COLONIAL PARLIAMENTS,

Colonist, Issue II, 8 December 1857, Page 3

COLONIAL PARLIAMENTS,

[From the Sydney Herald of November 14.) We have a general.outcry against'the discreditable ' scenes' of the Tasmauiau Parliament, and perhaps this is .the most effectual method to .prevent then: recurrence or imitation. A small colony—somewhat isolated, having a history of its own, and,capable of testing theories of Government, without • violent concussions—it has been for the present, rendered disreputable by frequent ' scancs' in the Assembly of peculiar ferocity.. We are not so certain that a close scrutiny would authorise the Australian world to ascribe a monopoly of indecorum to this member of the colonial sisterhood, but at least it is conspicuous. ' -■'It is some consolation to people who have been themselves disgraced, to find that they are not alonei At an early stage of our Assembly's proceedings, we were startled by exhibitions of insolence and vulgarity which violently shook many traditional notions. We had formed our ideas of a legislated by the more lofty standard of St. Stephen's. It was mortifying to part with illusions which delighted to. believe in a resemblance between the Parliament of England and the colonial legislature;—'to see our Assembly, lowered- to the tone of a Radical Club. It may be objected that in the House of Commons there have been specimens of ruffianism quite as discreditable, and men quite as base as any seen in ColoniarPai'liaments; and that, on the other hand, many among us are equal to any chosen fur similar duties by the English constituencies. ;It is not, however, by.exceptions that opinion will be governed in the long .runv The.estimate to be formed of a public body, or that, formed of a nation, will not depend on the existence of crime or wrong, or its perpetration by this or that class; but upon the feeling it excites, what the amount of practical steps taken to put it down, what the proportion between the diseased and the sound parts of the entire bod.y • In.', this respect the claim of the colonies to be compared with/England is a matter,* for grave consideration.' It must be recollected, too, that the excesses which produced so much; surprise were the acts of the least considerable members of the Assembly. They brought with theni the violent habits, the rude manners, the rough language of the bush. ■ The general conduct of more experienced men was not such as to mark them out.for reprobation, if it did not always entitle them'to. praise. .-; lit must be acknowledged, also,, that much must be allowed for the heat of debate in a country where. the matters for legislation come home to every man's breeches pocket—the 'bosom' of the Australian legislator. The topics are often essentially local and personal; the combat is ■ not for an opinion, but a prize.^^Ve all know how under such circumstances, mm at a loss for an argument, or opposed by an unexpected objection,- pass from defence to recriminationinsult, and abuse. To this more than any other cause we owe 'scenes' in our Legislative Chambers. . The Tasmanian Assembly has been unfortunate in having three or four, members, who have brought into the House violent personal antipathies. Not merely party differences could account for the violence of demeanour and unspeakable brutality of language.. Mr. Gregson, who, it will be recollected, was Premier, gave an example of this conduct even when in office, and he has found his match in Mr. Balfe, who, however, seems rather to have resented than provoked the ruthless proceedings. Their scriptural illustrations are very impressive. Mr. Gregson described Mr. Balfe as Judas Iscariot; he (that is Mr. Balfe)' having formerly belonged to the Young Ireland party, which he forsook,, and some say betrayed. Mi\ Balfe retorts on Mr. Gregson—who acted.as an agent for the Fingal Estate without much assets—that, on the whole, he prefers the. Judas ; p'ersonation—as Judas did repent—to another - 'character, having a particular counterpart in the I Assembly—-Barrabas,-—•' Now Barrabas was a JroJbber.' ■ l , .: Oh a later occasion a 'scene' took place between these gentlemen which led to their formal censure at the bar of the House. The chief offender in these disgraceful'scenes' is an old. man, nearly forty years a colonist, many years a leading politician,,and lately Chief Minister of the Cabinet. His: was no boyish flight, and admits neither excuse nor hape: A man who at sixty cannot avoid these disgraceful exhibitions must be past cure and past care. . ■ ■ We observe that a bill has been brought into, the Tasmanian Parliament, giving to the Assembly the powers of the commons of England. We hope that no temporary convenience .will ever induce the adoption of a.measure so wide, so wild, and so impracticable. There are certain practices of Parliament which may be ascertained, and adopted by special enactment; :but a wholesale law of this kind is preposterous, and fraught with danger. The British Commons declare their owq law, administer it by their own officers, and claim to be above the control of the Courts, and indeed of any other authority. It would be dangerous in the highest degree to convey such powers to a petty Chamber of Legislation, liable to be swayed by a thousand accidental passions. There are several things necessary to the proper action of a legislature, and these ought to be provided; but who in the colonies would profess to interpret British parliamentary law, which is formed on precedents) not in enactment ?' The disgraceful con-

