Vol. XII. No. 15. THURSDAY,FEB. 13, 1913.

PAGE PAGE NOTES OF THE WEEK ...... 341 LETTERSFROM Italy.--I By RichardAldington ... .-. 355 CURRENT CANT ...... 344 VIEWS AND REVIEWS. By A. E. R...... 356

FOREIGNAFFAIRS. By S. Verdad ...... 344 DRAMA. By JohnFrancis Hope ...... -* 357 MILITARYNOTES. By Romney ...... 345 ART. ByAnthony M. Ludovici ...... 358 GUILD-SOCIALISM: MOTIVE UNDER THE GUILDS ...... 346 PASTICHE.By StevensonParker, P. SelverNorman Davey, THESLEEPING GIANT ANATOMISED. By Joseph Finn ... 347 S. C. Harland ...... * 359 LETTERSTO THE EDITORfrom R. B Herr E. A. Boyd Nancy NOTES ON THE PRESENTKALPA. By J. M. Kennedy ...... 349 Neale,G. B. Shaw, W. Haslewood, E. Limouzin, A. LAWAND JUSTICE. By FriedrichGans, M.D...... 350 Gibbs, M. L. Johnson R. North W. L. Hare, A. F. THEETERNAL FEMININE. By BeatriceHastings ...... 354 Salaman, H. T. Smith, H. Ould N. F. Webb, H Snow 360

All communications relative to THENEW AGE should beginning ! Atthe National Liberal Club, a fortnight be addressed to THENEW AGE, 38, Cursitor Street, ago,and in the House of Commons on twooccasions E. C, since, Mr. Lloyd George took pains to assure everybody -~~~ __~~~~~ _____ ~ __.____--~ - thathe was only talkingby and large. He made, he said,no definite proposals, of anykind, but merely NOTES OF THE WEEK. raisedthe subject in a generalway. If he had been a person in the position of a Mr. H. G. Wells-one who THOUGHitis well known topoliticians that Land livesby saying nothing at tedious length-the excuse Reform is practically impossible in Englandwithout .a of profitable rigmarole might be accepted but a mem- revolution,a kind of fatepushes the Radicals into it. ber of the Cabinet, however notoriously garrulous, can- Theimmediate reasons are ,evident enough With the notexpect the indulgence given to an irresponsible passing of Home Ruleand the temporary surfeit the novelist As a matter of fact,there is notonly the publichas experienced of industriallegislation, the speech itself, but there are P. W. W.'s inspired scholia Liberals find themselves forthe moment without a on the speech to prove that, far from offering no definite programme.They cannot hope to win the next Gene- proposalsMr. Lloyd George actually outlined a pro- ral Election by merely scrubbing the anchor; and, more gramme of considerable length and specifically concrete over,with thereduction of theIrish group at in character. It is. possible, as we have suggested, Westminster the Coalition will need more rather than that this programme was. unauthorised by the Cabinet, fewerEnglish votes. What more obvious then, than andhas, in consequence, been repudiated by Mr. to turn to the rural constituencies, where their weakness George;but it is not possible to maintain that a pro- lies, and to attempt to enlist Hodge in the great army gramme was neverlaid downThe collation of Mr. of progress?The appeal to him may be admittedly a LloydGeorge’s utterances, with P. W. W. comments voiceand nothing more. Both he and the land system makes it clear indeed that the Land programme con- are probablytoo far gone to afford the smallest hope sists, so far, of thefolllowing items :-A Minimum of recoveryNevertheless the cry of LandReform Wagefor agricultural labourers; Rural Housing Re- is stillpotent toarouse a dyingnation's interest (the form by loans to local authorities;Rent Courts; Com- rulingpassion strong in death), and inany case, the pulsory Purchase of village lands for allotments, small boxing of thesubject about, as theJacobites used to holdings,etc.; Taxation of UrbanLand Values; and say,is bound sooneror later to bring it to Father. severalother items This is surelydefinite enough, The Liberals have nothing, at any rate, to lose by the even if the whole is impracticable, to be going on with. mostUtopian discussion of theLand question; the *** moreUtopian in fact, the better; and, on the other Beforeexamining the programme in anydetail, we hand, the country has nothing much to hope to gain. may as well say that, impracticable, in our opinion, as Thraising of subject, indeed, as the Liberal Press theproposals are, even when theoretically considered hasacknowledged is 'more necessary to Liberalism theyare even more impracticablewhen considered in thanreform.to ''Th,e issue," said P. W. W., relationwith the Board of Agriculture.From Mr. "already determines the future of Liberalism"-and not Runciman's published scheme for assisting agricultural we mayadd, of theland. credit we are able to form a pretty exact notion of this *** Minister's capacity; and nothing more infinitesimal can Thehesitation shown in plunging into the propaganda be conceived. The problem, as everybodyknows, be- ganda reveals,however a curiousstrain of honesty forethe small holders and farmers of England is the in theCabinet. It is tobe supposed that one section provision of capital.For the most part, the existing of theGovernment, at any rate, is aware that the smallholders are in theposition of menwho own a campaign is fraudulent, for otherwise it is inconceivable factoryand cannot provide themachinery required to that Mr. Lloyd George should have begun it and broken occupyit effectively. Thesecurity they can offer for it off on so manyoccasions We are accustomed to credit is, in themajority of cases, no morethan that this Welshman's kaleidoscopic metamorphoses, but his of a certain amount of perishablestock in addition to changes on the subject of the Land campaign are cine- thespeculative value of thegrowing crops; and this matographic.Last October, .after a great deal of it isobvious, is notenough for joint-stock banks. drummingthe public was informed that the propa- What, under thecircumstances, would a Government gandawas postponed on account of theBalkan War. do that intended todo anything at all? Nothing less, ThisFebruary, however on the very eve ofthle re- surely, than back the small holders' precarious security sumption of the Balkan War, the campaign is not only with a Government guarantee such as would, at least, reannouncedbut actually begun. Yet what a feeble induce the local banks to advance loans on reasonably 342 marketterms. But it is precisely thisthat Mr. Runciman anything else that doesnot promise increased profits man has not attempted On the contrary, he has made for themselves. Why should they be so unselfishly de- a great parade of conferring a favour on small farmers mented? At present they hold the land and they deter- by offering them exactlythe conditions that nowpre- mine the laws.There is no force existing to compel vail. Hehas arranged, he tells us, withsundry banks them to give up the one or accept the other if they are to advance loans to ,individuals or co-operative groups not to their taste. 'The problem,in fact, which land- of farmers on single or jointsecurity, and on market reformers have to face isthe simple but insoluble terms, provided that in each instancethe security is problem of how to recover land from private for public satisfactory to the banks concerned. There is no bank ownership with no other means than the consent as well in England that is not already prepared to do this with- asthe money of thepresent proprietors Purchase out any arrangement with Mr. Runciman.They would without theirconsent, be it understood, is impossible. be only too glad in fact, to extend their lending busi- Where is the money to buy back land stolen or received ness onthese terms.But since nothing in thenew as a giftfrom the State? The wage-earners ,certainly memorandum offers the smallest additional guarantee havenot got the money ; nor, by any amount of to that already within the means of the small farmers, conjuringwith credit and co-operation, can they ever the trumpeted boon is apiece of cruelhumbug. It conceivably obtainit. It follows,therefore, thatthe measures,however the intelligence and goodfaith of miracle of land purchase must be performed, if at all, the Board of Agriculture, through whose brazen gates bythe capitalists themselves that is, by theland's all the ivory dreams of Land Reform will have to pass. presentowners. They are to tax themselves in order *** to purchase from themselves land that they do not wish Even on the supposition however that the androids to sell. Such x pocketoperation may appear feasible now at the Board of Agriculturewere removed the toreformers whonever think in terms of common- proposalsmade by Mr. Lloyd George would prove, sense ; butfor realistsit is a whiff from Cockaigne. whencarried out,more ruinous than salutary to rural Openconfiscation such asthe earlySocialists pro- life in England.The attempt to establish a Minimum posed,was at least a more manly as well as a more Wageis, in particular adevice so discreditedelse- practicalcourse than this veiled self-robberyIt re- where that weshould have thought that only sworn quired only one miracle, while this would require two. enemies of theagricultural labourer would suggest *** iton his behalf. As one of the necessaryconse- The second assumption is no lessfalse to facts ; it quences of recent wage legislation in industry generally, is that, as P. W. W. says, "Money spent (on improving wages rose in 1912 by seven millions, while prices rose agriculturallabout will be remunerative."But it is by thirty millions Was that the effect which was anti- notonly not true that investment inlabour is necessarily cipated by thereformers who advocated it? Corre- remunerative in the commercialsense, but it is sponding effects would most certainlybe produced in not even true that farming in generalis remunerative our villages if wages were raised by statute; and some or could be made remunerative on the whole and in the of them we can distinctly foresee at this moment. There commercial sense,inEngland. Among the conse- is notthe least doubt thatamong the effects of the quences of Free Trade, for better or for worse, is the AgriculturalMinimum Wage would bethe reduction sub-division of thelabour of the worldaccording to of the number of labourers, the rise of villageprices, areasfavourable toparticular production. Nations an impetus to the conversion of arable land into grazing commercially alert specialisein occupations which landand theconsequent further depopulation of the nature or accident or race makes most remunerative to rural districts. And not all the legislation in the world, them in theworld-market; and thus it happens that within thecompass of theexisting system, would be Englandtends to become the industrial nation of the able to check or counter the evil of thesenecessary world, while Canadaand Russia tend to become the effects. "P. W. W." writesignorantly of "forcing" agriculturalnations of the world. Inother words',in landownersto do this, "compelling" bigfarmers to the world-market wherepractically all commodities pay that, cheapening land here andtransferring land now compete England has proved to be more favour- there; but the fact remains that by the established law, ably situated in regard to manufactures than in regard which Parliament was created to maintain, land belongs to agriculturalproduce Capital invested inmanufac- to its legal owners, who are free to use it or not to use ture in England, therefore, pays a higher percentage of it exactly as they please How, weshould like to interest,returns a greater yield ofprofit, than capital know,are landowners tobe compelled either to pay invested in agriculture ; with this inevitable effect, that wages they need not pay or in the alternative, to give capital flows easily to industry and onlywith difficulty up their land to anybody who will use it? In the case to agriculture. Thisbeing undoubtedly the case, we of commercial employers it is true that they can, within have at oncean explanation of the languishing condition limits, be compelled to pay a minimum wage or to see tion of agriculture in England and of the fallacy of the their machinery rust; but in the case of landowners no new land campaign. The reformers imagine that agri- such fatethreatens them. By convertingarable into cultureis decadent because landowners are too stupid pasture they can reduce the number of necessary em- to farm.The truth is thatit is becausethey aretoo ployees by three-fourths without any damage whatever commercially acuteto farm. And again they imagine totheir property. Should the State then intervene to thatcapital invested in settingup small farmers, re- drive them by taxation to sell their land or to cultivate novatingvillages and raising the efficiency of agricultural it, the only result will be to throw it into the hands of labourers, would yield a trernendous return in city magnates who, out of city profits could afford to national profit. We will saynot that capital paythe taxes and stillleave theland idle. Cultivate so spent would yield no profit, but it is certain that the the land they certainly will not. same- amount of capital,invested in industry would yield more. *** * * * It may be replied that instead of allowing land to be sold tocity magnatesfor pleasure parks, the State Castingthe mind forwardas far intothe future as should enable the local authorities to acquire land and wecan see, the probable development on theexisting to let it out in small holdings But this wild proposition lines will involve the 'decline of agriculture to an even tien rests on two even wilder assumptions : the assump- lowerrelative place in production thanit now holds, tion that the State, even if she were willing, would be andthe practical extinction of thepresent all-round able to buy the land of England at forced prices ; and agriculturallabourer. And againstneither ofthese the assumption that capital invested in English agricul- tendencies, however we may regret them, is it possible tureis actually remunerative ina commercial sense. successfully to fight Sentiment certainly will be of no The first assumption doesnot, we imagine,require avail, and as certainly we see no immediate hope of such much refutationin these columns. We shall believe a change of mind and heart aswould restore country life when we see it that the legislation of plutocrats is pre- as a vital,though not as acommercial, necessity. If pared to taxits class for the benefit of agriculture or it can be proved as we have no doubt capitalists have 343

proved to their own complete satisfaction, that the in- either individually to promising labourers or collectively vestment of capital in farming of anykind, small or to the parish council-and whynot, we may ask? In large, tenant or proprietary, is less profitable than in- the first place, there is no doubt whatever that the land vestmentin industry, no commercial inducement can was stolen from these sources-stolen without, in most be expected to operate in the restoration of agriculture cases, the slightest recognition even of the eternal obli- Onthe other hand, it is barely conceivableby the gation ,incurred. Inthe second place, no other means highly imaginative that such a revolution of ideas might as we have pointed out, can transfer land from the rich take place as would restore agriculture, not for its immediate to the poor save free gift alone. Thirdly, it is essential meditate commercial profit,but, as we sayfor its that the gift should be completed by capital; and lastly, spiritualand vital advantages. Let us putthe matter it is essential that its ownership, whether vested in the in this way. We arewitnessing now the decline of individual, or, still better in the Parish Council should agriculture in consequence of the competition of the be inalienable We really do not see why in one parish world-market ; and we are experiencing the transforma- in all England such an attempt at restoration should not tion of England from a rural to an urban nation for the be made. Let us suppose that in oneparish only a simple reason that urban occupations pay better in the squire should be found public-spirited enough to identify world-market thanrural occupations The questionis the Parish Council with himself, and to invest the corporate whether inthe pursuit of commercial profits we are body of villagers with the means as well as the actuallylosing something of still greater valuein the responsibilities of a part, at any rate of his local landed decline of agriculture.Biologists as well aspoets are property-would not the example be the demonstration of the opinion that weare. The real, as distinctfrom of the"way out " fromthe land problem?For our- thepseudo, eugenists, are convinced that in draining selves,in spite of much disillusioning experience, we the country to swell the towns we are making commercial believe still in the final utility of the Parish Councils. cia1 profit at the expense of our national vital capital. They are, it is true, for the moment so feeble that one They argue therefore, thatthough by thismeans we good shake .and they would die; but their feebleness is may gain th,e whole commercial worldwe shall of infancy,not of age. No poweryet animates them lose as a nation our soul; and that, as a practical con- no property yet belongs to them, no responsibility yet conclusion it would be wiser, from a far-sighted view, even attaches to them; but with property would come power, in the commercial sense,tomaintain agriculture, and withpower would come responsibility and with though forthe present it should appear relatively un- responsibility would come the real renaissance of rural

remunerative. * * * and in theend, of imperialEngland. We do not ask We havenaturally no faultto find withthis view, thegoverning classes to attempt this restoration of nor would we even admitthat a policy basedupon it England from within We do not,unfortunately, be- isimpossible. If we hadstatesmen capable of long lieve them or even one of their order capable of the views, instead of politicians capable only of short views, paltry sacrifice involved. Butwe do believe that, if doubtlesssome such policy would beadopted But neitherthis course is taken nor the second, which nobody who is in politicsto-day would affirm that, weshall now briefly discuss, all theland reform however possible or however desirable such a policy is attempted by othermeans will only hastenthe doom in theleast degree probable. There would berequired of rural life. *** tomake this policy practicable either amovement of The alternative to be brief, is revolution--revolution ideas among the present proprietary classes, or a move- too, not by process of law Again we must make the mentof revolt and revolution among the present un- large assumption thatthe proletariat of thecountry, propertied classes; and each event appears to us to be made wise by bitter experience of the effects upon them- more unlikely thanthe other Nevertheless and as. a selvesand upon the nation of thesystem of wage relief from thethimble-rigging of Mr. Lloyd George slavery, may one day be prepared to present an ultimatum and his litter of fanatical, narrow-minded and invincibly tum to the possessing classes : Surrender or die ! We ignorantland-reformer we may speculate for a need notexactly picture thedramatic moment as in- moment or two on the alternative means which the fore- volving bloodshed-though, indeed, in evenour iciest going improbabilities offer : a movement of ideas among moods that contingency is present; but, failing the surrender the wealthy and a movement of revolt among the proletariat voluntary,the surrender obligatory must be letariat.Concerning the first, it is almost enough to peremptorilydemanded. Whatmeans, however,exist say that only a movement of ideas could possibly affect to make thisdemand even imaginatively possible? them Profit it is clear is out of thequestion; there None, we .should say, for the present, nor even the be- is, to speak relatively,no profit to be got out of agri- beginnings of one. We have seen that our Labour movement culture.But on the supposition thatthe rich were thatpromised so muchten years ago, has now moved by ideas, it is certain that they have the power lostits way and spent its strength in the morasses of to divert capital from industry to agriculture with far politics. . Pursuing Will-o'-the-wispsor their female less waste, and with the prospect of far better returns counterparts,, Madges-o'-candles, the Labour movement than if the same transfer were undertaken by the State has lost sight of its substantial object-the acquisition even with theirconsent. The State, it is true, has the for their class of property or the control of property- reputation, in the works of pedants, of being concerned andhas, in consequence grown weaker atthe same with the total welfare, future as well as present, of the time thatits class has undoubtedly grown poorer A nation of which it is thereputed embodiment; but in gain of seven millions at the cost of twenty is not we actual fact we see it to be little more than a. vast and think a fair reward fortwenty years of toil. On the greedy wen upon the body politicintent on sucking otherhand the Britishpeople have always shown an for itself as much nourishmentfrom every reform as astonishingpower of self-recovery. John Bull is leavesthe reform itself more often deformation than never more nearlyalive than when he isnearly dead. reformation. Land reform, in short, if itis to be If what may be called the national conscience be ever undertaken by thegoverning classes at all, would be awakened again (and nobody can say when or by what more effectively carriedout by theclass individually means .it may be touched), the people--meaning by that than by theclass collectively and bureaucratically the proletariat mainly-would make short work of the assembled in the form of the State. rottenbands that now bind not only themselves per- *** but allthe hopes of EnglandIn the mean-time But how would thestatesmanlike landlords, whom we can but continue the process in which we are we are imagining, proceed in their attempts to restore engaged : the consolidation of the wage-earners and the rural life? By suchmeans, we conceive, asnaturally inspiration of their leaders with the duty,the sacred occur to minds preoccupied with the remoter object of duty, of acquiring and administering property for their sucha work and to the exclusion of immediate gain; class in theinterests of thenation That, though the in other words, by setting up an independent yeomanry longest isalso the shortest way to landand every and by the restoration of some, at least of the conditions reformother *** itions of the mediaeval villages. But this would involve, [The present issue of THE NEW AGE contains 28 it will be seen, the free gift of land and initial capital, Pages*] 344

.- .. . .. _- Current Cant. Foreign Affairs. ‘‘AS a working-man I think we are at last coming into By S. Verdad. OUT own . . .”-HAROLDR. LATHAM. Thereare fewmore complicated subjectsthan the “I am, and have been for the last five years, engaged in traininga special order of clergy for the Churchto financial affairs of theOttoman Empire, and I have combat the curse of Socialism, which, encouraged by the certainly no intention of touching in this article upon all Government, is spreading widely among theworking thevaried problems with which the Porte will shortly classes. ”-F. 11;. TREMLETT,D.D., D.C.L. haveto deal--not alone,but in conjunctionwith the representativesof the Great Powers. The Ottoman “Thepresent week is a verybusy one inthe social PublicDebtamounts in roundfigures to world and there are no fewer than three Court functions ~T130,000,000,most of itlent by thePowers. To taking place. Those attending will assemble in the sup- meet theannual interest on this sum a greatpart of per room . . . departing by the main entrance and grand staricase.”--”Daily Mail.” therevenue is earmarked-theexcise duties,the salt ---- tithe,the tobacco tithe, part of the Regie tobacco “Charles Kingsley’s ‘ Westward Ho ! ’ is utterly repug- tithe,etc. Other receipts, such as theCustoms dues nant to us of the Catholic faith. It is a vile, lying book. and the ordinary internal taxes of the Empire, are dis- . . . .”-CANON HAWKINS. posed of by the Finance Minister for the time being of -- the Ottoman Empire. TheCustoms dues,however, Mr. StanleyHoughton step by step is deserting the cannotbe increased, except with the consent of the steep road of reality and truth for the primrose path of Powers. make-believe.”---Boyle LAWRENCE. *** “The recent Church Congress at Middlesbrough Other factors must be considered in conjunction with plainly marks a stage in the evolution of religious ideas.” the Debt. In return forsupport, diplomatic and finan- -JOSEPH MCCABE. cial,the Powers secured, either from Abdul Hamidor fromhis Young Turk successors, “ concessions ” of “Thingsthat look difficult on paper are oftenquite simple in practice,and we are confident that,just as variouskinds. Germany, forinstance, holds the everyone quicklysettled down to thestamp-licking and Bagdad Railway concession, and groups of French and therest, so, ina very little timeall concerned will be Austrian financiers are also largely interested in Turkish doing what is required of them.”-“The Liberal railways. So, also, are a few English financiers, though Monthly. ” not to so great an extent. Some English financiers, on --- theother hand, hold certainshipping concessions. “Somebody has been asking Mr. John Masefield how The number of GermanConsuls scattered throughout a man or woman should set about the purpose and exer- AsiaMinor is notorious,and was referred to in these cise of the literary craft. His answer is that they should read the great masters continually.”-“Book Monthly.” columns some two years ago. *** “The Unionist Party is not an instrument of the capi- talists.”-“Weekly Dispatch.” Hithertothe Powers have merelyadministered the ----- moneyswhich naturally came to them for disposal in “For the second time this week Mr. Lloyd George has connectionwith the National Debt. These sums were risento highparliamentary eloquence. ”--“News and dealt with by a Council of Administration at Constantinople Leader.” nople, and advice regarding the remaining revenue was - _--- given, if asked for, by advisers like Sir Adam Block and “My dear Shaw,-Thanks to a few men like yourself, Sir RichardCrawford. ThePorte has now to face a Conservative England is Conservative no longer.”- Charles SAROLEA. differentsituation. The Treasury showed signs of being able to recover its balance up to the outbreak of “Most of us are familiarwith what God has been theTurko-Italian war, when changes of Government doingthrough the high schools and colleges of China madematters quite chaotic. A deficit in theBudget towards preparing young men for advanced positions in was seento be inevitable, and with every new loan or every walk of life.”-CHARLES BEALES inthe “Christian ‘ ‘ accommodation ” the Powers concerned asked for new Endeavour Times .” concessions. It maybe recalled thatthere are now three important international banks at the Turkish capi- “London, during the last ten or fifteen years has grown tal,each representing, in practice,its own country- considerably gayer. Years ago London was merelya business centre. . . .”-“The Standard.” viz., the Banque Ottoman (French), the Deutsche Bank (German), and the National Bank of Turkey, which is “TheWhite Slave Traffic liveson ignorance. . . Con- English, ironically enough, in spite of its name. firmation classes are now due. I suggest that in the pre- *** liminary instruction, qualified medical men, and qualified nursing matrons should be engaged to tell the girls what Afterthe war with Italy, the war with the Balkan theyare, and the boys whatthey are. And above all States.Turkey is now almostbankrupt. It is difficult to show by notorious evidence that the ‘ wages of sin is to see how the sums wanted for the payment of troops death.’ Death in five years. If the Church blocks the and civil officials, apartaltogether from the heavy ex- way, the work will go on.”-Tom WILLIAMSONinthe “Leeds Mercury.” penses of thecampaign in Thrace,can possiblybe raised in Turkey itself. The financiersinterested can “Mr. Borden spokewith an eloquence which sprang dictatetheir own terms, and they are not likely to be from his deep-seated conviction of the grave pass which actuated by anysympathy, either with the Turks or we havereached, basing his proposals upon the signifi- with the Balkan League. It has already been intimated cantmemorandum which the Almighty had prepared at tothe four Allied States that they musttake over an his request.”--“Montreal Gazette.” amount of the Turkish National Debt in proportion to theOttoman territory whichthey annex. Thefour “Labourpredominant! The ideal, a short time since considered Utopian, is now, by common consent,within Governmentsconcerned have replied that they see no therange of practical politics.”--“Daily Citizen.” objection to this course, if only the Powers will guaran- tee them a cash indemnity from Turkey equal in amount CURRENT SENSE. to theproportion of theDebt taken over. This some- “Lloyd George has split the medical profession into two what cool proposal has beencourteously declined, and classes. In future there will be a rich man’s doctor and the Allies have been madeto realise that any sums a poor man’s doctor. Pay enoughand you willhave a paid by Turkey in the way of an indemnity would, per- skilful and willing doctor of high standing. Merely in- sure, and you will have the dregs of the profession grudging force,have to come out of thepockets of Frenchor inglyserving. There will be one more classdivision; Germantaxpayers. The Allies are welcome totake one more source of bitterness.”-“The World’s Work.” overa certain amount of land,but they must take a 345 proportion of theDebt with it, and they mustexpect no money from the Turks. Military Notes.

