The Western Star. (PUBLISHED WEEKLY.) SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1879.

Western Star, Issue 284, 15 February 1879, Page 4

The Western Star. (PUBLISHED WEEKLY.) SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1879.

It was a conspicuous- merit in the able speech delivered by the Attorney-General in Invercargill a fortnight backbit be avowed a definite political principle a» the basis of his opinion, and that lie made his own address, an exemplification, of it, Mr Stout* holds that in all comm unities — or at anyrate all British communities—there must be from the very conslitutioa of men’s minds and, from tbeir position in life two opposite seis of opinions held and two parties formed, and that the first duty of any public man is to’ decide whether he wi.l belong to the Liheial or to the Conservadye party, act with it,, and adhere to it—whatever else a man is, he must be a good partiznn. And Mr Stoat’s own speech was an excellent illustration of this view. As a piece of pleading at t.,e nisi prim sittings of the Supieme Court it Woul i have been thebeau ideal of a defence of his colleagues and himself. As a sound exposition of what colonial statesmanship ought to be it was by no means equally su cessful. For, although it has been bo often repeated as to have become with most people an axiom of poli ical science, it is not the fact that of necessity there must be in oi.r free colonial ■ legislatures these two opposing parties. During all these centuriesof the history of the English Parliament, When the special 1 privileges of the aristocracy banded down from the days of the feudal system were being fiercely invaded by the champions of equal rights for all classes of-the com. muuity, there could not but be the two opposing parties of Roundhead and Cavalier, Whig and Tory, Liberal and Conservative, the party pf and the party of order, the advocates of vested. interests and the champions of natural rights. But one by one the last remainsof the old feudal system have been vanishing away, and in England at the present time it is difficult foi the most acute observers to tell whether the cause of Liberalism is best served by a Liberal or a Conservative Ministry. , -In the colonies the ca-e is manifestly much stronger, the he d of two opposing parties clearly much less. W® never had a feudal system in the Australasian colonies. The nearest approach ever made to it, the largo concessions offered to the early squatters and accepted, were never granted exclusively to one social class, and have always of late been easily purchaseable on easy terms, often below the price they have actually cost. Where is the need, then, for the formation of two eternally opposing factions ? The one object, of each man should clearlv be first and last the general good, without reference to any party. He to whom this is not paramount must be more or less of the knave, slave, or fool. In matters of public business’other than those considered to be the concerns of the State every one admits this. What would be thought of the man who should insist that the first duty of any one who was a member of a County. Council, Borough Council, Hospital Committee, Athenaeum Committee, School Board, or Volunteer Corps should be that he became a party man, and look at all the affairs of any of .these useful institutions from his party’s point of view. Such & man would be at once pronounced Dy the voice of common sense singularly unfit for his work. Vet the same principle holds good equally with regard to the affairs of State, only people have so long been accustomed to the political terms used in the old country that almost: every man until he acquires large property believes and insists upon proclaiming him-

self an oppressed down-trodden serf, the victim of an imaginary aristocracy possessed of all 'manner of exclusive rights. Indeed, as soon as Mr Stout himself descends to particulars, and gives the special articles of the Liberal creed, there is so little special connection between them and Liberalism that the leading organ of that pany, the “ O'-ago Daily Times,” disputes the soundness of almost every one of them. Useless also as the division of colonial politicians into two opposing parties is lor effecting good, it is naturally productive of the mostserious positive harm. When once the interests of party are recognised as the highest, those of the general community must of necessity be kept in the background. It no longer becomes a question as to who are the wisest find best men whom we are to select to govern, but Who are the men most likely to follow their party even when they are palpably wrong in so doing. <xood servants of the State are discarded, and bad ones selected. The scum rises to the surface, and the many of the most suitable men to advise or manage retire from the political world altogether. Thus has come to pass that deterioration in the personnel of our Parliaments and Ministries of which much complaint has been made by the thinking men of many shades of political opinion. AIT history proves that even that party which consists of the vast majority of the people is as likely to be very far wrong as quite right. The “ voic of the people ” alone is no safe guide. It is the vox dei at one time, the vox diaholi at another. The “ voice of the people ” one day. cries out respecting its best friend, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” and is very much in the right, and the next day the “ voice of the people ” exclaims, “Crucify him,” and is not ia the right at all.