duct 'of certain individuals cannot justify blind legislation. Public opinion will in the end punish those, who disgrace society, by consigning " them to obscurity. DR: GUTHRIE'S1 CITY. ITS SINS AND SORROWS. The City, its Sins and Sorrdivs : being a series of sermons from Luke xix: 41. By Thomas Guthrie, D.D. > Published by BliMk and Co., Edinburgh. ■ ' ,:.. ..■.':. ' (Fromthe Spectatori) : By taking the city of Edinburgh, the capital of i the north, and some of its prevalent vices for the subject of his sermons, the populer Scottish j preacher, Dr. Guthrie, gives a unity and interest to the series which isolated discourses on geneI ral morals or doctrines want- It is true that i there is something onesided and the reverse of catholic in his treatment, -and perhaps in his choice of topics. There are other "sins and sorrows" in great cities than those which spring from prostitution, drunkenness, and ignorance, j. terrible as those evils are. With every allew-: |,ance for the ■point-of view which the preacher' may select, and for the little toleration which his office°can give to mortal weakness as laymen allow for them, we think Dr. Guthrie, at least in his treatment of intemperance, is exaggerated. It is the exaggeration too Of a sect; the facts, the statements, the reasonings, all wear the air of the prize essay and the religious meeting, though the robust vigour'of the preacher may carry him afrove' and beyond the flat narrowness of the essayist or the common: platform orator. There is no. originality, save that of manner; for the " sins and sorrows " of the preacher are those dilated on ,in every pulpit or religious tract. . . ; . The style of Dr. Guthrie may be characterised as striking—very.- It is impressive, in print; and must be still more impressive when driven by a -powerful elocution into the ears of an audience prepared by the atmnsphere of place and circumstances to receive it. The Doctor has also a distinct conception, and a rich, accumulation of materials and images, if we may not; say a fertility of invention. The principle of his composition, however, is obvious and mechanical; very apt to run into mannerism, and we should think readily imitated by followers] It consists in taking' a series of themes or images and impressing them forcibly by and working them up. The recipe ,is ■ this. The subject being chosen, and--the., general' arrangement settled, let the .orator, take a succession of appropriate ideas and labour them into pictures. This is Dr. Guthrie's mode of treatment throughout, though varying with the nature of the topics, materials, and' conclusion to.be adduced. It produces undoubtedly a series of very striking passages; but whether the subject as a | whole is not sacrificed to the parts, may be a question. It is possible, too, that the hearer may he less permanently influenced than by a more equable manner. He will be struck, impressed, surprised ; but will he be touched £ He may. eve a be horrified or frightened for a while ; but when his fright has passed, will he not say—This picture of the results of drinking is exaggerated or exceptional ? You might as well talk against Burke, or Greeriacre, or Palppy or any other hero of the7 halter. Such ''things may have occurred as facts;. but they are sirigtefaefs, not general consequences. Hence it is .probable that the effect of our preacher is not like that of the genial penetrating rain, but of the violent shower, that after a disturbing commotion leaves the earth as dry as it was before." ■:■ When an artist has once formed a particular sfyle, he pursues it unconcsiously. The result on 6thers, nevertheless, may be as the display of obvious art. This effect, we think, must always be more or less the case where parts are made of more importance than the whole, and more especially • when the preacher practically develops the principle that "much'may j be said on both sides." Such is the case with the fundamental position—great cities;, and here is the evil side. . "This earth's earliest city was built by a murderer. Its foundations; I may say, were laid in blood. Enoch was its name, Cain was its founder. Those who, living far from the din and bustle of cities, read with, a wonder that grows into horror, the dark record of their courts and crimes ; those who. see in the blasting effect of their murky air on flower, and -shrub, and trees; only an emblem of their withering influence on the fairest human virtues; those simple cottagers^ who, tremblingly alive" to their danger, saw a son or daughter leave home for the distant city, and have received her back from a Magdalene, or him from a'prison, to expire in the arms of forgiving but brokenhearted affection, they may fancy that the curse of the first murderer and their first founder hangs over earth's cities—dark, heavy as their cloud of smoke." ■'- ' Then we have the other side. " Yet I» bles3 God for cities. I recognise a wise and gracious providence in their existence. The world had not been what it is without them. The disciples were commanded to ' begin at Jerusalem;' and Paul threw himself into the cities of the ancient world, as offering the most commanding positions of influence. Cities have been as lamps of light along the pathway of humanity and religion. Within them science has given birth to her noblest discoveries. Behind their walls freedom has fought her noblest battles. They have stood on the surface of the earth like breakwaters, rolling back or turning aside the swelling tide of oppression. Cities, indeed, have been the cradles of human liberty. They have been the raidiating, acting centres of almost all church and state reformation. Having therefore no sympathy with those who, regarding' them as the execresceuces of a tree or the tumours of disease, would raze our cities to the ground, I bless God for cities. And before addressing you on their evils, will advert to some of their advantages." • The text of the series of sermons is one— Luke_ xix. 41, "He beheld the city, and wept over it." This naturally leads to the ..pictures of the ancient Jews, and of the final destruction of Jerusalem. But the more prominent miseries that overtook the Jews were not those against which the modern cities of this country; afT-least for the present require to be warned! The destruction of Jerusalem and the evils that: accompanied it were mainly, physical. In Edinburgh, :(to which the preacher especially ad-' dresses himself,) in London, in Glasgow, and other British towns, though there are phisical evils in plenty, the moral predominate. It is the object of the preacher to paint those moral evils, and their consequent physical debasement, in order to deter from thsir commission, and to stimulate the public to aid in their reform. It has already been intimated that; the instance of the vice of drunkenness seom to be greatly exaggerated ; that is, the particular fact may be a verity, but the conclusion that the preacher would draw from it is not true. We do not dispute the veracity of the following anecdote, but it is clear that it contains little or, nothing

