The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

IT7II A
"T THEY ARE DOING IN AUSTRALIA

Itt TO JOHN BULL.
eil
Dear Old Friend,—Now that we have
,a regular steamsteam
ce restored to us once more, there is someencourage-
-04, vi
write to friends at home. The war, I do assure.
Ili I been a dispensation of bitterness to us, which it
I,;",,stq, a ranch more brilliant denouement than yonr folks
care
to secure for it to reconcile unto. We have had
„'tr,iliconvenienees and sadder trials than you, who have
en: been separated fourteen .or fifteen thousand , miles
cry laiweethearts and home, tan imagine, to-set - against a
eina:ren amount of national glory. What comfort can
e ire in writing a letter when he knows it will not
ttl, Its destination for Uhundred days, and may possibly
lett an answer for a twelvemonth ? The thought has
, ct;" Can
me so distressingly that I have felt myself as
eeta;e,, and as cast off from all your dear family as
t:t":ear Selkirk himself was when "he only was
,e. aeseair " and have suffered my bank post
a% r 4 ,mildewed, and my trusty steel p.un4 like the
rust tile good knight, whose soul war wail the saints,
s4* Talk of clipper ships! they do make splendid
pp;eka, grant you, when they are not wanted. Put a
a the side of a steamer, and the chances- are that
tl7erl't make de
pan: passu for Australia, and
.e td oar original and duplicate despatches, our first and
ke 'f etehata e with the'samepostioae's knock.. But
li Year g '
PPer steamer off the line, . and then see what
.your
infuse longer stirred up to a wholesome spirit of
;ik I°,ll-swill do. Well, we have had nothing but
htler-h`e trust to since the western powers set ,sail to do
11,aelf4a Sebastopol, until now, when Australia has
, iannex herself to independence if she is muc
Piet ",,Ilt3bed at home, with an earnestness that has
e'avite'' la moving the imperturbable Donning street.
"44 teNved however, tardily to do the thing, I
'4 4r.-fi(3:11 we are all mightily pleased at the way in which
eNtieee,aulg it. Our extreme satisfaction with present
}'iqi ..ents almost causes us to forget the bitterns with
`,t let we chafed under the past. You will have heard
e,tlaw that the Oneida, the pioneer or the new mail
NViLlade a splendid passage out of sixty four days, though
"4 an agreed to allo:v her a fortnight longer, as the
k kb41411 Were supposed to be new to the work; and that
t's improved upon this by accomplishing, the du+.
1,,141 't) Australia in fifty five days. The European, the
!i4ae- the line, has now done it in fifty eight days.
tie vessels are destined to ply between our port and
,tile
pray of of the overland Sues route. But they
at
',Pied what can still be done by the old ocean
r'il te:4,the Cape • and we have had the Istamboul
i.`'kii - -.Loyal Charter' to maintain the credit of the
ell, Auxiliary Screw system, the Comparative.
'/4rlveness of which will always recommend it
1111)6 ge class of persons both here and with • you
,aof
taks its speed bears something like a proportion to
'till "i'e overland scheme. So long as the screw ships
ae
itotil age to complete their passages under sixty days,
,i!)t,lePetition between the Cape and Sti.?e routes will be
leltti tijlng, I have no doubt, an ample profit to each.
1;ttfo,„18 fair prospect of regular mail communication,
ltiktv't I thinkl shall not be promising too much if I
i)lqt for the future you will find me a regular earres-
lll lici lam in receipt of whole budgets of news from
kolate, k Our old mutual friend in Printing 11ouve
lie kii.and Lloyd (whom you know), and the Dispatch
Orpojtrated News people, and our acquaintances in
pa 4, and in fact more than I sow care to name, send
DPeteare regularly, so that I am pretty well up in all that
i 44 trie„l,,tl 'Your circle, I am quite popular amongst my
00, 444 here, from being able to retail all the news to
t e,' I May tell you confidentially that I clean know
~
:ttei'ileihalf of tbe Melbourne world would. do--unless _it
eat cite of ennui—if anything were ta interfere with the
c,-„,, rulation of my note book amongst my acquain-
tealvitl alt. afraid John you are in a bad way at home,
I 'elutios4, garrotte robberies and frauds in the higher and
.:'kt tuql circles, and ticket of leaves, &c., &c. However
ki°Yoel) tell You about, ourselves, and so will Only just
4'4eihefili.reera
il:::It1 T:nb.cieeh you would be wise to act upon.
you may suffer from your danger.
etchtte se' der, t entertain any idea of shipping any of them
kith tei,e't• is quite probable if you did that, in the ship
elyltli •,, 4 them back, we might also send you back the
..i,lg with them as an article no longer suitable for
le al market. Believe me we are determined--so
tll/4t y"1". You will naturally be anxious that I should
04 °ll au courant with Colonial affairs ; so I will put
an,, few' notes for your information. I do trust,
t`relltka "'4 old fellow, 'that you will try to understand
IS f -It is very difficult to make - you people -at
kigEte nil anything like correct notions ebeut us.
t k 4 that , ancient Chronicle talking of Victoria
NI -tal.d on a " convict basis," and as being
1,,,
,bt::1 as the insolvent colony ! There is the Home News
fOnty,-,41 in taking up Melbourne from the shores
sof
t" re is '7, / and putting her down in South
how Australia.