* n * T-l On top of these negotiations comes the proposal, out- Romney lined very briefly by theMahmud Shefket Cabinet in its recent conciliatory Note regarding Adrianople that LIGHTis beginningto be cast upon thecauses of the Turkish Government shall be authorised to increase Turkishdefeat. It is stated in “TheBalkan War the Customsdues, followed by theproposal that the Drama”-a short military and diplomatic history of the capitulationsshall be abolished. All this has proved campaign by the “Times” correspondent in Belgrade- too much for Europe, and the financial elements among that the collapse of the Turkish regimental organisation thePowers are considering the situation. If theplans (as well as of the Turkish staff) was largely due to the now being slowly draftedare finally adopted,Turkey utterfailure of the new highly instructed regimental maysoon, and suddenly, find herself in theposition officer, with whom the new regime replaced the rougher which China is now fighting against, and which Persia buttougher men of Hamidiandays. The old officers, isalready in. Expressed in otherwords, this means we are told,were ignorant, uneducated ranters, no that Turkey may be left with nominal independence so great hand at promotion examinations (owing toan far as internal government is concerned; but that the unfortunate inability to reador write but first-class Ottoman Empire as a whole,from Thrace to Bagdad, fighting men, with the power of getting their companies will be takenover by thefinancial representatives of to follow them.Their successors seem to have been thePowers as a going concern,and administered for chosen on the score of an extensive knowledge of books the benefit of theEuropean bondholders. The Council and the trick of solving the natty tactical problems of of Administration at Constantinople, thatis, may in Prussiantrained instructors which is all very nice, so futurehave to deal not onlywith part of Turkey’s far as it goes, and “Romney” will be the last to dis- finances, but with the entire revenue of the Empire. seem ** ** courage it.But they to have forgotten howmen should be led, for it is certain thatthe men failed to Thiswas why Ispoke last week of thetactlessness follow them. Their moral prestige must have been, in- of the Young Turks in raising these financial questions deed, low to cause such despondency among troops so justat this moment If theyhad waited a littlethey stolid .and unemotionalas, the Ottoman. mighthave been able tomake more satisfactory ar- *** rangements ; butthe Powers can onlydeal with one thing at a time, and, where a financially weaknation There isa lesson here. We mustnot rush into the is concerned,they are usually contentto take the oppositeerror of assumingthat theoretical knowledge shortestcut possible. If theeasiest way out of their of every description is valueless and that cool courage present difficulties seems to be to take over the finan- and the power of enthusing men is all that war requires cial administration of theOttoman Empire, they will in regimental officers. (And,before proceeding, let not hesitate to adopt that method. me make it perfectlyclear that itis theregimental *** officers, and more particularly the company officers, of It mustbe recollected that in thecase of Turkey whom I amtalking. Everybody is agreed that the East meets West with a vengeance, and all the racial maximum of theoretical knowledge is necessary in the and social antagonisms of Asia and Europe come into staff.) Inthe firstplace, the staff isdrawn from the sharp conflict. The easy-going Turk simply cannot regimental officers, and the training which may appear be brought to realise the importance of such things as wasted upon the subaltern will bear fruit in the general. punctualityin train services, the need fordeveloping In the second place, if the higher command is to meet hismines, the necessity of goodroads and drains- with a willingresponse toits orders, the rest of the theWestern idea, in short,that he shall stop saying army must be educated up to the point of appreciating “ Kismet ” and get onwith his work. Personally, my them The divorce in sympathy which otherwise re- sympathies are with the Turk, who would have been a sults has been one of our most pressing dangers in the first-classcitizen of AsiaMinor and of hiscorner of British Army for years.But when all thatis granted Europe if hehad beenleft alone. He neverwanted -and everyone does grant it now except the “practical railways, he never wanted roads, for he seldom makes men “--it is time to remember that when armies are what we may call a European use of them, and he was fighting on the European scale-hundreds of thousands healthyenough, or felt so, withoutdrains. Why, he againsthundreds of thousands--yourcaptain and grumbled, could theforeigner not have rested content subaltern become merepawns in the game. Their in- withbuilding hotels in Constantinopleand refrained dividuality is lost in large masses of men; if they possess frompenetrating further with his cursed inventions, anytactical skill, they will find small opportunity of abhorred of theProphet and the Faithful? using it; and very little will be required of them except the power of getting their men to follow them in some *** The present chaotic financial condition of the Turkish reasonably orderly manner. ’Empire,in short, is not due to the Turk so much as *** to the “ pushing ” capitalists of Western Europe, who NOW, not only this, but there is positively a danger in wantedconcession after concession so asto increase increasingthe skill of troops intaking advantage of their profits, and to the strenuous commercial efforts, in ground and of other incidents upon their side, unless at a small way, of Italianand Greek merchants in the the same time you increase their courage and resolution coasttowns. The Bank of Rome,it may be recalled, in a proportionate degree. Take, for example a hypo- played some part in Italy’s declaration of war, although theticalcompany of IOO untrained, undisciplined men its influence wasnot nearly so greatas was asserted of good fightingstock. Upon coming into action for at the time by criticswho see the finger of finance in thefirst time, these men would follow the dictates of pies where it has never been inserted. their own instincts, and advance until their morale and cohesion gave way before the enemy’s,bullets. So * * * Whatever the result of the fighting, then, the future far, so good.They are excellentmaterial. Apply to of Turkey is largely an affair of European financiers ; them a Course of what one may callmoral training- and, in thecircumstances, it can hardly be otherwise. improve their discipline increase their esprit de corps, For Turkey has become sufficiently modernised to feel teachthem an almost automatic obedience totheir the need of money, and she can get money from only a leaders--and you will double oreven treblethe strain fewrecognised sources. That moneycalls for interest, to which they can be exposed and the distance to which and Turkey has not yet produced a statement of ade- theycan advance before breaking. Butsuppose the quate financial capacityfor getting that interest to- limits of moral training to have been reached, and that getherwithout some outside assistance. I fear I shall your men do not yet advance far enough or bear suffi- have occasion to referto this matter more than once cient loss without breaking far yourpurposes. Only again. one other thing is left to you. You must increase their 346 skill in avoiding losses--in taking advantage of natural features and so forth-so that, although their loss-bear- Guild Socialism-XI ing capacity may not be greatened, yet the amount of loss to which they are exposed will be lessened, and the Motive under the GuiId.-(Continued.) result will be a net increase in fighting value. WEsee, then, that the motive to do good work under *** privatecapitalism is starved and stunted, not only by But thislast is a verydangerous experiment. In a blind and vindictive discontent, but by the refusal of war the art of avoiding loss is valuable only as a means private capitalism to put its wage slaves into, a position of ultimately inflicting greater loss upon the enemy. It ofeven relative independence Slaves they must be, should therefore be taught only to troops whose morale with a slave morality Try as we may, we cannot dis- is so high that there is no danger of their losing sight tinguish between the morality of slavery and wagery. of thisfact or of pursuingsafety as an end in itself. If, then, we startwith sabotage--the disposition to And althoughsuch troops have existed, especially reducethe quality of thework to suit the wage-it among veteran armies which have learned by experience cannot be. doubtedthat this motive under Guild theultimate folly of thelatter course, I do candidly organisation, is transmuted into a motive not to reduce doubt whether we have any of them under arms at the buttoincrease the labour product. In a striking presentmoment And I fancythat even now, in time of peace, I candetect the signs of thedemoralisation passageLe Bon hasshown the extraordinary psycho- in which training in the avoidance of loss has therefore logical change that comes over a man when he enters resulted. into economic association with his fellows. He may be *** meanin his personal dealings; in his association he is Forinstance, given a position tobe attacked which generousand large-minded He may'be cowardly or is frontally difficult-owing, let us say, to the enemy's pusillanimlous inhis own person; in association he is field of fire-but whichcan be turned from the flank. courageous. He maybe slack and lazy in his private There is, of course, every reason why we should prefer life;association calls out vigourand persistence In toturn it from the flank, provided always that there short a man may discover no motive inhimself to please is time enough, and that there are no other objections himself; the motive to stand well with his- fellows soon such as theinterference with the movements of other assertsitself at the touch of activeassociation. But troops that the necessary detour frequently involve But in the Guilds the motive is stronger than tbe hunger for granted that, in three cases out of five the difficulty of approbation;the slacker injures himself as well as his attack can be lessened by manoeuvresof this description, associates by hisslackness. He knowsthat it is only yet on the other two it will be necessary, for one reason by maintaining a high standard of craft and effort that or another, to "go straight in," and the bother is that he can realise the very purpose that brought him into men accustomed to the first method are apt to shrink theGuild. In any event, if a certainproportion of from the second. We are all cowards at heart, and we slackers and malingerers be found it is certain that the are all willing to acceptthe comfortable illusion that general membership will know how to deal with them. battles can be won by sheerunaided tactical finesse- themore so becamenothing is, morefascinating in Those who have intimatedealings with the workers peace than the study and practice of this finesse, nothing of Great Britain (doubtless the remark is equally appli- dulller thanthe continuous drill and parade work in- cable to other countries know how deeply rooted is the volved in thepractice of themore straightforward passion to do goodwork if opportunityserves. It is methods But though it may be fascinating, it is often a miracleand a mercythat modern industrialism has not war. Once accusto'ed to the fatal idea of winning not killed it outright Kill the craftsmanship of an in- easily and by cleverness, the mind of man, which never industrial country,and what remains? Yet to-day, diffi- exactlywelcomes the idea of heavylosses, refuses to cultthough it be to believe the vast majority of the entertain it at all, and an army which has reached that manufacturers of WesternEurope and America seem stage is beaten before it goes to war. to bein a giganticconspiracy to crush out that very *** craftsmanship that is the life-blood of their occupation. Verymuch the same thing may be observed with The reason is simple : mechanicalproduction necessi- bayonet fighting. Two sorts of men .are of anyuse tatesintense specialisation, so thatto-day a manno with the bayonet One is the kind of man who know- longer learns a trade--he is put to a section of it, and ingnothing about bayonet fightingwhatever, attacks there he sticks foe the rest of his life. But the workers instinctively andvigorously. In nine castes out of ten are by naturegregarious and companionable so that such menwill defeat the defensiveof a moderately skilled by exchange of experiences the tradition of each trade bayoneteer,even in time of peace,and in actual war, where the moral advantages of the attack are decupled, is maintained-a traditionthat will bloom intohuman theywould win againstthe most skilled defence any reality when labour ceasesto be anon-human commodity andevery time. The other is the man who, while ac- andbecomes as richly human as it was under the quainted with the various thrusts and parries, and able mediaevalGuild. Motive ! Whatworkman is there to employthem to advantage, has not forgotten the who would notsell his soul tobecome a craftsman? moral advantages of energy and dash. This is the most Evento-day the labourer starves himself that he may dangerous man of all, for he has acquired skill without put his son to some so-called skilled trade. losingmorale. The third kind of man,who is no use There are, however many other motives and aspira- at all, is he from whoma little knowledge has eliminated tions.There is the motive orambition of the Guild the combative instinct which normallywould lead him to member to rise in theGuild hierarchy and become an attack,and who has come to rely upon the finesse of administrator.This form of motive to-day hastwo fiddle andpoke, which is of preciouslittle value, even branches : one man gradually attains foremanship and underthe artificial conditions of thegymnasium, and graduates, into the commercial sideof his trade; another which could never even be attempted in the field. **** manbecomes absorbed in trades unionism, and finally plays a moreor less prominent part as an official, a Inmilitary history the first type of bayoneteercor- delegate,or what not. The organisation of theGuilds responds to theold ''stand up and go straightat it" will not be complete unless full scope be given to both army of Crimean and Mutiny times ; the second to some- thesetypes to achieve their appropriateCareers. In thing which does not now exist in Europe,but which thisconnection we see the technical associations in- was verynearly reached in thewar-trained Imperial definitely extending their membership by the admission ,. ,,. army of and Jena. The third corresponds Austerlitz intotheir ranks of tbe,actual workers, now their inferiors to something which we are creating to-day--a force in but,under the Guilds, theirequals and the:. which finesse is relied upon to take the place of resolution comrades Under private capitalism most men are but will of course, be relied upon in vain. 347

cludedfrom the satisfaction of thesemotives; their Ifwe cannot analyse, define, ordocket the motives rightfulpositions are seized by the blood relations of of men, it is, perhaps, possible to discover the true conditions theiremployers But under Guild organisation every and atmosphere in which motives, appetites, and privatecarries a marshal'sbaton. ambitionsmay be satisfied. A motiveimplies a will. It is 'doubtful, however, whether the majority of man- But before it can in any degree be realised, power must kind regard their means of livelihood as the main con- be added to, will. Thus the condition precedent is will- cern of life. They would fain work that they may live; power. Wecannot however even possess will unless wagery compels them to live that they ma; work The thefund of will isgreater than the depletion ofthat preoccupationspractical and spiritual, of baresub- will-fund forthe bare maintenance of life. A surplus sistence,benumb faculties and aspirations which are of will over the amount of energy requisite for existence of incalculable value. It is impossible to move amongst istherefore essential. This surplus once secured man even the most poorly paid wage slaves withoutencountering has only to applyhimself tothe satisfaction of his innumerable signs of genius, of thought of artistic motive by means ofhis will-power. He will succeed orliterary or religious cravings. We havewritten it will-powerthefailas or stronghimis in before,but it bears constant repetition : thecase for enoughweaktoopurpose.thefor or The democracy is thatit is the inexhaustible well from modern aristocratic theory is that this "Will to Power" which a cationdraws its resources human, economic, mostappropriately resides in the breasts of the domi- 'social,spiritual. All thesearc comprehended in de- nant few-those who have acquired the culture of the democracy and only indemocracy It is the ground out schools in close alliance with the more distinctively ex- of whichfructifies the seed of national life. Thecase ploiting class-their surplus of will-power being at its against the wage system is that it starves the ground- maximum became there is no demand upontheir will- "letsit run down," to use an agricultural term If fund to maintain life--and that therefore the true way thisbe so, doesit not followthat any economic re- of national life is to subject the mass of labouring man- formation of societythat gives ample scope to, the kind to such discipline as shall keep them in subjection endlessly varied andkaleidoscopic motives ambitions, and their masters in control This is done by maintain- .andcravings of themass rather than of thefavoured ingharmony and balance between theforces of con- few will best harmonisewith motive enriching that morality and the physical forces at thecom- democracywhich is thefountain of nationallife? mand of theCrown. This theory presupposes that out It is often contended that the wage slave is almost as of a bureaucrat grows a superman. It runs counter to lazy and shiftless as the chattel slave; that to maintain the democratic theory that it is only by the cultivation wealth production it is therefore necessary to keep the of the powers and propensities of the mass of the popu- wage slave at th'e spur point of starvation. " Give them lationthat national greatness can be attained. The money,and they instantly ease off," we are constantly question,therefore is thus resolved : Isthe Will to toldin varying terms of contempt. We merelymen- Power a perquisite of a dominantclass, or is it a tion the point to show that it has not escaped us; we universal quality? The bureaucrats claim it; so, also, do shallcertainly not argue such a foolish proposition. It theGuilds. is not .an argument; it is an excuse for sweated wages. It is, of course,true that a man'sface may be so groundthat he may lose all heart, allresilience, and The Sleeping Giant Anatomized. sinkinto utter indifference andinertia. But if thisbe true of the majority of the wage earners-the majority I POINTED out inpreviousa article that the idea of the nation-how about the glories of tbe British Em- universallyaccepted by TradeUnionists, Socialists, Empire? Isit built up thebasis of a ,thriftlessand Syndicalists,and Anarchists that the proletariat is all- on powerful if he would only realise his strength is found shiftlessproletariat-a proletariat that starts work at when .examined, tobe based on mere presumption. In six o'clock in the morning, and treads the corn for nine, thisarticle I will dealwith another "truism " upon ten, or eleven hours? The more far-sighted employers which are based the hopes of the Labour Party in this alive tothe essential falsity of thisconception, have countryand of theSocial Democratic Parties of the discoveredthat there is an economy of high wages so worldThe idea underlying tbeParliamentary hopes scientificallyaccurate that it destroys the wage-fund of these parties is this : When the majority of the work- theoryand resists the law of diminishingreturns. ingclasses shall be converted to Socialism,they will It isuniversally true that acquisition stimulates accu- inevitablyall vote for Socialistic candidates as the mulation-the appetitegrows by whatit feeds upon. workers are in the majority they will be able to return Place a man and his family beyond the reach of urgent to Parliament a majority of Socialist member; and the want, give him some scope for his faculties, sime ease executivepower of theState will fall as a matter of of movement, he instantly becomes a source of national course into the hands of the Socialists. When that will wealth. How often do wehear it said : "Ifonly I havehappened, the SocialisticGovernment will gradu- werein some measurefree from the cursed grind, I allytransform the present system of societyinto the SocialisticCommonwealth. could dosomething worth while."And weimplicitly Now let me ask my Socialist friends : From what pre- believe it. One of the most appalling aspects of private mises have they drawn the conclusion that the working capitalismisits callous disregard for any kind of classesin the various constitutionalcountries really genius, skill, or ability which it cannot exploit. Worse ! have a majority of votes?Have they examined the It kills out even the wealth-producing capacities. of the registration books and discovered the number of wage- workers. workers (such as are economically and psychologically " We too now say suitable to become Socialists) inscribed as voters,? They Thatshe, scarce comprehending have done nothing of the kind. They merely presumed The greatest of her golden-voiced sons any more, that the working classes have a majority of votes from Stupidly travels her dull round of mechanic toil, thegeneral fact that the poor form an overwhelming And lets slow die out of her life majority of everynation. Even Mr. Chiozza Money Beauty and genius and joy." who is all figures and statistics, in reply to the writer's private inquiry as to the proof that the proletariat com- It is impossible toanalyse the multitudinous and mands a majority of theelectorate, says : "A useful mixedmotives of mankind.Some are noble; some are point for you to remember is that over the A16o-a-year ignobleBut we have no doubt that the true way of line (income-tax line) there are about five million people life isto give free scope to noble motives,trusting to who own practically all theland and capital of the the culture ture, common-sense, and widely distributed country,while under that line there are thirty-nine wealth of the nation to kill or cure ignoble motives. million peoplewho have little or no property. It, of 348

