The Wellington Independent " Nothing extenuate ; Nor set down aught in malice." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1862.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1802, 9 December 1862, Page 3

The Wellington Independent " Nothing extenuate ; Nor set down aught in malice." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1862.

OUR CLAIM ON GREAT BRITAIN. , What Mr Gladstone once called the'Mghoranl impatience of taxation," is once more finding vent in the mother coußtry, and a professor oi j history, in an Oxford Univeisity, has adopted the cry, and selected the colony of New Zealand as the victim, that is to appease the wrath of the British taxpayer. On the 26th of May, 1862, his Grace the Duke of Newcastle serenely sitting in his office in Downing-street, calmly composed that celebrated despatch which informed the colonists of New Zealand that they were most extravagant children who had cost their parent a great deal of money, that, they did not evince a proper sense of the heavy debt which they could at any time be called upon to pay, and that like other young hopefuls in a similar position, they were to have the supplies very materially dimi&bed and perchance altogether cut off at some future day. If they would go to war, they must pay for the soldiers of the Impeiial Government to fight their battles, if they could not protect their own out settlements, they might abandon them, in short Mama for the time, was in a serious mood, she was determined to retrench the rery lavish expenditure of that extravagant family of hers, and as a preliminary measure, gave them a terrible scolding. In political as in social life, it Lowever, often happens, that after all this -Ire and fury a compromise is at length effected, and so the Colonial Minister kindly assured us fa the latter portion of his despatch that we would not for the present be altogether abandoned and that on condition of a considerable sum being raised by ourselves, the aid of Great Britain would be extended for a further period of three years, by which time it was pretty strongly hinted the colonists would require to be prepared to fight their own battles, and find the " sinews of war" too. The publication of this despatch and other correspondence betweeu the Colonial Minister and Sir George Grey has given rise to a certain amount of discussion and comment. Mr Gold win Smith has addressed a letter to the Daily News, in which, while entering fully into the nature of the views expressed in the despatch itself, he takes a step far in advance of its framer in proposing a remedy, and boldly enunciates the principle " that as we have leceived political institutions, and the privilege of self-. | government, the whole colonial system should now be changed, and that one of two plans I should be adopted ; that is to say, either the simple and obvious plan of political separation, or a federal union, the working plan of which has not yet been put forth, between ourselves, and the borne country 17,000 miles away. After fully alluding to the aspects of the case, Professor Goldwin expresses the following sentiments ,— The case of New Zealand, be it observed is a crucial instance, an instance by which the Bystem must stand oi fall. The New Zealanders are the i very flower o€ our colonists, tainted by no conviot ancestry, but sent out under the highest auspices and with the highest aims. If we have reason to expect just and liberal treatment from any colonists it is from them. With them, if with any colonists, we might hope to remain united by an unfailing tie of sympathy and affection. Yet we are receiving at their hands not justice and liberality, but the reverse, and a dispute is open by which, if it proceeds, the tie of sympathy and affection may be strained to breaking. This i 3 the fault of neither party. It Is the fault of the utterly irrational and untenable system by which nations with parliaments of their own are treated as provinces to be governed and defended by another country. To give a nation a parliament of its own is to give it independence. Two parliaments under the same Crown nsver have produced, and never can produce anything but clashing of interests, contradictions of policy, discord and contusion ; and, at last, angry separation, the grave of that glory which belongs to England, the mother of" nations. When we have given people free institutions we have decided that they are fit to govern themselves. Let us, then, accept the cousequence of our own decision, liet us accept it quickly, or we shall imperil the highest prize ever placed within the reach of any nation. However true this may be in an abstract and philosophical point of view ; yet, when tested by the actualities of our present position, and the experience of the past, it is a premature, coldblooded, and unfeeling proposition. For a period of twenty two years, England has had nearly the exclusive direction of the Colony, and the difficulties and dangers of our present position, are the fruits of the past course pursued by the Imperial Goverßmjeut, Our whole colonial system has doubtless been a history of bungling and mismanagement from the beginning, but the colonists cannot fairly be held responsible for a policy, in the direction of which, up to the year 1852, when the Constitution Act was passed, they had virtually no control. The last war and its predecessors, were fought for Imperial supremacy, and surely now io the hour of need, with portentious omens of another struggle looming in the future, it is not the time to tell us that single-hauded we must undergo the ordeal. Apart from dry des« patches, and our political relations with Downing Street, the great warm heart of the people of England beats responsive to our oißn, and in the hour of danger hearty sympathy and ready assistance will not be wanting. It will be a sad day for Great Britain, i f by a premature withdrawal of support she leaves her colonies to struggle unaided, and ultimately stands alone, but the cold-blooded philosophy, which would suggest such a course now, will scarcely be put in practice, so long as that sympathy exists between the parent and the offspring, of which past and present occurrences have afforded so many instances.