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Gospel According to Judas Iscariot

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Gospel According to Judas Iscariot THE NEW AGE A.WEEKLY REVIEW OF POLITICS, LITERATURE AND ART. Vol. VI. No. 8. THURSDAY,DEC.23, 1909. THREEPENCE. YOUTH ! O MYSTICAL ROSE. 170 THE NEW AGE DECEMBER 23, 1909 CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE A CARTOON: Youth, O Mystical Rose. By John P. Campbell 169 THEGOSPEL ACCORDING TO JUDAS ISCARIOT. By Lucifer ... 179 NOTESOF THE WEEK ... ... ... ... ... 170 PSYCHICPARALLELS. By Francis Grierson ... ... 180 ANOTHER CHRISTMASCAROL. By Alfred E. Randall ... 172 THE NONCONFORMIST NETTLE. By Allen Upward ... ... 182 FOREIGNAFFAIRS. By Stanhope of Chester ... ... 173 SONG IN TIME OF FESTIVITY.By VincentO’Sullivan ... 183 EYE-OPENERSFOR ELECTORS.I. Tariff Reform. By O. W. BOOKSAND PERSONS.By JacobTonson ... ... 184 Dyce ... ... ... ... ... ... 174 BOOKOF THE WEEK : Love’s Answer. By Michael Williams 185 IMAGINARY SPEECHES.II. Mr. Lloyd George. By J. C. REVIEWS ... ... ... ... ... ... 185 Squire ... ...... ... ... ... 175 THEMAGAZINES ... ... ... ... ... 187 THEART OF HOME-MAKING VI. By W. Shaw Sparrow ... 176 DRAMA: The Blue Bird. By Ashley Dukes ... ... 188 ON THRIFT. By M. D. Eder ... ... ... ... 177 ART.CarterHuntly By ... ... ... ... 188 PROPHETIC PARAGRAPHS III. The Outragettes. By Alcofrida 178 INSURANCE NOTES ... ... ... ... ... 189 All communications for the Editor should be sent choiceof time and placemade the conclusion inevit- to 38, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, E.C. able. Mr. Blatchfordmay reply thatthe Man on the Patriotic Look-out, such as he genuinely imagines him- ’ self to be, has the duty of utteringhis warning with- NOTES OF THE WEEK. outconsulting the petty affairs of party politicians. True. But is there anything in Mr. Blatchford’s articles A YEAR ago Mr. Balfour waslaying hishand on his that has not been said a thousand times, that was not heart and declaring himself a House of Commons man. said only so recently as in June last, or that could not To-day he is a House of Lords man. Less than a year wait another month until the General Election is over? ago LordNorthcliffe, the now prospectiveMarquis or We have read his articles with all the attention due to Duke,was telegraphing from Berlin tothe “Daily hisstyle, no less than to his seriousness, without dis- Mail ” that the Germans were beginning to believe Eng- coveringa single fact that is either new or SO urgent landthe home of nervousdegenerates. To-day the asto requireinstant action. Nor have we discovered “ Daily Mail ”’ is the first andlast resort of all the so farthe smallest sign of anypractical conclusion panic-mongers and nervous degenerates, of whom Mr. other than Mr. Garvin’s, to be drawn from the articles Blatchford is the latest and, in our view, the most dis- themselves. tinguished. Yes, this Mr.Blatchford, the old and *** thricetried Socialist, the Socialist who twelve months Even if we admit-which we arefar from doing- ago declared in the“Clarion ” that forhis part he that Mr. Blatchford hasmade out hiscase, what, we carednot how soon the noble Germanscame over to ask, would Mr. Blatchfordhave the nation do? His degenerateEngland and put us out of ourlegislative appeal for “a man ” issimply helpless crying for the miseries,it is this Mr.Blatchford who is now in the moon. “A man ” doesnot come by being cried for in columns of the“Daily Mail ” raising oncemore the thispanic-stricken way. What verylikely may come bogey of a German invasion. in response to a universal baaing is a pretender and a *** charlatan and a wolf in sheep’sclothing. Of them we Ofconsistency in its superficial sense we take no havealready hadmore than enough. But what else is stock ; norare .our citations of thepast opinions of therethat Mr. Blatchford suggests?Two keels for publicistssuch asthe aboveintended to discreditthe one? That may be sense, but Mr. Stead has long ago opinions now expressed. On theirmerits alone such suggested it. To sink the German Fleet right here and statements must he examined, be their past good, bad, now? That isexactly what we challenge Mr. Blatch- or indifferent. Regarding Mr.Blatchford’s presenta- ford to demand.Yet everybody knows that thisis tion of a casefor a threatened German invasion, we precisely thecourse, not only open, butincumbent on have this to say : that both the occasion and the plat- any Government that really believed what Mr.Blatch- formare as badlychosen as well could befrom the ’ford believes. *** standpoint of Socialistreformers. Already it is evident Mr. Blatchford pretends to know, and not merely to that the issue thus raised is being used to obscure the guess, that all our Admiralty officials, all the members issues raised by the Budget and the action of the House of the Cabinet, and all the statesmen on both sides in of Lords.Nor could the choice of the“Daily Mail ” as his medium or the eve of a General Election as his the official ring of secrecy areaware of thefacts he occasionlead, we shouldhave thought,to