Nuhou, Volume II, Number 20, 3 October 1873 — A DUMMY GOVERNMENT [ARTICLE]

A DUMMY GOVERNMENT

Accordittg to the Ministerial fiigleman is vvhat would su.it us best. We do not need live inen, although we inay need a " live pāper," whieh wilh hini inea.ns moi'e scissors than sense ; but a " live man " is a luxury in whieh we have not indulged for to these " thirty years,' ! and whieh we may well dispense with fov three decades inore. Prosperous !and! It has been happy with its political dunces in the past, and asks on[y a continuanee of its b!issful, pu'olie inanity. But was this the fugleman's song,—on!y a short year or two ago, when he cou!d get no grist for his mill,—no jobs for his shop? Ah ! then, we had great need of a "live man," aceording to this. ; cry. And now that his mouth is | stopped, shall we accept him as an oracle of conservatism, and be content while iie baits at the public club? No, we are not so enarnored of the glories of the past, or tlie i>rescnt; (although, by the vvay, the past far exceeded the present,) that we ahall not desire a change. We must have the live spirit at the head of govemment that is "•holhj devoted to the public service,—that understands the people and ean harmonize their views with the needs of authority; that is full of resource to meet āpeeial difliculties; that by an actiye, i»itiative direction of puhiie affairs will iuspite Uie coufidence oi abiliiy both at home and abroad ; that will forestall schemers and grumblers by fertility of device-s that will siMvn at all hazards the honor of the King md (ht " sacredness of' 1 ' or fjh:t t';ay Jvr mm th<U C(v>h that will study the minutest details, as well as embrace the !argest views, whether iu relation to treaties for uational needs, or rcgulations for munieipal conven;ences, —that will do all this, so as to meet and satisfy puWie expectation and create the confidence of healthful progress. Such will be a spirit that will l.>e live and fruitful of good and sorely noeded iu a poor weak eouniry like this whieh must be saved froiri tlie dummies, —savcd from the cliques,—savcd from the rings,—saved from narrowiiess of view, meanness, weakness, at\d cowardice; iii'i be rescued by live men. •