CONTENTS. PAGE PAgE Notes OF TIIE WEEK ...... 585 FROM TELAIL TO THE SINDH. By C. E. Bechhofer ...... 598 CURRENTCANT ...... 589 CONSILIATION (From the Mahabharata). Fy Beatrice FOREIGN AFFAIRS. By s. Verdad ...... 585, Hastings ...... 600 MILITARY NOTES. By Romney 590 ...... READERSAXD WRITERS. By R. H. C...... 601 BELLES LETTRES.By Leo Minden ...... 591 CHILDREN FOR MEN. By Duxmia ...... 602 TOWARDS A NATIONALRAILWAY GUILD-IX. BY Henry Lascelles ...... 591 TEgE WAY BACK‘ro AMERICA. By T. K. L...... 604 TOWARDS A VOLUNTARy INSURANCE-4c~. By Margaret VIEWS .4~rjREVIEWS. By A E. R...... 605 Douglas ...... 592 THE APPROACHTO PAris By Ezra Pound ...... 607 A PILGRIMAGETO TURKEY DURING WARTIME-11. By llarmn- DRAMA By JohnFrancis Hope ...... 609 duke Pickthall ...... 594 PASTICHE. By ALice Morning,William Repton, P. Selver ... 610 THEIRISH IN ENGLAND.By PeterFanning ...... 595 LETTERS TO THE EDITORFROM Syndicus, T. M. Salmon, Mar- NEWSPAPERSNOBBERY. By A. E. Fletcher ...... 597 garet DougIas, Press-cutter,William Hare, s. Verdad, THE KING, GODSAVE HIM. (From the “Liverpool Daily HaroldFisher, Harold Lister, E. Belloc, David Lamb, Post.”) ...... 597 Ezra Pound, PeterFanning ...... 611 -~ . . - -...... - ~. .... - ...... ------communications relative to THENEW AGE should A12 wemean the creation of amonopoly of labour in the he addressed to THE NEW AGE, $3, Cursitor Street, E.c. unionsand its direction to theabolition of thewage- _.._-__--- systemand the collective partnership lof theunions eitherwith their employers or with the State, isalone NOTES OF THE WEEK. of anyavail towards labour’s emancipation; in short, REFERRINGto the“revolution in thespirit of trade thatwages can only beraised by being abolished. unionism” which the events of the last few years have Startling as these conclusions may at first sight appear, broughtabout, the “Times” on Wednesday deplored they are not only consonant with our definition of wages the fact that the recent Congress had met and dissolved butthey areconsonant withfact. Upon whatever without giving the nation a lead. On its own account, theory the labour legislation of to-day is based, it is no’w therefore,the “Times” was driven to say that“the demonstrated that even amelioration, let alone emanci- essence of trade unionism is collective bargaining.” So pation, is not likely to resultfrom it. After seven or it is, and so we agree it to be; but collective bargaining, ten years ‘of unprecedented social legislation, based, of it will be found, will carry us a good deal further than course, on the maintenance of the wage-system, wages the“Times” \has as yet any notion. Onthe following haveactually fallen both absolutely and relatively. day,for example, an important correspondent under Absolutelythey havelost nine points in the racewith the pseudonym of “X” suggestedthat a “proper” if prices ; and relativelythey have seen profitsoutstrip not a necessary complement of collective bargaining is them bysomething like twenty per cent. It is impos- sible,after this, togrant the Labour andLiberal and “collective contracting.” “ Letthe unions,” said this writer, “both of employersand employed, make them- ToryParties’ contention that in the end things will selvesreciprocally liable for breach of contract. ... work out all rightfor Labour. Labourhas already Trade unions could contract interse ora trade union fallen behindunder therules of Social Reform ; and could contract withsome individual or corporation of shows every sign ,of falling behind still further. Either, undoubtedfinancial stability ; such as a great (railway therefore, some new policy is necessary, or both sections company.’’ Ourreaders will see,even if the“Times” of the nation must see themselves drifting further and further apart into more and more mutuallyhostile camps. shouldfail to see, the bearing of this‘observation on *** ourrecent propaganda. It is by nomeans the only We sawlast week the attempt made by the City symptom we have observed this week of the growth of Editor of the “Daily Citizen” to dispute the definition theidea .of atrade union as a collective entity-as in of wages as the price paid for labour as a commodity. fact, a responsible monopoly of skilled labourand a No more,we think, will be heard of him. Mr.Philip principal in industry ; but its appearance in large type in Wicksteed, however, has now entered the ring with an the “Times” is interesting. *** argument more sentimental than economic. Addressing, as president, the economic section of the British Asso- The “Times” remarks, however, that the new move- ciation ,on Thursday, Mr. Wicksteed urged that ment of trade unionism in this direction is ‘‘unfortified psychology was at the root of economics, thelaws of by anyreal knowledge of economics.” Butthat is which could notbe understood or liberally enough simple assertion unfortified by anyargument. It is interpretedsave by reference to the human mind. We clear that the movement depends upon the definition of quiteagree with Mr. Wicksteedthat psychologypre- wages; and we are quite prepared to defend, when it is cedes economic,an,d, indeed, most other so-called laws attacked, the definition upon which our (case rests. That of science; but the matter really cannot be allowed to wagesunder the wage system are the price paid for endthere. Ruskin, it will beremembered, entangled labour as a commodity an,d are fixed by thecost of himself in! a trinity of ethics, aesthetics, and economics, production, that is, by the average subsistence cost o,f withthe result that nobody cannow say what his theproletariat, are propositions simple enoughto be opinion wason any of thethree ,subjects. Aristotle, easilyrefuted if they are wrong. And fromthese pro- likewise, as we mul,d easily show, nevercleared his positions follow all the deductions we have made with economic mind of psychologicalclouds; andPlato the beginnings, atany rate, ofrevolutionary effect : deliberately did not. The pointis whether we are to that legislation cannot raise wages ; that amelioration is plungethe subject of economicsback intothe gloom impossible; that no taxation, whether of land valuest or of psychology, metaphysics, ethics,and aesthetics, or capital values, can permanently enlarge the real income to continue to discuss it in the clear cold light in which Qf the working classes ; that economic action, by which PFofessor Pigou, for example,has recentlyleft it. If 586

Mr. Wicksteedhas any psychological lightto throw Wse said that Mr. Murphyhad more sense than all upon the subject, or can invalidate by psychology any thle Labour leaders put together. About him there was of th,eformulated “laws” of economics,we, atany no indecision; nor had he failed, as a good strategist, rate,should be glad to listen to him. But his address to reckonthe enemy’s as wlell as hisown strength. last week was less an appeal t’o reason than an appeal Addressing thce Dublin Chamber of Commerce onthe to the gallery. The amount of wages, he said in effect, occasion of its quarterly meeting, the chief business of was not fixed by thse subsistence cost of the proletariat, which wasto congratulate him on his campaign, MI- but by the value put by the buyers of labour upon it; Murphy said : The question is not onle of wages with in other words,its pricedepended upon sentiment. us, but of Larkin. Is Larkingoing to manage our This,we reply,is not only untrue in fact,since men businesses or are we? I saw that Larkin was the enemy payusually only what tbey must; but it is impossible and I laid my plansto put an end to him. I think I even as an ideal, since, at the best, men can only pay havedone it. Employers are moreafraid of a threat what they can. Sentimentmight conceivablylead us of a strike than they are of the strike itself. So I made to wish to pay more than the market rate for labour; up my mind tocounteract the threat by a lock-out. but sentiment would not enable us to payit while a During a strike thIe employer can generally manage to single competitor ‘chose to pay the market rat-e and nmo get his three meals a day, whereas thre workman has no more--and could find labourerson those terms ! resource in ninety-nine casesout of a hundred. Con- Psychology or no psychology,the outstanding fact of sequently, th,ere were so many people seeking employ- thesituation is that some labourers at leastare com- mentthat they would takeany risk to get it. The pelled to sell their labour for subsistence. But if some, difficulty of teaching the men this is extraordinary. . . then all. We agree with Mr. Murphy that the difficulty is extra- *** ordinary.That leaders should plunge or be plunged into a strike with half their army potentially blacklegs Thje remedy, we therefore say, isnot to wish that at the end o’f the first twenty-four hours,is culpable; employers would b,e social-minded enough to pay more butthat they sh’ould notdevote all theirenergy to wagesthan they need, butto inspire theproletariat creating a monopoly and providing commissariat for a with the desire toget all that theycan take. In one strikeis criminal. Mfr. Murphy,it is obvious, could sense, at anyrate, we agree withMr. J. A. Hobson nothave won if eitherhis fellow-employers were not thatthe yield of wages,like the yield sf rentand with h.im, or if he could not count on an armyof black- interest,is dependent upon th*e “pull”enacted by the legs. The former condition he can alwayshave; but wholeclass. Theclasses of rentand interest are, we the latter is in the hands of trade unionists. Un,til they know, tacitly or formally organised as onle man; so too, forswearParliament, offices, magistracies,and such almost,is the class (of profits. Labour,however, Is like gew-gaws for their leaders, and settle to the busi- still without a monopoly of itstitle to the product ness of making the unions blackleg-proof, their strength -namely, itslabour; and, in consequence, receives, will never be .equal to that of any Murphy in! the world. evencompetitively, less than itsshare. Suppose, how- **+ ever, that labour in itsvarious unions createsthis We are charged, we observe, with being anti-Parlia- monopolyfor itself-each union of men acting as one mentarians. ‘-‘Justice” charges us with it-the journal, as now theysuffer as am-the ”pull” exertable under notthe idea; for, in truth, we havenever denied the these circumstances would be enough, we think, to pull value of politicalaction tothose, at anyrate, who rent,interest and profit out of their orbits.None of already possess property. Parliament, we repeat, exists theselatter produce; but they liveby theirsuperior forthe preservation and increase of property, but not organisation.Beat them atthat ,and theycease to for its distribution among those whlo at present possess have any“pull” whatever. Mr. Murphy, of Dublin, none. Tlhe authority ,of Parliament in the last resort is strangely enough, has a better realisation of this than not votes, but tbe power behind the vote. And since the any of theLabour leaders whlo spoke in Irelandlast power behind the vote is economic power, the authority week professionally onthe men’s behalf. Moresense of Parliament is co-extensiveand identical with the than inhis speech at the Chamber of Commerce, or power of thecapitalists. Parliament, in short, will more nonsense th.an in their speeches in, Sackville Street never do what capitalists in general are not inclined to it would be hard to fiad in a week’s march through the do. Whilecapitalists have power in industry, they newspapers.From the reports in th’e “ Freeman’s must of necessity wield thecorresponding and conse- Journal” wle gather that our description of the Labour quentpower of politics. It follows,therefore, that if leaders as “ Parliament-mad,”is no exaggeration. the workers are desirous of meetingand ,challenging Ovser seven hundred people had been killed or wounded capitalismthe proper field isindustry and economics. in th,e city of Dublin in two days as a consequence of To go toParliament is actually to run away f4romthe Mr.Murphy’s attempt to discredit and defeat Mr. true field ofbattle. Even victory in Parliament would Larkin Le., trade unionism. You would havethought be of no value bo Labour provided employers in genera1 that the occasion of tbe organised protest of workers decided to retain their present economic position. What againstthis “Russian atrocity” would nothave been could Parliamentdo against Mr. Murphy, still more utilised fortouting for votes.Yet so it was,and f,or against a class (of Murphies?Shoot them down as if littleelse th.at we have been able to discover. Mr. @heywere poor men? But it is the capitalists who Ward, f,or example, warned the Irish that the English pay way lolf doingthings, namely,thme Parliamentary way, the Army an.d the Police ! The taxes paid by the pmr, was th,e “most permanent method of raising the status as we haverepeatedly shown, are scarcelyenough, of the workers.” Mr. Henderson had “only one regret when State doles to their class have been paid, to pro- morethan another, namely, thatParliament was not vide theIrish constabulary with bootlaces. On the sitting.” Mr.Brace undertook to discuss th,e report of strictest grounds of reasoning, the Army and the Police tbe massacre in “his stand upon the floor of the House are the insurance paid by the possessing classes to keep of Commons.” Mr. Lalorsaid that “the power of the things as they are. Incidentally, no doubt, they serve a wlorkers was in th,e vote.”Mr. Barnes-but we need national purpose ; but economically they are Pinkertons notcriticise. IVith one exception (Mr. Jack Jones), maintainedand paid by capitalismfor its defence every speaker was either a Parliamentary candidate, a against the proletariat. member or anex-member; and their display of solicitude **+ forleather, if only to be expected, \vasindecent. That Admitted that, unlessdriven by necessity, the capi- they contributed nothing to the purpose of the meeting talist class will not employ its forces to crush the pro- is clear. Mr. Larkin is still in prison, the men are letariat. It does not like to shoot ; and in that fact lies still locked-out, the police andsoldiery are still in theweak spot of itsarmour. Rather than shoot, the attendance, and a settlement is only expected to follow capitalists will spend any amount of time and ingenuity starvation. Of thetrade union leaders who went over in devising parliamentary means of making shooting un- m assist their Irish comrades we can say : mth,ey came, necessary. This, in fact, is $he origin of what is called they saw, and they electioneered. Social Reform. Rut two remarksare to be made 587

{;ere : first, that Social Reform has never yet been car- “SO far as the staple industries ol the country are con- ried tothe point of transferring a stickof property cerned,our hope isnot in the direction of destroying from the possessing to the non-possessing classes ; and trade unionism, but in working with and by and through secondly, that the pace of Social Reform is absolutely trade unionism.’’ Thatis not very far off from Our determined by the pressure upon the capitalists of the ownopinion thattrade unionism isthe hope of the world. alternative of shooting or reform. That capitalists of *** a revolution by force is, of course, a pathetic misunder- standing. Not for a thousand years will the proletariat Principal Griffiths appears to have created some ex- of any nation be able to offer its employers the choice citement by his evidence at the British Association that betweentheir money or their life. The choice that can “dissatisfactionwith the system of elementaryeduca- be offered, however, is Free us or Shoot US ; aqd since, tion is the prevailing sentiment” among administrators its we say, for some strange reason connected with jus- and business men no less than among teachers and edu- tice, capitalists do not like to shoot, freedom in the long cationists. Of IZI authoritieswho replied tohis ques- run is possible. Social reform, at any rate, is not only tionnaire amajority were of the opinion that the old possible, butis offered withalacrity where it is swal- School Board system was better than the present sys- lowed withavidity. Of socialreform under the pres- tem,that the method of appointingteachers is bad, sure of economic organisation (let us say, the power and that the curricula of the schools are over-crowded and the will to strike) without any political power whatever, that nomore vocational schools should be built until the workers can have as much as they please. It is far elementaryeducation hasbeen vastly improved. fromthe case that social reformis most advanced in Nothing in this, save perhaps the first item, causes us countrieswhere Labour is politically strongest.The theleast astonishment. We know, and so doesevery- two things in fact are in inverseratio. There is no body competent to form an opinion, that our elementary Labour Member for Ireland; but Ireland has had more education is in as bada way as it is possible to con- social reform than England with its forty Labour Mem- ceive. The sums spent upon it,the labour devoted to bers.Germany with itstwo hundred “Labour” mem- it,and the rottenness ,of theresults are about equal. bers is less advanced in political and social reform than Professor Griffiths’ suggested remedy is,however, a Englandwith a fifth of its political strength.But counsel of despair : he would like to seeSir Robert thebest example isthat of South Africa. Inthe Baden-Powell made Minister of Education with plenary Union Parliamentthere are five Labour Members- powersfur ten years. Hemight as well askfor the few, itis true, but the number does not matter. For moon. Besides, itis by no meanscertah that the years they have been demanding this, that and the other organisation of Boy Scoutsis or could beadapted to “onthe floor of theHouse,” and all in vain. Comes the organisation of boy-scholars. Some items from the amenacing strike on the Rand, with the disagreeable value in the latter, and the War- necessity, so fortunately damaging to the prestige, etc., former are perhaps of of theSouth African capitalists,and in lessthan a wickshire County Council has done well in establishing month the labour of years of political agitation has been the system of “Prefects” in its schools. But the condi- obtained. We do nlot say that the “concessions” offered tion of adopting anything is obviously liberty-liberty, by Mr. Malan tothe miners are “real” concessions ; if need !be, tomake experiments and to fail. The they will not affect wages, and they will only partially liberty,however, which Professor Griffiths advocated, improve conditions ; but we do say that if our English was confined to th,e two classes of least real account in parliamentaryLabour Party hadwon a singleitem our system-the childrenand the authorities. Between of the long list of reformsin a wholesession of Par- these two are the teachers who alone can make or mar liament they would haveparaded it everywhere as a anyexperiment. Tfo ensureany change wort3 talking testimony tothe value of politicalaction. “The de- about in education,the impulse must firstreach the mands of theTransvaal Miners’ Association,” opens teachers as a body and make them responsible whether Mr. Malan’s communication to Reuter, “are, with few they will or no. At presentthey are depressed beyond exceptions,being given effect to in draftregulations stimulus, devoid of self-respect,and in consequence nowbeing considered.” They include a Factory Bill, ,desperatelyirresponsible. Theyare aware that they anIndustrial Disputes Bill, a Trade Union Bill (for are not worth their salt to the nation, and, as yet, they thelegal recognition of Trade Unions), a Workmen’s see no hope of becoming- so. Instead of talking of im- Compensation Bill andseveral others. For those who portingSir Robbert Baden-Powellinto the system, it reckon progress in terms of Labour measures, this crop would be wiser to hand over the control to the National of legislation is not a bad harvest as a result of a single Unionof Teachers. A Minister of Educationwith any strike.Rut the strike, we admit, was disorderly. Its imagination would charter the Union to administer his leaders were not Justices of the Peace. plans and trust to them (an.d not in vain) to carry them *** out. **..I In the discussion of the subject of co-partnership at theBritish Association, themost interesting remarks The most recent returns of accidents on our railway werenot Mr. Cadbury’s,but Professor Ashley’s. lines show a considerable increase over the figures for Hitherto, with the perversity of mules, the advocates of thecorresponding period of last year.In the three co-partnershiphave been ignoringthe opposition of months endedMarch 31 the number of deaths has in- Trade Unions as if, in time, these would get over their creased from 245 to 284 and the number :of injuries from objection to suicide. Thepartnership offered, we have 2,189to 2,457. The suppositionon which apparently almys contended, must be partnership with the union the companies are allowed to proceed is that a propor- as a union. Anything less is a declaration of war upon tion of casualties is their due. It is only when the pro- the whole principleand future OC trade unionism. portion established by custom is raised that the public Professor Ashley,we areglad to see,took the same makes a fussor the companiesthink it necessary to line at Birminghamon Thursday. “The principleof offeran apology. The fact is, however, that the pro- co-partnership,” hesaid, referring, however,only to portionconsecrated by customis much too high for co-partnership as so far preached, ‘‘is the principle of merely mathematical chance. Though lower on the the solidarity of theworkmen ofa particularconcern Englishlines than on most lines abroad, the “acci- withtheir employers. . . . The principle of trade dents”are still numerousenough even in thenormal unionism, on the other hand, is the solidarity of all the period to constitute a reflection upon the management. workmenof the whole industry in allthe concerns Again, as we have already pointed out, the relation be- carrying on thatindustry. Co-partnership is therefore tween the spirit of the railwaymen and the efficiency of necessarily opposed by trade unionism.” Which of the the service is so close as to operate as cause and effect. two is destined to survivein the struggle for the re- With no claim to second-sightwe were nevertheless organisation of industry Professor Ashley is also clear able months ago to prophesy a decline in efficiency on about.Mark his words, for they are of theutmost the railways as the inevitable effect of the contumelious significance tothe Labour movement and to society : defeat of the men twoyears ago. The effects of that 588