any other himself revealsand attribute to them a similarsigni- effect inMr. Blatchford’s own judgment. As a matter ficance. Butthis we find ridiculous.Only theyard- of fact, the credit of Mr. Blatchford’s name and fame, armremains for statesmen of bothparties if such an hissupposed detachment from party politics,his indictment is true. Then it is not a case only of every reiterated admiration of Germany,and hisprofessed vote for a Liberal being a vote for Germany, but every intimateknowledge of German politics,have all been vote for a Unionist as well. Nobody is to be trusted- employed quite naturally by the Unionist Press, not by Mr. Balfour any more than Mr. Asquith, Earl Cawdor any means, as Mr. Blatchford doubtless hoped, for the anymore than Mr. McKenna.They are traitors all, purpose of strengthening the Navy, but for the purely liarsand criminallunatics. So, too, are the Admiralty party purpose of weakening the prospects of a Liberal officials,Conservative as well as Liberal. Theyalso electoralvictory. Whatever the merits of theGerman know the terrible facts, and wink at them. They, too, question,they are swallowedup in themerits of the are either in league with Germany or in mortaldread Unionist party. of theEnglish mob. They,too, are to be shunted. *** The conclusion isirresistible thatEngland had better emulate the wise opossum, and come down before Ger- Mr. Garvin,for example, does not hesitate to draw manybegins to shoot. If all ourparties and officials as the practical conclusion of Mr. Blatchford’s articles are in this state of traitorous incompetence, the sooner this : that “every vote for the Budget will be a vote for wesuccumb to Germanythe sooner will theagonised Germany.” Was that, we ask, Mr.Blatchford’s inten- farce be over. tion? Bothin the “ Daily Mail ” itself and in the *** “ Clarion ” Mr. Blatchfordelaborately and sincerely The truth is,however, that Mr. Blatchford has only repudiates any such interpretation. Yet, as we say, his one eye; a very keen eye, it is true, but not balanced by DECEMBER 23, 1909 THE NEW AGE 171 a second eye. Hesees Germany through it quite sions with Socialist legislation while the latter was. still romantically as a kind of superhuman power, relentless, mewing its callowyouth in theHouse of Commons. Despite the warning, the “concerted effort ” has been unerring,and irresistible as fate. He seesthe German made,only not for the purpose of .rushing a Govern- Navy not in fact, but in his‘ mind’s eye, Horatio, build- ment into extravagance, but for swaying a party elec- ing,building, and building. He hears nothing, he tion, and chiefly in the interests of the very party that knows nothing, of thecriticisms directed against the hasengineered an attack on the party of the people GermanNavy by Germans themselves. With the re- Meantime,the real issues are, as usual,being not revelationsof Lieutenant Bilse concerningthe German ignored,but silently decided behind the public back. While the Naval panic is monopolising public attention, Army he will have nothing to do. With the recent Kiel theLords and the Budget, Socialism and Representative Dockyardscandals he is incapable of concerninghim- tive Governmentare fighting out their feud before self. All hefeels is the terrible statistics of German empty houses. naval expenditure creeping up his back like the tremor * * * of a tale by Edgar Allan Poe. And meantime his other Butthat is thevery last thing we desire. Nothing- eye, thatshould be turned on England, is closedand is morefatal to democracythan privacy ; nothingis glued tohis pallid cheek. Germany is, he sees, build- morefatal to Socialism than apathy. Lively discus- sion of theactual issues of thepresent struggle is ingand building ; butEngland, he says, is doing essential,whether we win or lose ; sincewe neither nothing,nothing, absolutely nothing. True, there are desireto win or to lose by false pretences. And what a few toy ships nominally British in the North Sea, but specious propositions are being banded about on either whatare they against the statistics of theGerman side ! We have already more than once expressed our Navy? True, if you insist upon it, that every once in a doubtabout the bona fides of the official Liberals in while, veryoccasionally, a BritishDreadnought is theirattack upon theLords. And thereseems almost noroom for doubt now that we were right. Strange begunto be talked of as aboutto be built ; butMr. wild notions are issuing from Liberal sources of a need Blatchfordcannot see any sign that it is being built. for the establishment in this country either of a Referen- Thateye is closed. Mr. McKenna echoesSir John dum or of reformeda and therefore strengthened Fisher that we may sleep in our beds, but Mr. Blatch- SecondChamber. Both suggestions are anathema to ford’sopen eye, like the Irish hero’s that had a cat’s us. TheReferendum, however, is beingadvocated by eye, will notlet him sleep o’ nights.The new Cas- Mr. J. A. Hobson, one of the best-known of the Young Liberalthinkers ; and,ominous conjunction, by Mr.
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