Daily stress of 23rd slept, 1867
258
to pass a vote of $900,000! There is such a speciousness in all this special pleading that, long before an ordinary man has accomplished the perusal of the whole, his sense of morality is completely outraged; and, before he has come to the end, it is hard for him to say whether grief, resentment, pity or contempt, is the sentiment by which he is most possessed. No one reading the speech can fail to be impressed with the conviction that the Governor of the Colony, whose sacred duty it is not only conscientiously to inform the public of the true bearing of such measures as come under his guidance and control, but to be careful that they be not misled by specious arguments from whatever quarter they may come, has descended from his position, forgotten his high functions, and has stooped to become a special pleader in a more than doubtful cause. It is such conduct as this on the part of Colonial Governors that goes so far towards lowering the public estimation of functionaries, who, it might be thought, would generally command the utmost respect. The remark once made by a distinguished veteran servant of the Foreign Office, that unfortunately too often the Crown has chosen the servants to whom it has entrusted the Government of the Colonies from a class amongst whom the absence of scruple was to be remarked, whenever any particular end of their own was to be achieved, seems only too well founded. Such a reflection indeed cannot but arise in the minds of those who experience that most disagreeable of all sensations, which always attends the discovery that you have been both outwitted and outwinded,
The plain fact that seems to underlie the whole of this undignified special pleading, is that the GOVERNOR is a money-spending man, with a love for Colonial cruisers, establishments at the Peak, all sorts of public buildings, and other like extravagancies; and having above all a rampant desire so to concrete his views, his plans, his policies, both in principle and routine, as may enable him to enjoy that quasi satisfaction of "being dead and yet speaking"--though "lost to sight," in every sense "to memory dear."
It may no doubt be very satisfactory to produce a Mephistopheles-like delusion that may gain kudos at the Foreign Office, and silence any objectionable "M. P." who may make unpleasant enquiries with such an answer as "The amounts derived from the Licences are not devoted in any way to the Government of the Colony, but are applied to a special fund exclusively used for such expenses as are incurred with reference to the gambling houses themselves." This no doubt must be a satisfaction, and something like a triumph to minds of a certain order. It may, too, be acceptable at the Colonial Office, where from time immemorial Principle has been on leave for half the year. But