MR. FOX'S RECEPTION AT RANGITIKEI.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2631, 4 February 1868, Page 4

MR. FOX'S RECEPTION AT RANGITIKEI.

(to the editor of the independent.) r Sib,— TheentbusiastiereceptionofMrFoxbythe .Eangitikei eetilers must have been exceedingly gratifying to our old friend and his amiable ludy, and was cordially acknowledged by Mr Fox. His address is brimful of genuine heartfelt gratitude and affectionate fervor for his old friends, and renders the occasion not only refreshing but instructive to all who value talent and honor those who can appreciate it. One cannot help admir-. ing the sincerity, ability, and manly simplicity of the address, while its homeliness reminds one of those bygone home scenes so vividly sketched by Addison in the Spectator on the return of good old Sir Rodger from a tour to London, which in those dnyß was almost as serious an undertaking as the visit of Mr Fox to England. ' The rapid but graphic sketch of his travels is singularly interesting, and described in a rnapner worthy of his reputation as an eloquent and accomplished speaker, but what pleases me most is his fondly expressed preference for his NewZealand home and fellow-settlers over all the allurements of English wealth, Europe's olassio treasures, glorious associations, and sublime scenery. To live and die at Eangitikei, not as n. territorial lord of the old regime, but as a fellow worker anxious to foster and help onward all around him, has, apparently, far more charms for him than all he has seen or gleaned throughout his varied sojourn in other lands — thisiß the right spirit of an intelligent colonist and the true type of a sturdy useful colonial patriot — too rarely met with as yet ia New Zealand, where the* feverish desire of " hastening to be rich" and leave it, but too frequently characterise the wealthy settlers of the colony. A visit to the old country and the contrast it affords between home and colonial life has a wonderful effect in curing that home sickness which often torments its votary, when gratified, and ends; if not in disappointment, at least in restless anxiety to return from what was once his cherished home, but where ho now feels like a stranger in a strange land, and sends the wanderer back content to I resume the battle o( life with redoubled energy / in his adopted country. This is one of the useful / lessons of Mr Fox's tour, and we rejoice to find jso distinguished a man inculcating it. The wonderful change which Mr Fox assured us has passed over both English and Continental life — especiully in Italy — confirms the opinion of all intelligent travellers, that the revolution of 1867 in England is but the beginning of still more sweeping changes, that will ultimately, let' us . hope, improve without obliterating those distinctive phases of society which have so long existed in the country. The old .aristocracy are being fast distanced in many things by the merchant princes of commerce, manufacturers, and colossal contractors, who will soon constitute an overwhelming majority that may not only equal bufc overshadow the " upper ten," whose undisputed pre-eminence has been. maintained for centuries. Blood, however, struggles hard, and struggles well. Happily no class of men understand this better than a large section of our old English, nobility, who march with the times and keep abreast of all changes. What a contrast tin's "venerable confederation" furnishes to the old infatuated noblesse of France, whose fatal blindness to the signs of the times evoked the horrors of that " red revolution" which swept the whole race into oblivion. The English nobility, to retain their influence in the state, must henceforth win their spurs like other men, to keep their ground alongside of that gifted guild of intellectual giants who have sprung from the people and have forced their way into the front rank of their country's senate ; hence the " fraternity of Derby and Disraeli, Stanley and Gladstone, Russell and Bright," and a host of rising luminaries. Th« influence of the great Whig or Tory families with G-atton, Old Sarum, or Calne, as nurseries for the " gifted unknowns" are no longer a necessity for their existence. The Burkes and Macauleys of the present era roust find their way into the halls of legislation through the ordinary constituencies. The three-cornered boroughs are a vast improvement on the old rotten ones ; and what will be. still better, and which must come ere long—the completed scheme of representation by minorities — will open a legitimate way for men of intellectual eminence and moral worth, to balance the evils of local bigotry, popular clamor, or class exclusiveness. Mr Fox glances at a subject of vast importance to New Zealand as well as to England — national education. This is the talisman — the safeguard — "the efficient brake" — to which all thinking men turn for safety against the advancing tide of what Disraeli terms Conservative Democracy — the small but influential cluster of what is known as the philosophical school of politicians, with John Stuart Mill at their head, contend earnestly for this vital principle, which the Reform Bill of 1867 has forced prominently forward, and all at onca Btaggered its opponents. Hence Earl Russell's resolutions in the House of Lords, which have been shelved only to clear the way for the measure which it is well known thepr&pntministry intend to introduce when Parliament meets j and if their conduct with the Reform Bill is to be taken as any criterion of what may be expected from them on this question, it will be a sweeping one. Half measures and Disraeli have parted company, while the antecedents of his chicf — Earl Derby — as the author of the Irish system of national education, may be safely calculated on to second the new born zeal of his great unscrupulous lieutenant, in preparing a measure that; will astonish the bench of Bishops, the Pope, and the Roman Catholio hierarchy — who will, of

course, denounce the " Godless measure" as certain to overturn the altar and the throne*, and once more annihilate the British Constitution. The Peers may tremble for their order; the Church mourn over the infidelity of the age ; but Earl Derby has their proxies in his pocket, and down goes the old flag of political bigotry and usurped spiritual supremaoy~whieh, however, will neither injure the one nor the other, but confine both within their proper sphere. England is ripe for, and cannot safely postpone, a national system of education on the largest and most liberal basis. The safety of the country demands it, and her wisest statesmen of all parties are apparently convinced that the time has come to grant to necessity what has long been withheld from groundless fear. The Nonconformist body, who, in a great measure, represent the middle class of the country have formally avowed their adhesion to the expediency of separating secular from religious education in national schools and the mixed commission for Scotland on the same subject is understood to have recommended a similar concession; with such influences at work, gradually permeating t-n9 three kingdoms it is not difficult to forecast the result of this all important question in the reformed Parliament of 1869, while its reflux influence will soon spread to every colony of the empire, and the sooner it reaches New Zealand the better. Mr Fox also touches slightly on another subject, too frequently pooh-poohed by narrow minded colonial politicians — the great advantage to be derived from a careful discriminating study, of the social and political institutions of England;and the countries through which Mr Fox has travelled ; in framing and working out what mpy be suitable for a new country like New Zealand. It is this that will prevent us from wasting titfie and energy; in test ing exploded fallaciesandspeejilative theories which practical reference has demonstrated. as only a " delusion and a snare )" thil is the great; benefit to which we look'. forward;. With much interest from the promised lecture of, Mr Fox. His matured experience, extensile attainments, , great ability, persuasive eloqueficej and earnest desire to be useful to his adopted .country, will render these lectures invaluable, whj^i I trust be • . will soon undertake, and before;aUed upon, ash© is sure to be, to mix in poiiicil '.warfare that unavoidably tramraejls the u.^'etteped, repression of thoughts Whioh;a"publiq^ compelled to suppress, or ai iWt fo modify to* the oiroumstaucea in which he ußnced. T.