CONTENTS, NOTESOF THE WEEK...... 513 ASH WEDNESDAY.By Oslaf H. Hartland ...... 526 A BALLADEOF FUTILE QUESTIONS...... 516 LITERARYNOTES ...... 527 CURRENTCANT ...... 5’7 THE CHRONICLESOF PALMERSTOWN-V.By Peter Fanning ... 528 FOREIGNAFFAIRS. By S. Verdad ...... 5’7 LALIVRE DU MAL ...... 530 MILITARY NOTES. By Romney ...... 518 LETTERSFROM ITALY-VIII.By Richard Aldington ...... 531 You MONEYMEN ! By Sidney Brisbane (from the “New York VIEWSAND REVIEWS.By A. E. R...... 532 Journal”) ...... 5’9 REVIEWS...... 533 NOTESON THE PRESENTKALPA : REPRESENTATION (cont.). By PASTICHE.By “Livy,” Ernest A. Parsons, C. W., Marion J. M. Kennedy ...... 521 Pryce, Pho ...... 53 5 ARCHITECTUREAT DELHI. By Robert Williams, F.R.I.B.A. ... 523 LETTERSTO THE EDITORFROM Arch. Gibbs, Wordsworth THE CAT AND THEMOUSE. By Beatrice Hastings ...... 524 Donisthorpe, Gaylord Wilshire, Dorothy Thurtle, Charles AN ECHOFROM HADES.By Paul V. Cohn ...... 525 Cecil, Wilfrid Humphrey ...... 536 . __

Subscriptions to the NEW AGE are at the following thefirst, until the second andthird stages are trans- rates :-- formed.Both thesestages, it is true, are in a weedy Great Britain. A broad. state absolutely ; but relatively to elementary education 8. d 8. d. they arealmost paradisaical. And whatis even more One Year ...... 15 0 17 4 certain is that,.good or bad, they cannot be greatly bet- Six Months ... 76 88 tered until the impulse from the primary schools in their Three Months ... 39 44 direction is vastlyincreased. At present, of thesix million children attending our elementary schools, only All communications relative to THENEW AGE should five per cent. ever enter a secondary school at all, and be addressed to THENEW AGE, 38, Cursitor Street, nothing near one per cent. enter a university. And the E.C. reason is not that both secondary and university educa- tion of a passable kind could not be provided, if the pro- visionalone were necessary, butthat the appetite for furthereducation is killed in theelementary schools. NOTES OF THE WEEK. We can allow, of course, that parents often think them- LORDHALDANE owes a good deal of his reputation as a selves unable to keeptheir children idle between the thinker to the vagueness of his language as an orator. ages of thirteen and seventeen ; we can allow that local He mustbe profound because he is incomprehensible. authoritiessometimes appear to dotheir best to dis- AtManchester in January he fluttered the romantic couragethe admission of elementaryscholars into dovecotes by describingthe neweducational policy of secondaryschools by providing none; but we cannot theGovernment as “an affair of thespirit” ; and at allow that these difficulties would be insurmountable if the Teachers’ Conference at Cardiff hst week he pro- the desire for education had not been just about extin- ducedwhat Matthew Arnoldwould call a “glow” by guished in the primary schools. As a matter of fact, the repeating the phraseand adding a newclause tothe pressure of elementaryscholars upon the secondary effect that we must in future “organise from the top.” schools is only at this moment a little more than the re- This windy laxity of languageis all very well in Mr. sistance. Five per cent., as we say, do now find a way Ralph Waldo Trine or Professor Gilbert Murray ; but it in ; but, even if there were as many secondary as ele- does not strike us, coming from a practical statesman, mentaryschools, not more than ten per cent., we as indicating any hold on reality. Quite the contrary, it believe, at the outside, would avail themselves, without suggests an attempt to escape from reality and to con- compulsion, of the open door. To stimulate secondary cealthe disappearance in a cloud oi words. What we anduniversity education, therefore, it is putting the suspect is that the Government has decided-in vulgar cart before the horse to deal with these stages first. As terms-to bite off more than it can chew, to propound a anybodycan see, the realproblems of secondaryand large idealistic plan and to let that serve as an excuse university education have not arisen yet. They will only for a verysmall real reform, or fornone at all. And ariseand can only thereforebe seriously considered .this procedure was, in fact, suggested still more plainly when,instead of five, fifty per cent. or a hundred per in the following sentence from Lord Haldane’s address. cent. of our elementary scholars are clamouring for ad- “They could not,” he said,” put primary education on mission or are actually admitted. Until that happy time a proper footing without taking into account the next arrives, therefore, the only problem worth practical-we stage, and they could not put secondary education on a do not say theoretical-consideration is the problem of proper footing without considering that university edu- primaryeducation ; andthis may be crystallised into cation came after.” This, we fear, can only mean that a singlephrase : how toensure that ourelementary elementary education in England is to wait until second- scholarsshall conclude their course with a vigorous aryeducation has beenreformed, and the reform of appetite for the continuing- and complementary courses. secondaryeducation itself is to bepostponed tothe ** * reform of university education. In short, the reform of It is not denied, we take it, by any competent person elementaryeducation is to be postponed for ever. that our elementary system of education is the worst in *** the world. Not only has it the effect of quenching,in all savethe most determined, the preciouscuriosity While not denying in theleast that primary educa- withwhich we are born,and the desire for perfection tion ought to look forward to secondary and university withwhich a high civilisation endows its children, but education as itscontinuation and complement, we do it appears to be, from its machinery, code, and adminis- deny that there is any need to wait, before reforming tration, diabolically intended forthis very purpose. 514

Some ,of our readers will n'ot hear (of thleir darling states- dwarfingand stunting children's minds, they would men being engaged in a conspiracy,even a tacit con- rise tothe salaried profession 0.f education; .md with spiracy to k.eep theproletariat under. They r,eadily that promotion we 'could expect tlo see in them what we believe, ne0 doubt,- that th,e Church in its palmiest days look in vain tlo find at present : a will to make them- was capable of such treachery against tbe human race; selves responsible, as a guild,$or the national service but of the ,stock-jobbing materialists now in the place delegated tlo tbem. Flor the rest, as wehave said, we of the Church, they can, it seems, think eo great evil. can very well afford to wait. There is no need to raise Nevertheless, as the few profound 'educationists kaow, the age of 'compulsory elementary attendance. Thirteen ther,e is better ground for the theory of deliberate malice is nottoo soon Lo leave primaryschools as they are; in elementary education than for any other hypothesis. nor is it to.0 s0o.n to leave for a secondary course. Prcr It is simplyincredible that statesmen with love of vided thattbe elementarysystem is transformed,the education alone in their hearts should create and main- pressure gradually accumulated on a secondary system tain ,a system of primary education which bears in almost would become in a few years irresistible. In ten years' every part of it the signs of being inspired by hatred, time a secondary course would bethe rule; and in greed,and fear. We challenge,indeed, any educa- twentyyears' time a university completion course tionist,intimately acquainted with the elementary sys- would be equally the rule. " Organising from the top" tem, to maintain that if it isnlot designed to suppress may ormay not be Lord Haldane's phrase for sc~m- individuality and to suffocate high curiosity, it can work thing .or nothing. In either case it iswrong. to anyother conclusion. And since,for the present, * *. *, thatis cur only concern, th,equestion of personalre- sponsibilitymay be h'el'd over. The remedies,on the In one sense, however, even the reform of elementary other hand, if so be thatthey are truly desired, are education must wait upon something still nearer reality : simple and stareus in the face. There is,we repeat, the Labour movement. We do not, as our readers no need for Lord Haldane and his "strong Cabinet know, put economics before everythingelse in value; committee'' (including Mr.Lloyd George !) to fetch a but necessary as it may b,e to plan from the top down- compassabout the whole world of knowledgebefore wards,it is from the bottom upwardsthat we must dealingwith th'e elementary system. Ourdew needs build. And thebottom, on earth, is economics. The not to be brought from the still-vexedBermoothes. success of the Labour movement in the largest sense is, As we said last week, a revolution sufficient fior our day therefore, the condition precedent of every other reform. could bewrought inpopular education byone single Everyother reform, in fact, iseither languishing or change : the reduction of the size of theclasses in rotting until the Labour movement is actually in motion elementaryschools from ninety and sixty to thirtyor again.The women’s hullabaloo, for .example, isdue twenty. If that 8ch.ange is impossible, or if, mime pro- wholly to th,e temporaryfailure of theLabour move- bably, it simply is not made but only talked about, all ment.In nlo country where the Labour movement is thje rest of tbe wonderful scheme is blethers. There is vigorous is there any women's movement worth speak- mot a teacher in England who would not agree with us. ing of. If,however, the wages and status of their Thlere is not an educationist who would deny th,at what prospectivehusbands in theworking classes arenot we say is true. The test of the Government's sincerity raised,but, 'on th'e contrary, fall, the women's move- is, therefore, simple. Either they canand will make ment is bound to be begun and 'to be continued. It is this reform, 'or thmey mean to d'o nothingbut jabber true that women can do nothing for themselves by this about "affairs .of the spirit." forced andunnatural assumption of men's duty;they *** will even worsen conditions both for themselves and for men.But movements, as Heine's lizard ought to have W,e djo not say, n.atnr.ally, that it is the onlyreform tlold him, must either -gol forwards or backwards; and necessary in elementaryeducation. But it is at once if the Labour movement will not go forward women^ will the most urgent, the most decisive, and the most revo- certainly drag itbackwards. The reform movements, lutilonary of a11 possible reforms. Arising out of such a on the other hand, which languish, unnourished, in the change would issue changes the mere accommodations emptyair of Labour politics, are countless. Thereis of which would settle half the remaining difficulties of literally nota reform. (we d'o not, of course,count the subject. Moreand smaller schools would certainly social reform) whichis not now waiting upon the have to be built, the salaries of teachers would hav'e to settlement 0.f the problem of wages.Education, be raised, tl-e whole code .andmethod of instruction housing, th'e rural revival, industry, ev,enreligion, art (based, at present,on regiments an'd 'shock tactics), andliterature, are all suspended in theirsubstantial woul'd have to be altered, examination coulvd less easily development, by reason of 'thefailure of theLabour besubstituted for inspection, and teachers would find movement. Itis niot,thwefore, flor thewage-earners themselves compelled to consider each child individually. alone or even mainly that we desire most 'to abolish the Butfurther than this, we shouldlook to seethis wage-system.If the fate of the wage-slaves and their single change produce a revolution in the status of the leaderswere alone in questionwe could willingly be teachers, particularly in their mown eyes. Theaverage persuadedt'o leave them #to stew in their own juice. elementaryteacher of to-day isashamed, and rightly Butthe abolition ,oftheir servile stateis actually, we ashamed, of his profession. Whenabroad from home, believe, the indispensable means to every reform, be he likes nothing better tha.n to b'e mistaken far a bank its nature the mlost apparently remote from economics. clerk lor some other commercial menial. To charge him It is exasperating th.at this should be ,the case, that we publicly with elementary teaching for ,a living is almost should all have to mark time untilMr. Will Crooks to insult him beyondforgiveness. Whyis this? It is and Mr. Stephen Walsh have learned their goose-step; not because .his profession is not honourable or his work but so it is. W.e are,most unfortunately if you like,, n>otthorough; it is n'ot because his salary is small or his membersone of another withthis ignominious come- daily associates merelychildren. It is, we a.re certain, quence : that we must watch theantics of Labour becausehe realises, instinctively, if notarticulately, leaders at Congresses,in Parliament and elsewhere, that th,e methods of his profession-methods with the knowledge thatour own progress must be he weakly permits to be forced upon him by authorities measured by theirs. ignorant of the art of education-are disastrous to the *** childrenunder hiscare and consequently ignominious to himself. Withthe reduction of the size of the And thus ,reckoned,what a progress we mustbe classes, however, a good deal of the present distortion making ! Atth,e I.L.P.Congress last week no fewer of the teacher's art would be done away with; its main thanfour blunders werecommitted, each of which excuse, which is thle necessityfor military discipline, would be enough ,in itself tlo ruin the most flourishing woul'd begone. The teachers would find themselves movementin the world. TheI.L.P. denied thespirit bothfree ,and bund tlo employ tbe methlods always of the first plank of its constitution, which is political taught in training colleges, but never hitherto practised independence ; endorsed Parliamentary and political in the schools. In aword, from th'epaid trade of action as thesole means of reform ; re-affirmed its 515 superstitious ‘belief in palliatives ; and denied by impli- that by this means it can be done. Our Labour party, cationthe necessity of aiming at the abolition of the with Guild Socialism under their noses and not a hemi- wage-system. Each of thesefour decisions was, we sphere away, have not arrived yet at the resolution to say, a blunder,and even something worse; for each abolish theWage-System, let alone to discuss the of them has been exposed for what it is, not once nor means. twice, not in THE NEW AGE only, buthundreds of *** times,in print, in fact, and in theexperience of the But even Mr. Belloc, it appears, does not understand delegates of the Conference.Supposing even, for in- or does not approve of Guild Socialism. In that organ stance, that we admit-which we do not-the priority of dullnessdistinguishable in Fleet Street, “Every- in importance of political over economicaction, t,he man ” to wit, he has recently been declaring that Guild condition of politicalsuccess for a small and a new Socialists try in vain to escape from the political control partyis independence; independence notonly in the of industry involved in Collectivism. Either, he argues, constituencieswhere it merely adds to the expense of we must have the politicians in control or we must re- the other parties, but in t’he House of Commons, where establishprivate property. But such dilemmas, we independence can be troublesome to the other parties. thought, were the monopoly of Mr. Shaw, the escapes Yet in spite o’f the excellentsense of Mr. Jowettand from which, by way of paradox, have made the reputa- Mr. James Allan, the Conference decided that the can- tion of Mr. G. K. Chesterton. From a serious thinker, didates in the constituencies should be independent and if hasty writer, like Mr. Belloc, we cannot accept them the Labour Members in Parliament should be dependent at all ; and in truththere is nothing in his dilemma upon the Government. That whatever else it may be, whatever. The mere fact that modern unions are large political action is at once more costly and more ineffec- does not bring them under the politicians provided that tive canbe plainlyseen frlom a handful of themost the same general principles are followed that created the recentfacts. Itmust be obvious now,even to Mr. mediaeval guilds and that still maintain the most highly Snowden, the most subtly stupid of t,he Labour leaders, organised of the professions. Suppose that the teachers that strikes, not Parliamentary legislation, account for or the doctors or the railwaymen or the postal servants the contemporaryrise of wages. The railwaymen,t,he were, as unions of practical workmen, to contract with seamen,the dockers, the miners, the taxi-drivers, the the State to provide their respective national services, bakers,the waiters all owe whatlittle recoverythey the control of the State would be no more and no less havemade from risen prices tlo strikes or tlo the fear than the control exercisedby any party to any contract. of strikes.Parliament, on the other hand, has done The articles of the contract.would naturally be laid down nothing to raisewages by a singlepenny. Onthe by theinitiating contracting party, and these would contrary,it has raised prices byconcessions tothe formthe specificationsfor thetender ; butthe deter- RailwayCompanies, by speciallaw ; and, in addition, mination of the terms of the tender itself, the execution has immeasurably reduced the status .of wage-slaves by of thecontract, and the organisation of thelabour, Labour Exchanges and the Insurance Act. This is not etc.,would as naturallybelong tothe accepting con- our opinionalone, nor isit the opinion of critics tractingparty and not to the State. The vice which simply;it is trhe opinion,in their candid moments, Mr. BeIloc morethan anybody else-after Mr. Penty of (the Labour leaders themselves. Thedebate and the late Mr. William Clarke-has taught the world of Tuesday laEt in Parliamenton the subjects we to see in Collectivism is really the vice of State Capital- have named was opened by Mr. Pointer in a speech of ism or Collective Profiteering. It arises when the State commendable bitterness ; he complained that applicants collects into its own hands the interests of private pro- tho theLabour Exchanges were docketed and ticketed fiteers andguarantees their preservation by means of as if they were vagrants; and the reply of the official thearmy and poIice. Undersuch circumstances it is Mr. Robertson, that learned dunce and creature without inevitable, we agree, that thepoliticians should be domi- bowels,he characterisedas disappointingly unsym- nant.It is in theinterests of theirpaymasters, the pathetic. Whatmore need be said?But, again, we holders of Government stock, that they should run in- were told atthe Congress that the I.L.P. had spent dustry forprofit andnot for use.But a State whose LIO,OOOduring the last year on elections and had lost proletariat refused tlo be exploited for profit, and insisted everyone. Tenthousand pounds is a large sum and on partnership as unions and the abolition of the wage- would probably finance the Irish Agricultural Organisa- system would have no option but to accept partnership tionSociety flor severalyears. Yet in any ye,ar that or face Syndicalism. An indication of the probability of can be named, the 1.A.O.S.-a non-political body-has the nation’s choice, which should appeal to Mr. Belloc, done more for labour in Ireland than the whole political is afforded by the history of the Catholic and the Angli- Labourparty has done for its class in Englandsince can Churches in this country. The Catholic Church (if its foundationtwenty years ago. New Zealand, we we may be pardoned for comparing it with an industry) may say, is already ahead of our Labour party both in is purelySyndicalist. The EstablishedChurch of Eng- ideas andin common honesty. Wedo not know a land was the result of a partnership between the State member of our little lfotwho dare stand up and admit and the Church. It is Guild Socialist. that his policy has ever been wrong. But Mr. Tregear, *+* a NewZealand labour leader and atone time the We are aware that to prove the Church of England Secretary of theGovernment Labour Department, re- Guild Socialist is not to recommend Guild Socialism to centlymade a publicrecantation of hisfaith in the Mr. Belloc, or to anybody else perhaps.But we offer value toLabour of CompulsoryArbitration. “Al- it as an illustration of the choice England made between though,” he said, “he had been a devoted and consis- SyndicalistCatholicism and Individualist Noncon- tentadvocate of arbitration for twentyyears, it was formity. That choice, it will benoted, was not only certainly not tthe sort of arbitration they had seen used neither Syndicalism norIndividualism in the sphere of by the employers to break up the larger unions.” And religion, but it was not Collectivism either. The partner- at the same Congress, so different in spirit from ours, ship b’etween th,e Church and th.e State is for practical the following manifesto, of which the last sentence will purposesan equal partnership. And a similarchoice, become .historic, was drawn up : “ The working class we maintain, will be ma,dewhen the moment for deci- andthe employing class have nothing in common. . . sion comes between Syndicalism and ,the Anarchy which Between these two classes a struggle must go on until Mr. Belloc callsDistributivism. Really, to read Mr. fie workers organise as a class, take possession of the Belloc’s eulogies of privateproperty one would sup- machinery of production, and abolish the wage-system. pose him to be a rabid little Nonconformist intent on a Instead of theConservative motto : ‘ A Fair Day’s bit of land ,and a. shop of his own as well as Iymn a God Wage for a Fair Day’s Work,’our watchword is and a religion of his own. ButPrivate Property in Abolish theWage-System.” We do notknow how England has never been in material things the passion the New Zealandmovement will abolish thewage- ithas been, and still is, in desperatelyreligious systemexcept by Guild Socialism;but we dlo know countries. H,ow otherwiseshould private property 516 amongst us so largelyhave ceased to exist?Private above,the world is waiting for that event to put the property in Englandhas commonly always been held clock on. Mr. Belloc, likehis prototype Bolingbroke, subject to the widest rights and privileges of th,e com- would put the clock back. munityuntil comparatively recent times. In th’epoorer *** classesabove all-the realEnglish of the nation- privateproperty is not evena usual appetite.There WhenSir Rufus Isaacs protested before the Mar- is actually, in our wide experience of rural and indus- coni Committee that he was entitled to the treatment of trial life, no generaldesire toown personally and a commoncriminal we wonder that the ghost of the privately themeans of production at all. Whatthere murdered Seddon did not rise before his mind to sug- is, we find, is a. desire to own communally, in groups as gestan absit omen. Thelast thing surely that Sir large as can be comfortablygrasped by themind, in Rufus Isaacs should desire is to be cross-examined by groups, let us say, as large as parishes in the case of Rufus Isaacs. It is the last thing alsothat we should land and as unions in thecase of industries.Even, desirefor him or foranybody. The circumstances therefore, if itwere possible-which it is not-to re- under which we now know he carried on his dealingsin establish private property as it existed, in Mr. Belloc’s AmericanMarconis and the subsequent appearance of imagination, before the accursedTudors, its re- shuffling in his belated avowals of the fact are such as establishment would not satisfythe English mind. would positively lend themselves to the detestable tricks Save for himself and for a few people whom he has in- of a “great criminal lawyer. ” Imagine some poor devil fluenced-a job lot of geniuses-his Distributivismis of a prisoner with a story like Sir Rufus Isaacs’ to un- quite as alien to the national character as he has helped fold and withdeath staring him in the face-how Sir to convince us Collectivism is.. Guild Socialism, on the Rufus would tear him to pieces to the admiration of the other hand, seems tlo us both to coincide with thme drift Bar ! The public,however, aremore just than Sir of things towards Collectivism and to carry with it the Rufus Isaacs and hisprofession can ever hope to be. special qualities which, in combining with Collectivism, We do not desire to strain reason for the satisfaction will at thesame ‘time profoundly modifyit. Nobody of a lust for cruelty, or to put the worse construction will deny that,.as things are moving, Collectivism in on evidencewhen thebetter construction is equally the form of State capitalism is inevitable. But nobody tenable. We are lessanxious for a victim,even when would deny either that if the proletariat can .awake to the victim promises to be a great criminal lawyer, tha3 their danger, they can by their unions transform what, for the truth. And in consequence we are bound to say unmodified, will be a curseinto a blessing. What we that the evidence so far disclosed by the Marconi Com- believe,however, they cannotdo, even given the will, mittee acquits Sir Rufus Isaacs, in our opinion, of cor- is to stem the tide of Collectivismand turn it back to ruption, only,however, to convicthim of beingand Distributivism; and without the will it is certainly im- having been a cunning fool. possible. The choice, therefore, before us is Collect- ivism with or without the co-operation and co-partner- *** ship of the unions. Without theirelevation ,t,o the rank of co-partners with the State, the coming Collect- [Thepresent issue of THE NEW AGE contains 28 ivism will assuredlybe State Capitalism; with their pages- I partnership Collectivism will be transferred into Guild- Socialism. *** A BALLADE OF FUTILE QUESTIONS.

