THE NEW POLITICAL FAITH.

" Quininque cult."

BESIDES the severe present injury to the Liberal cause, and the shock which has been given to future confidence in the profes- sions of public men, through the conduct of the Whig Ministry and their supporters, much mischief has accrued from the Popish doctrine of the surrender of all right of private judgment, which has accompanied it. Unable to defend the Whigs upon any in- telligible ground of party consistency, public principle, or even of a line of policy which, whatever its morality, should be tempo- rarily successful, their supporters have been driven to rest en- tirely upon "confidence"—" to draw," as HUNTINGDON expressed it, " upon the Bank of Faith." If the power of the Whigs and their creatures were at all commensurate with their will, they would establish in secular matters a more stringent doctrine of implicit submission to Ministetial infallibility, than the Catholics, in questions of religion, demand fur their Pope. When it became obvious to reason independently exercised, that the course of the MELBOURNE Ministers was the result of folly or treachery, and that if persisted in it must lead to their downfal ; instead of manly remonstrance and independent action, a demand was made upon Reformers for belief—for "confidence in the Liberal Minis- try." When the Government, by its leader, sternly repudiated all expectation of additional reforms, its abject followers made a further call upon faith, and besought men not to boggle at a seeming mys- tery, but still to cling to the "Reform Ministry" as the rock of their salvation. Single acts, however arbitrary, have been justified by " confidence" in the actors. Within these few weeks, the Chronicle went further, pretty nakedly advancing the Romish doctrine of "no salvation beyond the pale of the Church," in an article which coolly set forth that no other Ministry than the present could govern Ireland. It was, however, reserved for a weekly instrument of the Ministers, to push the rule of submission to authority in matters of reason, as far as it seems well capable of being carried. The Christian Churches merely require submission to the Scriptures when rightly inter- preted; and even in the Catholic Church it is only the Pope who is infallible in interpretation. The belief-preaching journalist, how- ever, would not only set up a political Popedom, but would push the claim of infallibility to "all that are put in authority under it. Finding nothing in any Christian faith that would suit his pur- pose, he travels to the infidel, and the Moslem creed fits him to a T— "there is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet."

This last draft upon the Bank of Faith is made in an article on the Irish Railway Commissioners. Into their merits it is not ne- cessary to enter here : it is enough to premise, that these gen- tlemen have been accused of running counter to the objects for which they were appointed, under cover of a clause surreptitiously foisted into their instructions, and are vehemently suspected of having lent their countenance to a job ; so that it is not a question of men, but of conduct, which is under discussion. The point, how- ever, to which we wish to call attention, is the strangeness of the doctrine now advanced, to whatsoever affairs applied,'—the repu- diation of inquiry, the popular submission to authority as autho- rity, which is enforced; and the new Whig catechism, that intel- lect " should order itself lowly and reverently to all its betters," which is now taught without much disguise. The trick, indeed, is attempted with dexterity ; and the writer modulates from the key of truth to that of falsehood with no mean skill ; so that, though the spirit of fallacy is palpable, the form of reason seems at first to be preserved. The mode adopted is that of " answer to a correspondent :" after acknowledging the receipt of "a well- written letter on the subject of railways in Ireland," (which letter however, is suppressed.) the Ministerial journalist thus proceeds- " It is possible that the opiniona and statement% of this letter may be correct, tut our correspondent is too sen.ible not to perceive that in such a case it would be most extraordinary hi 11.4 to adopt the views of any individual, • no matter how familiar with the subject, in preference to those of a body of men like tke Commissioners, commanding all the sources of inftrmation, and responsible for the accuracy of tIveir investigations and correctness of their views. A Commission was never issued so admirably composed as the one in.fluestion,

comprising, as it did, men possessed of every professional experience and scientific acquirement neceaawy to the due execution of the arduou% task

assigned them. If such s have arrived at fillse conclusions upon the Rail- way qnestion, it must be extreme& difficult to arrive at sound ones, and no unasoisted individual can reasonably be expected to do so."

The last sentence is the very argument of the Ronaanists for refusing the Scriptures to the laity, and in totidem verbis. If learned men, they say, differ in interpretations, " it must be ex- tremely difficult to arrive at sound ones, and no unassisted indi- vidual can reasonably be expected to do so."

Having thus given out the text of the " right faith "* towards all of the " right sort " who hold appoiuttnents, the Ministeria preacher continues his discourse-