course, follows that the proletariat commands the great whoactually voted was ;1,,5$7,000. It isnot un- majority of thevotes of the country.” The reader will reasonable toassume that the greater part of th,e note that I have emphasised above the words “econo- 1,744,000absent voters were of theworking classes, mically andpsychologically suitable to become Social- who, for one reason or another, could not vote. In the ists.” Socialists will be thelast to dispute my con- recent Lambury by-election, about 30 percent. of the tention that there is a vital difference from a Socialistic voterson the register did not vote. It was claimed standpoint-between the merely poor of a nation and the thatthe missing voters were removals. Be it remem- proletariat--i. e., those who economically own nothing bered, property owners will often travel for many miles but their labour power, and psychologically have been so to record theirvotes. The conclusion to which we are moulded by generations of the factory system that their bound to come is that when the total number of votes is ideal is different from those of the lower middle classes dividedbetween those who are likely to votefor and those whom theGermans call “ luftmenschen.” Socialism and thoseagainst it, the majority of votes From a Marxian standpoint, the proletariat alone is the will be Anti-Socialist. gravedigger of Capitalismand the candidate for we will now turn to another aspect of the same question Socialism. Members of other classes might either from Letus assume, for the sake of argument,that an enlightened self-interest,or, from sympathy with themajority of voters in every country will votefor the working classes, join the movement, but the proletariat Socialism Eventhen theSocialists could not obtain tariat is the rejected stone which is to become the head control of theState, for this does not depend on the of the corner of SocialismBut I suggestthat the number of voters,but on thenumber of members of “ stone” does not command a majority of the electorate Parliament ‘Under thepresent representative system in any country; and although it is difficult to prove the prevalent in every democratic country, a constituency of suggestion in black on white, itis equally difficult to several hundred rich men, can send a representative as arrive atthe opposite conclusion when we make the well as a constituency of tens of thousands of poor men. following analysis, of Socialists andanti-Socialists. In In the United States, according to the above-mentioned the latter we will include (I) All property owners, large article the proletariat has a majority of votes only in andsmall (thesmall property owner is often more eleven States, and if in the proletarian vote were to be “capitalistic ” thanthe large); (2) Managers, superintendents included thevotes of farmlabourers (which isnot tedents, foremen, secretaries, the higher grade clerks, probable as theyusually votewith their masters, and commercialtravellers, agents, small traderssalesmen their ideal is not Socialism, but to become farmers them- buyers, floor walkers in large stores, pedlars hawkers, selves), then another four States would be added to the cabdrivers who hire their cabs, middlemen, and all Socialistic numberWhen we consider the factthat kinds (of “luftmenschen,” all those enumerated, although thetotal number of States is 43, andthat it requires wageearners, and mostly poor,are stilldevotees of two-thirds of that number to change or amend the Constitution Capitalism; (3) Most of those who directly or indirectly stitution, the hopelessness of bringing about the Social derive their ‘livingfrom theState (such people are Revolution through the ballot-box by the proletariat is against changes and revolutions) ;(4) Professional men evident Germany furnishes the most striking example. In countries like England, where the landed proprie- I About 4,000,000 votescast for the Social-Democratic tors hold thevillagers in theirpower, we mustcount Party, and the number of seats only about a hundred ! ninety per cent of the rural vote as anti-socialistic. Far- Let not thereader draw the conclusion thatthe mers, however poor, are as conservative as the lords of writer either directly or indirectly, advises the working the manorthemselves In the United Statesthere are classesto abandon independent politicalaction. As about 6,000,000individual farmers, and about one mil- long as the relationship between Capital and Labour lion farmlabourers, who are regular voters They are is what it is; as long as the ,average capitalist treats and not off and on the registers as are many of the prole- tariat, so Socialism has nothing to hope for from that regards the workers as beasts of burden; so long must the workers fight the Capitalists as best they can on the quarter.In France, the farmers who are in numbers economic and political fields; .because if Labour will not next in proportion to those of the United States, are the fightCapital, the latter will fightthe former. As the bulwark of Conservatism. Chinamansaid whenhe wasrebuked for striking his Let us now turnto the Socialist party. We will wife : “I no lick hershe lick me.” The Anarchistic assume that to thisparty belong all the proletarian andSyndicalistic propaganda against the workers’ voters,with a few voters fromthe other camps by political fight, is suicidal. The power of the Unions reason of sentiment. I lay stress upon the words “pro- will rise or fall, in proportion to the rise or fall of the retarian voters,” as distinguishedfrom the whole pro- politicalpower of the workers, The miners’strike, letariat; for theimportant reason, that not all prole- and thetransport workers’ strike demonstrated the tariansare voters. From an article in an American above statement clearly : If there were no Labour party magazine,written by .a Socialistemployed in the in Parliament if its influence, small as it is at present, StateStatistical Department, we learn that in the had not been brought to bear upon the Government, the United States the land of Capitalism,the vote of the miners would have beentotally defeated, as were the proletariat isabout one-third of thetotal vote We transportworkers, who relied ontheir economic shall, therefore, not be far from the truth if we assume strength.But we must distinguish between the use that in othercountries it is the same. We must also of the ballot to raise the status of the working classes take into consideration the fact that not all proletarians underCapitalism, toextract from Parliament what who are eligible to votecan ordo always vote. We Parliament can offer; andthe entirely different use of must deduct the number of votes lost by the proletariat, the ballot to bring about the Social revolution. Reforms owing to frequent changes of residence to disfranchise- may be politically obtained, but not a revolution. ment, for taking parish relief and to absence owing to JOSEPH FINN. thecharacter of their employment Recently, a working-man ing-man voter was struck off the register on a peculiar point of law. Thebarrister asked him whetherthe landlady, of whom he rented his room, would allow him MRS.DRUMMOND’S SOLILOQUY. totake into his room anorgangrinder, with half a I did the talkee bold and fine, dozen monkeys. Theman replied that he believed the And bounced the magistrate quite like landlady would object. Henceargued the learned I meant to do the hunger-strike : gentleman of the law, the man was not entitled to his Some unknown person paid my fine! vote as he had not the full control of the room he was living in. In West St. Pancras, some time ago, a large number of voters were disfranchised because their land- Why don’t these angels e’er incline lords did not pay the rates for their tenements; although To stump up for the rank and file? the tenants paid their rents which included the rates. In They’re left to “strike” in durance vile : 1895 the number of electors in the United Kingdom on No unknown person pays their fine ! the registers was 6,33 1,000,and the number of people A. T. ~- 349

say, a labour leader for the former can boast of aris- Notes on thePresent Kalpa. tocraticdescent and is no cowardSuch traditions as the Brahmins had, however, they passed on from gene- By J. N. Kennedy. ration to generation by tbe living voice; and men could remember in those days. It is not too much to suggest XII.-LINKS. thateach animal family may have its own little tradi- THEREstill lies about us the dust of the countless mil- tion. How do weknow that there is not some model lions of generations -of which we are the products. Out tigerwho fought the first greatbattle with the of the earth we have come, and into it again we shall elephant; ,a tiger held up as an example to open-mouthed disappear-eventhough our bodies may be burntand littletiger-cubs? Or, that the elephant family has not some hoary tradition about the first Jumbo who was set ourashes scattered to the winds. We mark off plots uponby a lithemonster with awesome springand of grounddub them graveyards, and call them holy dreadfulclaws; but who, nevertheless, conquered this But everysquare inch of groundis a grave,and was beast, pulled him.away with his powerful trunk, holy in its epoch to generations of men. Even now, in speared him with his tusks, and made pulp of himby unexpected places, we dig up skulls, andfrequently simply standing on him for a minute or two afterwards? whole skeletons.Often the ploughshare turns over a It has. long been recognised that animals speak to one curiousbone .and old people throughoutthe country- another-animals of course, of the sane family.Dar- win, even, was able to recordseveral cases. Especially side wild vaguelyrecall traditions of a battle. Three or noteworthy is that one of the apes which produced ('an four hundred years hence, for example, 'th'e.peasants on exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and descend- the outskirts of Kumanovo may dig up Moslem bones, ingby half-tones "-a baritonegibbon ! This will andremind one another blow the Servians buried their naturally remind us of a nationin whose language Turkishprisoners alive thereabouts in 1912. Every (( tones " play an important part. ' Chinese as she is field, if wecould only realise it, is a battlefield--not wrote " in lesson-books differsvery considerably from always the scene of a battle between armed forces, but Chinese ((as she is spoke,”as any experienced ideographist graphist will realisefrom troublesome experience. But more oftenabattle between man anddestiny. How animalsspeak in “tones,”too. With long practice, manycaravans have perished inthe desert? How anyintelligent being can decipher these tones There many Egyptians were carried away by the sudden rising may be men among us who are capable of "discussing " of theNile? How manypioneers have died of expo- sex questions with goats and others-the Post-Impressionist sure,hunger, thirst, disease? school of writers,for example-who can hold Incalculable is tbeextent of the mortality of the conversewith a bluebottleIndeed, the imagination things that once lived 'on the ,earth. But all these dead doesnot require to be violently stretchedto suggest manyways in which modern man-writings should be havereturned in another form. Even if itbe not ad- disposedof. Mr. Lascelles Abercrombie's poetry of admitted thattheir souls foundother bodies we cannot excretamight well be translatedinto Swinish; "The but grant that the dead bodies mingled with the earth Widow in tbeBye-Street " intro Rammic;the speeches and became, in time, the fruitful soil out of which other of labour leaders into Skunkee Decidedly, such an age bodies grew. But, though life sprang out of the dead, it of progresshas yet to come; and wh'nit does of did not necessarily always assume the same form We course,many poIiticians will haveto study the Rattic dialect. havehad innumerable monsters which are, so to say, Men have divided land into sections, and decreed that even more extinct than the dodo Museums, have carefully such-and-such a portionshall belong to So-and-so But collected theremains of thedinosaur and the ichthy- whatnonsense IS this? So-and-so's land, if it is in osaurus.The elephant and the hippopotamus still remain Western America may be overrun by bison, and if it is main,with us to show in whatstrange forms life can in CentralAfrica the mosquitos maydrive him off it. yet appear; and the. ant is at the other extremeremind to Even at home the hare, timid as he is, has no respect us in how small a compassintelligence can compress forrights of propertyand the birds make no bones aboutsettling in the great man's trees. High on their itself. perches they caw defiance at all the world. Any anima! Between man and these animals there is a gap which but man may roam at will over private property. It is has not yet been bridged. To thenaturalist (I donot truethat we have rat-traps;but some excuse can be mean thle ultra-scientific,mathematical naturalist, but found forrat-traps. But, if anyone asks whether we rather th,e Buffons and the Gilbert Whites) the abyss is have advanced in civilisation let it be remembered that neitherwide nor deep.True, he cannot cross it; but we once hadman-traps also Becameman-traps are he can at least look over to the other side, and his imagi- now illegal, however, let it not be assumed that we have advanced. For these coarse physical instruments, which nation may enable him to distinguish reality from Maya, often caused a horrid mess, we have substituted things Such a man will hold maybe, that thie chief distinction liketh'e Insurance Act. The InsuranceAct is simpy between men andanimals is thatmen possess, in the a spiritualman-trap sprung bypoliticians. ('Com- first place, written records of events and, in thc second pulsory Arbitration " is another man-trap to which the a morestringent conception of therights of property finishingtouches are nowbeing put. The old form of Notthat there are no rights of propertyamong what man-trap was nobler; for it was open and above-board and we knew that we ought to be on our guard against we are pleased to call the lower animals. If you doubt it if we were in forbidden places. it,, runyour walking-stick into one of thoseinnocent- Animals are links with the past as. much as men. It looking holes in the ditchthat conceal a wasps’ nest; is never sufficiently borne in mid thatthe written make to pick up a chicken when thc mother-hen is near; records of mankind cover only a trifling portion of time. offer towithdraw that bone from betweenthe dog's Up to goo or 1000 B.C. weare on fairly sure ground. apatheticpaws. Here, however the sense of property Further bacK wecannot assign definite dates to docu- comes to an endin this other curious world within a ments. We realise from philological andother re- world. Its denizens own, .and will stoutly defend, holes searchesthat Babylon, for example, was a highly cornersnests, lairs; but they make no, claim tothe civilisedcommunity with law-codes and a decaying adjoining land,or sea, or air. You mayshow yourself religion, in 6000 B.c., andthe University of Pennsyl- in the immediate vicinity of a beehive; but not until you vaniaexpedition of 1888 discovered atemple which is pokeyour finger inside will yourpresence be greatly assigned,on good scientific grounds, to 7000 B.C. But resented The horse will tolerate you in the stable; but at least 43,000 years before this the Pamir plateau was not in the manger. Trespassers will not be prosecuted being crossed by those tribes who brought the elements The tiger family has no written records; neither had of the Veda with them The further we go back,the the first 'Brahmins. But I had ratherbe a tigerthan, further back we find me have still to go. 350

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itwas found wrong. “An action is not a crimesensu Law versus Justice.* strictioribecause it is, punished by deathor hard By Friedrich Gans M.D. labour but it is punished so severely because it is con- ABOUT six monthsago a medical man in Edinburgh a crime.’’The public does not existfor the was sentenced to seven years penal servitude for having officials, but the officials are made in the interest of the been found guilty of an offence, called in the technical public. “A patient has not the abscess in order that, or language of the law- a felony,which, at the discretion because, the surgeon cuts, but the surgeon cuts because of the Court, may be punished with from three years to thereis an abscess. 1’4 Many would opposethis state- lifelong penalservitude, and he ought to be glad in ment. Most of all it is the Judge who, in his legal mind his bereavementthat he was tried before a Scottish andfrom his legal point of view, would not admit it. Court, for an English Lord Justice probably would have There is, however probably not one human action that apportioned to himten years, or, perhaps, still a has not been deemedpunishable atone time, or a greaterwheel to tread on. Thisis the way Madame crimewhich has not ever been held as such.’ We Justitiawalks and, as thelaw stands, nothing must, therefore dismiss the theory of “ Right by Lawfulness muchcan be said against. But if thepresiding Judge fulness.” in pronouncing his sentencethought it necessary to We havesaid that an action “crime” is punished qualifyhis judgment by sayingthat this heinous and because it is consideredwrong (criminal). This being most abominable crime is getting rife and abroad, and admittedwe may askthen what is the wrong that is that he, therefore seizes the opportunity by exemplary to be punished, what is the crime that makes it prose- punishing the culprit to show what the perpetrators of cutable. The State or the society is, so to say, a highly thatcrime will haveto expect, then it seems. (to me) complex organism after the fashion of the multicellular thatthe worthy Judge has to putit mildly, misused joint stock company animal, and, as every other living his discretionary power and shown himself .a good pupil company of thatkind, has also the feeling of being of Mr. Judge Jeff Jeffreysof famousmemory It is aliveand the may be,instinctive will of preserving really a veryfine but grim, joke of thepopular lan- or keepingitself alive. It will, therefore,after the guage, if it calls the master by the same word as the standard attained on the road to what is euphemistically instrumentthemaster uses; Master Justice ad- calledCulture doeverything that tends to favour it, ministeringor applying justice-what a fine figure of and try to prevent or to keep off anything that seems speech. todisturb it. Thus theState has made it itsduty to Thissermon from the unassailable pulpit of the protect those certain goods which are esteemed neces- judiciary reminds one very strongly of the Papal Bull : sary or wholesome to ahealthy development of its “Who would not detest such a heinous and abominable componentparts. This protection accorded by the crime,that causes, not only theruin of the body,but State (society) is exercised practically by punishing any also the perdition of the soul who would not condemn actionthat would cause injury to those ‘‘Goods, at thosegodless to the severest punishments whopre- Law.”There is, how-ever, a limitationto the discre- preclude the soul that is formed in the image of the Lord tionarypower of theState; those “ Gods atLaw,” . . . from thle happyand blessed tuition of thte Lord, those“Rights” must be of a generalsocial public who tryto impede with all theirmight the building nature, in orderthat their violation is tobe punished of the heavenly throne and filch Him of the service of Never does or ought, the State to punish the violation His*creatures? But welive now in an age ofdoubt of privateindividual rights if thereis not a general an. criticism,ethical and aesthetical valuesare trans- interestat stake. Having thus cleared the ground, formed and in themoulding We now do not accept we have won a proper basis whereon to proceed further, everything for granted and right, even if it comes from andwe have now toinquire into the Rights which BO high an authority as the Pope or the Chief Justice; are endangered or injured by wilful abortion and being we respect authority, but we inquire into the truth and of such a social naturethat its injury must be protected right of theauthority. So we very well mayask if tectedby Penal Law. Inthis respect we will consider wilful abortionbe really sucha crime as theJudge the matter in the following way :? would have it impressed on us, if it be a crime at all, I. The foetus. and which arethe motives thelegislator has allowed 2. Mother. himself to be guided by in punishing it 3. Father. Here we may say at once that an action is not wrong 4. State(society). because it is forbidden but it must be forbidden because 5. Anyother person or body. 6. Morality. *E.-Otto Ehinger, LL.D., and Wolfram Kimig, LLD. ; Ursprungund Entwicklung der Bestrafung der I. Hasthe foetus a Right of Life, e.g-., is there a Fruchtabtreibung.(Origin and development of the Foetal Right that binds a woman to carry to the natural punishment of wilful abortion.) end of her pregnancy in order that the fruit maybe born I,.-Eduard Ritter von Liszt, LL.D. ; “’Die Kriminelle alive? A foetal right ! Itsounds rather queer in this Fruchtabtreigung.”(“Criminal Abortion.”) apposition;and strange it is, althoughthe laws of W.-Fritz Wittels, M.D. ; “Die sexuelle Not.” (“Sexual many nations, as they exist at present, seem to recognise Needs.”) nise such a “foetal right.” Yet ‘this latter circumstance 1 This is not the only most abominable of the crimes. is not an argument in favour of it, but rather is per se A second one is the White Slave Traffic. The epithet was a testimonial for the slow working of our law grinding given,with a little more justification,by the Reverend ~-.---____._I_ ------___--______- __ ~ Bishop of London, who in his Christian feelings, proved .I L., p. 100. himself such an eager defender of the betterment through ’ The best illustration of this changing of views is the flogging. . proverbial saying : “The big thieves go about scot free, 2 Quoted from Ehinger. the sheep stealer is hanged.” This bull was decreed by the Pope Sixtus 17, 1588, put- 6 E., p. 107, for example : “If A steals propertybelong- ting capital punishment: onwilful miscarriage, but very ing to B he does not yet commit a punishable crime by soon it was found that his severe measure not only had theaction. Only for thefact that by hisaction the not the effect expected, but that the laity grew very in- common interestin the security of generalintercourse indignant Alreadythreeyears later, 1591, Pope and public peace is harmed, his action became criminal. Gregory XIV mitigated the law. AS such it appears also if the hungry beggar A takes a 3 I do not intend to go into the legal distinctions be- piece of bread from the table of the millionaire. In this tween offence, misdemeanour, crime or felony. I use here case punishment would be ratherhard and unjust, if the word crime in its general sense as a grave offence that one would justify it by saying that A’s interest or private deserves also severepunishment. property lies been violated .” 351

~ machine. A right is something personal; only a person Of coarse,the ecclesiastical and €or that matter the or a community of persons can exercise a right, e-g., official view is quitedifferent In their opinion your a right can be apportioned only to persons, i.e., living lifeand your body do notbelong to you but are only man. A foetus, however, is not a man, isnot a person given to you by God as a present ; thereforeyou may in the juridical sense; it might, perhaps, become a man, not dispose of them as you like, and if you do you inter- butit is not one Biology and Medicine prove it, that fere with the Divine Will." Such a view is simply that the foetus is not man, that it is part and parcel of the of religion 'and shapedby the professed believer, and, maternal organism, and so dependent on the latter, that perhaps, by some great augur, but it is something more it is for eight months incapable of life if separated from thanmere anachronism to uphold religiousdogma by it.This standpoint, which is also that of theRoman criminallaw." If,then, we must admit that a woman and Mosaic Law, is the only reasonable one. Of acts within her legitimate rights if she disposes of her course,the ecclesiastical and, for that matter also the fruit as she likes, it follows that a second person, acting officialview is, different.Theirs is the religious conception or assisting on her behalf andwith her consent, or at ception based on Tertullian, who taught about 200 A.D. her request, must also be in the right. that even the nascent foetus is a man, and that man is 3. We have, SO far,admitted the general right of contained already in the germ.' And later St. Augustine woman as to being herown free manager of her own decided that the foetus is animated from the beginning. bodily circumstances, but now we must make some re- Ittook the Church a longtime before by sweet and strictions, springing from the "rule of the husband."13 otherpersuasion, she got the people converted to her Although we need notentirely accept the dictum of conception, which, after all, a-as not men new but mis- thefamous philosopher, that marriage is nothingbut understoodAristoteles. And thus it came to pass that a contractfor the exclusive use (orabuse) of the re- wilful abortion was to beconsidered murder and the spective sexual organs,14nor St. Augustine's view that punishmentfor murder was death Following up this married persons, who do not wish for children, are but idea to its logical extremities then at every menstruation fornicators A,5 and we may holdwhatever view of the some human life would be destroyed as the ovary con- object of marriage, it will be admitted, that procreation tains, about 60,000 eggs, of which only a few could be of children is, if not the only yet the main object, par- fertilised; andsince one egg can be fertilised only by ticular cases, or circumstances being left aside, i.e., age, one sperm filament although thousands of spermatozoa disease,etc. aredischarged by one emission. wholesale murder,ac- With this view in theirmind both manand woman cordingto the Church, would be going on, andthat areembarking upon marriage and both acceptit by order of Divinerule. And, further the use of anti- silently as theirduty."j Since a dutyalways is com- conceptionalmeans would fall short of attempt of plemented b;- a right, or inother words, where there murder,and he who sells such means, or the doctor is aduty there must be a right one couldwith some in the interestof the woman, advises her this who in juridical justification construct the " husband's right of respect, they a11 would beaccessory to theact.* !I But progeny."Such a right would be offended if thewife if the foetus is not a man,it is certainly a futurist, a miscarries wilfully againstthe will, or in secret,from potential man ; towhich we may answer : verywell, thehusband. It is, however, more thandoubtful if but we know that it is not a man, that we do not know such a duty and the right derived from it, are real and what it will be, norif it will come to stay at all. It not merely fictive. Still more questionable would be is ratherprecarious to put something under thepro- the protection of such a fictitious right through criminal protection of the criminal law of whichwe have really so law.1'. Buteven if thisbe admitted, many exceptions littleassured knowledge Conclusion : fromthe part must be grantedand there is no doubtthat in many of the foetus there is no right that could be injured by instances the wife wouold be justified .against the will of wilful abortion herhusband to wilfully miscarry; it followsthat the 2. Tell a sport-lovingEnglishman that he would husbandcould assert his, "right of progeny," if such have to go to prison €or going to Switzerland mountaineering be recognised, onlyunder certain conditions, which, taineering, or thathe would haveto serve time for however,are not always absolutely cogent.The right playingcricket on ahot day, and I would like to hear of the husband is, faced by the right of the wife, which hisreply. Yet the woman wilfully miscarrying is a often go smoothlyparallel to each 'other, sometimes, preciselyanalogous case. She risks her own health, or even her own life; but is she not mistress of her own body ; just as well asthat cricketer or that mountain limited where other legitimate or superior rights are con- climber?What is rightwith the one, must notbe cerned,i.e., self-mutilation in orderto escape military wrongwith the other, or as a colloquialEnglish pro- service. 11 Onthe ground of such a naive andsenile doctrine verb puts it : " What issauce for the goose is sauce England has nourished and preserved a curious speciality, forthe gander." As long, therefore as no other’s viz., the felo de se, and punishes the attempt of suicide. legitimate rights are hurt, a woman wishing for one or la Ehinger I.c. points out that on the strength of this otherreason to miscarry, and putting this wish into argument every doctor would have to go to prison for per- action, owes nothing, but acts on the right recognised forming a ritual circumcision, and also a barber mho cuts by the law'', that everybody is master of his own body. thehair. Another necessary consequence follows, viz., ______-- ______that neglectful or carelessmode of living during preg- nancy, whether purposive or not, had to be prohibited by 7 Homo est qui est futurus et fructus omnis jam insemine est. Homicidii festinatioestprohibere nasci. law, because of the enormous danger to health and life. (Ehinger .) What a Pandora box of evils such a law would open ! ' Indeed,here religious views contain very much of l3 It needs no explanationthat here only the matri- mysticism and superstition. To fight against superstition monialhusband comes intoconsideration. theChurch is and mas nevercapable, since a good deal l4 Kantis said to be theoriginator of thisdictum. of mysticsuperstition has its originin the doctrines of Quoted by Liszt, p. 84. the Church. l5 I.C., p. 83. 9 Thus it “may be explained that in her (Church's) and I& Thisfound its strongest expression in the Jewish in thestatute laws thepunishment was the same for law of marriage,according to which the wife could sue abortion as for sorcery, and that till the newest age abor- for divorce if the husband refused to perform his duty. tion was punished by the same law (on the part of the l7 The R.L. punished the wife for this reason; but in Church) asartificial sterility." (Eh., p. 53.) Itseems thisrespect one must take into considerationthat the thatthe severity of theEnglish law has its originin position of the Roman pater familias was quite different these olden bygone times. fromthat of apresent-day father. In all otherrespects, however wilful abortion was free and allowed. (After lo At least, of all the other countries;this right is E.) 352

