Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/248

 persons who in India were witnesses to their incapacity, and who, like myself, are astounded at the temerity of a man who, quite recently engaged in the vain endeavour to cover up his inexperience under the high rank conferred on him by the King, now suddenly makes bold to speak as if he really had a knowledge of the affairs he discusses.

And indeed almost daily we hear complaints about incompetent interference. Almost every day this or that view of colonial policy is combated by denial of the competence of him who represents that view, and perhaps it would be worth while to institute a thorough inquiry as to the qualities that render a person competent to judge competence. Most often an important question is tested, not by the subject it deals with, but by the value attached to the opinions of the man who speaks to it, and as this is most often the person who is accepted as a Specialist, and for choice “one who in India held such an important position,” it follows that the result of a vote usually has the colour of the errors that seem inevitably to belong to that “important position.” If this is already the case where the influence of such a specialist is but exercised by a member of Parliament, how much greater then must be the predisposition to warped judgment when such influence is coupled with the confidence of the King, who allowed himself to be coerced into placing such a specialist at the head of his Colonial Department.

It is a remarkable phenomenon, perhaps springing from a kind of inertia which fears to judge for itself, that people give their confidence with the greatest light-heartedness to persons who know how to create the impression of being possessed of superior knowledge, whenever such knowledge can be drawn from sources not accessible to everyone. The cause may be that human self-esteem is less offended at having to acknowledge such superiority than in a case where one might have used the same resources, and where rivalry might therefore come into play. The representative of the people experiences no difficulty in relinquishing his opinion