"HONEST DOUBT, IS THE BEACON OF THE WISE."

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 163, 3 April 1908, Page 4

"HONEST DOUBT, IS THE BEACON OF THE WISE."

—Shakespeare. • •

, ; 5ir,777-ln, last Friday's.issue of your. paper appeared ...a;/report .of .a lecture/ given v b ; yL Canon- Stephens .'(Victoria)' /on.'''' Democracy andi Character," and' as there Is imuch' need. for, independent thought in these days (so . many yield to tli6 opinions of others- without meditating on their bearings),-I ask you to . publish a few remarks of mine... ' -v The lecturer said, "On all. great moral questions which, underlio I .legislation, oil all questions of justice'between: class and. class, tli'o judgments of; tho working classes' are more be sound than those of -the ■ educated,. becauso'. less exposed to the 'in-, , ■fluenco" of;:' sinister interests.' Nowjv.sir, . it-is no mere scholar's fancy,-but what all great writers'and philosophers have taught— that only the wise should rule; a direct cdlitradiction to Garion ! Stgph"mis''g6pinion.'i'.'This : is one of tho things 'm'ost. of- us .taket for granted; ; \Yo admit that special kn'owledgogained by study < entitles its. possessor to consideration, if--does -'not occur to-us j that, a vote .at the. .ballot, on tho question] ! that bears so largely on-human welfare demands a trained intellect also. Yet, what • do we see .every poll day ? Matters which re- : ' quire prolonged and disinterested study left j to people, who are mentally' idlo, with lib real education,, and too many of: them enslaved to, opinion, especially in political-;'mat-ters. ■ "• ' ... ' }

.Tho art °f. thinking is not a spontaneous ■gift of .natliro, as. too many itre tickled iiito assuming it is,. -Take away , thought' from the iito of man, and. what remains? .': 'The JncK of thinking is ono:of tlio great'dangers of the ago, and; without ;it wo are rendered subservient to tho .will' of' othere>; who relieve: us of the tr'oublo of. thinkings for' ourselves, and -Ave .take ?:for 'granted-tlmt'.Such -a-'theafc lo£ibal .yje.W of. things must:be correct:"Now beorge.;Eliot declared-. that people; of broad! strong- sense have' aii'r instinctive, repugnance to-maxims, the reason-being that life is too comphcatod- to'be hounded by inflexible-for-mulas. Jheirii'an .of' maxims-comes' to relv upon general rules 'to such' an extent'that .discrimination proves to be. difficult and wellnigh impossible. • , :'i then,. :'is . tho .great': miracleworkoi'r and only m active leisure (for he should '.be a-man.'of -leisure) minds gam the'insight which frees the heart and life from dependence upon 'shalioiv maxims _of worldly policy. - The lecturer , says further a real democracy, must be aristocra«n:•lt ■ splls ? °i tho word;" Looking. ,up. tho. dictionary, I .find is ' ■ ?&.' : ' f "T '■ government' by iiobles •

lis. the finer ■ portion of our mind and'heart iiiT ' i Somt! tliinß still diviner', '■ Ilian mere language can:impart: - '■"■ V . fiver prompting—ever seeing ' Some improvement-yet to plan:' - •lp.-:uplil't'oiuvfello«' being; - '' \ Antij- liko nifui,- to for mnn! - ■ >' ; Tho real- .democracy must be— Not lio, wlimo ,view is bounded-by- his isoil- - , jNothe, - whose, narrow heart can only slirino Ihe iaud-tlio people that ho ealloth mine- - w-h°' w i ° '? f et thnt land-on-high,-"."' ' ' • w ° nations bleed; whole nations ?> 7 p!-ho-it is tho genorous soul f' i mind rom ,rea ' m to realm his spacious And guards the tweal of all the human, kind, ' This-is true democracy! ,No man need fear to be governed by f . such an orifc!—l am, etc. : March-30. '. ' COSMOI>0LITE.