THE COMPARATIVE COLONIAL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 256, 16 October 1911, Page 3

THE COMPARATIVE COLONIAL.

(By ‘‘Demo-.") Many c laims to novel c-liarac teristics are made by the colonial, but manli-iii-s' is perhaps his must emphatic claim. But it is a claim which cannot be admitted precisely because manli-ne-.s is not human as it sounds. hen we say that a maa is "manly” wei usually mean, apart Irmn physical; considerations, that he is only human I enough to be as admirable as a coll-| i cention and as moral as a religions; : lu-liel which is mainly inspired by a , reward. We do not mean that he is honest enough to de-pise Us person-1 I ally to.- our vices : nor that he is brave; i enough to show his own. mean; •that he condones us as we <-undone; i him. Ami the "inaniim-ss" oi the col-! | .mini does not rise above the primitive ■ I ethics oi common (’liristianity. It is < I content if it does to others as it wishes ; Others would do unto it -with the] usual tacit understanding that the do-1 ing must inflic t no hurt, and wound; in? susceptibility. So that il "manh-i ness” were the chief quality oi colon-; in! nature. 1 am inclined to the state-; m mt that my future would be spent in [ an endeavour to discover more human j and les- angelic- companionship. But i it is because the colonial is more than manly that I am amply happy to keep his acquaintance. He is more than ■•maidv" I he i' human - at once pitiably anil entrancingly human. He is so piliablv human that he is eiitrancingly : tupid-- even more stupid than his rare mates at Home. His stupidity is greater precisely because Ins ■‘idightieiment and ireedom are gieatei. He is enlightened enough to have perceived in his sileiit inti-liigem e the puppetry o: party politirs. His subconscious acumen tells him that lus political existence is a farce. He iee.s if he do -s not know, that he is the tool of an autoeraev which is none the less absolute because it professes demo-cra'-v. He i< enlightened and free; enough to p.-rcei'e ti-.es.- things, but j he is stupid enough to tolerate tni'in ; with an apathy that would damn the| irfllim-ice of his comparative servile , Home he H stupid enough to let himselt be | ceived into an earnestness w inch is j worthv onlv of persona! and democratic | envisions. He is manly enougn to permit laws which may he -though only provisionally - unexemplified in an.x other community. But lie is also so stnpidlv human us to beliec e , , ’ i bv interested what He is i.i.o parties. and consider himse.t a legislative pioneer : and moieo; er. lie ■ is SO stilllid as to let himse’f-stagnate at that.point. He has studied the i-vi s >f ohler nations and by merely guardin<r amiinst the growth of aristocratic,nds "la -ms himself to have earned tie title of democrat. l.‘- adopts all, the fundamental iactms of ex.sting conilliercial plutoci licies, legislates for

iH vices, and calls the resu.t Demo-CI-I--V H” is s " sweetly Stupid as to imagine that he can adopt idmils of mmeral communal wealth and remain f-e-’ from the absorbing individualism Pl riche-,. He would have- the luxtiri- , of the tropics, and hopes to live i,v drugging his template nature against its miasmas and fevers. I_e iC-nfli.-iently sensible to appreemte his insignificance as an individiml and lie is so cliarminglv human as to v.andei through his troubles with his head in a gleaming aureole of egoism. He i>, wholesomelv empirical and yet is so stupid as to estimate hmiselt as a spec-ialist. He is self-conhuent, is lull; „f native- reliance, and ><-t he 'tup.dly abate, that to adopt the ouveutums „t older stat-s. He has always Ire ..bled o-i th- brink of a new creation m communal ethics, and he has with only human conservatism kc'pt us b- 17 - 1 fixed on effete models. He is so arden a ris.*r ini’ll coriv: t<»r that to create With an almost perfect site f„|. a c-apitol he has 1..-.-U stupid enough !o copv a barn. No.v. the really remarkable thing about tins u t.ui a l bls wisdom IS democratic ai.d all his stupidity niist-x-ratie. He monies, de-mi;..-aev like a cow nt the eml unt he feels an aristocratic pride in calling himself a democrat. It is and human enough to be a d ■moer.it wit.i some professions of d-mo. rac y ; but it is comparatively sacred. I.erause it is |lllllt .s t . to be an aristocrat w.tli ansto(.r;Uie convictions. In England and G.-t-inanv and Portugal, democrats aie .lemoernts. because of a real anil «- ehKit- aristocracy- In N.’« Zealand ice-i are not demoerets precisely because of the opportunities of an aristo-...m-v which is not exclnuve. I >ppo'ul nity creates aristocrats as naturally and as inevitably as it eie.iies in i--\n .aristoc rat is no more a c reation of blcHHl than he is a creation of prmcples. It i- just as easv for a cowbanger io >e an aristocrat as tor an ai istoc. at to be a c ow-hanger. B beealis.’ all m-ff <annot ascend to h. “■.-istroea'-v” it does not follow that tb-ir principles make them democrats Thus tiu- - manliness” of the colonial is -is doubtfully admirable as bis d•momaey.” But bis is eevtainlv »> perfect it' t“ ’■ • " Manliness, like- arist rocracy. ■ final and imina-iilate to ma ” 1 ; XTh- bupe. Where humannes' L. ..ven though only luimanne- of a mistaken d -moerac-;. . futures are ami imme.i'Ui aiile- H 11 "'' 1 ‘ ’‘j 'ill!.- that the colonial will some clay lie not only human but a democrat.