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The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1878.

When there is so much talk about Liberal principles abroad, it is worth while asking what is meant by the word “ liberal.” There is, as w ; e have already seen, no meaning in the application of the term to any temporary party in the colony. There are liberal men on.both sides of the House of Representatives, and very illiberal men too. We are all engaged here in developing the resources of n new country, and we are checked neither by the advantages nor disadvantages of a long varied history. Ho picturesque shadows from the past fall upon our path ; wo are plodding on in the full glare of the prosaic day, and we have to select the tools that from hour to hour will best advance the work of that day. But although we have no history of our own, we have, the history of other countries to warn ns and to give us lessons, if we will heed them. If these lessons were to come to us chiefly from Home history alone, and surrounded by the feelings and sentiments and prejudices which grow up with the history of one country, they might obscure our path; and it is possible that a Liberal might have some ground for advising us not to think too much of the past. But when these lessons conic to us from societies that have grown up under all kinds of different conditions, when they are derived from histories that can be dispassionately studied, no one who ignores the teaching can lay claim'to the title of Liberal, oven in the most vulgar sense of the term. We are far from saying that the lessons of history should not be most earnestly studied in old! countries, or. that none of the special enthusiasm for the annals of our fatherland will follow us here. But we insist that partisanship in the consideration of old constitutional questions cannot reasonably be introduced when the conditions that evoked that partisanship have been laid aside. Indeed the change of circumstances is so striking that wo have known men of a Conservative, nay, oven we might say of a Tory, turn of mind, express an opinion that it was sheer folly in a democratic colony to attempt to stand upon the old lines at all. Whereas a man who was a Liberal in England may bo heard insisting, with almost pathetic earnestness, on tracing the outlines of his old political landmarks in the shifting political landscape dancing before his eyes in this new world. It any man, under pretence of advocating liberal views, is for ever shouting old-world w.ar cries, and propounding old formulas, do not trust him. He either has not thought out the present position, or he is attempting to trade upon popular ignorance. A true Liberal —a man who has really liberal views, and endeavors to keep his mind open to the teachings around him, and to the ever-changing necessities of a fast-growing State, will not go to Gobbet, or to O’Connell, or to Orator Hunt, or to Odger, or to Beales, for his inspiration. In a country where all can acquire pfoperity, where the poorest and the most ignorant has a fair chance of improving his fortune and of acquiring knowledge, he will not hope to charm with the “ Jack Cade ” doctrine as to property. He will not preach any restrictions or suggest any legislation that will interfere tmduly with individual liberty. The true Liberal does not believe that mankind is to be coerced for its good; by legislation more than it is to be coerced by dragoons. The intentions of the Emperor of all the Russias towards his people are undoubtedly beneficent, and the majority of the Russian people believe firmly in the benefits of his autocratic legislation. Individual freedom under such an autocracy is nowhere. A similar danger arises in a democratic country, and it is the more insidious because the attacks on individual liberty are encouraged in the name of the people. No doubt the interests of society require that individual liberty should in some instances bo restrained, even when that liberty has not degenerated into license; but the duty of the true Liberal is to watch with jealousy all such encroachments on the rights of the individual; and to keep them within the narrowest limits. When we are told that we must legislate so as to prevent individuals from investing their savings as they please, and that we must prevent saving men from making large fortunes for fear of injuring ; the morals of the community by inciting to envy and jealousy; when such claptrap as this is preached to us, is it not necessary that every true Liberal should be on his guard and be ready to protect individual liberty from the worst of tyranny! Any legislation tending to repress individual exertion and individual ambition to the reduction of society to a dead level, whether of fortune, or of influence, or of intellect, must be bad. It would in the end be useless in communities of British origin; but it would bo idiscouraging and retarding, and so far mischievous. “ A fair field and no favor” has from time immemorial been the Englishman’s motto, and it is not, likely that his descendants in a new country will seek for another. We do not want paternal legislation, and what is more, wejwill mot have it. Wo have the greatest suspicion of all saviours of society; and do not need a reiteration of the lessons which they have taught to the | inhabitants of other countries. When a man is heard in every tone of pathetic lamentation i crying out that there are people, who will not lot him save the country, the instinct of aelf-rolying Englishmen is to button up their pockets,, Even if they cheer the speaker and enjoy the performance, they have their own very definite opinion of it. On a late occasion a man whoappeared to enjoy the theatricals

pf our present Premier to th§ uttermost, expressed his .opinion loudly as he came away- “ That’s stunning fine talk, but it’s (epithet) gammon.” ■ In a pure democracy tho true Liberal has a very difficult part to‘fill, quite as difficult as that' which' falls to him under a puredespotism. Morecourage isrequired to face the often changing tyrannous cry of a temporary "majority, than, backed by the sympathy of the majority, to resist the pressure of despotic authority. Indeed at the present day the cause of individual liberty is often more in danger in young democracies than anywhete else. The strong sense of personal freedom which is inborn in our race has hitherto protected Americans throjugh the perilous crises they have undergone ; although in the United States, the power given to aliens by the system of suffrage adopted there has been a serious ganger. But if we turn to France, we find that much of the individual freedom of action which we so much cherish disappears before the tyranny of popular legislation. What ought to bo the guarantee of every man's freedom has often been made instrumental to social slavery. It _is this feeling of individual insecurity, this dread of the tyranny of momentary majorities, that has made Frenchmen so often ready to seek a master, who will at least protect them from sudden and unexpected dictation. And it will be found that all men of autocratic and selfish tendencies, who desire to pose as saviours of society, declaim against the natural inequalities that must arise where men are free to make tho most of their energies and abilities ; for such men find it suits their purpose to rouse the envies and jealousies of the indolent and unsuccessful against those who may be their rivals. There is no more fitting task for the true Liberal in a young democracy than to watch all such attempts to turn free institutions to tho benefit of personal a'ms and ambitions; for it may be taken as an axiom that whoever proclaims an intention to save society intends to rough-ride it.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18780410.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5316, 10 April 1878, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,349

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5316, 10 April 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5316, 10 April 1878, Page 2

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