defeat, we maypoint out, are not exhausted yet; nor ,surance Act, as everybody knows, was opposed by the will they be exhausted until a new spirit has been put mass of people likely to be affected by i,t; it introduced into the men by yielding them some point in which their new and revolutionary principles into social legislation; prideis engaged. Here, too, as in thecase of the it w,ashastily thrust through Parliament without dis- teachers,the real remedyis responsibility. Ifit has cussion; and it threatened (and has proved) to provoke been found that the colonies are more loyal as they are nothingbut ill-feeling. Butwhen all thiswas urged more freeand responsible, the same principle of dele- some two years ago, and we pleaded with the Unionists gated independencemay be expected to apply tothe who then certainly had it isn their power to defeat the national organisation of industry. Our contributor, Mr. Bill, tlo compel theGovernment to pause,they replied Henry Lascelles, a writer of unrivalledexperience in by assisting Mr. LloydGeorge in every possible way. railway administration, is of the opinion that some such Having joined the Governmentagainst public opinion delegation of responsibility (HomeRule in Industry) on a matter concerning two out of three of the popula- in the case of the railways, at any rate, is not only de- tion of England they need expect no popular support in sirable,but immediatelypracticable. No expertcan their present appeal for assistance against the Govern- read his articles without being convinced that guildisa- ment in a matterthat concerns notone of us in a tion oC the service is inevitable. thousand. We can go further andsay that even if the x 5‘ * Government should be so feeble-minded as to resign be- The political “event” of last week was the publica- f,ore the Home Rule Act is brought into operation, the tion of Lord Loreburn’s letter in the “Times” pleading issue lof the General Election, in England at any rate, fora conference on thesubject of IrishHome Rule. will. not be Home Rule but the Insurance Act. For this Fora season even sillier thanusual, the one thing to Act, far from becoming popular as it continues to work, be said in favour of the discussion is that it is, at least, is not even sinking into the oblivion of accepted habit. a trifle nearer reality thanthe “Times’ ” lastgoose- On every handand in every homeits effects are de- berry-the intervention of theCrown in thedispute. tested in proportion as they ace felt.And, what is At thle same timeit is far‘enough away from fact to more, on the next occasion of its discussion Mr. Lloyd be no more thana discussion for th,e holidays. In the George will n’ot be able to persuade the Trade Unions, first place,the nation, we should say, has had enough theFriendly Societies, and the Doctors that their in- of front-bench conferences tolast a generation. The terests are bound up with the Act. The Friendly Socie- conference ,thatmet in 1910came to no publiccon- ties, in particular, ace no,w aware of thetruth we C1USiQi1, and seemed, indeed, t,o have Ieft matters worse warnedthem of, namely, that in competitionwith the than theywere before. In th’e secondplace, it is well Industrial Societies, they would be run off the field. By known (f,or we published the fact) that on that occasion the time of the firsttriennial audit of theiraccounts, theUnionists were offered compromiseon tbe very they will know just how many of Iheir order must sub- subjects now in dispute. It was,indeed, with precisely sideinto bankruptcy; a good seventy-five percent. of the present contingencies in view thatthe Unionists them, we estimate.The Industrial Societies, on the declined in 1910 to come t,o any working arrangement otherhand, will prove, we arecertain, to have been on eitherthe Parliament Act orFederalism. Thirdly, onlytoo successful. That their agents are sweated is itis clear that,the first condition of a profitable con- no great concern of ours ; that they have superseded the ference is still lacking;the Unionists will accept no “democratic” control sworn by that god-like statesman limitation in advance,and the Nationalists will n.ot Mr.George tlo theinsured persons, is likewise not of abate their claim to some form of Home Rule. Finally, muchconcern. What is of paramount concernis that there is not the least warrant on the Coalition side for in a very little while theIndustrial Societies will, by a conference with thle Unionists on Home Rule or upon pooling their State insurance business, have practically any of the other subjectsinvolved in th,e Parliament Act. the whole administration of the National Insurance Act Few Liberals are disposed to risk a conference when in their hands. they alreadyhave power in their hands,and eo +*+ Nationalistsand no Labour Members. Tothe last- named the removal of HomeRule from the forefront In view of the certainty that the next Election, when- of English political issues is as great .a necessity as its everit comes, will turn upon theInsurance Act, both transferto Ireland is to the Irish Nationalists.As for the Unionists and the Liberals may be expected to pre- the official Liberalsthe passage of Home Rule-nay, pare promises of amendment. The Unionists, we are of this very Act-is indispensable as the final .,ea1 upon informed, are nosing about the bait offered by the sub- theParliament Act. Indeed,we are pretty sure that stitution of the voluntary for the compulsory principle. in screamingfor ,a conference at thismoment the Lord Robert Cecil, for example, has declared in favour Unionists are more concerned about t.he Parliament Act of voluntary insurance. So, after his timid fashion, has thanabout Ulster. Certainlythey need anexcuse for Mr. F. E. Smith. So, too, behind thescenes, has the retreating from their hasty promises to support Ulster powerfulmember f’or the “ Daily Mail,” LordNorth- in armed rebellion; but they will find anbe easily enough. cliffe. While welcoming any change that abolishes the On the other hand, they will be able to find no excuse odiousand servile cornpulsion of thepresent Act, we forrepealing the Parliament Act if once a Bill like would warn ‘th1eUnionists thatthe abolition of com- Home Rule is passed under it.Hence, we believe, pulsion is not enough t.0 make the Act effective as well thesetears. Th.at the position in Ulster is threatening as popular.Popular such a relief wodd undoubtedly w,e can very well believe; butit is not s’o threatening be; hut the problems left by it would still remain to be thatthe Government can,without consummate solved. It wouldbe all very well to leave thesteady- cowardice, abandon both Home Rule and the Parliament going tot make thleir ownarrangements as they feel Act. Th’eabsence of anyalternative Government-for disposed, and they would be grateful fo,r the privilege. the Unionists have stillscarcely a wholebrain among But th’ere would remain the class of thIe very poor who them-throws responsibility in the most complete sense -though God knows how--insure under compulsion, upon thepresent Government. England does n’ot butcertainly would notinsure if the Act weremade expect Mr. Asquith to resign in favour of a party that voluntary. How dothe Unionists propose to concede could not form a Government; but to go on and do the th,e advantage of voluntary insurance to th4e first with- besthe can under difficult circumstances.Probably outentailing the non-insurance of thesecond class? when the time comes, the Ulster capitalists, instead of We knowhow Mr. Lloyd Georgeintends to meet the fighting each other or facing the police and the soldiers, cry ofthle Unionistsfor a voluntary Act; we believe will be side by side behind the police fighting the wage- we h,ave goodground for saying that he isplacidly slaves.Mr. Larkin could easily settleUlster. lying in wait with a countercry at once mme effective *** andpopular; itiscompulsory, universal, and free Why there should be a conference on Home Rule and insurance;an the precedent of compulsory,universal, no conference ~oin thesubject of theInsurance Act, it andfree elementary education. What would the would be difficult forany Unionist to tell. TheIn- Unionists make of that? 589

Current Cant. Foreign Affairs. By S. Verdad. “Whichever way turn I find thegeneral public is asking for knowledge.”-E. REIDin the9‘Globe.” THE FarEast again-the Japanese flag insulted, 0%- cerS murdered, a demand for an indemnity, and, what is “Is a woman of forty too oldto love?”--“Daily Sketch.” of greater importance, for an extension of the lease of PortArthur, which expires,under present amange- ments, in 1923, when Japan would refusein any case “Life after death. ”-SIR OLIVERLODGE. togive the place back to China. Too muchnotice should not be paid to one aspect of the new crisis-for “What has impressed me most of all in England and crisis it is, and a serious one. We read of the infuriated America isthe spirit of social service.”-RABINDRANATH TAGORE. populaceattacking the Foreign Office in Tokio be- cause the authorities there were not taking sufficiently activesteps against China. The fact is, the Japanese “ ...my peculiar temperament.”-JoHN GALS- WORTHY. populace is always at the disposal of the Government ; and it is easier-though this statement will hardlybe believed-to arrangefor a Mafekingnight in Tokio “My friend, Mr. Hall Caine, in his brilliant letter. . . ” --LOUIS N. PARKER. than in London. *** “I be@n the day‘with a cup of tea and a couple of rusks, It is one of the features of the modern history of the then I sit down for an hour or so . . . then I proceed to Far East-by modern I mean the last century or so- take 3 bath.”-T. P. O’CONNOR. that a Japanese attempt to get d foothold on different parts of themainland was always preceded by some “People are no longer afraid of the truth.”--W. B. MAX- incident such as the murder of Japanese traders or offi- WELL. cers. Thecase of Korea will readilyoccur tothe memory ; andSouthern Manchuria has beenlost to ‘‘We see with very great regret that an extremely ugly Russiaby a similar piece of manoeuvring. It is a fair new word is trying to gain admission into the English assumption, in the circumstances, that no Japanese need language.”.--“Daily Mirror. ” have been killed unless the Tokio Government thought the momentopportune for another littleadventure, “In thetwentieth century there is going to be an either a short and sharp military expedition or a finan- astonishingintellectual uplifting, thanksmainly to the cialgamble of animportant character in somematter press.”--S~~GEORGE REID. whereJapanese participation was not wanted. If, in- deed, I did not know that this was the case, a glance “Mr. HenryArthur Jones promises us one more at thenews to be read between the lines of the tele- renaissance of the English stage, and we can assure him grams would ,be sufficient to assure me or anyone else withequal confidence of the criticalloyalty of allplay- of the determination of the Japanese Government to get goers . . . our hopes, liketow’ring falcons, awaitthis new avatar with receptivity redoubled and hig-h spirit.”- a gripon China.There is no reason atthe moment, EGAN MEW in the “Academy.” however, for her attempt to d,o so to lead to actual war- fare ; and indeed the condition of the Chinese Republic just now is such that a war is hardly necessary tu make “I think that everythingis to be gainedand nothing to he lost by Labour members who do not believe in the the country crumble to pieces. Labour Party attitude openlyand honestly leaving that *** party andgoing to the Liberal Party.”-RAmSAY I have often emphasised in these hospitable columns MACDONALD. the necessity, in Oriental countries, for a supreme head, asole ruler. When such a head is lacking,or when “On the whole, as far as sickness is concerned, the poor his placeis takenby a Parliament,the resultant dis- are nowadays well protected from the quack.”-“Daily sensionsand conflicts of opinionlead inevitably to Express.” disaster. We sawthe effect of thedeposition of Abdul Hamidand the Shah of Persia ; and I thinkI “Dr. Cassel’s Tabletsact more brilliantlythan any ventured to prophesyin this paper at the time that other medicine.”-ADVERTISEMENT in the“Daily Ex- China, unless tlhe circumstances were very exceptional, press.” would go the same way. It is useless to point to Japan, as so many people do here, as an example of an OrientaI “Mr. Bernard Shaw’s new play shows him at the top country which has prospered underaconstitutional of his bent.”-C. B. PURDON in “Everyman.” assembly ; for the Diet is even more under the thumb of the Emperor than the Reichstag is under the thumb “A walk through the London parks on a Sunday after- of the Kaiser or the Duma under the thumb of the Tsar. noon would soon convince the sceptic of the need for Unfortunately f,or theintegrity of China,the supreme Christian apologetics.”-“Morning Post.” power has beenvested in Yuan-Shi-Kai only at in- tervals,and then only afterthe most desperate and “It is the business of employees to serve the public, not cunningintrigues on the part of the old statesman. to engage in political agitation.”-Messrs. INGLIS. President Yuan had first of all. to deal with an almost intolerablefinancial situation, then, with a divided‘ CURRENT SENSE. country, then with Russian annexations and intrigues in “Much of my time is occupied in earning my living.’’- Mongolia,then with the rebellion in theSouth, and ARNOLDWHITE finally, after oncemore trying to master his financial difficulties, withthis Japanese affair. And hehas had CURRENT DRAM-4. no help. TheEuropean Ministers in Pekin, of course, “He prepares the cursed juice of Hebenon in a vial-in have rendered him some assistance, but not the assist- other words, in a glass of sherry--and is just lifting it to ance which can come fromthe Chinese people, and h;, lips, when a chunk of mortar from the ceiling drops fromthem alone. The President deservesthe highest on his head.”-“Evening News,” on theDrury Lane praise,for onlya man of veryexceptional capacity Drama. couldpossibly havemanaged to hold thecountry tto- gether in the unusual circumstances. CURRENT CRIME. ** * “In connection with my recent statements with regard We must now assume that the Japanese, after a care-. to ‘Jack the Ripper’ . . . ”-GEORGE R. SIMS. ful survey of the situation-for they never set to work 590 rashly-have cometo the conclusion thatChina may safelybe attacked, at first by diplomacy andthen by Military Notes. force,In diplomacy Yuan-Shi-Kai holdhis own can By Romney. withany 0riental in theworld, but if theJapanese Government decides to ignore the smooth phrases of the IT isthe evil of bureaucracy that men’s minds are negotiatorit will be difficult forPresident yuan to diverted by itfrom the essential to theunessential; oppose any demands it may care to put forward. Even from the spirit to the letter; from reality to the regula- if the Chinese army were united in support of the Presi- tions.Frfom a guiding principle law becomes a dent-which is much too large an assumption to make hindering one;energy and initiative are extinguished, at present-the country lacks ,the money, without which and in the end we are treated to the edifying spectacle it is difficult to carry on a war in the Far East, even of man’sruin at thlehands of themachine which he though the recent struggle among the Balkan Allies has hascreated for his own assistance. tended to show thatthere are circumstances in war *** where money is not necessarily the primary factor. +** When men have to managesome large institution such as anarmy, theysoon discover the necessity of Ido not wish atpresent to plague the reader with prooeeding upm some fixed plan. If you wish things long and dullreferences tothe various treaties which to worksmoothly, you mustwork them by rule. It !have been entered into in connection with China, either is impossible to allow one case to be settled one day in directly between China and foreign Powers, or between onemanner and a preciselysimilar caseto besettled foreign Powers with respect to China. I think it advis- th,e next day in another manner. Th’e injustice of such able,however, togive one short extract from the a proceedingand thae consequentuncertainty in the Treaty of Peacewhich concluded rhewar between minds of men will playhavoc with the machinery. Japanand Russia (September 5, 1905). Article VI Subordinates, unable to foresee whether any particular stipulates that “Le Gouvernement Imperiale de Russie course of action which thley mayfollow will result in s’engage a ceder au Gouvernement Imperiale du Japon, promotionordismissal, will eitherrefuse totake sans compensation, avec le consentement du Gouverne- responsibility altogether,or become reckless and take ment deChine, le chemin defer entre Tchan-Tchoun too much. Inshort, yo,u will becursed with anarchy (Kouan-Tchen-Tsy) etPort Arthur, et tous ses em- and t,he fruits thereof, which may be pleasing to some branchements,avec tous les droits, privileges et pro- palates, but which arenot the diet on which to feed pri6tCs yappartenant dans cette region, ainsi que an army. toutes les mines de charbon dans la dite region, apparte- *** nant A ce chemin defer ou enexploitation pour son To solve th.is difficulty h,ave been created regulations, profit.” precedent, andred-tape. Normal andpredictabIe *** occurrences are ruled by the regulations. The abnormal Thelast clause, it is obvious, is susceptible of very and unexpected issettled by adhoc decisions founded wide interpretation-especially in view of the final para- as f.ar as possibleupon precedent. Theabuse of this graph of the article, w’hich, with a certain grim humour, systemis called “RedTape.” ‘I’o a largeextent it is adds that “The two High Contracting Parties agree to unavoidable. Likje otherevils consequent upon our obtain from the Government of China the consent men- fallen nature, it can only be kept in bounds, and even tioned in theforegoing stipulation.” Japan herself is thatis onlypossible wherethe men whomake the now going tso “obtain” from the Government of China regulations and give the decisions are in intimate touch a few other privileges-not that she has had none be- withreality. Shut a ma,nup in an office withbooks fore; for the entire history of Chinaduring the nine- and he will become a pedant,and the more conscien- teenthcentury is a series of grants, concessions.and tious he is,the more pedantic he will become.But submissions. noman becomes a pedantwho is face to face with *** necessity, with real crises, real wants, and who, above The peoplewho advise us on thesematters talk all, hassome real task to achievewithout anytoo vaguely of a Japaneseoccupation of Foochow and muchtime t,o achieveit. (For, as weshall see, it is Amoy. Both these places aretreaty ports and British, largely out of leisure thatthe refinements of official pedantry grow.) tradehas a “right” to enter them.But then we are +** the alliesof Japan, and weshould not careto under- takeactive interference. Inthis connection, by the These conditions are at any rate reasonably fulfilled way,it is interesting to note that there are persistent so long as the men who make and interpret the regula- reports in Pekin to the effect that China is to borrow a ons are thle men who have to administer them. Such German general or two an,d two or three hundred 0%- men will see things in their proper proportion, and will Cers forthe purpose of trainingthe Chinese army in not need to bereminded thatregulations were made 6or theArmy, and not the Army forregulations. If the way it should fight.This little scheme is to cost, they evmerdlo get the rails and make impracticable this verydetailed andcircumstantial rumour adds, off so rules,the resulting confusion (with whichthey them- thesum of 4,000,000 marks, of which Messrs.Krupp selves will have to deal), will soon recall them to their havekindly undertakento provide 1,000,ooo marks. senses. So faras a human organisation can be pre- This, I think, was the only paper to mention the great ventedfrom decaying, this constant touch with reality interest Messrs. Krupptook in theBalkan War, and will prevent it. how, SO long as that interest was maintained, Bulgaria **** never seemed to lack money. It issignificant enough thatthese financialactivities of thegreat Krupp firm Rutnow let us assumean institution in which the should now be referred to, even if only in a circumstan- persons who make and interpret the rules are not the tial rumour, in connection with the unrest in China and personswho administer th’em,and where in conse- quencethe fool .is not “up against” the results of his ,the decision of Japan to makehay while theweather o’wn folly; where, in short,A can makeridiculous remains favourable. *** mistakeswithout ever realisingthat he has done so, simply because B, who is in quite another department, Various negotiations are still proceeding with respect hasto bearthem. What shall we find th,ere? My ‘to (I) the Bagdad Railway, (2) Albania, (3) the Aegean dearcompanions adversity,in we shall find th’e Islands, (4) the new Turkish boundaries, and (5) loans. “ baboo,” a despicable creature, who is at his worst in The Bulgarians, not being able for the time being to do His Majesty’sIndian Empire, but is in. no wise con- anything better, seem willing to allow Turkey to retain, fined to it,flourishing as he does in the financial de- not merely Adrianople, but Mustafa Pasha as well, gnd partments of the War Office, where he h.as caused more two orthree important strategic posts in the neighhour- harmthan any number of thosethieving contractors hood of Adrianople. whom he is so unsuccessful at keeping within bounds. 591