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howeverdo conflict. Who then,shall have a greater andrecognised that even in this country, in spite of right? Do man and woman .not stand al pari ? thegross and severest punishment with which it is 4. Thereare not infrequentlycases where "third threatened, wilful abortion is on the increases persons" may have an acute interest in the 'birth of a Nevertheless there are Circumstances that may justify childusually cases where entailed propertyor inheritances itspunishment, e.g., where the health of the people, tamesare at stake.But such an interest never, and viz., children is concerned It is the duty of the State under no circumstances, can go so far as to become a tomake every reasonable effort toprotect the health right. ''To found uponsuch an interest the right .as of the people for the health is almost as important to to demand gestation till full term would be a juridical thenation as life itself. Onlyvery slowly andnot monstrosity until very lately, has the State awakened to learn that 5. TheState (society)is interested in birth of chil- there are duties to perform towards the people, and that drenpolitically and economically TheState wants thereare problems seriousand grave, that cannot soldiersand priests, the Church baptism. These re- be solved by Dreadnoughts and endless party squabbles. If, then, the State has to of quirements would plausibly enough explain the interest a right protect the health of theState in child-birth.The soldier the priest and the people, this right may be asserted by punishing all baptism.They are the chief factors,which can build actionsdetrimental to it. Althoughas has been stated, the State has not a right of children yet it can up culture that pnderous mixture of convention and reasonably demand for the sake of the coming genera- irrationalitysprinkled over with a flew grains of tion,that the children should not .already suffer wilful powdered intellect; they form the trinity for the blessing damageto their health before theyare delivered. It of man,without which no systematiccultural life is certain that children born alive near the natural term could be.achieved." But all the same it is still very andsurviving, usually have suffered damage to health questionable if the state on the ground of such a supposed by their prematurebirth. Even if theyhave survived posed interest can vindicate a right of unrestricted proliferations the strain of labour they are so weak and delicate that liferations,. And even if itwere so theState does theutmost care, often does notavail to rear them; mighty little to show that it has such a right. Nothing almost from birth a whole arsenal of diseases waits to is done to prevent artificial sterility, the sale and provision be let loose on them, that will weaken them for lifetime, vision of anti-conceptionalmeans is entirely unrestricted so. that if have the luck to survive they will often striotedand free ,emigration is unlimited. The State they turnout crippled mentally and bodily.z5 Viewed from does not encourage or facilitate marriage, nor subsidise thatpoint, wilful miscarriagenear the natural term large families," which is obviously the only right method viz., if the foetus is already capable of extra-uterine life, of fostering the increase of population. All these duties e.g., from about 'the eighth month of gestation would the State shirks, andleaves to private charity, organised thenconstitute a seriouspunishable offence. It is orunorganised, to alleviate the misery caused by the curious enough that none of the leges latae have taken superfluity of children,the denizens of thefuture, on up this side of the spectre; almost all of them either do whom the State is allegedto claim right. Naturally a notpunish at all if thenewborn has survived, or the charity keeps the classes well distinct and separate, and punishmentis much more lenientand milder thanit the needful subjected,and sometimes gratefulto the wouldbe if the foetus would havebeen dead or died benefactor; but more often it makes of the necessitous shortlyafter birth.2' But, as Dr.Wittels points out : a wanton, and of the impoverished a pauper, or hater " Nevertheless it would seem that it is a much greater On the one hand, the State does nothing to favour the offence to put into the world, by the attempt of wilful natural increase of population on the other it punishes miscarriage, a rickettyor feeble-minded cripple, than wilful abortion,thereby counteracting" just that particular by successful abortion to destroy the vegetative life of ti,cular interest which it is supposed to be the object of a heap of cells" ; we cannot do better than to assent. protectionMoreover that a "Right of children '' is 6. Whether wilful abortioncan or ought to be utterly absurd,is strikingly proved by Malthusianism punished on moral grounds,e.g, because itmight be whichhas come to stay, and is recognised and prac- consideredimmoral is more thandoubtful In this tised in, all the civilised countries as an effective means regard it must beonce for all pointed out, that moral law of obviatingproletarianism and that the State could isone thing and criminal law another; both may be notforce generation of childrenby law. The whole complementary but each has its own areaof dominion.'* contention is untenable. It is,therefore an outrage Thisis almost commonplace knowledge, yet it cannot committed by the State on every woman if it forces her beemphasised and reiterated often enough for great tobear her fruit to the natural term of gestation and numerous are the judges Neither can we see any- Every woman must have the right to limit the number thing immoral in an action only for the reason because of her children herself by her own wish. "Of that right it conflicts with some Christian doctrine, or because in nothing stands in the way than the sensible wish of her the opinion of a particularlegislator or judge it is. husband"22 : If in times of dearth, or famine, or plagues, immoral The fallacy of the ecclesiastical view has been war etc., the population is in danger of reduction, the uncovered above so there is no need torevert to it State would have to find means. how to counteract the .again. And if wesearch the sources of the so-called decrease.But it would bequite out of allproportion if it would beg-in withforbidding ,abortion, because Christian morals (I) the Greek and Roman national cul wilful abortionaffects the number of the people not tures, and (2) the Jewish (Mosaic) law, we find that both ~~_____.______.I..__._.___- 1-1- at all, or only very little, and it is indeed a fact proved 23 The law forbidding it was even not at all given in ------.---- __..___^______._._____ I.-___ the interest of the population, but has its roots in a time l8 Of thesethree factors one readilyappreciates the and views that belong to the past and bygone. necessity of thefirst, whilst the usefulness of the third '* With the exception of self-injury, as long as nobody may be certainly doubted,and the second is positively else's health is thereby endangered. harmful 23 Here, again, the State is guilty of grave omissions; l9 It would seem that in regard to this point an altera- again everything is left to private enterprise, which ob- tion is just beginning. viously is theState's right and duty; eugenics are not -30 There is noquestion that the far greatest number yet the cynosure of the legislator. of abortions occur with women inthe " non-married " 26 So by Eh. state;the breeding of illegitimate children is, however, p7 Wilfulmiscarriage is as applied to thesecases a contrary to the present-time views of society. There could misnomer it should be called wilful prematureparturi- be no better law of fostering the breeding of illegitimate tion. children than the forbidding of wilful abortion. 28 It is, therefore, not astonishing, though it may seem 21 W.,p. 16. strange,that collisions between both frequently occur. " L. The history of every country is full of such happenings. 353 ~- differ widely from the Church in their conception on this unfortunately, oftener by crook than by hook. There matter. The Church,and most certainly the Church are two methods availableto achieve that purpose, at the time of its foundation and early growth although abstinence (moral restraint), and anti-conceptional itboasts to have overthrownthe Pagan culture and means; the former, though safe in its end,and the erected a new, eternal one in its stead. has not added latter very unsatisfactory, both may be very unpleasant new ethical values to those already in existence indeed and even directlyharmful to health.Every prac- one may .ask, whether the Church could have improved titioner,and even more so the specialist for nervous on the morals at all of say, a Plato or Marcus AureIius, and mentaldiseases, can tell tales, about it. And if or whether the Church could have produced greater civil then thewoman, under thepressure of the circum- virtuesthan exhibited, say, by Marcus Curtius,or stanceand from fear of the law,falls into the hands Aristides, or Cato No Church morals will not doit. of thequack or other irresponsible person, great, and The Criminal Lawmust havedifferenta footing often veryserious mischief, might befallher, which "Crimes against morality, that are only immoral because atthe hand of theexpert wouldeasily be avoided they conflict withsome particular ecclesiastical .or But what about that womanwho out of naughtiness judiciary opinion ought to have no place in a criminal or by misfortunehas sinned against the moral law code which is not construced by theologists; criminal of the Church or of Society, based on Church morals.'' laws ought to be foundedonly and exclusively on ob- Of course, she is a most wicked, most immoral woman, jectiveevidence and knowledge ""' Anyhow,'in spite and everybody looks down on her in contempt from of the 1,500 years of Churchregimen people have not hisself-righteous pedestal, and justisit all the yet come to believe that wilful abortion at least before d6virtuous women" who never knew what it wasto resist thequickening, issomething immoral. Thebroad temptation, who are in thefront row to stone her .masses of the people knowperhaps, although this Enough to drive a sensible woman to exasperation. But, maysometimes be very doubtful,that they will be halt, this, is not yet the full measure of sorrows. Tossed punished if found out,but they do not believe that and pulled andpushed and dragged, they finally land there is any immorality or dishonestyattached to it ; very often on the quicksand of secret or overt prostitution in this regard people have remained quite Pagan, as in tution orWhite Slave Traffic.3* Necessity breaks many other things. laws, evenhard as iron. If,then, knowing what The law stands evidently in oppostion to the popular society's cornucopia has preserved to her, the woman instinct,and has apparently developed independently eitherweary or unwilling to fight, removes the visible from and against the people."' sign of her " disgrace," we need not be surprised by However, " Goodwill iseverything and essential it. The one arranges it by wilful abortion,the other wheremorality is concerned," says Schopenhauer, and perhapsafraid of thelaw quite easily manages it if we.ask for the motives the answer will not he through masked murder. doubtful Social needs are responsible forthe action. Infant mortality is high enough to make the horses social needs in one or the other form.32 shy, but themortality of illegitimates is, horrible Here are two parents, toiling and labouring for daily dictu, more than twice as large, and nobody thinks that bread and over-satisfied with their share of the heavens this is dueto natural selection only. There is whole- Eachincrease of the family adds only to their misery salemurder going on 35 forwhich the law must be and their already heavyburden. If theynow, at the held responsible. gloomy prospect open to themselves or their children, But where isSociety? Societyblushes, covers the decide to have no more, can it.then be said that they face, and is disgusted,First, she forces than into areimmoral? No, Malthusianismisnot immoral guilt, .and then hands them Over to their torturers. And whatelse may be saidagainst it by ecclesiastical or afterwards comes ,unctuous charity to save the fallen, other busybodies. Au contraire, it is the only measure with Bible andChristianity, as if thatwas wanting. to corrent (to a certain degree)the monstrous in- It is of no use to blush and to be disguised What equalities in the struggle for existence with the present is wanted is that the natural right of woman to work socialconditions. Itis, therefore, mere iniquitous cant out her own happiness should notbe restricted or to look upon parents as immoral, who, for one reason hinderedby dubious or iniquitous laws. or the other do not wish for proles and having made Awoman "falls" ; who dare accuse her?Here is up their mind to prevent it do so by hook or crook and, the question and.answer to it in a nutshell. Here lies

~______-______~ ___- the root of allthe "evil,"which will notcease until

29 Greek and Roman law did not punish wilful abortion at all except in certain conditions already mentioned ; and 33 Neither need the physician be afraid of the law for the Jewish (Mosaic) law knows only the abortion caused the matter is so easily managed, and a reason that would or provoked by neglectful or careless action by a second even satisfy a jury be found without difficulty. In fact, person, which was compensated for by money. Only much theyare not afraid of the law.This, however, is not later, and under the influence of the Greek culture wilful meant as an accusation of the profession. abortion was alsorife among the Jewesses. And we see 34 Prostitution as we know it now is a double- then Philo denouncing wilful abortion. " He who causes headed hydra. The one head is that of the "born prosti- the wilful loss of the inanimate, still undeveloped fruit, tute" of Lombroso, the other is the "prostitute of storm shall he punished, because he did not control his passion and stress." Whilst the former is vicious in the makeshift, and interfered with Nature which was forming a human the other is theproduct of society. This is the way how the being.But if the foetus was alreadyanimated, he shall Christian Occident looks uponthe matter. There are, suffer death.For it was already a human being that however, other peoples and nations who can claim to have has been killed, like a statue that is destroyed, while still achieved notless a high culture, who look upon these at its sculptor and awaiting the day of its unveiling; it is, matterswith different eyes. I am not atall sure if the therefore, also blasphemy, aninjury to the Divine,for Japanese would compare the geisha to criminals. life is thegift ofGod." (Eh.) . Philo, who diedabout 35 Hereare some figuresfor amusement (takenfrom the 'I Sunday Times " of December 15, 1912). 50 A.D., tried to graft platonic doctrines on Jewish ideas. Mortality. L. Ill. Mortality. L. Ill. His '' Gnosticism " has become the stock-in-trade of the Bristol ...... Islington ... 121 ... 363 early Christian writers. 96 ... 223 Bradford ...... 119 ... 245 Manchester ... 162 ... 382 30 Eh.,p. 164. Cambridge ... 81 ... 219 Poplar ...... 121 ... 281 31 Here is a point for the lawyer to work out. Cardiff ...... 124 ... 329 Paddington ... 107 ... 187 3t A great variety of motives have been reported, such Croydon ...... 93 ... 172 as vanity, voluptuousness, revengefulness, jealousy, love of pleasurefear, superstitions,etc. All thesetaken Letthese figures speak for those who cannot speak together form only a very small percentage. for themselves 354 ---

Society has radically *converted herself from those ob- obsolete principles to more human conceptions of morality The Eternal Feminine. Thus we havefound that wilful abortionis not By Beatrice Hastings. immoral, or, at least, not always immoral and, where ONE darted not look at the sun, or even whereit lay it is found such the blame for the immorality must be in a sky the colour of blue steel; yet out in the open road sat a babywith a little thin bonnet playing laid on Society and its Law. “ In times to come when on, mankind will have progressed furthertowards true withthe sand And its hands,like sprays of desert morality, and,consequently, also towards humanity flower, were dryand cod. “Where isyour mother little one?” and true justice, men will find it incomprehensible that “ NO-’0-0,’’ shesaid on, threedistinct notes, and itwas considered rightful to make help impossible to shook her frailhead. the needful and exasperated and to abandon to misery “Nicesand ! Let’stake some andshow mother.” the surely innocent fruit of their connection So we putsome carefully in the tincan, and joined Returning now to our starting point,and question hands,and went towards the pavement. The child ingthe usefulness of the law, we must confess that was“well dressed” in anincompetent way,with its it servesno useful purpose at all; it does nor prevent open-workbonnet, and short sleevesand ribands, and wilful abortion nor even reduce it; that it is positively the most useless little pair of brown kid slippers, worn harmful by causing material, bodily, and moral and buttonless. “You carrythe sand, and I’ll carry you-Tottie !” damage ; such a law is a crime and, therefore, immoral, She giggled or chuckled. a blot and disgraceto Society. Ceterum censeolegem “ Me--Tally !” I hesitatedwhether that was her esse delendam And the sooner thebetter. But, name or if she meant to say “carry.” alas ! England loves and cherishes her old traditions, “ Tally what ?” for great is the Diana of the Anglicans !37’ “Mummy-baby-daddy-Thally !” “ Oh-Sally ! Well, where isbaby?” “No-o-o---” But suddenly she pointed. It THE JEST. seemed safer, after all to let her walk, on chance that shemight take the right direction. She stepped deli- TO-DAYI raised strange creatures from thedust. caitely, and looked up everynow andthen from ex- Shall I not let them tarry for a span ? exquisite hazel eyesand eachtime, asshe looked her Shall I not fill them with despair and lust, fingers tightened in their hold At a roadquite near And call this tribe of puny vermin Man ? by she turned up confidently, and again into a: passage See, I have shaped for them a watery globe where stood Dutch-builta house with anoutside And set it whirling in a tiny nook, wooden staircase.She began to climb up,assisted by And made it pretty with its starry robe, lifts from behind, at the which she shrieked delightedly Whereon these creatures’ greedy eyes shall look. The staircase mended on a balcony with three doors, all See, I have filled it with delights and woes ! shut Arrived theat top stair, the baby called But in their eyes I laid a subtle spell, “ Mummy !” and hurried to bang with the tin can on And all this paltry rabble shall suppose, the firstdoor. A tall woman came, without doubtthe That hell is set in heaven, and heaven in hell. mother; not the eyes alone were thesame, but here 0, this shall be a goodly round of mirth clearly was the source of that ineffable delicacy in the To watch the writhing antics of their life. child the fine bredding that toned itsskin, the gentilesse To watch them fighting for a patch of earth- less’e, sympatica, all of humaneity, that distinguished Their very love shall be but pangs and strife. theintelligent little being. Herewas also something To watch them scamper after distant goals, naturallynot to be seen in the child : trouble ! The That I shall shift, and make them rage and wail, glancewas confiding, butnot quick, like that of the I’ll stir a foolish ferment in their souls, adorable child. It lingeredupon me. And let it seethe and fume and then grow stale. She opened the door wide saying, “ Come in,” and And some shall cozen them in parlous wise held it open SO we went in the baby grasping her Prating of how they saw me and were sent dress and babblingat a great rate about the sand. It To show my glory to their doubting eyes, was acheap roomand, one knewinstantly, the only To write my message in a Testament. onefor all the family. On a moderately smallbed layan infant sleeping and beside the bed was a box Rare merriment to hear them talk of Me ! with a bottle of milk on it, and feeding things. Another How they will jabber paltry lies,and fawn. How they will dote upon a life to be- box held an oil-stove and some breadand butter. The And how their whimperings will make me yawn. furniture was only thebed, two chairs, a washstand, and oilclolth. I took achair. The room washot, and For they will seek to cleanse their sins with prayers, as the window curtain moved in the draught from the Confessing of the evil they have done, open doorgreat rays of sunshine blazed acrossthe Craving for succour from the Tempter’s snares- oilcloth and dazzledone’s eyes. Almost before I could They shall not know I’m God and Fiend in one. blink the womanhad drawn ablind. “That is better Rut I shall choose a few, who now and then eh?”That lingering look ! If ever confidence can Shall burst upon the wallowings of the rest be at once bewildered, hopelessresigned, and in- And goad to fury these vile spawn of men, ,destructible, this woman expressed in her manner what Stripping the vanity of every quest. made such animpression Her movements, slow as And when I have grown weary of the game a rule, and tender, were enchanting, almost exciting in I’ll toss this spinning ball (how they will shriek !) their delicacy. She took the child on her knee, and And let it vanish in a spurt of flame, brushedits hair, and retied some makeshiftlaces A jest to chuckle over for a week. which Ihad not noticed hadslipped right. down into P. SELVER. the shoe, or, perhaps, been pulled off and tucked there. Sally talked but the mother only looked in answer, 36 L., p. 78. and, reaching for the bread and butter, broke off little 37 The arguments against the law discussed above are bits and fed the child carefully, brushing away a crumb by no means exhausted,and it would have been com- from its chin as one might who was handling a priceless paratively easier to say more-and to paint with brighter instrumentThen Sallyslipped away,unhindered and colours than used here in order to show the bad effects of wentout with the can of sandto the balcony. The the law. But for thesake of length of this paper the woman stood as if dreaming,but, as I moved to rise writer has restricted himself to mere outline of his case. and leave she looked at me, as I thought full of wish Anyhow, he hopes that the paper will be read and re- for me to stay, and herself sank again into her chair flected upon. Then it will have served its purpose,and her dress of washedand faded muslin falling in many have been worth the troubleand ink. folds. 355

