To the Editor of the Argus.
Sir, - Any thoughtful person
who calmly views our present condition, either commercially or
politically, must feel the necessity of vigorous exertions in order to
place us in the position we ought to be in. When we consider the rich
and beautiful country God has given to us - a country that waits only
for the plough to give us wheat - the vine to give us wine - the olive
to give us oil - every luxury and comfort that man can desire is within
our reach, only waits our biddings. Gold lies at our feet, and yet with
all these advantages we are on the verge of national insolvency, and the
hands of our people are stained with blood.
May the frightful
and sorrowful position we are in induce us all with one spirit to
co-operate in bringing about a more creditable state of things. Let us
cast aside all party feeling or class interest; - let us retrench,
economise, and abandon the idea that getting further into debt will
clear us of our difficulties. Let us fling to the wind the wild fallacy
that public works carried on with borrowed money is fitting employment
for newly-arrived immigrants.
Let us be wise in time, and give
to our people a fair scope for their activity - a wider and more
wholesome range for their energies, and we shall soon become a happy, a
peaceful, and a contented people.
We have too long indulged in
taxing,- we have become under the Wakefield system a nation of
consumers, instead of producers. We must alter our system, if we wish to
recover character; and if Sir Charles Hotham is a wise man, he will at
once call to his assistance that first minister of finance, the Plough!
Yours faithfully,
CAROLINE CHISHOLM
Melbourne, Dec.7, 1854.