Bates. — On Democracy . 97 



Geoi'ge appeared with an innumerable army coming down 

 from the hills all in white, with a red cross in his banner, to 

 reinforce the Christians, which occasioned the infidel army to 

 fly, and the Christians to possess themselves of the town. 

 This story made St. George extraordinarily famous in those 

 times, and to be esteemed a patron, not only of the English, 

 but of Christianity itself."''' Be that as it may, we of to-day 

 are better acquainted with the well-executed effigies of St. 

 George and the Dragon which adorn our modern British coins 

 of crowns and sovereigns, which realities are tangible, valu- 

 able, and desirable, whatever the origin of the marvellous 

 fight may be. 



[Note. — The peculiar spelling, &c., are due to the age of 

 the work whence quotations made — the middle of the eighteenth 

 century.] 



Akt. XIII. — Dernocracy. 

 By Eev. J. Bates. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 21st October, 1895.] 

 " Man is born to be a citizen." 



We are being daily taught that laiv reigns everywhere, and 

 the conviction is freeing us from many idle beliefs, and giving 

 us " confidence in the universe." If, then, the presence of law 

 is universal we look for it not alone in the material world, but 

 in the sphere of man's intelligent action. Here, too, nothing 

 happens by accident, and chance does not exist. It must be 

 admitted, of course, that where the human will and passions 

 are directly concerned our knowledge and theories lack the 

 degree of precision and universality which characterizes the 

 physical and mathematical sciences. But accurate know- 

 ledge of a kind is attainable, and some general laws can 

 be deduced. It is claimed, therefore, that there is a science 

 of pohtics. The term does not denote a body of infallible 

 rules which the statesman may use for his guidance in 

 cases of practical difficulty, but rather principles of social 

 relations and duties. It is in virtue of this science that men 

 are able to test and reject mischievous theories in politics. 

 Man is a citizen — a member always of some social order. As 



* Wheatly "On the Common Prayer," p. 61; who also says, "St. 

 George, the famous patron of the English nation, was born in Cappa- 

 docia, and suffered for the sake of his rehgion, a.d. 290, under the 

 Emperor Diocletian (in whose army he had before been a colonel), being 

 supposed to have been the person that pulled down the edict against the 

 Christians which Diocletian had caused to be afHxed upon the church- 

 doors. Subsequently he had a church dedicated to him by Justinian the 

 Emperor." 



7 



