Lord Granville recognises the value which would attach to a distinction conferred by the representative of the Queen, and admits that the critical circumstances of New Zealand, and its recent assumption of the duty of self protection, justified the Government in desiring that Her Majesty’s prero gative, “as fountain of honour,” should oe thus exercised to animate the courage and devotion of the local forces. But, be continues, “ I am unwillingly con “ strained to observe that, in coniply “ ing with this natural desire, you have “overstepped the limits of the authority “confided to you by Her Majesty.” That is plain enough, though not, we think, unkind, ; but Lord Granville actually has the cruelty to give his Excellency a little lecture about the powers conferred: upon him by the Boyal Letters Patent, which constitute his commission. He has been formally entrusted withthe power of convoking and proroguing the Legislature, of dis solving the House of Representatives, of pardoning criminals, of appointing and dismissing officers holding during the Eoyal pleasure—“but the authority “inherent in the Queen as foun “ tain of honour throughout the Empire “ has never been delegated to you, and “ you are not therefore competent, as “ Her Majesty’s representative, to “ create any of thbse titular of decora “ tive distinctions which, in the British “ Empire, have their source, and are “ valuable ' because they have their “ source, in the grace of the Sovereign.” We have taken the liberty to italicise a fey words in the above quotation, because we think it was not at all ne-| cessary that Lord Granville, while bringmg, the Governor to account and pointing out his proper place, should indulge in a sneer at the decoration: which we hope every gallant fellow who deserves: it will receive and value. If the Governor over-stepped the limits of his authority, by assuming a function sacred to royalty, that is no reason why the men who have e n dangered their lives and won the respect and gratitude of their fellow-colonists by acts of con spicuous bravery, should be, to put it plainly, insulted. The Governor’s error, bis pardonable weakness, let us say, is no excuse for Lord Granville’s rudeness.
