Public Opinion.

Pahiatua Star and Eketahuna Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 125, 6 September 1887, Page 2

Public Opinion.

[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by corresiondents.) TIIE CATHOLIC VOTE. (to THE EDITOR). Sia.—-Rumor has it that Horace Bakor* is trying to gull a few of the Catholic electors of this district by promising them a site for a Catholic Church on easy terms. If it is a fact, and that there are men in Pahiatua so stupid as to allow themselves to be inveigled by Mr Baker and his easily broken promises, I say they are very foolish ; for at any other time I think Mr Baker would not care if all the Catholics and their churches were in Mazes. In conclusion, I say if there is one Catholic elector in Pahiatua who will vote for Baker on the strength of his empty promises, let him ho branded in particular as Bwi(k.braodod man in general! for according to him man is a wretched, unfortunate, ugly, odious, absurd, grotesque Yahoo. —1 am, Ac., Thiggjn Tuu.

DEMOCRACY v. IMPERIALISM (TO THE EDITOR).

Sir, Would you kindly allow me through the medium of your paper to make a few remarks on tho above, which I consider of vital importance to the Australasian colonies, as it is to their advantage to embrace a thorough democratic-consti-tution for their future welfare. . i Imperialism is founded on had policy, and is one of the greatest curses llutt man can wroak upon man ; history proves that beyond a doubt. Under the Commonwealth. Rome grow to he the mightiest power on earth, and her moral character was co pure as to arouse tho admiration of the poet*. How beautiful ha* Thomson described ber vast importance, her unbounded {lower, and the patriotism which flowed in the veins of her Senators : Behold her demi gods, in senate met, All head to counsel, aud all heart to a cth The common weal inspiring every tongue \\ ith fervent eloquence, Ullhrib d and hold. Ere iatne corruption taught the servile herd To rank obedient to a master's voice. Tile Romans acknowledged merit and ability eveu if it displayed itself in the humblest of. its aubjecls. Take, for instance the case of Cincinnati!*. When tlie Senate got confused in the administr* tiou of the law, they always had to get him to regulate their disputes ; and they found bun holding the {dough and dressed in tli* mean attire of a laboring husbandman. \\ hou Rome embraced Imperialism, vice crept ill; and vice and Imperialism demolished Rome.

luruing from Koine to England, anv reader cou »eo that the darkest pages of English history are the records 1 if kings and queens; and 1 think none blacker than Charlee 1., but ho |>aid the penalty of it. When the right* and liberties of the English people Were to be anchored

more securely, there aro** in England one of tho greatest men that ever she gave birth to —Oliver Cromwell —who wa* to free England to a certain extent, an 1 place her institutions on a more liberal basis; ami to him England owes most of her greatness by the institutions he established. But great mau as he wa*. he created an Upper House of Lords, and therein ho lost a grand opportunity of thoroughly establishing a Democratic Government. But 1 fear the English people were not sufficiently advanced in political science and ■elf-government to adopt a democratic constitution. France again lias come through a more terrible ordeal, through the wt-allh and Govemtnent being in the band* of a few nobles. The combined despotic power* of Europe endeavored to crush the people in their despairing struggle to shake of! the fetters which had eaten through the flesh to the buuo, aud then having fastened the fetters on again and rivetted them anew, tho hireling advocates of these despotisms gave then own base version of the story to the world. The French people were at times driven to such frenzy as to lose al. self-control; the spirit with which they were assailed maddened them. An Austrian princess wrote that kings and queens should no more heed the clamors of tho qienple than the moon heeds the harking of dogs. We British subjects have a wrong conception of what Napoleon was fighting for, and of course England being the head and front of hereditary power tried every nerve to orush these noble patriots ; and when the Republicans did succeed it was only human nature to retaliate against the despotic powers that tried to crush them. Napoleon was undoubtedly a great general, but lacked the statesmanship of George Washington to establish a thorough democratic constitution.

I now come to America, whore democracy has founded the strongest government on the globe. Washington, like Ciesar, Cromwell and Napoleon, had the power of forming a hereditary government. as the Aruerieftn army wished that lie would assume the supremo command of tho Government and organise the country into a monarchy, with himself as king. But Washington was a Republican ; he believed that the people, trained in the science of legislation, religious in their habits, and intelligent, were abundantly capable of governing themselves. He therefore repelled the suggestion promptly, with indignation. The constitution of the United States ii( in tho judgment ol millions of the civilised world the giost sagacious dnbument which has ever emanated from uninspired minds; but there were provisions iu the compromises of the conditions from which the heart and mind of Washington recoiled. He had fought for human liberty, to givo to the masses of the people those rights of which aristocratic aspirations had so long defrauded them. “ All men ary born free and equal’’ was the motto of that banner under w hich he had rallied hi# strength; Apia] ‘rights under the law for all men was the cornerstone of that American democracy which Washington, Clams, and Jefferson wished to establish. But there was a spirit of aristocracy, of exclusive rights for peculiar classes aud races, which infused its poison into the Constitution, and which subsequently worked out its natural fruit of woe aud death. We read in the life of Thomas Jefferson, true to the love of liberty, that he inaisted for the government of the North West territory that after the year 1800 there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ; and it would have been well had the American people taken his advice and struck slavery out of their Constitution. There would then have been no civil war. But as slavery is dead now, we enn pardon tho American people if they do not pray over its dead bones. The Americans have proved to tho world that the British race of people can govern themselves better than a hereditary legislature.

