OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 353, 19 September 1889, Page 2

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

lebom oub own oobbxssondbnt.J Sydney, Sept. 11. The Free Trade Conference is over, and neither patriots nor partisans have any reason to be dissatisfied. The case in favor of freedom has been put with great force and clearness, and although the combative, and at times insolent, tone of the speakers, leaves little room to hope that they will have been successful in convincing opponents, etill their own supporters have no occasion to be ashamed of their champions. A great deal was said that was new, and a great deal that was true, But, to borrow an ancient witticism, what was new was not true, and what was true was not new. We all know the modern style of patent medicine advertisements. They usually commence with a preamble of some self-evident physiological truth, an exalted eulogy of health and vigor, and then let you down quietly with the injunction to take Dr Sangrado's vital drench, to get scratched by Dr Cowpox’s lancet, or to take some other course which has quite as little logical connection with the premises. Political nostrums are often heralded and advocated in a precisely similar manner. There is great talk on subjects whioh etir men’s sympathies and fire their enthusiasm, In the middle of the excitement, before the unthinking (whioh usually means the majority) have time to master the subject in all its bearings, the pet idea of the orator is adroitly insinuated and crowned with all the honors which are due to the exalted and self-evident introduction. In the name of the Prophet —-figs! In the days when Britain was establishing her naval supremacy it was customary for the sea-dogs who commanded her ships to come to close quarters, fire a rattling broadside so as to make as great a pother as possible, and then “ board them in the smoke." An excellent plan in warfare, and if the intellectual instruction and enlightenment were analagous to warfare, it would be correspondingly efficacious in this field also. But there is no analogy. A ship, sunk, or a ship’s crew vanquished, whether it be by force or stratagem, is sunk or vanquished for good. Not so the intellect. When the excitement whioh temporarily overpowered it has subsided, it has a God-given habit of deliberately testing its steps and enquiring whether they were warranted. More unconquerable than the gallant men of whom Napoleon complained so bitterly. “ Those English never know when they are beaten." It never can be beaten, It will allow itself to be coerced by the bias of its possession, sometimes to the extent 0! calling good evil, or falsehood truth. But when it finds that it has been hustled or entrapped into a baseless conclusion by the bias of anyone else it promptly recovers iteelf and says : “ What a fool I was, As Captain Cuttie, or the equally celebrated Bunsby, remarks I The bearings of these 'ere observe, tions lies in the application of 'em," We can cordially respond to Dr Garran'e eulogy of freedom. We can appreciate Mr Puleford'e careful and elaborate statistics, Mr Reid's fluency and readiness of retort, the excellent manner of Mr Carruthers, Mr W‘Ss'« satisfaction with the condition 0! our native industries, Sir Henry Parkes's glowing seal for Liberalism, Mr Bruce Smith's brilliancy and effectiveness, Mr Abigail's pointed attacks on popery, and Mr Martin's brevity, which have been so faithfully held up to admiration in the morning papers. And still we fail to see in these things any justification for the cynical sloth and callous indifference whioh has permitted a colony so thinly populated and so rich in natural resources to drift into so unsatisfactory a condition. We fail to see exactly how they excuse or remedy the dwindling agriculture of the colony, or how they impart life or vigor to the other industries which are languishing, or how they tend to bring together unemployed labor, unemployed capital, and the magnificent capabilities of the country, As feats of oratory they are excellent. For slaying the slain or convincing those who are convinced already, they leave little to be desired. But as a remedy for the ills under which the country groans they are about as efficacious as a blister on a wooden leg. Admitting for the sake of argument that Protection is condemned by reason and experience as a means of encouraging and strengthening the industries on which the well being of the country depends, what do they propose tn do J And the answer virtually Is—nothing. As the past has been, so shall the future be, only more so, AU the glowing periods resolve themselves into the lame and impotent conclusion : Leave us to enjoy peaoe and power, and to drag along as we have been drifting. And let the papers and partizans say what they like, the country is no; satisfied and is not likely to be. One cheering augury, however, is to he derived from the conference. As if conscious that the policy of thrift and do nothing must necessarily fail to arouse enthusiasm, the leaders have formed an alliance with the growing party whioh advocates a tax on the unimproved value of land, The best speech at the Conference was made by Mr Frank Cotton, the spokesman of this party, whioh now for the first time id the history of the colony, finds iigelf elevated to the rank of practical politics, gnfi whioh sooner or later is certain to find some embodiment in lagljlstion. Fop go much we may be thutiafiil, But tb» necessity will still remain for maintaining the standard of living in the colony. I must -oofess that I, for one, fail to see how this ind tah be accomplished without taking Malte and intelligent ateps thereto,