The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-27 00:00:00

LORD STANLEY AND MR.
GLADSTONE.
(From the Times.l aeleinet and
eek[gla'asilitrel of the Colonial-office into the hands
of Mr. Gladstone. The change, whether it be for
, good or ill, is one of no immaterial character ; for it
, would be difficult to name, in all the political phalanx,
two persons more opposite in their qualities or more
unlike in their qualifications. Of an ardent tempera-
ment, and quick susceptibilities, warm in debate,
potent in invective, but occasionally somewhat
illo-
gical in argument, Lord Stanley often perilled the
success of a good measure by his imprudence in
handling it. his successor, on the other hand, is
eminent for the coolness of his head and the unruffled
placidity of his demeanour. Deep in the sublime
mysteries of metaphysics, his mind has too strong a
tendency to speculate and to moralize, not seldom
losing sight of practical realities in the dim clouds of
abstraction. If the abundant energy and headlong
decision of the late Secretary for the Colonies could
be infused into the philosophic constitution of Mr.
Gladstone, there would probably be compounded a
character as well adapted for the office as any that
can be imagined. But, as no such fairy transition
can be expected in these unromantic times, we may
find advantage in looking back for a moment upon
the course which the one has pursued, and conjec-
turing, though imperfectly, that which the other is
likely to pursue. It cannot be said of Lord Stanley
that he has done much for the colonies ; nor can it be
pleaded in his behalf that he lacked opportunity for
action. On the contrary, his term of office has been
unusually prolific of events, most important in the
present and sufficiently significant of the future. It
is true he had many difficulties to contend with, the
general legacies of Whig mismanagement. But there
were none so stubborn that they might not have been
overcome, nor so fatal that they might not have been
remedied. What was chiefly wanting was a steady
application to details; a thorough investigation of
facts. Ignorance has always been the stumbling-
block in the way of colonial secretaries, and Lord
Stanley, we believe, can challenge no exception from
the common censure. His errors have been eminently
those of negligence and indifference. An impetuosity
which carried him at times beyond his depth and
overwhelmed him with unnecessary toil, sue-
ceeded by a careless insouciance which no urgency
could rouse to action—these were the contradictory
and ever-changing elements which governed his poli-
tical conduct. They are to be discerned in almost all
his measures, but most conspicuously in those under
which New Zealand has so miserably suffered. The
fortunes of that colony have long presented an ex-
ample of the grossest mismanagement. Perhaps no
British settlement ever gave fairer promise in its
infancy of a sound and prosperous maturity. Those
obstacles which usually obstruct the path of the early
colonist were not found in New Zealand. No savage
and hostile natives threatened the security of life oe.
the permanence of property. None of that intract-
able disposition which characterises the savage stood
here in the way of civilization and improvement. So
far from it, that the first settlers of 'Wellington found
in the aborigines who occupied the shores of Cook's
Strait a body of willing labourers and in-
telligent servants. Impressed from the first
with the superiority of the white man, not
in power and skill only, but in the higher attri-
butes of justice and benevolence, they yielded a ready
obedience and involuntary homage. The settlement
increased rapidly in wealth and numbers. It sur-
passed by far, in all the social elements, every colony
that had been founded since the Commonwealth. Its
members were not the scum of the earth, the scour-
ings of the gaol, or the exiles of society. But they
were, for the most part, gentlemen of good family and
unblemished reputation, when the res angusta (loud
and the impulse of an honourable ambition had driven
to seek a wider and less occupied field for their exer-
tions. In a community so formed a wise ruler might
have seen the surest guarantee of peace and order.
Recognising within constitutional limits their right
of conducting their own affairs in the manner best cal-
culated to insure success, the Colonial Secretary
shoisill have interposed no further than by the estab-
lishment of such regulations and institutions as were
necessary to secure the dependence of the colony upon
the mother country. Beyond this it was his obvious
policy to leave the interests of the colonists in their
own hands. But such a policy did not suit the
temper of Lord Stanley or of his predecessor. Com-
mencing N'S ith a hasty and arrogant interference, they
provoked resentment and indignation where they
most needed co-operation and support. By imposing
a governor upon the colony who seemed to have no
other qualification for the office than his rank as a
captain in the British navy, and whose vacillating
imbecility can only be excused on the ground of an
intellect weakened by disease, a foundation was laid
for heartburnings and dissatisfaction, too just and
natural in their origin to be easily allayed.
Every petty obstacle that a foolish jealousy
or an unworthy animosity could devise was
thrown athwart the progress of the original
settlement. The titles to land that had loeg
been purchased from the natives were unsettled,
and submitted to a tedious process of inves-
tigation, in which an ostentatious magnanimity
towards the aboriginal inhabitants, and an eagerness
to destroy their old feelings of friendship for the
company and their party and fix them upon the Go-
vernment officials, were far more obvious than an
honest desire to administer justice. Finally, the
consummation of this wicked policy—an :and which
every one foresaw but the infatuated movers of it—
was the disintegration of the whole colony, and the
utter estrangement of the native from the white mein.
The plunder of the settlers on the banks of the Hutt.,
the massacre of Wairau, and the discomfiture of 600
British soldiers by a iandful of natives behind a
wooden stockade, attest the wisdom of the Colonial-
office and the judicious nature of its appointments.
This is no exaggerated picture of the condition of
one of the dependencies which Lord Stanley has
been pretending to govern for a period of five years.
We do not underrate the difficulty of managing a
colony at the distance of half the globe. But after
making all due allowance for this difficulty, there still
remains a large residue of error and absurdity. It
is not the least important duty of a statesman to select
with judgment the instruments of his government.
Good measures avail nothing, and the best laid plans
may. prove even mischievous, unless good men are
chosen to carry them into effect. In the brief his-
tory of New Zealand, however, it is impossible to
discover either good measures or good men; and we
cannot foresee, in the present aspect of its affairs, one
single germ of promise or hope of improvement.
This, then, is a portion of the tangled web which the
ex-Secretary for the Colonies hands over to Mr.
Gladstone to unravel. A bolder and less conscien-
titious man might be inclined to cut the mesh, and
free himself from trammels which are not of his own
creating, and of which he ought not to bear the re-
sponsibility. But such a course is not consistent
with that gentleman's political character, as it has
hitherto been developed. We may rather look for a
course of palliatives, and a system of remedial mea-
sures. Impartial inquiry, and an honest devotion to
the duties of office, may confidently be expected ;
and in these we recognise the promise at least of a
better policy. But these alone will not suffice. There
is dp.nger in the crisis that now impends over the
affairs of the colony. Prompt measures of active se-
verity may restore them. Delay and inaction cannot
but lead to ruin. Mr. Gladstone must see the
itnmi-
nence of the necessity, and will not, we hope, be
wanting to the exigencies of so great a peril.