Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1881 — Public Opinion. [ARTICLE]

Public Opinion.

Lord Beaconsfied, in a speech in the house of lords last year, gave the following characterization of public opinion: “There is a fashionable Ehrase now that everything is ineviible, end that every event is the production 6f a commanding force of nature which human will cannot resist. The despotism of public opinion is in everybody’s mouth. But I should like to know, when we are called upon to bow to this public opinion, who will define public opinion. My lords, any human conclusion that is arrived at with adeouate knowledge and with sufficient thought is entitled to respect, and the public opinion of a great nation under such conditions is irresistible, and ought to be so. But what we call public opinion is generally public sentiment. We who live n this busy age and this busy country, know very well how few there are who can obtain even the knowledge necessary for the comprehension of high political subjects, and how much fewer there are, who have obtained that knowledge, can supply that thought which would mature it into opinion. No, my lords, it is public sentiment, not public opinion, and frequently it is public passion.”