COLONIAL INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH OPINION.

West Coast Times, Issue 914, 27 August 1868, Page 4

COLONIAL INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH OPINION.

ENGLISH OPINION.

(FSIOJI THE SYDXEY MOUSING HERALD.)

The ree'procal action of the policy of England and her colonial Empire on each otlier is no disgrace to either. Men have often to go from home to acquire light, and their capacity to receive it must be dependant upon the education they have received in the country of their origin. The immense interests which have been created under the colonial administration of Grot Britain have produced combinations of political life, and tested in innumerable forms, the experiments which could never have been initiated in Great Britain without danger — perhaps they could never have been made at nil.

Colonial readers are sometimes amused with the elevated style of doctrine of correction and repiool" which reaches them thiough the periodicals ot the metropolis. For the muse part the colonies are not in any degree inferior in education or position tj those who assume the airs of instructors. Their opportunities for judging of the questions on which admonitions are tendered are far superior to those of their philosophers and friends Mho shine out in the courts and alleys of Great Britain. We could select from the English commentaries upon colonial life and proceedings, many a rich specimen of insolence and vanity, but this is hardly worth while. It is better to say generally that the people of the colonies are sharper, more clearheaded, possessed more generally of capacity, and inferior in nothing to the great mass of the English people. A few of the niishoots of the higher orders have found their way among them, but we can assure our friends that they have nut always (wo might say they have seldom) added much to the intelligence, the virtue, or the wealth of the communities favored with their presence.

If, however, we are disposed to question the iufallibiility of self-constituted oracles, we feel that the aspect of British society h never without ii resistible attraction and the deepest interest. The progress of opinion, the advancement of liberty in all its forms, and even the hazardous experiments which are applied in an ancient country, are watched with the profoundest concern. The preponderating feeling of the colonies is of course in iavor of the enlargement of the franchise ivud of all the

.'ouscqu'-uces which are likely to issue :rom it. This may be expected for every uason. Thcie are', however, in the colo•iies a number of meditative men who, looking at English affaire in the light ot whit are called " free institutions," and of the working of what is cUled " responsible government," wonder how it will be possible for England to maintain her ascendancy if the class of politicians predominating at home should resemble many who are the chosen of the colonies. " What will be the issue of ilicse groat changes in Great Britain ?" U a problem no man viewing colonial life will feel that he has solved or regarded otherwise than with awe. In maivy respects the practice of the colonies must have reacted silently upon the opinions of the people at home. If is easy to trace this operation in some changes of laws which have taken place. The announcement in the House of Commons many j-ears ago hy Sir George Murray, that the establishment of a State Church iv the colonies was impossible, aud that if it were possible, it would be unjust, was the iirut foundation of absolute religious equality. When that sentiment was once fairly enunciated and admitted hy the different parties in the British Government, they opened the way for other discussions which could not fail to follow. The cry we have heard often in Ireland is evidently an echo from the colonies : "Do with the people of Ireland what you have done with their brothen and all will be well." Whatever value there may bo in these promises and pretensions, there is no doubt that they have created a growing impatience of predominance. The adoption of a universal system of State pay in some of the coloiiies led to the belief that this would be the polic3 r in Ireland. The strong opposition to the Itoman Catholic system hus hitherto defeated this project, but it is evdent that the higher classes and the great body of British statesmen, notwithstanding the disclaimers of some, have looked to this as the final method of adjustment. Meantime there has risen up in various parts of the United Kingdom, an immense religious interest which it would be impossible to enuow, and which indeed has always professed to be averse to endowments. Ihe doctrine of an exclusive establishment having been abandoned by all politicians with the exception of a few ultra Tories, the expedients of Lord Mayo and Lord Stanley in the late debate undoubtedly accorded with the impression of the great mass of the statesmen — a levelling up to the establishment of Ireland, rather than its reduction. But while this plan in imitation of the colonies has been talked of, the colonies have for the most part abandoned it, and by compensations extremely liberal in some cases, and in others without any, have como to the conclusion that no treasury can find, and that no Governnunt can distribute the money necessary for a system of religions endowment and equality. The abolition as a fact goes back to England, and is discussed in numerous circles. Thus the effects of religious freedom in its more perfect form are more generally known ; and this exulains what seemed almost supernatural — the uprising of all sections and parties in the House of Commons, and by an overwhelming majority declaring that the abolition of the State Church in Ireland is a public duty and a necessity of sound policy. The educational systems adopted in the colonies have also had their currency at home, and a Denominational system lms contiibuted largely to the eduoation of masses of the people. But even here again the progress of opinion can be traced following the wake of colonial experience, and the necessity for a larger comprehension Ims become almost'nnivcrsally admitted. r l here is no considerable section of any class in the United Kingdom that would pretend to the exclusiveness which formerly prevailed. The bills for education introduced forty years ago would hardly now be proposed by the most extravagant Tory. In rccard to education also the progress of colonial experiments is telling upon the sentiment of the English people. Mr Lowe, the Minister for Education, spent many years iv this colony, and came in contact witli all those principles and ideas which had been partly predominant. He had seen tho transition of opinion, and was therefore in a condition to promote a more liberal scheme. The peculiarities of his temper provoked a furious opposition, but tho cause of education has nevertheless advanced, and it probably will reach a system in which the Government will direct only the secular element and secure to the operation of the religious parlies an open Reid but without any express or exclusive patronage.

