THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. "The spirit of the times shall teach me speed,” KING JOHN, ACT IV. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1873.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 117, 15 October 1873, Page 3

THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. "The spirit of the times shall teach me speed, ” KING JOHN, ACT IV. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1873.

“ CEBVANSTE3 smiled Spain’s chivalry away.” To whom, or to what, ai4 we, of Britain, indebted for the lose of the same article ? “ The days of ■chivalry are past,” said Burke; and, certainly, were we to judge from the conduct and conversation of the majority of our fellow colonists, we could not hut ■endorse the dictum of the orator. What man now-a-days will be found willing to believe that the actions of another are prompted by disinterested motives ? Who thinks now that patriotism, pure and simple, actuates the successful politician, or inspires the legislative neophyte? Who imagines, when Brown gives half a ■dozen acres of his best land for some purpose, or Jones {poor innocent!) toils for a week at some weary drudgerv, he fondly dreams is for the public good ;“who imagines now that either Brown or Jones has not in his eye some prospective advantage as likely to accrue to him from his temporary sacrifice ? Or let Bobinson modestly venture on some hitherto nntried scheme for benefiting his fellow townsmen, or some section or assemblage of them, and hear how the very people he would assist appreciate his well-meant ■efforts:! We confess that to us it appears a very sad creed, this belief that every one expects a quid pro quo. We admit that there is much truth in Artemus Ward’s assertion that “there is a good -deal of human nater in mankind,” but we are indeed reluctant to believe that the human “ nater ” is what very many folks would have it to be. Has not habit something -to do with this, and the acclimatisation of Yankee “ smartness ” something ? It’s ■“ cute ”to see cause for suspicion and it’s “ smart ” to believe a man a rascal. We say that to us this appears a very melancholy state of things, and we would willingly sacrifice somewhat of our reputation for smartness, could we only recover a moiety of the faith, we once in our verdant days possessed, in the purity and single-hearted-ness of our fellow men.