THINGS AND THOUGHTS.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 77

THINGS AND THOUGHTS.

B\ John Christie.

A POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGIST. I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban— "King Lear," 111-IV. "Look at him!" said the elder to the younger of two friends ; "take this fieldglass and have a. good look at him." The person thus spoken of was more than a mile away, and) appeared to be some honest ordinary citizen out for an airing. Yet he seemed to be an object of unusual interest to the elder of the two observers. "Look at him well," continued that sage, "but do not ask me how he has reached power. It is sufficient to know that he has it, and that he uses it in ways that are alien to the principles of 'democracy. For what is the meaning of true democracy? Is it not the extinction or exclusion of everything in the nature of class preference, privilege, and prestige? Does it not mean that, on the one hana ; and on the other, the promotion and maintenance of the equitable, uncorrupted. interest of the whole people as a fraternal - commonwealth of civilised men, women, and children? When a man who is the nominal upholder of the people's cause fails to uphold it in accordance with these principles, it is surely fair to infer, either that he is entirely deficient in the intelligence and honesty essential to the fulfilment of his trust, or that he has obtained power by, tortuous methods, and uses unscrupulous means to retain it. In either case, he is in a position which morally belongs to a better man." "Does your philosophy not demand a virtue that is impossible and impracticable in public affairs?" asked the younger man. r 'A friend of mine has just returned from a visit to a country whose public business is administered by a politician who owes his position to the fact that other men helped him to power in order to frustrate statesmen who were repugnant to their personal and political egoism ; and he says that this person gets on very well indeed, and that the country, too, apjpears to prosper under his direction. No doubt this is an edifying commentary on the august science of government, or, better still, an instructive instance of the fact that There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. But, in any ease, if the people are not dissatisfied, is it wise to reason curiously about their servants?" "If the people are not dissatisfied — that is, indeed, a go-as-you-please philosophy ; otherwise, a gospel of the devil. I, too, have sojourned in the country lately visited by your friend. The man >he speaks of assuredly has a talent for government — among imperfectly-educated people, incapable of thinking in masses, yet easily moved in masses to the prejudice of a country's true welfare. Then he has, I believe, a considerable fund of what is called good nature. He can talk nonsensein a way that makes unreflecting people laugh ; play divertingly with catch phrases that carry weight with the same people, and deftly dish up funeral baked meats — that is, deal gustfully with proposals more or less intimately associated with persons or policies that stand for something in popular traditional politics. Besides, he has plenty of vanity, which may, unfortunately, be a larger element in a public man's success than is good for his country. For does not a vain man feel flattered by the approbation of people, no matter how if may be secured ; and has this not a bad effect in at least two ways? Does it not lead him to pander to what is poorest in the public character; and does this not induce the least reflecting of the people to give him their support? They learn to feel that h© is their man — the man who owes his power to them, and gives expression in the state to their aims, or, rather, to theit pitiful lack of anything worthy of that name. Such a man naturally' thinks it is a fine thing to be a minister of the people ; he feels himself honoured by the position, more than, he feels that he should be an honour to it, and thinks it a greater thing to hold it than to hold it with supreme advantage to the permanent interests of the country. On their part, the people who rejoice in him rejoice in him as a man who appeals with facility to what they deem to be their public spirit; otherwise, their par-

ticular portion of public opinion or popular emotion. Yet, is it not a fact that these people are mentally in the condition of Titania, when she idolised a poor blockish Athenian weaver, with an ass's^ head, as the crowning glory of manhood?"

"But where shall we find a remedy?" asked the young man.

