THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 204, 7 January 1869, Page 2

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1869.

With, perhaps, oue exception, history furnishes no parallel to the anxious discussion now going on in nearly all parta of the civilised world with regard i io the principles of government. The exception to which we refer is the :• -period of the French Eevolution, but * -even that was not characterised by the <ame widely diffused interest in the •subject. And it is a very noticeable fact, that the most eminent thinkers and writers in Europe and America * agree in one main pomt — that a pure democracy, or governing by count of coses, ia indefensible in theory and f injurious to the welfare and stability pf society. No new discovery has been made in arriving at thia conclusion, for the same truth has been repeatedly enforced by every thinker who has attained any eminence in this particular subject. But it is only now, when men cannot shut their eyes and ears to what is going on around them i"n Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, the United States, and the Australasian colouies, that the full force of this old, old doctrine is recognised. Those who declare tbat " all men are equal," at once proceed to say that " the minority must submit to the majority ; " in other words, they profess an equality which they cannot put *nto practice. If all men were agreed -in opinion, this doctrine of equality mij*ht be feasible ; as it is, we are unable to see how it can be maintained. Professor B'ackie, of Edinburgh, in the first of a series of political tracts, deals with this subject in what appears to be a satisfactory as well as popular manner. After taking a rapid •tirvey of human history and forms of ytfoverumeut from the earliest ages <iown to the present time, he lays dowu the principle that all good goyernment is popular government, and that the best popular government is «elf-goverument. Erom this, he proceeds to say — " That will be the best ibrm of government which most easily and most certaiuly brings the best -men to the highest places ; and — " that people only has achieved the difficult art of self-government which has ac quired the insight to recognise its best *men, the will to choose them, and the aense to obey them." There may be

nothing very profound in the above, but we think it will, at least, be recognised to be true. The Professor proceeds to examine tbe democratic doctrine of equality — equal liberty and equal right to all, equal power of governing to all. He attempts to shew that this does not agree, or rather, is at variance with aud rebels against the Divine law of the universe. Having dove this, he continues— "That which is false physically, false intellectually, false with regard to the in-' dividual man, and false with regard to the social value of man, cannot be true politically." All men, continues the Professor, are not born with equal abilities, and therefore it cannot be allowed that all men have an equal right to govern. This beiug the case/ he proposes to substitute the following proposition for the democratic idea bt equality — " That all men are born with an equal Divine right to be governed by the strongest, the most intelligent, and the most virtuous men who may be found at any given time or place where social organisms exist." If we admit the truth, of this proposition, the question comes to be — in what way, and under what form of government can we make certain of securing the strongest, most intelligent, and most virtuous men available to rule over us ? A certain class of politicians tell us tbat universal suffrage will accomplish the desired object, and when they are reminded of cases in which it baa notoriously failed to do so, they tell us that by-and-by, when education/ is as widely diffused as it ought to J^ universal suffrage will not fail in The selection of the very best men who can be found for the purposes of government. Professor Blackie does not believe in this view of the power of education. And it must be borne in mind that, during a period of thirty years, he has been steadily engaged in the practical work of education. He tells us that " education does not create intellectual equality, but rather educes and brings out into greater prominence the radical inequalities that originally existed among the promiscuous mass submitted to its operation. But, besides, universal experience teaches that a great majority of the population, partly from pecuniary pressure, partly from the nature of their occupations, are debarred from bringing to ripeness even that small germ of intellectual capacity which they posses." It will be observed that the latter part of the above sentence rests on the supposition that it will never be possible to bring the means of education within the reach of the whole body of the people in any country. "We think otherwise ; and, although we agree, of course, with Professor Blackie in saying that education cannot make equal all the great mass of originally differing human creatures presented to its operations, we do not thiuk it is an idle dream to believe in its universal diffusion at some period or other. That is precisely what earnest minds are striving for and believing to be possible.