The New Zealand Tablet Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1877. A JUST TITLE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 234, 26 October 1877, Page 11

The New Zealand Tablet Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1877. A JUST TITLE.

IR GEORGE GBEY is right ; the Assembly in , whose ]ian a, Ues tlie future of a coi n _ doubtedly fills a position which entitles it to be qualified as august— relatively to that future ; as already it is so with relation to the people whose dearest interests depend upon its action. For the people to regard it in any other light would be for tncm to giy<? evidence of a want of due self-respect ; and for them to neglect, or think over-lightly of availing themselves of all the means that lie in their power to insure its being august m the best sense of the world, would be on their part a negligence not only culpable towards themselves but as well towards the generations who shall inhabit the country in question through ages to come. But we confess that it cost us a moment's reflection before we perceived the iustwe of the qualification when applied to the Assembly at Wellington. We had, some how or other, acquired a habit ©1 looking upon it as the scene of unseemly vituperation of unfounded statements, and transparently inexact defences of vindictive measures and senseless obstruction We had

come to consider it as a place where it would be possible— we n l e *se.5 c . words of an honourable member, for we ourselves should hesitate to employ so strong an expression— to rake up "garbage and filth." We had seen members familiarly associated with questionable transactions, and known them stiU so prodigal of " wild oats " as to afford to the newspapers food for more than one facetious paragraph. So that, when we were called upon to recognise the Assembly as " august," we perhaps were not inexcusable if we paused before according to it so high a title. Yet how can that which is thus potent for good or for evil be otherwise than august ? By virtue of its power and the place in which it stands it must needs be looked upon in such a light. We do not know that it is possible for any body of men on earth to occupy a more responsible position than that which the Parliament of New Zealand occupies, in being called upon to devise measures that shall influence the fates and fortunes of a nation newly bom. Our legislators stand, as it were, at the source of the stream, and it is in their power to poison the waters that coming generations shall drink of. It depends largely upon them as to whether the moral status of the future population of this great country shall be such as to render vain any degree of material prosperity, for which the wisdom of their measures may now pave the way. The times too are critical ; the world has glided out of its ancient grooves bociety seems to be in transition, and a triple portion of prudence would be needed by those who are to guide it into a new and wholesome course. De Tocqueville's words are as true now as when he penned his famous work " Democracy m America." « The Christian nations of our age seem to me to present a most alarming spectacle ; the impulse which is bearing them along is so strong that it cannot be stopped, but it is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided : their fate is in their hands ; yet a little while and it may be so no longer. Iho nrst duty, which is at this time imposed upon those who direct our affairs, is to educate the democracy ; to warm its taith, if that be possible ; to purify its morals ; to direct its energies ; to substitute a knowledge of business for its inexperience, and an acquaintance with its true interests for its bind propensities ; to adapt its Government to time and place, and to modify it in compliance with the occurrences and the actors of the ago. A new science of politics is indispensable to a new world" (Reeves's Translation, p. xxii,) But to bring this about there would be need of men worthy of the name ; men capable of thought and incapable of enduring the guidance of self-interest. c «?,? ?{. what are we writing ?D E Tocqtjeville speaks of Christian nations ;" is that whose rise we are considering, to be reckoned as such ? We fear that there is grave doubt as to whether it is to be so. We fear— and we say it in all sadness— that the Assembly at Wellington in its present session may have robbed the nation that is hereafter to inhabit these islands of their right to such a name. We fear that a generation educated in secular schools may prove shipwrecked m faith and morals, and, if in these, in all things. Already we are able to judge by analogy— " the very guide of life" according to a high, if not the highest, authority amongst Protestant theologians. We are able to point to America where tins system has prevailed for a generation, and where it has resulted m corruption that bids fair to destroy that otherwise so great a country. There, too, instead of endeavourim? to 'warm the faith" of the people, the Government took measures for its extinction, and with it, by a necessary companionship, perished morals. Nevertheless, we would gladly learn that the people of Jew Zealand, recognizing- more fully the fact that a nation that respects itself must needs be concerned for the respectability of its Government, were determined on the exclusion from Parliament of all men who were not calculated consistently to form a constituent part of that body, justly to be charactenseel as aug-ust ; so that a false step, or even a suspicion of obliqmty,-would be a fatal impediment in the path of all candidates for Parliamentary honours. Nor do we think that, considering the momentous issues that depend upon the integrity as well as the capacity of members, the putting forward of such a view can fairly be said to be exaggerated or