The trouble arises from that necessary but dangerous expedient,the division of labour.Your financial work Towards a National Railway having grown beyond all limits, you create to deal with it a specialdepartment composed of civilians or of Guild.--lX. military officers whoare practically civilians, and to these you entrustthe formulation and administration REVERTING tothe constructive side of railwayguild of rulesdealing with finance.And there your troubles working it is againnecessary to describethe present begin.These men rapidly become a law untothem- system of management in thosefeatures which are selvesand an affliction to others. They are not in most easilyadaptable to th,e proposed new conditions. touchwith the Army. They d.0 notunderstand, and The head of any well managed industrial undertaking cannot understand, th’e needs and troubles of the Army, displays one side of his ,business acumen by the extent or appreciate the effect of what they do upon th’e Army, to which he keepsintouch with the responsible If the Army works badly they do not suffer, neither do executiveunder him, and .encourages all ideas which theygain if i,t works well. Onthe other hand, they may develop into’practical utility. It dependsupon do gain very considerably,both inkudos and in the size of the undertaking whether this feature is one material advancement by any increase in the power of of merepersonal intercourse or a definitesystem of theirdepartment, in its bold overother departments, organisation. and in theamount of workwhich th,ere is for it to Thorough organisation is thle great secret of efficient perform. railwaymanagement. Each officer hashis clearly *** defined dutiesand responsibilities, but he constantly Again, in order to be able to meet the extra demands seesexceptional conditions arising which may affect .of war it is necessary to maintain during peace .a larger hisresponsibilities in common with those of oficers of staff than is needed,many members of which h,ave similar position at other places on the line, and even at accordinglymore energy than work. Having no real places on othercompanies lines. tasks to perform,these gentlemen spend their time in The machineryfor ventilating difficulties as they making tasks-in refining upon the regulations, and in arise, and forpropounding, comparing, and selecting quibbling,and in evolvingnew interpretations of old ideasbearing upon them, with aview to evolving rules,and so forth,all of whichis anendless worry workingregulations, varies with different companies to everybodyelse (however, as wehave said, your according to their methods of organisation. baboo does notfeel the results of that),but increases With allcompanies it is an understoodthing that their own kudos, and the prestige and influence .of their anyfeature out of theordinary course, which may department. contain elements likely to develop into some degree of **+ importance, is at oncereported to thehead authority This is, of course, a troublein other Government bycorrespondence, and the majority of smallerques- offices too. It is so serious that one would be justified tions are treated and settled in that way. in statingthat the characteristic evil of bureaucracy It will be evident,however, that commercial, con- liesnot in theneglect of work (as thosewho know structional,ortrain working questions must con- nothing about it constantly affirm), but in its unneces- stantlyarise that affect more thanone section or saryincrease and over-elaboration. I am convinced department as well asvarious places,and if allsuch that the machine would work more smoothly if during had to be personallyadjudicated upon by the general peacecertain departments of theWar Office were managerhis hands would be more than full. ‘forbidden to work more than a couple of hours a day. To meetsuch varying circumstances a highly For their own sakes they would then be compelled to organised company has a more or less strictly ordinated simplifyinstead of to elaborate; to decidequickly on system of meetings to which officers of the same grade common-sense grounds instead of slowly on imaginary fromdifferent places bring their conundrums for solu- ones; to letwell alone, and to retireto their proper tion; and incase of a deadlock,the head is there to placein the scheme of things. The financial regula- issue his fiat. tions,which now occupy, heaven knows how many For instance,separate meetings take place, more or warrants and books, would be shorn of their silly com- less regularly, olr as occasion arises for such meetings, plexityand reduced to reason; fior simplicityis of goodsagents of a district,passenger agents, can- inevitablewhen there is no time to quibble.But vassers,district goods managers, district passenger unfortunatelymen, and especially Englishmen, will superintendents,goods or passenger train superinten- work evenwhen work is not required-will make dents,concilialion boards ( !), andthese meetings ar’e themselves a trouble to allan’d sundry whlen nothing usuallypresided over by a district goods manager, is reallywanted except ,to come anddraw their pay. districtsuperintendent, goods manager, superintendent ‘Idleness h3s its uses. Wle all know what a famous of the line, or general manager, according to the nature statesman said uponthe subject of “toomuch zeal.” of the meeting and the importance of the subjects down ‘Incidentally, it may be remarked that there is only one for,discussion. nationmore uselessly industriousthar, our own, and Matterswhich have interestfor allcompanies, thatisthe German. And, what its bureaucracyis especially if theyaffect the raiIway clearing house nobody knows who has not come into touch with it. system and call for some definite ruling to be followed BELLES LETTRES. byall companies, are discussed by committees and For Poetry I do not care decided at meetings of companies parties to the clear- A tinker’s cuss--it’s bally rot. ingsystem; which necessitates regular inter-company But Poets are---I do declare- official meetings of thevarious ranks separately, such A mighty entertaining lot. as generalmanagers’ meetings, superindendents’ meet- Why, Burns was nearly always tight, ings, goods managers’ meetings, accountants’ meetings, And Baudelaire a filthy cur; mineralmanagers’ meetings, Continental managers’ Verlaine a pimp and sodomite, meetings,etc., and there are standing expert com- And Byron an adulterer. ,mittees of each to settle details and clearly define points Villon a ponce-his mildest crime- at issue,expressing opinions orotherwise as maybe And most ol them were quite as bad. ‘They had the dickens of a time- necessary for guidance of the full meetings. They nearly all were Foxed or mad. It is by a continuation and elaboration of this system And those who are alive to-day of meetings that a National Railway Guild would have Are just the same, or worse, no doubt. to work in the beginning in order t,o bringgradually Oh, when they’ve safely passed away, intoeffect a unified management,and ensure the There’ll be some spicy tales come out. development of every economy and efficiency. So though I do not care a rap Therewould be, of course,the essential difference What poets write or poets wrote, that the officers would be freed from all parochial con- If yarns about them are on tap, T trust that I’ll be there io note ! Leo MINDEN siderationsand the point of view be widened, SO that 592 thenational railwaysystem would beadministered as form of parasite in place of the usual benevolent a unit,and the administration be not hamperedby dividend drawers. technical adjustments of separate companies’ interests. Let it be understood clearly that a National Railway The reorganisationnecessary would involvemuch Guild need notcarry withit the appointment of a clerical work, but fortunately th,e unificationwould at single additional bureaucrat. One able Guild president, once set free a large staff for the purpose which at the selectedfrom the large number of eligible officers, present time isengaged on worknecessary only could be made answerable to Parliament and the public because of duplication of companies and apportionment for the efficient administration of his charge, and there amongstthem of moneys received forinterchange n.eed be n’o more national political influence introduced work. There would at oncebe available some two int,othe railway management than there is in the thousand officers andclerks of th,erailway clearing management of municipal trams. The latter, of course, house, and all those officers and clerks of the com- are subject to localpolitics, but to my mind,unneces- panies whose presentduties would berendered unnae- sarily so. If it is possible to define theobligations of cessaryby the new system. separaterailway companies to ParIiament by Acts of Questions :for consideration wouldrequire tobe Parliament,and provide machinery in theshape of codified as afirst step,and the proper commmittes the Board of Trade Railway Department and th’e Rail- appointed to deal with them, revised definitions of the way Commissioners for ensuring that these obligations responsibilities of themeetings being laiddown. are carried outwithout internal interference with the For a time the various officers of the numerous com- privatecompany management, it should not be diffi- panies could remain in charge of theirindividual cult to prescribe the obligations of a National Railway sections, departments of thesame character being Guild by Guild Charter, and refrain fromthe appoint- gradually assimilated and the whole line converted into ment of a swarm of Government officials to swell the new divisions. alreadyover numerous buraucratic officials which For example,meetings would benecessary of the privatecompanies have found it impossible to work followinghead officials, respectively, of allexisting without-and be itremarked that private dividend- companies :-Generalmanagers, secretaries, goods seeking companies do notappoint officials from bene- managers,mineral managers, superintendents, rolling volent motives with the consent of shareholders. stock officers, engineers,surveyors a,nd estate agents, It might be necessary to make certain of the exist- signaland telegraph superintendents, accountants, ing officialsresponsible for reporting annually to the steamship officers, etc. Board of Trade upon the financial soundness of the The matters for decision by these heads of divisions Guild and efficiency of plantand property, but even would arise both in themselves an’d by questions raised here this should depend upon the nature of the assist- at committees of, say,station agents, stationmasters, ance received by the Guild fromthe State at the stationforemen, station inspectors, and meetings of transfer of theundertaking from private companies, thevarious departmental heads mentioned in former and would only affect such officials 3s auditorsand articles. engineers. HENRY LASCELLES. In this way would be re-formed a system of manage- ment by which wouldbe stimulated ideas and sugges- tions of improved working from those acquainted with Towards a Voluntary Act. the actual conditions, with thme important incentive that savings of labourwould soon mean shorthours, and By Margaret DougIas. no lossbut improvement of pay in all grades would THE fight againstthe Insurance Act hasmade good follow economies;with thecertainty that every progressduring the past few months. The advocates economy instead of going to the swelling of dividends of compulsory Insurance Act seem to have disappeared would be reaped by the guild members themselves. silently and suddenly, leaving the lucklessMr. Garvin Undernationalisation, or company amalgamation, sole defender of the“principle” onwhich allparties individual general stimulation of ideas would be agreed so readilyin thesummer of 1911 Oh, n’o ! I missing, as officers and men would be required to must beg pardon,for, according to the “Leinster devisemeans, first, of reducingthe numbers of men, Leader” of August 9, there is ontbe Tullamore then of reducing the numbers of officers, in thefull DistrictCouncil a certain Mr. Graham on whomMr. knowledge thatthe ultimateresults wouldnot Garvin maycount as an ally. When a resolutionwas materially reduce the hours to be worked or effect any readfrom the Bawnboy District Councilin favour of substantial improvement of wages or pay. non-compulsory insurance,this gentleman remarked As I have indicated,many committees would be that he “thought the Actwould prove a benefit” and necessary, and I would carry the democratic system to addedwith delightful inconsequence, that “it would its limits by encouragingmeetings of all grades;for become a dead letter if it should not be compulsory !” theactual work recorded at suchmeetings wouldby Such are to-day the supporters of compulsion. 1 nomeans represent the full a.dvantages of them. The exclude, of course,from ,my reckoningthe large outlook would be broadened, and the capacity of every- employers of labour,thePrudential agents and on,e improved;ideas and practicalproposals would be directors, the official-minded persons who hope for jobs,, the natural outcome; and a spirit of understanding and and those who have gratefully received them, as being toleration would be generated from whichofficers and disqualifiedby pecuniary interestfrom voting on this men of higherefficiency would spring. question. But for these you may hold a public meeting When a choicebetween nationalisation oIf railways at everystreet corner from Land’s End to John 0’ andcompany amalgamations is discussed, the former Groats,and carry your resolution infavour of volun- tary insurance with scarce a dissentient voice. isalways associated with “ Bureaucracy,” andvague hints are given of the evils which would follow such a What has happened to all the good ladies and gentle- new departure,the assumption being encouraged that men who thought compulsory thrift must be “SO good nationalisation andbureaucracy are inseparable. So for” thse poor?Where are allthe politicians who they are;and so are companyamalgamations and declared (in a successful attempt to frighten the Tories) bureaucracy; andagain ordinary disintegrated com- that there was no other alternative to compulsory con- pany management and bureaucracy are inseparable. tributions but free insurance for all? Where are all the The one effective method of management is the bureau- lecturerswho taught the workers the abominable cry craticmethod, and, as I haveshown, we have it that the. manwho did notinsure was a “parasite” ? already. By steadilyavoiding looking at theactual I cannot believe that Heavenhas received all these facts and admitting them, the public is led to’ believe people, so I conclude that they hav,e retired to the dark th.at any scheme of nationalisationmust carry with it anddesolate corners of the earth to think out a new additionalappointments of numerousGovernment stock of arguments in preparationfor the coming officials. Then the door is open to political patronage, Insurance ActGeneral Election. and the way is clear to saddle the industry with another They will have noeasy task. The cold and un- 593 answerable logic of the arguments against compulsory Th,e money now contributed by employers, some nine insurance,the disillusioning experience of thepeople 01 tenmillions a year,could be raised by the State, undersuch a scheme,the simplicity of thevoluntary either by a specialtax on profits, or an extension of alternative, are all against them. existing taxes on thewell-to-do, or employing classes, Of the arguments, the first an.d most fundamental is andthis sum, together with the present State contri- theabsurdity of having tlo call in thepolice in order bution-Mr. LloydGeorge’s ingenious equivalent of to make men and women pocket a gift of money. The 2d.-would bepaid into th,e funds of theapproved meanest intellect can appreciate and take advantage of societies as a subsidy for thevoluntary thrift of the a 9d. flor 4d. investment, and the threat of a ten pound members. fine ‘on ,theworkers who hesitate to plunge into this The man who could afford the full weekly 4d. would speculation,must have the effect of raisingdoubts as receive the full benefits of thepresent Act; the man to itsgenuineness. One can easily picture th,e face of wh’o could only spare 2d. Iwuld receive a proportionate Lord Murray or Sir Rufus Isaacs if an offer ,of Marconi subsidyand could choose which of thebenefits he shares at insideprices h.ad beenaccompanied by a wished to obtain.Both men and women should be threat,that if they refused ‘tobuy they would be sent entitled to ‘the full benefits of thesubsidy up to 4d., to gaol ! This aspect of the Insurance fraud has been and any sums the worker could afford over and above emphasised with good effect at everymeeting held by thatamount would be privateand un-subsidised theresisters. Tbe Prudential agent, putting intelligent insurances. questionsfrom the. outskirts of theaudience, the Someslight financial adjustments should be m,ade. solemnly indignantLiberal in front, are alikesilenced Forinstance, itwould simplify thse accountancy to forever by thequery : “If theAct is giving gd. for make the present State contribution of “ thle equivalent 4d., why was it necessary to make i,t compulsory?” of 2d.,” or two-ninths of the benefits paid out equal to The working experience of the Act has been no less theamount required annually for reserve values. The instructive.Compulsion, coupled with the demoralising twoamounts roughly correspond, and though th’ere cry of gd. for qd., h,as induced a spirit that seeks to get mightbe a slight economy to theState, it would be backcontributions in benefits. Now, isitofthe morethan compensated to thse societiesby new sim- essence of insurancethat the payments during health plicity of administration. should bse considered preferable to benefitsand ill- A certainnumber of personswould fall out of health? It wasimpossible, however, to importthe insurance directly compulsion was removed; these would German Act without the accompanying German disease be,for the most part, clerks, governesses, school- of malingering, and our medical experts will now have masters,hospital nurses, znd some domestic servants. to focustheir attention-not ,011 methods of improving The money now spent on a subsidy for their unwilling health-but ondevising systems of medicalreferees contributors would be set free to be devoted to (a) real andinspectors, and forms of diagnosiswhich shall insurancefor unhealthy and uninsurable lives, now in protect the societies from the conscious and unconscious the Post Office section;and (b) freeinsurance for low malingerer.Here, as inGermany, we shall watch paid workers. the gradual lengthening of the period of recovery after N’o Stateinterference or control would b’e required disease as well as accident.Here, as there,the forsuch a schemebeyond a simpleform of Govern- referees,umpires, inspectors, .and learned treatises will mment auditfor the protection of thetaxpayer and failto stop the evil while they will throwunjust perhapssome machinery fordealing with the doctors suspicion Ion many genuine sufferers. The only remedy who aretaking kindly t1o Stateprotection, and might for “ pension-hysteria,” as it is termed on the continent, notconsent to workfor the Friendly Societies again, is voluntaryism.The friendly societies have already otherwisethe whole machinery of cards,com- realised this,and would welcomethe change, while missioners,and hosts of inspectorscould b’e left to tradeunion officials are stilltalking grandiloquently abolish itself, and the staff absorbed into other Govern- about th,e man who would not “make provision” without mentdepartments as opportunity allowed. Finally, ,the compulsion. This is the very man who being forced to sanatorium benefit should be takenright out of thae pay,perhaps out of .aninadequate wage, will tend to schemeand m,ade a nationalcharge. It is absurd to consume more than his hare of the common fund. attempt to stamp out consumptionby stamped cards. Contributory insurance is essentially a voluntary act. Theuninsured child requires treatment more urgently Son-contributory insurance, which the rank. and file of perhaps and with better hopes of successthan the in- trade unionists ,earnestly desire, and in, favour of which suredparents, but is denied it at present ; thelogical theLabour Party pass faint-hearted resolutions, has result (of compulsory notification is State treatment and been,made impssible by the acceptance of a com- all parties are agreed as to the grave shortcomings of pulsorycontributory scheme. Having successfully thepresent system. placedthe burden of insurance on theworkers, I do It is significant that whereas a year ago no, support not think any Government we are likely to get during could be secured for proposals such as these in Unionist thenext ten years will abandon the wages tax as a circles, to day the “Daily Mail,” the “ Daily Express,” source sf revenue. What wouldbecome .of our friend andthe ‘‘Globe” are unanimous in theirdemand that thePrudential under such a scheme? the Unionist Party shall make “no compulsion” one of Besides,it is unthinkable that we should hav’e the theirplanks at thenext General Election, while the courage to sweep away at a stroke of the pen all the reticent “Morning Post” has gone so far as to inquire : officials, inspectors,referees, ,actuaries, commissioners, “Arewe to continuepatching up .andmending this advisorycommittees, joint committees, makers of red- detestedmeasure, or arewe to listen, t,o thecry that taperegulations, cards and stamps. The vested it should,be made voluntary?” (July 16, 1913). Lord interestsare too strong. Wie h.avelost ,our power Robert Cecil has boldly advocated the abolition of C~OTTI- forany sudden, strong, and vigorous action of this p~lsio~n,and Mr, F. E. Smithhas asked whether the kind, and must be content with more gradual methods. compulsotry part of the Act has been justified by results. Thetransition from compulsory to voluntaryin- Even these two experienced politicians 1\41 be surprised surance is a simplematter, an,d need not entail any at the amount of supportthey will receive when their interference with the existing blenefits nor any ‘cessation party is publicly and whole-heartedly committed to the of thleir flow. For instance,the workers could b,e told voluntaryprinciple. TheLiberals who have writhed that at thme end of a given quarter they need no longer themselves into)all sorts of impossiblepositions, and bring cards to their employer, but should in future pay takenrefuge in every kind of illiberaldoctrine in the whatever weekly contributionstbey could afford direct attempt to defend th,e indefensible, stand by compulsion to their society or club. Thle employerswould b.e told and will fall by it. thaton an’dfrom this date they must pay wagesin Meanwhile at this eleventh hour the resistance move- fullwithout deduction, and that they had no further rnc:nt has been enormously encouraged by the formation right to interferewith the insurance arrangements of of a trade union committeehaving for its object the their employees. organisation 0.f a strike against the Poll-tax. 594

