Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 11, 13 January 1871, Page 4

POLITICAL* APERS, No. 1. To the Editor of theYNelson Evening- Mail. SIR, — T desire, by means of publicity in your columns to call attention to the following 1 lines of Milton, and comments on them, by one of the great men of our day viz., John Ruskin : — The coming several el ctions give especial importance to the quotation' , as it will s^on become the duty of the electors to discharge the. responsibility of choosing men ii whom to repose their liberties and well-being, o ■ otherwise, for another fimr years /At these t lectio is'it will be their buVtiess to decide whethei or not they will select men St* why little reekonii <_ make, than how to fenunSle /t the shearers' 1 east." to get their own turn sermi, regard I ess {-f riie duties-they owe to , the people. It will soon Ue theirs to determine whether tnV have had "enow of such as for their/bellies^ake creep aiid. intrude and climb into/ place anoxmolumei IJ. They will soon have to jhwy whether the reel less-trading character that has hitherto so marked the N ew Zealand Parliament, shall be per( etuatcd by the election of men " who do not kno v how to hold a sheephook," do not know ev< h the mere elementary duties and qualifications o a legislator, "or have ' learnt ought else that to ti ie position they aspire to belongs." But " W tat reeks it them ? " "What need they? Thy are sped." Public morality and economy, the impartial administration of the laws to rich an 1 poor alike, a system of taxation placing the >üblic burdens on the shoulders of the people in proportion to their incomes and power to beat them, are things that interfere greatly with the unjust privileges and comfort and ease of " the/ fat sheep " " with full fleeces," and the " blind mouths " (men who want to live on the people, instead of by the aid of their wisdom and forethought, and just legislation, helping the people to liveL that sre so successful by means of their " lean pnd flashy " speeches in getting into the position/of legislators and rulers over us, are very careful/how they offend these fat sheep that they know l/ave the power to help or hinder them in getting fat also; and so "the hungry sheep look up and'afe not fed." Tbe public deliberations of the/ country are hindered and burdened beyond measure by these " lean and flashey" speech- m akeJs ; the well-being of the masses is neglected ; | colonization is arrested ; settlers droivn for want of bridges ; miners and settlers alike are lockad out of profitable employment for want- of rolds ; huge public debts are incurred ; the unemployed have to petition the Government for aidh industrious settlers who have toiled hard to |et homes together aft? daily driven Aom them as lurely as if by the bayonets of an en-^MLSa^d tljey are added to the swollen ranks of the^Tplus population, fondly looked forward to by soml^nfl unblushingly advocated as the salvation of Sftf Zealand ; besides what the "grim wolf witb pripcpaw " (in the shape of the land jobber, biil-disfeqs^er, and a host of other forms) " daily devours TapaWand nothing said." Strictly speaking, tbe -_w_^dng lines which have called forth tl ese remarksolKmine, refer to the offices of the ( hurch only, ancPSKikiable as they are in this, tin ir original intentionTtthey ar,a_ so true, and just, a id to the point in the^olitical sense also, that no : pologj is needed for the use I have here made of hem. Yours, &c, James Grove. Foxhill, Novembe r 28, 1570. ***1* * * * * "Last came and lasndid go, "The Pilot of the Gtlilean lake ; "He shook his mitr'i locks, and stern bespoke, "How well could I 1 aye spar'd for thee, young swain, '" Enow of such as foi their bellies' sake " Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold! " Of other care they 1 ttle reckoning make, " Than how to scram >le at the shearers' feast, <; And shove away thi worthy bidden guest : "Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know bow to hold, | "A sheep-hook, or lkve learn 'd aught else, the least I '* That to the faithful Herdsman's art belongs. •'What Teak* it thAn ? What need they? They are sped 1 "And when they list, iheir lean and flashy songs " Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; " The hungry sheep lotlk up, and are not fed, "But swollen with winfa, and the rank mist they-* draw, I "Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; " Beside* what tbe grinl wolf with priw paw "Daily devours, anaceAnd nothing said ! * * *4B •'___''* * *' *"♦* * "They who for tfcfraellies' sake, creep and intruchyaff(Jm:limp into the fold." Do not Hank Milfon i ses those three words to fill up his verse as^a oose waiter ould, — he needs all the three. «pe< ially tho§e<tl.ree, and no more than those — u lreej " and . Hii^tVdde," and '■climb;" no otherlrforf s wouldJßr could serve the turn, and nc mye could be ad«lecK— for they exhaustively comprehenq the thre^ classes, correspondent to the three «hara&er.s,. of men who dishonestly seek ecclesiastical' power.* Pirst, those who " creep " inta tile fold ; who do not care for office, nor name; bu. for secret influence, and d. all' things occultly and cunningly, consenting to any servilitt of office or conduct, so only that they may istimat^hf discern and unawares direct the mmdi of men. Then those who " intrude" (thrust trjat is) themselves into the fold, who by natural iisolence of heart and stout eloquence of tongue,! and-^arlessly perse-y verant self assertion, obtain H_earinjg*a|id authority with the common crowd.! Lastly, those who ' ' climb," who by labor aniflearning both .tout and sound, but, selfishly exlrtap in the cause of their own ambition, gain hbh'ldignities and authorities, and beconie " lordsTover the heritage," though not " ens^fcoples to tile flock." Now go onj^. . \_\ "Of other^are they little^ .ckoning make, " Than* how to scramble at the shearers' feast. Blind Mouths " I paupe again, for this is a sti angc -'expression ; a broj-ln metaphor one might think', jyireless and unscholarly. Not so : its very audacit y and. pithiness are intended to make us look clo eat the phrase and remember it. Those two m mosyllables express the precisely accurate conti iries of right character in the. two great odk ss of the Church — those of bishop and pastor. A Bishop means a person vho sees, A Pastor means one who f seds. The most unbishoply chan cter a man can have is therefore to he blind. The most un pastoral is, ii stead of feeding, to want to be fed— to be a moul i. *Equally applies to men wlo dishonestly seelpolitical place and power .— Slff.G.