The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1887.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 70, 24 March 1887, Page 2

The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1887.

For the canie that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resiiUnct For the fiiture in the diitance,. And the good that we can do.

"As happy as a king"— so the old adage used to run. Of the amount of truth in it we have had within the last

few years some conspicuous examples, notably in regard to tho White Czar, as he is called. "Happy as a king!' Is there one even of his humblest subjects who would consent to change places with him I Although superstition jand high descent, and—at least in theory—autocratic power combine to make him an object of singular interest, yet it may well be questioned whether a more miserable man than he treads this earth. Tho sword of Damocles, hanging by the thinnest of hairs, grazes his head. Each day he is haunted by horrid dread, dogging his steps like Frankenstein in the romance, and not to bo stayed or averted even by the great resources which lie ready at the hand of the Emperor of all the Eussias. His father's fate is ever before him, and he knows that any day may see him another such victim. Is power worth having—is life worth living under such stern conditions as the time has laid upon him ? We trow not. Each day the iron meshes of destiny seem drawing close round him. Sooner or later one would think the end must come, and another victim be added to those who directly or indirectly have lost their lives through Eussian Socialism.

But though perhaps in this caso tho surroundings have a poculiar interest, an excitement all their own, let us not shut our eyes to the fact that here we have, in its acute phase, the samo ailment which is showing itself in the other countries of the world. It is the Old World at death grip with the New. So silently and mysteriously do the

greatprocessesof human society advance, that we scarce notice what is going on, until some strange incident, some new symptom, roveals the fact that the old order is changing, giving place to the new. In countries like Russia, of which we know comparatively little, these things do not, perhaps, excite in our minds much comment. Our conceptions of the actual state of affairs are vague, and we are ready to beliovo * great deal that is bad. It is when wo get to our own sober, law-abiding England that we begin to appreciate the full meaning of what is going on. Take for instance the event told in our recent Home news—Battersea Church practically in possession of the Socialists, and hisses raised whenever in the service there was any allusion to Eoyalty.

It did not go beyond the offensive hiss, but whata deep meaningithas if we only try to get behind it. It implies neither more nor less than a revolution, at any rate in thought. The Socialists—the men of the new era—feel themselves strong enough to brave public opinion in a matter of this kind, and they do it with impunity. The affair is, of course, in itself trifling, but its significance is immense. It is the straw which shows which way the wihd is blowing. Just consider the vast-change—the great movements which must have been silently going on before this could be. Of course it is idle to suppose that things will rest here. Whenever a great change of principles tikes place, it must show iteelf sooner or later in corresponding social change. Yet this is what we are witnessing. Nations are changing their principles, and we may, in the near distance, look for the inevitable change of life which those principles demand. It is only thus that we can at all interpret the long crisis of depression and unrest through which the whole world is passing. The sooner we open our eyes to what is really happening about us, the better for us and all concerned. In reality, we are uprooting all the old landmarks, without being able to help ourselves moreover. The resistless tide of affairs carries us on as powerless to stem it as we should be powerless to contend with some mighty stream. Labour and capital, free trade and protection, land nationalisation, the enfranchisement, of religion—under every one of these heads the question of the | New World is being fought out— not, indeed, consciously, for with but a few exceptions people do not realise how we stand, and in regard to each one we are occupying that most unenviable of all positions khown as "No Man's Land." Without the hope or confidence of the past, without the knowledge which the future will give us, we are drifting idly about, looking for some one to play the oracle and tell us what to do, and so far without finding him. Have we any doubt on . this matter 1 Then let us look at Church, or Trade, or Politics. In each case the vision is the same—we know not what to do for the best. Not a man seems to possess a backbone, or opinion of his own, or if he have, they are borrowed from the ark, and suggest nothing but musty-fusty old grave - cloths. Expedisncy and temporising are our watchwords, under which we set ourselves to the business, now of propping up a Church, now of bandaging a Constitution, now of settling some trade or labour dispute ; and as often as we try it we find that it won't do. The world has outgrown our well-meant but most foolish efforts

However one thing is certain, that we must make up our minds, and that promptly, as to the course to be adopted. We are in the grasp of a wondrous progress, which is sweeping us onwards. The question is whither ?

That depends on ourselves, and our wisdom or lack of wisdom. If we have sufficient force of brain and heart to compass the meaning of the great changes which are going on around, and to direct those changes to the good of society as a whole, then we need have no fear. The development of science andjscientific appliances, even though it may at times give us dynamite and kindred powers for evil, will add to our well-being on the whole. The social enigmas which at present are puzzling our reformers will find their solution, and the religious difficulty if honestly faced instead of as at present hypocritically evaded. Are we anticipating the golden age ? Well, perhaps so: at any rate, it is not upon us yet. Whether it will

ever come at all must very much depend on the way in which we act in this uncomfortable time of transition through which we are now passing, and'in which, from tho White Czar down to tho humblest settler, we arc all bound to suffer inconvenience.