ticism which filled our newspapers at the beginning Qf A Pilgrimage to Turkey During thewar originated in theirgroundless fears. Inverte- brate, they cringe when scared,grow insolent Wartime. whenconscious of another’sstrength supporting them.Once assured of powerful protection by By Marmaduke Pickthall. thepresence of theforeign warships inthe Bas- pllorus, their demeanour became such as no other people II. Stamboul and Pera. butthe Turks wiould have endured-so 1 have beel1 THE views fromPera are magnificent. There may be assured by people xho werein Constantinople all the other charms about the place, but I have not discovered whi]e, and SO I can believe from what I also witnessed. them.Suddenly, in itspretentious, modern but malo- Bluejackets werelanded f’or their protection last N0vember when th.2 Bulgarian army broke on the Cha- dorousstreets there comes a gap in thehigh wall of talja lines-a crowning insult to the Moslem population ; buildingsand one sees the Bosphorus and coloured which, however, tookno notice, they could not be en- Scutari fringing- the hills of Asia, or PCt-haPS the raged ‘The only disorders in Constantinopleduring Golden Horn wit11 KasimPasha in the middle fore- tile war have been the brawls of drunken sailors from groundand Stamboul beyond.But enjoyment Of such the foreign warships. At thc time when the Bulgarians glimpsesis Considerably impaired by the insufferable firstreached Chatalja,and it was thoughtthat they nature of thepopulation, which, however fashionably might takethe city, a prelate of the GreekChurch in dressed, would Seem to consistentirely ,of disreputable Constantinopledied, and was buried there with full ceremonial, Turkishtroops keeping the road forthe alld offensive persons. Thesemake nothing of procession. Suppose a Roman Catholicarmy to shouldering you off thepavement, or dragging You threaten the city of Belfast-thc parallel was suggested aside with hands. No woman, I have been assured by to m’e by Englishmanan who hadjust come Turkish and Europeanladies, However modesther fromthe North of Ireland-and a RomanCatholic appearance,is safe from insultin these streets. Stam- bishop in Belfast to die just then, would he be boul is much to bepreferred in this respect. There allowed a public funeral? Again, on Holy Thursday of nlustbe decentpeople in theplace, for it is thc this year there was a freefight in and around the big Greek church atPera, different groupsof persons in Christianand European quarter, contains the embas- the congregation contending for theright io carry in siesand several churches ; but they have no influence procession the great cross. Men wsere stabbed and fell : 11pon the general atmosphere of vice and rank vulgarity. women fainted ; thegreat cross was broken in the Contrasted with the stricter morals and puritanical de- scrimmage : the bishw struck out withhis staff upon corum lof the Turks,‘ Pera and its neighbour, Galata, are thesea of heads. TheTurkish police upon, t,he spot a huge plague spot-a parasitic growth which threatens pro\-ed insufficient to put down the riot. A force of Turkey with corruption.Yet Pera and its population mountedmen was brought fromShishleh, which at- lengthsucceeded in restoringorder, and conveyed the standfor everything which thePowers of Europe wounded to the nearest hospital. esteemworthy of protectionin the Ottoman Empire. Well, suchis Pera.During my short stay there I One morning, turning off the main street where it nar- spentthe hours of daylightmostly in Stamboul.On rowssuddenly, I came upon a barber’s window with theday of my arrival I walkedinto Aya Sofia and a thislegend : ‘‘Rendezvousde l’aristocratie perote.” I smaller mosquehard by, of which I never knewthe stoodstill with amazement, staring.Specimens of the name. Aya Sofia had beenfull of refugeesfrom Pera aristocracy appearedwithin-smirking, self-satis- Thrace and Macedonia ; and though most of these ‘had fied, of haughty mien. “Rendezvous of the Peran aris- beenremoved tocamps (so-called)upon thecoast of tocracy.’’ To what a depth had a once noble word de- Asia, afew family groups stillremained huddled to- scended that it could be used to designate the scum of gether in thegreat cl’osed porch.Their appearance, theLevant ! I have takenTurks to see the barber’s theresult of Christianonslaught, might well have shopandshown them the inscription, theirto roused fanaticism in Mohammedans. As I was entering great delight. On my firstevening inConstanti- themosque itself, a Khoja askedme verycourteously nople, took I a walkupthe Grande Rue. On to be so good as to take off my hat-a thing I had nlot eitherpavement moved a fashionable throng of Greek daredto do, being us4e.d toArabs, among whom re- and European demi-mondaines, with their natural com- movalof theheaddress is still regarded asan act ‘of plement $of men in billycocks, crush hats andfezes. rudeness. He explained thathad I worn a fez I must Every face of which I caught a_ glimpse in passing was havekept it on. No otherword or look addressed to animalor cunning,and seemed bent upon immediate me, on that or any other of my wanderings, suggested pleasure. Froy brightly-lighted cafe came gay sounds that the difference of faith was even recognised. of music. Thepicture-theatres and a placeof enter- Some soldiers newly come from Asia, strolling round tainment labelled “Skating”appeared to ,be doing a as I was, joined themselves to me when they found, that brisktrade. I could n,ot butremember that most (of I could read the texts and holy names upon thde walls, the persons who keptpushing past me, intent upon seemingprofoundly grateful for thesmall enlighten- amusement, were Ottoman subjects, and that the Otto- ment. The KhBja whohad asked me totake off my manEmpire was fighting for its life not thirty miles hat, discovering in this way that I knewsome Arabic, fromthis main street of Pera,where th’e cannon at came UP presentlyand took me out to anadjacent Chatalja h’ad been plainly heard. What recked they? mausoleum where was a fine manuscript of the Koran, ’J’hey ,were Christians,and the Turks Mahomedans. the soldiers following He made me read a page aloud As Christians they desired the downfall ‘of theTurkS, in the right tone of voice, to show the custodian of the and ~~ouldhave liked to see a Christian king-no tomb that I clould really doit. There were Ma sh’ matter which-arrive as conqueror. As Christians Allah’s And thenthey all began totalk tQ me in they musttake their pleasure in aland Idgrief. The Turkish, of which I thenknew (only a few simple Turkish law accorded them this freedom : the Turkish phrases. I explained in Arabic my disabilitywith Police, patrollingthe long street in pairs,guns slung shrugsand gestures, and took my leave, amid a per- acrOSS theirbacks, securedit t,o them. Theymight fect storm of benedictions. have been restrained or chidden for their gaiety, their Though. it was still the month, of February (old style) theatres might have been closed until the war lvas over ; n.e enjoyed a spellof real springweather, making it t-heir lives were never in the slightest danger. But they possible to walkwith some amount ‘of pleasure. There thought theywere. A11 therumours ofintended mas- is r? vast expanse of ruins in the middle of Stamboul, sacres Of Christians, all thereports of Turkish fana- the work Of the great fire two years ago. Grey mounds 595 and bits of wall, with here an arch and there the pillar of a minaretleft standing, cover a hill-side sloping to The Irish in England. theSea (of Marmora;across which on clear days one By Peter Fanning. sawthe hills of Broussaand a shimmerof the SnOws IN the spring of 1895, 0’Donovan Rossa came over to whichcrown the Mysian Olympus.The pOOrer Turks, England, the sole object of theold Fenian chief being who love all open places with a view, have made of it to appeal to hiscompatriots in thiscountry to enable a pleasureground. Children’s kites of manycolours him to make some provision for his declining clays. A fluttered above it in the blue, no doubt perplexing the meeting of theNationalists of Tynesidewas called, realkites and crows and white-winged sea birds. and a committeeformed for the purpose of inviting Groups of childrenwere at play among the mounds, Rossa to Newcastle. I wasnot present atthat parti- lvhile groups Qf elders sat or strolled about, invariably cularmeeting, but in my absence itappointed me withthe8ir faces towards the sea. But the waste TV~S secretary of the undertaking,and gave me authority so extensive that one could he quite alone there. When to get to work. I issued the following appeal on behalf ~JICthud of cannon came out of the distance the noise of Rossa. Itmet with such a generous response from the childrenmade in playinghad a certainpathos. It the Irishmen in the North of England, that I was even- WaS the one sound of rejoicing in Stamboul. tuallyable, after paying all expenses, including his In the streets one heard no music and no singing- hotel bill, to hand Rossa Azo :- sounds so essential t,08the life of Easterncities that 1 O’DONOVAN ROSSA RECEPTION COMMITTEE listenedfor them. One missed the usual jokes and Dear Sir,-On Sundaynext, the 21st inst.,the laughter in the markets. Now and then the rub-dub of O’Donovan Rossa Reception Committee will meet in the a drum was heard ; a banner and a motley group of men Drysdale Hall, Marlborough Crescent, Newcastle, at three andboys, white beards among them, all excited, p.m., to make the final arrangements for the meeting in Ginnett’sCircus on the 28th. It is theardent desire of appearedat a street-end,marching briskly bo the dl who have interested themselves in bringing Rossa to drum’s beat. They were volunteers flor the front. Each Newcastle thatthe greeting extended to him on his morningseveral drums and flags set out and all day arrivalshould come withhearty Irish fervour from the longparaded different quarters of thecity. When representatives of all forms of Nationalthought an,d evening came and the recruiting parties met again, the endeavour.Nothing would bemore grateful to the collectionalmost always passed two thousand, often veteranNationalist himself thanthe knowledge that to evenpassed. three thousand men. And allthe while, him, as to the embodiment of the high hopes, the daring- endeavour,and the bravely-endured sufferings of the along the great main arteries trained troops, newcome past, the cheery welcome camespontaneously from all fromAsia, were tramping towards the seat of war. alike who claimed kinship of race withthe veteran There were soldiers upon every boat which crossed from patriot.(‘That the Irishmen of Newcastle have united Haidar Pasha to the Bridge, soldiers encamped at Scu- over my coming lecture is pleasant, and ’tis the greatest tariand Gyuz-tepeh and many other points upon the compliment I couldreceive. I do notintend at tlla,: coast of Asia, soldiers at San Stefano, soldiers in every lecture to say or do anything to forfeit that confidence. So writes Rossa himself. May I, 011 behalf of the Com- barracks of thecapital. One morning, when I took a mittee,earnestly appeal to you to enhancethe value of carriage to drive out to the Edeyrneh Gate, a long file the complimentby coming yourself, and inducing as ‘of men in khaki uniforms with grey shawls round their manyothers FLS you canindividually influence to come heads,each leading a sturdy Arab. ponycharged with and participate in the preparations for Rossa’s reception. hisbelongings, was passing my hotel. It stretched ;IS Let us takethe opportunity of demonstratingthat in far as Icould see in both directions.Driving beside welcoming one of Ireland’s Old Guard, we can forget all it down the hill and over the free bridge, I did not pass temporary and minor differences and listenonly to the promptings of ourhearts, which urge us to rally round the head ‘of the procession till I reached the open space me of the men of the past---one of the men whose labours beforethe Conqueror’s mosque, in theheart of Stam- and whose sufferings fired thecourage and steadied the houl.The distance must be quite three miles. And resolution of those who gave an aim ,snd purpose to the they were well appointed, well-found men, those soldiers National movements of to-day. PETER FANNING -no longer the sad scarecrows that ‘one used to see in 125,Terrace, Burt Gateshead. Hon. Sec. Turkey.Thanks to MahmudShevket. Mymeeting with Rossa was in some respects so. But if a stream of disciplined and well-dressed troops curiousas to be worth relating. I hadnever seen the flowed daily out towards San Stefano, a thinner, slower old rebel,and had not the remotest idea what he was stream of wretched sones set back towards the sovereign likein appearance. But he had wiredme what train city.One evening, when returning to myhostelry he would arriveby, and I went tomeet him. As I dong the Pera street 1 noticed in the dressed-up crowd stood at th,e station exit, crowds of people passed, but a tendencyto stop and line the kerb-stone--and saw noone appeared ‘to haveanything of the Yankee in t.he Levantinesexchanging laughs and merry winks. th,eir make-up. I \\-asbeginning t5 think I had missed Rossa, but justthen I observed a grandfigure of Craning my neck to see what the fun was, I saw :- a man approaching, standing well over six foot, wearing About three hundred wounded Turkish soldiers, walk- a light covert coat and .a big black soft felt hat, cocked ingtwo and two, and holding hands; dragging their h la Buffalo Bill. This will surelybe my man,thinks feetalong, with drooping heads. One or two, miore I, so I walkedtowards him, without, however, stalwart, kept up some kind of a song to cheer the rest. apparentlytaking no notice until Iwas brushing his War-stained,travel-stained, their honest peasant faces elbow, wh.en I asked him in Irish : ((AreYQ~J ROSSA 3” each withits look of pain,they took no heed of the I had conjectured that if he wasn’t, the question being amusement of that fashionable throng, trudging along put in Gaelic would pass unnoticed. My move answered withtheir grave patience-Anatolian ‘Turks,the most ’ perfectly.Rossa stood stock still and replied,with long-suffering and kind of races, to which no Power Qf evident surprise : Europe gives .a thought. Therefore they are dirt to the ‘‘ I am ; but-who in the name of God are you? ?’ (6 aristocratic perote,” who feed on them. Because they (‘Peter Fanning, your secretary, Sir.”

