THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2734, 8 August 1906, Page 46

THE WEEK.

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"The science of Government is merely a science of combinations, of A Cabinet »f application*, aiid of oxComprowlie. ceptions, according to time, place, and circnmstr-.ee." So says Rousseau, and Sir Joseph War«'t may fairly lay claim, now that tbe composition of his Cabinet is announced, Co have mastered the science of nrhloL th€ French philosopher speaks. The often! announcement of the membership of the new Ministry proves the political prcphets right and wrong — right in regard to tlv» personnel, wrong in respect fco tb« allotment of the portfolios. There is a sense in which it is safe to say that rarely has a new Ministry been formed under more auspicious circumstances ; for the unexpected decease of the man who for so long a period had swayed the country's fortunes paved the way for the reconstruction so clamorously demanded by the Ministerial rank and file. The dropping of Messrs Duncan and Mills has made it possible for the Premier to include the three men whose names have been on tvery lip as ripe for Cabinet honours — Messrs Millar,

Fowlds, and M'Nab. It is idle to expect that the new appointments will be universally approved. There is certain to be a howl from a section of disappointed aspirants whose claims for advancement have been passed over, but it will be conceded by the unbiassed that the Premier has made the best selection

possible under the circumstances, and that he will find himself surrounded by a fairly capable and intelligent set of colleagues. Probably he might with profit to himself and to the colony have extended the "dropping" operation, but it is likely that he desires to feel his way before adopting drastic measures. When, however,- the wisdom of the selection- is allowed-, the best that cart be said for the new Ministry is that if represents a , Cabinet of compromise. Upon the more important policy questions which must occupy the attention •of th« Government daring the coming sessior. the Ministry is hopelessly divided. O£ course this was the case to a greater or lesser extent in the Seddon Cabinet, but

the powerful personality of the man at the head of affairs simply rendered th« * *£in,ions of bis colleagues of none effect*

it will be interesting to see whether Sir Joseph ,^»ard is able by guile to succeed in doing what Mr" Seddon accomplished by sheer will power. It is surely one of the tricks of fortune which places Mr Millar, the nominee of the licensed victuallers, cheek by jowl with so redoubtable a pair of prohibitionists as Messrs Fowlds and M'Nab. The attitude of the Government on the land question, too, must be complicated rattier than simplified »y the fact that Mr Fowlds is a pronounced, single-taxer, Mr M'Nab a confirmed advocate of the freehold, and Mr Millar an equally confirmed leaseholder. When the revision of the tariff comes on the board it has to be remembered that Mr Millar is a Protectionist, whilst both Messrs Fowlds and M'Nab have leanings towards Freetrade. Thus, While on the side of intelligence and ability the Ministry has been decidedly strengthened, the variance of opinion to which we have alluded cannot fail to be ft source of weakness. Questioned on this point, the Premier has pointed out that when opinions differ the majority of the Cabinet carry the day, and that the particular views entertained by single Ministers upon one point or another need' not be too weightily considered. And Sir Joseph might aptly have quoted from Cotton that passage where he says : — "There are some characters who appear to superficial observers to be full of : contradicition, change, and inconsistency, and yet they that are in the secret of what such persons are driving at know that they are the very reverse of what they appear to be, and that they have one single object in view, to which they pertinaciously adhere, through every circumstance of change, as Mie hound to the hare, through all her mazes and doubling. We know that a windmill is eternally at work to accomplish one end, although it shifts with every variation of the weathercock, and assumes 10 different positions in a day." For characters read Cabinet, and the political position is seen at a glance. The Premier has now to prove himself ; the question of the hour is, taking up Colton's windmill simile, has he sufficient driving power to keep his weathercock Cabinet always on the move ?