-4s grounds for a reasonablehope of somesuch “ TheSpeaker, intervening, intimated, amid Minis- awakening of theproletariat tlo thedanger of undi- terial cheers, that such questions were a waste of time.” lutedCollectivism, we mayenumerate the following. -“ Herald.” The Guilds, as the historians have proved, were in their origin a purely English creation, the work of the minds The simpleton is apt to ask of Englishartisans and merchants ,in a periodwhen A lot of questions, don’t you know; they were most free. It is surely a safe speculation that, But answering is a different task, on awakingonce more, the desires and dispositions As, in a minute, I shall show. which createdthe guilds will, at least,attempt to re- For instance, is the baker’s dough create them.Again, it is a matter of common obser- Mixed up with alum, bran, and grime, vation that wherethe English are free to combine in As well as flour and H,O? largegroups for common purposes they do so. It is Such questions are a waste of time. eventhe case, as Mr. GeorgeRussell indicates in his “Agricultureand Nationality,” that the congregation About Lord Normandy de Trask- of economically equal men tends in itself to be followed Why that name on old Bung bestow? by their organisation into a guild. This *isproving to be Why not Lord Mildandbittercask ? th’e case in Irelandunder the fostering care of the And, happy thought, and apropos, I.A.O.S. (see the “Times” Irish Supplement of last St. That big contractor down at Bow- Patrick’s Day) ; and if in Ireland- ! Thirdly, there Why not Lord Brick or Baron Lime? is nodoubt in ourminds that, inarticulately or so But they’re taboo because they’re low; silently as to be drowned under the raucous voices of Such questions are a waste of time. theirleaders, the real aspirations of thepresent-day trade unionists are in the direction of guilds. We agree with Mr. Belloc thattrade unionists donot wish for The gilded courtiers who bask State Capitalism ; but we do not agree with him that In favour of the king-(what ho!) they desiredistributivism or a bit of property each. Is it quite true they wear a mask What, we believe, they desire is security first, and, not To get advanced in favour so? farafter it,the honour of theirunion and of their Why do some find promotion slow? nation. We are convinced that this is not mere idealism This questioning lacks sense and rhyme ; onour part. Lastly, we ask if anybodycan contem- Besides, it is not comme it faut. plate the growth of the trade union movement in power Such questions are a waste of time. as well as in confidence without venturing the forecast that sooner or later State Capitalism will find in i’t a ENVOI. formidable enemy? It is true that, for the present, its tactics are defensive or rather, we should say, adjustive. Prince, are you in with Schmidt and Co. But let itonce define its objective as theabolition of Whose silver deals have been sublime? the wage-system and its means as partnership with the I will not press the matter-no! State, Capitalism, webelieve, however entrenched, Such questions are a waste of time. would be compelled tosurrender. As we havesaid c. w. 517

Current Cant. Foreign Affairs.

cr The defects of Mr. Hewlett’s prose are the unquestion- By S. Verdad. able virtues of his verSe.”-7’HE ‘‘ TIMES ” LITERARY SUPPLEMENT. As thisarticle goes to press the tensionin European diplomacy is once more acute-not, this time, so much ‘(A Pinero picture play might do a great deal to elevate on account of the differences of opinion which still exist the picture palace.”-Cines COMPANY. between Austria and Russia as in consequence of the ex- -. -. - asperationcaused in Austria by theattitude ofthe “The Insurance scheme is actually genuine Socialism.” Montenegrin Government over the question of Scutari. -F. HANDELBOOTH. But this dispute with Montenegro involves Russia with Austriato an unlimited extent.King Nicholaswishes ‘‘ Unionists are under no illusions.”--“ The Standard.” to capture Scutari at all costs. A full third of his army --.- has already perished before Tarabosch fortress ; and he ‘‘ The Prince of Wales arrived at Wiesbaden somewhat is quite prepared to see the annihilationof the remainder tired last evening. . . He didnot appear tillnearly eleven o’clock this morning, when he set out for divine (including,let us say it tohis credit, himselfand his service, wearing a lounge suit, light overcoat, and bowler sons)if only the Turks can be driven from theiren- hat. . . The Prince made a most excellentimpression trenchments and Scutari occupied by the last fragments uponchurchgoers. . . Many Americans particularly of his forces. For years the Montenegrins have longed are very angry they did not know the Prince was going for Scutari. They realise now-or rather the authorities to Church. . . ”-“ Daily Mirror. ” -- havebegun to realise-that thePowers have deter- mined to include the town in the New Albania, and with ‘‘ Calvary is going to have a much bigger significance it, naturally, the fortress of Tarabosch, without which inthe twentieth century than it has ever had before. There are signs already that the Cross is coming into its the town itself isvalueless ; andKing Nicholas, faced own. . . ”-THE CANONOF ST. PAUL’S. with the force of Europe, will be brought to recognise that this must be its destiny. But before the time comes

“ Gone are the days when the poor, the weak, and %he for the transference to be made he wishes at least to be helpless were the prey of the classes who kept power and able to saythat in thismemorable war theMonte- influence in their own hands. . . The woman has negrinswere able to capture from theirhereditary entered into her heritage as a responsible being. ”--Lady enemies the fortress that means so much to its possessor. FRANCES BALFOUR. *** (‘A great deal of interest-and some trepidation, too- While the major disputes between Russia and Austria is being felt in connection with the rumour that Queen over the question of the delimitation of the New Albania, Alexandra is thinking of allowing some portions of her and especially thecontroversy as tothe ownership of privatediary to bepublished. . . it is certain that Djakova,have beensettled for the moment, they are such extracts would be very strictly edited.”-“ London liable to be started again by the manner in which the Mail. ” MontenegrinGovernment has chosen totreat the Austrianrepresentations regarding Tarabosch. Servia “ IS London Pagan? No, thanks to the splendidlead of the Bishop of London. . . The position of London sent her troops to .assist her allies--alliesby race as well is beinggradually recaptured for Christ. . . As a co- as by treaty.A strong protest instantly followed from incidence, I was told to-day thatthis year the sale of Vienna. Itwas pointed out,both to Belgradeand to Easter cards has been the largest within memory. Surely, Cettinje, thatthe Powers had decided toincorporate thatis a signto cheer us up. . . The bronze Cross of Scutari in the New Albania, that this would be its fate the Church of England Men’s Society is a‘ grand sign of Progress.”-A KENTISH LAYMAN in“The Daily l’ele- whetherit was captured or not, and that, in conse- graph.” quence,further attacks by the allied armies,or by -- ..- Montenegro alone, would result in mere wanton blood- ‘(Man is beating the birds easily at their own game.”-- shed. A specialNote urgedMontenegro to allow the “ Pall Mall Gazette. ’’ civil population to leave, for there was not the slightest doubt that the attacking troops, maddened by their in- “ I am a comparatively poor man.”-LLoYD GEORGE. ability to overcome the strong resistance of the defen- -.- ders, were, in spite of all the rules of war, deliberately “ The triumph of Christianity, the ever-widening circle withdrawing their fire from the fortress itself and con- of its sphere, the transformation of human life, the ever- centrating it on the town. rising power of the Christian world, the certainties of human progress.”-THE REV. A. C. HEADLAMinthe ** * * * “ Saturday Review.” Montenegrorefused to listen toany of theserepre- sentations. The firing did notcease, the civil popula- ‘‘ The civilised world is graduallywaking up to the tion was not allowed to leave ; and every arrangement fact that the drama is not a toy, but an Art. . .”-MRS. wasmade for a so-called ‘(final’’attack. When these PERCYDEARMER. facts becameknown in Vienna,another Note was hurriedly drafted by the chief European Powers--Eng- “ The latest manifestation of the Holy Father’s purpose to re-establish all things in Christ, is directed especially land, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy-confirming to the service of the lambs of his flock to whom he has theoriginal statement that Scutari was to be incor- ever proved so tender a Shepherd.”-REV. G. CORMAC. porated in Albania and urging the Montenegrins to de- sist from useless slaughter and expenditure. Only when “ There has been far too much loose talk in our time this second Note was received does the Cettinje Govern- aboutthe cruelty, the injustice of our Social System. ment appear tlo haveunderstood that the Powers, for . . . To it the crimes of the Motor Bandits were directly once, meant what they said. Telegrams were despatched due.”-“ Daily Mail.” to the various Foreign Offices, asking fior confirmation of this second message. It was confirmed; and a forma? “ Instead of prizes for school attendance, prizes should protest by Montenegro followed. But the Note was effec- be given to all girlsunder twelve withtheir hair cut tive in one respect : the shell-fire ceased, and the civil shortfor a whole year.”-A PAISLEY DOCTOR,in the populationwas allowed to leave, afterthe Turkish “ Evening News.” Commander, Essad Pasha, had at first refused to allow it to do so, as he had not received official instructions CURRENT COMMERCIALISM. from his Government at Constantinople ! But Essad is “ Here is your opportunity to secure a half-sovereign a humorist. in a most pleasurable manner to-day. You see the little *** picture below. Well, I offer a cash prize of 10s. for the best text taken from the Bible. . . .‘ ,-< r Weekly Dis- I have mentioned the Powers who protested, but they patch.” do not includeone important country-Russia. It had 518

been agreed that, if Austria were willing to let Russia sinceres”that the Prime Minister meant something have her own wayover Djakova, Austrian suscepti- differentf,rom what his words actually implied. There bilities should be satisfied by the incorporation of SCU- have beenseveral questions (silly questions) in the tari in Albania. When the time came, therefore, to de- House recently. SirFrancis must surely be saying, spatchthe protest to Cettinje, Russia was naturally with one of Mark Twain’s characters : “This thing is asked to join. She refused ; and this has led to a bitter getting monotonous !” Pressoutburst ,in the semi-official Austrianjournals. The truth is, 1 am told, Russia regretted having yielded to Austria almost as soon as she haddone so ; and some wordswere exchanged by M. Kokofftseff, thePrime Military Notes. Minister, and M. Sazonoff, theForeign Minister. Ac- By Romney. cordingly, no action was taken when Russia should, in accordance with the stipulations made, havejoined in the COLONELSEELY’S proposals for the endowment of protestto Montenegro. ‘‘ranker” officers are , not as revolutionary as they **+ appear.isIt doubtfulwhether singlea genuine No NEWAGE readerneeds reminding that Russian “ranker” will benefit by them.They will beretained diplomacy has always been tortuous, mysterious, incom- for the use of the same class that obtains commissions prehensible, whenever it suited the Government. I write via the ranks even now-the class of men who are the on March 29, and on that day I can say with certainty equals, socially, of other officers, but whose parents that not a single Chancery in Europe knows exactly what have foundthemselves too poor to afford thenormal St. Petersburg is going to do next. It is M. Sazonoff’s public school andSandhurst education. Such men hope that Scutari may fall within the next day or two, and that the Vienna Government, confronted with this generally make excellent officers, for the simple reason accomplished fact, will allowher scruples to beover- that unless tbeyhad a real taste for soldiering and a come and agree to let King Nicholas take over, in con- realdetermination to gratifyit, they would scarcely creteform, the dream of his life. Againstthis hope undergo for the sake of it the discomforts of a c mustbe set the definitedetermination of thePowers, of yearsinan uncongenial position. As forthe already admitted by the publication of the text of the genuine “ ranker”-the man that is, of inferiorsocial Notesmentioned, to placeScutari under different position-the trouble in his case is the objection of the ownership. Certainly Austrian public opinion would not tolerate the cession of Scutari to Montenegro. The loss private soldier to serveunder him. TheEnglish of Djakova was several times referred to as “a piece of aristocracy, as someonehas remarked, is maintained flesh torn from the side of Austria,” and even this lurid by the loving careand affection of the lower orders, simile would be outdone if Scutari followed. and no one is a keener connoisseur in gentlemen than *** thatparticular stratum of thelower orders which furnishes therank and file of our Army.People who Furthermore,there has beenno demobilisation, in wish to democratise the Army should remember that spite of announcements to the contrary. Readers of the the Armysimplyis aninstitution expressing the papers may or more likely may not have noticed that the national spirit on exact the same lines as it is expressed intimations of demobilisation were followed by the an- in our politics., literature,and religion : that if our nouncements that Austria had decided to keep a propor- Armyis aristocratic it isbecause our people are aris- tion of her northernarmy at a higherpermanent tocratic; and that if they wish to democratise the Army strength,and, strange tzo say,Russia decided to do they should therefore start by democratising the people. justthe same thing with her Polisharmy. A few re- Otherwisewe shall find ourselvesin the position of servistson both sides have gone home; otherwise the havingdivorced from popular sentiments and national position remains as it was from a military standpoint. instinctsthe very institution which, aboveall others, **+ dependsupon them for its life. We shall sacrifice a good aristocratic Army for a badand onlycon- The total demoratisation of the Turks, and the causes strainedlydemocratic one. that brought it about, are subjects which I hope to deal *** with in a special article in the course of the next two or threeweeks. It will besufficient to say here that the How a really democratic Army does work appears in fall of Adrianople has completely taken away the spirit the case of %h’eFrench. Here, od course, the real of the whole army. The onlywish now isto get the “ranker”has as gooda chance of a commission as thing over, to know the worst as soon as possible. Still, anyone, nor would anybody dream of grudging him the a word must be said in praise of the two features of the authority which hehas earned. That is not, however, war which showthat leadership was the main thing themost significant fact. In the BritishArmy not lacking. The Young Turk officers were, as I have often only is a certain species of authority-thatbelonging said,appalling specimens of half-eastern,half-western toan officer-reserved f’or a particularcaste, but degenerates. The men, when they were led, were excel- nobody outsidethat caste is permitted any genuine lent. But only in a few caseswere they led at all. In authoritywhatever. The British non-commissioned Adrianople Shukri Pasha was an ideal commander. His officer doesnot reallyexercise any power; he has no record is first-class ; but he possesses a quality which rightto punish, and depends for the maintenance of cannot be set down, or at any rate, is not set down, in authority upon his officers. (I donot mean thatthere official records. Me had that element of personality are notmany N.C. s who can relyupon t;heir own which enabled him to secure the confidence and support “prestige” to carry them through-but such men would of thoseserving under him. Hewas an officer of the haveauthority anywhere). The French non-com- Hamidian school, and the first thing the Young Turks missioned officer can,and does, award morepunish- did when they came into power was to reduce him to a ment off his own batthan aBritish battalion com- mere colonelcy. It is a pity that the papers which pro- mander. fessed to look upon the Young Turks as gods did not *q* mention thisfact recently. And EssadPasha, at Scu- tari, is a man of the same mould. Now mark the differenceinresults. The British *** N.C.O., deprived of any real authority, is a notoriously unenterprising .and conventional person,and is apt in I wish some of our Members of Parliament would the of action to look to the officer as helplessly as the spare the legs or the pen of Sir F. Bertie, our Ambas- tamestprivate. TheFrench N.C.O., onthe contrary, sador in Paris.Whenever Mr. Asquith states in the can anddoes take responsibility, in action and out of House that England is “under no obligation,” etc., etc., it. That hefrequently abuses his great disciplinary, to help Frame in time of war, Sir Francis generally calls powers I .admit. Butit is an unfortunate fact about to “donner les assurances lesplus completes et authoritythat men cannotlearn to useit untilthey 519 have beensuffered toabuse it. The British system of keeping everybody but the “real gentleman’’ in leading You Money Men! stringshas the result that nobody except t.h.e “real [Reproduced from a recent issue of the “ New York gentleman”is conscious of power. Whenthe time Journal,” the editor of which is Mr. Arthur Brisbane, a does come tjo democratise our army, the first step should journalist of a reputation and influence in America equal, be ,toentrust some real authorityto th,e non-com- roughly, to those of ten Garvins in England. The article, we are told, has had a “ town-rocking ” effect in New missioned officer. Whenthat has b,een donethe men York.] wiIl begin to understand(as theyvery soon do in France) that power is an attribute not of social, but 0.f IT is time to point out to the men that rob the City of militaryrank. When that again is comprehended, New York and other cities that they will nothave you will be able to fill your commissioned ranks as full everything in their hands always. of “rankers” as you please. We remind themthat whilethey can buyMayors, and,Public Service Commissioners, and legislators and *** bigger officials, throughout the country, THEY CAN- But you will have to democratiseEngland first, as NOTPREVENT THE PEOPLE FROM TAKING I said atstarting. And thereisthe trouble. The BACK THAT WHICH HAS BEEN STOLEN FROM onlyreal difference between theupper and the lower THE PEOPLE. classes in democratic countries.,such as Franceand You trust owners, money monopolisers, manipulators, Spain, is a difference of money and in knowledge. The andexploiters of the public, you havehad avery poorman is as dignified and as capable of command- pleasant, easy time. ing respect as the rich me. To use the nearest English You havetaken the people’s money in millions, in word, they are all gentlemen together, and the outward tens of millions and in hundreds of millions. You take sign of the fact is in the need which you are under sf the people’s streets, their franchises, all of the property addressing themall as “ Monsieur” or “ Senor.”For which should be theirs. such a society it only requires a little polishing up to You ill-treat them ; YSU laugh at. them ; you select, or, make a poor‘man an officer, practicallyindistinguish- after election,you buy theirjudges when you need ablefrom the others. But in aristocraticcountries, them. such asEngland, you rearabout twenty thousand Youbribe their Senators and control their law genuine leaders of men at thme cost of degradingthe making. remainder of th,epopulation into howling cads. The But remember, and there is danger in the memory for lower classEnglishman clings so patheticallyto his you,remember that you cannot permanentlyown the gentry because he realises by instinct that they are in- peoplethemselves, AND CONFISCATION LOOMS dispensable in the national economy tosupply that AHEAD OF YOU. want of dignity and refinement which hefeels in him- *** self. English vulgarity mustbe counter-balanced by What YQU big men forget is the fact that the people Englisharistocracy. For all his good qualitiesyour outnumber you. Onegrowl from the crowd would common Englishmenis sloppy, sentimental, muddle- frighten you. Another growl at the ballotbox and the headed,casual and vulgar,and a hopeless worshipper property that you have stolen can be swept out of your of materialthings. He realisesthe fact in his. good hands overnight. humouredway, and laughs at it. If hehad the brains That happenedin France, remember. Ithas hap- to analyse his thoughts he might reply that these are penedin other countries. notthe sins for which men go to hell, andthat if ITWILL HAPPEN HERE, IF YOU GO TOO Lucifer was evicted fromthe higher regions, it was FARWITH YOUR ROBBERY AND YOUR IN- forpride andnot for being a “bounder.”Well, so it SOLENT DISREGARD OF PUBLIC RIGHTS. is. But the business of thisearth must be carried Remember that confiscation by the people of property on somehow, and therefore to remedythis deficiency taken from them is not robbery. innational character, which would otherwise lead to It would be robberyin thelanguage of yourpaid national collapse,we have developed a class which cultivates that manliness and dignity which the rest of lawyers, in the decisions of your bought judges, but it would be justice in the eyes of history. thenation lacks. It is a dangerous remedy, and in *** th,e end perhaps more fatal than the disease. But that it is a ‘necessary one if we are to have an army at all. Mr.Astor is in Europe.While he isaway his You can make a soldier and an officer of the most ridi- agentsengage inrobbing the people. Theyhave cor- culousFrenchman. There nothingis irredeemably ruptedthe public officials, they are not buying BUT incongruous in placing the epaulettes of .an officer upon STEALING the city’sbonds, since they giveless for theshoulders even cf Tartarin de Tarascon. But who them than they are worth. in ‘his wildest dreams couldcontemplate the elevation They are notnegotiating for the city streets,but to commissioned rank of Mr.Micawber ? orMark swindling the people out of their subways permanently. Tapley ? orPecksniff? There is simply noimagining Yourcrooked lawyers, your dishonest judges, your such a thing. shameless officials, put the city in bankruptcy, and then *** you big rascals are allowed to loot it at your leisure. But remember confiscation. Remember thatthe The English Pacifistshave therefore this amount of people can take to-morrow what you have stolen to-day. right on theirside, that, unless we achieve a funda- If Mr. Astor came home and found that his clothes, mentalrevolution in the Englishcharacter, Demo- his furniture, his pictures, had been given away by his cracy will only be possible here on condition of abolish- servants, or sold to some dishonestdealer for a small ing the need for Army, Navy, and diplomatic service. part of theirvalue, what would he do? Since most of them would probablycall themselves Wouldhe not go to courtand immediately getan Democrats, it may be that this is what they are after. It will be noticed that aristocracy has generally attained orderrestoring his property? He wouId say : “Give its extreme character in the case of naturally unmilitary me back my furniture, my clothes, my pictures.” peoples(such as thePrussians) exposed to continual And he would get them back. If anybody talked to military danger.Realising that, however rich in him of confiscation, or asked that the amount paid to courage, they are deficient in theother qualities that thereceivers of stolen goods be restored by himhe commandsuccess in the field, suchnations have would say, “ Notat all. Ido not deal with rascals. usually entrustedtheir leading to ,an artificialaris- You bribe my servants, you steal my property, yyu got tocracy or toaliens. Hence the largepart played in my goods, and YOU must lose what you invested In thls British military life by Irish and Scots, and in Russian dishonest transaction. I want my property back.” military life by Polesand Germans. The military *** qualities MUST be suppliedsomehow, for it is a ques- One fine day,you big public exploiters, the people will tion, literally, ‘of life and death. talk to YOU in that fashion. They will tell you that you 520 cannot go on forever taking what belongs to the people. worka stop will be put to it, andthey will wake up The day will come, and if you persist in your present same fine morning,as the nobles of Francewoke up methods the day will came soon, when the people will more than one hundred years ago--TO FIND THAT applyyour methods to you, andtake back from you THEYHAVE NOTHING LEFT, THAT THEIR that which you imagine to be yours. BRUTALITY,THEIR EXACTIONS, THEIR DIS- You don’t own thosestreets. HONESTY, HAVE RECOILED UPON THEM- You don’t own those subways. SELVES. You can’t forever own public officials. The good maysuffer with thebad, if dishonesty is The people can put in other officials that won’t be pushed too far. owned. Thatis the warning for honest, conscientiousmen They can take back thestreets, take back the pro- totake to heart.Don’t let tth’e big thieves andtheir perty, as you would take back your own, if it had been miserable tools in office go too far. stolen or sold by dishonest servants. Bewarned now; don’twait. *** ** * Remember t,hat the plower of eminent domain-which It is known that of our veryrichest men some are yourlawyers can explain to you-the power of the investing money invarious principal countries of the people totake whatever they want, with or without world. A man with many millions to-day-often know- reason-never dies. ing extremely well that most of themare stolen-in- The people can confiscate what they choose to- vests a certain amount in England, a certain amount in morrow. Germany, in Austria, in France-and he saysto him- And, Mr. Astor, if the day comes, asit will, if self : “I’d have enough to take care of meand mine, your methods and those of your fellows continue, when even if the people of this stupid country should wake up the people shalltake your subways, it will do youno and stop the wholesale robbery.” good to weep. A few of the most cunning have planted wealth here In time sf war, when it is necessary, the people take andthere. But the maority have not done it. awoman’s only son, lead him to battle and have him Letthe majority of thosethat have money, which killed for the benefit of the public. meansan honest majority, take heed thattrouble be Tens of thousands of boys aretaken from their notforced upon them bymen of the wholesale pirate mothersand killed forthe publicwelfare when war brand. comes. Thus far, thepeople have been guided and led by men It does themother no good to say : “That is my conservative,earnest in the belief that republican only boy ; you have no right to takehim. ” government could be made a success, or else by men in And, Mr.Astor, when the day of confiscation is public life sharing in the plunder in a small way-such forced upon the people by you and those like you, it will men as Archbold deals with in the Senate. do you nogood to say : “That is my only subway; Butthe people are tired of Archboldbeing in the don’t take it.” Senate, tired of his brlbes, tired of th,e speed that jails The people will say : “ We need it; you stole it from a man whlo steals a loaf of bread, tired of the slow pace us in thebeginning. NOW we begin over again with at which a wholesale rascal such as Archbold is prose- the people’sproperty in the people’s hands-and this cuted. will teach you, who have superior intelligence but less The people will lose their patience eventually, AND conscience, to be more careful.” *** THENTHEY WILL HAVE DIFFERENT LEADERS, and listen [to violent men. Forthis particular sermon onconfiscation, which is Letthe big men, the Astors and the others, take coming if financial morals do not improve, we select warning by such demonstrations as have appeared from Mr. Astor as the one to whom it should be addressed, time to time even in this country-hatred, bitter resent- in view of his subway scheming. ment,taking the place of constructivegovernment. But there are others engaged in hiring lawyer2 to get Big men, trustowners, buyers of old picturesand the people’s propertyfrom them, who need the warn- swindlers of a young nation, take care. ing. And men thatare NOT seizing theproperty of The people outnumber you. They would sweep you the people, men that are not hiring rascally corporation and your judges and your criminal lawyers into jail or lawyers to cheat the public, should take warning. AND off theearth ina minute if once aroused,and they THEYSHOULD GIVE WARNING TO MR. would take in the name of justice that which you call ASTOR AND HIS ASSOCIATES. yours, that which you have stolen from the public. Men of big property should remember that when the Be moderate, don’tlet the fact that youown a people become indignant t,hey are apt togo to extremes. Mayor,Public Service Commissioners, orothers that When the day of public anger and public action comes, should defend the people make you drunk with power. whmen the hlour arrivesfor confiscation, the people are You don’town the people-LOOK OUT FOR not always as particular as they might be about WHAT WHAT THEY MAY DO TO YOU. they confiscate. *** If Mr. Astorfound thathis furniture had been graduallydisappearing, drifting into some pawn- [This will be read by the lawyers that represent big broker’s shop, when he at last discovered the addressr rascalsand they will shaketheir heads dolefully. It and broke into the shop, he would be apt to walk away will be read by gamblers in Wall Street, and they will with anythinghe found there-in hisrighteous indig- notlike it very much, fearing that it may make the nation. dealing back and forth in stolen securities, such as sub- When the people tire of having their property stolen, way securities, less profitable. their officials debauched,their judges controlled, and It will put angry thoughts in the engorged brains of when they break into the right address, they will not a few of the big people. That is exactly what we want be any too particular about what they take, when con- -not only for the people’s sake, but for the sake of fiscation time comes. thesebig publicexploiters, whose brains should be *** used FOR ‘THE PEOPLE, instead of being used ever- There is no reason why this country shouldnot go lastingly in robbing the people. along honestly, evenly, and without violence-if t,he big Letthis brief allusion to confiscation, the first that men will permit it. you have seen in this newspaper, wake .some of YOU up But if thebig men will not permitit, if they con- andmake you think. Don’t waitfor confiscation to stantly steal more and more, if dissatisfied with tens of come. millions, they demand hundreds of millions, if they con- You may not likethis gentle suggestion. YOU tinuestealing in one day what should be the gradual WOULD LIKETHE GRIM REALITY MUCH honestprofit of many yearsand centuries of honest LESS.] 521