pray to God five times a day they are fanatical ; because (( PeterFanning Glory beto heaven; but 1 thought theyhave not -ken tbo missionschools they are bar- PeterFanning was an ould,ould man.” A12d then we barians ; andwhen they come back mounded in their both burst out laughing. country’scause, their condition is fit themefor gibes What sort of a man was Rossa? Well I will let him andlaughter. They had the presumption tofight for speak for himself- their ,own landagainst superior, civilised Christians Westgate, Bradford. who desire to take it. It is a joke to see how well they 28th March, 1895 have been hacked about. The Christians line their Via DEARPETER FANNING I got your letter this Thursday night. ~11is well, so hr. I will stay in Newcastle Dolorosa. They :trc jeered at in thestreets of their wherever yon think well of. T TI?!: easily managed wlicr: own capital.Ah, the fanaticism of the ‘Turks, dear in ttle hands of friends--:rntl i:! fl!,: hands OI enemies tw Christian brethren ! ---if ttley clon’t set about trampling 1rpot: r:le entirely. 596

seeingthat he washopeless I broughttbe interview The subject of my lecture will be : “&ly Life h Ten of England’s Prisons’’ ; and I will stick to that as near as a to a close,by remarking :- “Well,sir, I hope you’ll return,and contest New- dead man can.-Yours, as ever, O’DONOVAN ROSSA. castleagain.” Then Morley let out, much to my astonishment,an,d with voiceand manner made Rossa kepthis word, and confined himself tohis a vicious by defeat : “ No, sir, I would not represent New- prison,experiences. And yet I was sorry to discover castle again if they gave m,e the seat without a contest. that there were still to be found Englishmen who could Nine years’ persistent lying is as much as I can stand.” not forgive him, because of the injuries they had done Jike a Bash of lightningthere recurred to my mind io him and Ireland. Two days .aftjer Rossa’s meeting a leading citizen of a scene of which I hadquite unexpectedly been a Newcastlesent for mybrother Dan, who afterwards witness. Morley’s referenceto the “nine years’ per- of reported to me the following conversation :-- sistent lying,” was, course, to the attacks persistently madeupon him in the “ Newcastle Chronicle” by Joe Would YOU mindtelling me, Mr. Fanning,what was theobject of O’Donovan ROSSA’S visit to Tyne- Cowen. But I realised in a moment that for some time Cowen had been doing his “lying” by deputy, an,d that :;ide ? ” “~oraise money-to make provision for his wife and J. I,. Garvin was the deputy liar. Here at last was the solution to a matter which had family, I understand.” ‘(What did his meeting realise?” puzzled mefor some time. I had become conscious for at least a year b.efore this that Garvin was playing “My brother tells me he handed Rossa ;G‘20.’’ ‘‘ Had your brother come to’ me I would have given the double on us, that his n’ow infrequent visits to our him A25 to give to Rossa to stay away.” league meetingsalways had some ulterior object; but T ,coul,d not fathom what it really was. Now, however, ‘‘ SO now, my lad, ” concluded Dan, “ hand in your resignationto-morrow. Offer no remarks,and you’ll I comprehendedthe whole position. He hadsimply been usicng us as a stickin thme interest of his be asked no questions.” Inplain English, Rossa cost me my employment. I employerto wallop his master’s political enemy, Mr. got the sack in a gentlemanly manner. John Morley. Th,atrevelation sealed thedoom of theParnellite At the General Election of the Parnellites took 1895 party. We had every wish and every desire to support the field in opposition to Mr. John Morley. Mr. Morley, John Redmond and the Parnellite party in Parliament, :)f “ Morley’s Mile,” a circumference of six miles of but we had no intention of allowingourselves to be protected countrywhich (‘honest” John had provided weld in a personal quarrelbetween two Englishmen. forevery land grabber, was n,otlikely to receiveany With the discovery that such was the purpose for which countenance .or support. from the followers o€ ParneIl. Mr.Garvin was using LIS, theParnellites .as an .\nd the result of our opposition effected the defeat of organisedpolitical force ceased to exist. But we never Morley in Newcastle. ceased to take our part in political and public affairs. On arriving home from work, on the evening of the In 1897 I received the following note :- day the poll was declared, 1 was informed, : “There is ;L gentleman in the sitting-room who wishes see YOU. January 12, 1897. to Dear Sir,-Could you make it convenient to meetme He has been waiting here the last four hours.” at theGateshead station to-morrow, Wednesday, 13th I enteredthe room and was confronted by a small, January, by thetrain which leaves here at 11.20 a.m. ? middle-agedman, who addressed me : “Are youone I am spending the day in Newcastle, and wouli like to of Michael Fanning’s sons?” have a chatwith you. Yours truly, JOHN DALY. “Yes sir, the youngest.’’ I met Mr.Daly at thetime and place mentioned “ Ah-I knew your father very well-and I often saw above,‘and the outcome of our“chat” was that I yourself when you were a child.” undertook to organise a public meeting to raise money “ Indleed-then you’ll be ?” for the “Prisoners’ Aid Fund.” “JamesEgan., sometime of Portlandand various The Parliamentarians on this occaslon did everything other establishments of Her Most Gracious.” possible to makethfe meeting a failure,because, as “Put it thmere-what can I do for you?” they alleged, it would interfere with their annual mutual “I bring YQU a commission from the Old Guard which admiration meeting, where they forgather and indulge I hope YOU will accept. We wishyou tosee Morley, in bellyfuls of self-glorification. Ourmeeting, how- ;md ascertainfrom him what are the prospects of ever, proved in every way a success, and after paying release for the political prisoners.” all expenses, I was abl,e to hand &20 to th’e Prisoners’ “Wait till I change my clothes, an’d we’ll settle that Aid Fund. question to-night.” Whatsort of menwere these terrible Fenians? In a short time, accompanied by Egan, I was on my Surelyone who had served some thirteen years in way to Newcastle. Arrived in the city I soon discovered prisonmust be an awful brute ! Not a bit of it, my thatMr. Morley was still at theLiberal Club. I gentle reader, as you will see from th’e following note. calculated that while suffering the stings of defeat, the Mr.John Daly is just as humanand kindly Irish of RightHonourable John would remain under cover till the Irish, after all his terrible experiences, as any man 1he streets had cleared and he could pass abng without on,c could meet :- beingrecognised. My surmiseproved to b’e correct, ThomasStreet, Limerick, fornight was well advancedwhen I observed him 16th February, 1897. with Dr. andMrs. Spence Watson leave the club. DEAR FANNING,-After a grand ramble by the dear old Stalkingthe party till theywere well alongColling- ShannorShone with four of my nieces, I found your wood Street, I suddenlyslipped across the street and letter, and am pleased to hear that all is well. presented myself andbusiness to Mr. Morley, sans Ry all means, I willdine with Mrs. Fanning- on that day, and as I am in a divil of a hurry for the post,- ceremony. Theright honourable gentleman was Believeyours, me, JOHN DALY. courteous,but blandly ignorant. I nevermet before To or since an acknowledged knowledgable man whl. was securethe release of the political prisoners, we on Tynesidepromoted a petition toParliament. I still sr) chock full of ignorance as Morley pretended to be on t 1.1 is occasion. possess threlist of signatures of those who signedthe “Oh,yes ! He was chief secretary,but he had no petition, and-it is one of the pleasantest documents I knowledge of thme politicalprisoners, neither h,ad he have.The names includeonit Orangemen and 2:?y power orauthority.” In fact, he hew nothing Nationalists,Protestant, Catholic, and Nonconformist, and hadnothing, poor fellow ! Atthis moment Egan shipowners,bankers, aldermen, councillors, and public came forwardand stood in thegutter. I formally men of every degree. We aremost decidedly coming presented him to the chief secretary, d I shall never toknow each other better, .and when in a fewyears forget thelook of amazementwhich appeared on Ireland blegins tobound forward in prosperity under Morley’s. face at thesight of Egan. f got Morley to theguidance of a nativeParliament, men will begin repeat hisremarks f.or the benefit of Egan,and then to wonder why they ever opposed its establishment. 597

Surely the function of a newspaper is to give news, Newspaper Snobbery. and .certainly the modern newspaper gives us plenty of A. E. Fletcher. news about what the worst men and women are doing, By but precious little about what the best men and women M~.ROBERT DONALD in his Presidential address at the are thinking. yearly meeting of the Institute of Journalists gave US When, during the Boer war the late Wiilhelm Lieb- a graphic, but somewhat harrowing description of the knecht, M. Jaures, and Van de Veldte came to address journalisticmethods of thefuture. The hurry-scurry a great meeting in St.James’s Hall theyattracted so of the present system of newspaper production and dis- great a crowdthat every inch, of standing room was tribution, Mr. Donaldtells us, isquite leisurely Can- packed and thousands had to be turned away from the pared with what it is likely to be in the future. When doors. Thesethree leaders of threegreat parties in airshipsdarken the skies and the telephone and wire- three Parliaments of Europe delivered the must inspired less telegraphy a.re developed, newspapers will be turned addresses I have ever listened to-yet they were not re- out at a speedwhich the uninitiatedreader of to-day ported by asingle London morning newspaper. The does not dream of. Mr. Donald, went on to say that he “Manchester Guardian,” however, to its credit, devoted thought the new journalism was better written and on two columns to a report of themeeting. Of course, the whole an improvementon the old. I do not quite when London newspapers can find room for giving por- agreewith that view. Comparedwith the old traits of a series of babieswho are likely to become journalism which flourished befo,re the paper duty was ruling princelings if they live long enough, it is not to abolishedby Mr. Gladstonein 1861, thepresent-day be expected that space c,an be found for a record of im- newspapers,with rare exceptions, are frivolous. As portant events. regards intellectual power, accuracy of information, and Th.e curse of the modern Press is that it is controlled literarystyle, present-day journalism compares un- for the most part by capitalistic syndicates in the in- favourably with. that of the days of Leigh Hunt, Fon- terests ‘of capitalism. It was not always so. In the old blanque, John Black and Delane. They did nlot toady to days menwith more of thattrash, of which Shake- royalty as modern editors do to an extent that must give speare speaks, than they needed, subsidised newspapers thoughtful peGple the impression that the bulk of the forpropagandist (purposes. They were run by great British nation are flunkeys. Itdoes not matter how parties for great ideas rather th’an for profit. Now they worthless the royalties are their movements are recorded arerun for dividends, and whendividends are your as though the world could not go round without them. mainpurpose in life thereis no room for nobility of The ex-King Manoel cannot take his walks abroad with- ideas or conduct. Thje ,dividend-huntingnewspaper out being snapshotted. Yet with his entourage here he proprietors imagine that snobbery pays and that reports is intriguingagainst the Portuguese republic. I re- of vice are moreprofitable thanreports of virtue. I member that when the present King of Spain was just- thinkDe Quincey was ‘right when hesaid that the out of hisswaddling clothes an allegedRadical daily criminal courts frequently lift the curtain from domestic paperannounced in big type with full headline ‘‘from interiorswhich, whenrightly described, teach. a great ourMadrid Correspondent” that his infantile majesty moral lesson. What, however, all right-thinking people hadsuccessfully undergone theoperation of having ought to object to is the tendency of the modern Press his hair cut. t,o give tpo much prominence to crime and flunkeyism, I like to read of the doughty deeds of the old andtreat them in away which ratherappeals to the journalists whowere certainly not snobs. Leigh Hunt worst than to the best instincts of humanity. was sent to prison and heavily fined for telling the truth about George IV. When Albert “the Good” came over from Saxe-Coburg as the betrothed of Queen Victoria King, Save one of the papers of the day had a picture of him with The God Him a carpet-bag in one hand and his other on the knocker of the front door of Buckingham Palace. As flor style, From His Friends. think of the days of the old Whig organ, “The Morning “The Truth Will Out,” even in the ‘6 Liverpool Daily Chronicle,” under the editorship of the able, scholarly, Post.”! andoutspoken John Black to whosememory Dickens has paida noble tribute. Black wasthe discoverer of PRELUDE. Dickens, and had on his staff also Thackeray (who was “Gentlemen,the King.” “The ‘King, God bless him.” certainly no ,worshipper of royalty), Campbell the poet, Such is the toast that is drunk heartlly in every part of theother Campbell, afterwardsLord Chancellor, ana the world. As theKing is becoming more and more endeared to his people, it may be of interest in this HenryBrougham, also afterwardsLord Chancellor. column to attempt to set forthwhat manner of man he is. Black was not only a scholar but a man of fine charac- Thousands who know of and revere him will care for some ter.Once, when he called at DowningStreet, Lord intimate details about his personality. Melbournesaid to him, “Mr. Black, you arethe only A NON-ENTITY. man who comes to see me who never remembers who The feeling of respect for his Majesty becomes intensi- I am_; YOU forgetthat I amthe Prime Minister of fied the closer the environment to his person. One of the England.” Black began to apologise,whereupon Mel- late Sir W. S. Gilbert’s characters was called the Slave of bourne continued, “Don’t apologise, Mr. Black. Every- Duty, and that is the leading characteristic of our Sove- body elsewho comesto seeme does remember who reign. No cne of allhis subjects could be more can- I am, and I wish they would,n’t. Theyremember be- scientious; no one so persistently anxious not 011ly to do what is right, but so absolutely self-effacing in the matter cause they know that I have patronage and offices to of his own personal wishes. bestow. But you havenever askedme foranything, and I wish you would,because I am anxious to Serve A MILKSOP. Black answered, “I thank you, my lord,but I His Majesty is a most abstemious man, notfond of you.” champagne, but, as a rule, drinking a light white mine of like my business. I amcontent with my pay; I want whisky well diluted in Perrier. Ne has a good appetite, nothing.” Then Melbourne, who was a great swearer, and liltes meals less restricted in length than those made said, “By God, Mr. Black, I envy you, and you are the fashionable by the example of King Edward. Unlike his only man I ever did envy.” Yet Black to his credit died father,he is fond of sweets, creams, ~ces,and fruit, a poora man. Whenworn out with hardship ‘and whereas the elder Monarch preferred savouries. The fatigue, endured in the service of his paper, he had to King loves a good English cheese b,oth at lunch and when he is dining quietly. He is a considerable smoker, though sell his fine library to eke out a small annuity, on which he rarely has nmre than one pipe a day, and cigarettes are he lived for the remainder of his days. Neither editors forstray moments. Helikes a choice, somewhat mild nor proprietors had then begun to play up for baronet- cigar, and it is not unusual for him to cOnSume a dozen cies or knighthoods. a day. 598

A DUMMY. hardly an inchbroad. My otherleg hung loose. I IU private life he is the simplest and quietestof English tried ,toturn and get back along the path, but, as I gentlemen. By habit he is inclined to be taciturn, but as moved, my foot slipped off the ledge and I found myself it is not etiquette to address him unless he first speaks, lying spread on the steep face of the slope. Below me he is for ever breaking his own tendency to silence. Even itran sheer dlown three or four hundredfeet tothe SO the King is not a man of many words, and though a good listener, he has not ‘his father’s knack of getting the stony river-bed wh.er,e th’e tossing river dashed .against utmost information out of everybody he came across. King the ‘timbers of the little bridge that le’d across to the Edward was blessed with auinfinite curiosity on every woodenhouses of the village. Therewas nothing to subjectand a portentous memory. King George pos- clutchbut rare and vainblades of grass. I tried to sesses a conscientious feeling that he ought to set every- dig my fingersinto the soil,but it was too hard; nor body at their ease, but his own range of interests are more could I do anything but press my bare knees and elbows limited. hardagainst the slope. I knew that if I relaxed my A DUFFER. pressure, I should slide d,own,the hillside in an instant. As headvances in middleage, though he: has no tell- dency tocorpulence, theKing finds an increasing need I had no fear at all, for I did notbelieve it possible fo’r exercise, which is whyhe not 011ly ridesevery day to die then. With my che,ek rubbing the soil, I shouted when in London,but generally manages to obtain a set .a “,Koi hai !” and, at once, I saw a man in thse village of lawntennis. Indeed, inthe grounds of Buckingham far beneath, com,e out of his house by one of its little Palace, he has often ha,d a’s many as half-a-dozen sets in shuttered(openings, look up, and immediately rush off an afternoon. He is not a good server, but is strong when to my rescue. Hecame tearing up thewall of rock, close tothe net, though he moves rather slowly. Golf leapingbarefooted like one of hisgoats. “Sahib ! possesses no interest fcr him, andthough he once in a Sahib !” he screamed, with tears of excitement running way plays a hundred np nt billiards, he can seldom make a break of twenty. down his face. Then I felt as if I were slipping, appallinglyslowly, HENPECKED. What does interest the King beneath his courteous, if not by distance, but, indeed, by degrees of relaxation. perfunctory,general demeanour? First of all his o\vn I clung looser and looser ; still I couldnot dig a grip children. He% the most domestic of men, the kindest of with my finger nails.Soon I must slip a twentieth of fathers, and always happyin the bosom of his family. an inch, thenaquarter, then an inch, then--three It is no secret that. tlLe Queen has tlLe maG.1 voice in direci- hundred feet.Yet I knew myself safe. Theman came ing thetrend o/ all the education of theiychildren. Rnt upnearer withhideous grimaces and cries. I thanked it must not be thought that the Kingis a domestic cypher. Heaven hte was a villager and niot a timid Kashmiri (of On the contrary, he not only occupies himself with every thfetown, an idiotic gillyin a crisis. My knees went detail about all his offspring, but when he thinks it right atlast, and, with a scrape my body tautened, my he insists on having his own may. elbows came away from the soil, and, just as rz7y whole A POORHORSEMAN. body commenced to ‘move, the villager reached me and Next to his children, theKing best likesagriculture. clasped me firmly by the hand. Likehis father. he is very keen onfarming, and much interested in all that concerns the land; but he has pl-ac- Barefooted, he walked along almost with ease below ticallyno time fur this. He :~qou.Zd have made a capital thle path,supporting me with his grip as I clambered countrygentleman, buthe would never have b,een :tn back tso it and along to the road. “Sa’ib,” h,e sobbed, M.F.H., for he is not keen on hunting and has not n “thiswas nota path for chaplies.” Looking down, I particularly good seat when riding.His horsesare all found thatHarper and Boyle, and on,e or two of our trained to be docile to a degree ; not one of them will flinch coolieshad started t,o run to my rescue,but none of at the loudestcrack of awhip or if a pistol is fired off themcould possibly have reached me in time. I had close to its ears. never doubted, yet my nerve was gone, 2nd for all the A PHONOGRAPH. rest of the trip I staggered and swayed on the narrow When he is goinganywhere a secretaryprepares for places, when I started over them alone. him a brief digest of local topics ann historical data. When he has to make a speech, Lord Stamfordham pre- 1,Ve stayed in Telail for a day or two,uncertain sents him with a suggested draft ,of what he should say. whether we should be able to proceed along a dangerous ridge of mountains to th,e holy hke of Gangabal, which A FOOL. the Kashmiri Brahmins hold to beth,e truesource ‘of The King is, of course, served bya marvellously effi th,e Ganges, or whether it were better to take an easier dent staff of secretaries, but he conscientiously investi- gates everything, and he is ?tot a man of pick nfifirrblc~l- route to Dras, one of thre more important stages of the ’sion, which renders his task the more onerous. famousroad toLadakh and Yarkand, the principal route to Central Asia. We werewarned that our coolies wo,u!d carry o.ndy the very lightest loads for the former journey, andthat we should perhaps need a From Telail to the Sindh. hundred ,of them, at the unusually high rate of sixpence By C. E. Bechhofer. a day.Then oneevening a grinning “ chota shikari” -assistant guide-came into the camp and announced