lieyontl itself. You might as well preacli against madness. / . "Look there! in that,corpse you see the cold dead body of one of the best and godlidst mothers it was ever our privilege to know. She h&d a son ; he was .the stay of her widowhood —so kind, so affectionate, so .loving. Some are taken away from the ' evil to come ;'l la"id in the lap of mother earth, safe beneath the grave's green sod, they hear not and heed.not the stornl that rages above. Snrh was not Her happy figLtune. She lived to see that sni a disgrace, and all the provriises of his yojith blighted and gone: he was drawninto habits of intemperance. ,On her knees she pleaded with him; on her knees she prayed for him. How mysterious are the ways of Providence! She did not live to see him changed; and with such thorns in her pillow, such, daggers, planted by such a hand, in her heart, she cou'd nut live \ she sank under these griefs, and died of a broken heart. We told him so. With hitter burning tears he owned it, charging himself with his mover's death—confessing himself a mother's murderer. Crushed with sorrow, imd aIL alone, he went to see the body. Alone, beside that cold, dead* unrepro idling mother, he knelt down and wept out his tenible remorse. After awhile he arose. Unfortunately—how unfoitunate that a -spirit bottle should have been left there!'his eye fell on the old .tempter. »You have s-en the iron approach the magnet. Call it spell, call it&scinajion, call ij^nything bad, demouiac.il, but as the jron if^dDJwn* to the magnet, or as a fluttering bird, fascinated by the burning eye and glittering skin of the serpent, walks into the envenomed expanded jaws, so Was he drawn to the buttle. Wondering at his delay, they entered the room, and now the bed holds two bodies, a dead mother, and a dead drunk son."

One eifect of these exaggerations has been already noted, and they are common enough on the platform if not in" the pulpit generally ; thd evanescent impression they make, and the distrustful misgivings they lea^ye behind. This disposition to take the rule from extremes adversely influences the projects of reform. Beyond a general exhortation to parents to-bo careful, Dr. Guthrie has no suggestion, to offer on the m<>sb crying evil of the Whole—prostitution. His principal plans foi* drunkenness and ignorance are the Maine Liquor Law and ;a" Compulsory Bill; neither of which is it practicable to pass in the present state of public opinion.