Page:Life·of·Seddon•James·Drummond•1907.pdf/196

 “You have fairly gained the chance; form Ministry if you can, good; if not good, have nothing to do with it. Five are enough to start. If there is any difficulty, others will soon join you. You will have an opportunity of greatly serving your fellow-men. Do it. You have the capacity; do not shrink. All you have to do now is to say you will try to form a Ministry, and I believe you can.—

Not convinced that he could satisfactorily fulfil the duties, he sent another message, and a second reply came, more emphatic than the previous one:

“You are acting in a great crisis, such as makes a hero. Act with your Maker for the good of His creatures. What anyone else may say or do is nothing to you. The millions of your fellow-men and their Maker—let these be your thoughts. Be brave, unselfish, gentle, but resolute for good. Reflect well before acting; gain time for thought. The good will soon gather round you—

That evening, after another meeting of the Cabinet had been held, he was sworn in as Prime Minister of the colony, and started upon his record Premiership, extending over thirteen years.

There were conjectures as to the change of policy that would take place with the changes in the Ministry. Mr. Seddon took the first occasion, a visit to Napier at the end of May, to let his party and the country know that that which had been was that which would be. It was half expected and wholly hoped by the party’s opponents that the impetuous Mr. Seddon, who was still depicted as a reckless, uncultured experimentalist, would announce a “bursting-up” policy of the most revolutionary character, with an inflammatory manifesto and highly sensational details.

Napier was the centre of much of the Conservative thought of the colony, and nearly all his opponents and many of his supporters thought that the new Premier’s speech in that district would come as a thunder clap, which would stagger the colony and wreck the Liberal Party for all time. Rash and random statements, the forerunners of still more rash and random actions, were looked for on all sides. But Mr. Seddon had gauged to the full the responsibility he took upon himself. His speech could have hardly been more moderate in tone. It was as disappointing to his opponents as it was pleasing to his