I sat subdued and fascinated realising quite well that “She’sgone. Someone fetched her. Her husband’s I sat amidst tragedy, assuredly amidst woe of poverty in tronk(gaol), youknow. I liked her, so I lether on that ,burning, ,roaring, gold-smitten Rand, where the stay,but she owed me a lot of rent. It’s paid now. signs of the outsider are unmistakable; but beyond this Herhusband stole some money-ten pounds. He got plain pathos of destitution something worse something ill and lost his job, andthen he took ten pounds. I calamitous breathed in thatblank room Trouble was don’tcare. I don’tblame him. But he’s doing two in all its space. And suddenly onestrange emptiness months now. Ithought they’d have let him off. Do took name : there was no sign (of a man-no man lived you know her? ” here ! “ Verylittle. I broughtthe babyhome from the The woman spoke as, though this had been her own sun, and so I met her.” thought : “My husband is away.” And then he burst forth : “ I’ve never seen a woman I liked better than that ! ” “ Will he be back soon ?” I expected a great dealmore, but he fell suddenly “Yes, soon He’s away twoweeks now.” inarticulate. “ She’s gone ! ” hefinished, and touched Her accentwas the clipped accent of people of the his hat and turned away. land-colonial bred-but the sound of her voice was ample as all else about her. Shedreamed, saying no more, and I sank along with her to a world of simple Letters from Italy, feeling wherethought could shape no morethan in watersandlight. Shehadeither aside,put I-En Route* or hador rarelyused, conventional mannersand “ ‘ Catulle frater if so I dare call you, mine, always negligible, failed away now as everyone’s I am horribly tired of the fog and the frost, do in somehour or another : manfinds man simple And the ‘ultimate Britons ’ enough at times of threat and death. I sat with an em- Bore me to suicide.” bodiment of trouble,dumb, impotent, not understand- From ‘‘Sententiae Christianissimae of Hieronymus Chrusarguropoulos of Halicarnassos.” ing-and I think that my companionwas equallyper- plexed and helplessly docile. We borethe hour to- AVE Roma Immortalis ! “ Hail, Muse, etcetera.” If gether. So onewould staysubdued out of oneself, anyone wants, a picturesque account of the monuments, witha stranger stricken by thesun, or with an un- art, scenery,and archaeology of Italy, let him ply his knownwoman seized in labour,or with any wounded Baedekerand his Addington Symondis. I will have thing ; so men stay where fate or panic has passed and none of the “picturesque,” nor of the “vagabond” ; I left shame and hurt behind, and the senseof strangeness never have the ‘ “go-fever, ” and I drink beer only an is illuminated,and each one acts for another asfor rare and regrettable occasions--it gives me indigestion. himself. Notice that one has only to start on a. voyage of some Nothing was to be done or said-to remainwas all distance in a third-classEnglish carriage to, attract desired. Presently I began to think again, or, at least, aweand interest. “Whereare you going?” you say to feel towardsthought. I feltthe weight andrush nonchalantly to the manopposite. “To Hastings, (or of all the Rand, screaming and burthened with a double Bredeor Ashford),”says he. “An’where might you load of goldand unappeasable lust of gold,like a be goin’ ?” “ Oh, to Rome !” youreply, with the air thirst-mad camel bearingwater upon itsback, whose of one who says ‘‘to Shepherd’s Bush”; and the whole tongue is wetted and no more ; and it all weighed light compartment (alwaysthird, remember) staresat the againstthis quietly starving woman, in abandonment notable before it. unchecked in herfeminity, tractable, submissive, and I always find men one talks to for a few minutes. or persistent in living so long as life would hold together, hours on a journey more pleasant than the usual crowd Imade not then comparisons (of her with others of one meets. Thereis notime to take their virtues for her type-Helen andAndromache womenfeeble, granted Before I got out of England I had appointed uncourageousor withonly one kind of courage, to dine with a jolly old barrister, who was amused be- but endowedwith very femality persistto by cause I wore a ragged ,velvet coat, and who thought I adaptation and by theluck of the weak ; un- was “a happy-go-lucky sort of chap ” because I guf- seeking,unresisting, such women passfrom man to fawed at his japes. At Lewes I met another man, who wore tweeds and a slouch hat,had .a profile like man and from good to evil times, adored by everyone Louis Stevenson, and lived on 3s. a for their constant grace and charm, and, above all, for week. I liked him, in spite of his profile, his seriousness and his simplicity, a beauty of movement,kindling, but never satisfying, He lent me longa poem hehad written. Meliora expectancy ; they areas sweet as hopeitself, andas speramus “ unseizable as dew or bloom, and, themselves innocent, I owe thoughtthat yellow dogwas a lion myself Miss Browne ” they may cause men to commit mad acts for them. ‘I Horrible aequor ulti-mosque Britannos,”says With such a being I was sitting in the gates of fate, one of my veryexcellent friends. I havenot yet sharing a shadow that was not mine, and lured to stay reached the point of verifying a Channelexperience, by no words, or even by great idea of aiding her, for I but I may say that I was even more pleased to leave the wasaminor and dependent, but by allthose sym- “ horrible aequor” than the “ ultimos Britannos.” patheticqualities whichmade her,though impotent, the way to Paris alternately slept and discussed irresistible. Theinfant waked, and waked both of us. On I the poems of Mr. Tagore with a young Bengali friend She pickedit up lightly as a flower, and held it, quite of his.I think he wasthe pleasantest person I met. still,while it rubbed its eyes and leaned half-laughing Odd that one feels such a toad beside thesecultured on her shoulderThen I feltfree to go.Awkwardly Orientals. enough, I said,“I’m going togive Sally some Parisis always good ; the smell of the “boulangeries,” money,” and at this she almost laughed with glee, say- the rattle and clatter of the streets, real coffee ing, “ Thank you,oh, thank you verymuch ! ” So, forbreakfast put me in humour with all the world. probably,Helen took her pardon from Menelaus, and I remembered delicate days ; I “boulevarded”for an Andromache a new wifehood. At the time I was, stupified hour-though itwas cold Iwrote incoherent verses fied totears to seethat a fewshillings could relieve in Englislh andFrench over my coffee. “Et lavie her so much. She wept when I wept, taking my hands scribbled I, “ Qu’ importe ? J’ai mes reves ” and squeezing them and rubbing them as though I were passe -and by the Lord, this coffee is good. the sufferer At the Gare de Lyon, waiting for the train to start Shall I come to-miorrow? ” I asked, and shere- for Dijon I made the following‘observation on human plied, ‘‘ Please !” life :- When I wentnext day she was gone. The landlord The affectionate farewell kisses came up as I stood knocking at the door. Of the fatFrench bourgeoisie “ You want Mrs. Theophilus? ” Are like the slapping mash from a motor-launch ^c Sally’s mother? ” I On the hulls of thepunts at Richmond. 3 56

“ Sur le petit bateau-mouche “--could Laurent Tail- hade or Martial do better? Views and There were twoFrenchmen and aFrench maid- servant in my carriage. I read for a couple of hours- I NOTICED last week that a contemporary was acquainted then noticed the lady. “ I wonder whatSterne would withpublic affairs : circumstances forcedit upon my have done here?” I thought “ Or rather, what would notice, andthe effort required tocomprehend the fact he have said he did?” has not been wasted. The effects of that irruption into “ Mademoiselle said I, in my vile French, “Vous consciousnesshave persisted, the sense of awareness me semblezun peu fatiguee ” “Oui, Monsieur, un peu,”said she, folding her eyelids andsimpering, has been stimulated ;and I have noticed a similar pheno- menon inother unexpected places. PerhapsI should 6‘ an’it werea mare a-plucking of athistle,” as old Lanehamsays. “Allons, Mademeoiselle,” said I, gal- amplify a statement in my last article : one newspaper lantly,hauling a packet of chocolate from my pocket, I have read regularly since its first number, but I avoid “Voulez-vous du chocolat ?” itsleading articles. I shall not mention itsname, be- ‘‘ Ah, non Monsieur, merci.” cause it receives enough unsolicitedtestimonials to its ‘‘ Mais, je vous prie, Mademoiselle !” superiority over all merelycapitalistic daily papers ; “ Merci, merci, Monsieur; non, vraiment !” and there is no need for me to join the howling chorus ‘‘ Je serai desole si vous ne l’acceptez pas.”-(I talk There can be no doubt that this paper isalso acquainted theworst French of anyoneI know.) with public affairs, for it refers to an article in “Every- “ Eh bien, Monsieur unpetit peu, s’il vous plait !” man;”by Mr. H. G. Wells the day after its publication. I was very glad when we got to Dijon. If anyone has This isenterprise of akind unequalled by the merely ever tried to “ make conversation with an unintelligent, capitalistic Press, which usually refers to things before uneducated foreign girlhe will sympathise. “My the event; and being thus informed of another activity God,”thought I, “I will never be polite again !” ’ I of Mr. Wells, I readthe current number of “Every- versified this experience, but even THENEW AGE could not print- it. man.” Hoursafter this I got to Modane. It was freezing What particularlyinfluenced me was the statement cold-notice I hadcome awayto avoidthe cold. The in my daily paper that Mr. Wells’ “evolution as a social ground wascovered with snow, and hugegrey mountains reformer is one of theinteresting asides to the move- tains stood all round like dark clouds. The night was ment itself I confessthat the remark pleased me, clearand moonless, thestars more glitteringthan I had ever seen. Therewas the usualrow with the forit does not coincidewith Mr. Wells’ opinion ; did Customs officials, and the Italian peasants spat like not he announce on a. previous occasion his unsuspected automatic consumptives. entry into ‘‘(ourclass” ? If he admitted that he had any The word of God once came to me from Carcassone, relation to the Labour movement he would onlycon- saying, “Remember, my friend, that the human race is fess, in hisown artless fashion, that he was the soul, a very small one-there be divers imitations” I believe the brains the driving power of that movement.Deus ‘it. I am a friend of the people; I “ hold enlightened exmachina would bethe only office comparablewith views on the franchise”; I never speak of the & 7rAXAoc hisdignity ; and if, as Carlyledeclared, history isthe and seldom of the “aegrurn vulgus”; I was once a socialist”--but I cannot wholly symapthise with a class’ biography of great men, the evolution of Mr. Wells is whose members have such unpleasant habits. the evolution of ,the Labour movement. No lesser attri- “Si prega di non sputare,” say the notices in the rail- bution, I am sure, would compensate a supreme literary way carriages, and no one observes them. You are told artist like Mr. Wells (as everyone now calls him)for that it is decent not to spit out of respect to Iddio, in a his incomparablecontributions to the discussion of church’ in Firenze.Vicisti, Galilie ! social affairs. About ten miles past the Mont Cenis tunnel I saw my Zeal outruns discretion : I was referring to the fact first sunrise above the Alps-a contrast to the grotesque that my petdaily paper is acquainted withpublic appearance of the sordid crowd in the long carriage. affairs,It headed itsquotations from the article by Outside the sky before us was delicately tinged with Mr. Wellswith the line : “ Latest Theory of Social lemon-yellow faintest rose, and pale green; the clouds Advance.” Whetherthis meant that Mr. Wellshad were longbands of stratus.It was, beautiful asthat sunsetover ice by Aartvan der Neer atHertford statedhis latest theory or thelatest theory, of social House--I sometimes thinkmustI have painted it advance, was not explained ; but I incline to think that myself. Slowly theextremest peaks of the mountains it meant that Mr.Wells, had stated his latest theory, back of us reflected the same colours in paler tones; the for my dailypaper confesses to beingthe most white shining from the snow gleamed through the hazy advanced,the ne plus ultra, the Ultimate Thulethe window-panes Within, Italian peasants in their heavy fur coats sprawled in deep overthe seats. Two were Last Chord,the Finis of all papers. But I have my quarelling atthe far end, anda priest opposite was doubts about The accuracy of that headline. Those reading his breviary. A cold, clean wind came through readers of THE NEW AGE who want a new sensation in the window I had opened. everynumber now read “The -, “ my dailypaper ; There was,a grumble of unintelligible words at my those who remain may have memories that extend be- side-a bearded Italian had been awakened by the fresh yond thelast issue. They will remember that Mr. air. He was six feet high andhad a magnificent phy- Wellsengaged in a controversy inthe “Daily Mail’’ sique : withheroic gesture and eloquent but uncomprehended concerning “Whatthe Workers Want and thathe prehend.ed phrase he said many things of hisweak lungs and of the danger of open windows.I shut the edited (at least, so the preface said) a Series of essays window with a crash,and he spathis thanks on the entitled : ‘‘The Great State.” They will remember that carriage floor All the panes were so hazy that I could even THE NEW AGE flattered Mr. Wells by reviews of see nothing ,outside. “ God damn these rotten Italians !” both his contributions to social problems, that THE NEW said I, half aloud but no one answered--they were all AGEwas really generous in the matter of reviews with- asleep, even thepriest. out provoking any sign of displeasure from Mr. Wells. Roma, 8-1-13 ALDINGTON.RICHARD Thereaders of THE AGE mare thus already ----- NEW - acquaintedwith Mr. Wells’ “Latest Theory of Social * Author’s note. Since writing this I have become an Advance,’ ’ and “ “Everyman” ’ and my daily Paper are anarchist. 357

really somewhat belated in their publication of this im- portantdecretal. It is, of course,a little unfortunate Drama. that Mr. Wells’pondering OUT problems forabout By John Francis Hope. twelvemonths has added nothing to his originalcon- clusions. It may be that he has the insight of genius, WE arestill inthe doldrums, for Jerome Klapka and can see at one glance the cause and cure of social Jerome who once wrote a pleasing satire of the eman- problemsBut there are people who are capable of cipated woman, is a member of the Fabian Society. In assertingthat Mr. Wells proves his entry into “our class” by adopting a Bourbon trait as his own that he “ Miss Hobbs ” we were told that “ some women are learnsnothing and forgets nothing An analogy from meant to be mothers, they are fit for nothing better.” literarysources would probablybe more appropriate, “ Esther Castways ” provides us with proof that some as his article appeared in “Everyman” ; and these un- men are meant to be husband’s, they are fit for nothing kindpeople will probably say of Mr.Wells, as Professor better.It is certain that Philip Castways would never fessor Dowden said of Shelley’s father, that he was pre- emancipate the children workers of the mills; although cluded from all possibility of outraging the social con- he might live happily with his wife ever after his return ventionsby a happyinaccessibility to ideas. Unkind people, I repeat,might say this-but I shallnot; for to the marital embrace. But the play is so half-hearted I notice that Mr. Wells has reduced my daily paper to that it is impossible to,speak decisively about it: it might a state. of “amazement that competes with disappoint- havebeen a satire, but, unfortunately,Mr. Jerome is ment, ’’ andthat is an outrage to atleast one social a convert to feminism; it mighthave been a comedy, convention but Mr. Jerome evidently believes in political action ; it This fact means that either Mr. Wells is not inacces- might have been a tragedy, but a happy ending had to sible to ideas or that my daily paper is ; probably both be reached somehow and “Esther Castways,” wishing alternativesare true. For proportional representation toforgive, forgot all herdramatic reminiscences. In- is an idea and nothing else ; and my daily paper is un- deed,shorn of itssociological importations, “ Esther doubtedlyprotected against it, for it declares, com- menting on Mr. Wells’ statement that the professional Castways ” is only a cup and saucer comedy ; including politician must be abolished by proportional representa- them, it is--well, it is played by Miss Marie Tempest. tion, that “whatever may be the merits of any electoral Thesame indecision clings to the characterisation reform we hardly expected to find them placed so high EstherCastways, it must be understoodis not sup- as that.”Even the grammar staggers in this state of posed to be Miss Marie Tempest; she is really, but that amazement:but there is no doubt that my paper is is notin the game. Esther Castways was of humble inaccessible toideas. Readers of THE NEWACE will origin, was born somewhere in the Western States of nothave forgotten how tenderly and patiently it was urged that proportional representation was not an elec- America, was loved by a lawyer who loved the children, toral reform, but a reform of the representative system. was married,was introduced into polite society, was The idea was that it would abolish secret party funds, but what matter what she was? What I wantto professionalpoliticians corruption of theelectorate say Is this : when Miss MarieTempest wishes to be stupidas well as pluralvoting, unemployment, the comical,she makes mistakes in grammar. so does drinktraffic, the white slave traffic and, lastly, if the EstherCastways. The play is not a compound,it is electors so desired England itself. amixture of passages of dramaand comedy. In the That, I say,was the idea, and it is stillthe idea; comedy passages,Miss Marie Castways makes mis- for Mr. Wells declares that ‘‘my belief in proportional takes in grammar; inthe dramatic passages, Miss representation as a means of recovering our social con- EstherTempest speaks like a lady. It is quite trolsfrom the specialised politician, and reanimating every aspect of our intellectual activities with the sense obvious that, from the artistic point of view, the mood of collectivesignificance, is profoundThere is a limit provoked by the character is not sustained ; and as the to the devotion of the artist or the intellectual worker same method is adopted with other characters, the play Our art is trivialwhere it is not feeble, our science is is a failure.Jocelyn Penbury, for example, and John taught withouut spirit, and falls more and more into the Farrington,are both of themindistinguishable from hands of spiritlessand inferior men, our literature the ordinary drawing-room loungers ; but both of them splutters with protest or declines towards preciousness, areprovided with strangely incongruous passages of becauseour political machinery is indifferent toand contemptuous of all these finer things in life.”And rhetoricdelivered vibrato, appass., sostenuto, fortis- my daily paper is not only amazed, but is disappointed simo,and Mr. Jerome does not intend that we shall Surelythis statement of Mr.Wells’ credo was worth laugh at them. the penny. I havehinted at the dramatic reminiscences. “ The

I cannot resist the temptation to congratulate “ Every- New Machiavelli ” was not a play, although it was not man” on itspublication of Mr. Wells’ “ latesttheory a novel; what it was, God knoweth. But its main idea

of socialadvance.” There is another article in the I was that of “ Antony and Cleopatra,” that the world same number that is equally appropriate to the present meaning by that, polite society, was well lost for love. moment CharlesSarolea publicly reprovesGeorge “ The New Machiavelli ” threw up his political career BernardShaw for having- supported a copyrightlaw passed by our Government in the year 191I. THENEW (according to Mr.Wells, and it is not my businessto AGE has been so often attacked for its criticism of our contradicthim) to go andlive with his “ jolly mis- contemporaryGreat Men that I read this article care- tress” (once again, it is not my business to contradict fully tosee what sort of criticismis permissible. Mr. Mr.Wells). Philip Castways returns to his wife, and Sarolea pays tribute to the astounding genius of George we are asked to believe that his political career is safe. B. Shaw,calls him “ TheSuperman of Socialism,” Thisis as conventional a conclusionas the other, but wipesaside in a few complimentary phrasesthe suggestion that Mr. Shaw’s motives were those of self- it servestoshow that Mr. Jerome isno slavish interest,and then politely calls him a fool. “ It is imitatorBut the character of EstherCastways, like obviousthat you have simply been hoodwinked by a that of Shaw’s Candida, is only a mass of assumptions; conspiracy of vested interests, and that, like the merest and I am not sure that Mr. Jerome can claim any real Philistine,you have been the victim of your own originalityin this case. For Candida, it will be re- ignorance,”says Mr. Sarolea. I hope thatMr. Sarolea’s membered,not only performed that part of themar- lea’s style is more acceptable than ours, but THENEW riage contract that is emphasised in the opening para- AGE will continue to dispense with the preliminary comments graphs of the marriage service, but she cooked, washed compliments s . A. E. R. and mended for her hero-baby, read his correspondence, 358