"Assuredly not within the four corners of your precious go-as-you-please philosophy. The real cure, of course, lies in the thorough education of the people — in enlightened public spirit, cultivated intelligence, and that manly independence which cannot 'be hoodwinked, and will not only not stoop to truckle with baseness, but will hurl it back into the outer darkness when" it dares to present itself within the arena of public life. But how far away; apparently, is the realisation of this ideal! The indiSerentism— the go-as-you-please spirit to which you yourself have just been giving expression — is not the least barrier in the way of true progress. Look here, look there, first at one country and then ' at another, and see in how many oases the public service is crammed 1 with the creatures of a caste or with those of some unscrupulous full-blooded adventurer ; and, consequently, in either case, honeycombed with all kinds of caitiff meanness — spying, tale-bearing, back-biting, coercion, cowardliness in a thousand forms. Nor is that . all. Corruption is protean in its manifestations, and its taint enters not only into public affairs, but into thousands of private and personal characters. Honesty and honest men have no show within the sphere of the bad influence. Those whom necessity constrains to stay on in the villainous arena against their better natures — those who cannot wholly become grovellers and lickspittles — must still appear to be so, and must deal in that mouthy worship. Whioh the poor heart would fain deny, but

dare not! Yet the men who take naturally to these bass conditions, or whom necessity constrains to adjust themselves to them, marry, and give in marriage, and <mix socially with their fellow-creatures in other spheres. But how their characters, native and acquired, must taintingly affect social life, and enter corruptingly into the characters of their progeny."

"It is always hard, and sometimes practically impossible, to adduce concrete instances of these evils. Be assured, too, that when they are described or denounced, however justly, yet without such proof?, the miserable autocrats who are mainly responsible for them will deny the impeachment with the pathetic or passionate protestations of injured patriots, the boisterous blusteringness of bullies, or the audacious contemptuousness of abandoned cynics ; and all their creatures, in fact or in expectation, will applaud them in tones and attitudes calculated to touch the hearts of the gulled multitude. While this goes on a barnaclised bureaucracy, ruinously opposed to the welfare of the nation, grows apace ; for ecuiying illustrations study Dickens's ' Little Dorrit, or the conditions of modern Russia. There are other instances, ancient and modern, but these will do ; and such abuses will ever arise and prosper under the political conditions to which you would extend the countenance of your go-as-you-please philosophy.

"This must not be so ; we must not give and take with the devil. Let every country beware of the average politician who happens to be what is called a clever man — of the man who has ambition, and will make an unscrupulous use of opportunity to gratify it. When a man of this stamp obtains power, he obtains it without desert or true fitness on his part. As a rule, he canes nothing for any policy, project, or ideal beyond what is necessary to secure him) the necessary number of votes. Of course, he does not stand alone in his infamy ; if he did, he would be as harmless politically as he is morally worthless ; but, unfortunately, he is supported by large numbers of people — ignorantly by those who judge him by his professions, and cunningly by those who are" familiar with his principles. The second class may not be the most numerous, but it is generally the most influential on account of its tactics, for it knows how to handle the people who innocently take manoeuvring politicians at the face value of their professions. The members of this class are as bad as the bad public man himself ; for they do not care how much lie neglects large, general, and permanent principles and purposes, so long as their own prejudices and immediate interests appear to be served by his policy or administration.

"So it too often comes to pass that, between workers of guile on the one hand, and the too guileless people on the other, the statesmanship -which would secure justice to all, and repress injustice in both majorities and minorities, receives but a sorry show. It is under conditions such as these that hideous despotisms come into existence in barbarous countries, and equally hideous corruptions and wrongs fester into the commonwealth in so-called civilised democracies. In the face of such things, what is the value of a go-as-you-please philosophy like yours, my young friend? Reform it altogether — throw it to the dogs, and take a man's part — first, in. building, and then in defending, that perfect arch of true democracy, which must have understanding and faith in its foundations, rectitude for one side, righteousness for the other, and sterling manhood for its keystone. And until this is fully builded and made secm-e, let us thank God for death, which, sooner or later, removes the knaves and fools who, together, make and maintain all base conditions."

Of what the young man said in reply, or as to •whether he replied at all, there is no record ; but perhaps the older man's gospel may be left, as it stands, with the conscience af the thoughtful and judicious

reader.