Dark days are evidently in store for Russia. The cable news of IlKLawt«i«w»<*« .post few days gives erKtuiia. evidence of a growing spirit of lawlessness throughout that vast Empire, together with increasing dissatisfaction both in the »rmy and the navy. These are most serious symptoms, and likely to be productive of the gravest disaster.- In the July Contemporary, Dr Dillon quotes from the Novoye Vremya of June 6, a . realistic Russian tableau, drawn by the pen oi a Slav, and depicting the existing situation, extract or two, for we have not space for the whole, will give j an idea. of the real --danger now threaten- -j ing the Russian Empire and the Russian people : — "Every day you read in the ■ papers- a very long martyrology of the slain. It is just as in war time. In sooth, war is even now being waged. The revolutionists are the assailants, the Government is defending itself, retreating a little, evacuating positions, giving way. Truly it is a ruthless combat. You watch the struggle, you listen to it with alarm and heart-burning, and little by little your moral sense gets blunted ; you grow accustomed to it. It is but a short time since a sensational murder would have moved and horrified you, but you now daily read how in one city a police officer was blown into fragments by a bomb ; how in another the revolutionists executed two women for giving evidence in a court of law, putting 82 bullets through their bodies; in a third bow they bound the condemned persons to a tree, and fired 10 bullets into them. . . . You are perhaps somewhat excited and aroused by the latest massacres, whereby in a couple of minutes 108 persons were crippled, maimed, or killed. Bui that effect is due to the circumstance that nntil now emancipatory murders were not carried out on a scale so grandiose. However, you will soon be used even .to that. And insensibly a revolution will have been accomplished in yourself, the prospect of which would have dismayed you -d short time ago. Your sentiments of pity, fellow feeling, tenderness, are being gradually atrophied, while the wild animal instincts which lay latent under the culture of ages are being aroused together with al! the fateful force of heredity, and are stifling even your clearness of consciousness so that you fail to see that Russia is becoming a gigantic madhouse. And all the horror of the situation is here in the fact that Russia is irresistibly moving towards the wild beast state,' towards forgetfulness of elementary morality. ''But there is a danger greater still. The young generation is growing up among the horrible scenes of murders and executions. Habit is a terrible force, and our impressive and fickle youth has already contracted it. Hence we are witnesses of unwonted sights : armed schoolboys pillage safes, boys of 15 and 16 years throw bombs, and even children hire themselves out as assassins for money. A short time ago in the Baltic provinces a political murder was committed. The assassin turned out to be a boy of 15, who had received 50 roubles (about five guineas) earnest money for the job. He had agreed to do the killing because he was eager to buy a bicycle. All this looks like a malignant nightmare. . . . Russia bids fair to become a realm of two-footed wild beasts."

Uetween New Zealand politics of the present and British politics She Polities of 50 years ago there is of a wide gulf, of which the The Past. death of the Duke of Rut-

land serves to forcibly remind us. Among the members returned to the House of Commons at the election t>f 1841 was Lord John Manners, afterwards Duke of Rutland, he being only C 3 years of age when he represented

Canterbury. He first became famous because, being a prominent member of Mr Disraeli's "Young England" party, he published in the same year that he entered Parliament, a book of poems entitled "England's Trust," wherein he enunciated his views upon religion and politics. He was a ritualist, an Ultramontane, and a believer in the divine right of Kings. Justin M' Carthy thus describes Disraeli's venture: — "The Young England party, as they were then called, were ardent to restore the good old days when the noble was the father of the poor, and the chief of tfie neighbourhood. All manner of pretty whimsies were caught up with this ruling idea, to give them an appearance of earnest purpose The young landlord exhibited himself in the attitude of a protector, patron, and friend to all his tenants. Doles were formally given at stated hours to all who would come for them to the castle gate. Young noblemen played cricket with the peasants on their estates, and the Saturnian age was believed by a good many persons to be returning for the express benefit of old, or rather of young, England." It would be difficult to conceive anything more opposed to the democratic spirit of the present day than the atmosphere by which Lord John Manners was surrounded on his entrance to political life. Some of the passages from his poems, too, read strangely in the light of today. What, for instance, in this commercial age would be thought of a sentiment such as this :—: — In many a hamlet, yet uncursed by trade, Bloom Faith and Love aU lightly in the

shade. Or how would the modern socialist, who believes in levelling down all class distinctions and all social inequalities, regard that outburst which has rendered "England's Trust" immortal :—: — No! by the names inscribed in History's

p*e« — Names that aTe England's noblest heritage. Names that shall live for yet unnumbered

years, Shrined in our hearts with Crecy and

Poictiers — Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die, But leave us still our Old Nobility. But although men and manners have changed greatly since Lord John Manners' day, yet the great principle which ruled the political world then is still in operation to-day. This is cleverly summed up by Mr T. P. O'Connor when alluding to Disraeli's influence over men like Manners and Smythe, and others of the Young England party : — "What is the secret of success of men like Mr Disraeli? It is this : that in a world of men who are in the vast majority willing to pass life listlessly, without effort, without calculation, without object, there are some beings .spurred to incessant activity by consuming selfishness and vanity. Men, for the most part are anxious to be used ; the man who sets out with the idea of using them has the first great requisite of success."