240 r.niTATN FOI^ TFTE BPJTON 



maligiiaut and baleful iu its results; hence the widespread 

 desire on the part of the more thoughtful men to curb its 

 harmful propensities. 



That this is so is proved by the free and scathing remarks 

 that one now hears in every grade of society from men who, 

 though they may nominally belong to one political party or 

 anotlier, owe no blind allegiance to it. 



Such men are to be found in every drawing-room in the 

 kingdom, in every club ; in the railway carriage and on board 

 the ocean liner ; in every section of the community and in 

 every village and town ; and as their numbers are increasing 

 every day, while the spirit of freedom from political thraldom 

 is growing rapidly, there is every indication that this determina- 

 tion to cast off those shackles which have hitherto bound men 

 as slaves to the party they followed, will furnish the surest 

 means of disintegrating the party spirit and modifying its more 

 objectionable features. 



People must Fight this Party Demon 



What the people of this country should do is to take steps 

 to see that this spirit of opposition to the present impossible 

 conditions of our party system, which has at length found 

 expression iu words, should now be conserved and crystallised 

 and fashioned into a moving material force having for its 

 conscious object the invasion of that domain wherein dwells 

 this malignant party spuit. They should aim at its complete 

 overthrow and its subsequent subjugation to a more rational 

 up-to-date system, whereunder the national business would be 

 helped on, and not retarded, by a scheme of obstructive tactics 

 which serve no purpose but to thwart and paralyse the indi- 

 vidual and collective effort of those who for the time being 

 exercise, by the will of the people, the executive powers of 

 State government. 



It is not difficult to estimate the enormous loss the country 

 must have suffered through the constant and inevitable waste 

 of thought-power ; of that unapplied mental energy which is 

 continually being given out by great minds, which, if wisely 

 conserved and carefully directed, would result in much-needed 

 reforms conferring real lasting benefits on the people. 



The People are awakening 



The people are at last beginning to realise that there is not 

 the remotest chance of the country getting — at least, under the 

 present policy of obstructiveness which marks the daily doings 



