PROGRESS OF ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

Evening Star, Issue 726, 2 July 1887, Page 2

PROGRESS OF ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

The Rev. Dr Belcher delivered a sermon at All Saints’ Ohuroh on Sunday last, from which we make the following extracts Psalm oxl., 4.—The meroilal and gradons Lpid hath bo done nie marvelloue world that they ought to be bad In remembrance.

The last few years have witnessed the growth and expression of an Imperial sentiment in our people which is not tainted with the character of mere effervescence, nor tinged with mere imperiousness, but seems to be of a permanent and abiding land. This great movement of cohesion grows in intensity as the borders of the world seem to narrow themselves. We claim for ourselves the glories of the same heritage, the rich splendors of the same speech, the same spirit, the same characteristics. The ties existing between ourselves and the land we call Home are of the most elastic and popular kind. Whatever may have been the faults and follies of a century ago, during these fifty years past England .observed towards the colonies the attitude of a very indulgent mother. Political privileges have been awarded with no unsparing hand—a policy which surely must clear away suspicion, extirpate jealousies. Mid pave the way to a more enduring union and a more assured concord. In order to secure this enormous benefit to the race, this general union of a pacific’ people, whose points of contact with the world are co-existent with the general circle of humanity, it is worth while to mats sacrifices. Local and individual interests must be abandoned on both sides in favor of a _ juet and appropriate compromise. The considerations affecting the ties now being woven between every part of tin English-speaking world do not cease with the contemplation of onr own immediate interest in them. As the opinion of other members of the same family is valuable to every member of the family, as it assists in determining the character of each while it tends to mould the identity of the whole, so is it with the opinion of mutually-related nations in its bearing on the attitude of a fully federated people. By watching closely the drift of opinions at Home and compring it with the working of colonial tendencies we may arrive at a broader and more generous estimate of the spirit animating the whole and every part of a übiquitous nationality. Life in a new country means fresh conditions. The adaptation of old institutions to new circumstances, the absence of crowding, and the consequent sense of 1 larger individual power; the enjoyment within narrow limits of a rough abundance, the diminution of pauperism all these things most tell on the character of a people. On the other hand, work in an old country, the larger opportunities, the keener struggle, and, therefore, the greater victory; the more subtle and more incessant play, at sympathies, the ampler soil for the development of special gifts, the splendor and display of life, the refinements of art, and the multiplied, outlets of emotion, these, too, evolve a character of their own. I believe that by bringing face to face with each other, and often, men who have been’ reared under these varied and varying conditions, the greatest ultimate good will be wrought to onr people and nation, and that t.e bitter root of a perhaps unexpressed, but none the less influential sense of mutual antipathy, will be worn out and wither away. “An ordinary Englishman arrives in a colony with an idea that his colonial fellowsubjects have much to learn, and that he will instruct them. But the first few weeks in his new home are a succession of disillusions. Colonists have their own ways of doing things, and they believe in those ways. After a time the would-be teacher also grows to believe in them. In the course of years he returns to the Mother Country. He comes back with sometlrng of che same contempt for the people at Home that he originally carried out with him for the people of the Colony. He expects to find things very much as he left them. Of course he is again undeceived. There has been no_ lack of progress, and, as he discovers, there is no want of capacity. Yet he is not unable, in spite of his protracted absence from the Old Country, to hold his own with his countrymen, while on the whole he finds that his own capacity has been improved by his experiences. The successes of returned colonists are neither few nor inconsiderable.” Surely we may behold in this constant movement of thought, this approximation of character, this fusion of interests, the working of a common instinct of amicableness, the possession of a common aim, and the ultimate fruition of a common excellence. . . . Another mark of Victoria’s reign, which the historian who is faithful to the record will write down carefully, has been the emancipation of women and children. Ido not now dwell upon factory legislation, of the release of women from degrading occupations, of the noble provision made by all English-speaking nations to meet the i equirements of education. The same efforts have been made, or are now in process in other nations, whose retardation in tins direction may be duo to the interruptions of war and revolution. The point now advanced is the general tendency to accord women fair play, to see that their opportunities are not marred by wilful obstruction, by misrepresentation, by prejudice. The wboleof this generous movement has been to some extent a movement into regions unexplored. We have as yet some, but not much, evidence to hand, to aid decision in this direction. We have before us two of the chief writers of this century, many excellent mathematicians, linguists, teachers, and artists-not to mention her who now occupies with such acceptablenets the throne of our people; but these instances, however numerous, are, relative to the whole multitude, mere isolated facts. We still wait for indisputable proof to show that in women there is a vast store of energy wasted, because we must wait until the energy has been fully taxed. We know them to be keen and accurate observers, patient and conscientious workers; their conclusions are arrived at rapidly and often as if by instinct; their memory _is generally both accurate and retentive; their ingenuity and imagination are above the average of the other sex. Give them facts and they can retain them, work with them, combine them. _ln many of them the ideas of order, of organisation, and of discipline are highly developed. They rule well and they obey well. Their tact is proverbial, and their presence of mind beyond question. These facts have burst upon the attention of men as if they were strange phenomena, such as might be encountered in a land previously unexplored. If all these discoveries are relatively recent —it they encourage and stimulate to farther exertion —assuredly they are attended, too, by the evils entailed by a state of transition. _ The liberty is a little new, and somewhat in the plaything stage of accessory privilege. Perhaps in England, certainly in America, it has assumed some extravagances—it has run to a few extremes. Intoxicated by a sense of novel acquisition, some women have not been careful to avoid positions that easily might have been avoided—that certainly will be avoided as soon as the sense of having thrown off a yoke has disappeared. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the movement has not for a moment been imperilled, it has not even been retarded. Whether it will immediately go so far as to place at the disposal of women all the grave issues bound up with the pulse of national life —issues of war and of peace, of the ruin of commerce or its development—issues which, as in the case of war or maritime trade, cannot be wrought out by women—as to this farther step into darkness, none have even as yet conjectured the result. It will be time enough to consider these matters when they emerge from the stage of academical discussion into the further stage of practical solution. It was an act, as generous as it was just, to enlarge the sphere of the usefulness of woman by extending her importunities, as was done when in 1878 the University of London —first of British universities to change its policy—opened the way for women to the attainment of degrees. As a commentary upon this act, our latest advices, if they are correct, apprise us that the highest classical distinction known to our academical system has been won by a woman; just as, five years ago, the highest distinction in medicine known to our system was won by a woman.