" As to the general objection to the Report, as a discouragement to private enterprise, we have a remark or two to offer upon it. As far as this objection applies to the conclusion of the Commissioners, that no private capital embarked in any railway speculation in Ireland can expect a greater return than three- and-a-half or four per cent., it is enough to say, that the calculations instituted haring led [the Commissioners] to this result, it was the duty of the Commis- sioners to state it to the public, without any consideration whatsoever of the effects it might produce upon the spirit of enterprise. If the estimate is under the truth, (as our correspondent asserts confidently that it is,) it is certainly an error much to he deplored ; but, on the other hand, if (as the great ability and diligent research of the Commissioners strongly dispose us to believe) the opi- nion they have given upon this important matter be a sound one, it cannot pos- sibly have any but the very best and most salutary effects upon all preent and future speculations on the subject in question ; and instead of complaining of it as a discouragement to enterprise, we should hail with oath:fiction so timely and valuable a cheek to undertakings founded upon chimerical views of profit, and sure to involve their authors and all connected with them in inextricable difficulties, and perhaps ruin. "But our correspondent's objection applies more to the manner in which the Commissioners have reported that a system of railways should be executed in Ireland, so as [modulation again] to insure the greatest possible amount of public benefit, and avoid the demonstrable failures to which rash and ;nisch. rected enterprise would lead the capitalist. On the footing of public works, executed with the aid of the public resources, and under the superintendence of the state, filling up the design of a comprehensive awl connected system, nothing can be stronger than the manner in which the Report recommends the forma- tion of certain great lines of railroad connecting the chief cities and ports of Ireland. Our correspondent, however, objects to any interference or control on the part of the State or the Government, and would subject the flow of capi- tal and the career of enterprise in railways, as in other commercial undertakings, to no constraint or regulation whatsoever. The Commissioners have anticipated this objection to their plans, and we cannot do better thou give the passage iu which they deal with it."

After several extracts, (all, of course, animated by the "right spitit,") this confession follows-

" We confess there is in this very weighty matter to induce us to admit if some ebfiection, in the case of railways, from the general principle of political economy upon which the objectors take their stand. Our correspondent con- eiders that the adoption of the Commissioners' plans would establish a State monopoly. We do not see the matter at all in the same light, but we see in the passage we have last quoted a description of monopoly most injurious to the public, against which the measures recommended in the Report seem well calcu- lated to protect Ireland."

To save the people from themselves, is a favourite doctrine of authority, from pure Whigs in office to West Indian Planters. Hitherto, however, it has been limited to men in their religious, political, or civil capacities ; for, to do the Slave-owners justice, they did not interfere with the manner in which the Negroes spent their earnings. But under the new light, the nation is to expend four millions in making railroads, lest rash individuals should fool away their money on joint stock companies—or, as the writer more eloquently expresses it, lest " their authors and all connected with them should be involved in inextricable difficulties, and perhaps ruin."

That the public ought to be protected against the effects of a monopoly, we cheerfully concede; but it does not follow that the monopoly recommended by the Commissioners is better than any other monopoly. As to the "general principle of political economy," that forbids the state to embark id specula- tive undertakings with a view to profit, which private individuals are competent to attempt, it rests upon this simple rule—that men look more closely after their own interests than public servants will da after those of the state ; their projects of this kind always

• This is the tricky dexterity we have alluded to. If a journalist were required to "adopt the views" of a correspondent without cause shown, be might reasonably prefer the authority of known anal publiclv responsible ; if facts and arguments were adduced upon a subject which he did not under- stand, he might do the same : but these would be questions between himself and his correspondent. As the reader proceeds, he will mark the insensible transition from the case of the individual journalist to the politic at large, till, at last, a bold demand is mule upon the World "to abide by the opinion of the Co nim iszio n er 3."

• " Fat the ri;ilit faith is , . "—Creed of St. Athanasiia. ending in a job. This rational " principle" is additionally strengthened in the subject before us by actual facts. Without re- ferring to Canada, or to the grand canal of Louts the Fourteenth, it is sufficient to compare our British joint stock canals, under- taken by " unassisted individuals," with that monster of absurdity and less the Caledonian Canal, recommended and executed by "a body of men like the Commissioners, commanding all the sources of information, and rep msible for the accuracy of their investi- gatiens and correctness of their views," and in whom, no doubt, the faithful of their day were ready to place implicit confidence. The homily concludes with a beautiful specimen of logic, springing et. necessitate from the nature of the new faith. No Jesuit, endeavouring to establish the infallibility of his Church, ever la i in a rounder circle.

'6 As to the circumstance that the lines of railway proposed by the Com- missiowas do uot happen to coincide with those already delineated awl surveyed by private companies, to us it only proves Me reasonableness and e.vtreme uti- lity of the Commission ; fur we cannot but assume that the system recom- mended in the Report is that which it would be most jiw the public interest to establish, and thooe speculations which it has discountenanced would, of course, hare served neither their ph9ietors nor Me country. We can attach very little weight to a private opinion adverse to that if such men as the CMP missioners, upon the relative facilities and advantages of one line of railroad in comparison with anwher. Ire take the Cmumissioners to be fir the best judges of such questions; and the public will do well to abide by the opinions they have given."

" Believe and be saved : " and we defy the veriest slave of in- fallible authority that ever breathed, to have put tiwth the doc- trine of implicit submission with greater relish and abandon. Tories, no doubt, have held such notions, but, to give the Devil his due, since the time of the &wears they have had too much of prudence and spirit to make so naked a display of them. The Papists themselves limit the claim to their spiritual father, and now-a-days would be cautious how they popularly advanced their doctrine in its full extent. It was reserved for the followers of " the best. Ministry we have ever hail," to hitroduee into poli- ties and practical affairs, the worst and most slavish error of Papist ry.

If the reader wishes to know where the doctrines we have ex- hibited were originally taught, let him tutu to the first leading article in the last number of the Examiner.