South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2936, 23 August 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1882.

It is impossible to conceive anything more lamentable than the present aspect of parties in Parliament. There is a so-called Government, bat it possesses not the confidence of the country it rules. There is also a so-called (and falsely so-called) Opposition. Bat it represents no hearty healthy public feeling. This being the state of parties the business of the session is got through in an ignominious half-hearted way, and time is wasted as it probably never was wasted before in a New Zealand Parliament. When we turn to the Press of the colony, we find it a true index of the demoralisation of parties. The supporters of the Ministry are divided. A few venal journals do indeed swear by the Whitaker - cum - Atkinson Cabinet, through thick and thin ; others sing their praises in a labored strain, or advocate their canse apologetically ; a few are honest enough to express disgust at their time-serving, their manifest unfitness to rule. From the other side the sound is a very uncertain one, and this we take to be a very, significant sign that something is amiss. For when the Opposition has established a healthy, unanimous and effective enthusiasm in the Honse, its echo rings out far and wide through its Press. In this case the Opposition is languid, ineffective, and worst of all, divided. Its resistance is mere obstruction, its arguments are not convincing. It is as sheep without a shepherd ; it is a straggling mob, not a working team. Meanwhile the Government, by backstair influence, by persistent lobbying, by blandishments, by pitiful truckling, maintains itself in power. Truly things have come to a pretty pass, and we almost long for the hard fighting of former days when the parties were drawn up in serried ranks,, and commanded by eminent leaders : anything would be better than the present miserable confusion of parties.

The excellence and stability of the British constitution have never been more severely tested or more conspicuously displayed, than at the present juncture. It is the only constitution which, in an age of wild, conflicting theories, of constant changes, of revolution, seems able to hold its own, and to maintain its integrity unimpaired. It has, in every succeeding age, been the custom to regard the time present as the era of change and progress, par excellence. But it is not too much to assert that everything has nowadays come to a head such as was never known before. There never was a time at which the human mind had made such vast strides in every department of thought and knowledge, none at which it had manifested so much activity or moved in jso wide a range, none at which its perceptions were so clear, or its ascendancy over matter so complete. In an age so advanced, the theory of government could not fail to be the subject of earnest and universal thought and experiment. The spirit of the age has two distinctive characteristics, it is utilitarian,and it is sceptical. In other words the useful and the practical are what it is always seeking, while it inclineu to donbt the soundness of existing institutions, and the truthfulness of tradition it requires ocular demonstration before it accepts anythinjg worthy of belief. This spirit, originating among the thoughtful few, has expanded and has infused itself into the masses. The result is that mankind is just now in a state of agitation, and that agitation is peculiarly dangerous to established authority. The philosophical few are dissecting law, dogma, and all things established, and contemptuously • abandoning the old land-marks in pursuit of theories and speculations. The mass, who are not philosophical, but who have caught the infection, prefer to follow, the lead of the modern thinkers, often for no other reason than that a change is desirable, simply because any other condition would be preferable to the one they are now in. The whole body of society is thus stirred violently. The student in his seclusion, passes quietly through succeeding mental stages of faith, doubt, and disbelief. His life is a governed and tranquil one ; his passions and actions are controlled, and bis external life remains unaltered through all these developments. Life is to him an interesting, absorbing problem, which he is content to quietly map out. But with the crowd in the street, beneath his window, it is different. Life, with them, is a terribly earnest thing; they possess no power of self-control; they have been governed by externals, by religious dogma, by civil power. Without these, the mass are unreasoning creatures. When, therefore, the repressing influence of authority, and the constraining influence of belief, are removed, the fierce elements leap up into sudden and destructive life. There is no mental balance to counteract the effect of disturbing theories. The passions are kindled and enlisted on the side of revolution. : The vision of independence inflames them, and the physical is in them, stronger than the intellectual. What wonder then that Governments that have endured for centuries should now find themselves threatened and even attacked by. those whom they have hitherto ruled 1 The devastating march of Nihilism, the threatening aspect of Socialism, the craze of Equality, are the outcome of this sudden epidemic. And amid the strife, dogma is not silent. It also asserts itself, and shakes its thunderbolts over the heads of the multitude. In all this confusion, that National Constitution which survives, proves its solid basis and its internal soundness. This Great Britain has done. Her

shores have long been the refuge of foreign exiles, her internal organisation has proved itself equal to any emergency. Her aims have been moderate, her modes of procedure just. The gradations of authority within her are so subtle that there is no opportunity for tyranny in any single department. There are political abases, social sores, and objectionable features, but they are found to right themselves quietly. And while every throne is tottering and every Government is kept in fear of revolutionary outbreak, the subjects of the British Crown find they enjoy calmness, freedom and prosperity unknown to other conntries. This granite Constitution reared by the wisdom of centuries proves an irresistible bulwark in time of need, and sovereign and peasant alike continue to enjoy as much liberty and security as ever.