men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; Notes on the Present Kalpa. no, nor from the law andthe constitution.They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply By J. M. Kennedy. answerable. Your representative owes you, not hisin- dustry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of XIX.-Representives (continued). serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion. My worthy colleague says,his will oughtto be sub- WE mustadmit the principle thatthere is a general servient to YOURS. If that be all, the thing is innocent. If opinion ; for if we do not we as good as say that there government. were a matter of will upon any side, yours, isno means of expressingthe views of theentity without question, ought to be superior. But government known as the nation. If it be assumed (as it is, whether and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination ; andwhat sort of reason is that, in directly or by implication,nowadays assumed) that which the determination precedes the discussion; i!n there should be “representation,”not for the nation, which one set of men deliberate and another decide; and but for classes or interests in the nation, then the poli- where those who form the conclusion areperhaps three ticalscientist is necessarily urgedto the conclusion hundredmiles distant from those who hearthe argu- that the nation has ceased to exist as a whole, or that ments ? it no longer cares whether it is “represented’’ in Par- To deliver an opinion, is the right of all men ; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which liament or not. Either conclusion is grave : in the arepresentative ought always to rejoice tohear; and first case it is clear that the “nation ” has been shat- which heought always most seriouslyto consider. But tered intofragments, more or less grouped ; in the authoritative instructions ; mandates issued, which the second case, curiosity, at least, should incite us to find member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, out, if we can, why the country that first adopted the and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest convic- modernParliamentary system as we now knowit tion of his judgmentand conscience-these arethings should be the first to turn away from it utterly unknown to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor In a previousarticle I havegiven several reasons of our constitution. lor believing that the House of Lords is, as a Parlia- Parliament is nota congress of ambassadors from mentaryChamber, more in accordance with English different and hostile interests ; which interests each must traditions than the present House of Commons. maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents When we endeavour to find out the maindifference and advocates; but Parliament is a deliberative assembly between the politicians of to-day and the politicians of of me interest, that of the whole ; where, not local pur- poses, not local prejudices,ought to guide, butthe a century or so ago, we shall, I think, see that, while general good, resulting from the general reason of the the Liberal, the Conservative, and the Labour members whole. You choose a member, indeed; but when you have are pledged to respect their Caucus, the old Whig and chosen him,he is not member of Bristol, buthe is a Torymembers of Parliamentwere simplypledged, member of Parliament. If the local constituent should openly or privately, to respect themselves. Underthe have an interest, or should form an hasty opinion, evi- presentsystem, each party assumes a differentend, dently opposite to the real good of the rest of the com- and,naturally, in consequence,different means,. For- munity the member for that place ought to be as faas anyother, from any endeavour togive it effect. I beg merly theparties had an identical end in view (“the pardon for saying so much on this subject. I have been beingand well-being” of thecountry, as Cromwell unwillingly drawn into it; but I shall ever use a respect- expressedit) and they differed only asto the means. ful frankness of communication with you. Your faithful The present Conservative Party aims at the protection friend, your devoted servant, I shall be to the end of my of large interests and of land; the Liberal Party at the life; aflatterer you do notwish for. On this point of protection of industry;the Labour Party at the pro- instructions, however, I think it. scarcely possible we ever tection of itsown particular section of thenation. can have any sort of difference. Perhaps I may give you too much, rather than too little, trouble. . . . This is the theory : it does not matter, for the moment, To be a good member of Parliament is, let me tell ybu, that each party,in spite of its theoreticalbasis, is no easy task; especially at this time, when there is so busily engaged in fleecing the worker for the benefit of strong a disposition to run into the perilous extremes of the employer.Men whoare thus engaged inclass servile compliance or wild popularity. To unitecircuxl- representation, orthe representation of interests,are spectionwith vigour, is absolutelynecessary; but it is notrepresentative men at all in the political sense; extremely difficult. We are now members for a rich com- they arejust delegates and nothing more. Burke, in mercial city; this city, however, is but a part of a rich commercial nation, theinterests of which arevarious, his own political career, typified the real representative multiform, and intricate. We are members for that great until the wirepullers of thetime became too strong nation, which, however, is itself but part of a great Em- for hix ; andhe hasthe distinction of having been pire, extendedby our virtue andour fortune tothe the first modern statesmantoexpress in precise farthest limits of the east and of the west. All these wide- words what a representative means. His utterance has spread interests must be considered ; must be compared; already been quoted, in part, in THENEW AGE; but it must be reconciled, if possible. mayeffectively be repeated atgreater length. Burke FromBurke’s opening remarks it will beseen that had just been declared elected as lone o’f the representa- even in his own day there were servile representatives. tives of Bristol, and the speech from which the follow- They had become more numerous with the passing ,of ing excerptis ‘made was delivered immediately after the Reform’ Bill in 1832 ; but eventhen therewas at the declaration oftshe poll, November 3, 1774 :- leastone man who was unwilling tocourt his con- I am sorry I cannot conclude without saying a word on stituents. This was Macaulay-not Macaulay when hc a topic touched upon by myworthy colleague. I wish had written his History, or his Lays, or even ‘many of that topic had been passed by at a time when I have so his essays, and had become famous; but when he was little leisure to discuss it. But sincehe has thought only a young man. “Thisyoung politician,” says his proper to throw it out, I owe you a clear explanation of biographer, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, with reference my poor sentiments on that subject. to Macaulay’scandidature for Leeds, “who depended He tells you that “ the topic of instructions has occa- sioned much altercation and uneasiness in this city”; and on office for his bread, and on a seat in the House of he expresseshimself, if I understandhim rightly,in Commons for office, adopted from the first an attitude favour of the coercive authority of such instructions. of highand almost peremptory independence which Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and wouldhave sat well ona Prime Minister in his grand glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the climacteric.” The following letter,written by Macau- closest correspondence, andthe most unreserved com- munication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to lay to a gentlemanat Leeds before his election,is have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; quoted by SirGeorge in proof of hisstatement. It their business, unremittedattention. It ishis duty to expresses, inmore direct if lessdignified language sacrifice his repose, his pleasures,his satisfactions, to of thehustings, what hadbeen expressed more than theirs; and above all, ever,and in allcases, to prefer half a century previously by Burke at Bristol :-- theirinterests to his own. Buthis unbiased opinion, London, August 3, 1832. hismature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he My dear Sir,-I am truly happy to find that the opinion ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of of my friends at Leeds on the subject of canvassing 522

agrees with that which I havelong entertained. The some localcontroversy, he was “approached” again practice of begging for votes is, as it seems to me, ab- andasked to stand. While Macaulay was considering surd, pernicious, and altogether at variance with the true the proposal,having previously senthis customary principles of representative government. The suffrage of virilereply, theCommittee of theScottish Reforma- an elector ought not to be asked, or to be given as a per- tion Society “wrote to enquire whether, in the event of sonal favour. It is as much for the interests of the con- stituents tochoose well, as it can be for the interest of the hisbeing returned to Parliament, he was prepared to candidate to be chosen. Torequest an honestman to voteagainst the grant toMaynooth.” His reply, vote according tohis conscience is superfluous. To re- Trevelyan tells us, was as follows :- quest him to vote against his conscience is an insult. The June 23, 1852. practice of canvassing is quite reasonable under a system Sir,-I must beg to be excused from answering the In which men are sent to Parliament to serve themselves. question which you put to me. I have great respect for It is the height of absurdity under a system under which the gentlemen in whose name you write, but I have men aresent to Parliamentto serve the public.While nothing to ask of them; I am not a candidate for Their we hadonly a mock representation, it was natural suffrages ; I have no desire to sit again inParliament, and enough that this practice should be carried to a great ex- I certainly shall never again sit there, except in the event dent. I trust it will soon perishwith the abuses from which I did not till very lately contemplate as possible, which it sprung. I trustthat the great and intelligent and which even now seems to me highly improbable. If, body of the people who have obtained the elective fran- indeed, the electors of such a city as Edinburgh should, thise will see that seats in the House of Commons ought withoutrequiring amy explanation or any guarantee, rot to be given, like rooms in an almshouse, to urgency think fit to confide their interests to my care; 1 should of solicitation; and that a man who surrenders his vote not feel myself justified in refusingto accept a public to caresses and supplications forgets his duty as much as trust offered me in amanner so honourable and so if he sold it for a bank-note. I hope to see the day when peculiar. I have not, I am sensible, the smallest right to an Englishman will think it asgreat an affront to be expect that I shall on such terms be chosen to represent courted and fawned upon in his capacity of elector as in a great constituent body; but I have a right to say that his capacity of juryman. He would be shocked atthe on noother terms can I be induced to leave that quiet thought of finding an unjust verdict because the plaintiff andhappy retirement in which I have passed the last or the defendant had been very civil and pressing ; and, if four years.-I have the honourto be, yours,etc., he would reflect, he would, I think, be equally shocked at T. B. MACAULAY. thethought of voting for acandidate for whose public Macaulaywas returned at the head of the poll. character he felt no esteem, merely because that candidate The defect of the Liberalism of 1832 may be seen in had called upon him, and begged veryhard, and had Macaulay’sfirst letter. The“great and intelligent shaken his hand very warmly. My conduct is before the electors of Leeds. My opinions shall on all occasions be body of the people” gave apoor display of its intel- stated to themwith perfect frankness. If they approve ligence ;by rejecting men like Disraeli in favour of men that conduct, if they concur in thoseopinions, they likeGladstone; by rejectingLord Randolph Churchill ought, not for my sake, but for their own, to choose me and his policy in the end ; and by allowing khe Caucus as their member. To be so chosen, I should indeed con- to establish itself firmly in the ’eighties. This“great sider as a high and enviable honour; but I should think and intelligent body,” in fact, never existed at all from it no honour to be returnedto Parliament by persons who, thinking me destitute of the requisite qualifications, 1832 onwards,and it had not often been articulate had yet been wrought upon by cajolery and importunity to previously. Blinded by the political events of the time, poll for me in despite of their better judgment. Macaulay and many other politicians failed to see that I wish to add a few words touching a question which the revolution theywere effecting was arevolution in has lately been much canvassed : I mean the question of favour of industrialism as represented in cities such as pledges. In this letter, and in every letter which I have Manchester. By thetime “the people”secured a writtento my friends at Leeds, I have plainly declared share in the government, as the term goes, the Caucus my opinions. But I think it, atthis conjuncture,my was able to manipulate them as if they had been pawns dutyto declare that I willgive nu pledges. I will not bind myself to make or to support any particular motion. on a chessboard. I will state as shortly as I can some of the reasons which Thisimportant fact is an argument both forand have induced me to form this determination. The great againstmodern Democracy. For Democracy, if the beauty of the representative system is, that it unites the wordnow has any meaning at all, means government advantages of popular control with the advantages arising from a division of labour. Justas aphysician under- of thecommunity, by consent,through chosen repre- stands medicine better than an ordinaryman, just as a sentatives entrusted with power to act in the name of shoemaker makes shoes better than an ordinary man, so the nation as a whole; and the well-being of the com- a person whose life is passed intransacting affairs of munity, as both Burke and Macaulay indicate, depends State becomes a better statesman than an ordinary man. on the skill with which such representatives are chosen In politics, as well as every other department of life, the by the people. But if the people are SO foolish, public ought to have the means of checkingthose who apathetic, cor muddle-headed as tso allow the choice of serve it. If a man finds that he derives no benefit from representativesto be taken from them apolitical the prescription of his physician, he calls in another. If by his shoes do not fit him he changes his shoemaker. But caucus,then theyclearly show themselves to be un- when he has called in aphysician of whom hehears a worthy, inevery way, of Democracy. Onthe other good report, and whose general practice he believes to be hand, their inability to choose for themselves properly judicious, it mouldbe absurdin him to tie down that makes itmore necessary than ever t’hat theyshall be physician to order particular pills or particular draughts. represented and guided by the best men among them ; While he continues to be the customer of a shoemaker, it or rather by the best men who have, spiritually speak- woldd be absurd in him to sit by and mete every motion ing, risen above their level and who are capable in- of that shoemaker’s hand. And inthe same manner, it of would, I think, be absurd in him to requirepositive terpretingtheir soundest instincts. For sound national pledges, and to exactdaily and hourly obedience, frorn instincts are still latent in the people, even though their hisrepresentative. My opinion,then, is that electors heads may be turned at general elections by the cajolery ought at firstto choose cautiously;then to confide of candidatesand their agents. liberally;and, when theterm for which they have The “abuses” referred to inMacaulay’s letter were selected their member has expired, to review his conduct equitably, and to pronounce on the whole taken together. thepocket-boroughs, which returned“mock represen- If the people of Leeds think proper to repose in me that tatives.”Yet these representatives, bad though they confidence which is necessary to the proper discharge of occasionallywere, were atleast representative, which theduties of arepresentative, I hope that I shall not is more thancan be said of thepuppets who are re- abuse it. If it be their pleasure to fetter their members turnedto Parliament, not by theelectors, but by the by positive promises, it is in their power to do so. I can caucus, and who walk through the particular lobby to only say that on suchterms I cannot conscientiously whiclh the Parliamentary finger of thecaucus beckons serve them. . . . Believe me, etc.,T. B. MACAULAY them.Humorously enough, Macaulay himself first Macaulay wasreturned, Burkeas had been. entered the House of Commons via a pocket-borough Twenty years later, after he had sat for Edinburgh, and Calne-through the kindness of the Lord Lansdowne had subsequently been rejectedpurely as the result of of the time. 523