lii our hM accounts we received notice of the abolition of public executions. The final abolition of Church rates may be truce (l to the same class of influences. Although in Ireland the fir-?t movement in this direction w;i3 made in the abplit'on of church cess. The princij.le recognised a3 equitable will ere lon* be undisputed : That those who worship should provide their own temples, and that these who sacrifice should take their offerings from their own flocks.

The following complaint, amusing, but no doubfc provoked, appears in the " Brisbane Courier" of Wednesday last: — " Reporters for the Press are a long-suffering and greatly forbearing rare ; but their trials in the new Houses of Parliament will, it is to be feared, utterly extinguish them. Aa matters at present st nnd they mv placed quite out of hearing of three out of four of tho members of the Legislature, but of courso are expected to report thorn all the s'inie. This is unpleasant, at first, for the reporters, bur, perhaps, on the whole, a change is not desirable. Hon. members will soon understand the position, and will cither abbreviate their eloquence or pour it forth in tones suuleionfly loud find deep, and with enunciation disiinut and deliberate, as though their education in early youth had not been grievously neglected. When reading tho Speech, yesterday, his Excellency was as distinctly heard as though he had been giving au order to " fix bayonets." Mr Francis was quite audible and clear. Mr Palmer was audible enough, but too fast and excited to be well understood. As to Messrs Pritchard, Itoyds, Eainsay, Mackenzie, et hoc, reporting them was the merest guesswork. The present chamber will bo an admirable school for public speakers, if they will only perfect, themselves suflit:icnt.ly in clear, distinct , and deliberate utterance, and try to develop the muscles of tho cheat, so as to be audible to oiu lit (lo chamber. But there i 3 a greater di,.iculty ollered the nportr-is than even tins; they are expected to wrilu in the dar!>. Perhaps they nwy bo shown moro coii' ' leration in future j but Li-fc liight lion. ;^n(lcineii went on tnlLing till they coiild see eaok other. The dim and mibly twilight is a good (inio for the exeivi o ( f impassioned eloquence- of a certain lciuil, but not good for reporting it, or oberving its effects. This defect in tho arrangements may, and no doubt will, oasily bo remedied. But there is a worse grievance — the unhappy reporters were last night tho outer edge of a line which could not go forward — unless over the gallery, but which tho general public did its best to press forward. Tho general 'public aro not at all to blame for loaning on a reporter's shoulders if that scorns comfortable, or for walking up nnd down the gallery in the midst of a peroration if tho general public docs not like the pororator, ana wo highly npprovo of. tho free-

dom with wliit'h tho genci-al public availed itself of its privileges ; but tho consequences huvo to be considered — and we hope, they will be. We were about, to object to the ladies, but it wa3 iv a surly and misanthropic momenf ; \:o ask their pardon— nay, we implore them to come and smile down through those exquisite lailings on the assembled wisdom. Their presence will improve the tone of the Houao, and must, of necessity, elevate the sentiments of lion, members. But we implore tho dear creatures not to rustle, and not to have beaux — afc least not within the precincts of the Chamber of the Legislature. AYe can bear a good deal and bo happy, but rustling destroys our serenity, and when a ilivtafcion is carried on before our eyes, the alfaii-3 of State seem contemptible in the extreme."