AUGUST 29, 1846.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 65, 29 August 1846, Page 2

AUGUST 29, 18 46.

— Sir W. Jones.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends thou airas't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

ON THE DIFFUSION OF POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE.

"What constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlements, or laboured mound, Thick wall, or moated gate; Not cities proud with spire and turret crowned: Not bays and broad-armed ports, Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; Not starred and spangled courts, Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. No : Men, high-minded men, With powers as far above dull brutes indued In forests, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude: Men who do their duties know But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain, Prevent the long aimed blow And crush the despot, while they rend the chain; constitute a state."

Some of the most powerful pens have been employed in defending the right of free and unfettered enquiry into subjects of a political character ; and some of the most comprehensive minds, and luxuriant imaginations, have been devoted to the task of enforcing the duty, and illustrating the advantages, of a more general application to the study of the great principles of political government. "We may," says Mackindoe, "form too low an estimate of the importance of cultivating virtuous dispositions, and correct habits, but it is impossible to overrate the advantages which accompany the acquisition of knowledge." Specific knowledge is not more necessary to the successful application of industry to the varied pursuits of private life — to the mechanical arts— to trade and commerce— than is political intelligence to the preservation of political freedom, and the right discharge of the duties of citizenship. There was a time, when men of morbid minds and matchless effrontery, scrupled not to avow the sentiment, that the diffusion of political knowledge was dangerously adverse to the peaceful interests of society : they pretended that such knowledge was, by right, the

exclusive privilege of the higher orders — that they only were entitled to contemplate the mysteries of political science, and examine the proceedings of existing administrations ; and that the lower orders, even though they form the bulk of every community, had nothing more to do with government than to submit without question to its enactments, approve without reluctance its policy, and pay without murmuring its exactions. But the days of this insolent dictation on tlie one hand, and of abject servility on the other, have for ever passed away. If there be any who still really cherish this illiberal belief, they can only mourn in secret over the degeneracy of the times, and sigh to think of the profanation of their principles by the sturdy elements of modern manners. If knowledge, of any kind, be an evil from which men should be carefully guarded, then it is an evil to possess a mind capable of acquiring such knowledge. What a blessing it would be to have the powers of the intellect merged into the energies of the animal frame —the light of reason obscured by the corporeal appetites ! What a calamity it must be to have a judgment to discover, a memory to retain, and an imagination to combine into , new forms " such dangerous materials as new ideas /" Happily for society at large, it is now generally admitted, that the rational faculties with which we have been endowed by the Supreme Intelligence, were bestowed for the purpose of ministering to our happiness, and that our happiness is increased or diminished according as we neglect or fulfil the duty of acquiring knowledge. Political knowledge is not only the privilege of all classes of the community, but its acquisition is a duty which they cannot safely neglect. We would not be misapprehended. We do not mean that it is a duty, or that it is necessary" for all classes of society to study those minute and intricate questions of political economy which have been elaborately discussed by learned men ; or to pry into those secret deliberations of the executive, which particular emergencies require : nor do we recommend the study of those unprincipled intrigues which statesmen and rulers have often managed with such clever knavery, nor the splendid villanies which have been announced to the world under the title of diplomatic arrangements. But we do hold it to be the duty of every rational being to seize upon all the means within his power of enlarging his acquaintance with thosegreatprinciples of social morality, those axioms of political rectitude, which constitute the true standard of all just government ; and according to which, all the maxims, laws, and measures of politicians, and rulers must be tried. If we look abroad into the world we shall find that ignorance invites oppression, but that intelligence is a foe to every species of usurpation. What great political reforms, have been accomplished in our Native Land ; what execrable compounds of bigotry, monopoly and corruption have been dissolved by means of the increased diffusion of political knowledge amongst the people ! Systems engendered by aristocratic prejudice, and feudal pride, which time and custom had almost taught the dormant faculties of our fathers to revere, have been gradually divested of the fictitious excellencies with which popular ignorance had clothed them ; and now, transformed by the Ithuriel touch of intelligence and truth, they stand revealed in all their native deformity — humiliating mementos of former ignorance, but pleasing trophies of the conquests of modern enlightenment. The diffusion of political, knowledge among all classes of the community, is the best preservative against the encroachments of power — the most effectual barrier to domestic tyranny, and the strongest bulwark that can be opposed to foreign aggression. A people, schooled in the principles of equitable administration, can ■ detect the first symptoms of a threatened invasion of the liberties of the subject ; and can arrest with promptitude, any measures of their rulers that may have an overt tendency to infringe upon their rights : and that state is provided with the surest elements of defence against assailants from without, whose people are linked together in the bonds of intelligence, ready to make common cause against the invaders of their peace. Instances have occured, it is true, of men, scarcely raised above the level of savage ignorance, making extraordinary efforts to maintain their political independence. Under the impulse of an ardent attachment to the country of their birth— though j destitute of the intelligence which implies a just perception of the privileges which constitutes a country a home- — they have risen en masse, as if suddenly inspired by the true spirit of patriotism to strike off the fetters of a foreign yoke. But the predominating influences which produced such examples, have been either a mechanical obedience to the commands of a superior, or a devoted loyalty to some warrior chief. Such outbursts of unenlightened patriotism are devoid of those traits of moral heroism which call forth the intelligent approbation of the good. The history of this Colony furnishes a striking example of the disadvantages nnder which a people labor whose political intelligence is confined within very navrow limits. If Heke, and his- followers, had been, enlightened men ;