it that, from the date of their possession of it, the plan Architecture at Delhi. and design of their mosques was Inore or less influenced By Robert Williams, F.R.I.B.A. by the attempt to repeat or rival Hagia Sophia.” Thus, Mr. Statham inhis new book andin his in- IN his interesting article in the “ Fortnightly Review ” terestingway, refutes his own statementvery com- forFebruary last, Mr. H. H. Stathampleads pleteiy. Mr. Stathamalso forgets that inAncient for the adoption of the “ Italian Renaissance ” as the Egypt its latei- conquerors adopted the Egyptian style. style of architecture forthe proposed buildings in Hethus provesconclusively thatthe “ conquering Delhi. race ” did at times “ adopt or adapt the architectural style ” of the conquered. Mr. Statham’sarguments are curious. He ’begins Thereis a melancholy reflection in Mr. Statham’s with aquotation from Browning’s tragedy of Luria, conquering idea. It is sadto think that every Indian and few know whatthe poets said aboutarchitecture of culture, and there are not afew, besides the hundreds betterthan Mr. Statham, for has he not given us a of millions of natives, areto look atthe new Delhi charming little volume on the subject? buildings as a signthat they, the Indians, are a con- The reference is to the Moorish general of the Floren- quered race. The buildings are to be an emblem of the L‘ conqueringrace.” Isit not time that thesesavage tineforces arrayed against the Pisans. Luria, beside ideas were laid aside? Of all reasons for adopting the being an ablesoldier, is also anartist, and ina luil, ItalianRenaissance as thearchitecture for the new whilewaiting the trump of battle,he sketches on the Delhi, that of its being the architecture of the “ con- wall a facade for the unfinished Duomo of Florence in queringrace ’’ is themost impolitic. Itis not an the Moorishstyle. This,after some consideration, the architectural reason at all ; it is a utilisation of an archi- Commissary, jealous of Luria, orders to be blotted out, tecturalopportunity to emphasise conquest. If India having given as a reason that a “Moorish front ill suits has been conquered for its good, surely it is not neces- our Duomo’s body.” sary to be forever reminding the Indians of their subjec- tion. Theremust be a better way-the way of con- Thisaction of Braccio, theCommissary, says our sulting the artistic heart of the people of India is surely author, is due to his recognition of a “ certain analogy better. between architecturaland racial distinctions. ” And Butfurther, Mr. Stathamacknowledges that our thishe, Mr. Statham, calls an allegory. Let us look system of teachingArt to men whose ancestors were at it. Luriais an alien in Florence,his architecture is artistsfrom ancient times, “to some extent,has had an alien product, it is notindigenous of the soil. It is theresult ofkilling native art.”He alsospeaks of notFlorentine. It is an anomalyfor anartist of an the “ splendid tradition in decorative art )’of India, y.et hedeprecates the use of Indianart and runs atllt alien race to front the cathedral in a style brought from against Gothic. And here we cannot help saying : ‘ 0 otherlands ; no, says Braccio,in effect, ourDuomo perverseman, had you lived in thethirteenth century must be fronted in the best native style. and then had conquered India, your architecture as the Readers who turn to their Browning will see the mis- “ conquering race ” would have been English Gothic. ’ take macle by Mr. Stathamwho pleads for an alien Mr.Statham likens us tothe “ Romans in the style in India, while his model,Braccio, wasfor the countries whichthey conquered andannexed.” They native style and none other ; but read his conclusion of always built “ columnar temples,” whereby he betrays his allegory :- his beliefin thecolumn fetish. He mentionsBaalbec And some of those who do not perceive as Braccio did, as one of the places where the Romans built in the style that racial and architecturalinstinct go together,are of the “ conqueringrace.’’ Visiting Baalbec a few raising a cry for a Moorish front to our Duomo; in other months ago, I saw nothing to prove that the spot after- words, that we should do what no other conquering race wards called Baalbec wasother than a Syriandesert ever did, x-iz., adopt or adaptthe architectural style of uninhabited,save by a fewBedouins, with a little our Indian subjects, or one section of them. stream running through it, and which, most likely, was The conclusion which Mr. Stathamdraws from his theattraction to the Roman builders and settlers. so quotation is to anyfair mind unwarrantable. He here there was no art to be adopted or adapted by the would have us believe that Braccio was the representa- conquerors. tive of someforeign conquering race, and therefore Butthe style, after all, which Mr. Statham would would have none but the architecture of the conqueror, adopt is not the style of the conquerors, it is the style while really Braccio was on his native heath and not a of theItalians, and by way of certificate,he quotes conqueror at all. Luriawas the man deputed to do FergUSSO’S sayingthat this is “the architecture of theconquering, and beinga foreigner, he made his common sense.” Sou remember how a certain person- casualsketch in hisforeign style. Thequotation from age quoted scripture and was answered to his discom- Browningmeans, if it means anything, a pleafor the fiture flrom the same scripture? Well, here is a quota- adoption of a native style in India. ti’on from Fergusson on Indian architecture : “It will ButMr. Statham’s reference to ourselves as the undoubtedlybe considered by those who are familiar 66 conqueringrace ” is mischievous,inasmuch as itis with the subject, that, for ,certain qualities, the Indian a flaunting of our superiority in the face of some three buildingsare unrivalled. They display anexurberance hundred millions of people (~oo,ooo,ooo)whom heis of fancy, a lavishness of labour and an elaboration of pleased to style “ our Indiansubjects.” The refe- detail tobe found nowhere else.” Fromthis, surely renceis misleading with regard to the statement that ourEnglish architects, assisted by nativearchitects 66 no other conquering race ” ever adopted the style of and such men as Mr. E. B. Havell,author of “ The theconquered, for so anyonemust understand him to Ideals of IndianArt,” and other works on Indian sap. Now there is an excellent little book just published sculpture, couldproduce designs having the true feel- under thetitle, “ AShort Critical History of Archi- ing of Indian art. tecture,” by H. Heathcote Statham, our present author. I feelcertain from conversation with anIndian and In it he writes (of a once great conquering race, thus : fromknowledge of Easterncharacteristics in matters “ But a change came over the Turkish ideal of Mosque of art, that to work in a native style would produce a architectureafter their taking of Constantinople in fine feeling of kinshipand camaraderie hetnwn En,?-- 1453, and the adaptation of the great Church of Hagia lish and Indian artists; and m’ore, native culture would Sophia as a Mosque. It seemsstrange that whileno be furthered and honoured, and there would be a har- Christian Church-builders made any attempt to imitate harmony and congruity by the adoption of a native archi- or emulate that great building, or adopt it as a model, tecture which no “columnar” style, however true thc Turks appear to have been so much impressed by academically, could produce. 524

" Peril declares us kin, The Cat and the Mouse. Welfare enjoinsa pact. (FROM THE MAHABHARATA.) 0 puissant one, begin; And tell me how to act. By Beatrice Hastings. '' Counsel me, high-souled Mouse! THEREwas a banian tree within a wood, Our liberation won- Which cast delightful shade o'er many a rood; Thou shalt control my house. And 'round its trunk and on its branches wide, I shall become thy son ! " Eloquent birds and animals did reside. Here dwelled a Mouse, most learned of his race- " Magnanimous Cat! I hear- Acquainted with the Rules of Time and Plate : His hole was planned with hundred outlets free, Wit dwells with one like thee !- For a'n accomplished Cat lodged on that tree. But while I quake in fear, Hither, some time, a fierce Chandala came, My energy is not free. Each sundown spreading leathern nets for game ; And numerous victims fast those thongs did keep, " Lest these, by claws and teeth, While lumpish Parigha lay in dreamless sleep. Seize me without demur- Suppose I crouched beneath Thy amiable fur? Whom Fate hath marked 'tis vain to bid " Beware ! " That Cat of Instinct fell into the snare. His foe entrapped, the Mouse was free to rove, " Be good, and kill me not. Pick or reject the dainties of the grove- Remember-we are friends ! Yea! when he smelled the wily hunter's fat, Fast-bound upon this spot, With mental mirth he climbed upon the Cat. Thy life on me depends ! " On feeding all intent, too late he spied Close by a restless Mongoose, coppery-eyed, " Come, Mouse, of mercy sweet ! With body dark like autumn water-reed, Crawl 'tween my honoured feet. Who, led by scent, came there at hanger-speed, Thy kindness makes me burn And on his haunches stood and licked his mouth : To proffer due return. Poor Palita was loath to quench that drouth ! All Cats shall meek adore With eyes like points he stared for hope-to see All Mice for ever more ! Another foe, an Owl upon the tree ! No gift can ever exceed His gift who gives at need ! " That Mouse of Judgment 'gan to meditate Which way to act with caution adequate. Down lay the Mouse as in his mother's lap : And seeing those foes thus friendly in the trap, " 'Twere most improper now to lose my wits When trebled need to use them round me sits. The Owl and Mongoose shuddered with alarm, There is the Owl and there the Mongoose fat- And fled like persons hunted by a charm. In truth I see no refuge save the Cat ! How may I lead this dolt to comprehend The Mouse, who knew therules of timeand place, That even foes each other aid may lend ? Began to cut the net at leisured pace, 'Tis said by them that Policy profess : Till witless Lomaca, frantic grown with fear, Prefer wise foes to friendly fools in stress. Cried oft and wild, " The hunter draweth near! " Let me address the Cat with discourse kind, And trust that danger hath improved his mind. '(Wait thou in silence, friend- No need for foolish haste! ' Too late--too soon offend " I address thee in friendship, 0 Cat ! ' Hear me in friendly wise. The laws of sense and taste. To regain thee thy habitat, Expedients I devise. " Drive all thy fears away ! I know the needs of time. " Let war between us cease- When Profit bidsdelay, Reason enjoins our troth ': Then haste were worse than crime. Thus each shall find release ! I intend the good of us both. '' Thou, over-soon set free, Mightst envy my poor life- " This Mongoose and that Owl Thyself wilt seek the tree Meanly desiremy life : When gleams the whetted knife. Thee, too, death threatens foul, Beneath the hunter's knife. ('0 Lomaca, when thou Wilt fly awayin fear, ('Occasion tests the wise : I having kept my vow, Wisdom is opportune : Safely will disappear." Wits with the season rise : May thine and mine commune ! " 0 Mouse, with expedition I rescued thee from death. " He in whom none puts trust, A person of condition He that dependence shuns, Should use no lying breath ! Are chid-since hatred's lust The Sense of Profit stuns. " Do not, for former wrongs, Widow my faultless wife. " My best friend, as thou art- Remember-truth prolongs, If I should cut this net, But falsehood shortens, life ! Wouldst thou, with equal heart,

Tolerance of me beget? " If ever my witless race Worked thine unconscious ill, " Seven paces of a walk Thou, lord of every grace. Makes friends of honest men- Should he superior still ! Methinksour matchless talk Should count as paces ten ! " " Be led by this reflection- Wisdom applauds the mild ! Hearing well-chosen words with grace endued, In seeking thy protection, The Cat all hate of Palita subdued. I have become thy child." Each whilom foe the other gently eyed- And thus the Cat spake ; thus the Mouse replied : " I hear with mind restrained This that thou sayst to further dear desire. " 0 Mouse, blessed be thou Yet am I unconstrained : That wishest me to live ! Friendship with fear myself will not acquire, Disciple-like I bow. For such must be maintained My former lusts--forgive ! Like charmed snake with fangs of venomed fire. 525

'' NO one is foe or friend, " Fr'iend, it ill behoves thee But friendships rise where interest waxeth hot; Sacred vows to scorn, Thus wild-born elephants went He who now reproves thee Toward tame decoys across thepitted plot. - Was also nobly born. Again,when favours end, The pleasure past, the doer is forgot. " With duty well acquainted Of pious habitude- I never was attainted 'I ,431 acts should so be done That something useful yet remains to do. With foul ingratitude. I've cut all strings but one- " 0 thou, the Scriptures ranging, When Parigha comes, 0 Cat, I'll cut this too ! " Forsake this enmity, And let us dwell exchanging So wore the night away, and dawn appealed, Truths of morality. " Azd with it that Chandala gross and bleared : His h3ir was black, his hips were large and vile, " 0 learned, eloquent Cat ! Hi, monstrous mouth did all the air defile ; Neither eulogiums nor gifts endure. With dogs and weapons came this grisly man, The friendship fear begat Ruthless and swift as one of Yama’s clan By reason of the fear was never pure. But Palita, swifter still, released the Cat, In fear, not love, I sat- Who climbed the banian tree and shivering Sat : And but for Truth had left thee bound secure ! While toward its snug and many-mansioned hole, The Mouse, endued wlth wisdom, gently stole. " In brief, I do desire The hunter, gathering up each severed knot, What in all works on Profit may be read : With hopes frustrated, quickly left the spot. The cat, then breathing light, addressed the Mouse, Faith boundless to inspire- Myself none quite to trust. Who thus doth tread, And begged him quit the shelter of his house : Shall length of life acquire. Wealth, wife, and child please not when one is dead. '' Without a word thou fliest, And, Cat ! trust not thy head, Though friendly speech is due. Near that Chandala who will never tire ! “ I trust thou still reliest Upon our covenant true. This fearsome mention set the Cat afraid- He fled away : the Mouse, who thus displayed ii ' He who with friend doth trifle His powers of skill, intelligence, and ruth, Meritethsore reproach, Conversant with the Scriptures, wed to truth, And thieves his house shall rifle- Aware that only self may self console, Wherefore, friend Mouse, approach ! With wakeful wits entered another hole. ' ' Like Ucanas divine Art thou intelligent ! All that is mine be thine, An Echo from Hades. 0 Palita eloquent ! Time : February, 1913. SOCRATES,GLAUCON. '' Do thou dispose my life, Be thou my body's lord, GLAUCON: Thanks to the kindly attentions of Charon, My father, mother, wife : 0 Socrates, I receive my weekly copy of THENEW A11 worship I accord ! " AGE fromthe upper world, and have been much puzzled of latewith the correspondence therein.

“ This friendship thou dost ask, For there are some who affirm that the actor is a 0 Lomaca, might end for me in woes. creative artist, and others who consider him merely 'Tis said to be a task thetrained mouthpiece of thedramatist. Which For sages to distinguish friends from foes, of these theories are we to believe, 0 Socrates? Since circumstance may mask All qualities as interest comes and goes ! SOCRATES: Let us examinethis questionaccording to ourusual method. A creativeartist must be '' 0 Cat, ol instinct pure, creative of something, must he nct ? Yet knewst thou not of nets beneath this tree, GLAUCON : It would appear so. But caught in fleshly lure, SOCRATES: Thus a poet is creative of a poem, a play- Hadst need of skill and truth to set thee free. wright of a play, a sculptor of a statue, a painter Thyself, so insecure, Canst only serve for warning one like me. of a painting, a musician of a song-is it not so? GLAUCON: Clearly.

E ' 0 Cat, thou dost address SOCRATES: But of what is an actor creative? One versed in all that Policy may teach. GLAUCON: That is not easy to perceive, 0 Socrates. Yet Though enemies in distress some say that he is the creator of a part. Should put on friendly guise : relieved, then each Should don his proper dress, SOCRATES: They mean, I suppose,that the dramatist And place himself beyond the other's reach. hasinvented the words and thesituation, but leavesto the actor the task of emotionalespres- si0 n ? " This day thou \vert 111sfriend, This day, in truth, again my foe thou art. GLAUCON: Presumably. Our compact at an end, SocRA-rEs: But even then, what has the actor created? Let each of us in honesty depart. GLAUCON: I cannot clearly see. My reason cannot bend SOCRATES: We should not say of a particular poem that To serve thy whims which forth of folly start, any great poet could have written it, should we? GLAUCON: No. " Listen ! For sake of food Thou layst entangled in the hunter's net- SOCRATES: And does not the same truth apply to paint- And art thou grown so good ings, sculptures, songs ? That scent of me would fail thy fangs to fret? GLAUCON: It does. Nay ! when I rove the wood, SOCRATES: We must, in fact, admit that this particular 'Twere much if thou my deed shouldst not forget. poem,painting or song cannever be created again ? '' My kingdom, gems, and wealth, GLAUCON: We must. My wife and child I cheerfully would give SOCRATES: Yet surely the part invented by one drama- To keep my life in health, tist can be adequately represented in every genera- Since none can save his soul unless he live. If these thou tak'st by stealth- tion by a large number of good actors? Take them, 0 Cat, and all my words forgive! ') GLAUCON: That is so. 526

SOCRATES : Can we then say that an actor has created trheir spheres are entirely distinct. On the one side a part,seeing that the same partcan be played we have a company of skilful professionals, on the again and again? other a bungling artist. Moreover, it is only true to a certain extent that fine playing can save a poor GLAUCON: We cannot. play. If theactor were an independent creator, SOCRATES: Again,what are commonly called the crea- could he not make even a crude melodrama or silly tive arts are all attended by bodies of critics. knockabout farce tolerable to the intelligent specta- GLALJCOX: They are. tor? You knowperfectly well thathe cannot do SOCRATES: There are dramatic critics,literary critics, this.-A more potent reason, however, is the ridicu- musical critics, and so forth, are there not? lous incense-burning to actorsindulged in by a large GLAUCON: Ay, Socrates, and too many. section of the living public. This is, of course, en- SOCRATES: Rut in all theliterature supplied to us by tirely a modernsymptom. These actors, who are Charon’s Book Agency, did you ever see a work on now knightedand received at Court,were once the stage filled with anything but the most trivialof rogues and vagabonds. The greatest poet of those green-room gossip ? northernislanders (himself anactor, you remem- ber), speaks of “ a poor player, that struts and frets GLAUCON: No, I did not. his hour upon the stage,” and relied on these high SOCRATES: Clearly, then, no man of critical ability, save and mighty “artists” for much of the low comedy here and there in a fugitive essay or the like, has of his “ Hamlet ’’ and “ Midsummer Night’s ever thought the actor worthy of his attention? Dream.” Possibly the profession was rated too low GLAUCON: It would appear so. in his day, and suffered accordingly in the ability of SOCRATES: Do we need any further proof that the actor its members. But now the wind has veered too far is not a creative artist? in the other direction. No flattery is too fulsome for GLAUCON: There is one point that I do not yet clearly themodern actor. The cheap Press is full of the understand, 0 Socrates. You said that the part in- doings of thesepopular idols, andthe health of vented by one dramatist can be adequatelyrepre- MissGertie Greenholme’s dogis more important sentedin every generation by alarge number of than the fate of an empire. Such mummer-worship goodactors. Yet surely each will representit in is a commonphenomenon in decadent societies- a different way, and some better than others. And youshould askCharon for those entertaining perhaps this individual quality in the actor enables Satires of Juvenal, if you have not read them yet. us to call him a creative artist. It’s all inJuvenal. What is the inevitableresult? SOCRATES: That objection can easily be resolved. Does The veryexigencies of anactor’s profession, the notevery profession require both natural aptitude fierce limelight that beats upon his throne, already and training? makes himnaturally prone to conceit. He would GLAUCON: Of course. bemore than human if hishead were not com- SOCRATES : Thus a lawyer requires certain special quali- pletely turned byall thisfulsome adulation. So tiesand considerable practice in order to become in the end he comes to regard himself as the central a good lawyer? figure of the drama, and the author isa mere acces- GLAUCON: That is so. sory who happened to write the words and invent SOCRATES: And in view of these differences in abilities thecharacters, plot and situation. He flaunts and training, every lawyer wfil handle a case in a himself proudly as a “creative artist. ” Fortunately somewhat different way? * for him,his earsare deaf tothe laughter of the GLAUCON : Certainly. Olympians. SOCRATES: And do not these differences in natural apti- PAUL v. COHN. tude and training similarly apply to the actor? GLAUCON : It seems so. SOCRATES: Nay, if by creator we merely meant one who from his own mental or physical powers refashions Ash Wednesday. or adds to the material worked upon-even if so, “ Thesunset faded . . . the Cross remained . . . a would not the lawyer be far more creative than the symbol of Eternal Hope.” actor? For does not the lawyer by his legal know- ledge,forensic ability, skill in cross-examination, WITHpint-pot in one hand, and pipe in theother, let and so forth,add more to the data supplied him, us begin.The atmosphere of the“Owl” is a good t,han an actor adds to a play, since the latter merely atmosphere, and the “Owl” has a low panelledroom, has to provide the elocution and gestures necessary with oakrafters, latticed windows, an old-fashioned to interpret the words, plot and situations furnished fireplace-and Ispecialise in fireplaces. How we got by the dramatist? here? Well, that’s .a long story; but, quite briefly, we GLAUCON: To be sure, he does. walked. Now, though the sun be sinking and the gloom SOCRATES: Yet does the layer style himself a creative gathering,though it be a far cry home, yettake up artist ? your pint-pots, fill your pipes, and draw your chairs up GLAUCON: He would be laughed at if he did. tso th,e fire. We have tramped far enough for one day, SOCRATES: If the law, then, is not a creative art, what talkedlong enough. The fire flickered very thought- are we to call it 3 fully, andthe gloom crept in throughthe walls. We GLAUCON: A profession. began,and were straightway silent. SOCRATES : Shall we not then call acting a profession? We leftthe “Owl” just at nightfall. The “Owl” An arduous profession-a profession requiring stands at the top off a hill, and as we reached the bot- much training and ability and right temperament- tom of that hill, simultaneouslywe turned, alll four of a profession to whi’ch all spectatorsare grateful, us. There \bas a faint flush still, in the west-straight since it provides them with mu’ch pleasure and in- behind the “Owl.” Blackand clear againstthe sky struction-but still a profession? )the I~owbuilding stood out lonely, yet cheerful, and the GLAUCON : It is, indeed, a profession and nothing more. bright light in thelittle windowshone down the hill SOCRATES: Why, then, does the modern actor in the towards us,, as itwere a symbol of eternal welcome, upperworld claim to be rankedwith the poet, strongas life itself. Thesunset faded, the “Owl” painter, and musician ? remained. Behind us laythe leagues of whiteroad; GLAUCON: I cannot tell. before us, all we had left behind. Suddenly we started SOCRATES : Rut 1 can, Glaucon, and will, although I may at a sudden noise by the roadside. A lamepartridge shock Plato by a departure from my usual method began to crawl slowly across the road. We flung our- of asking questions for others to answer.-A minor selves upon itand kickedit todeath. Then we stood cause is the purely accidental fact that a bad play bareheaded,musing . . . theuncertainties of life, sometimessucceeds through good acting.This is . . . At last we turnedand faced the blackness. no reason for ranking the actor above the author; OSLAFH. HARTLAND. 527