received hisvisitors, wrote his sermons spent his money,and made love to his friends. She was, as the Art. phrase goes, head cook and bottle-washer of that estab- By Anthony M. Ludovici. lishment;and James Mavor Morell probablyprayed : The Modern Society of Portrait Painters at the “ 0 Candida,from whom allholy desires,all good counsels,and all just works do proceed,”etc. Until a Royal Institute. fewmonths before the play begins, Esther Castways IF all the artist painters were able to exercise their taste haddone likewise; and her husband increased in andpowers of selection among a population of forty wisdom and prestige, and in favour with the electorate millionsand to paint only those people towards whom and the upper classes. For once, reminiscences are not theyfelt themselves irresistibly drawn surelynothing interesting ; and I do not want to talk about “ The Gay could be more thoroughly absorbing and educating than Lord Quex,”although the third act is obviously in- an exhibition of portraits. We should thenhave a debted to it. periodical and authoritative statement from the men of Mr.Jerome is asincapable of supplyingmotives to taste in the country, In answer to the burning question hischaracters as any“advanced” dramatist, and he which all of us are constantly and unconsciously putting makesthe usual mistake of supposing that reasons to ourselves--Who are the best people? And we should arean effective substitute. We areasked to believe find these best people advocated with a rhetoric so con- thatfor ten yearsPhilip Castways had lived ahappy vincingand seductive that a criterion would gradually married life, had increased his legal practice and raised be formed in our minds by means of whichour whole his social status, and faced battle, murder, and sudden circle of friends and acquaintances, our heroes and our death, that he had suffered all these things because he betes noires, could be placed, promoted, or dropped. wished to abolish child-labour in the mills. At the end As things are at present, however, the portrait exhi- of theplay. we are told that it was only becausehe bition is a sheerfarce. Walls are covered withpor loved her so ; that there were half a dozen other causes traitsto which, with the utmost stretch of our indulgence that had offeredequal opportunities to anambitious gence, we cannot ascribe more thana local, parochial, politician,but be chosethe one that offered him the orpurely family interest; and, even so, theirexecution wife to whom he had been unfaithful, for which he was is frequently so bad that this very limited interest itself may feel thatit is but indifferently gratified. A beau- verysorry. “ You are my soul, you are the children’s cause. Without you to inspire me I clan neverliberate beautiful woman a fine man,is everybody’s concern. A beautiful Englishman or Englishwoman makes not only them “ ; something like that was what Philip declared a national but also an international claim upon people’s in ahoarse voice. This is all veryreasonable, super- attentionBut who on earthwants to know, oreven ficially, but it is not an adequate motive for the restitu- glance at the host of uglyand sometimes repulsive tion of conjugalrighs. For EstherCastways to if were nonentitiesthat disfigure the rooms of theaverage half as knowing as she thought she was, if she under- picture gallery during- a portraitexhibition? Why do stood her husband half as well as she thought she did, not these people understand that although the painters she would know that the ,children were not to be saved themselvesmay have a verystrong commercial reason from their slavery by her husband’s speeches, or by her for flaunting the faces of their sitters before the docile own admission tothe charmed circle of theJackson- public,nothing on earthjustifies the sitters themselves Tilletts. in allowingtheir perfectly ordinaryand often sub- Theintroduction of this sociological questionis a ordinary personalities to be exhibited in this conspicuous tacitadmission by Mr.Jerome that adultery alone is andblatant manner ! It is utterlyindecent. It strikes not a sufficient subject for a play; in other words, that oneat the Academy, it strikes one at the Exhibitions Mr. Jerome is incapable of dealing with the passims of of theInternational Society, and it strikes one at the men.But he isno less incapable of dealingwith the Royal Institute There is. no excuse for it. ideas of men. ‘‘ The children, you must not forget the “ Home, sweet home--there’s no place like home !” children,” says Miss Esther Tempest about once every The admirablesentiment of thissimple little English half hour ; andshe has a little flutter about conditions ditty cannot be dinned into the ears. of these people too tions of labourin the third act. Inthis instance, the often.There is noplace like home for theaverage case of the children is cited to prove to the mistress portrait,and, if, thesubject of it is notexceptionally howincapable she is of inspiring the husband-lover in beautiful, the moment it leaves the family circle to take his life-work.Reuben Pierce, a most ridiculous figure its placein a publicexhibition it becomes apiece of of aPuritan, comes spouting about adultery and the intolerable impudence, provoking-nay, ‘demanding and Lord’swork; and is induced to forgo the pleasure of deserving-harshtreatment. castingout the “sinner” from the movement by the It matters not a scrap whether one has. ever met or discovery thathis motive is really jealousy. All his heard of any of the people I am about’ to mention; but care for the Lord’s work was prompted by the Devil ; let me simply ask, who wants to see an attempt at con- his zealfor manumission had its source in his adulterous vertingDr. J. R. Ronaldson (No. 2) intoa chromophotographic terlous desirefor Esther Castways. John Farrington, work of art by Mr. Martine Ronaldson? who is ashareholder in themills, resorts to theft, to Who is interested in a picture of Col. Sam. Lynes (No. attemptedmurder, to circulatingscandal, and finally 16) imprisoned in an absurd collar ? Who has any con- plays the villain’s part in the bedroom scene, all to pre- cern with thatunfortunately ugly little girl (No. 19). vent Philip Castways from liberating the children : and, paintedby Alexander Jamieson ?---or withLieutenant- at the last moment, is converted to the cause by admiration Colonel Sir James R. Dunlop Smith, K.C.S.I. (No. 22)? timon of Esther Castways. What the cause is, I am still Andthe list is interminable; it includes Colonel C. M. ignorant ; and I supposethat a mere member of the Marshall (No. 28), Lieut.ColRoger Courtenay Boyle audience is not allowed to love Esther Castways. Any- No. 29), His ExcellencyMajor-General Sir Alexander how I am notconverted Rochfort (No. 27), SirMurland Evans, Et. (No. 34), Major J. A. HouisonCraufurd (Yo. 40), MissGordon It ought to beclear that “Esther Castways” bears (Nso. 39), MissJoan Abbey (No. 51-insignificant is only a superficial resemblance to drama. Nothing really scarcely the word for this one), Captain George Richard happensbut tea and talk, and I supposethat at hast Bethell (No. 53), Walter Wilthew (No. 58), The Dwarf half of theconversation is of noimportance, for the (No. 61), Miss DorothyFletcher (N.0. 65-leather !), actorskindly made theirvoices inaudible during what TheCountess Poulett (No. 66-words fail ne !)) Wil- we maycall the “orthodox play” parts, and spoke up liamAblett’s Family Group (No. 67-Now herethe only when“the children” were mentioned. Itonly verytitle ought tohave suggested Home Sweet remains to be said that Esther Castways is still inspir- Home !) Mrs. Hubert Bainton (No. 75), KeithBaynes, ingher husband, that they have determined “to try Esq. (No. 74), andMrs. Frances Forester (No. 80). again”and if theinfluence can only be extended to Even if these people had been painted in a masterly the author, we may yet have a drama from Jerome K. manner, it seems as if their public exhibition could not Jerome. possibly be justified.But the actual workmanship of 359 these portraits I have mentioned is, generally speaking, exceedinglypoor, so that theybecome even more irrelevant Pastiche levant.Maybe, in a number of cases.,public services WHAT WILL SHE MAKE OF LONDON TOWN? are a justification for immortality; but there are surely Schooled in world of simple snobs; other ways of grantingthis great privilege besides a Guarded close from that half-brute, Man ; pictorialappeal tothe eye. For wherethe respective Catching nought of the myriad sobs magnitude of these public services is out of all proportion That have shaken old Earth since Time began tion to the beauty and dignity of him or her who has. Drinking in from a curate pale performed them, itmight even bemaintained that a Milky maxims of Love and God :- faithful portrait is a mostdangerous betrayal, seeing (“ The World andthe Fleshshall not prevail that, to those moderns who believe most profoundly in Tread ye the path the Master trod.”) the interdependence of body and spirit it can but reflect NOW she is fallen ’neath Fortune’s frown, What will she make of London Town ? discredit (afterthe fact) upon thepublic services in question. What are the paths that she may choose, Nom that Necessity points the way? And, nowlooking around for those people, who Commerce is harsh and exacts her dues, whatever their public services may or may not be, cer- But pretty shop-girls are known to pay, tainly deserve at least to be looked at; how many do we And Somebody’s Stores may swallow her up find in all? Just twp over the half-dozen : A Portrait, Regular work and wages then ! by George Bell (No. ;), Nona, daughter of F. E. Dixon, And a taste of honest Labour’s cup, Esq. (No. 13),by George W. Lambert; Mlle. Nathalie And they’re genial fellows, commercial men ! Thibault (No. 26) by Guy Wilthew; Mrs. Fleischmann Though their jokes, may be, would make curates frown. .and Rosemary (No. 41), by Gerald FEstus Kelly;Mrs. What shall she do in London Town? W. S. Cohen (No. so), by L. D. Luard; The Hon. Mrs. Typing perhaps ? Or, better still, Davey (Nom. 54), by T. MartineRonaldson; Eustace Militant women may lend her aid, Marriott, Esq. (No. 56 by F. C. Mulockand a por- Join her voice to their accents shrill, And give her a banner on parade. trait of a Lady (No. ?I), by William Ablett. Yet “ the Cause ” exists, so I‘ve heard tell, And of these,eight portraits only two-Nos. 13 and On Rent and Interest-’tis these, they say 56--can with anyapproach to justice be regarded as That keep our clamouring serfs in hell, masterly in treatment. So thatout of the two rooms And that painted army that day by day containingeighty-three important exhibits, we are re- And night by night goes loitering down reduced to two pictures which,.as portraits,, in subject A hundred highways of London Tow::. and in manner, can be said to be justified in the con- She must marry ’tis plain to see ! spicuousclaim they make upon the attention of the Men won’t marry now ? Flog the brutes ! public ! If this sounds anexaggerated or unduly Strike any part of the withered tree adverse criticism, just take this paper in your hand and Of our civilisation, save the roots ! walk round the galleries to see things for yourself. Men can’t marry on what they earn? Never heed do our rulers pay; In conclusion, there are a few things to be said about Ne’er a lesson, methinks, they’ll learn one or two pictures that are particularly good, or par- Till on some future, fateful day, ticularlypromising. Mr. Oswold Birley shows With blood and tears comes crushing down tremendous dexterityand command of hismedium in The crazy fabric of London Town. No. 8; but what a pity it is that he concentrates all the STEVENSON PARKER. mysterious interest of his picture upon mantelpiece knick-knacks ! In doing this he ranges himself straight THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (SOMEWHAT. IN THE away among the moderns with their sterile negativism MANNER OF SCHNITZLER’S “ REIGEN. ”) towards humanity,and his ability is worthy of better January.-Dabbleby Swinkpublishes ‘‘ Piffle and Dog- company.Let him drop his, palette for awhile,and gerel,” his new volume of poems. “ The most significant volume of poems since make sure of the thing’ he loves before he again tackles Beowulf. ”-“ Times. ” canvas of that Size. It is notunusual nowadays for a February.-Pickleton Fibbs publishes “ Dabbleby Swink ; the best men to start in life without precisely knowing a critical appreciation. ” what they areafter, or what istheir actual mission. ‘‘ A masterly piece of work ; brimful of arresting Mr. Ronald Grey is conscientious.His transcriptive apercus.”--” Daily Chronicle.” faculty is phenomenal--almost Dutch, or “double ” so ! March.--CLarence Porkleburypublishes “ Pickleton He has not learned freedom yet, and so long as technical Fibbs; the man and his work.” mastery is not acquired it is perfectly right for a man “ Betrays the hand of a master. Nothing like this hasappeared since Boswell’s Johnson. ”--“Every- to be slavishly preciseHe cannot beanything else; man.” unless,with the Futurists, hewishes to conceal his in- April.-Barrell Ginnispublishes “ An Ode on the 23rd competence beneath abushel. No. 21 has,therefore Birthday of Clarence Porklebury.” many excellent points.But Mr. Ronald Grey very “ The stuff of which poetry is made. A miracle likely does not require to be told that he is, not ‘( out of of delicate phrasingand nimble word-plastic.”- the wood ” yet-he probably knows it perfectly well. ‘‘ T.P.’s Weekly.” There is a tacit understanding in the air at the Royal May.-Mutting Byles publishes “ Barrell Ginnis ; being a study in recent English poetry.” Institute, and that is, that Mr. George Lambert’s “The “ A subtle blend of the style of Pater, Sir Thomas Actress ” (No. IO), is the ‘‘clou de I’exposition.” It is Browne, and Carlyle,and yet elusively unique certainly very large and very dazzling; and, it must be Assuredly a book to be read.”--” Evening News.” admitted exceedingly attractive in more than one par- June.-Blair Hillock publishes “The Private Life ofMuting ticular. Itmay have been thoughtout withmuch ting Byles.” labour, it may even have been altered .again .and again; “ Daring and yet reticent. Shows an amazing grasp but it bears the stamp of a hearty enthusiastic concep- of a strange and perplexing temperament. ”-“ Spec- tion. It .is a pity she-the actress--isnot more beau- tator.” July.-Hogley Pestermanpublishes (‘Blair Hillock, a tiful;for as she is turning her back, one looks with phantasy.” hope to the mirror which is so skilfully andtastefully ‘‘ It combines the finesse of Stevenson withthe suspended in mid-air above her; but all one sees is the lyricalrapture of Swinburne. Brilliant. . . . un- usualmodern face possessing, as is the fashion, more unmistakable . . . delicate . . grandiose.” - so-called “character” than beauty. The whole thing is (‘Saturday Review.” very pleasing; but I submit respectfully to Mr. Lambert August.-Oatslee Snark publishes “ TheArt of Hogley that he would have been fully justified in treating the Pesterman.” “ A superb piece of word-painting. Faultless tech- figure of the actress more luminously. There will come nique combined with dazzling virtuosity.*’- a time when she will be black against the shimmering “ Rhythm.” sky; she is .already disproportionately dark and sugges- September.-Newington Butts publishes “ Oatslee Snark ; tive of studio lighting. This is by far the ablest thing theman, his life, hismessage, his personality.” I. haveseen of Mr. Lambert’s. (2 vols.) 360

‘‘ A well-sustained and evenly-balanced production. Theillustrations are feasta of good things.”- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. “ Athenaeum.” THE PARADOX OF FREEDOM. October.-Limehouse Carwin publishes “ Newington Butts. An interlude, a morality and three visions.” Sir,-In a recent issue of your paper Mr. Nevill Eliot “ An incisive piece of impressionistcriticism. accuses me of inconsistency because I have sometimes Novel and enthralling.”--“ English Review.” represented the United Statesas the land of freedom, November.-Pangleton Waggs publishes “Mr. Limehouse and at other times as a pandemonium of police coercion Carwin andthe young Birmingham school.” An andgovernmental tyranny. Both descriptions were per- essay in contemporary art forces. fectly true.The United States is the freestcountry in “ A literary document of widely ramified interests. the world, and it is also the least free. If this seems The binding and general get up are superb.”-“ Daily paradoxical to Mr. Eliot, I will give him a familiar illus- Mail.” tration.England is the most anti-suffragistcountry in the world. In no othercountry has there been so December.-Dabbleby Swink publishes “ Twenty-five Son- nets to Pangleton Waggs.” vigorous campaigna against woman suffrage. In no do “ The finest collection of sonnets since Shakespeare. other country men kick suffragists and tear their hair Mr. Swink possesses a rare gift of lyrical expression out. Yet England has the most vigorous suffrage move- and a unique command of melody.”--“ Times.” ment in the world. The suffragists are the cause of the [And so on ad infinitum.] anti-suffragists. In the United Statesthe spirit of freedom and the P. SELVER spirit of repression are bothcarried to theirutmost limit.Take, for instance,the question of free speech TO CERTAIN VERY WORTHY PEOPLE. On one side you have theFree Speech League, which Oh ! your curriculum is brave : stands for the absolute right of every person to say or print Brave with the foibles of your school ! anything whatsoever. It is supported not only by authors With Mudfield, bigger fool than knave : and doctors, but even to a large extent bylawyers and And Mudcan bigger knave than fool ; public officials. Its vice-president is or lately was, While Bernard Shaw continues still mayor of one of thelargest cities inthe country. On To please the youth of Denmark Hill. the other hand, you have the most appalling outrages on Oh ! sippers at suburban Wells, free speech occurring every day. Indoor Socialistic meet- I feel that you have rarely missed, ings are dissolved by the police before a word has been Throughstrange laboratory smells, uttered.A few yearsago a NewYork journalist Your sleek and sloppy realist : severely criticised the Government of Mexico. He was In pseudo-scientific cant, imprisoned for a year for the crime of ridiculing a foreign As ignorant as arrogant ! Government. A number of anti-clerical cartoons were im- ported from Italy. Whenthey appeared inthe window Can Bennett at his potter’s wheel, of a New York bookseller the police seized and destroyed With tedious scroll on tiresome clay, them. The bookseller prosecuted the police, who ad- By such mechanic work reveal mittedthat what theyhad done was absolutelyillegal, The magic of an elder day? but maintained that it was inthe publicinterest. The Where is the poet who shall scan magistrate agreedwith them. About ayear ago some Heaven, and all the heart of man ? menand women were fined or imprisoned inthe State Theantique singers who so sang of Washington for insisting on bathing nude.The That all the world stayed still to hear, editor of a newspaper advised them to defy the law and Are slighted for the graceless gang go on bathing.He was immediately prosecuted for Of publicist and pamphleteer : sedition,and fined or imprisoned-I forget which. Who, with preliminary toot, Theseare merely a fern incidentsout of thousands. It Descant on pimp and prostitute ! would he easy to fill an issue of THENEW AGE with brief Who seize upon thepassing phase reports of the outrages on free speech which occur in the To win the plaudits of the crowd--. United Statesin one year. To shout the lates paper phrase Such violent contradictions have often before occurred And by the Lord, to shout it loud ! . . . in history.While Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists were A middle-class account of Hell carrying on their mighty campaign of free thought, and (If dull enough) is sure to sell. all the drawing-rooms of Paris were turnedinto secu- NORMAN RAVEY. larist societies and humanitarian leagues, men were every week beingcast into the Bastille,without any charge or anytrial, to !rot there for life.Such facts are RAVING OF AN IMMATURE SCIENCE appalling,but not discouraging. The Bastille survived STUDENT. Voltaireonly eleven years. I believe that “ the blud- geoning of the people by the people for the people ” is Scienceconduces to painfulclarity ofthought-expression nearer its end in American than anywhere else. and to a profound but unjustifiable contempt for R. R. KERR. things not seen. That is why I venture to suggest in all British Columbia. seriousness that in a million years the human race mill be * * * extinct. Whole groups of organisms inpast geological ages have increased, multiplied , and replenished the earth, L’ACTION FRANCAISE. then they have disappeared for no apparent reason. Sir,-Mr. Depoulain has excelled his friend the “ Rev. The dinosaurs died out because theirbrains Syd Smith ” with whose methods he seems more familiar weretoo small for their bodies. The Genus than I ever hope to be. The latter reviewed books before Homo will disappear : no vestige will be left for reading them, whereas your correspondent misreads his the Insect with the Transcendental Mind and Brain that own and my statements before replying to them. He first will follow. Thedriving force which causes agroup of of all accused THE NEW AGE of being “late” in its views species to evolve seems to be a fixed quantity which when concerning L’Action Francaise and queried the accuracy exhausted, causes thegroup to vanishThe beginnings of the word “ recent ” as applied to certain works pub- are hesitating and experimental. Behold the Trilobite lished within the last five years. Now that I have proved unfurl itself through Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian him wrong on this point, he denies that he ever made it, strata,in increasingcomplexity and wondrous convolutions yet his own words were, referring to the age of the books : permutationsand combinations of resource- in question, “ this partly accounts for the primitiveness of factors : seemingly no end. your appreciations ” ! With delightful ingenuousness he Then comes the tragic end. Wild bursts of energy from proceeds to prove that “ Kiel et Tanger ” was published the Trilobite : strange freaks in shape, size, and ornamen- more recently thanhe originally stated ! Does Mr. Depoulain tation-then blankness draws nearer. The struggles grow imagine when hehas disproved his own state- feebler : a few Trilobites of outrageous appearance linger ments that he has convicted THENEW AGE of inaccuracy? on into the Carboniferous period-all that remain of the When he writes : “ We aim at reminding the Protestants wondrous gamut of heretofore. that theyare French people ” heis clearly addressing Thereis no hope for thehuman race ; as sure as the Protestants as a body. Challenged as to this, your correspondent Angiosperm has ousted the Gymnosperm from supremacy quibble., as usual and explains that he meant in the vegetable world. and the Dandelion is monarch of “a great number.” Surely there is also “a great number” all it surveys, so will the Insect with the Transcendent21 of Catholics who require to be reminded similarly? Hence, Mind and Brain look bewildered upon the freakish, spon- I conclude that Mr. Depoulain is imbued with the same taneous variations of Force-bereft Humanity. narrow prejudices as theanti-Huguenot journalists of S. CROSS HARLAND L’Action Francaise.These people naturally object to 361