.o
iNta'lo,l "New South Wales, had beaten an old minister
' 'l,, • lie ballot question. Why on earth don't fellows
t• lite
t, ~,h on newspipers buy ,some sixpenny books
.on
Zip Yedle., or try some other method of instruction
itiairkteettaselves acquainted with the fact that .the
sloes '',?eaten on the ballot question was not a New Swath
;Nelitteistry, but a Victorian ministry ; that tlee man
egtqe,„tbene was not Donaldson, of Sydney, but Nicholson,
"I,alia'urne ; that Melbourne is about ea Much in South
tt.,l as Paris is In Belgium, being it;
'l et the paint of fact the
, t \v, colony of Victoria ; a.'erel that the said Victoria
l 's a convict colony, P. 4,1 is popularly supposed in
?;.is Arts to be a few fit,.
'; vie ...ges removed from insolvency.
eel eat you are v
a to •
el let, f say it. To er,:ithten
rdry ignorant, and I am indeed
you as much as I can, let me
Iti,itliare°f..ll rineetb. to month a plain story. The leading
iilditilore -",.Ple n.ptia which I see your papers are discoursing
re °tic I.ets ignorance, or were at my latest dates, the
lt-t
as /to eeeernber last, is the
`q; ' e:,?titrlON OF RIISPONSItLE GOVERNMENT.—The
,:tei'fltical institution of responsible government is in
lif le e:ikraental stage in all our colonies, and it is hard to
0 til'uat particular shape it wilt come out of it.
t,,tli he self c infidence not unnatural in communities
t‘,l4e. love so rapidly . developed into maturity, we are
046! make it succumb to 1:138T and extraordinary
l N:4"; Believing, as we do, of course, that our bran
ef; (ltht"ltutions are vastly superior to that time-honoured
e;tt ti and cobwebbed charter that isilkierstood to be
fl,litc,le-ibltliediate protection -of the Briliplion, we are
Yates; ready to content ourselves with a simple inheritance
.led , .. .
;, t ht, tinglish traditions of ministerial responsibility. We
'lett .41 busil discussing the philosophy and morality of
.„ y . .
lei to :, we have had new lights in the press, propound-
qei ;8 new theories of government • we have been, and
y, dl tie still, for that matter, greatly exercised in mind
,'lli vicled in opinion, upon the primary question.
u.`tlihiler the practical advantages or disadvantages of the
i';,ol,estlktery responsibility of government preponderate,
qle;„'"er, having got the kind of constitutionalism we
I'4,,lCar crying tor, ,we shall not be best cansultin our
trel'sll4.-Presperity 'by making it, in its practical mode of
1,11,111:„Ets touch as possible like the old system we used
4,,.t„'etee4 escape from, am) aa-mnch as possible unlike that
G.Zesee,:t administrative system of England, of which it
'e',l. 00 be a cope. The Argus, our leading daily
t4ttt,:ttcnahai been 'cea-Oh'i ng this doctrine; that ministers
',h'Qe r Y to loe the executive instruments of parliament;
?'t,rJoi,o7l..j. ority having decided what shall become law,
~t 1" , fie the only duty of the cabinet to obey the behests
?',,n44Preme authority ; and that no reason therefore
e
':'ttiell tor displacement from office, unless the executive
"serail t prove themselves utterly incapable. of this
„_ti
f it',tli,°l' revolt against it. Though this doctrine is not_
illl ao'teeived, it is impossible not to see that the ac
I.',‘,eQee „klOgation and reiteration has had
.a. certain
lq ,qe el,;11 affairs ; that it has encouraged ministers to
Mule without resignation, and taught the people
lii'se "'L'e in such endurance to an extent that would
~ al flb
% e elf.., responsible government in the mother country
\rt4l.l's'r:l:le of odium. In the two colonies, in which
te 414 gentary system is in full working, the ministers
'ql o 3 are systematically beaten once or twice a wteenk,
.4teell the most trivial details as on the most important
tense teitie" (11 Policy, and no ministerial crisis is expectedpolicy
ii .' The development of the government polinye
t4l:it ' Parliament is asked to express itsopinion in o
1; Ili rid another of it; and whatever that opinion may
%i parii ecisions are recorded and accepted. The
tolerates
e,hl,. liasantentary and of the public mind, which.
the
li,,,,'letii been greatly promoted, as has been said, b
e'ale a't attitude taken on this matter by an influential
-Fe !),„t.Qf the press. But the circumstance that this state
1:1i;11. je found convenient, results largely from the
'.1,1 ha. lamstances under which the principle of responsi-
-1 ' the- been inaueurated, and by which the transition
4 4 Old --
IN "kg tO the new regime was rendered less abrupt
nate thPeoe anticipated. A few words will suffice to
le'eta, la Point.• •
',ltil!litt;elll INF. LUENCE. S..—By the old system of colonial
't tbist ' cfficial position was virtually held for life.
kt `llll.- tation was a prefession, and its functions rose
RP by see discharged by a professional class, who rose
b„,.thlis et!' ,in a regulated promotion. The government
,',01,14e 'eta to be as essentially athing apart from the
'4 h.,"t`t b' as a military company is from the civil corn. -
!'reTeN,;l)°n which it is quartered: With no voice
,I,euet„ess in the administration of affairs, the people
leieli s: all the practical ills they experienced, and
!t:., pr,,,er inevitably many in a new country, with
(4;' tigr,ess in material development and 'no consoli-
yo ova;aL system, to the vices of the governing body.
tujv ' a sure guarantee of unpopularity for the colonial
ite.4Pati •A nd had the old regime remained in full
Iti,,t'llicill, °f the field at the time the constitutions came,
'eLJ Of nave been with a strong public sentiment not
Ile.giNttle„ifjjeing, but probably of enthusiasm, that the
‘llll, -; sYstem would have been swept away. But
°I Prescriptive officialdom was broken. In Vic-