The Brisbane Courier, Thursday 10 December 1868, p. 2
Editorial on John Douglas’s appointment to the Lilley
ministry
Anything is better than the miserable state of suspense in
which the friends of the new Ministry have been kept for now nearly three
weeks. The Cabinet is at last completed—Mr. JOHN DOUGLAS, proving himself
superior to the jealousies and vanities which his speech during the debate on
the Want of Confidence motion seemed to indicate, has magnanimously accepted
office and saved the Ministry. Though not actually gazetted, he is, as we are
semi-officially informed, virtually Postmaster-General, and will have charge of
the Government policy and the japanned despatch-box in the Upper House. When
there appeared in last Saturday's Gazette a very important announcement,
informing the public of vast extensions of the mail service in various
directions, and signed CHARLES LILLEY, we were rather at a loss to know what
conclusions to draw from it. Whether it was to be taken as an intimation that
the Premier, eager to prove his capacity for work, had annexed that department
to his own, and was in future to be regarded not only as the highest authority
on land, but also on letters, or whether it was merely a temporary arrangement
till Mr. ST. GEORGE GORE, Mr. GEORGE CLARK Mr. GORGE THORN, or some equally
gifted individual, could be induced to come to the rescue, we were unable to
decide. Perhaps it was just as well we did not, for into our calculations had
not entered the unhoped-for accession of Mr. DOUGLAS.
It is plain that the Ministry have not been idle. In three
weeks they have not only got through as many elections in the most triumphant
style, but they have won over to themselves, and persuaded to be one of them,
the gentleman who made the most furious onslaught on the movers of the vote of
want of confidence—who delivered the most damaging speech made during that
debate, against the leaders of the party moving the vote, and now forming the
present Ministry. Really this is a great victory achieved by Messrs. LILLEY,
MACALISTER, and STEPHENS, and it must have cost them infinite pains to
accomplish it. In Mr. FITZGERALD we do not include as having any part in that
work, as of course the great difficulty must have been to induce the new
Postmaster-General to connect himself with the Government, in which such “an
inconsistent politician who had given such small promise of judiciousness”—nay,
more, who had brought about a land system productive of confusion and a waste
of public money, and, finally, who Mr. DOUGLAS would be as dissatisfied to see
get the head of a Government as he was to see the MACKENZIE Ministry in office.
This is language there is no mistaking; and we well remember the earnestness
and force with which these sentiments were uttered. The amount of
correspondence and discussion which must have taken place; the suasion and
blandishments which must have been used to induce the hon. gentleman to ally
himself and become a fellow-worker with the hon. member for the Kennedy, are
inconceivable. However, it is accomplished, and one more incongruity is added
to those incongruous elements, the combination of which so much astonished Mr.
PALMER. What will the colony think of it; will it add to the strength, and tend
to prolong the existence of the new Government, or will it hasten that
dissolving process which a late Minister so definitely described in happy
metaphor? These are questions which time alone can answer; but which it is
pardonable to indulge in a little speculation upon.
The bulk of the colonists, it is to be feared, will not
believe that Mr. FITZGERALD has solemnly recanted all the errors, asked pardon
for all the misdeeds of which Mr. DOUGLAS held him guilty, and then contritely
set out on a pilgrimage to the Kennedy, promising to come back in good time if
his admirers would let him, and sin no more. They will rather be disposed to
think—and so rumor already hath it—that Mr. DOUGLAS has himself given way, and
tempted by a desire once more to enter the classic shades of the Upper House,
of which he is known to cherish such tender recollections, has smothered the
mingled grief and indignation with which anything resembling political
inconsistency always inflames him, and giving his hand while averting his face
from the insidious glances of the Treasurer, has consented, for the sake of his
bleeding country, to forget awhile, though he never could forgive, the
desolation caused by this designing politician. Whichever view of the case may
be the correct one, we feel sure the scene presented, when the arrangements for
Mr. DOUGLAS’ entry into the Ministry were ratified, would form an affecting
picture, not unworthy of a great artist. We can fancy the Hon. ARTHUR
MACALISTER leading forward tenderly the gentle FITZGERALD, whilst the
diplomatic Colonial Secretary performs the same office for the chivalrous
DOUGLAS; and as their hands touch, the Premier, attired for the occasion in
full Supreme Court costume, in dulcet voice and with benignant smile, blesses
them tenderly.
As to the other and possibly the most important question—whether Mr. DOUGLAS will strengthen or weaken them as a Government, we believe the general opinion is that his accession will affect them very little one way or the other. A Postmaster-General is a departmental necessity. Mr. DOUGLAS has had some experience in that capacity, and, we believe, has a decided partiality for the duties of the office, especially if they should involve, as they most probably will, the furtherance of the project for a mail service via Torres Straits. He wisely assiduous when filling the same office some years ago in attention to its duties, and he is possessed of that urbanity of demeanour and fluency of speech which are no small qualifications for a position that brings the holder so much into contact with the public. For these reasons we have no doubt Mr. DOUGLAS will, as he has done before, meet very well this departmental necessity. A representative of the Government in the Upper House is a political and legislative necessity; and though the business of the country was for a long time carried on without a Minister in that House, the absence of one was a well-founded and perpetual ground of complaint, and never will be tolerated again. There too Mr. DOUGLAS did pretty well on former occasions, and, if anything, was we think more successful than in the other Chamber—certainly more successful than he has been there of late. The probabilities are that, aided by the peculiar tact of Mr. GORE, and the penetration of character of Dr. HOBBS, he will represent the Ministry very creditably in the Upper House. But there we must stop. The day of Mr. JOHN DOUGLAS’ influence as a leading politician has passed away, and we fear is not likely to return. When representing the Port Curtis district, and for some short time after, he did possess considerable political weight and influence; but gradually it has declined, partly perhaps owing to circumstances which were beyond his control, but also to a great extent owing to some surprising exhibitions of indiscretion which one can hardly believe he might not have avoided. He can no longer make or mar a Government; he will not help an iota to keep the present Ministry in office unless his wisdom in council greatly surpasses his judgment in debate; and we see no reason to suppose that he will hasten its downfall.
