THE EDITOR'S PORTFOLIO.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 10, 14 May 1842, Page 40

THE EDITOR'S PORTFOLIO.

EDUCATION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES.

The term "educated class," as applied to the portion of our countrymen who are above manual labour, will scarcely be taken by any one to mean that they enjoy the means of education perfect or nearly perfect. The term is relative j and, certainly, when compared with the manual-labour class, who have no education at all worthy the name, we are an educated class. But no error is more profound, or more prevalent, than the persuasion that we are an educated class in the best sense of the term. Our complacent conclusions on the subject are, however, exceedingly natural. Look, it is said, at our libraries, our encyclopedias, teeming, ns they do, with knowledge in every branch of science and literature. See our chemical, mathematical, mechanical powers, with all their realized results, which seem to mould material nature to our will, and render life proudly luxurious. Then turn to 6ur classical literature, our belles-lettres, our poetry, our eloquence, our polished intercourse, our refined society; consider our fine arts and elegancies ; and, above all, think of our legislation, our political economy, our institutions of benevolence and justice, and the gigantic com v binations of our entire national system. There is much in these high-sounding claims that deceives us. We are prone to borrow from the large fund of credit .we possess in the exact and physical sciences, to place the loan to the account of universal intellectual and moral attainment, and to conclude that a pitch of improvement which enables us to travel thirty miles an hour, must comprise in it everything else of knowledge and power. But, alas! when we look beyond the range of physical tangibilities, and, it may be, elegant literature, into the region of mental and moral relations, — in short, the science of man, upon which depend the. wisdom of our legislation and the soundness of our institutions and customs, what a scene of uncertainty do we see ! Fixed principles in social affairs have not yet been attained. Scarcely shall we meet two individuals who are guided by the same code. Hence controversy :is the business of the moral, and assuredly, we .may add, of the religious world. If any measure affecting the the public is propounded, there arises a perfect hurricane of opposition and denunciation, as if it were the most monstrous of errors and the most atrocious of crimes. No plan or project, religious, civil, economic, or merely ornamental, can be proposed, without .tearing to pieces the conventions of courtesy— 4nay, the feelings of common charity, and exposing a lamentable scene of inconsistency and passion. We find sects of men combining to attain by their union certain proposed ends, and these seem to be guided by principles which they all acknowledge ; for there is no want of party array and skilful party tactics ; but, when we find that the spirit of party iB violence and hatred, we must search the humbler regions of selfishness for the bond of their union, for we cannot recognise among them anything which is entitled to be called profound, philosophical, or high moral, principle. Nothing more exposeß the low state of our present moral attainments than the endless disputes and hatred which are the sum and substance of what are called our politics. If the time shall arrive when legislation shall be brief and practical, founded on benevolence and justice, purified of vain personal display, freed from selfishness, party spirit, pride of caste, and sacrifice to particular interests, — either of an exclusive aristocracy on the one extreme, or a reckless, impatient, and often most aristocratic democracy on the other; when it shall cease to be fettered by a constituency less enlightened than represented lives animated by a single-hearted love to their country and their species, — when it shall bean easier task, because abuses will be already removed, and laws will come to be less retrospective remedies thnn onward meliorations, moving abreast with human improvement—what will be thought of the political dissensions which at present degrade and retard public affairs? Of the. game of parties, with all its frauds and hypocrisies, the irreconcileable varieties of opinion, the diversity of views, the fierceness of divisions ! A wide-spread selfishness alone accounts for this spectacle; and who can deny that a systematic selfishness; regulated by law conventional expediency, is the impelling power, — at once the bond - which unites and the divellent influence which -tears asunder the centripetal and centrifugal forces woich preserve, yet disturb, the circumscribed orbit of our social relations ? ' To engross as much wealth, gain as much of what is miscalled distinction, and' outstrip our neighbour, is the business of life. We have, too, a cold-hearted fashion, which denies those without its frivolous pale welknigha common nature ; and we have all the successive exclusions and repellants descending in society, and freezing up the sources of* good-will and brotherly love, which should flow downward to fertilize the humblest regions of the community, and unite the whole in mutual good-will and contented co-operation. It is this habitual contumely which separates the great body of the manual-labour class from all who merely enjoy more physical comfort and- ease of life, in a scowling attitude of distrust, envy, and hostility. Talk to us of a more liberal basis of social being, of a higher morality, a more wide-spreading philanthropy, — pay, of a mitigation of selfishness, a moderation of wealthengrossing, a transference of our worship from artificial badges to real intellectual and moral merit, a kindlier feeling to our universal fellowmen, — and we meet you with mockery, as we point to what we call " human nature," and return, to our money-getting and self-exaltation. Bonaparte was right — we are a nation of shopi • - t r - " < . "- i • '