style is patchy, and lets something be seen which it is Literary Notes. desired to hide. “Antisthenes,”said Socrates tothe DULLNESSprevails inpublishing circles during the ragged Cynic who affected to be poor, “I can see your Easter holidays. True,lovers of literature do not mix vanitypeeping through the holes inyour coat.” Mr. with thecrowds: for at suchtimes humanity is not Mooreis disguised. , “I likenot when a ’oman has ,a seen atits best, or even atits average.T.he atmo- great peard ; 1 spy a great peard under her muffler ! ” sphere which bank holiday makersbring with them, Littlebits of slovenly writing exposelittle bits of spiritual and physical, is nlot pleasing. But the crowds slovenly thinking and slovenly taste. take the greatest prominence; they absorb the attention Polissez-le sans cesse, et le repolissez, of such public as is not included in them; t’hey invade Ajoutez quelques fois, et souvent effacez. thenewspapers, and they stop business. Advertisers, Horacethrough the mouth of theFrench classical again, suspend advertising for a few days, so that the satirist is ever a good guide ; nor was Boileau one to fail papers, by way o’f diversion,make frantic efforts tio to practisewhat he preached. provide theimr readers withsome pseudo-intellectual *** topic to discussover the breakfast table and in the Well, we turned to Mr. Moore’s tittle-tattle. He was train on th,eway to Margate. “ Is London Pagan?” going through Ebury Street at four o’clock on a recent asks one of the largest circulations ; and when we have afternoon to buy a coat; and the noise, particularly the read the“views” #of theReverend Mr. Thisand Dr. whistling for taxi-cabs, did not please hlm. It pleases Tlhatwe thinkwe have done our duty and need not none of us. Londondeserves to die of it.But we takemore than a passing interest in the“six times shouldeither writeabout it to better effect than Mr. larger” circulation’s references to tender ladies who fall Moore or keep altogether silent. in love and cut their throats. Three whistles were going at the same time, and before y.. the,end of thestreet was reached anotherwhistle ap- Zounds, we thought, ’tis a dull season, this;and it peared. . The noise increased as I approached Park Lane,and reached its height about thelate Mr.Beit’s very nearlygladdened us to seethe name of even house. . . asked if double windows had been putinto George Moore at the head of a column in the “Evening I the nursing-home, and my informant said : “ But one of News” of March 18. GeorgeMoore ! At onetime the first conditions of healthis fresh air,” and I an- that would havemeant something. But Evelyn Innes swered : “ We are enjoined that if we are to escape con- and Sister Teresa and Esther Waters have shown them- sumption we must sleep with our windows open, and selves to resemble poor photographs.When they keep them open for two hours every day; but if we were werenew they conveyed some impression of individu- to do that we should never close our eyes nor attend to our avocations.” . . “ The piercing power of the cab ality ; one could discern lineaments and features ; albeit whistle is extraordinary,” I saidto myself. ‘‘ What a notvery striking.But theyhave faded month by strange conception of existence this is. In no other month,year by year.They no longer amuse; they capital in Europe is this noise allowed. We pay rates and have become dull. When spring-cleaning is being done taxes, and our houses are useless to us.” “the master” sternly orders the rubbish to be thrown *** away,and thrown away it is. Still,“Modern Paint- And in this way we ramble on. We could go on inde- ing” was not at all bad-we wish we could infuse more finitely -in the same strain, and so could Mr. Moore. It heartinessinto the comment, but we cannot. The is notthe firsttime for Mr. Moore to appear in the essayon “Royalty in Art” was fieryenough. But the “EveningNews.” He had written a previous article, “Bending of the Bough”-who could haverecovered and the paper interviewed him about it on February 18, after that? Not the “Hail andFarewell” series could as we may see from the issue of that date. efface it.After all, what are “Ave” and other “ana” An organ,two wrestlers, and a lady in tights gave a but a number of anecdotes and recollections-in short, performance inthe street.Really, you know ; when it tabletalk. Itmight have been done better.Such comes to zr lady in tights ! And the man with the organ hada whistle. . . But you know this whistling must things have their place in literature ; but only when they be put a stop to. If it were allowed to continue, in ten aredone well. Boswell himself wasagentleman ; years’ time people will be driven into lunatic asylums in could tap hissnuff-box in theorthodox way ; andhe large numbers. wore a sword. *** *** No sequenceof tense there ! And “never” followed -4nd they are dead, all these flutterings of the ’nine- by “nor,’7and the misapplied “avocations” ! 0 ye ties ! They seem t.0 us further removed fromthe holy shades of Trinity College ! The vulgarity of it all ! presentgeneration than Sir Epicure Mammonand Who cannot but prefer other kinds of table-talk to this? swaggeringPistol. If itappears to us that a dim- We wouldnot preserve forposterity a single line of ness ‘has come over the works.of the Dowsons and Har- Mr. Moore’s articles-articles, we must presume, which lands and George Moores, the fault, we vow, is not in were carefully written down and deliberately sent to the us. For if we havealmost forgotten Mother Philippa, printer.Rut compare the incidental remarks of men andthe Signorino whom old Mariettaasked to take likeJohn Selden, Coleridge, Johnson, SidneySmith, coffee, and Anthony Garstin and his precious courtship, Macaulay,and innumerable others--remarks that we and Wilde’s nenuphars and other josses, we remember should not care to lose, but which have been preserved as clearly, as if we had met them only yesterday, such for us purely because of a lucky accident ; because some creations asHarry Lorrequer, Evelina, Tom Jones, listener happened to be impressed and to have a memory. D’Artegnan, Sam Weller, and score on score of others. “I have known strong minds, with imposing, undoubt- The reason ? ing, Cobbett-like manners ; but I have never met a great *** mind of that sort. And of the former, they are at least as oftenwrong as right. The truth is, a great mind There is a whole polar system of difference between mustbe androgynous. Great minds-Swedenborg’s, theactual sincerity that results in thecreation of a for instance-are never wrong,but in consequence of character,and the fanciedor simulated sincerity that being in theright, but imperfectly.’’ Coleridgesaid results in thecreation of a puppet. Behind all Mr. that at table. “Cobbett-like manners,” a happy phrase. George Moore’s garrulity of style, let us confess, there “The piercing power of the cab whistle is extraordin- seem to US to lurk much dull pretentiousness mingled ary, ” I said to myself. . . . withthe learningand the Celticfancy and the well- *** remembered tittle-tattle. The weakness and romanticism of the’nineties, thedesire to create and the grinning “We singleout particulars and applyGod’s provi- devils that check theprocess just as itseems nearly dence to them. Thus whentwo are marriedand have achieved ; all t,hisseems tlo be interfering lvith >fr. undone one another, theycry it was God’s providence MOORE’S flrow of language-we had almost written flow we should come together, when God’s providence doth of soul; butthere was nosoul in the ’nineties. The equally concur to every thing,” said Selden to a pious person. (‘‘Really, VOU know ; when it comesto a lady 528

in tights !”) “Everysubject,” observed Macaulay, Marinetti’s novels, as novels, are too ‘contemptible to “has a strikingand interesting side to it, if people be considered seriously; but as an index to a decadant could find it out.” Johnson, we fancy, could have found movementthey .are of great value. Theyserve, in outthe striking and interesting side of whistling for Italyand France, the purpose feeblyserved here by cabs. Was heever at a loss, no matterwhat the “ Rhythm.” By theirpictures and writings. ye shall knowthem. subject ? *** Onecannot but deprecate Mr. Moore’s remarks, The Chronicles of Palmerstown. and thefact that he gave utterance t’othem. They v. werenot worthsaying; but that is notaltogether the point. Why should GeorgeMoore have been inter- By Peter Fanning. viewed by some reporter on th’e subject of cab whistles? FROMseveral letters which appeared in our local Press Heought to know very well that when silly-season it became evident that the gang who had run the Board topicscome up fordiscussion editors send roundre- of Guardians so longhad fallen out at last. Whether portersand circular lettersto all sorts of people this arose over the division of plunder the public were actors, actresses, politicians, noblemen, barristers even, not allowed to learn. No definite charges were made; authors, music-hall stars-anyone who is likely to pro- but hints, innuendoes, inferences and suggestions were vide “ copy,’.’ sometimes gratis, occasionallypaid for. plentiful. Inconversation, however, the controver-. It is undignified f’or anauthor of anystanding-and sialists were not so reticent. To an inquirer who would Mr. Moore had somelittle status, if notmuch, in his askwhat the racket was all aboutthey would reply time-tu become mixed upwith the ruck. Apart from somewhat as follows :- his mere chatter, the very fact of his chattering at all “ Oh,Harton Workhouse isonly rendezvousa degradeshis profession. Does whistlingannoy you? where outsiders are put up and entertained from Satur- Are we too old at forty? Do men preferdark women day to Monday.” ,to fairwomen? What do you think of hobble skirts? Or “Certain guardians practically live in the Home. We can conceive the wits of the last two or three c,en- They go in at allhours of theday and leave at all turies shrugging their shoulders and raising their eye- hours of thenight. Some of them are often driven to brow-s at questions like these, if we can dimly suppose their homes, in theWorkhouse conveyance.” themost brainless member of the companypropound- ing such a catechism at breakfast. Still,they would Or, again, “ Certainmembers of theBoard are ac- havegiven witty replies, at .any rate.But onlya customed to sendtheir children into the House to brainlessand vulgar age such as this could tolerate spend their school holidays’.” reporters being sent to practical Englishmen with such Suchstories asthe above whetted my natural fudge seriously written down in their notebooks before- curiosity to such an extent that I determined to enter hand; and only people willing to encourage the age in the House and see if I could learn at first hand what itsmadness could venture onsuch flummery in reply was the actual conditions. of affairs. as we havequoted from Mr. Moore. Authors,taking ‘So one Saturday afternoon, an acquaintance of mine them as a body, have a hard enough task at present to having to go to the Workhouse to visit a relative who secure a hearing at all. But the best among them will had been taken to the imbecile ward,I accompanied find theirway absolutely blocked if theworst among him. them are permitted to rant in this fashion in .an evening Arrived at Harton, we were shown into the imbecile paper without some protest. department,and whilst my friendwas engaged with +** his relative I took stock of the patients. One of thesecame forward, and addressing me by Thereis, unfortunately, a sadder event to chronicle. name,inquired how I was doing. Seeing that he was The name of Giovanni Papini will be familiar to several quite rational, I asked him to relate his experiences in readers of THENEW AGE, notmerely from a letter of the House, which he did as follows :- which he was the joint writer in the issue of Feb. 9,1911, “ I got a severe attack of influenza on the chest and butfrom his critical works. After Wagnerhad given thenit went to my head andI began to rave. So the us the“Twilight of theGods,” and Nietzsche the neighbours advised the wife to send me to the Work- “Twilight of theIdols,” Papini completed thetrilogy househospital. I was in theinfirmary for a timeand about 1904 when hepublished his “Il Crepuscolodei then they transferred me to here. I’m all right now as Filosofi,”the twilight of thephilosophers. Inthis volume such men as Comte, Kant, Nietzsche, Schopen- far as the influenza is concerned ; but I’m going out next hauer, and Spencer were treated with extraordinary in- Thursday ruined for life with rheumatism. Before I came sight, originality of outlook,and wit. Papini lived for in here I’d been used to wearing woollen linings, but all years-we think, it is no secret among his friends-on I’ve got here is these old rags, as thin as tissue-paper. some trifle like the Italian equivalent of a pound or so Theymake us, standout in theverandah during the a week,though latterly his pupils may have supple- day-timein the cold, and I can hardly walk for pains mentedhis income alittle. Hewas an independent inthe knees.” Such was his story. Whilst he had writerand refused to sellhis soul. His friendshoped been relating it I had been ,observing an old man whose that, after his leanings towards Pragmatism had taken shirtwas unbuttoned displaying his bare chest. I also a more traditional turn, he would show himself to be a thought hiseyes looked discoloured, so inquired.I critic worthy of the first-class groups of humanists which “ Has that old man got no undershirt?” have collected here and there in the Italy of to-day. “ Oh, ye? ; we havetwo, one in wearand one at *** wash; but the old manwas very ill lastMonday and dirtiedhis, so he’s had to go the weekwithout any.” These hopes are notnow likely tobe realised. This in mid-winter,mark you. Papini’s last volume, “ Sono un genio o un’ imbecille ?” “ His eyeslook discoloured. Hashe hadblack (am I a genius or a fool?) was an extreme disappoint- ment;and now that he has joined the Futurist move- eyes?”asked.I ment we must regard him as lost. Two or three weeks “ Yes,,” replied my patient.“The night warder re- ago,at ameeting held in the CostanziTheatre at turned drunk one night, and because the old fellow was Rome,he delivered a silly lecture. He was listened to noisyhe hammered him.” impatientlyuntil he proceeded to, makea vicious and Fromthe old man my attentionwas drawn to a quiteunjustifiable attack onCroce, when the audience powerful young fellow about thirty. He sat on a form, “demonstrated”and he was howled down-but not, leaning forward with painful expectation, his eyes blaz- we fear, beforehe deserved it. TheFuturist move- ing withlonging. Suddenly hebounded forward with ment, although anartistic canker, hasat least this a wild yell and faced a woman who had just entered the advantage,that it definitelycollects its affinities,and room. Stoopingdown, he drew up the leg of his sooner or later, we presume,drives them mad. trousersand exclaimed, “ Look, Maggie, hekicked 529

me.” And then I saw a frightful wound alonghis me that I shouldlike to see the ladies and gentlemen shin-bone. (save the mark) who were responsible to the public for “ Who kicked him?” I inquired of my patient. the conduct of this institution. So Qnthe following “ Thenight warder,” he replied. Thursday, which was the monthlymeeting day of the ‘‘ Is the fellow still here? ” Board, I walked into the Board-room. “ N0--that chap declared he would kill him, so the And-what a surprise was there ! A clerk, who was Guardians discharged him.” readingthe minutes, ceased. The four Press men To tell all 1 saw and heard on that afternoon would stoppedscribbling and held their pencils poised to only harrow one’s feelings ; but the above may be taken watch developments. The Board with one accord turned as a fair example of the whole. in my direction, whilst a younger member of the tribe Ihad seen enough, however, in onedepartment to of Bumble rushed at me, demanding in a furious voice determine me to seeothers, if that werepossible. So andinsolent manner : “ What are you-are you are- on thefollowing Saturday afternoon I penetrated into porter? ” one of the hospital wards. “No, sonny;just a ratepayer,” I replied meekly. Seeinga middle-aged man sitting on the side of his The shock tothe lad was overwhelming,but he bed-cot,Ientered into conversation with him. After managed to stagger to the chairman and inform him, giving hi,m a piece of tobacco I asked him tlotell me that a mere, measly ratepayer had had the audacity to his experience in the House. projecthis putrid person intothat august assembly “I was coming homefrom Japan with a cargoof without so much as by your leave. Whilstthe junior rice. When we got into home water: the weather was clerk had been telling the chair of the nature of the rape so cold I got an attack of bronchitis. When I reached which had been committed on the dignity of the Board, my lold lodgings in Palmerstown I was so ill they ad- I had walked to the opposite side of the room and occu- vised meto comehere. I’ve been herethree weeks pied a vacant seat. to-day. You seethis shirt, those sheets and that Now began a little comedy. Only about four of ‘the towel?Well, they arethe same as was flung atme thirty-nine members of the Board knew who I was, and the day I came in. God help the poor who are sent or one of thesewas the chairman, who, in fact,was no come in here. You see that poor fellow lyingthere? other than the Councillor “Billy” mentioned in apre- (pointing ,to thenext cot). He’s laid therefor twelve vious paper, who had forgotten to pay his rates. months. He looks nice andfresh, doesn’t he?Well, “Billy” knew me sufficiently well to know that once that’s due to me washing his face with a coarse towel. having got into the room I should only be got lout again You could eat off the floor, couldn’t you? Yes ; it’s so by the aid (of the police, so he rose and said :- spotless and clean. Oh, ah, there’s no shortage of soft (‘Ladies and gentlemen,--A mostextraordinary soap for washing floors ; butnot a scrap of soapfor thing has occurred here to-day. A gentleman who says washing paupers. And thenthe food. Why, if it he is a ratepayer, has walked into our Board meeting, wasn’t for the nurse-God bless her-who fights for us which is contraryto our standing orders. We do not like a brick, we should be starved to death. This white allow the public towitness our proceedings.But see- coverlet you see here is a blind, brought out for visiting ingthe gentleman is here, I amprepared to accept a day. As soon as you leave,it will be torn off andwe motion as to whetherhe ,be allowed to remain or be shallsee no more of it till next week. The whole ordered out. ” caboose is a damned fraud on the public and the poor.” X member : “ I move that he be allowed to stop.” “ Why don’t you complain to the Guardians?” Another member : “I second that.” “ What?Guardians comein here? No Guardian Motion put and carried. has ever entered this ward sinceI’ve been in it. They Xow, as T attended many meetings of the Board and pass by the windows at all hours of theday in com- as they generally lasted from 2.30 to 7, or lata-, to set pany of the officials, and when we are in bed at night forth all I heardand saw would fill severalissues of we can still hear them going about, laughing and jok- THENEW AGE, s!o I propose to make a selection from ing ; but they never come near us.” my notebook and let the cases citedspeak for them- I noticed a booklying on the window between the selves. I may saythat my right of entrywas never twocots and .picked it up. Every pagewas black challenged after the first meeting. fromusage, so Iasked the patient who hadlain so Afterthe adoption ,of theminutes of the previous long if he had read it. “Six times, sir,” he replied. meetingwe settled down tothe business of theday, “ You must surely have found it very interesting to and the first thing that occurred was a Guardian asking have read it so often?” the following question :- “ Not the least, sir ; but it’s all I could get to pass “ Mr. Chairman, I shouldlike to ask the clerk why thetime away.” the children of So-and-so (a deceased pauper) were not Turning to the fly-leaf I discovered that t8he book be- informed ‘of theirparent’s death, but were allowed to longed to the Workhouse library, so I asked, “Why do discover it forthemselves three weeks after their you not get

