THE Wellington Independent Tuesday, September 16, 1862. THE CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1767, 16 September 1862, Page 2

THE Wellington Independent Tuesday, September 16, 1862. THE CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

Yesterday, the sitting of the Assembly came to aclose, his Excellency proroguingat 12 o'clock The speech will be fouud elsewhere.

The last two or three days ofthe session have been very exciting, owing to a serious disagreement in the ministry — a disagreement which, if it had taken place earlier.jmust have produced a break-up ; as it is, it has caused the withdrawal of Mr. Sewell from the office of Attorney General, and opened the way, we presume, for the appointment of Mr. Whittaker.

From the statements made in both Houses, the following appears to be the facts of the case. When Messrs. Ward and Wood joined (he cabinet, it was the general wish that Mr. Sewell should do so also. Mr, Domett urged it, and on Mr. Sewell 's pointing out that h e could not support the Native Lands Bill, it was arranged that the Attorney-Generalship should involve no pledge of present political support, and that at the end of the session only should Mr. Sewell be expected to become a cabinet minister. Mr. Sewell was unwilling to continue the one without the other after the session was over, because his duties in carrying out the Registration of Land Titles Act, (Torrens' scheme) required that he should be sure of the help of a friendly cabinet, which from the opinions of a portion of the present one, he could not otherwise feel satisfied about. All went merry as a marriage bell, until the end of the session drew near; when (on Thursday last) Mr. Sewell received information to the effect that there was some doubt as to whether the arrangement entered into, three weeks ago, would be carried out — that influences were at work which might lead Mr. Domett to withdraw from the engagement entered into. Last Friday Mr. Sewell therefore wrote to Mr. Domett on the subject to which IVI r. Domettat once briefly but pointedly replied in words to the following effect—" Dear Sewell. The best answer I can give you, is to say that I herewith offer you a seat in the cabinet." To this Mr Sewell replied somewhat as follows—" Dear Domett, I accept the offer contained in your note." When this completion of the long understood arrangement was communicated to the cabiaet, it appears that Mr. T. Russell was very angry, having it is thought specially in reserve for a seat in the cabinet, Mr. Whittaker of Auckland, the Attorney-General ofthe Stafford administration, relative t to whom and Mr. Sewell, the proverb aboutjtoo of a trade would probably turn out true. We give Mr. Russell's reasons as we hear them, of coursejwe do not know cabinet secrets and cannot vouch for their accuracy; but looking at the close professional relationship existing between Messrs. Russell and Whittaker, the statement above made is the one that has gained general belief. It is understood that Mr. Russell resigned, a circumstance corroborated by his not sitting on the Treasury benches on Saturday. Mr. Bell it is snid thereupon threatened to resign if Mr. Russell's resignation was accepted ; but the correctness of this threatened resignation was much questioned in the lob bies, and from what Mr. Bell has since written, the surpiise expressed by the lobbies was not unfounded — Mr. Bell having only intimated UiMr. Domett that " he (Mr. Bell) must be considered . free to leave the ministry," a nicely rounded phrase and exhibiting a very different "attituue Ito that of threatening to resign. The written offer, given by Mr. Domett and accepted by Mr. Sewell on Friday, was in consequence treated by the ministry as a nullity, and on Saturday, in reply to a question from Mr. Fox, Mr. Domett stated the admission of Mr. Sewell into the Cabinet was still under con-

siileratior, and that he could not state whether he would be admitted or not until Monday. Mr. Sewell was, of course, very much annoyed. -it such unusual conduct, and begged Mr. Fox tosay that he tenderpd his resignation as At-tornry-General, and thus end the difficulty so far as he was concerned. Mr-. 'Russell's lesignation was not accepted, and an early mail from Auckland will, of course, bring us word that Mr, Whittaker has accepted the AttorneyGeneralship, and, perhaps, a seat in the Cabi-

net also,

As it was very desirable that the country should know hc;w the Government intended to fill up the vacant office, Mr. Fox was to have brought on a motion yesterday, asking for information thereon ; but Mr. J. C. Richmond having the precedence of a motion, which under ordinary circumstances would only have t*ken a minute to dispose of, began to speak against time, and it was only after Mr. Fox had retired that be saw fit to conclude. Mr. Fitzherbert then moved the motion in MrJ Fox's name, but while Mr. Bell was beating the bush and staving off his reply, the clock struck twelve, a flourish of trumpets was heard outside, and Major Dwyer summoned the members to the Legislative Council forthwith, where the Governor was in waiting. And so ended the session — an ending which had established'one fact, if it established no other, viz.. that Mr. Thomas Russell h*s the whip hand of the ministry, and can do with them as he pleases — a fact scarcely to be considered possible when we remember that this is only his second'session, and that he is really a man of no political position whatever ; but still it is a fact nevertheless.

In the Legislative Council Mr.JSeweH yesterday read tbe followiug statement, which w<* gladly make public, as elucidating the subject above alluded to, and putting the facts of the case in what we may term au official light.

Sib, — I am desirous of adding a few words of explanation on a subject personal to myself, respecting what, 1 made a statement to the Council on Saturday last. I then stated that the particular ground on which 1 had resigned the office of Attorney-General, was that after the offer of a seat in the Ministry had been made to me by Mr. Domett, and accepted, the matter b»ing thus definitively settled, I heard Mr. Domett state in an >fcher place that new circumstances had arisen which had re-opened the question. I desire to say a few words in elucidation as T believe, of Mr Domett's statement. So far as I am concerned, Mr. Domett had no authority from me to re-open the question. On the contrary, I distinctly assmo 1 him that I would not consent to re-open it. But I believe the facts to be ; that after the arrangement being made for myj. i ling the Government, Mr. Russell resigned his seat as a member ofthe Executive Council, and Mr. Bell declared his intention of adopting the same course. Upon this being understood, a party in the House organised a hostile movement against the Government. Mr. Domett found himself in a great difficulty, being threatened practically by Mr. Bell's retirement, with a break up of the Govern, ment. I have no reason to suppose that Mr. T>omett had any view or desire not to fulfil his engagemei t with me. On the contrary, I believe that he was personally anxious to fulfill it But he felt himself unable to sustain the Government without Mr. Bell's assistance in Native affairs. As regards Mr. Bell, it is due to that gentlemen.Jto state, that he professes personally no objection to my joining the Ministry. On the contrary, he has paid me the compliment of stating, that he would be glad to receive my assistance. But on the other hand he states, that he feels himself obliged to leave the Government with Mr. Russell., Beyond what I have stated I know nothing of any circumstances which have led to thepresent position of affairs. In justice to Mr. Bell, I must add, his own statement of reasons for the course he has taken in his own words. It is &$, follows : —

" Mr. Se well's coming in to the Government was what I exactly wished and looked forward to as most specially satisfactory to myself, quite independently of the necessity of the Attorney-Gene ralship being filled up. When, however, it turned out that Mr. Russell intended to retire if Mr. Sewell did come in, I, notwithdrawing in the least from my personal desire that Mr. Sewell should join, told Mr. Domett that I must be considered, free to leave the Ministry, as I did not think the party with which we had acted, and which put us into power, would hang together without Mr. Russell, and I did not feel disposed to continue the labour of Native Affairs, with a weak support in the House, or perhaps the open opposition of our principal political friends. I desire to be distinctly understood that ifl had lefttheGovernment, it would on no account whatever have been because Mr. sewell joined it, but quite the contrary."

Such is Mr. Bell's explanation. For my own part, I confess myself unable clearly to understand Mr. Bell's motives or feelings, but the explanation such as it is will be before the world, which will judge for itself.