the abstract, we admit that Christianity demandsall and more than in- practice we laugh to scorn, and we are terribly scandalized when our Christianity is doubted. Do we not attend church, and yield our assent to the precepts and doctrines there taught ? Do we not prove our zeal by cordially hating all other religious sects, cum odio theologico ? Are we not the foremost and the loudest in shouting the approved watch' words of " irreligion," " incredulity," to raise the mob to put down all heresy and schism — that is, all opinions not our own ? And are we not ready to shed our blood, if we refuse to mend our lives, for the church, which has always formed an essential part of our politics, and been toasted by us in many an overflowing cup of conviviality? — Necessity 'of Popular Education as a National Object. UTILITY. That useful knowledge should receive our first and chief care, we mean not to dispute. But in our views of utility, we may differ from some who take this position. There are those who confine this term to the necessaries and comforts of life, and to" the means of producing them. And is it true, that we need no knowledge, but that which clothes and feeds us ? Is it true that all studies may be dispensed with, but such as teach us to act on matter, and to' turn it to our use? Happily, human nature is too stubborn to yeild to this u;irrow utility. It is interesting to observe how the very mechanical arts, which are especially destined to minister to the necessities and comforts of life, are perpetually passing these limits ; how they disdain to stop at mere convenience. A large and increasing proportion' , of mechanical labour is givin to the gratification of an elegant taste. How simple would be the art of building, if it limited itself to the construction of a comfortable shelter. How many ships should we dismantle, and how many busy trades put to rest, were dress and furniture reduced to the standard of convenience. This "utility" would work great changes in town and country, would level to the dust the wonders of architecture* would annihilate the fine arts, and blot out innumerable beauties, which the hand of taste has spread over the face of the earth. JHapply, human nature is too strong for the utilitarian. It cannot satify itself with the convenient. No passion unfolds itself sooner than the love of the ornamental. The savage decorates! his person, and -the child is more struck with the beauty, than the uses of its raiment. So far from limiting ourselves to convenient food and raiment, we enjoy but little a repast which, is not arranged with some degree of order ana taste; and a man who should consult comfort alone in bis -wardrobe, would find himself an unwelcome guest in circles which he would very reluctantly forego. We are aware that the propensity to which we have referred, often breaks' out in extravagance and ruinous luxury. We know that the love of ornament is often vitiated by vanity, and that, when so perverted, it impairs, sometimes destroys, the soundness and simplicity of the mind, and the relish for true glory. Still, it teaches, even in its excesses, that the idea of beauty is an indestructible principle of our nature, and this single truth is enough to put us on our gaurd against vulgar notions of utility. — Channing's Importance and Means of a National Literature.

The vicarage of Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, has gained the appellation of "The Lucky Living," from the fact, that there are no less than eight successive vicars now alive, every one of whom is a dignitary of the church.

Forgbry. — A labouring man a few days since received a cheque upon the Australasian Bank for £3 25., being the amount due to him for wages J By inserting the word "thirty" before the " three,'] the cheque was made to appear for thirty-three pounds, and upon being taken to the bank was duly paid. The man immediately engaged a cabin passage on board the Corsair, by which vessel hi escaped to Port Phillip before the fraud was discovered. — Launcesfon Courier.

Freemasonry. — It 'is proved unto us by the existence of many monuments whose ages are welj known, that .our brotherhood had its origin id those times when a few of the initiated, filled with desire of true knowledge and a correct interpretation of the mysteries of Christianity, separated themselves from the various sects who professed the Christian religion : for, in those times, a fen wise and enlightened men who could not agree to the heathenish customs and ceremonies introduced into Christianity, and perceiving that bj this Unhallowed service neither peace, nor love, nor unanimity could ensue, but that cruel wan must arise, united themselves with an holy oath to preserve and maintain in its original purity th( hallowed origin of the Christian religion, with it! benign influence on the hearts and consciences o mankind, to bring the true light more and mow out of darkness, and to labour together in combat ing ignorance, intolerance, and superstition, am to establish peace and happiness- among mankind by teaching and enforcing every human virtue.— Freemasons' Quarterly Review.

We beg to inform our friend* residing at the Port that copies of this paper can be had of Mi. Moou and of Mr. White.