Pleasant prospects for playing the game of touch. ’’ officers presented their reports from the several districts, AA medical member of theBoard now made a very and then to my astonishment I discovered that month seriouscharge against the resident medicalofficer, after month no member of the Board had attended the when anothermember shouted out : ‘‘Shut UP. you outsidedistricts relief committees,thereby throwing only got yourself elected to this Board tlo cut his throat, the whole of the administration and the application of becausehe secured the appointmentinstead ,of your- poor relief into the hands of Bumble. What werethe self. ’’ reasons, if any,for this state of affairs did nottran- Gentlemanly?Very. Quite fit to boss paupers. spire ; but what struck me was thatthe tale of neglect The medicalmember tried toget someof his’ own which had been related to me by those in theHouse back by stating : “ I have examined the porter’s lodge was alsco officially admitted as beingpursued towards book andI’ve seen thenames ‘of Guardians set down the poor outside. I asked myself the question, Why dso there as having‘left the house at IO, I I, and 12 O’clOCk thirty-ninemen and women get themselves elected as at night.” guardians of the poor and then abandon the people to Chorus of the Board : “Name.” their fate? And, further, What peculiar attraction has The medico funked. Hewas toocowardly when it aworkhouse for middle-class men and women, when, came to the pinch. Still, I wonder what was the attrac- as we know, the poorview it merely as the ante-room to tion which could keep virtuous Guardians in the House hell? Did anyonewhisper the prospects of “touch”? at 12 atnight? Possibly. A proposal was made that certain paupers be removed One other feature I observed ,at every meeting, that, from one ,part of the House to another. This was op- just before the Press men were about to leave the Clerk posed by onemember, who stated ‘‘You cannottake would cross the room and enter into conversation with theminto the House. TheHouse is only madeto thereporters. Then there was a rapidscanning of hold 900 butthere are 1,200 in it at present.Thirty- notes, so I was not surprised on looking at the papers six old women are packedinto a room 12 feet by 12. nextmorning to find all accounts of attacks made on Forty-one old men over 60 years of age are living in an the Clerk were conspicuous by their absence. old joiner’s shop which has neverbeen altered in any I haverealised longbefore this that those who do way to providesleeping accommodation. Thereare me the honour to read these notes will have been put- holes in the roof and sides through which the wind and tingto themselves thequestion, “If thesestatements rain can ‘corne at alltimes. Thebeds are being used are“true, why did you notcommunicate them tothe night and day shift, and are never allowed to cod.” Press?”The reply tothat questionI will give in kt‘hen we read Dante’s “ Inferno ” we think what a another paper, and produce evidence to sustain my con- wonderfulimagination the writer must have had to tention, which will surprise readers of THENEW AGE, producesuch awork. But undertakeI tosay that as to how the provincial Press is worked. Dante, in hishighest flight, neverimagined anything more damnable than is contained in the above extract. A member accused the clerk and the chairman of the FinanceCommittee of havingcharged 18s. forgoing LE. LIVRE DU MAL. from South Shields to Newcastle on behalf of the Guar- I rose with the departing day, dians,, the first-class fare being IS. 8d. The clerk denied And left the hills of silver mood, that the statement was true, when the member at once Where purple shadows softly brood, replied : “ What’s the use of you denying it, I’ve just And to the valley took my way. thisminute come out of your office afterexamining And there upon the roadside lay your bill of charges.’’ A dismal garden old and dank, Hemmed in with regetation rank, Thewrangle which aroseover this matter, the And full of desolate decay. chargesand counter-charges which wereflung about the room, convinced me that if part of the Board .had And in the pallid moonbeams’ light notactually qualified forDurham jail,they were cer- I saw her sitting all alone tainly unfit to betrusted with theadministration of Upon a quaintly graven stone- public money and the supervision of such an institution The relic of some far-off rite ; as a workhouse. A bill f’or A4 was presented for pay- And from the borderlands of Night mentfor fixing astove in an official’s room. Every Strange mists--and stranger odours crept official denied ‘having given the order for such a thing. Among the silent trees that slept And one member whosaid he was a practical man in About the maiden frail and white. such things declared the job was not worth more than 15s. Fourpounds paid. Itwas discovered that even And on her knees a Rook she bore, paupers’finger-nails havea habit of growing. So in- A scarlet volume all inlaid struments at gs. per pair were ordered from Sheffield ’ With border-lines of clouded jade, for the purpose of cutting them. And jewelled clasps of precious ore. And now, the pallor that she wore A carting contractor sent in his account for A59 for Would change into some hectic red ; leading coal fromSouth Shields tothe Workhouse. I Or now, the crimson would have fled don’t know how much he was charging per load for the To leave her paler than before. work,but even if ne wascharging sucha high price as 2s.. 6d., A59 would represent 472 loads.Anyway, And many times I found her there, it_ was only afterincurring a bill for A59 for cartage As many nights I left the wood that these wise Guardians discovered that the stuff was Where purple shadows ever brood- unburnable. The moonbeams ravishing her hair; And theymostly professto be business men. And though she grew more frail-less fair, It was discovered that there were no less than five Yet never once her eyes forsook telephonesin theGuardians’ offices. As oneof these The pages of her scarlet Book was on the table in the caretaker’s kitchen, a member So richlywrought, and strangelyrare. . . . proposed thatthe number should be reduced. The motion wasdefeated. I noticed thatafter five o’clock Rut came a night when she was gone, thenumber of memberspresent began to dwindle When presage told me she ws dead; rapidly. till atabout six o”clock therewere not more And so, with furtive, silent tread, I found her Book upon the stone, was than half a dozen. It then, however, that Some of -1nd read until the night was flown, the most interesting work Q€ the Board was transacted. With ever-rising sense of shame, We area large Poor Law Union,embracing South Strange thoughts that seared the soul like flame, Shields, TyneDock, Palmerstown, Hebburn, Boldon, -bel sucked the manhood out of one. etc. Towardsthe tail-end of themeeting the relieving NORMAN BOOTHROYD. 531

England instead of tlol Naples. It wasgrey at Paris Letters from Italy. andgreyer at Dover,and greyest of all at Charing Cross. Everything was a horrible lead colour--houses, V I I I .--A Sentimental Letter. sky, people, cabs, policemen. I was SQ unhappy,and then woke with the morning sun upon me and a fresh Now that Ihave finally decided to go to Naples I am cobalt-blue sky overhead. That day I went about Rome becoming prodigiously sentimental about Rome. a penitent. Thesunlight pays foreverything. A while I do not wholly object to my sentimentality-it fills up back, when I was " fighting the lone hand " against the my last two d.ays here very pleasantly. We h'ave about Jew and the Philistine, I suffered from a kind of winter- melancholy. Industriousand uneducated people used us in England so many stern, noble natures, so many to say " I needed some regularoccupation. '' Low, elevated intelligences (witnesscontemporary journals commercial canaille ! 14:hat I wanted was the sun of literature) that no onedares to say he is a senti- " that maketh bliss of all. " I knew it then an,d I know mentalist. At least, he always declares heis n'ot senti- it now. Britishstodge and cant and beastliness and mental and then proceeds to be so, usually in a revolting cruelty to beautiful things-yes, it is a "matter 0.f way. But I dealwith it as anart. climate."Here theymay be thievesand fools an,d dirty-but they leave one alone, and the sun shines five Thegreat master of course,the incomparable, is, out of every seven days. Basta ! the divineYorick. (0 Yorick, how oftenhave I yearned over the pages of thy Journey, how often ken In such a mood I walk through Rome and remember thebeautiful things I have not praised. There is the nigh to tears beholding thy wit and kindliness, thy good MontePinceo, par example, with its pine trees and senseand amiability ! Alas, poorYorick ! Thou art odd-looking cactusplants and a view. Onsunny and longsince dead, and it is rare to findone who loves Sunday afternoons all Rome resorts there, and for three thee and cherishes generous memories of thee ! But for afternoons aweek they play horribly upon brazen in- me atleast thou art a kindly remembrance offaded struments. (Yousee I can't go half-a-dozen lines, sentiment and a polite and elegant master !) without objecting to something).But if you get a wooden bench out of the shade, and sit anddream in the But you will find the Shandeansentimentality most sun, God 'o'r .the Gods of Fate, or something of Fate, or eloquent over people and not over things. Here I pass something or (other makes you very warm an'd comfort- from, thleprecepts ,of Yorick and sentimentalise in my able. Pleasant thoughts circle about you. For my own way-over citiesand the house where I was gay part I play with odds. and ends. of rhymes and verses, once and thethrush singing in the lilac bushes, and remember a line from some poetwho pleased me, OP last year's snow. I dislike wasting such feelingsupon hum theBohemian's air from " Louise." H,om many mere people. Yorick, of course, avoids theunforgiv- hours have I sat trying t.0 find the ultimate translation of " apricus, " while the air and I and the trees were able felony of spending hissentiment upon those who all " aprici. " couldclaim it,either for familyreasons or otherwise. AndI know I haven'tpraised all th.echurches of Family sentimentality is essentially bourgeois, hence its Rome, andhave written nothing on thestatues ,and popularity in the provinces and America.Yorick may pictures. Did I ever mention Santa Pudenziana? It has shed tears at parting fromhis dear Susanna of Maria some good mosaics, and the queerest little Italianfellow (or whatever her name was), but he does not make his takes you right underground through the vaulted cham- affection a duty; no soonerdoes he arriveat Calais bers (of someone's baths. You see thse pavement of the first church above the pavement 0.f the baths; and you than he forgets Susanna altogether, and is holding the learn that one Peter, a Hebrew, stopped at thisplace, hand of a pretty widow in a cab-maker's yard. When when he first came to Rome, before his execution as a Byron said of Sterne that " he spent his time maunder- felon. Notfar off is S. Prassede.Whether it is ing over a dead ass when he might have been relieving Browning's " St. Praxed's " or nlot,I don't know, 3 livingmother," he missed the whole portent of but there are only a kw Renaissance tombs, and those Shandean sentimentality. Our Yorick wasan artist; nothing to rave about. S. Prassede has the most lovely

" it is precisely becauseHecuba was nothing to the mosaicedchapel Ihave ever seen-that cathedral at Westmlnster wiJl h.ave to be goodto beat it.Thle player that she was a fit subject for *he arts"-in &her Columnto which JesusChrist was tied bef'ore they wordsit is precisely becauseYorick had nothing to beathim is kept there, ansd is a constantsource of gain or lose, no duty to fulfil by maundering over his devotion 't.0 thefaithful. I couldn't see which wasthe dead ass, that the beast became a fit subject for senti- pillar--they all looked pretty muchalike. But the mentalising. You may observe the same discrimination colours lof thte roof-gold and blue .and red are toned through all his journey-at oae 'time itis a tristful so exquisitelyand are so carefullyplaced to avoid the monk, at anothera glove-maker's wife, ait another a smooth effect of modern mosaic. I don'tthink I should ever have seen the villa of the Knights of Malta, grisettewithout a Bible-all people hedidn't care a til I had,n't been taken there by a pleasant person in a tuppennybun about. Voila I'artiste ! (And if I don't fiacre. ButI Know I haven't sai,d howbeautiful the drag myself from Yorick I shall talk about nothing else, garden is, and I haven't mentioned thetrees o'n the which is not precisely what I started, to do. And as it Palatine, seen from the Aventine.Mea culpa, mater is I shallhave to go down to the English library an,d Roma, meamaxima culpa. I will atone. I vow a buy a copy of the Sentimental Journey. And-confound penny candle to the first saint at t,hle next church where the length of that paragraph). they sell them. That should get me absolved,and after all it isa sentimental thing to ,do. And see if I so 1 sentimentalise over Rome, and begin to wonder don't choose some pretty lady saint-S. Theresa (didn't if I have not been too harsh in my judgments on her. she s'ee the cross?), or S. Agnes, or S. Dorothea, with But she is a plaguey, chattering shrew; she won’t h01.d her (basket(of roses and fruits-to intercede for me. her tongue, sir--(damn this Sterne business)-anyhow, Avanti ! Per Napoli ! the noise of the place is the one great objection. Either February 12, 1913. RICHARDALDINGTON. it smells less, or I've got used tlo it. And they do say P. S.--And now I haven't mentioned Pinturicchio's they h,a-c-ethree bath-tubs here now, and a fourth on frescoes in S. Maria del Popolo andthe Botticellis in ord,er. ,4nd th,e sun does shine here. tlbe Sistine Chapel, which were the two things I wanted most to speak of, until Yorick m.ade me forget them. 1 was SO perturbed in my sentimental soul Over my iZnd someoneoutside issinging one of theairs the injustice to Rome that I actuallydreamed about it. hawkers sing in Paris. I canalmost fancy it is the And I dreamed thatfor my sin I was sent back to Boulevard du Montparnasse, and not the Via Venetio. 532

seethrough the opposite windows are continuously Views and Reviews. changing. If change is theundoubted fact that we realise when we look out of theone window, the WHENmen like William James and Henri Bergson are absence of change when we look out of the other win- accepted as philosophers,one begins to wonder what dow is afact which itis equally impossible to deny. philosophy is. It is supposedto mean love of wisdom, Butthis latter isprecisely the fact which M. Bergson but itis difficult to find anyexemplar of t,heliteral does deny. ” meaning of the word. Nietzschesaid that every philo- The. patent absurdity of the conclusion is due to the sophy was, in thelast analysis, an autobiography, factthat when M. Bergson talks of personality, he but even this intelligible definition apparentlyfails tlo talksas onewho is ignorant of psychology. He include the work of these two men. For if men do not analyses, certainly, but he forgets to re-combine all the exist, they cannot write autobiographies; and William elements separated by hisanalysis; in otherwords, he could not have read Ribot, f’or Ribot warns against this James .and Henri Bergson, like Hume, proved that they error.“The human personalityis anaggravated did notexist. Of course, if they did notexist, they whole,a complex,” he says. “In order to know it, we could not prove anything ; and so we might continue to mustanalyse it; b.ut th,eanalysis. here is fatally artifi- argue in a circle, until we were quite sure that nothing cial, because it disjoins groups of phenomena which do existed, except our surety. It is better to suppose that not merely stand in juxtaposition, butare really c‘o- James and Bergson did exist,and that theirphiloso- ordinate,their relation being not of simple simulta- neousness,but of reciprocaldependence. And yet this phicalsystems aretheir autobiographies ; otherwise, work of analysis is altogether indispensable, and we we cannot explain how Mr. James was able to demon- mustseverally undertake to investigate the organic, strate their radicalfoolishness. emotional, and intellectual conditions of personality, at It is a matter ‘of common knowledge that we get no the same time laying due stress on occurring anomalies more frGm a logical proposition that we putinto it; and disorders. Our final study of the subject will allow and it behoves us therefore to be sure that we exclude us to group together anew these several disjoined ele- nothing from our purview, if we intend to represent or ments. ” rationalisethe universe.“By a judicious selection of If M. Bergsonhad read the last chapter of Ribot’s facts, you can proveanything,” saidCardinal New- “Diseases of Personality,’’ he might not have been so man ; and if a man by a process of reasoning arrives at sure ofhis own non-existence; but perhaps his ignor- theconclusion thathe does not exist,he must have ance of thiswork was part of hiswilful blindness to dropped himself out of the proposition onthe way. facts.For Ribot says : “We observethat it is not a Forthe existence of personalityis implicit in any in- question of reflective personality,but of thatsponta- quiry into it; and t,he logic that would pretend that per- neous, natural feeling of ourselves, which exists in every sonality is simply an inferencefrom factsbegs the healthy individual. Each of my states of consciousness whole question. Forthe facts must be presented to enjoys the double character of being such or such a one, somebody, if aninference is to be drawn from them; andmoreover of beingmine ; a painis not merely a 66our personality,” says Mr. Jevons, “is not an infer- pain, but is also my pain ; the vision of a tree, not only ence from our thoughts but a condition without which a vision of a tree, but my vision of a tree. Each state there would beno thoughts.” It isthe Cartesian fal- bears a markthrough which itappears to me as be- lacy again : “I think,therefore I am” : andalthough longing to myself; without which it appears as some- Huxleyshowed theabsurdity of the inference,he did thing foreign to me. This common mark is the sign c,f so by asserting a greater one, that thought could exist theircommon origin, and whencecould it spring but withouta thinker. The process of correction by logic, from the organism? Let us imagine that we were able in thiscase, eliminated personality; and we can smile to suppress in a fellow man the five special senses, and with Matthew Arnold whenhe says : “The good ,of alongwith them their entire psychological products letters may behad without skillin arguing, lor that (perceptions, images, ideas, associations of ideas among formidablelogical apparatus, not unlikea guillotine, themselves and of emotionsalong with the ideas). A which Professor Huxley speaks of somewhere as a suppression of this kind having been made, there still young man’s best companion ;-and so it would be his remains the internal, organic life, with its own peculiar . best companion, no doubt, if all wisdom were come at sensibility-the expression of the state of the function of by hard reasoning. ” each organ, of their general or local variations, of tk James, of course,only wanted to prove thathis rise orfall of thevital tone. Thestate of a man im- spiritual self meantsimply certain motions. which are mersed in profound slumber sensibly approaches to our felt in the head or betweenthe headand the neck, hypothesis. If, now, we essay the contrary hypothesis, which wasobvious; but there was n.0 n,eed for him to wefind it absurdand contradictory. We cannot con- ;et his head andneck deny his possession of them. ceive toourselves the special senses, with the psychic Bergson, wante,d t,o provethat change is the only life which they support, as having no real form, as b&,y reality, andthat hims,elf w.as verysmall change.In- isolated fromgeneral sensibility and suspended i.: deed, Bergson himself does not exist, according to his vacuo. Each sensorial apparatus is not as a m-atter ob’ own hypothesis; nlothing exists but change. He proves factan abstraction : theredoes not exist a visual or this by talking about trains, and tunes and movements auditoryapparatus in general, such as is described in of hishands; anyt,hing, in fact,but personality; and treatises on physiology, but a concrete, individual appa- carefully closes his eyes to the facts that conflictwith r-atus, of which there are never produced two perfectly his conclusion. His simile of th,e tw’o trains,for ex- identicalspecimens in individuals of thesame species. ample, assumes the very fact that he denies, that there except, perhaps, occasionally in twins. Yet this not all. can be a real unchanging identity. “Inthe case of Eachsensorial apparatus, at every instantand under tworailway trains. travelling side by side at the same allforms, depends on theorganic life, on circulation, speed in thesame direction,” says Mr.Jevons, “the digestion,respiration, secretion, and therest. These relationsbetween the passengers and the telegraph different expressions of individuality are added to every poles, thetrees, and the distant hills are continually perception, emotion, and idea ; they are one with these, changing;but the relation betweenth,e two trains re- as harmonics are witha fundamental tone. This per- mainsthe same. And this relationwhich remainsthe sonal, possessive character of our states of conscious- same is everybit as real as the other relations which nessis not, accordingly, as some authorshave main- continuously change. It is just as true for the passen- tained,the result of a more or lessexplicit judgment gers in. theone train to say that the other train is which affirms them as mine, at the instant they are pro- always there, as it is for them to say that the things they duced. The personal mark is not superadded, but is in- cluded; it formsan integral part of the event, aEd *“Personality.” By F. B. Jevons. (Methuen, 2s. 6d. results from its physiologicalconditions. ” net .) A. E. R. 533

