DEMOCRACY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23481, 19 October 1939, Page 16

DEMOCRACY

Sir, —Sonio of your readers have no doubt read "An Interpretation of England," by Karl Baldwin, lectures delivered at Toronto University, Canada, in April last. Ho says, inter alia, that democracy is neither a doctrine nor a form of government, but an indigenous product through tbo centuries woven into the unwritten Constitution of England and deeply rooted ill our being, and as natural to us as breathing. Continuing, he savs the Reformation and the English I3iblc gave a great impetus to democracy. Baldwin says we are never to forget that the letter killcth, but the spirit giveth life. Jho ..freedom of the spirit can oulv be won by discipline and sacrifice. May the writer add that the union of the component parts of tlio Empire must he the union of the spint if we arc to continue to exist as an Empire. The Earl says the supreme task ot' democracy is to combine freedom and discipline. Freedom without discipline is licence. Discipline without freedom becomes tyranny. This exordium of mingled quotations from the Earl's book and observations bv the writer leads to tlio reason for this letter. The strength of the; Empire can only remain stable and inviolate ir each component part adheres strictly to the principles found in the Home Constitution. Any part of the Empire that is guilty of maladministration of State affairs, as for instance, unconstitutional manipulations ot currency (for which a day of reckoning will come later), weakens dear old England m the hours of her greatest need, when she so much hungers for the love and holn of us all. New Zealand 13 a fragment of this great Empire. Is our Government at Wellington, a ftor much excellent work for our benefit, "■oing to take this fragrant fragmen and tear it into rags? J.A.B.