THROUGHthe winding valley of Telailfoam the slatey jauntily that his sahib, whom R‘NC knew to bethe first waters of th,eKishenganga river. On oneside tower traveller of tbe year t,08adventure the road to Gangabal, majestic walls and terraces of pine-wooded cliffs, over- wasstranded in the snow three d.ays’ journey away, hung by fantastic snow-tipped needle-shaped peaks; on accompaniedonly by his chief shikariand almost th’e othser, long grassy slopes swell far up into the sky. witboutfood. He hadcrossed a precipitous pass, Th,ere are lovely glimpsesup the valley thmughthe roped tothe shikari ; his coolies,the man declared, clear mountain air ,of some of the distant snows outlined had tried to follow him,but a storm had sprungup, wonderfully distinctly in the cloudless blue sky. and they had been driven back, a,nd were now lying ill Wle marched along thse valley for a couple of hours on the snow, unable even to return. Me h.ad aome back over the downs, crossing byinsecure bridges of tree- to Telail toget mme ‘coolies t,o go8 totheir aid. trunks manly a stream of melted snow dashing down the. Immediatelythere were wild suggestionsof rescue nullahs. When wecame out above the village of Old parties, while the chota shikari tripped off gaily to the Telail, I saw the servants pitching our camp on a small servants’ fire. I had him brought back and bullied him grassy meadow that jutted out from thme mountain side. out of his lightheartedness, discovering eventually that I started t.0 cross .a steepbar.e slope towards thlem in the Sahib knew that the coolies were not with him-a order not to hav’e ‘to descend tothe village and then most important fact, for he would then be certain not to climb up again to the tents. Half-way across, the path go on farwithout them.Had the Sahib a tent with I ha.d taken began to narrow, and at l.ast it split up into him ? No, Huzoor(Presence), only a tiffin-basket ; no two for three goat-tracks, on n,one of which I could hope tent at all. How many miles wasit from the pass to to find ,a foothold with my stiff “chaplie” sandals. thenearest village.? Oh,Huzoor, there was a village I stood thereleaning against the slope,barely quite near the top. Why didn’t you say so before, son supported by the pressure .of ,my instep on a littk ledge of a pig? What about thecoolies? Oh, Huzoor,there 599 were two or three huts where they were lying ; and the perature would fall to freezingpoint, and the dawn Sahibhad called outthat he would returnwhen the disclosed our clothes stiff withthe sweat of theday storm was over. before. In fact, ther.e was little or no danger for the traveller, When we stopped during the day to drink or to eat who would returnto Telail as soon as thce stormwas our tiffin, we had to fix a Kashmiriblanket upon our over.Probably the coolies had mutinied, andthe hill-sticks to ward off some of the h’eat.One after- shikari who had so cheerfully brought his ill-told story noon 1 saw a little projecting piece of rock almost bare to us h.ad hurried back to get other m’en in their place, of .mow. I climbed up and nestled beneathit for an instead of making thmem follow theirSahib. Hewas hour,the happiest hour I knew on thewhde happy atrue Kashmiri-that chotashikari--faithless, lying’, trip. But I paid for it by having to hurry through the and cowardly. soft snowlong after the rest .hadpassed. Sometimes It was at least quite clear that the road to Gangabal little streams had to be crossed, barely eight feet wide was impossible, and we commenced toarrange fior and ablo,ut one and a half deep, yet their rush was so transportto Dras. With the aid of anorder written. tremendous that ‘one could hardlystand against it.I for us by theNaib-Tehsildar of Gurais,we mde the waded through one that afternoon holding thte hand of headman of th’e village-the humbadar-arrangefor the one coolie I had kept by me. As soon as we lifted thirty coolies. One morning :after breakfast we set out our feetto take a step, we wereborne down by the at six o’clock. Dr. Duke’s “ Handbook of Kashmir” stream, whichhardly reached to our knees. It bruised (compiled mostly from hearsay-and how the Doctor’s our legs as if it had been a torrent of stones. For several earsmust have deceived him !) gavethe march to minutes we struggledto keepour feet, daring no Gujrind as sixteen miles. We found it to be not quite longerto raise a foot, but shuffling slowly upon the twice as far, about twenty-eight miles, in fact, a really rolling pebbles of thebed. On the oth,er bank w,e lay quiteconsiderable distance in thiscountry, where the down.and gasped for breath. 0 misery ! th’e cold wet blazing sun makes all marching nauseous for five hours snowbeneath soaked throughour few clothes, and in the middle of the day, and the .altitude, ranging from above, the sun was burning our flesh. eightto fourteen thousand feetabove the sea level, At last we came up with the others, and just as the impedes seasy breathing at alltimes. At Gujrindour campwas pitched thesun began to drop behind the coolies refused togo onand, climbing a littlehill, peaks, and, as they slowly paled and then grew rosy, cursedus with a long risingwail, and handed over the onlypleasant hour of theafternoon passed away, threir loads to men of thte village, arranging to collect andwith the darkness came the bitter cold winds of their wages out of thle total amount which we w’ere to thenight. My arms,burned, blistered and blown, pay at Dras. Tbe next day we started off for the pass swelled up painfully to double their size, and I suffered with the newcoolies, andcamped on the last few anadditional discomfort. patches of dry ground on the outskirtsof a sea of snow, Two nights we camped on a bare patch of earth sur- about 12,000 feet up. At fourthe next morning we rounded by miles of snow, while, near by, the rushing startedup a long,steep nullah full of deep snow, Mooshkyriver serpentined its way throughthe broad which grewsofter every minute. Boyle andthe level strip of ice deep in snow that was soon to be all shikaristarted off infront after a red bearthat had melted intoone mighty river. There were no trees, been seen on the pass. Harper discoursed unintelligible only a few rare stumps of wood rottingon a strip of Hindustaniwith his moovshi, and to me fell the un- landfrom which the snow was nearly all gone. Yet, pleasant task .of “ nigger-driving”the coolies upthe strangely,the cuckoo’s monotonous cry was often nullah,for we did not wish to have to camp on the heard,and, bytheir chilly burrowsdown through the snow, andit w.as along tiring journey to acertain snow, brown-furred marmots often watched us, sitting clear meadow far away on the other side. on their haunches, and warning each other with shrill, I bullied, exhorted,blarneyed, andbeat th,c coolies, bird-likecries. Thethird night we reached a village, and even with great difficulty took their wooden ice-axes consisting of onebuilding. A few Tibetansand their away, that they might not be able to rest their loads on dirty children wereseen sitting on itsbroad, spacious these and make frequent delays. So well did I carry out roof, which was only three or four feet above the sur- my task that we reached the top of the nullah at eight rounding earth ; forthey had cleared a littlespace of o’clock,and after a mile’s difficult trampalong an snowand were actually ploughing it. It turnedout enclosed level snowfield, startedthe descent atnine that a big chamber had been excavated in whichthey There is no traveller but will commend my methods; let andtheir numerous herds of goatsand bullocksslept none ‘of inexperienceblame me ! The very coolies who in airtightpromiscuity. Their chief aid toagriculture had been cursing my birth, my head, my righthand, was so plentiful that Boyle remarked, “I have camped and the nimble stick it wielded, sang their village songs in runningwater, I have camped on thesummit of a to me that nightround thegreat campfire that they mountainand on the side of a precipice, butnever, were able to build up by being bullied by me into’ never before have I camped in a dung-heap.” arriving at the camping-ground while it was still light. The two miles beyond this fragrant spot occupied us These men were, indeed, the only coolies forwhom I severalhours, for a bigavalanche had destroyed the felt anybut th,e very slightestregard, and they were path,and we and the cooliesendured some exciting Baltis,not Kashmiris. The differencebetween Indian rock-climbing and crossing of snow bridges, that often coolies and the lower grades of “white men’’ is extra- bentand sometimes broke. Then, atlast, we got ordinary.It is the differencebetween men and down out of the snow and trudged through a dry, hot speakingdogs; between creaturescapable .angd merely valley. We passed by Mooshky and three or four other intelligent. villages, each with its carefully enclosed treasure-two It is a horrible experience to spend a torrid day in a orthree shrivelled, leafless junipertrees. Then a de- nullah in which the snow softens for two or three feet cayed mud fort came into sight, and a couple of small b,ebw th4e surface. Sometimes one foot will sink in to brick buildings, and two or three small mud huts. This the knee, the next step will somehow stand on th,e top, wasDras, the end of civilisation-for Leh,notwith- and then, perhaps, as the other leg is raised, will drop standingits telegraph wires and European stores, is five or six inches under the extra weight. Imagine four barbarous ! 0 Dras,town of fable, I eschew thee ! days of ,this, at an average height of twelve thousand Heartless, bare, unshaded Dras, I was deceived ! “The feet, with the sun’s rays well mer TOO degrees for five Tibetans call this place Hembabs.” So be it ! I am or six hours at mid-day, and so ‘directly overhead that henceforth a Tibetan, and thou art Hembabs. the snowy sides of the nullah cast not a suggestion of There was a young lieutenant of the Guides in camp shade until it sets. We weremarching north-east all atHembabs, bearded like thepard (and so Were we, this time, so that the heat fell full on our backs from for who dares shave in that climate?), and full of bril- mid-day till evening.Thlere was not a particle of liantand sound military inventions. Although a sub- moisture in thecaustic air, and the gleaming snow altern, he was a gentleman and a scientist. I prophesy searedour wearyeyes. And then atnight the tem- his futurefame and a distinguishedcareer. Through 600 menlike he alone can England win respect from her Verily friend, by friends art thou perplexed Indian subjects. By men like he alone should holy men Who take thy gifts but give thee no return; Thy utmost bounty leaves them sour and vexed : be proud to be supported. The vicious, fed, but worse with envy burn ! AtHembabs we saw the first caravan of theyear passing through to Central Asia. A slender, well-built, Thou art endowed withmerit like the wise, apricot-cheeked Yarkandi merchant was travelling with Vet ’tis thy lot to see the witless crown’d ; a score of ponies laden with stores for those desolate And rich, dull men thy arts a.nd gifts despise, regions, whose very names we hardly know. All along Bid thee be mute while fools the world astound. the road to Srinagar we met the caravans of handsome, white-capped Yarkandisand filthy, squat, pig-tailed Thou know’st the wide and easy mays to fame, Tibetans,some with a hundredloaded ponies, some Yet art not found there mingling with the mean ; with only a dozen. There were,too, many uncouth Thy haughty soul endureth all but shame-- littleparties coming in from Yarkand ; fromone I It is for this that thou art pale and lean. bought a quantity of driedLadakh apricots, but bar- gained in vain for some curious wooden bowls off which Once thou didst stint thyself to serve x friend-- they ate. He deemeth thee but victim of his scheme. We wereapproaching the famous Zogi Pass from Thou grievest seeing love in hatred end, Kashmirinto the bare uplands of Asia. Ithas this And lust and wrath throw souls in hell extreme. peculiarity, that, though it lies above a big ascent from Kashmir, there is no drop at all on the other side, but For world’s affairs, the course of thought and deed, the valley windsalong quite levelly to Hembabs. We For mysteries thou hast capacious wit; came up to it in a day, and traversed its difficult snows Thou canst dispel the doubts of men in need : earlythe next morning. Thesummit can only be ob- Such tap thy counsel-ne’er their source admit. served by thetraveller in thealmost ungraded snow- fields by watchingthe direction inwhich thestreams Though wisdom’s treasure fail, and Vedic lore, flow. Just at the “Great Divide’’ we met a big official Thy mind, bes ent, recoil from tasks undue-- Thou woulst \y energy accomplish more : ofLadakh, travelling with a largeand picturesque It is for thls that thou art pale of hue. retinue. We began to descend, and at last we came to a path almost free from snow, cut in the rock cliff of a winding gorge, lofty and bare. We were reaching the Thy life austere by kinsmen is opposed. Thyyouthful neighbour covets thy good wife. point,famous throughout Asia,where thecaravans, Ears of unreason scorn thy words disclosed, wearywith their long marches through the Ladakhi Him thou didst chide in lore, holds thee in strife. Steppes, win theirfirst glimpse of thebeauties of Kashmir. One offered thee some prize, who now would steal The path led through occasional soft masses of snow The meed of labour out thy winning hand. to a projectionin the bare, treeless rock. We turned Thy kin obscure, whom but thy wits reveal, thedingy corner and cried out in delight,for there, Believe their fame gives thee such goodly stand. stretchingbeneath us, werethe green mountains andmeadows, sparkling streams, and sunny banks of ’Thy heart is hot with plans of rich avail flowers of thefamous Sindh valley. No morewe re- Which shame forbids thee publish ’mong the crowd ; membered that damned nullah of Gujrind, nor the deep, For men deride invention lest it fail- soft snow of the Zogi La. We hastened down the wide And while success delays the laugh is loud. circling path to the flowers and meadows and the jolly bubblingstreams, and the shade of themighty green Thy will is set where Nature is averse, amphitheatres of deodars. Our journey was over-two Since by thy influence thou wouldst unite longhappy marches through the lovely valley, a mad Men of desires, customs an’d faiths diverse : twenty-mile dash on a little village pony with a blanket How shalt thou cage the sparrow with the kite? for a saddle, two holes for stirrups, and a bridle of rope, a dark midnight paddle by dark canals and lakes, and, Unlettered] timid, poor-thou didst essay earlyone morning, I woke to find myselfbeside my The works of learning, courage, and of wealth, houseboaton the broad, muddy Jhelum, a mile above Thou hast not that for which thou most didst pray, Th2t which thou doest some fae undoes by stealth. Srinagar. No more the heat of the sun nor the furious winter’srages ; nomore the leaflessjunipers andthe soft,deep, all-covering snow. Now I maylie beneath One cursed thee--guiltless, thou, oE wishing ill. Helpless, thou seek’st friend’s sorrow to relieve. themighty chenars and gaze over the sunny wheat- Thou see’st the low-horn roguehigh office fill, fields atthe snows far, far away, and my only curse And free men serving slaves---~~~~d so dost grieve. is Beelzebub and his million winged subjects. In want, attached to life, thou tookeclst gift Fran one whose bounty left thy heart unclean. Conciliation. Thou know’st that good is slow and evil swift--- (Fvont the Mahabharata.) It is for this that thou rxrt pale and lean. By Beatrice Hastings. A Brahmana, with Vedic wealth endued, Thy friends, at strife, implore thee give them ease, Whilst in a grove by darkness sat subdued- nach begs thy aid the other to subdue : And there was seized by Rakshasa. a thief Thou couldst as soon thy warring passions please---- In nature sateless as the tooth of grief. It is for this thou’rt lean and pale of hue. The sage who knew all natures, searched his mind For means this cannibal to render kind : “Gifts will not serve-he needs but steal my store--- Thou see’st the learned Inan belie his mind Let me conciliate his spirit sore !” With senses loose as straws upon the gale. The Rakshasa, by two-fold passion rent, Thou of discernment grievest for thy kind--- Addressed that Drahmana intelligent : It is for this that thou art lean md pale. “Thou shalt escape, but, Master,tell me true Why I am lean, why T am pale of hue?” The sage npon his mind the question tried, Thus praised, that Rakshasa released the sage, Then freely in well-spoken words replied. So gratified, forgot hishungry rage. The Brahmana who gave such skilful food, With wealth and worship loaded left the wood. 0 righteous one, though thou h7.s affluence vast, Some say that that gaunt cannibal, that vexed thief, Thou dwellest f2r from home mc! thy dear kia ; Were nothing but the Brahmana’s own grief, Thv present roots not in familiar past- Which only soothful reason might relieve- It is for this that, thou art pale and thin, But this is guessing : what is writ, believe ! 601

Mr. Wells knows no more of sociology than Mr. Ben Readers and Writers. nett knows of life. His lessdangerous admirers will askfor more scientific romances-but h.e haswritten To makesure that I my miss nothing I havehad hisbest of these and the field isexhausted. The pre- another look over thepublishers’ announcements for sent admirer w’ould direct Mr. Wells’ attention to s=- the coming season. It is, however, as myfirst ‘im- tions 5, 6 and 7 of Chapter V of “Mr. Polly” or to the pression conveyed to mle, a wilderness of two kin,ds of (6 romance” in “The Wheels of Chance.’” There, I be- books-compilationsand novels. Wherethe latter are lieve, is Mr. Wells’ rainbow, at the foot of which he will written I would not like to say, certainly neither upon find his treasure. earth nor in heaven.But the former, I know, are *+Y written in the BritishMuseum. What offences against The boycott by theLibraries Association of novels literature the British Museum will have to answer for ! by Mr. W. B. Maxwell and Mr. ComptonMackenzie I can never go into the library without feeling depressed inspires onewith noparticular indignation. The by thenumber ofpeople who havewritten and left authors certainly do not suffer financially, however their their remains above ground $0 rot.Another sightto hearts may bleed at the insult offered to their reputa- revolt the mind isthe number of authors obviously tions. On thecontrary, the boycott is so arrangedas engaged in preparing new works.The act of writing toadvertise the victimised authorsand to ensure for books, I think, is indecent, and ought to ble forbidden them a sale among the silly of ten times their normal. in public. From the Museum have come, I dare swear, I hopewhen I amdesperate enough towrite a a good third of the new books n’ow swarming from the novel theLibraries Association maypunish me in the publishers.Scarcely ‘one in a score of themis of the same way. Onthe other hand, as I haveremarked least value. Studentsintent on masteryprefer the before, the Association is simply trying to do what the originalsources ; andthe general reader isof no criticshave manifestly failed to do, namely,keep bad account. writers in their place. In the merry days of free criti- +** cism, when reviewers did not write at the dictation of Amongthe newnovels arethe usualannuals of advertisement-managers,authors like Mr. W. B. Wells,Bennett, Conrad, Hewlett, etc., etc. TO tell Maxwellwould have beenharmlessly confined tothe thetruth, I amtired of themall. So, too, I gather, plane of thehousemaid and the dairyman-a class are the rest of my tribe of reviewers. Like me, if only whose morals, in fact, have no leisure to be corrupted. they dared say so, they are fatigued with the “perdrix, To-day, for want of criticism, his books, and thousands toujours perdrix,” ,served up by our imaginative chefs. like them, pass to and fro among the leisured classes. BothMr. Bennett andMr. W,ells h.avemet already wherethey do noend ?of mischief. What mischief? with a snapof cold weather in thePress whichpre- you ask.They convert a negative taste into a posi- sages a2 early winter. ReviewingMr. Bennett’s “The tivelybad taste ! When Mr.Maxwell, Mr. Hall Caine Regent”(Methuen, tis.), which I alsofor old times’ and the rest have done with them, they are spoiled for sake h.ave glanced at, the “ Westminster Gazette” opens anything better. Mr. Maxwell, I observe, protests that with these ominous words : “Mr.Bennett appears to his novel “The Devil’s Garden,” is austerelydidactic begrowing alittle careless of hisreputation as a andrighteous altogether. Were itnot for fear of novelist.” The evidence the “ Westminster”proceeds givingfresh offence to Mr. Shorter by agreeingwith to ‘giveis, of course,sufficient; but so itwas, in my him, I should quote Mr. Shorter’s letter to the “Times” opinion at least four of Mr. Bennett’s novels ago. Like as my reply. As itis, I say onmy own accountthat Mr. Wells Mr. Bennett got off histrack when he a novel that plays withadultery, murder and sexual deserted theextravaganza and the fantasia for the perversioncannot possibly bedidactic. I do notdeny realisticnovel. H’e knows nothing worthspeaking 0.f thesesubjects to the novelist; and dramatists have of life, but in fantastic comedy he might have beena alwaysused them freely. Butthe manner is the test little master. *** and alsothe restraint. They are so abnormal, in fact, that an abnormal style is necessary to justify their treat- It isin the “Athenaeum” that Mr.Wells comes to ment. It must be in themanner of intensetragedy his second grief-his first, I need not say, having met orbroad comedy. Our novelists, however-including himin these columns. After someeulogistic flourishes Mr. Maxwell-discuss these subjects on the plane of an to theeffect that Mr.W,ells is in thefront rank of afternoontea-party or, at worst, of a parishvisitor’s novelists(aswhonot is in thesedays?), t,he prayer-meeting.There is neitherlaughter nor terror “Athenaeum” coolly informsMr. Wells that “he has in them. never cared to learn how to write.” What ! a man can +*+ bein the front rank of aliterary art andnever have It is someamusement to uswho pooh-poohedMr. learned to write ! From thisjudgment, however, I Masefield’s “Nan” whenit firstappeared to find our- must dissent, for it is not true that Mr. Wells cannot selves being echoed after two years by critics who were write. What Mr. Wellscannot do is to re-write and thenacclaiming him as a great tragic-writer. If we to delete. Take,for example,the instances cited by live long enough we shall see all our judgments become the “Athenaeum”-phrases like“massive, ancient and fashionable,save, of course, thelatest. Having re- traditionalcommon way ofliving,” “vast,enduring, considered his opinion on theoccasion of the revival normalhuman existence,” “unlettered, laborious and of “Nan” at the Court Theatre a fortnight ago, Mr. essentiallyunchanging. ” Such overblown phrasesare Desmond MacCarthyafter the usual flummery of no evidence that Mr. Wells cannot write; but they are mendacious eulogy-pronounces “Nan”to be “not a evidence that he is too ‘idle or too careless of his public solid work Qf art,but a fake.” Fake,think of it ! to distil his thought flor its essence. I am certain, how The infamous oldGaffer’s “ vlowers,”which sent the ever, that the blame of this isless Mr. Wells’ than that London bees raving, Mr. MacCarthynow pronounces of his public and the reviewers. Who, in his early days, to be paper; and the “ wammering” dialogue of the pair when he was rising, put thme fear of critics in him? Who of criminal lunatics he says is shockingin its senti- ventured to withhold a superlative until he should have mentality.After that, what will Mr. Masefield care earnedit? Who denied him goldenspurs before he though Mr. Maccarthy offers him the balm of “artistic hadrun his course? The answeris Nobody. Thus the intentionand artistic promise ” ? Canhe possibly reviewers have themselves to blame for the comfortable, outlive fakeand paper andsentimentality? Cruel, careless, contemptuous adiposity of Mr. Wells’ present cruelMr. MacCarthy. HOW muchkinder to have said style.Despite of thisbad habit, however, the it two years ago ! “Athenaeum”still bids Mr. Wells to produce his mas- *Y* terpiece.But what is the character of this to be? His One thing maycertainly be expected of reviewers : mostdangerous admirers will infallibly demand Some owing THENEW AGE neither a log nor an advertise monumental work of sociological significance-the sort ment,their opinion, such as itis, of our publication; Mr. Wells has already failed in more than once, Briefly, will at leastbe honestly ignorant.Of the reviews 602

