PUBLIC OPINION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3101, 6 June 1881, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

Lord Derby, talking about'the two Houses of Parliament recently, said that they had " a superior whom - we both recognise, and that power is public opinion—created, not insido, but outsido tho legislative bodies —public opinion which wo are bound, if we can, to interpret wisely, -whose manifestations we ought to seek to regulate sometimes, by timely criticism and reasonable discussion, to correct, but which neither House of Parliament can oppose or defy." Most people-wiU agree with Lord Derby, but it is interesting to compare his view with what Lord Beacons field said about the same great power in the House of Lords last year :— " There is a fashionable phrase now that everything is inevitable, and that every event is the production of a commanding force of nature which human will cannot resist. The despotism of public opinion is in everybody ; s mouth. But 1 should like to know, when we are called upon to bow to this public opinion, who will define public opinion. My lords, any human conclusion that is arrived at with adequate knowledge and with sufficient thought is entitled to respect, and the public opinion of a great nation under such conditions is irresistible, and ought to be so. But what we call public opinion is generally public sentiment. We who live in this busy age and in this busy country know very well how few there are -who can obtain even the knowledge necessary for the comprehension of high political subjects, and how much fewer there are who having attained that knowledge, can supply the thought which would mature it unto opinion. No, my lords, it is public sentiment, not public opinion, and frequently it is public passion."