rhymes are poor,but the Swinburnian note isrepro- REVIEWS. duced (if this is any merit)by careful diction, and the Five Songs of Chivalry. By William J. Elliott. (Cot- verse reads. tinghamPress. IS.) Thomas Campion. By T. MacDonagh. (Hodges, Versesprofessedly imitative of Morris. Thewriter Figgis,and Co. 3s. 6d. net.) hassome ear $ordictijon andrunning rhythm. “The Contains. selected poems of Campion with long inter- Last Stand” is clever with an .illuminating change from ludes of technical gossip by Mr. MacDonagh, who third to first person. seemsto imagine that Campion is fairgame. People Songs of theDead End. By P. MacGill. (Year of indifferent taste should betaught Goldsmith’s Book Press.) anathema on them that suffocate poets.Mr. MacDonagh One is not very sure whether Mr. MacGill, who was appears to be intimatewith a few modern rhymsters formerly a ,collier, adoresor loathes the pick and who will certainly lead a man to a1.l sorts of vagaries. shovel; now, these are sung high as the tools of divine One cannot well convey howstifling this “ exam. ” Vulcan,and now again, theyseem to beregarded as work becomeseven as comparedwith Campion’s own the badge of the slave. It is all very well tmo boast of observations onthe art, themselves nonetoo brisk. wielding somethingmore powerful thanEmperor’s Mr. MacDonagh’s taste is almost amusing in its faithful sceptre,and at thesame time to reiterate “:hell, hell, pettiness; he prefersthe minor with, we think, no hell,” as descriptive ,of the wielder’sexistence, and tlo single exception threaten the idle rich withcalamities. So long as men Ripostes of EzraPound. (StephenSwift. 2s. 6d. think coal-mining n,ot disgraceful to a human b.eing, so net .) long they will live and love amidcoal-dust, and ro It is not “enoughthat we once cametogether” to number of songs will restore thegreen earth. Mr. justifyits being said three times.A factis a fact, MacGill simply left off navvying-but forthe others and said tentimes would not make poetry. he says- Be in me as theeternal moods But it isn’t in our power, my boys, to end it, of the bleak wind, and not So we’ll face it to the final with a curse. As transient things are- But it’s hell-pure hell. . . . gaiety of flowers. They go on breeding others for it ail the same ! If Have in me the strong loneliness Mr. MacGill has ‘their ear, he should pipe them a tune of sunless cliffs And of grey waters. of Malthus. However,he would haveto risk their Let the gods speak softly of us stoning him for an immoral person and a kill-joy. There In days hereafter, are one or two passable songs in the volume. The shadowy flowers of Orcus Remember thee. Streets. By DouglasGoldring. (Goschen. 2s. 6d.) Here we havesomething that ranks. Love again Life as “ one long delicate teawith petits-fours” is and simple rubbish :- aboutthe level of the book. The“Manchester Andyou, Guardian”compares Mr. Goldringwith Heine, Mr. Love, you the much, the more desired . . . Yeatsand Henley ! We compare him with a monkey, I burn, I scald so for the new, a barrel-,organand an ungreased sausage machine. New friends, new faces, Here are some specimens of his doggerel- Places ! Will he be true? Oh, God, I fear, Oh, to be out of this ! . . . He’ll buy what I would give him free ! One sympathises a trifle, however, as one does not with the complexrubbish of Down Newport Street, last Sunday night, Thee, a marvel, carven in subtle Timstabbed his sweetheart inthe breast; stuff, a And mad the music rose, until suspense Portent. Clutched at our throats and tore at every sense, Ah ! “ The Seafarer. ” Would that Mr. Poundmight And then it drooped, and all the pity of love, etc. be chained to some rock, on our old English shores with The “Guardian” should really fumigate itself before no hope but to sing himself free ! Our readers must be reviewing. It is as liable to squalor as a child to ring- well acquainted with this wonderful translation, but who worm. will tire of it? Neareth nightshade, snoweth from north, Calypso. By P. B. O’Hara. (Melville andMullen, Frost froze the land, hail fell on earth then, Melbourne. 5s.) Corn of the coldest. Natheless there knocketh now Conscientiousverse, but rather thin. Mr. O’Hara The heart’s thought that I on high streams has a love for mythology and the classic splendours, but The salt-wavy tumult traverse alone. a man must be & great seer tofind the life in things that Dayslittle durable, * so easily may pass for dead. At the close of “Calypso” And all arrogance of earthen riches, we get- There come now no kings, nor Caesars, He launched the raft and spread the eagersail, Nor gold-giving lords like those gone. With eyes setseaward totheir utmost bounds; What blinds a man that he can ever stumble away from But she saw not, only about her moaned the immortal fields? In plain English, how can a man A chillgrey wind, and chill grey mists arose And blotted out the land and sea and sky. fitted to make songs like the “ Seafarer” stuff a portent? This is sentimental enough ! Homer says : “And so, Primitiae: Essays inEnglish Literature. By on the fifth day, the fair Calypso sent him on his way Students of the University of Liverpool. (Liverpool from the island, when she had bathed him and clad him UniversityPress. Constable. 4s. 6d. ne:.) in fragrantattire. Moreover, the goddess placed on “Thehumorists by trade are muchless significant. boardthe ship two skins, one of dark wine, and Hoodand Moore arethe chief of them. Theymake another,a greatone, of water,and corn, too, in a jokeswith frequency. Some of the‘Odes and Ad- wallet,and sheset therein a store of dainties to his dresses to Great People’ by Hoodand Reynoldshave heart’s desire, and sent forth .a warm and gentle wind still a littlesalt, and, of course, many puns.’’ The to blow. And goodly Odysseus rejoiced as he set his cow is an animal with four legs, one at each corner ! sails to the breeze.” No chill grey vapour is here. Mr. William T. Young, M.A.,Lecturer on Englishin Perhapsthe most rhythmic verse in the volume is the Goldsmith’s College, tries to say something about that onSwinburne. It is also extremelyartificial with Byron : “In ‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers’ he its- is a young giant waking to feel his strength; from the . . . gathers from death’s wan tree her fairest fruit, turbulent depths of hisnature was summoned the in- The flower of his terrene root. stinctfor rebellionin literature. In theindiscriminate Fruitand root are ill-rhymed;indeed, most of the swing of his club, many bare and reverend heads were 534 hit; but hewas henceforth a provedHercules.” Miss Silhouettes of Sweden. By Ethel Hargrave. Jane Bradshaw writes. a moony memoir of Hartley (Methuen. 6s.) Coleridge, apparently to prove that the poor fellow was A sort of sentimental guide-book.Everybody, and altogether apitiable mortal, the taskrequiring, of a great many nobodies, excite Miss Hargrave’s willing, course, that the lady should neglect that most enlighen- but limited,powers of description.Apparently, all is ing Me how Hartley,that tedious afternoon, jumped right in Sweden,and nothing’s wrongexcept that up and kissed th.at clergyman’s wife and ran out of that women are voteless, poor things. However, they seem house. Miss Edith Birkhead’s essay on “Imagery and quite as capable as Englishwomen of interferingwith Style in Shelley,”repeats with a blitheblush a little all andsundry, have formedseven hundred and bit of everythingth,at anybody hasever said about seventy odd platforms whence to assert that woman’s Shelley ; but modesty itself could not melt us, into a new sphereis home and children, take Edward Carpenter nod at each old theory, and finally the blush fades and for a genuine expert in love, Miss EllenKey, who is there is left only a young lady publicly holding forth on neverweary of quotinghim, as a genuineexpert in a poet.’Tis done nowadays. ProfessorJames W. marriageand young affection, and theirown equality Holme, on tjhe “Treatmentof Nature in Crabbe ” : withmen as a gift of Nature. Judged by $his volume “The Nature around his feet is the Nature that Crabbe Swedensurpasses all countries on theglobe for the loves to paint; it is this aspect of her that catches the number of its female leagues to theorise on how things eye of the naturalist, and with t,he detailed fidelity of a should be done.Only onewoman in three is able to BirketFoster it is reproduced.” Here is style and marry.One hundred and forty-two thousand one matterfor an essay by a Professor of English ! This hundredand twenty-eight women bombarded Parlia- aspect . . . that catches the eye . . . is reproduced, etc., ment flor the vote : “ In the First Chamber the debate clears up onemystery, but no’t this-how men who (on extended suffragefor men terminatedwithout a writereckless Englishare made Professors. And Bir- word about women being uttered.” As women reckon, ket Fosterhas nothing to do with thematter except of course, this only showed how strongly the Cause was that he fills up a line for Mr. Holme, who has nothing going. SOmany fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, ab- to say. Thecontribution by Mr. Wallison “Blake’s solutelyunpersuaded asto the upliftinginfluence of Symbolism” contains every cliche in the language. mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters might leadone Great Writers of America. (Home University to conclude that, in Sweden as elsewhere, women’s can- Library. IS.) duct in thesacred home is not all that it should be. Professor W. P. Trent andProfessor John Erskine But that would be blasphemy against the divinities. have written a running biography of famous American The Moonlight Sonata. By Johann Noraling. (Mel- men of letters. ‘The two editors are quite academically rose. 6s.) up to datein their style. Of WashingtonIrving the A silly andimpudent little tale with Beethovenfor young ideais told that “ then, after the death of his fiancee had given him a background of tender sentiment hero. This authorling composes the musician’s psycho- -he never married-he producedelaboratehis logy ! We should like to believe that such jackanapes burlesque History of New York.” No doubt, if he had would one day die out : “Thought the Master to him- married, he would have produced an elaborate tragedy. self ” occurs on every other page, and fairly exempli- fies the conceited and clumsy style. Exposition of the Pilgrim’s Progress. By Robert Stevenson. (Black. IS.. 6d.) Daphne in Paris. (Melrose. 6s.) The editorialnote to this volume contains a mis- Interminablegossip. Betty rejects the Duke and in- appropriatison. “ It is no easy thing to write a book on sistson having Hugh-no, not Betty-the one wh ‘ ThePilgrim’s Progress,’ ” writethe two editors of writes the journal insists on having the Duke or Hugh the Rev. Robert Stevenson-“it is like paintingthe -somebody, anyway, will have the one mamma doesn’t lily.” All very well to rununder your enemy’s shield, approve of. but what Shakespeare said was not that it is no “easy” thingto paint the lily, but“wasteful and ridiculous ThePoodle Woman. By AnnesleyKenealy. (Stan- excess.” We need notabsolutely condemn Mr. leyPaul. 6s.) Stevenson as guilty of thisexcess, since his bookis Dedicated to the Immortal FeministCause ! “ She really little more than a convenient medium for quoting lifteda face of tenderness,and love, and pain. My fromBunyan’s sixty-and-one shorter works, besides husband will never set ,me free. There is no way out.” from many authorswho have even so much as men- Votes for Women ! tioned Bunyan’s name. The commentary itself is, how- ever, in ouropinion, excessive. Thereis no need to Where are You Going to? By Elizabeth Robins. explain the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and no man has any (Heinemann. 6s.) business to be imagining a necessity. An example from “ My ” sister is entrapped in a brothel from which the present “exposition” should prove convincing as to “I” escape, and safe outside, do not stand and yell for the wastefulness of such aperformance. the police or eveninform the taxi-men, though “I” find myself beside a cab-rank. “ I” get in and go off “ ‘ Obstinate ’ is the speaker with whom we are first madeacquainted. ‘ Be content,good neighbours,’ to“my” aunt’s to askfor help and when “I” get Christian had said, ‘ and go along wlth me ’ ; to which thereremember that “I” don’t know the address of this man of resolve without reason raps out the answer, the brothel-so “my”poor sister is smuggled off t.o ‘ What ! andleave ourfriends and comforts behind Paris or somewhere to be a white slave. She leans out us? ’ There is much significance in that word ‘ What ! ’ of heaven to “me” with comfort. “ Others shall thank uttered, we conceive,with a rising inflection of sur- her” for their burden which her innocence has borne. prise. Thesame stubborn tone appears more strongly All verywell, but rather too silly. What a packof in the summary dismissal of Christian’s,appeal to the fools and humbugs women are ! Men .are flogged and Book in his hand : ‘Tush, away withyour Rook ; will women write novels ! you go back with us or no? ’ In that last exclamation Passions of Straw. By E. F. Heywood- (Methuen. there is discovered the fatal flaw of this type of mind. 6s.) He will not and therefore he cannot see.” Could bok, “ Unfolds thepoignant tragedy of a womanwho, anyone do Bunyan worse disservice than to preach like proud, beautiful,ambitious, finds herself wedded to a his, obscuring the purity of the original work. ? cynicand a roue”Quite B la mode. Shehates and TheStar Dream, By E. N. Dobinsou. (Murrayand hates and hates, and he laughs and laughs and carries Evenden.) on somethingscandalous, and the little boylikes him For children ; the story of Joseph re-told and begin- andthat’s another injury, but she outlives him and ning ‘‘ Onceupon atime therewas a man called marries the bloy ta the pure (maiden, and preaches, and Jacob.” lives happy ever after. 535

A BALLADE OF ENGLISHMEN. Pastiche. The first of Englishmen is George the King, The Prince of Wales the second, you’ll agree ; ‘‘ THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS ”-ANOTHER STUDY The Premier, with duties harassing, IN DOTS. (FirstInstalment.) Perhaps comes next.Important socially Is Norfolk’s Duke-a Roman Catholic he. To my son. . . The Church is great, for all our souls she saves ; I want to leave this book to you. . . So bishops next, with due propriety; I want to leave it now. . . And last, tke Welshman’s State Insurance Slaves. I want to leave it right here. . . before I forget. . . . Uou see. . . . My father was a A high place for the Cabinet, that ring dotard, my father was a dotard,my f .a.t.h.e.r w.a.s a Of noble statesmen, for they hold the key dotard . . . and I’m his very first dot. Of England’s honour-not a little thing. I remembered, as every son must remember-even you, They also lavish honours, for a fee, my dear, my dotship, the insubs, strugs, ingrats, benefits, On worthy claimants-chaps who deal in tea, serlights, anddisregards . . . I was sensible of amaz- And hide their virtues modestly in caves. ing dots. We [the old dotardand his dot] hadnever Then there are those whom men have made M.P. ; talkedtogether of two. All sorts of thingsthat And last, the Welshman’s State Insurance slaves. a man of 28 would not dream of hiding from a coeval he hadhidden from me, hisdottiest. 1.1.1.1.1. There were I must be quick, for time is on the wing. two letters. . . . There was aphoto of myfather, and To law, of course, we have to bow the knee; his father, and his father, unto the fourth dot. So let me praise the whole great legal string, There we were, 3 Stratts,and we had all lived full Solicitor and judge, and wigged K.C. (imperial pint) lives, and had a glimpse of a long succes- And now it is the Army’s turn, and we sion of dots. With soldiers place the men who rule the waves. . . . . I cannotforget thetime when, et. 4 years g Doctors and farmers next must mentioned be; months and 2 weeks, you looked me in the eye, saying And last, the Welshman’s State Insurance slaves. you wanted my advice, as between dotand dot, on a pressing matter ; that, I think, marks a new phase in the ENVOI. history of dotard and dot. Prince, I present a brief epitome : And truly you proved it in the next paragraph, which Peers, politicians, honest men and knaves, was dotteristique, even to the hiccough. Clergy and laymen, business men-all free- Just as I did in the next. Beginning with tears, from And last, the Welshman’s State Insurance slaves. me, and ending with a scarred behind-yours. c. w. But when I knelt with you, little dot, I felt an intol THE LEMUR. desire to stretchforward intoyour time,and live your Never again hand over hand to earth, pint,plus the hiccough. I sawmyself, as I hadseen Furry and soft and silver as the moon, your grand-dot-inaccessibly dotty.When presently you Padding his way a little ring-tailed coon had gone from my study, I went to my writing desk and Shall span the tree trunks to the crazy tune drew a paper pad towards me, and sat thinking and mak- Of scudding clouds and crosshatched silver light. mg. . . . I wanted to exceed thelimits of . .ti . Hence Never again to any crooked rune, this carbonised copy of LIVY. . . . . ’’ Chasing the nodding shadows of the leaves, Racing the ragged undergrowth that weaves RURALISM. A shifting way below a latticed roof. He was one of a coterie of farm labourers and villagers Though all the dallying hours tell of mirth, that drifted regularlyevery Saturday evening into the Though all the powdery branches of mimosa bar of “ The George and Dragon,’’ anddrank im- Shake in the shallow dazzling light, and though moderately. Thesour smell of stale tobacco smoke and About the branches of the traveller trees beer filled the low-ceiled room, and, from the corner near Stirs the familiar trade wind, whispering low, the fire, where he sat, the forms of his companions ap- Loomgale of lost delight, laden with memories. peared confused and indistinct in the thick acrid fumes But ever homesick forfamiliar shadows, of shag that pervaded-blurred figures, cursing, laughing, The broken, mottled, wagging magpie shadows, and loudly discussing the news of the week. Homesick for surr of leaves and star-pricked roof, The day’s events had stunned his slow-working brain. Remembering below the laughing stars He had “ bairned ” Lil Robinson, a neighbouring farm The labyrinth of a tangled forest woof. girl, and now would have to payher five shillings a Hatingthe limitation, hating the week out of his meekly wage of eleven shillings.The Eternal unintelligible company more he conned it over the more unsatisfactory it seemed. That peers and pokes between his prison bars, She had threatened police proceedings and other things. Faces that grin and, most of all, . . . . He had thoughts of going to Canada. The area of his narrow, close-walled home, Emptying his glass, he called for another, and listened That measured stride, to three men talking near to him. That toll nor teeth nor jerks from side to side ‘‘ It’s te w’hopped we sarnt ’ave mair ov syke blathery Can alter, madden him. weeather. Noo then,yer see, it’s this waay.” (The MARIONPRYCE. speaker drew a circle on the table with the stem h1s of LINES. clay.) “ What wiv moothercars andairyplanes, wolds cumming tivan end. All thisere electricity ganste I hurried through the hard and ugly street, clowds, an’ distarbs wather, an’ thet’s reason we’re ’avin’ Cross with the smells, the dinginess, the slime, sich a seet ov raain no-Ahs thinkin’.” The loutish way they’d dumped the houses down, He drank more beer. Gradually the voices grew softer ; Content that ugliness should be the norm. he felt apleasurable sensation creeping over him. He Then,vexedly, sardonically, smiledand kept rubbing his chin with his hand. It I sa$d “ tu quoque ” to myself, and conned dawned upon him that he was in a mist full of twinkling Weakness and cowardice and laziness, lights. Somehow he couldn’t gethis cigarette lit, but And tacit choice of easy fifth-rate, mixed continued striking matches.The hum of conversation With angry longing for dear love and beauty : became louder, a man was speaking quite close to him. Seeking romance, and disbelieving in it : ‘

