TITULAR DISTINCTIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 1930, 25 February 1867, Page 3

TITULAR DISTINCTIONS.

{From the Argus, Feb. 4.) The question of titular distinctions, raised the other evening in.the Legisktive ■ Asseinblyy is one upon which a tolerable 7 agreement of opinipn _pre- ; ■veils among, all classes of politicians, !Tky are.among the cheapest rewards, which rGbvernment ■ can bestow, and, are honours-which desert aspire to achieve without the imputation of a ; mercenary..motive. ; ,The, hope. of. winning them has inspired some of the noblest deeds of heroism the world has ever witnessed, and any of policy orphilosopiiy of'hiitiaan..life, which professes to ignore such a.principle of human conduct,, may be ideally but must be practically erroneous. Men may ridicule—as the envious, the

cynical, and the unsuccessful are very apt to do-r-such " gew-gaws" asstars, crosses, medals, bits of. ribbon, and other decorations; and may decry ■ titles of honour as repugnant to that perfect equality which, they allege, ought to subsist, but does not subsist, never has subsisted, and never will subsist, among the citizens of a state; but bo long as human nature is what it is, so long will; such honours and decorations continue to'be coveted and prized in civilised communities; So long will the genius,and, daring of a ; kelson be inflamed, upon, the eve of : battle, by the conviction,that victory : will insure him "apeerage or Westminster Abbey " So long will a Collingwood feel a thrill of happiness pa , learning that his splendid:services.have: ' been requited with a barony! .'So long will a Walter Scott value the privilege ;' of blazoning a bloody hand upon his shield more than the literary reputa. tion he had acquired; and so long will a William Shakspeare employ the first Iruits of his laboriously earned wealth

m obtaining a grant of coat-armour, from the Herald's College for his father. The desire for and the pride in such distinctions are not; ..confined to any particular class of people, either in Europe or elsewhere. Theyare common to all classes; to the private soldier who scales abreach.and the able-. bodied seaman, who joins a boarding P»ty; to a Davj" in his laboratory,, and a Reynolds at his easel; to the: great Goethe at the little Court of Weimar, and to a Macaulay dating his: feat letter after being, diibbed ■' right:

honourable" from Windsor Castle. '■■ The American Senator is proud of. the.: ! prefix to which, he is entitled in virtue of bis legislative functions.; the suemerchant in Boston or Baltimore investigates the genealogy of bis British forefathers, and. is gratified if be can discover that they bore arms ;i the provincial squire, judge, : an d colonel, major, or captain.... of militia are as little addicted J to forego their honours, or dispense with the consideration due to them, as men. °f a corresponding rank in'the mother country. Among ourselves, we shall; ™d the love of titular .distinctions Manifesting itselt in the various aasoci at ions and fellowships into which : the operative classes organise, themselves f° r mutual assistancei or '"■■ industrial

"Combiiiation-. Every order "has its Exiles and decorations; itsvcollars,l b%s, aprons, medals, and. symbols, ■; Jetween a chapter of the Order of the. £ at «, and a lodge of Oddfellow, fluids, and Foresters, the difference J "ne of degree rather thai of,kind; * b « austere republicanism ,-pf a .■ John; aLiiton did not prevent; Km' peopUn P! heaven witb a sort of ielesti&l ?eerft ge, knighthood,, and ; gentry;

and ; ■ the -Washington ''wbbanxiouß-^)'" 4 ■'^ : 'ordißP"'---.6f. Cincinn^tus^as: the reward'..■ of \ distinguislied "services to tlie.; commonwealth. >may. TidiculSi ;fiueh distinctions as puerile and trivial, much; asi Diogenes .trampled on the carpet of a, pride; greater than that which he condemned; but:;people;; who'suryey; human cha-' acter and conduct, not from an isolated pinnacle, but from; a stand-point which enables them,to sympathise .with their fellow men,; and. to .find something in their: very weakness entitling .■thein .to a charitable indulgence, will be to. censure a. great.,deed or theiin-. porfcant discovery which; had for its. object and reward the attainment of a pewter medal merely or. the privilege of attaching,two>, or. three capital let-; tersto the doer's name... >We%ree-both : ttibution of, Iriiperiar : lipnoura to distinguish .colonists, would be attended with beneficial effects.", Men;who;have ; risen to, eminence: in: 'Australia, are drawn back again;' to: Europe: by the prospect of those rewards, which are denied them here. A man's ambition; is circumscribed such narrow; flimitsina. British colony, that if he be endowed .with: unusual capacity cannot resist/the vtemptatiou to. trans; ; fer it to a sphere thereisevjery. .opportunity for its full developeiheht; and thus, public life in this, partof the: world is constantly liable iip be;;hereft of some of its v most.'gifted, ornaments, while society loses" its natural leaders, Fortunes amassed; in/Australia ;are expended in Great Britain, ind,we haye; to deplore the absence of/a class ofper-: aons in independentcircum|tances, and enjoying the: leisure Tequisite;for. the discharge of numerous ;honbrary;duties. connected with the administration of ; juridical, .political, municipal, and charitable affairs, . In all countries. peopled by the British race, there will inevitably be a .natural aristocracyi .composed of men who will rise by force; of character, or: by innate or acquired ability, in spite of every obstacle.. Discontent with his ; lot, and the ambition to ascend into a. higher grade, of' society;: : the: characteristics of an Englishman; and they lie at the foundation of our national power and wealth, and are to be credited with muchof our; in the wori of colonisation. And haying risen and thriven, an Englishman naturally : desires : to .surround himself with the most tangible evidence of his success.among; which the sQcialiconsideratipn resulting frpm the. acquisition of personal distinctions occupies aloremosf pkce in r tis: regard. To secure him this social Consideration, ;»nd to obtain froinhimin'reiurn the: cheerful performance of rmanygratui■tous but important duties annexed to eminent social station "is :s6tmd policy on the part of the; Imperial Government. It is recognised as such, in the imother, country, and it might be advantageously acted upon in these; colonies, The honours conferred;.'.might be, as has been already . suggested; operative only in that: part .of the British dominipnsyijiny.which they: were bestowed, so ..as .to' attach their wearers to thel dependency to which they belonged; and a class thus constituted, while it would be exempt from objection on the score of "privilege," would eventually give.a tone and dignity to colonial society of which it is confessedly destitute at present. That "every man should; stand upon his ovra,merits" in a.democratic community, is; which; inajf be readiiy admitted; but the recognition 1 and reward of such merits by the state will be likely to offend ;nqne but those who have no merits of any kind to entitle them to notice or distinction.