A Frenchman at. The end of the last century wrote : —"Everyman in France holds himself in readiness to be a slave, while in America every man holds himself in readiness to fill the I'rosidential chair."

I will compnre a few items of the costs of legislature between the Imperial Constitution of England and the Democratic Government of the United States. The Queen, 1 believe, receives alamt half-a-million per annum; the Prince of Wales about £300,000 ; and the rest of the Royal family hi proportion, including the Battenburg loafer, who gets £35,000 a year. The President of the United States receives £IO,OOO a year, or what the Prince of Wales gets in ten days. This is a difference in the cost of administration between Imperialism and Democracy. The President, by virtue of his merjts and ability, is the elect of the people ; he has all the care of seeing the law carried out in the several states ; while, if we believe half we hear, the Prince of Wales can do little else except officiate at drawing rooms and garden parties. Is it not one of the greatest blots in the English Constitution that a Sovereign can rule while insane, as in the case of George III? It shews plainly that neither genius oi ability is necessary to be a ruler of the English people. I ask any thinking man to study the institutions of America and England and say if the latter is a field for merit, genius, or ability. Abraham Lincoln would never have risen righer than a farm laborer in England; and I believe that with a few rare exceptions she ho* never given birth to such a statesman. He could ever say—'Tis not my boast that I deduce by birth From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth; But higher for mv proud pretentions rise— The child of parent* passed into tire skies. The history of America settle* tho question that pop Mar suffrage in the cnoicA of ruler* is a for safer relianca than herednary descent.

Mr Editor. I now come to the colonies. We are drifting slowly but surely towards hereditary power. The mother country is trying her l>est to educate these colouies to Imperialism. The last instance we had of that is that we are asked to contribute something like XT2.OUU to the Imperial Institute. Ah, sir, there is a dark cloud in the horizon of colonial liberty aud freedom, which I fear, if not averted, will eventuate in tho horrors of a civil war in a future generation. The creation of colonial knights is nothing else but dividing society and budding up a little hereditary court. Every thinking mind fears these high-sounding titles, as it means nothing but the creation of

aristocracy; and if the people of New Zealand ore true to their interests aud to those of jiosterity they will throw off the yoke before it is thoroughly riveted, and denounce any man who accept* knight hood os a traitor to the well being of a democratic constitution. It is the basest

hypocracy for men like Sir George Grey end Sir Kolwrt Stout to t.4d themselves in liie u*rb of democracy. whilst accepting the colomel knighthood. l'or Sir Georye

Grey, he belonging to the old school, there may he tome excuse; but for a man with the pronounced vi»ws of Sir 1; >l*r: Stout. I consider that he ha* degrade 1 himself iu the eyes of all democratic people m the colony. Imagine for a moment Mr Stout on hi* bended kne receiving knighthood from the Qwr.'iis representative here, by the simple act of a touch w ilh the broadside of a sword. Me is bought over to Imperialism, and rises up “ Sir Hubert," having for the aake of an empty title given up body and soul and bound himself to the cause of I iu|ienahsiii. ltut pardon ms. Mr Editor, I forgot that he has no soul.

The way 1 propose to abolish this objectionable system of dividing society is to |>etitiun the Home Government to discontinue conferring titles on colonial statesmen ; and in the event of their refusal to accede to our ■•etition, I would tax all present colonial knight s £IOOO per annum, the proceeds to be dividod Among the hospitals or other charitable msUtuUuus in the colony.

There are too many nominated governing bodies in this country, and the Legislative Assembly w ants to be abolished ; and instead have about ten men elected, or say one man from each provincial die trict, to form a revising committee. I am afraid, sir, we can have no democratic constitution here until wc have a man of Jefferson’s stamp to set us the example of economy and simplicity. JeffersoD saw with alarm that the American people were leaning towards hereditary insututiiuis. and of course he was in duty bound to set an example to the people. In o|»ening the Senate ho rode unattended, hitched up his horse to a post and rail fence, and without pomp or ceremony opened the House; and his simple democratic principles swayed the destinies of America for eight years. How different this is to tbe opening of onr Legislature, with its paltry pomp and display—nearly as bail as the court of Louis XIV. It is quite within the power of the colonists of New Zealand to stamp out this demon of aristocracy, with its privileges, and that too within the bul warks of its present Constitution, and leave their institutions free aud open to the next generation, so that the most ragged boy that walks the street may have the opportunity, provided he hits the merit and ability, to fill the highest office within the gift of the people. The late President Garfield once said—“ I feel a profounder reverence for a boy than for a man. I nover meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that I may owe him a salute, for l know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his coat." Here is a quotation from a speech o Mr Lincoln's on the slave power and the aristocracv it created : —“ Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it I never will. The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the sup|>vrt of a cause which I deem to be just; and it shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of tho Almighty Architect, it is when 1 contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world besides, aud I standing up boldly and alone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, before high heaven, and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelitv to the just cause, as I deem it, of the iand of my life, my liberty and my love.” I will now conclude, and if I have erred, it is in not being vindictive enough in chowiug the gross corruption of despotic power; but I shall leave that to an abler pen than mine.—l am, Ac., Wu. Orb. Pahiatna, September 5. IHH7.