The Evening Star FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4038, 4 February 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1876.

Victoria has ever been noted for its political spirit, if not for the intelligence by which it is characterised. Its latest,experiment ha% been payment of members, which, however/ does not appear to have improved the tone of proceedings, nor the status of those who are entrusted with the management of political affairs. Nothing is more remarkable in these Colonies than the fact that the class of men who aspire to political honors—at least in the less populated districts are sel dom fitted for the task they are so ready to undertake, excepting the still stranger fact that they are elected. Many of them would not be entrusted with deciding between the right and wrong of a simple moral question, . and yet they are so profoundly ignorant of their own deficiencies, so fervent in the belief of their own importance, and entertain contempt so utter for men vastly superior to themselves in character, ability, and reputation, that they do not hesitate “to rush where angels (would) fear to tread.” It is partly owing to the election of this ignorant class that minorities have come to imagine they have a right to obstruct public business by hopeless formal impediments. The time of a country counts nothing with men who know their pay is going on. There is no incentive for them to get through work in order that the interests disturbed by the prospect of Parliamentary interference may be prosecuted with confidence, and in consequence every social arrangement is put out of joint; selling and buying come to an end, excepting in cases of absolute necessity, for no one can estimate what the value of land, houses, stock, or merchandise may be in the course of a month or two. This is pretty much a true account of the state of matters in Victoria. No Colony started with fairer prospects than when it separated from New South Wales, and in all probability, had its first form of government been retained, although there would have been much grumbling, it would have had a far more prosperous career. It is, however, remarkable that since the -Constitution Act of 1854 there has Men a steady decline in general prosperity, mainly because the direction of affairs has been based upon erro- ■ neous principles and entrusted to incompetent men. The decadence during the last twelve years hao been rapid. Wages have fallen, profits have become precarious, Trade has beeu harassed by frequent fiscal alterations, the revenue has declined, and relief is now sought by levying a tax upon property that would almost to a certainty have been unnecessary had |the councils of the country been guided by intelligence. The great evil of Victoria has been the*adoption of the errors of the old commercial system, which was happily described by Mr Gladstone as “a system of robbing and plundering ourselves. ” Victoria’s statesmen of the Graham Berry stamp have failed because they have endeavored to supersede Nature’s arrangements—they have attempted impossibilities. Unmindful of the failures that have invariably marked attempts at monopoly, they tried to make-Victoria great and wealthy by isolating the country from the rest of the world, and making it attractive through its exceptional prosperity. Their idea was well intended, but, unfortunately for their reputation, could not be realised. And why? Simply because they chose to follow error rather than truth; they chose the “ old commercial system” rather than the more enlightened policy of modem times, the leading idea of which is thus described by Dugald Stewart : “The great and leading object of Adam Smith’s speculations is to . illustrate the provision made by Nature in the principles of the human mind and in the circumstances of man’s external situation, fox a gradual

progressive augmentation in the means of national wealth; and to demonstrate that the most effectual plan for, advancing a people to greatness is to maintain that order of things which Nature has pointed out: by allowing every man, as long as he preserves the rules of justice, to pursue his own interest in his own way, and to bring both his industry and his capital into thefreest competition with his fellow-citizens.” The muddle into which Victoria’s affairs have been brought by trying to mend Nature’s ways, has compelled statesmen of all ways of thinking to a someuhat similar course of action, and now the fight is which party shall be allowed to carry it out. While these two factions are striving to over-reach each other, the country is suffering.