which I seenhave of Rosciszewsky’sMr. half a dozen, the second is almost too easy to settle. Of “Caricatures,” a common feature is an 0bjection to the course our classic poets have never anticipated the novel quality of thle draughtsmanship. ’The mostfavourable wave-lengths; but our second anid third-rate poets have review is that of the “Athenaeum,” whichpromises to -and cometo oblivionover them. By chance I was assign to Mr. Rosciszewsky a place among“eminent readingJohnson’s “ Life of Cowley” only lastweek, contemporary caricaturists”when he has “ acquired whereinhe discusses incidentally the “Pindarism” of‘ more dexterity in dealing with his figures.” The “Star,” Cowley and his contemporaries-one of whom was Dr. it is evident, is only annoyed by the caricatures. “They Sprat. It was Sprat who claimed that the regular irre- are merelyugly and that is all. Theyare the sort of gularity of the“verses of Pindar” made that kind of thing that a clever boy might draw in chalk on a dead poesyfit for all manner of subjects. “This form was wall, accompanied by some frank language.” I suppose chiefly to bepreferred for its near affinity to prose.” it hasnot occurred to the“Star” that a caricature Johnson’s comment is as follows : “This lax and law- should be ugly, still less th.at its ideal i.s precisely that lessversification so muchconcealed the deficiencies of of a wall-,drawing withoutthe language? Mr.Roscis- the barren and flattered the laziness of the idle, that it zewsky’s drawing, 1 claim, is first-rate for its purpose; immediatelyoverspread our books of poetry;all the we oughtnaturally to resentcareful drawing in a boys and girlscaught the pleasing fashion, and they caricature. Mr.Dyson’s cartoons thein“Daily that could do nothing else could write like Pindar. . . Herald” are in my judgment spoiled by the excellence Pindarism prevailed about half a century ; but at last of their draughtsmanship.Such skillshould be died graduallyaway, and other imitations supply i[s reservedfor subjects less contemptible. One does not place. ” R. H. C. put a finish (on an oath I The “ Evening News” is even Inkore “arty”than thle “ Star.” “ Schoolboy”occurs again,and the phrase “cult of eccentricity.” ’The Children for Men. ‘‘ Times” lik,ew.ise speaks of the “ extravagantly grotesquemanner,” and says the drawings are “not By Duxmia. always pleasingto8 contemplate.” Of course they are n’ot; but neither arecaricatures meant to becontem- 11s a sympatheticobserver of theprogress of modern plated.Like an icy bath they should be taken quickly. ,civilisation, I may be permitted to remark that there is A caricaturethat invites contemplation is a picture. no more encouraging sign of its continuance, no more But there-I always said we English knew nothing of reliable guaranteeagainst the military and sacerdotal caricature ! reactionswhich sometimes threaten to overwhelm US, +** thanthe catholic character of itsirrationality. In the words of an ancientdramatist, whose name forget After his last reply to me in the “Evening Standard,” I (butit will befound in anydictionary of quotations), honours, I think,are easy between Mr. W. p. James and xxlhol remarked, “Homo sum : nihil humanum a me 311d myself. His array of exceptions to my definition of alienum puto,”that is to say, followinga free trans- the novel as primarily a Iove-tale istoo formidable to lation, ‘‘I feel myself capable of any b-y nonsense” be passedwithout danger. On the other hand, hc ---we recruitthe army of progresseven from the allows me that 99 per cent of the novels actually pro- madhouse, knowing that there is good in all things, ancf duced are of love ; and he concludes that the trade con- that the lunatic is perhaps in reality only the pioneer in cept-ion is one thing and the artist’s conception another. thatmighty trek or exodus from the tyranny of the In other words, in the eyes of the trade the novel is ;I we are. The love-tale; but in thehands of artistsit is anything- logicianwhich has carriedus to where generation which hasacknowledged the dog-headed almostthey please to make it.Well, I will accepttkc a member of the familycircle c.an scarcely settlement if Mr. James will substitute general opinion baboon ‘as forthe trade. My cook’s daughter,I am sure, is in- refuse a seatat the hearth to the harmless, necessary nocent of the publishing trade. Nevertheless she aslted maniac. Already ourrace has started to enrich its store of ideasfrom the treasures of Bedlamand of for a novel on th,e supposition that it would tell her of love, tell her of hope, tell her of Spring ; andI ha\-e Colney Hatch. no doubt the first I put my ‘hands on for her did. ?’he It was in the autumn of 19- that I firstcame into novelists, of course, are moreambitious to stretch the contact with the then insignificant “Children for Men” form thanto confine it toits popular meaning. Pr,o- movement. Organisedoriginally by a fewenthusiasts fessor Saintsbury,I find, in “The English Novel” who had, workedin comfortable obscurity for thirty (Dent) defines its four requisites as plot, character, de- years,it had remained, and seemed likely to remain, scriptionand dialogue-a square sufficiently large to without results as regards the general public, in whom include almost anxthing. Palacio Valdes whose incolll- a long- exposure to agitations of all sorts had ended by parable essay ton the subject I have also been reading, inducingimmunity from their effects. It may well be defines the novel as a “kind of prose epic.” Very well, said olf the English of that period that, accustomed to kt US have some prose epics, and I will no longer boggle every form of lunacy, they were surprised by none, and :~t-the name. tolerated all sects on the tacit understanding that they *** were allowed to preserve their indifference. The Homi- nettes, as they were called (the name was devised by a Still another new monthly magazine is to appear this facetious Press to denote thecuriously hermaphroditic autumn-on October 28, tjo be precise. Illustrated anrf character of themovement), were the first to revolt “making a special appeal to men,” it will, .be edited 11~- againstthis blase and contemptuous attitude,and tlo a woman, Miss Klickman. I confess I findit laughable rousethe public by theirantics into definite somewhat that Miss Klickman, the editress of that virile acceptance or rejection of theirproposals. To review, “The Girl’s Own Paper,” should undertake tQ them mustaccordingly be ascribedthe invention of make a special appeal to me. Rutwith so many those exhibitionisttactics which,subsequently adopted hermaphroditesand worse about in theguise of men, by all parties as a necessary antidote to the increasing doubtless she willfind a public for “ Everyone’s,” apathy of theelectorate, have b,een regularised by **+ custom and accepted as an integral part of the constitu- tion. Mr. Pound,understand,I denies that he claims Science has taught us (through the works of Polsky, modern Parisian writers to be gods walking as men- Cardinghouse andJabberaminoff) that an economic so that’s all right.He challenges me, however, to foundation invariablyprecedes an intellectual construc- show eitherthat our modernEnglish writers are as tion, and the acuter minds of the century had long de- good orthat our classic English writers have antici- tected how the increasing femininity of our daily occupa- pated their modern verse-forms and wave-lengths. Bar- tbns was having its effect upon the minds and bodies ring the first Contest as really a comparison of six with of the men. The smooth and oily “nut” of 1911-13 uras 6% the first striking sign of a development which lent much conclusions, received with enthusiasm by a crowded force to the arguments of the Hominettes. These were hall, were endorsed by other luminaries of thought and ingenious and convincing to a certain type Qf intellect. embodiedin a unanimousresolution. “Thatit is in It was urged that thedistinction now found between the the interests of society that men be”allowed to resume generative functions of the sexesdid nlot originally exist. the function (of bearing children, and that a Bill in that 3.f he inferior protoplasms are recognised as a-sexual Or Sense be presented to the Legislature.” bi-sexual, whichever way you careto regard it,and I was present, both in the House and in Parliament Inany striking parallels had already been drawn f’rom the Square, when the original “Children flor Men” Bill was fact by thepioneers of the hermaphrodist movement, presented for the firsttime to a crowdedchamber, of but the first real light was thrown ‘upon the subject by \trh8ichat least seventy-five per cent. were pledged to its the discovery of Professor Potterson, that the pleiocene support. An immense multitude of men of all classes- man, whose remains had recently been unearthed in the fathers of families, city merchants, dock labourers and siluricmud of Hothampton,was “puerperous” 0.1- admirals-had marched for miles through the pouring capable of bearing offspring. This startling fact, ascer- rain,converging in fourgreat processions ~p~nthe tained by deductions founded upon the shape, size, and senatehouse of the nation. All ages were represented position of the little toe joint andthe collar bone (all as well as a11 cIasses--uld men and little boys, top-hatted other portions of anatomy having vanished), was fBor a youthsfrom Eton and Westminster, bluejackets and shorttime disputed by religious obscurantists and the soldiers in the prime of life. TheWest End column professionally sceptical, ;but ,criticism was silenced upon marching via RegentStreet, the Haymarket, and itsbeing pointed out by no lessa person than Dr. Whitehall, andconsisting of eightthousand males, Pflungk himself that the evidence, if not ideally satis- clad many of them in corsets and in harem skirts, was factory, was at least as complete as any hitherto offered headedby Lord Kitchener, Dean Inge, and Mr. Hall in support of the great scientific dogmas of the XIXth Caine,riding side-saddleupon led palfreysto demon- :lnd XXth centuries, “to deny which,” as thedoctor strate the essential femininity of man. Crowds lined the said, i‘mmuld ‘be tantamount to denying Science herself streets,awed and impressed. “Westand,” said and heresy of th.e most improper description. It is, at: ally Tommy Doddle thatnight in audaciousplagiarism of rate,” he added, “practicallytrue-that is to say, since anofher singer, “upon the threshold of a new epoch.” lve believe it, it is true for us. Which is all we require.” Thedisorders which attendedthe later stages of the Dr.Pflungk’s utterance, supported by Professor Karl movement ha-d not yet begun. The menwaited quietly author of “The verbal inspiration of Darwin’s works”), and orderly for an answer, and those who were present and welcomed byall thatwas best in contemporary are never likely to forgetthe thousands of upturned thought,settled the question so far as the generaI coat collars and silent expectant faces. public was concerned. Inside the House the scene was no less striking. By The good tidings, spread far and wide by the columns a curious survival from a forgotten age the debate was I ‘4 free”-that is to say, the party machinerywas sus- of the daily newspapers an,d tEe shilling primers of the Ratilonalist Press, were soon conveyed to ,every hearth. pendedfor the moment-and memberswere permitted So long, it was pointedout, as there remained that the unwonted treat of saying n-hat they really thought strongdifferentiation between the lives of the sexes and felt ; the strange, and, as some will say, demoralis- lvhich is implied by the barbaric state-so long, that is, ing spectacle being witnessed of ministers speaking in ;ISthe male was compelled by the exigencies of existence opposition to ministers, of whips calling upon the rank- to fight, fish and hunt, so long the period of pregnancy and-file to disobey their leaders, and of the whole assem- with itsenforced inaction remained a handicap,“with bly pathetically endeavouring to use its wits unaided by theresult,” as Professor Potterson sai,d, “thatthe all that armoury of ready-made phrases and party tags males who stillretained and exercised the puerperal which so longhad served them as a substitute.The function would be outdistanced in the race for survival feeling of the House was somewhat confused owing to by those in whom its atrophy was more complete. But,” the fact that, although a large majority was pledged in as the Professor went on to say, “the change was en- favour of the Bill, nobody really wanted it. tirely dueto circumstances which until recently may If anyconsensus of opinioncould be found it was have appeared permanent, but which the developments discoverable in thesentiment thatchild-bearing by males,though theoretically desirable, would of the last fifty years have shown to possess a purely temporarycharacter.” With the gradual but sure dis- havethe practical effect of degrading men through appearance of war and the replacement by machinery of associationwith elements of existence by which. they manual labour the need of a physicallypowerful and hadhitherto beenuncontaminated. “Our most price- lesspossession,” the Memberfor Codham remarked, active male had vanished, and reversion to the original “is the domestic innocenceand inexperience of our type become inevitable. “Outwardly, you maysay,” continued the Professor, “thatthere remain con- males. Gentlemen, there must be someone in the world siderabledifferences between my wifeand myself. My to believe that ,children are a blessing and not a painful face bears, and for years that of my male descendants nuisance--otherwise YOU will haveno children : some- will continue tao bear, hirsute growth from which ‘h.ers lone to whom theconsequences ,of procreationare a is free, andthe tones of my voice are deeper. But in pleasureand not an unmitigated bore-otherwise you essentials--and it is,” said the Professor v:ith emphasis, will have no procreation. Make the man’sshare in “inessentials that nature deal’s-the, difference is generationequal to the woman’s, and after nine less remarkable : and as theyears go on, such differ- months’ time generation will cease.” The strong prac- ences will becomeeven less so. My male ancestors ticalsense of the assemblyendorsed thisopinion, and small attention was paid to Tomkin’s visionary plea that prided themselves upon, and probably possessed, a cer- tain physical courage which is alien to her nature. But the introduction of men tothe domesticpenetralia I-LVhy, gentlemen, youknow that as anEnglish- n-ould improve the penetralia without debasing the men. man of thetwentieth century there is no depth of ’The Bill was not rejected, the pledges of the majority in cowardice andmeanness tmo which shecan descend, of itsfavour rendering that course undesirable, but by ~hkhI am not also capable. Again, none of the forms a simple arrangementwith the Speaker \vas “talked out’’ of activityimposed upon meby the environment cf a underthe twelve o’cloclc rule. The \vaitinK commercial age are impossible to her. Cringing, lying, crowd dispersed in a sufficiently orderly manner,but touting, and self-advertisement come as easily to hpr as from that time the militant methods of the Hominettes beg an. to me, and in fact she tvodd probably prove the better at them. Of all our latter-day accomplishments what is It is impossible toattribute these to any individual there that woman cannot do as well as us--.dear brother suggestion. Personally I am of opinion that they arose naturally, and as a corollary to the repressive tactics of clerks?” From thisit followed as 3 logical deduction that if she bears children, man must d,o the sanle. rrl,es.(: the Government. The attempts of the police to thwart :trld, later, to disperse, the giganticdemonstrations 604

