Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.
A Greek Gift
A Greek Gift.
I am in a position to affirm that in the early months of 1884, he was looking forward to entering into political office before the end of the year. He expected to defeat the Atkinson Ministry in the ensuing parliamentary session, and he was confident that, after fighting a general election, he would he appointed Premier. Alas, for the vanity of human expectations! Living in a fool's paradise, he was unaware that, months before, one of his particular political friends had joined another politician in an arrangement—it would be rude to call it, as hostile politicians called it, a conspiracy—that would for ever exclude him from office. They purposed to deal well by him. They offered to let him nominate, from the dwindling band of his followers, two members of the cabinet. What were they going to do with himself? They could not wish him to remain in the Assembly in order to thwart the measures of the Ministry from which he had been deliberately excluded. They proposed that he should become Chief Commissioner in the King Country. The proposal dazzled him for a space. Under certain conditions he might well have accepted it. It was just such a position as he had refused to Shepstone in South Africa, but Shepstone was Shepstone and Grey was Grey. It was not ill-advised. Had he been Ms old self, he might safely have been entrusted with a quasiabsolute rule over the Maoris. He (as he said of himself in relation to Tawhiao in 1863) would have "dug around" the King tribes "with good deeds" till their rebellion fell, and they returned to their allegiance. He would have sought to carry out the work of amalgamation between the two races. He might have arrested the decay of the Maori race. He might have won them all back to Christianity, as indeed he aided in extinguishing Hauhauism. He would have introduced civilisation, letters, and the arts. But he could not be trusted. There was no saying what he would do. The new Ministry had no mind to commit itself to rash experiments or dangerous projects. In order to keep the Chief Commissioner in check, he was to be sandwiched between two Assistant Commissioners, who would have been controlled from Wellington. He would have seen himself outvoted by his own colleagues and thus reduced to impotence in his own court. He refused to accept the position, and he thenceforth acted as if he had been deliberately humiliated.