with those of &IT. COX. SO (accordingto Mr. Bernard LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Shaw) I also all1 amongthe redistributors. WHITE SLAVE TRAFFICHUMBUG. If I now interfere in this fray, it is not to part or to Sil-,--n’Ot Only has the infamous Criminal I,a\v Amend- reconcile the CombattsantS. on thecontrary, I wish they 11WLdd fightseveral lnore rounds. My object is to warn ment Act, 1912, seriously endangered theliberty of the subjectand enabled Feminist judges to pass fe1-ocjous both that each is guilty of a serious omik,sion. Neither sentences, but it has already p:roved avery formidable illconvince the other, nor (what is 1nol-e important) weapon inthe hands of n-diclous women. Hereis a the outside crowd, until those 1acunz are filled up. M~. case : A young fellow of 18 lived with a girl of about the ShaW failsto tell US who aregoing to be theredistri- Same age. Against his wishes she went on the street to htors. VfhO are going to shoot the idlers ? 1 have read augmnttheir means.Unfortunately, he did not leave somew.here of idlersshooting redistributors. lvhat if her until January. The girl informs, the police, with the this should h.appen again? On this point,Mr. Webb is result thathe has just been sentto prison. It will be more outspken. Says he,. in ctrect, ‘‘Leax-e it tome remembered also how a vile girl at Bayswater tried to get and *ny arllly of permanent officials.” We idlers a1-e not goiWto lay down ourarms till we know something two entirely respectable men sent to prison as (I bullies.” ARCH. GIBBS. definiteabout these redistributors. I readily admit that *** certainpersons have to be shot, or starved to death, or prere1:ted fromcomicg into existence. It is 110 new PLAYWRIGHT AND BOOTBLACK. doctrine. We have always been doing it, either con- sciously or unconsciously. ! ! Sir,-What a clatter What a dust We are all going This brings US to Mr. Cox’s omission. QTe Indi- about our humdrum work when suddenly Mr. Rerllard vidualists, including Mr. Cox, have got to face the music. Shaw and Mr. Harold Cox are seen scuffiing and wrest- It is useless toshut one’s eyes and to row (truthfully ling in the middle of the street. What is it all about ? enough) that one does no2 see the skeleton. The skeleton And who hit first? Says Mr. Shaw, “ I protest Inerer is there all the same, and no one is imposed upon by the saida word tothe gentleman : heinterfered without a shuffle. wordof provocation.” It appearsthat &Ir. COX is sL1s- Capitalismsays to the wretched sempstress or match- pected of “wanting more” of something or otherthall box maker, “ You shall work for sixteen hours or starve,” theaverage bootblack, and, h more than fill-. fortiori, SO says Mr. Shaw. I gofurther. Capitalism says to Shmaw. Now Mr. Cox neversaid so, but he did sap that another sempstress or match-box maker, “You shall work the system under which he gets mere than the bootblack for sixteen hours and starve.” It is all a question of the is a good system. What Mr. Cos wants toget is as last straw thst breaks the camel’s back. One drudge can much as hecan. And thatis exactlywhat Mr. Shzw put forth all her energies and just live; another, perhaps and the bootblack take, whether they want or no. herelder sister, can put forthall her energies and just Butwhy this sudden outburst? “ TheTimes” told notlive. There is s,uch a thing as “margi;in.al” vitality. us years ago t,hatIndividuzlism “is as dead as the Mr. Cox knows perfectly well that society is a pyramid, worship of Osiris ”; Mr. Wells told us a few months with a population arranged in layers or strata, the lowest ago that the battle between Individualism and Socialism of which is alwaysbeing sloughed off. The equation is was atan end.The Press, the politiciansand the earning-power - cost of subsistence = 0. And by earn- prattlersare all agreed that ‘‘ lais.sez-faire,y9 having ing I mean getting or obtaining, whether by purchasing, some connection with Manchester, is an extinct political begging, or stealmg. Those whose earning power is less creed. ?Mr. Shaw hintself tells US that “Unsocialism than their cost of subsistence are nois,elessly shoved off hasextirpated Individualism.” Then why kick a dead Into the abyss. This is a law of nature as inexorable as donkey ? Is it that the deathhas never been certified ? the first law of motion. Is it possible that an economist Disraeli said “Protecti.on is not only dead but dammd” ; of Mr. Cox’s perspicacity does not understand “the iron and yet it seems pretty lively even now. Is Mr. Shaw law of wages ” ; Why does he fhunt in our faces the afraid thatthe deceased Individualism will rise again? tattered banner of God’s whitewashers, “the standard of Here is theorigin of the row. Mr. Shawdid not ac- comfort” ; I hoped that the bla,sphemous raghad been tually attack Mr. Cox, but he sa,id so much against Mr. consigned to the flames years ago. Yet here it is : “Wage- Cox’s creed thatthat gentleman thought himself justi- earners whose grandparents lived in hovels and slums are fied in attacking Mr. Shaw ; andthat is exactlywhat now housed in comfortable little villas ; their clothing is Mr. Shawwanted. J3e‘ha.d a reason. He had no desire better; their food is substanti,al and varied; hundreds of to re-open the debate as tothe rival merits of the two theatres and music-hdls cater tor their amusement ; cheap political creeds. If he had, he would have challenged trains convey them to football matches or seaside yesorts ; me, instead of executinga war-dance round Mr. Cox. newspapers provide themwith a mixed mental diet. ’9 He is no coward, and although on a platform he might And so on. He might as well point out that there dwell knock sparksout of me, on paper it might be other- among us earlsand barons whose grandfatherstaught wise, and even t’ otherwise. But why then this shindy ? in ragzed schools, worked as navvies on the railroads, or He must have had a motire ; what was it ? Well, I will carried woolpacks on their bentbacks. Nobody denies letthe cat cut of the bag. All hislife long, Mr. Shaw it. Capita! has enormously increased the national wealth. (likethe prose-speaking Bourgeoise Gentilhomme) has But when it isten times as great as it now is,the been axIndividualist without kuowing it. I rather \yretches inthe bottom stratum will still be getting think that some years ago I helped to stimulate his in- pushed off when earning power kicks the bezm. To say, stinctive love of liberty.While he has been preaching as Mr. Cox says, that when the worst comes to the worst, and practising: Individualismhe has persistently called the wretch “can apply to the Poor Law Guardians ” is to it ‘(Socialism.” This has led to his being lacked up in give theIndividualist case away. This is to admit that the Same den with the Collectivists, with whose cast- ihe only alternative tu the starvation process is Socialism. ironmachinery and truculent methods he has no real If Socialism is good at this stage of the process, I agree sympathy.Although he thrives well on czbbages and with MI. Shaw that it would be better at an earlier stage. nuts, he can no longer digest Mr. Webb’s cinders or Mr. Mr. Cox whispers something about “human tenderness,” TVells’s slop.He yearns for something which can be but that is a plant which cannot thrive in the same soil called (perhaps) socialism, but which admits of fresh air mrith a Poor Law. And if it did-pauperism ! “Keeping and free2om. Hence this sudden bursting ollt of bounds. body and sm11 together” is atedious occupation, even Unfortunately, while he was thus hasting to DamaScns, with a supply of;crusts at, those moments when the Sod Mr. COX happenedto be standing in the middle of the Seems to be slippingout. Of course there is always a road, and so incurred the full violence of hispent-up well-fed man near to point out that the birds are singing fwy. and that the sky is blue--but Oliver asks for more. m-e nowcome tothe sixpence. Mr. Shaw is prepared WORDSWORTHDONISTHORPE. to @ve Mr. Cox sixpence if hecan define the word “therefore” in acertain sentence. And areally good *%* definition is worth the money. But there is another word which needs definition. Mr. Cox admitsthat he WOMAN SUFFRAGEIN ACTION. does not “justifyall the grossinequalities of fortune &-,-Every man residing in California must. pay a poll which now exist ” ; whereupon Mr. Shawexclaims, tax of twelve shillings a year. All he gets for his money (6% he,too, is amongthe redistributors.” Now I will is the privilege of reslding there. This poll tax is levied give Mr. Shaw twopence if hecan explain whathe on all men irrespective of citizenship.Employers are means by the word “so.” I offer asmaller reward, be- bound to deduct the tax from wages. cause “SO” is a shorter word than “therefore.” I cannot In some of the SouthernStates, where a poll tax is justify the gross inequalities of muscular- strenfih which levied, the only penalty for non-payment is forfeiture of now existin the bird world. Thehawk is distinctly the right to vote, with the result that most of the negroes (unfairly)stronger than the wren. I minglemy tears lose that right. But in California the foreigner must pay 537 thetax equallywith the native, ad, of course, the ters, and they, as the owners of the means of life of this foreigner gains no right of suffrage by reason of the pay- class, are the owners of their bodies and souls. ment. The suffrage movement, of course, consists of women of Notwithstanding the fact that the poll tax seems very all classes who believe that possession of the right to vote unpopular with the working men of California, and they will be ameans of bringingthem freedom. 1 amonly have the right of the initiative and referendum, yet there concerned with the working women who may take this seems to be no movement to have the law repealed. point of view. I want, if I can, to make them realise that Furthermore, suffrage there is upon the widest possible they are pressing forward towards a mirage; real freedom base. Every man and every woman, who has resided in lies in another direction. the State for five years, has the right to vote at all elec- The burden which presses most heavily on those of us tions. One interesting point isthat while women stand who are workers, is that of the man or machine which q~ an absolute suffrage equality with men, yet the ~oll controls the greaterpart of our lives-our industrial tax falls only on the men. master. In what way will the possession of the vote free AS an instance of the fallacy that freedom of the indi- US from that? It is surely obvious that, asindividuals, vidualnecessarily must exist under an absolute even enfranchised, we are helpless. Men have long Since democracy, I might mention that a law is now under eon- learned the lesson that onlyby corporate action onthe sideration by theLegislature prohibiting parents being industrial field can the smallest concession be wrung unaulyextravagant in clothing their chlldren.Another fromtheir industrial masters. How much good was his law is proposed, and will, no doubt, be enacted, prohibits vote to Driver Knox or GuardRichardson? The power divorced people fromre-marrying within three years. If which sentthem both back to work was the power of one goes out of the State to evade the law, and marries indignant organised labour. within the proscribed time he is liable to be imprisoned Trade Unionism among women is sadly neglected, on his return. If one should attempt to evade the law by partly because the women who ought to be doing this co-habitingwithout marrying before the three yearem- work, are wasting all their time and energy on the fight bargoexpires, he (orshe) would be violatingthe Cali- forthe vote. If they are materialmilitants they are fornianlawagainst adultery, and be liableto breaking windows, and if theyare spiritual militants, imprisonment. That is,he would be, unlesshis second theyare fasting and praying, instead of organising. I choice happened fortunatelyto have a reputation suffi- havespoken togirls in the suffrage movement who cientlylight. Then his co-habitation withher would should have been in the National Union of Clerks, which, violate none of the California proprieties,and he would by the way, stands for equalpay for equal work, who be quite safe from the law. have assured me that when women get the vote, they will Itis a curious thingthat one of the firstresults of join the Union-but at present they consider suffrage woman suffrage is to encourage co-habiting with a woman more importantthan anything else. Could unreasoning reputeda prostitute rather than witha woman reputed enthusiasm go further ? otherwise. Prostitutes vote in California, but this is not Recently, the W.S.P.U. has seen fit to revive its inte- anexplanation of this three-yearlaw. Infact, it is no rest in working women. The grievances of these women explanation at all, for prostitutes are quite as well aware is avery good platformtopic for sentimental W.S.P.U. as other people of the anomaly that the chief support to speakers, but those of us with any respect for Ourselves, prostitution comes from undivorced married men. ought to kick against this sort of patronage, and against Another interestinglaw about to be enacted jn Cali- our very real grievances being ,exploited in this way. I fornia is one which gives a pension to dependents upon remember very well a branch of the W.S.P.U. organised workers who may be killed in industrial accidents. The in Bow some six years ago, which was dropped com- pension is to be paid by the employer to the wife of the pletely by that organisation at the time of the boom in deceased man merely on the basis she is his wife with no suffrage, when wealthy ladies were joining the ranks in inquiry as to her being dependent, but in the case of the largenumbers and subscribing fabuloussums to the wife being injured or killed, then the husband must prove treasury.The Pethick Lawrences havingleftthe that hewas dependent uponher earnings. Presumably W.S.P.U., andtaken a largenumber of members with whiteslavers are barred from claimingunder the -Act, them, the leaders have once againtaken up the cry of although nothing is said thereto. the hardships of working women, and have rediscovered GAYLORD WILSHIRE. theeast end of London and Row. I object to this (1) +** Because it isdegrading to my class; and (2) because many poor women are fooled by the promises held out to them, WORKINGWOMEN AND THE VOTE. and, instead of acting in the industrialfield, are led away Sir,-’l‘b.e modern feminist movement which arose seven into the political field, which leaves t.hem eventually just years ago, commg, as it did, so spontaneously and with where they were at first. such glowing promises of the future of women, set fire to Aformidable grievance of the W.S.P.U. andkindred the imagination of many working-class women, and swept societies is that we are governed by man-made laws. This them off their feet. The most rabid Socialist women found grievance can mean nothing to the enlightened working themselves at street corners making speeches about the woman. She realises that,in common withher fellow revolution which would occur when “women gotthe menworkers, she is governed bycapitalist laws. She vote.” Much water has passed under Westminster Bridge knows, too, that whatever Government is in power, the since then, and many of those who made speeches, and capitalist and landlord classes are the people with autho- those who wished they could (thelatter including my- rity ; no Government dares to suggest any legislation for self), have learnt that the salvation of women workers lles the good of the workers without the consent of the people notin votesand inputting their faith in members of who find the money for their party funds. Parliament,but in revolt by Direct Action against all A SocialistGovernment could no more dispossess the forms of tyranny, industrial andlegal. capitalist and landlord classes by Act of Parliament than Feminism, so faras its ideals andaspirations are ex- the Labour Party nowadayscan wrest anything for the pressed in the militant suffrage movement, is in a state workers, worth their acceptance, from the Liberal Govern- of chaos at the presenttime. The avowed object of the ment.Ultimately, it would be necessary touse direct movement is freedom for women. What is meat by action. freedom is notprecisely stated, nor is the connection That being so, it does not matter to theworking woman between it and the franchise clearly shown. The leaders whethershe is now governed bymen or women have assumed thatthe vote isthe panacea for all the capitalists-they are, alike, enemies of her and her class. ills suffered hy women, and the rank and file haveun- Just a last word about freedom-that much-abused questioningly followed their lead, as is the habit of rank word. Complete freedom is impossible of attainment- and files of both sexes. Those few who have ventured to we areall creatures of circumstance. We can, however, suggest thatthe vote, assuch, is of little importance, approach to a state of comparative freedom of which few have been given the cold shoulder,and have leftthe of us have dreamed. It need not take years to movement in disgust, and have become more or less in- accomplish, either. It will take longest in the industrial active. field, because there we cannot free ourselves as indi- The result is, that the movement now consists of a mass viduals. Industrial emancipation is only possible when af women who honestly believe that the vote will improve amajority of the workersdesire to be free. So far as the conditions under which theirsex lives and works the other phases of freedom are concerned, we can be free If historyhad taughtthem no lessonsthere might be as soon as we desire to be ; we can free ourselves some excuse for this attitude on their part in the 20th mentally from all dogmas and superstitions if we really century.The truth is, however, that the class Of men wantto. Married, we can attain economic independence who were enfranchised in 1867 and 1884 are no mOfe free if we prefer it to dependence on our husbands, by remain- mw than they were then ; the fact that they are now an ing self-supporting women, instead of immediately enfranchised class has no terror for their industrial mas- bowingour heads tothe theorythat when a woman 538

marries she shall take up the profession of unpaid house- sage of theEternal to the people of Time.” But when keeping. We can be free of allconventions as soon as all beautydies out of dailyliving and the vision that we are ready to dare to do what we wish, and can stand makeslife holy perishes, the writ ceases torun. Man ridicule. That is, in fact,the only way we shall ever lives ignobly .for the day and hour, and forgets that the emancipate ourselves from convention and prejudice ; the children of Timeare also heirs of the Timeless. .Why vote will not do these things for us. should women in pain and sorrow bear men md maidens We can do allthese things without the vote. Why, to be devoured by the accursed Minotaur of a machinery then, make the vote an issue ! which is no longer our servant but our Master? We have DOROTHYTHURTLE. our answer. *** But “ A. E. R.” hashis theory.The race is de- cadent!Will he forgive my saying that he has fallen WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE. back on apestilent commonplace. TheEnglish race is Sir,-I didnot see “ A. E. R.’s ” “ Views and Ke- not decadent. Only men who understandnothing of the views ” in time to add even a postscript to my last letter. real English, and faithlessly or indolently regard effects Will your contributor accept my sympathy, and call upon as causes, thinkit. The English know intheir hearts the NEWAGE for any apology that may be hisdue, in that it is false. It is not a thing that can profitably be that a misprint I had not till now observed caused him argued abut. The English will leave that to the talkers tolet fall his Olympian thunderbolton so unworthya -until their hour strikes. victim? I have no copy of my first letter, but I find in Sometimes he who would see far must lookdeep into my MS. what assuredly I meant to write : “ I am firmly the magicmirror. The strong river of our national life convinced thatthe woman’s movement of to-day is is running through a dangerous, droughty country. There essentially the protest of a mighty race vitality against is much hurryingrubbish strewn upon its surface, and conditions which threatentodestroy it.” The sub- stagnant marshes take heavy toll of its waters. stituted word “ vitally ” suggested,inconsistently, that Theamazing race-energy that claimed and is seeking conscious i regarded it asa intellectual movement, to make good the conquest of a‘ world empirehas bent national,almost popular. I have never so regarded it. itself at home tothe creation of industry.The process I suggest, with my humble respects to all Olympians, has been akin in character to our Empire-building-born that I attempted that which is sometimes a‘ more useful and bred of the national genius, that of an Organic Initia- service tothe truth-seeker than even irony forborne. I tive,intensely individualistic, yet orderly not anarchic. offered a theory. Theindomitable fighting energy of the race has been My intimacy with the mind and purpose of Nature, is, engaged in that warfare which Nature exacts as the price likeyour contributor’s, if I may say it inall good of her secrets, of her submission to Man’s headship of her humour,neither more norless than the measure of the kingdom. We see about us the captured colours, but also intelligenceshe has severallygranted us. A theory is the sad wreckage of tllestricken field. Can ourIndus- a’n endeavour to interpret the facts as understood by the trial civilisation turn its terribly costly, dubious victory observer. To state such conclusions dogmaticallymay into peaceful, kindly possession ? Is itsdirecting spirit be a tribute of respect tothe intelligence addressed to be a Frankenstein or the heart and brain of a nobler rather than aLilliputian claim toinfallibility, Napoleon ? “ A. E. R.’s ” remarks strike the note of pessimism, Thegreat river isrunning through a‘ greedyand a and pessimism llike all merely destructive criticism may thirsty land. On every side wastefulprivate sluices are be chastening, but is not inspiring. He throws scorn on tapping the common stock, the owners scarcely troubling the idea that Nature ever works by contraries-that she to close them when their well-dyked fields are fed. The destroys the individual, in short, that she may preserve unfruitful desert sucks the waste. the race. Surelythe evidence is againsthim. THE NEW AGEproposes that we build barrages, in: the How hasNature taught man to conquer disease, save shape of national reservoirs, to increase fertility, and to by ruthless sacrifice of the individual for the instruction give back their filched heritage to the people. The Trade of future generations? Suffering is her warning whether Guilds are to be re-born as greater communes, traditional for the individual or for the body politic of something inheritors of those England has so tragically lost. Within being amiss. It does notmake for greaterpresent effi- their strongdefence the wage-serf will regain independence ciency, but it directs the sufferer to the physician for the andsecurity, kis birthright of self-respecting manhood. hope and chance of cure. No longer will he be the driven slave of Industry, voice- But Nature’s protest is belated, your contributor says. less to chDose his labour, forbidden to give of his best by I’faith, even my own intimacy does not extend to dictat- harassed Trade Union or grasping profit-seeking master. ing. hertime-table ! Yet, is not the comment a little When that way of escape opens from the inferno of a hasty? It is surelyarguable that we areonly now soul-destroying prison-house, back into the sunshine of a beginning fully to reap the real harvest of the Industrial creative world, back tothe kindly brotherhood 09 the Age. WhenJohn Bright and his fellow Free Traders-- craftsman (whether his craft be of hand alone or aided by conscientious, Fate-driven, I care n,ot to dispute it- a machinery no more his master but his servant), when elected to sacrifice English crop to cheap production, that vision has fully dawned, as assuredly it will, on the and the public weal to privatewealth, they sowed the slow but deep imagination of the English, then, who lives cqof materialist tares we are harvesting now with the may yetsee again “Merrie England,”the England of wheat of our spiritual heritage as a. people. They sowed Blake’s high imaginings :- finally, that is, anddecisively, beyond remedy of mere “ I: will not cease from mental fight, clumsy legislativehoeing and weeding such as our Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Opportunist politicians affect. Thehuman straw for our Till we have built Jerusalem national a.nd Imperialbrick-making is impoverished by In England’s green and pleasant land.’’ the leanness of anarrow class vision, the true Nemesis and educational fruit of our factory schools. The ripen- To-day aPlutocracy enslaved tomaterial possession, ing grainappears as de-nationalised a capitalist and powerless therefore to give a spiritual freedom it does Oligarchy.The full effectson race vitalityhave been not itself possess, is confronted by a democracy increas- concealed, mechanically, bythe now failingcapacity of ingly concerned only to take on the same plane. thecountry yeast to leaven the town-made dough ; Freedom, like all great ideals, canonly come tothe spiritually, because great vital or devitalising stimuli do birth in fairest unmaimed proportions as the offspring- of not take effect in a single generation. fellowship, not of strife.The rich man with his plenty The big men and women of the Victorian era mere born must see it and seek it as well as the poor man in his of thevital stimulus of the Napoleonic struggle. The need. Will he?Why should he ? TheCapitalist has little men conscientiously over-rulingand under-govern- got the wealth and the power, and, seemingly, is well on ing us to-dayare, because theylack thebig human the road to ruling like a Pharoah over his chidden serfs. quality of spiritualimagination, the representativefruit Yethe has to-day aroyal choice such as no Pharoah of theinhuman devitalising gospel of cheapness and knew. If he has faith and vision he can lead the people private profit. I do not think the timetable is much out like another Moses to within sight of the promised land. in either case. He can rebuild among a’n unenvious great-hearted people The Woman’s Movement, in so fxr as it bears that that spiritualaristocracy which must ever be thetrue aspect, which none may wholly deny, of adeliberate guideand equipoise of asound-hearted democracy-the sterility, or unwillingand joyless motherhood,may, aristocracy of aservice which cannot be bought,but is perhaps, not unfittingly be regarded as “ the curse of an freely given. answered prayer.” Industrial civilisationprayed for One sees in thought a land where the natural leaders ~f cheap manhood. It seemslikely to get it. witha freemen hold rule,and neither flatter, despise, nor ex- vengeance. Religion has been finally called “ the mes- ploit thek fellows, where the wealth and leisure that no 539 generousheart can now enjoy,knowing it hoarded through the blood-sweat of the poor, shall be earned and TIHE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL,, spentfor the honour and greatness of their common country. Surely, the man who had played his part in such a re- making: of Old England, loved, served, and sung by her great sons of days gone by, would face death itself with a laughter in, his heart that few reveal as they face life to- day. Maybe, ’tis “ such stuff as dreams are made on.” Yet born for all that of the sober, austere pages of the English NEW AGE. ***CHARLES CECIL.

“ FINISH.” Sir,-If I may be permitted to trespass upon your space for a few lines, I should like to endorse the aesthetic doctrines expressedby Mr. Ludovici in hisarticle on “ Finish.” As he pointed ,out, finish has come to be asso- ciated with decadence solely because of the pseudo-artists who, following thereal (classical) artists,inherit their external form without inheriting their spirit. Mr. Ludovici’s examples were taken from painting, but the position is equally clear- in literature. In France, for example, the great classical tradition which came from the sixteenthcentury down toVoltaire and Chamfort, was afterwards mimicked by ‘the pseudo-classicists of the Restoration, and the reaction from theirsoulless imita- tions produced the fearful wave of nineteenthcentury romanticism. Precisely the same phenomenon was mit- nessed inItaly, where the weary, drearywriters who followed the grand literature of the Tuscan Renaissance paved the wave for Tasso and his hysterical company ; and this has all been repeated, moreover, in the last fifty years when, the classical school of Alfieri and Leopardi having been frittered away by their disciples, theinsane un- Italian revolution of Carducci and d’Annunzio has come to pass. In England, too, we can discern the same universal tendency. When Keats attacked classicalism, it was not the finished art of Milton and Dryden to which he was objecting, but the dry-as-dust scholasticrubbish of the followers of Pope. Thisis made plainby the fact that Keats himself took the classics formodels, in hisbest work (e.g., Milton in “ Hyperion,”and Dryden in “ Lamia ”) ; but, unfortunately, his followers were unable todistinguish between true and false classicism, and, therefore, eschewed both to produce Pater, Swinburne, and Wilde. The trend of romanticism, however, is always the same. By allowing anyone of howsoever little ability to fry his hand at artistic creation, it popularises art; and when a ~~- thing of the spirit has been popularised, it is ready to be carried out for burial. Romanticism is the sort of remedy Wilshire's MAGAZINE OF SYNDICALISM, for uninspired classicism that flood is for drought;the A ~-AI A last state is apt--or, rather, certain-to be worse than the first. The only remedy for all our aesthetic ills is a real classical renaissance ; but this cannot be achieved at wlll. We must wait the coming of anothergenius. Neverthe- less, it is our duty to preparehis path by maintaining the classical tradition, i.e., finish, so that, the statuebeing already there, the master will only need to quicken it with his breath. If we do not do this, if form and finish are notmaintained, future artists,like past ones, will have either to waste their energies on the hack school master work of inventing style, or to drown their woes-and their genius-in the romantic Lethe. WILFRED HUMPHREY.

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