French Protestants, who have always stood for industry first) ; but, as she also points out, the Suffragist women and progressive ideas against the clerical obscurantism of arenot concerned with work of thiskind. Indeed, Chauvinistic royalist reactionaries. The Huguenots rightly one has only to move in their circle a little while to prove hesitate to share Mr. Depoulain’s illusion; they know what that it is simply ‘‘ the vote ” and ‘‘ to be equal to men ” the restoration of the Monarchy means.They have not that interests them. forgotten that the century which saw the apotheosis of Unlike Mrs. Macmillan THE NEWAGE by its searching the monarchical regime also witnessed the infamous per- and truthful criticism of the women’s movement some persecution and expulsion of the Protestants. The policy of little time ago, has convinced me that its attitudeis Louis XIV., the weak tool of Bossuet’s ecclesiastical justified. venom, deprived France of the most prosperous and en- Buenos Aires. NANCYNEALE. lightened sf her citizen whofled, carryingtheir skill *** and industry into countries which knew how to value good Sir,-In yourlast issue Mrs. Hastingsstates, “Not a citizens. So much for the clerical-monarchical soul now doubts that women egged on this flogging busi- “patriotism” which L’Action Francaise vaunts as superior ness-for men only.” I should regard it as a courtesy if to democracy and republicanism ! the writer will give the proofs upon which this assertion Having answered my previous criticismwith blank is, doubtless, based. NEILANS.ALISON denials, Mr. Depoulain imagines that he may now refer [Mrs. Hastings replies : Two menmet in Sauchiehall to the latter as irrefutable facts. I have shown by quota- Street. One said : “Mon ! there was fifty thorsan pipple tion that clericalism, militarism, anti-Semitism, and crude at the fitba’ to-day.”“Way wi ye !” theother replied. abuse arethe most prominentfeatures of the neo- ‘‘ There was ! A’ll bet ye a quid.” “Aricht, a’ll take ye- royalistpropaganda. Your correspondent has failed to noo yemaun prove it.” “Ach, a’ll bringye the news prove the contrary, yet he talks of having ‘‘ already done paper wi’ the figures.” “Figures! Hoots,you bring me justice ” to these assertions, and refuses to ‘‘ reconsider ” the pipple !”1 them.“We carefully distinguish religious questions and *** ethnicalproblems,” he writes. So far isthis from the truth that it would be more accurate to say ‘‘ we carefully STATESMANSHIP BY STRIKE. confound religious questions and ethnical problems with Sir,-l must apologise to “ Another Guy’s Man ” for political discussion.” Otherwise, why are Jew and Pro- having misread his first letter; but I must still main- testantalways dragged into all criticism in L’Action tainthat he failed totake into account thetotal effect Francaise however remotethey may be from thesub- of the economic transfer ’of wealth from its present legal ject? These anti-Semitic followers of a Jewish religion owners to the present wage-slaves. Hemaintains now have a pretty scorn for logic andintellectual honesty ; that increased taxes on the rich would be met out of their they prefer quibblingabout words, as intheir famous presentluxurious expenditure, and not out of their interpretation of Article 445 of the Code. Thus Mr. presentsavings. In consequence, he argues, the capital Depoulain denies that he confuses the private and public of the country would not be diminished, though the poor life of M. Briand, yet he justified the epithet “l’horrible would have more to spend on necessities and,-the rich less souteneur ” on thegrounds that ‘‘ the scandals ofM. on luxuries.But the most that can be said is that the Briand’s private life ” were well known.Evidently he effect of hightaxes would be equal on luxuriesand and his friends are amongst the short-sighted people to savingsalike; in other words, savings would suffer whom he now attributes this view. I do notdoubt that equallywith spendings. The reason for this is that Lemaitre Lassevre,and Maurus are superior tothe among the motives for saving is the power of luxurious rabble which hasgathered about them. As literary spending, and if this motive be diminished the motive to criticsthey haveacquired a reputation which even the saving is correspondingly reduced. filthylanguage of “ L’Action Francaise ” cannot be- ‘I P. IN P.E.” smirch.They must feel honoured by their association *** with the hooligan journalism of a Leon Daudet ! To those interested in foulness of mind and speech the latter MR.HYNDMAN AND SOCIALIST UNITY, may be recommended. His witticisms(sic) are usually Sir,--I can confirm Mr. Hyndman’s letter in your issue based upon thecruder facts of physiology. Theyare of the 30th ult., a’s to his own action. At all the attempts nastilyRabelaisian, for they have none of Rabelais’ to combine the Socialist societies into one body Mr. Hynd- great good humour and overflowing vitality, although he man always hoped against hope and held on to the last. recently explained that a couple of hours in the wonder- I believe I was always the first to break away. Indeed, ful atmosphere of his “king” “trebled his vital energy” ! on the last occasion I was requested to withdraw, as an In his more sentimental moments, when his imagination intolerable obstacle to fraternity; and the Fabian Society playsabout the person of the Duke of Orleans,instead accordingly, on my own motion,substituted another of the inevitable “ German Jew spies,” M. Daudet pro- delegate. Mr. Sidney Webb never,as far as I can re- vides ample matter for your column of CurrentCant. member, sat on any of the joint committees which Hewrites in ecstatic strains of the Duke’s “beautiful attempted the task of unification. hand,”“his voice withgrave, sweet notes,’’ anddraws There was a brief period when William Morris believed a touching picture of the gentleman languishing in “ Im- that union was beingfrustrated by my perverse pug- pious exile,” anxious to “ resume his job ” ! In conclu- nacity. Mr. KeirHardie held that ‘view so strongly- sion I should like to quote some passages from a recent also for ashort time-that the alleged obstacle was re- number of “L’Action Francaise.” On New Year’s Day moved in the way just described. But the joint commit- the following gifts were distributed : To M. Fallieres teesbroke up allthe fasterfor my absence. The real “un vaste pot de chambre de douze sous, qui s’emplacera difficulty was that we didn’t and wouldn’t agree; and as avantageusement son fauteil perce de douze cent mille I knew this before anybodyelse did, and made no francs.” To M. Doumic, ‘‘ un batond’encaustique pour attempt to conceal my knowledge or to smooth the way les W. C. du trahissoir.” To M. Clemenceau, “La to a place none of us had the slightest intention of reach- prostate de Cornelius Herz, remise en etat.” ing, I, poor innocent lamb, was blamed. Even if we had These quotations aretypical of thehabitual level of agreed, it would still, in my opinion, have hampered US the journalism which I have too moderately described and wasted our time to take men who had quite naturally as Billingsgate. Add tothis Mr. Daudet’s references to and properly grouped themselves according to their quali- unwashed feet, venereal diseases, and the later stages of fications and departments, and were doing good work for the digestive process, andyou will have an idea of the that reason, and lumped them all into a single organisation “felicitousinvective” which Mr. Depoulain admires. in which the pace would beset by thestragglers ERNESTA. BOYD. and novices andSimple Simons instead of by the *** pioneers. But, as a matter of fact, we hardly agreed about anything except that we wanted to get rid of Capitalism. THEWHITE SLAVE ACT. TheFabian Society alwayswithdrew first, because it Sir.-X should like to thankMrs. Hastings for her excel- found that the pressing work of its executive committee lent reply to Mrs. G. Bax’s letter on theWhite Slave was brought to a standstill by the time taken in discuss- Traffic in THE NEW AGE of December 12th. Mrs. Mac- ingfruitless and irritating reports(mostly about millan and Mrs. Bax do notappear to understand that quarrels) from its delegates to the joint committees, and Mrs. Hastingsis not contending that white slavery is ingiving them instructions on endless squabbles about right, but that the method of proposed reform is entirely matters which hadnothing whatever to do with Social- wrong. Would that we had more women like Mrs. Hast- ism, and on which there was not the faintest prospect of Hastings who uses common sense to reason a thing out, arriving at my agreement. On one occasion, when a joint instead of sentiment. As Mrs. Hastings reminds us, committee meeting took place atthe Fabian office. the thereare many reforms that women could, andought other bodies combined to pass a motion that the Fabian to, attend to (women wage slaves know it only too well, Society should be expelled from the combination,and the and many are aware that the capitalist needs reforming Fabian delegates were accordingly turned out of their 362 own room amid shrieks of laughter,in which they and services are freely offered. And naturally, the principal heartily joined. Perfect unity being thus provided for, object of the “Mission” isthe widening of the circula- the remaining fraternalists proceeded to quarrel until all tion of the paper, in order to obviate, in time, the neces- the bodies, save one-which was naturally the one which sity for the help of the League. had nothing else to do but denounce the others--was left I hope I have satisfied “Presscutter”that the spirit alone on the field. Thelast word was always my“I of the “Herald” readers is not that of the literature-dead- told you so.” head,and that when a periodical is notbought, or is Continental experience proves thatthe inevitable bought for a low sum, the reason is, in all likelihood, the nucleus for unity in every country is the Parliamentary very poverty to abolish which the periodical is alive. labour party. In Germany thatparty calls itself Social E. LIMOUZIN. Democratic, butis reallymildly Lloyd Georgite. In [“ Presscutter ” replies : People who are so poor that France we have the Unified Socialists, who areunited, they cannot pay for their own organ, and so resourceless like Christendom, in a general avoidance of their nominal that they cannot join in groups to pay, are, as I said at faithas an awkward subject. In Englandunity must theoutset, notmuch use tothe Revolution. I do not mean unity with the Labour Party. Well, by all means. observe that music-halls, cinemas, and football matches The Fabian Society is affiliated ; the Independent Labour need to be subsidised. The plea of poverty isshameful Party is affiliated. TheBritish Socialist Party mill, per- when it is not simply an excuse-as it usually is where haps, affiliate when it has finished its present business of education is in question.] driving Mr. Hyndman out of its ranks because his opinions of militarism seem tothem dangerously in *** advance of those professed by the Quakers of the 17th WHY RIDICULEFRENCH JURIES? century. Then Mr. Hyndman will have no refuge left but Sir,-I have written you some letters on the absurd leni- the Fabian Society, and me shallall be unified then. ency with which judges and juries and magistrates treat I hope I have made it clear that the Fabian Society is women as compared with men. Since then two cases have quite ready to be affiliated to any body who mill adopt it ; occurred which really constitute the limit. I do not refer and that such affiliation will make not the smallest to Suffragette cases, where it seems the rule either to ae- difference to its pursuit, filial or unfilial, of Socialism. quit the prisoner on some quibble or let her off with some Yours affiliatedly ludicrously light sentence, or even bind her over if she has GEORGEBERNARD SHAW afamily of children. The cases to which I refer are (a) the case of a negress charged with wilfully murdering a * ’* * white woman. Her defence was thatshe shot the de- THE “DAILY HERALD,” ETC. ceased bypure accident. Thejudge summed-up dead Sir,-I feel it my duty as a constant reader andpur- against her, pointing out numerous discrepancies in her chaser of THENEW AGEto get my knife into two of your story. Yet she was found guiltyonly of manslaughter, correspondents whose <‘replies ” in last week’s issue and sentenced to five years’ penal servitude. In the case make sorry reading indeed. (b), a woman accused of throwing acid over another Mr. Woolverton’s attemptfairly answerto Miss woman pleaded that the prosecutrix really threw it over Douglas is surelythe last word in feebleness. He herself, and, despite the scepticism of the judge, the jury merely further enlarges, with much groaning and whin- brought in a verdict of “Not guilty.” ing, upon the difficulties consequent upon theattempt ARCH GIBBS. to organise effectively- the middle-class, and then admits *** that what little pluck he appears tu have possessed at THEPROPOSED VIVISECTION OF CRIMINALS. one timehe had Miss Douglas tothank for. Whatever groundsthere may be for cursingthe apathy of the Sir,.--The French have a saying that ‘‘ It is the unex- middle-class (the only class, by the way, that has made pected thathappens ” ; butthe proposal of Dr. G. G. any effort whatsoever to resist the vile Insurance Act), it Rambaud, Director of the Pasteur Institute of Boston, to is surelydamnably unsportsmanlike toblame Miss usecriminals for vivisection experiments as announced Douglas, whose efforts have been invaluable-no one else, in the “ Standard ” of January 24th, is least surprising I notice, havingstepped forward to lead us to victory, to anti-vivisectionists, who have always predicted human etc., etc. vivisection as the inevitableclimax of the toleration of Andnow for “Presscutter’s”reply to Mr. Limouzin. animal vivisection. This is littleshort of ridiculous, which isall the more Once we repudiate the claims of altruistic Sentiment surprising in one who appears to possess a very keen in- who can say where ourabrogation will end? “ Within telligence. Like Mr. Limouzin, I am actively supporting a boundless universe, is boundless better, boundless worse.” the “ Herald ” League,and am struckby the extra- ordinaryenthusiasm evinced by theworking classfor Dr.Rambaud says withexultation : “ Everybodyhas theirpaper. read about the prison squad-horn easy it was to find a Because thevast majority can (ill) afford only 6d. a group of healthy young men ready to submit themselves week, as expounded by Mr. Limouzin, is there any reason to the action of certain poisons under the supervision of a scientist. There was no material inducement; not even for sneeringlysuggesting they wouldn’t pay IS. 6d. ? It is true to say that no paper in England has ever re- fame was promised them.” But the criminal class represent the morally unhealthy, ceived such devoted supportas the “ Herald ” enjoys, and therefore cannot be the physically healthy section of and “ Presscutter ” might more fruitfully employ his talents than by slinging mud at such worthy effort. society. The fact thatthey held their lives so cheaply NOEL HASLEWOOD. as to need no material inducement-they could not under- *** stand an abstract, i.e., super-material one-to risk them, is indubitable evidence of their lack of moral consciousness. THE “ DAILY HERALD.” And whatcan be said for the moral status of those Sir,-“Presscutter” asks if I think the “Herald” readers scientists who would takeadvantage of theirlack of would pay 3d a day for their paper. Certainly not; be- moral apprehension to use them as chattels for the pur- cause they could not. The “Herald’s” raison d’etre is to poses of merevulgar intellectual curiosity? helpthe Have-nots; therefore, its readers consist of the Utilitarianism and sentiment are always in antagonism ; Have-nots and of those Haves (generally Have-littles) who butDr. Rambaud is autilitarian of utilitarians, and wish to help the “Herald” in its work. identifiessentiment with ignorance. “ My proposition,’’ The Have-nots obviously could not afford gd. for their he says, “may sounddreadful to some sentimental and daily paper-any more than they could buy Bond Street ignorant souls.” clothes, or rent a house at A200 a year. Twenty to. thirty Yet,after all, sentiment is so identicalwith life, and shillings a week (eked out with the few shillings the wife thehigher forms andrelations of sentimentwith the can snatch at charing, with a young family and possible higher forms andrelations of life, that toexchange it periods of unemployment) does not allow muchriotous for suchdoubtful panaceas as the sera and vaccines of living in the realm of literature; under such conditions a modern medical science islike exchanging splendid halfpennypaper is a luxury, and anythingfurther can health for knowledge of materia medica. be had only after a trudge to the nearest free library, The people who arethe light and life of thehuman Clearly the Have-not already gives far more compara- race,are not vivisecting scientists, but those whom tively for his paper than the leisured gentleman who buys nature has endowed with a prodigal wealth of all kinds the “Times” and any review he may fancy. of sentiment-filial, social, aesthetic, moral-solidarity, The Have-little,being situated in a somewhat better altruism,spirituality. position gives Id. for his paper-again a large sum pro- “ Suppose,’’ saysRuskin, “ you were told you could portionately to his income But, as I pointed outlast gainScythian honours on (the following) terms. “ You week, he gives more. For in additionto the “collection shall die slowly : your blood shalldaily grow colder: after prayers,”there isthe “Mission,” for which time your flesh petrify ; you heart beat at last only as a rusted 363

group of ironvalves.” “ Heonly,” he continues, ‘‘ is less the most important from a political view, ,yet they advancing inlife, whose heart is getting softer, whose were by no means the“lost Ten Tribes.” The con- blood warmer, whose brain quicker, whose spirit is enter- tinual lament of the prophets at the captivity of ‘‘ Israel ,’ into living peace.” and “ Jacob ” must not lead us to believe that the people “ In pastcenturies,” saysDr. Rambaud, “ prisoners as a whole were removed. were used inthe experimental laboratory,and many a Turning to the southern kingdom of Judah, we find a timesurgeons of theFrench and GermanCourts were more frequentdisturbance of its inhabitants.Senna- authorised totry difficult operations on people sen- charib attacked Jerusalem in 701, but could not take it, tenced to death.” satisfying himself by shutting up Hezekiah “ like a bird Yes, and what did they learn or gain by them? in a cage.” He was able, however, totake into cap- Are we to revert to the barbarisms of the Dark Ages tivity avery large population from the provincial dis- for nothingbetter than the dubiousarrogations and trictsaround Jerusalem. If they ever reached their evanescent nostrums of vivisectingscientists ? destination alive they would not go to Babylonia, which MAURICEI,. JOHNSON. was then separated from Assyria. After the fall of Nine- Nineveh and the unification of Babylonia and Assyria, Judah *** was againattacked, this time more successfully by PRESENT-DAYCRITICISM. Nebuchadnezzar. The end of thesixth century saw Sir,-The writer of “Present-Day Criticism,” in his last Jerusalem destroyed and its inhabitants scattered. “He article, quotes “Q” thus :- carriedaway all Jerusalem and all the princesand all “ At sight of him Mary cannot choose but own that-de- themighty men of valour,even ten thousand captives spite-all-he-has-been, is, and must always be, the one man . . . . and all the men of might, even seven thousand, on earth for her.” Andadds : “Asense for style, evi- andthe craftsmenand thesmiths thousand,a and dently, was not Professor Quiller-Couch’s claim toedit . . . broughtcaptive to Babylon.’’ Ninepears later anthologies.” thecity was destroyed,and “the residue of the people Earlier in the same article the writer of “Present-Day that were left in the city ” were taken away captive. The Criticism”says : “Thingslike the attack on Professor lamentation of Psalmcxxxvii. refers evidently to Murray, spontaneous combinations in disrespect, but our Jerusalemites of the first or second captivity-probably affairs are not with Professor Murray, but withanother in a general manner to both-certainly not to the people Professor of whom it is said that he has endowed Cam- of the Northern kingdom. bridgewith a new but all-embracing Alma Mater-the As tothe return from captivity,though of great ‘ Daily Mail ’ ! ” religiousimportance, it was not numerically so. Avery Avery old tag may sometimes be of useeven to a few returnedwith the permission of Cyrus, but more modern-Physiclan, thyself.heal R. NORTH. under Ezra and Nehemiah a century later. In any case, P.S.-I wrote the foregoing without my book. Having the bulk of the people remained in and around Babylon, among my acquaintances a reader of the halfpenny Press, keeping in touch with the rest of Jewry in Palestine and I have since had the advantage of referring to the sen- Egypt tence to which yourcontributor objects. I discovered Only the Samaritan captives of 721 B.C. and their pre- that it stands as follows : “At sight of him Mary cannot decessors from NorthernIsrael were, in the strict sense choose but own that,despite all, he has been, is,and “lost,”and the fact that Hebrewshave been found in must always be the one man on earth for her.” The fact large numbers in Western China suggests that they are is, perhaps, worth mentioning.-R. N. found again.They could more easily find their way [Our contributor replies : While I am resigned that the thither than return to their own desolate land. omission of an aposiopesis shouldmake me unintelli- Though sharing Mr. Kennedy’sappreciation of the gible, I am more or less worried by the rest of Mr. North’s imaginative in literature, I do not see the advantage, in communication. He leavesme not a leg to stand on. I the case cited, of regarding the Talmud’s mythas a can only own up that I, with malice prepense, labelled “ real. solution of the problem.”Will Mr. Kennedy Professor Quiller-Couch’s quadrupeds, and confess that he explain ? WILLIAM L. HARE. did his level best to conceal their identity by means of *** punctuation. MR. POELAND MODERN ACTING. Perhaps the occasion will permit me, without too much heaviness, to wish that my collection of Professor Quiller- Sir,-The following cuttingsmay prove of interestin Couch’s cliches had not been so printed as to endow that relation to yourpresent controversy upon actors and gentlemanwith some originality.For the rest-Latin “ gramophones.” tagsmay themselvesresent or disregard misquotation, “ If neitherreason nor “ In comparison with and the yield or the field glorious may both or either be experiencejustifies the as- some of thegreat actors allotted to the honourable few : and I am not sure whether sertion thatan actorcan be whose methods I have that joyous picture of University mandarins united in a trusted to studyhis part known, I am convinced that soft masonic hum for the confusion of pandarins ought not fromhis author’spoint of theyoung actors of to-day to be let pass.] view, and not his own, then are not being trained in the *** Mr. Granville Barker is to way to produce good Shake. “THE NEW AGE ” AND THE DRAMA. be congratulatedon his spearean or poetic acting Sir,-By common consent, apparently, the Press quotes courage inattempting a any kind.”-William Poel only a single epigram from Mr. Stanley Houghton’s new very, necessary reform.”- inthe “ Daily Chronicle,’ play : “Trust the People.” It is as follows : “What William Poel, in the “Era,” 1913. Lancashire thinks to-day England thought theday before 1913. yesterday.” You will, I imagine, recognise it as having A. F. SALAMAN. first appeared in your “Notes of the Week” about a year *** ago . S. T. AN OPEN LETTER TO MR. LUDOVICI *** Sir,-May I ask you kindly to insertthe following THE LOST TENTRIBES. letter, which I havesent to Mr. Ludovici. H. T. S. Sir,-I hope Mr. J. M. Kennedy will not accuse me Dear Mr. Ludovici,-I haveread with much interest of being an ultra mathematical person if I say that the pour article in THENEW AGEon the Arts and Crafts Ex- lost Ten Tribes were never lost at all; or, in the alterna- hibition.The vigourand shrewdness of the general tive, if they were, they can be easily found again,and observations with which you commence make it a matter without the help of the Talmud. Besides, I am sure that forthe greater regret that yourapplication of them in whatever the Talmud may say, it does not, nor does the detail should betray such an unmistakable lack of tech- Old Testament, identify them with those who “ wept by nical knowledge. the waters of Babylon.” (Psalmcxxxvii.) With yourcriticism of my work I shall not concern The facts are as follow : The region of Northern Pales- myself,being necessarily prejudiced in that matter,but tine was invaded earlyin the eighth century B.C. by I propose toquestion the justice of some of thevery Ashur-dan, the Assyrian King. Damascus and other im- damaging remarkswhich, from the entrenched position portant cities fell intohis hands.Later, in accordance of a critic, you level at certain of my fellow woodworkers withthe verywarrantable fears of the contemporary and at the craft in general. prophets,the extreme northern border of Israel was at- Your rather low estimate of the artisticqualities of tacked, and some of the tribes of Zebulon and Naphthali modern furniture designmay or may not be justified, were taken away. In 721 B.C. the Assyriansattacked but I read with. amazement that you consider the work- Samaria, and on Its fall took “ Israel away into Assyria, manship “slovenly” and “jerry-built.” In the course of and put them into Halah and Habor on the river Gozan, my training as a cabinet-maker I earned my living at the and in the cities of the Medes.” Sennacharib’s own ac- bench for some years familiarising myself during that count of the exploit, however, tells us that he took 27,000 time with every problem that could be expected to arise in odd people from Samaria,and though they were doubt- connection with my work. Judging the exhibition, there. 364 fore, from the point of view of one not wholly ignorant, first class there is, for instance Mr. Norman McKinnel, I have been astonished at the extraordinarily high level of who loses his own characterentirely in the dour and technical excellence to which the furniture as a whole at- tyrannical ‘‘ Rutherford ” ; there is Sara Allgood, one tained. This view differs so radically from your own that of theIrish players, whom I haveseen in several different oneor other of us must be woefully wrong. I submit parts,and should not have knownher forthe that, having formulated your theory, your zeal in the pur- same woman Theother class is more numerous,and I suit of ithas ledyou to exaggerate the deficiencies of do not feel disposed to mention names. One of the Irish certain works and to pass over in silence those whose players, for example, employs the same whimsical man- striking technical excellence would have shown it to be nerisms no matter what part he plays. inconsistent. As an example,you criticise the exuber- I am rathersurprised that Mr. JohnFrancis Hope ance of Romney Green’s writing-table (No. 122), but you should have jibbed at my assertion that “a play is a unit say nothing about the workmanship; if you can name any or it is not a play,” and that he should consider the idea piece of furniture, ancient or modern, which excels this in disposed of by the remark that “ nothing is gained by the perfection of finish J shall be glad to go a long way to use of arithmetical terms in connection with art, except see it. In another place you mention the beautiful little the knowledge that the person using them is not an ar- writing-table designed by Charles Spooner and executed tist.” The word “unit,” as I used it, isnot an arithmetical by John Brandt (No. 468), as one of the pieces showing a term. It was the only word that precisely expressed my lack of mastery of the craftsman’s difficulties and pro- meaning, and I therefore used it. I thought its meaning blems. Had I been asked I should have singled out this was obvious, but, as your contributorappears to be unable piece as an example of the excellence to be obtained by tograsp the significance of mystatement, I will (with two collaborators working in sympathy, and each having yourpermission) express myself somewhat more fully. a complete knowledge of the problems besetting the other. A picture over which the eye dodges from point to point So much I should have affirmed on the merits of the work and finds no repose, from which one receives a number of and apartfrom my personal knowledge that both these conflicting or unconnected impressions, and not one over- gentlemen are skilled workmen of a very high order. poweringimpression, is badly “ composed.” It is not a While disagreeingentirely with some of your conclu- unit : it is (to quotemyself) a hotch-potch of unrelated sions, I amnot immediately concerned with refuting effects. So with a play. If a play does notgive you a them : my purpose is simply to show, by two examples singleoverwhelming impression it hasfailed as a work taken at random from many,that the arguments with of art. Unity is the thing to be aimed at, andmy con- which you seek tosupport these conclusions are not tention is merely that to ensure unity you must have a founded upon truth. If you wish to prove that furniture despotic producer. Mr. Hopeasserts that the place in design among modern craftsmen is in a bad way, owing which this idea is powerful is prison. I retort that the to their being a set of incompetent and bungling amateurs, interpretativeartist ought to be a prisoner;that is to you should in common fairnesspoint out wherein lies say, he ought not to be allowed to go beyond the bounds thefaulty construction and the lack of finish in works prescribed by the creative artist. such as those that I have named-works bymen who I am aware that the comparison of one art with another have spent years of their lives grappling with the very is generallyunsatisfactory, butcertain necessities are problems of whose existence you would have us believe common to all arts-and not the least of these is discipline them to be ignorant. -the subservience of the medium tothe aim.For the The function of a critic is to criticise, even to destroy purpose I had in mindmy analogy of musicand play- when need be, but construction and not merely destruc- producing was perfectly valid. To secure a coherent per- tion is hisultimate raison d’etre, otherwise criticism formance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony it is essential would hare very little value. that the conductor should have absolute control over his orchestra. I askthat the same right should be given To turn to lesscontroversial matters, you ask, ‘(Are to the producer of a play-especially when the producer is these people atthe Grosvenor Gallerystronger, more also theauthor. I do not see any reason why an actor powerful, than the tradesmen outside? . . . . Or are they should claim more scope for individuality than a musician. mere romanticists who believe in beauty ‘ academically’ ; who think it is rightand proper, who would be ready even An artist who is not ready to sink his own personality in to die for it, but who have but weakness to enlist in its the general effect thinks more of himself than of his art. cause ? . . . . Is theirbeauty perhaps but a trickling Mr. Hoperefers to Rachmaninoff’s “ Prelude ” in A rivulet, coaxed along feverishly with loving and yet hope- sharp minor. Now this little work might be played in a number of different ways; but as the composer marked less fingers ? ” My reply to this is, that in so far as I know them they the first movement “ Lento ” and the second “ agitato,’’ the three introductory notes “ ff ” with a sudden descent are neither supermen travailling with irresistible torrents to“ppp” in the next bar; directed thatthis passage of beauty, not weaklings “coaxing it along feverishly,:’ should be played “ mf,” this “ sfff,” and that “ pesante,” etc. ; that, in fact, they are not morbidly obsessed with it is pretty evident thathe wished it to be played so. anyabstract conceptions of beauty at all. I sayrather My ‘‘ agitato ” may be more or lessfiery than yours, that they are plain men with a belief in the possibility but “ agitato ” is “ agitato ” when all is said. I should of making and sellingbeautiful things, even inthe be the last to wish to deprive an actor of as muchliberty present age; that, because of the faith that is in them, as Rachmaninoff allows the pianist in this “Prelude” ; but they have dared to defy, and to set themselves up in op- I should be the firstto deny him as much licence as position to,the gigantic forces of commercialism repre- Paderewski is said to have allowed himself in his recent sented by the “tradesmen outside” ; that, beset like other performance of a Chopin sonata. men with the necessity of earning a living, they have had HERMONOULD. the hardihood to declare that they will earn it in a way *** which is (as far as possible) in accordance with their ideals. I say that they are doing this in most cases with- Sir,-Allow me to quote Mr. Webb’s cherished outa vestige of capital at their backs, andthat, with aphorism correctly, “ Art is, it never seeks to be, through everything against them, they are making unmistakable, appreciations.’’ Mr. Webb used these words in order to if slow, headway, in every sense. It is early days to say show that an actor shouldnot be permitted to “ alter definitely whether they have given new birth to the tradi- his businessaccording tothe temper of his audience.” tion which died with the last of the eighteenth century Imagine an actor suddenly barging into the “back-cloth,” masters, but if they fail in this they will at least have or knocking a lamp into the orchestra, because his audience earned the right to be regarded as sportsmenand good feltlike it ! Imagine Romeo executingrag-timea fighters, and not as the emasculate and ineffectual ideal- shuffle inthe tomb of Juliet because his audience felt ists your fancy pictures them. like it! Mr. Webb has a genuinehorror of such possi- HAMILTON SMITH. bilities. Rut allow me to reassure him. Audiences are not T. collectively insane ; and no audience has desired, or ever *** will desire,Hamlet to knock his father’sghost off the THE METHODS OF MR. BARKER. wall; or Romeo to dance rag-time in the vault. The point Sir,-There is only one point in “ An Actor’s ” letter that seems to have evaded the intelligence of Mr. Webb to which I should liketo call attention,and that is is this : That the ‘‘ temper ” of the actor, if he is really his astonishing notion that a character in a play should acting,is stronger in its effect uponthe audience than be atthe mercy of the mood and temperament of the is the ‘‘ temper ” of the audience upon the actor. If actor ! If thereis one thing in the art of actingabout the actor is expressing himself spontaneously,and does which I thought there was no possibility of doubt it is not himself feel the necessity of knocking a lampinto that the actor must lose his mood and temperament in the the orchestra, the audience will notfeel the necessity mood and temperament of the character he isplaying. either. The collective mind of an audienceis, as I have I could name manyactors who thoroughlyrealise this, saidbefore, more receptive than revolutionary. Itis and many who never for a moment lose their own tem- possible, of course. that if an actoris a “ produced ” peraments, whatever partthey may be playing. Inthe automaton,the audience will grow hungryfor genuine 365 -- emotions and become irritable, nay, even corybantic; they nificent things, don’t be anartist.’ ” Mr. Webb would may begin to feel that the complete destruction of every more probably say, “If you can afford to do these magni- lampupon thestage would be excitingand expedient. ficent things, don’t do them.” But this is extreme, almost as extreme as is Mr. Webb’s It would seem thatthis controversy iscreating quite attitudeto the actor’s need for spaceand freedom. Has a stir. Mr. JohnFrancis Hope has deserted his accus- it not occurred to Mr. Webb that, given a certain amount tomed columns, and has come upstairs to discover what it of space for theexpression of individual emotion, the actor mightraise the expectant and receptive conscious is all about. He would smooth our childish differences. sense of the audience until both his emotions and those Mr. Hope saysthat a man is not anartist who em- of the audience were existing upon the sameinspired ploys mathematicalterms in connection with art, and plane ? Can Mr. ‘Webb conceive a state of affairs in goes on to say that if an analogy to drama must be found which such a consummation would be impossible ? A the instant one is society. Now comparing art with any- state of affairs in which the- actor could neitherbreak thing is a futile business, but there is a certain mathema- scenery nor entrancethe audience? If hecan, then tical analogy, for unity is the goal of all art; but to com- he understands the senile state as created by theintel- pare a play to society is childish, andas Mr. Hope proceeds lectual “ producer.”Why should Mr. Webb imagine to unfold his meaning a light is kindled by which I see that as soon as the actor is allowed space he will become the reason why his dramatic criticisms in your paper are insane? Mr. Webb’saphorism isirrelevant. Inhis what they are. He states that the object of a play is to letter this week Mr. Webb says “that the actorshould place “a number of distinct characters amid the same cir- beas amenable as paint upon the master’sbrush. He cumstances atthe sametime.” Hehas sorrowfully to (the actor) is the paint, and does he presume to see the admit that their behaviour is in the main determined by completed work more clearly than its author ? ” Now I one man-the author; but when to this already sad state myself saidthat an actor cannotpossibly foretell what of affairs is added the crowning injustice of the direction the effect of the play, as a work of art in a complete form, of appropriategesture and inflection by one man, Mr. will be upon the audience. “Theplay,” Mr. Webb Hopecan compare it tonothing but prison. Oh, would says, “ is not complete untilthe actor has done his we not all be the better for more of this prison discipline share.”This I haveconsistently maintained. The at which Mr. Hope stands aghast : rigorous discipline for acting of a play is amental process. What I intended each of us, with conscience as jailer? If Mr. Hope in his to convey by stating “ that the actor is limited to the capacity as dramatic critic visits the London theatres in present moment in time,” was that while Hamlet, for search of this drama of his that has itsanalogy in society, example, is living the words, “ 0 whata rogue and I marvel that he has not found it. To carryhis theory peasantslave am I ! ” while he is expressingspon- to its logical conclusion (an ungentlemanly proceeding, I taneously the emotionssuggested to him by thatpar- own), the ideal play would be one in which each character ticular line, he is not conceiving the emotions, gestures, was written by a different person, and acted by another and intonations of voice which will accompany the next unit. line. How can spontaneous emotions exist in advance of And,again, I am in oppositionto Mr. Hope, who, an actor’s consciousness? If actors were, as Mr. Webb althoughhe compares dramaand society, denies Mr. suggests, an inorganic substance like “ paint,” it would Ould’s analogy between dramaand music. I care not have to be a sort of kaleidoscopic “ paint ” not knowing whether conductors give different renderings of the same what colour it was goingto assume next. Butactors music,according to their moods, as Mr. Hope says. I and actresses are not “ paint ” ; they are men and women, am concerned with a single rendering only, and so long flesh and blood. Let me quote themaster : “ What a as it be a consistent whole I am satisfied, on this parti- piece of work is man ! How noble in reason, how infinite cular point-though I believe the conductor who did not in faculty, in form, and moving, how express and admir- allow his moods to colour his work to be the greater man. able, in action. . . .” Shakespeare does notsuggest From what I know of Rachmaninoff through his Prelude I that man is a dab of “ paint,” not even “ grease paint.” mould notexpect restraint of him.A play from its But I will forgive Mr. Webb everything. He has coined nature is acumbrous thing,and must of necessity be one sentence which stirs my heart. I will quote it again, standardised for a certain time. “ The play is not complete until the actor has done his Mr. Cosway complained that in giving him his defini- share.” This-has been mymain contention from the tion of acting “An Actor” merely turned a phrase. “Act- commencement. If “ theplay is not complete untilthe ing for actors” was the definition; and Mr. Hope, in his actor has done hisshare,” is it not obvious thatthe patient attempt to explain “An Actor’s’’ meanlng, IS In actor is under the necessity of completing a creation? danger of merelyre-turning the phrase.“Acting for How can he “ complete ” acreation without creating actors,not actor-managers,” he says, as he replaces it. somethingmore? What the actor has to create isthe Does . Mr. Hope notrealise that in hisideal Liberty illusion. He has to make the audience feel that the he is Theatre every actor would be an actor-manager : a “star” ? character. The noblest way in which he can do this (his His plays would be veritable Milk-and-watery Ways. My “ share ”) is by living the character. To achieve this he opponents are all agreed that the dramatic broth, unlike must be allowed space-he must not be the mental slave other kinds, is the better for a number of cooks ; and they of anintellectual “ producer.”Mr. Webb has repeated all help me to prove that the theatre as it is to-day has “ that sympathy between actor and audience is not a first essential to dramaticart,” but I hope that I have,by not an art. now, removed the delusion from hismind. If I have Undoubtedly Mr. Hopeand “An Actor”have yearn- failed, then I advisehim torent atheatre and play ings In common. “An Actor” sees his Shakespeare acted *‘ Hamlet.” in god-like fashion by an after-dinner, beer-inspired com- pany : Mr. Hope favours the methods of amateur produc- ‘‘ An Artist ” is undera misapprehension. In this present controversy we are dealing with Shakespeare as a tion. ‘‘. . . if they met together,” he suggests, “as some dramatist, not as a decadent. amateurs do, to discuss theplay generally, and each AN ACTOR. other’s partsparticularly, there would be no monopoly *** of thecentre of thestage. . . .” Must I tell Mr. Hope that the way of the artist is an utterly lonely one? It lies Sir,-I havesomething to say in opposition tothe alongdesolate ridges where two cannotwalk abreast, official pronouncement of Mr. Hope, but before I come to much less him and “An Actor’s’’ controversial troupe of this agreeable part of my task I would put myself right beer-inspired amateurs? But tocontinue my quotation with“An Actor.” Hethinks that in my firstletter I from Mr. Hope’s letter, “. . . as decorum is preserved in twitted impecuniousactors with their lack of money. I a drawing-room withouta master of ceremonies, so a was not guilty of this lapse of taste; nor can I find the company of actors let loose upon a play. . . .” peculiar sentence into which he has read this meaning. Let loose ! We get a further insight to what ‘An Actor’s’’ methods But how insympathy are his methods with those of of production would be. In referring to the unemployed “An Actor” who used this very term in connection with actorhe callsupon Mr. Cosway to fill up some of his ideal production. “Let loose upon a play will find a these derelicts with beer and good food, and to “let them working compromise. . . .” So Mr. Hope is for a work- loose ona scene from Hamlet.” He anticipatesa god- ing compromise, is he? “Thereis no need,” he adds, like performance : a performance filled with the quality of “tojump from the licence of musical-comedy toprison “emotion.”But surely, after the beer. And,as he says, discipline.” No, I supposenot. Just apleasing com- “there would be nothing mechanical about their en- premise between the two. ensemble.” “Drive into an actor,” concludes Mr. Hope, “that the However, “An Actor” has notquite grasped the key play not the part is the thing, andsomething like art will to my psychology. “But,”he concludes, forecasting my be the result.” attitude towards this imagined performance, “as Mr. This is possible, but I would have Mr. Hope realise that Webb would say, ‘ If you can’t afford to do these mag- it is art not something like it, that I would have. 366