or if they had enjoyed the means of acquiring correct information respecting the duties and privileges of British subjects ; they would never, in all probability, have been rebels : for this simple reason, — because neither he, nor his countrymen would then have been subjected to a course of treatment incompatible with the claims of intelligent citizens. But being ignorant, they were excluded from the exercise of some of the commonest and most obvious rights of subjects ; and thereby exposed to the temptation of revolt. Let us suppose for one moment, that at the period when the character and immunities of British subjects were professedly conferred upon them, Heke and his countrymen had been possessed of the ordinary degree of political intelligence common to the lower orders of Englishmen ; would the British Government then have acted towards them, in the same manner it has done? Would the Authorities have ventured to declare, that subjects, possessed of such a degree of enlightment, might sell their pigs, potatoes, and other produce to whomsoever they pleased, but that their land should be the especial perquisite of their rulers ; who should have it when they pleased, where they pleased, and at any price they mi^ht choose to give ? Most assuredly the (Government would not have attempted to treat any subjects in this manner, who had the slightest pretensions to knowledge and intelligence. Governments are but composed of men; and there is a natural tendency in human nature, when elevated into power, to abuse the prerogatives of its position ; especially when the ignorance of those in a subordinate condition, seems to favor the delusion that it is possible to be unjust with impunity. That community is farthest removed from the reach of oppression, which is composed of individuals whose virtuous intelligence, renders them competent to controul, while they obey the enactments of their rulers. But the diffusion of political knowledge is not only important as a preservative of political freedom, it is also essential to the proper discharge of the duties of the citizen ; and we would lay especial stress upon this portion of our subject, because of the probability of the speedy recognition of our right to representative Government. One important duty of subjects is the election of their representatives ; but how can they do this with credit to themselves, and with benefit to the public, j if they are ignorant of the principles upon which good government is founded. If they know not the nature of the duties a Legislator j should perform, nor regard the qualifications j he should possess, how can they avoid making j an injudicious choice? If a community of individuals neglect to cultivate the knowledge that would prepare them for the creditable discharge of the elective franchise, they can- j not wonder if this omission of a positive duty is made a pretext for withholding the right altogether. If an ignorant population were in- | vested with the elective right, the probability is, that they would give their votes to the man who bad art enough to work upon their passtons — pander to their selfish prejudices, or stimulate their illegitimate desires by holding out chimerical hopes that could never be realized : and thus a benefit would be converted into a curse ; and a valuable privilege, and inalienable right, would be brought into unmerited disrepute- Not that the possible abuse of the elective franchise, is a sufficient argument to justify any Government in withholding it from the people ; on the contrary, it is, or ought to be considered, by every wise and paternal administration as imposing an additional obligation upon them to bring vp the minds of the people, by means of general education, to a due perception, and proper estimate of the duties which it involves. The diffusion of Political knowledge ensures the due obedience which subjects owe to the civil authorities whom they have placed over their public affairs ; and secures the cheerful payment of those just and equitable imposts which the exigencies of every Government require. The origin, end, and obligation of this duty being brought home to the mind of every member of society, they would acquiesce with cheerful conscientousness in the reasonable demands of the Public Treasury upon their purse. Trained to discriminate justly, between extortion on the the one hand, and tribute on tne other, they would neither raise unmeaning clamors against imaginary extravagance, nor murmur at the burden of a necessary expenditure. We have been induced to enter upon the consideration of this important subject, as a preparatory step to the discussion of our claim to Representative Government; which we intend to pursue at an early opportunity. The opinions and sentiments of many writers of distinguished excellence are embodied in the positions we have now advanced : and we trust that our readers will not only recognize their right to exercise a free and unfettered enquiry into subjects of a public character, but that they will also see it to be their duty to study the principles of just Government, and cultivate an acquaintance with the fundamental principles of political morality, so that their intelligence and knowledge may be made subservient to the general weal.