ENLIGHTENED OPINION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 39, 21 October 1871, Page 11

ENLIGHTENED OPINION.

Every day and every hour we grow more and more convinced that enlightened opinion is the one thing needed. Forms of government, organic changes, constitutional principles, acts of Parliament, checks and balances, be they good, bad, or indifferent, are matters of but little consequence compared with the formation of an enlightened opinion. Without this the best system of government, and the wisest laws, will prove to a great extent unfruitful; with this the worst government and laws will be precluded from doing much mischief. The first and last question for our legislators to decide is, how can opinion be best enlightened. Every step taken for this object, in the right direction, must prove beneficial ; any step taken for any other object, in any opposite direction, can prove of no permanent advantage. If our legislators could only come to a right conclusion upon this point, and agree upon the proper measures for carrying it into effect, all would be well. Wise customs, laws, and arrangements, would follow as a matter of courseCompared with this, these, however desirable, are only of secondary importance. An opinion may be true or false, ignorant or enlightened. Exactly in proportion to the extent of our knowledge of facts, and to our care in examining, weighing, and comparing them, must be the justice of our opinion. The larger the number of those in any community who have acquired this knowledge, the greater will be the likelihood for the development and prevalence of an enlightened opinion. Public opinion is the prevailing, or predominant opinion of a community, and in proportion to its activity and extension will be its power. Hence the necessity for its enlightenment. At one time we thought the form of government under which we lived was a matter of the first importance. Even now we are far from thinking that it is a matter of no importance ; but we have long arrived at the conclusion that all governments must necessarily, in effect, be more or less either despotical or aristoeratical, whatever may be the outward forms they may assume. We are, we repeat, far from thinking that these forms are unimportant; though we have been forced by overwhelming and irresistible evidence to the conclusion that they are not of such primary importance as is generally supposed. Organic laws, customs, and institutions, which have a tendency to increase our knowledge of the facts of nature, and to practically teach us a knowledge of our rights and duties, as members of society, must tend also to enlighten opinion. If they tend to create and foster habits of free inquiry, forethought, and self-reliance, they must have a valuable educational effect. As educational agencies, as means of enlightening opinion, they thus become highly useful, if not indispensible ; and it is for these reasons chiefly they deserve to be prizod. A. people’s customs, sports, and pastimes, have a great deal to do with forming their opinions and dispositions ; but we shall confine our remarks here to their institutions and organic laws. The trial by jury is an institution of a universally educational character, but owing to the general ignorance of the laws of nature, English juries in former times had no hesitation in convicting old women of witchcraft, and in consigning some of the most sincere and conscientious of their fellowcreatures to the flames. A good deal has been written about the admirable means adopted for insuring the independence of Judges, about the growth and excellence of the English House of Commons, and about the surpassing merits of the British Constitution. We do not think those praises unmerited ; but there was a time when the British Constitution was very different to what it is now ; when the House of Commons was as servile and corrupt as it well could be; and when the Judges were the willing and ready tools of an arbitrary and profligate court. It has been too hastily assumed that the improve-

ment which has taken place has been the consequence of placing them under the law, in an improved position, whereas it has really been the consequence of an improved public opinion. So with regard to the laws. Many of of these were so bad thal they could not be enforced, though they are not even now repealed. Public opinion of late years has been somewhat in advance of the Government and the Legislature, and when it has not occupied this position, legislation has had but little or no effect. Hence we are every day losing faith in the efficacy of Acts of Parliament, more especially when these are in advance of public opinion. And hence we are so anxious, as a guarantee for good government, and the successful and honest administration of a wise policy, that every effort should be made to .secure its enlightenment. One of the means for effecting this object is the removal of all restrictions on the free circulation, within the colony, of an independent metropolitan Press. We do not' pretend that such a Press now exists, or that the Press which does exist is not susceptible of great improvement. To argue as some of our wise legislators have done, that with an extended circulation, by improved facilities being afforded for its transmission by post, it would not adopt an improved tone, is no more reasonable than to argue that the existing traffic would not be increased by improved means of transport. Nor do we pretend to urge that the newspaper press is the only means of enlightening public opinion, though we do believe that it is the best, and cheapest, and most efficient means that can he devised to check maladministration and abuse of office.

To enlighten public opinion we must diffuse not only political, but physical knowledge. There was a time when we should have maintained, with all the confidence of ignorance, that the diffusion of natural knowledge could at most only add to the resources of our material civilisation, but we are now convinced that it is the surest foundation of enlightened opinion, and the necessary forerunner of political freedom. We are persuaded that physical knowledge is the best means of removing obstructions to the progress of sound morality, and to the general adoption of the divine precept, to love one another and live in charity with all men. The more physical knowledge has been diffused, the more humane have become our laws and public opinion. As the invention of the spinning-jenny and steam engine have done more to increase the wealth of nations than either the writings of Adam Smith or Acts of Parliament, so will the diffusion of physical do more than the diffusion of political knowledge, to humanize our laws and enlighten opinion. These important truths have yet to be recognized. For causes which have occupied the most prominent position in the public eve, have not always been the most powerful in effecting results for which they have been alone credited.

We never remember to have seen the distinction and difference between that which is forced into prominence, with that which is really important, so beautifully and forcibly illustrated as has been done by Professor Huxley in one of his lay sermons. The illustration is also confirmatory of the truth of that we have been advancing. Referring to the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, he takes the occasion to point out that some twenty years before the former event, the Royal Society was silently ushered into existence; and he observes, that admitting it to be possible that the founders of the Royal Society themselves looked for no other reward than the advancement of natural knowledge, he cannot admit that he is guilty of exaggeration in stating that he who had the gift of distinguishing between permanent events and important events, the origin of a combined effort on the part of mankind to improve natural knowledge might have loomed larger than the plague, and harve outshone the glare of the fire, as a something fraught with a wealth of beneficence to mankind in comparison with which the damage done by those ghastly evils would shrink into insignificance. We should have thought this an extravagant statement if there did not exist overwhelming evidence of its truth. The improvement of natural knowledge, whatever direction it has taken, and

however low the aims of those who have commenced it, has not only conferred practical benefits upon men, but in so doing has, in the opinion of Huxley, effected a revolution m their conceptions of the universe, and of themselves and has profoundly altered their modwof thinking, and their views of right and wrong Such being the case, it is to be deeply regretted that those measures which would have tended to enlighten opinion have been withdrawn, and more especially the motion introduced by Mr Murray in the early part of the session, and the Education Bill which was introduced by the Ministry. Our remarks, though purposely of a general and nonpolitical character, have a direct bearing on the proposal to establish a Board of Works, and also on the Licensing Bill. We know of no better means for securing the wise and honest administration of public works than a powerful, enlightened, and organised public opinion. The only way to give effect to the aims of the advocates of the Licensing Bill is to secure for them the aid of public opinion. There are many modes of enlightening opinion. One of these is the construction of railways, which by abridging distances will remove prejudices and facilitate an interchange of ideas. Another is the establishment of public libraries and reading-rooms. But the most effective means are popular and scientific lectures, and the more extensive use of the platform and the Press. The best way of improving the tone and increasing the usefulness of the last is to afford it a wider field and a larger audience.