In answer to Mr. Butt’s string of questions I must re- the tubercle-bacillus. I myself haveseen it scores of turn him the compliment of quoting him. times. But whether it is the cause of tuberculosis is quite Butt : Thewriter says, “While the actor looksupon anotherquestion. Such a view is disproved by evidence himself as anartist he will never be a good actor.” that is overwhelming-somegiven by my article. It Indeed. would be interesting to learnwhether this“exhaustive Webb : Indeed. research” was made on theguinea-pig; which, as Dr. Butt : Hetalks about the conception of acompetent D.Wilson Fox, whose researches I quoted, conclusively actor; will Mr. Webb kindly tell me his own conception proved, can be rendered tubercular by almost anything. of one? “Every fresh step in Science is invariably disposed of, either simply by a refusal to believe the veracity of the Webb : If Mr. Butt will better study my letter, which discoverer, or on rarer occasions, by a denial that the dis- seems to have upset him, he will find a sentence contain- covery isthe result of experiment on animals.”Alas ! ing the words ‘‘a perfect workman.” this is perfectly true; I grant its veracity at once. Only, Butt : Further on in the article he says, “No, we must that veracity, and the corresponding force of the proposi- throw him over and accomplish the good work behind his tion would be immeasurably enhanced were “A. K.” able back.” Really ! to indicatewith reasons appealing to anyfairly intelli- Webb : Really. gentindividual asolitary “step in science” which has Butt : Has Mr.Webb discussed the entire business of been broughtabout by experiment on animals. I have the actor with the gentlemen who are its leading members, made diligent search fur one and cannot find it. On the and are they in accord with his opinions that he should otherhand, examples of falseand misleading inference talk about we? fromthis source are numerous. It was admittedby the Webb : I will be patient. Mr. Butt must have a mis- late Prof. Koch-and who shouldknow better ; see his conception as to the subject under discussion. It is the art “Cure of Consumption” ; it has been more recently con- of the theatre; not the licensing of cinemas or any other fessed by Professor Starling, and sundry other experts in legality. this practice, before the recentRoyal Commission; that NORMANFITZROY WEBB. no scientificinference, from phenomena in the lower *** animals to the human subject is ever possible. After this, THE ALL-ROUND FAILURE OF THE GERM THEORY. what becomes of the supposed “steps in science” ?-which Sir,-Readers of theextraordinary effusion which invariablyturn out to be failuresor frauds, often ex- appears in your current issue over the signature “A. K.” tremely disastrous in their practical results to mankind, doubtless said tothemselves with Fluellen : “These be however lucrative to those who exploit them. brave words indeed”;but could hardlyhelp regretting (‘Vaccine lymph and other ultra-microscopic organisms thatthe gallant writer should not have possessed the cannot so far be detected by the eye” (sic). This is the courage of his opinions sufficiently to append his name to first time I have heard of anybody claiming vaccine lymph hislengthy communication. I feel sure that while won- asan organism microscopic or otherwise ! But Science dering at this unlucky silence, and admiring his choice is makingrapid strides in these days; in the hands of and free use of such scientific Billingsgate as “tear-be- suchable professors andexponents as we mayassume grimed spectacles,” “pity-the-animal-coloured spectacles,” “A. K.” to be. “unscientific crank-like manner,” and so forth-which are “I challenge Dr. Snow to inoculate himself with a notquite ordinary expressions in civilised controversy, bacteriological culture (a virulent one), such as he states to be but which most aptly reveal the gentleman’s (or lady’s ?) harmless.” 0, saintsand angels ! 0, the noble Re- exasperation-they could not failto recall the learned search Defence Society aforesaid. Surelyeven that m-ill society on the Stanislaw, whose proceedings Bret Harte exclaim, “Save me from such supporters as this.” Where has so graphically depicted. did I say anything of the kind, or of meaning in the least Eventually, however, the letter reveals that this apolo- approaching this ? gist for-not so much the theory of germs, but the prac- What I pointedout was that bacteria per se do not tice of animal-experimentation on which that is based, appear to cause or to convey disease. Atleast, there is and to which it leads-is merely advertising a very noto- no scientific proof that they do either. But in a “bacte- rious society, which sails under a highly misleading title, riological culture” there is a great deal beside the germs and is no less celebrated for the glaring mendacity of its to be considered, as “A. K.” very well knows. If he is literature than for its entire disregard of repeated refuta- in the habit of handling a microscope, he must be fully tion and exposure.After that disclosure it is nolonger aware that it is impossible to isolate bacteria,and that permissible to wonder at the strange inaccuracy of quota- a literal“pure culture” is out of the question. These tion, the melancholy ignorance of establishedfacts, the organismsare so infinitely minute that no one can ever curiousincapacity to appreciate scientific evidence, dis- isolate them from their environment-from the “virus” of played in suchfull measure by yourprudently anony- theparticular malady with which they were originally mous correspondent. associated For his inaccuracy-when I came upon the phrase : “In After all, “A. K.” may perhaps be confusing me with some cases Dr. Snow refers to Dr. Wilson’s book on someone else; or is it merely that he has mixed up his anti-vivisection, where proofs of the ‘failure’ are cate- papers ? Whatother explanation is there for the two gorically given”-I was forced to pause and rub the spec- phrases first cited at the beginning of this letter? I can tacles aforesaid before I could believe my eyes. Is there see none. My article never alludedto the cruelties of such abook? I thinknot. But anyone who has been animal-experimentation. It discussed thefutility and good enough to glance even cursorily at my article must folly of the practice from a scientific point of view; and know that reference was tothe recent“Report of the even this only incidentally, as bearing upon a factitious Royal Commission on Vivisection”; and specially to the theory, exploited for the sake of gain, and generally nega- “Reservation Memorandum” theretobyDr. George tived by known facts. Wilson. That discusses in detail the numerousfailures Perhaps ‘‘A. K.” may be respectfully invited to ponder of the germ theory; and this, moreover, after a fashion, over an eloquent saying of thelate Dr. Oliver Wendell valuableand significant in thehighest degree. Dr. Holmes : “If a man hasn’t got plenty of common-sense, Wilson was probably the one thoroughly unbiased mem- the more science hehas, the worse for his patient”-or ber of the Royal Commission, and was unquestionably may we here substitute “reader” ? HERBERT SNOW, one of the most competent. He is not connected with the *** anti-vivisection movement in any shape. He is simply a fair-minded and impartial doctor, of sound common-sense, THEPOST-PHILISTINE SHODDYISTS. andpenetrating intellect-all facultiesextremely rare, I Sir,-The publication of mymanifesto in your Re- fear, in the medical circles frequented by “A. K.” view was hailedwith delight. Surely it signifies Nom for thestrictures on myarticle : I said that, of dawningappreciation of ourennobling mission, a “Koch’s Five Postulates,” no single microbe yet put for- resolve to shuffle intoline with the compact shoddity. ward as the cause of a disease had ever been found to Evidently you endorse the exemplary enterprise of your comply with more than one. “A. K.” statesthat the erstwhile poet, Mr. Selver, in slouching so nonchalantly germs of tubercle, plague, anthrax, comply with at least into a profitable side-line. Thesugary, buttery side of three. That is rather a serious admission These five are your acumen cannot be impervious tothe pecuniary postulates, be it remembered;and before science, truly blessings conferred byacclamatory critics in the pro- so-called, can approve of any germas a veracausa, all cureurPress. Probably you suspect thatthis is not must be complied with.But, anyhow, one would fain merely anage of shoddy,but also of universal com- ask, (‘Which are the three ? ” promise-of Conservatives turned hobbyist-reformers “The tubercle bacillus has been confirmed by exhaus- underLiberal labels, of Socialiststoasted and buttered tive research (not promptly) yielding overwhelmingproofs into social dabblers, of youth-poets lopped andpruned of its existence and properties” (sic). Whatever does this into complacent middle-aged doggerelists, of idealist- mean? Nobody doubts the existence of a microbe termed philosopher-editors,perhaps, slurred and smudged into 367 venal proprietors-perhaps, we say, for we are prepared to welcome you intothe Post-PhilistineShoddy-Poetry Combine if you will onlytell that present-daycritic to go to-the British Museum of Hades, and abandon the Stockman-before-the-Curtain attitude, which recalls so poignantly theenthusiasms of ouryouth. Yes, sir; we wantyour co-operation inthis elegant conspiracy, which has for its desideratum the elimination of that opprobriousappellation, “Philistine,” from the mental status of otherwise wealthyand worthy individuals. Owing to the rapid spread of the poetic conscience the de- mand for our salvy unction is now stupendous. Haven’t you seen it coming, sir? Theologians for centuries have been busydispensing tasty emollients for the religious conscience, pill andpowder vendors’ palliatives for the liver conscience ; now comes our turn with the unction in ques- tion, a few doses of which arewarranted to elevate the most abject materialisttothe dreamy-eyed, super- haired, flowing-cravated standard of poetic exuberance ; for not, impotentlyhave sundry enthusiasts dilated on thechastening influence of poetry,and theirgentle re- proaches have atlast percolated through,and formed, with other ultramodern elements, this piquant concoction the poetic conscience. Sir, we could gush ! Latent sources of production are suggested in the mani- festo, while the staff of producers can be augmented through the medium of the Poetry Writing Postal Society asthe demandincreases. With regard tothe distribu- tion of the goods, ouragents and representatives have excellent credentials. The inimitable “ A. M.,” who takes the Carmellite circuit, has an irresistible knack oftitilating thesepalates inured to popular-novel syrup with suavitiessuch as these : “. . . . It is a novel told in glowingand sonorous verse . . with thelast stanzas there is pictured a death-bed where all three lie; the two menkilled by one another’shands, and Mary dead . in the end the slow, long-enduring man turns into a fury of destruction; he meets Michael, and they fight tothe death . . . burning love, andfurious rage, and despair go on to a bloody death for two of the actors, and abroken heart for thethird . . . . andall the while the daffodils ‘ glimmeredand danced,’ even when the blood of the two lovers was poured out upon them. . .” while the samples he distributes require but little mas- tication. We arelucky, too, inhaving the gratuitous help of the respected Sir “ Q.” on thesame circuit : . . . At the end thetragedy happens not in cold hate, but in ablind gust of fury . . . . it is the breast of the beloved, not of the wronged one, thatshe dies upon. . . .” And as for seductive samples :- On Wednesday, Feb. 26. at 8 p.m., “. . . they,the Occleves, hurriedto the door, At CLIFFORD’S INN HALL, FLEET STREET, E&., And burstit, fearing : therethe singer lay STEPHEN REYNOLDS Drooped at her lover’s bedside on the floor, WILL LECTURE ON Singing her passionate last life away. 6‘ Statistics and Human Lives.” You were the dearest, sweet; I loved you best, Chairman: S. K. RATCLIFFE. Beloved, my beloved, let me rest Tickets (Reserved 5s. and 2s. 6d - Unreserved. 1s.) can be obtained from the By you for ever, little Michael mine. Hon. Sec , Miss ALINE FERMOR,12: Hampstead Way, Hendon, N.W. ; or from . . .,, the Fabian Society,3, Clement’s inn, Strand,W.C. So much for the latest Masefield brand. Then we have “ W. W. Gibson ” on the Bouverie circuitwith the latest Abercrombie variety, although this gentleman re- FREETHOUGHT LECTURES. quires a little more practice in the “ pushing ’’ cult. He QUEEN’S (MINOR) HALL,LANGHAM PLACE, W. vacillates : “ . . though it is ratherthe business of (Uderthe auspices ofthe Secular Scciety Ltd.) thedramatist to attempt to realise theeternal sig- SUNDAY EVENINGS AT 7.30, BY nificance of thingsthan to present us witha realistic picture of contemporary appearances-” “ We do not Mr. G. W. FOOTS, Editor of “The Freethinker.” meaneven toimply that the contemporarydramatist February 16, “The Meaning of Death.” shoulddeal exclusively with life in its most immediate ReservedSeats and 8d. QuestionsandDiscussion invited. aspect. . . . But-” Nevertheless,such titillations more than compensate : “ In the firstact we find the villagers smitten with a terrible pestilence, and awaiting thearrival of a doctor. . . . Saul,the pilot,bears him, by main force, from the boat to his own cottage, so that his little son Barnaby may havefirst attention;and standsguarding the door withahatchet. . . . It is a tragic business, but though relentless and gloomy. . . . The homely image of a man turning over the body of the ratwith his foot gives tothe apparition a grimfami- liarity that is infinitelymore appalling thanthe most outrageous horror of the most grisly and outlandish phantasy.”There, nah, wotcher think 0’ that? If you willonly giveour goods aprominent display in your window we guarantee thespeedy wiping outof that annual thousand deficit. We who dream dreams foretaste with relish that auspicious moment when the last uxorious Philistine,having dined and sipped right amply, will samplea dose of our realisticunction, and confess his belated conversion by lisping-from the billowy depths of perfumed cushions-“Good-goo, wum-wum,he-he ! I do love poetry ! LATEST SHODDY POET. 368