me," may be the desperate feeling at present uppermost in his mind, but we do not reciprocate it. For we cannot contemplate the recent enlargement of the Independent—the great addition to our list of subscribers, or the goodly array of advertisements in our columns, without feeling and acknowledging, that some portion of our success is< fairly at-1 tributable to the'eharacter of our opponent of " the little paper," and to the means to which he has resorted in his unscrupulous support of tlie most miserable despotism that ever cursed a colony, or blighted the prospects of an infant community. In common with all the present officials, we subscribe to the entire truth and justice of the observation made some time since by then' Crown Solicitor, tliat" such an advocate (as the present supposed proprietor of the Spectator),as quite sufficient to damn any cause." But although we feel acutely the unkindness of his remark, we do not despair of being able, by the timely application of stimulants—by an occasional touch of whip and spur, to induce him to continue his attentions to us, and to notice our paper and the views set forth in it, in the same friendly spirit he has hitherto displayed.