which besieged Parliament and the private residences of and hurled the bottles and glasses into the street. For ministersproduced a crop of disorder,whose course the space of a winter’s evening all London was littered suggestedto the bolder spirits,notably Tomkins, the with broken glass. systematisationfor offensive purposes of suchsponta- Onits sidethe Government was not idle. Tomkins neous outbursts.It was at this period thatTomkins himself an,d severalother leading Hominettes were beganto attract general notice asthe leader of the arrested and their property confiscated, the sound prac- movement, a position for which a complete impervious- tical sense of our judges discovering a licence for this ness to the operations of the reason and a command of arbitrary action in an enactment of the thkd Witena- wordsquite unhampered by anyperception of their gemot \of Edward the Confessor for the repression of meaning,rendered him peculiarly suited. He led the Danish mariners roystering in our East Anglian ports. original“Hermaphrodist League” until his death, All were, of course, released after the usual four days’ although towards the end of his career it is said to have drinkstrike. A “Conciliation Bill ” introducedby a consisted of no one but himself, all the other members private Member was talked out once more in a debate, having been expelled.At Tomkins’suggestion therc chiefly noticeable on account of the suspension and im- began a persistent course of queries at ministerial meet- prisonment in tbe clock tower of anIrish anarchist ings, amounting to a deliberate obstructionof ministerial Member for breach of order, blasphemy, and contempt speech. The perpetrators were usually roughly handled of the High Court of Parliament committed by trying by audiences exasperated with the interruption of those to maintain, in defiance #of the Speaker’s ruling, that the streams of highsounding if somewhatmeaningless powers o,f the House ‘did notextend to making men words in which, after football and the cinema, theyfound bear children when Almighty God had decreed that they theirhighest sensuous gratification, but continued un- shouldnot. The rejection was followed by afurther daunted and carried their importunity even to the Par- course {of disturbances,same of which took the novel liamenthouse, where one of themraised unceasing form of attemptsto waylay andkiss the wivesand shouts of “Liberty for men !” during the space of two daughters of Ministers. hours,having first ensured immovability by chaining: Noris there any saying how itmight have ended, himself to the seat. These performances were rewarded butfor Jerry Jocelyn. And he,being Prime Minister, by moderate sentences, which, hlo’wever, served only to hadthe brilliant idea that Pdrofessor Potterson, who whet theHominist appetite. Thereupon the sentences startedthe trouble, was also the man to stop it. A becamestiffer, and everybody saw that the movement bribe of LI,OOOout of theSecret Service Fund was must collapse, if only by theimprisonment of all its accordinglyfurnished the Professor tosay that upon members, unless some counterstroke could be devised. reconsideration he nlow believed the hermaphroditic ,re- lhis was discovered- in the Drink, Strike. mainsunearthed in theHothampton mud were not This strange weapon was suggested by the notorious human at all, but the remains of Hipparion Americanum mentalweakness, amounting almost to imbecility, oi Asininurn or blue-eyedMexican jackass. And there- the then Home Secretary and by his domination by hk with,the scientific basisbeing withdrawn, the move- wife, whose large income was entirely derived from the ment collapsed, and England had peace until the advent preparationand sale of fermentedliquors. So long as lof the Animalians or “Lovers of thefriendless little theimprisonment of any of theirmembers lasted the ones,” whomaintained thatticks and bed-bugs were Hominettespledged themselves toabstain from any the social and politicalequals of men. Butthat is description of alcoholic liquor,with the double object another story,and so isthe story of theBeautiful of attracting popular sympathy, and of bringing pres- Birthers who tried to’ incarnate Superman by eugenical sureto bear on theHome Secretary by reducing tht: value of his wife’s shares. The fortitude with which thc operations in theBayswater Road. Britannia,fruitful generaltrial was borne exciteduniversal admiration. in monsters,has notvet exhaustedthe possibilities of her womb. Thestreets of theCity and of theWest End ~7erc thronged with men in every stage fromabnormal ner- vous excitement to complete exhaustion consequently- upon deprivation of theiraccustomed tipple : business The Way Back to America. wasalmost suspended, and at everycorner the paid By K. L. orators of the Hermaphroditist League were heard from T. travellingvans, extempore platforms, or even the, in- Attendez, rnes enfants ! I amabout to waste ten secureelevation

The Approach to Paris. seks treatedas“abstracteurs.” At thre end of “ Puissances de Paris’’ he .says :- By Ezra Pound. There are to-day many men ready to recognise that man III is not the lllost real thing in the world. Olle admits the life of conlbiuationsgreater than 0111- bodies. Society is IN thesecond article of thisseries I pointed out that notlllerely an arithmeticaltotal or a collective desipg- M. Remyde Gourmont had invented a new sort lof tion.One even believes thatthere are intermediate beauty(or resuscitated anold one almost wholly groups betweenthe individual and theState. But these forgotten). I implied that this resurrection or discovery opinions appear by abstract deduction or by rational. expe- had, do’r hose who’ think that beauty is important, th,e rience, etc. . . Mandid not wait for physiologyto give same sort of interest that a new discovery in medicine him a notion of his body. Car la raison conpit l’homme ; might have for those to whom the science ‘of medicine maisle coeur percoit la, chairde l’homme In the satlle seemsimportant. I have no inclination to argue about manner it is necessary that we should know the group:; these affairs; I havecalled this series of papersan thatenglobe. US not byexterior observation but l,!. organic Consciousness. Alas ! it is notsure tllat tllc ‘I Approach.” I say simplythere is a bookcalled rhythms wish to have their nodes in us who are 11ot the I“ Livredes Litanies,” it is writtenin such and such centres of groups. Wecan only become such.Let 11: wave-lengths.Th,er,e is anotherwork call’ed “ Les hOllow outour souls, deep enough, emptying them of Saintsdu Paradis”; perhaps the all merciful Father individual dreaming, let us make so many ditches to then1 hasgiven you wit to understandthem, and then he t-h:lt the souls of groups will of necessity flow there. perhaps m.ay nothave. For the convenience of the I haveattempted nothing else in this book. Certain groups here come to consciousness. Theyare still quit:: intellegentlycurious I am willing tosay the “ Livre rudimntary, and their spirit is but a’ flavour in the wind des Litanies” is republished in a collectioncalled “ L’e Beings as. inconsistent as the me dtt HARVE and the plact: Pelerin du Silence.” (Mercure deFrance, 26, Rue dc. de In Bastile, as ephemeral as the pcopZe .ill nn omnibus Conde) CJ~the audience at khu Opera-Comique need not have great complexity oftholight or of organism. And I daresay MONSIEUR ROMAINS UNANIMIST. people will think I have taken needless trouble in pluck- ing out these strands, rather than in carding once again RIy firstimpression of Romains’work was that he the enormous heap of the individual soul. erredtowards rhetoric, but then I beganwith his 1 believe that the groups are at the most moving period prize ode, “‘To4the Crowd Here Present,” a possibly of their evolution. The groups of the future will deserve, bad beginning. It is good rhetoric if that is what one perhaps,less love, and WE: willhide better the basis of wants.saidI as much to M. Vildrac,and h’e told things. . . One can learn the essential forms of life morc me Romainswas very important. “ I1 achange le easily from a mushroom than from an oak. pathbtique. ” The groups prepare moreof the future thanis absolutely I havelived several years on this island, that may needful. Wehave the great good fortuneto be present account for my phlegm; at any rate I don’t much care at the beginning of a reign. . . . It is not a progress, it is a creation.The groups will not continue the work of abouthaving my pathktique interfered with. It does animalsand of man;they willrecommence e\-erything very well as itis. I do notby any means feel that I accordingto their need. . . . haveexhausted its possibilities. As forParis, I dare Already our ideas on the beiptg (]’&re) are correcting saythat its pathetique is wornout, and that it themselves.We hesitate, moreover, infinding a distinc- thoroughlyneeds a new,one. I exhihit towards a new tion of nature between that which really exists and that pathetiqueprecisely the bourgeois attitude. I am as which does not exist. In thinking by turns of the place incuriousabout a newpathPtique as, let us say,Mrs. del’Europe, of theplace des Vosges, and of a gang of Meynell orWilliam Watson might be about a n’ew navvies, one sees that there are plenty of nuances between nothing and something Before resortingto groups onc metric.Nothing short of myinherited conscience is sure of discerning a being by a simple idea. One knows could driveme into taking the slightest notice of hf. that ;L clog exists,that he has aninterior, independent Romains’new pathgtique. It is whollydevoid of unity; one knows that a table 01-a mountain does not allures.I approach it as a studentand specialist, not exist, and that nothing but our language separates them aslayman reading for his private diversion. If we from theuniversal nothing. But the streets (les rues) must have a newpathetique it is part of myjob to mark all thenuances between verbal oppression and know whatit consists of. I cameprecious n.ear to autonomous existence. reading Romains for the sake of my generalculture. Thus one ceases to believe that limit is indispensable to beings.Where does the Place de laTrinite begin. The As forhis style, or at least his syntax, I grant that streetsmingle their bodies. The squares isolate them- it is “strict,chaste, severe,” and on these grounds selveswith difficulty. The crowd of the theatre does not worthy ‘of approbation; but these qualities of language takecontours until it haslived long and vigorously. A\ ~vlould seem to bse marks of a group. being has a centre, 01- centres in harmony ; a being- is not There would Seem t,o be a certain agreement between compelled tohave limits. Many existin one place . . . the styles of Romains, Duhamel, Vildrac, Jouve, Arcos, a second beingbegins without the first having ceased. Chenneviere,and a fewothers, though Romains may Eachbeing has a maximum sumwhere ih space. Only individualswith ancestors possess affirmative contours, have been the prime mover for th,eir sort ,of clarification a skin which makes them break with’ the infinite. of the speech. At least this group OF men respect him, Space belongs to no one. And no being has succeeded andnot loneof them is a fool. MonsieurRomains is in appropriating a morsel of spaceto saturate wit11 its veryclever; there may be a gooddeal more to it.In uniqueexistence. AII intercrosses,coincides, cohabits. short, I approachRomains’ work with that reluctance Eachpoint serves as perch to a thousandbirds. There which is characteristic of man in the face of anything is Paris,there is therue Montmartre, there is an likely to1 requireserious attention. assembling, there is a tna‘n, there is a cellule on the very pavment. A thousandbeings are concentric. Onesees Let one not be alarmed ! 1 do8not expect to divulge, in fifty pages, an aesthetic, ;L little of some of them. &IV can we go on thinking thatan individual is a thing a metaphysic, the origins of tragedy and thc development which is born,grows, reproduces itself and dies ? That of the race. It LTTi11 be enough if I present certain succinct affirma- is a superior and inveterate manner of being an individual. tions. mt groups ! Theyare not precisely born. Their fife makes and unmakes itself, as an unstable state of matter, So begins &I.Romains in the preface to “ L’Armee ;I condensation which .doesnot. endure. They show 11s dans la Ville.”At least here is something to go by. that life is, at the origin, a provisory attitude, a moment Ne says that the “grand art dramatique” has gone to of exception,an intensity between abatements, ~lothillg pot,that drama of th’esecond order has attained a continuousnothing decisive. The first togethers take perfection, perhapsgreater than it hashad before. life by a sort of slow success, then they extinguish tll(m- the “ Picard et Scribe ,ant &t6 surpasses.” We thought as scJl-es withoutcatastrophe, no element perishing in m~ach.“The individual ismerely an entity;yet an breaking of the whole. The crowd beforethe foreign barracks comes to life little by little :IS water in a kettle entityadmitted for so manycenturies that it passes that sings and evaporates. The galleries *>f the Odeon (10 for a realitypure .and simple. By a pleasantirony not live at night; every day they are red’i’or certainhours. the poets who wish to dissipate this illusion get them- At thestart life seems momentary; then life is itrtcr- 608

Inittent. ’lo make it durable, thatit should become a Theyenter a village. They find asolitary fisherman, development auci a destinthat it should be clearly and the author unburdens himself of a little theorising marked off at two ends by girth and death, a deal of habit is required. to the effect that each man thinks that he is alone and All these primitive forms are not of equal rank. that the world is albout him. There is a natural hierarchy among groups. The streets lnconscient et familier have no fixed centre, no true limits, they have their con- Conlme le brouillard d’une pipe. tent in a long life and a vacillating, and night submerges By thistime one has become so entangled in the life this almost to the verge of nothing. Places and Squares of the crocodile thatthis individual seemsnot unllike havealready taken their contours seizing more firmly some curious relic of the past. The girls dance at sun- upon the nodes of the rhythms. And other groups hnre set. The “Poeme Epique” ends with the crocodile put :I fashioned body, they endure ,% little, they dmost know how to die, and some are brought to life again by fits and to bed. It is possibly the nearest approach to true epic starts ; the habit of existence commences, they have set that we have had since. the middle ages. their heart upon it; it is this which makes them breath- The author has achieved a form which fully conveys less.” thesense of modern life. He isable to mention any And that will perhapsdo for thepresent, although familiarthing, any element of modern life withoutits M. Romains looksinto the future and dimly mutters seeming incongruous, an’d the result isundeniably “ new gods.” poetic. 1, personally, mayprefer the theory of the Les groupesont beau n’avoir qu’une conscience. Con- dominant cell,a slightly Nietzschean biology, toany fuse, et n’,apercevoir le monde qu’a travers Lune gelbe collectivisttheories whatsoever. I may be veryde- tremblante, 11s sentiront, peut-iltre, lesigne que je leur ~ cidedly opposed to a new pantheon composed of crow- fais, et il y en aura un, peut-&e, qui, pour l’avoir senti, saura devenir un dieu. diles in a state of apotheosis, but the “Poeme Epique” , is not, on that account, the less agreeable to me. I leavehis godsand his future. I have given, I think,enough in thistranslation to makehis poems I penetrated the first third of the “Poeme Lyrique” intelligible. I haveshown by hisown words what in a state of confusion. M. Romains appears to be ex- ,they mean by the new pathetique. posinghis subjectivities. He sits inhis arm chair. He In “Un Etre en Marche” M. Romains presents us a goes forth. At p. 121 he seems to become more or less being already possessed of some general consciousness coherent. and of an intermittent life, a being with some habit of J’ai dbpassi. le mur qui brisait mon amour; life, with even fixed habits of life, a beingknown Cette rue est B moi juqu’au bout, maintenant. humorously as“The Crocodile,”and familiar to us Plus de rue all. In case there is anyone who does not kmw that a Qui me tienne par crocodile when it is not a four-footed beast is a beast Les talons ! withmany feet, I hasten to reveal that “A being out TJne grue for a walk”treats cof the procession of school-girls, Me jette aux chalands ; pension de jeunes fillles, first ‘shuffling in the hall,pre- Et je pars. paring to set out, traces ‘of individual ife still present. T,a. rue est un moignon sangla‘nt. You might think you were in for a longishseries of He discovers that he is enjoying himself, he begins to poems rather like two by the fourteenth-century Italian, take n,ote of his surroundings, ‘of the line of wagons, Franco Sacchetti-at least I think it \vas Sachetti whto of an automobile swiIter than the rest, which escapes. wrote of the crowd of girls getting caught by a rain- His auditory nerves resume their function. storm.But with the secondpoem ‘by Romainsone Comme une flamme sur un verre d’alcool begins to perceive a difference. Les mots sont allurn& au-dessus de la foule; Les plus petites filles marcbent en avant Later h’is bodybecomes discouraged an8dno longer Pour attendrir l’espace ; loves the crowd, etc., he returns to his room and finds La pension caresse avec leurs pieds d’eniants hisalrm chair, and incidentally throwssome light son La rue oh elle passe. the preceding pages. by saying, toward the conclusion Elle grandit d’un rang B l’autre, sans surprise, I1 a et6 le corps en marche ; Comlne une rive en fleurs , T1 a march6 pendant au jour; He then turns his attention to the street :- I1 a percb les carrefours La rue a besoin cl’un bonheur. L’un apres l’autre avec sa marche. La rue ainle la pension de jt-unes filles . . . I am not sure that this half of the volume can be called Pour son zir de petite fade neuve et peincc ; enjoyable. Pour sa fqon ,d’aller comme le vent la pente, Turning to! “0deset Prihres” I find thatthe odes A troop of soldiers passes and the pension leave me as unmoved as when the first time I read them. . . . continue B sourire 11: 4, has, to be sure, its individual nuance. Elle disperse l’invisible Le temps de ma jeunnesse Avec le bout de ses ombrelles. Est A demi passe. Despiteone’s detestation ,of crocodiles, M. Romains D6jA bien des mensonges makes us take interest in his particular crocodile, in its N’abusent plus de moi. collective emotions, in theemotions of itssurround- Butthere is anotherbook on my shelf,wherein I ings. might read Elle monte en wagon; les jupes Je plaings le temps de ma jeunesse, Escladent les marcl~epieds; Ouquel j’ai plus qu’autre galle It is perhaps foolish to make such dull comparisons. La pension s’effraye un peu? However much I may lose in my deafness tco the odes, Car le train a plus cl’%me qu’elle ; I find withl the beginning of the prayers a new note. I ‘i‘hey go o’ut into the country and meet a flock of geese : find thewords of a mancuriously and intentlycon- C’est un rythme lent qui tangue et titube, scious. In the second prayer to the couple we read :- C’est un tronpean d’oies qui ment vers le groupe. Je ne te voyais pas dam l’ombre des tentures, 0 nous ! Je n’essayais pas meme de te voir ; Presque immobiles sur le sable, les deux groupes Jeme disais : “NOUS somines senls ! Nous sommes Se caressent de loin, d’une extreme pensee, nloi ! ” Et tAchent ,de croiser prudemment leurs destins. Et l’air &it gonfli. de notre solitude. There seems to beno reason why this poem should From here his consciousness moves out in ever widening not mean to the new patheticists more or less what the and ever vivifying circles, to the family ; t,o the group, “ Symphonie en blancmajeur” meant tothe old- to his house about him ; to the street and to the village. fashioned aesthetes. &In peau frisonne A came de toi, groupe ama- ! C’est ktorunant tout le silence cp’il y a ! ’The crocodile goes over a still field and into a wood. Il 11’y a pas ici que nous deux, ma maison ? 609

Vois ! mon ame s’aIIonge, remue’et vacile whole spirit, and give their name theatre to the whole Comme la flamme dans la lanterne fendue. structure; actionis swallowed up in contemplation. D’autres dieus sont entres, d’autres, plus grands que But contemplation of what? At first, of course, of the toi. ritual dance, but not for long. That, wehave seen, was And to the street he prays :-- doomed to a deadly monotony.” Tu seras divine au lieu d’etre immense. I need nottrace the steps by which thedromenon Arranche-toi rudement a la ville evolved into the drama, which also is a “thing done” Comme un lezard a la poigne d’un homme ; in another sense.But I may notice that“there seem The opening of the second prayer to the village would at Athens tohave been two main causes why the be poetry even if it were not unammisme : dromenonpassed swiftly, inevitably, into the drama. La fin du jour est belle et j’ai couru longtemps ; They are, first, the decay of religious faith ; second, the La bicyclette osseuse a poui-chassk les routes; influx from abroad of a new culture and new dramatic material.’’ It is obvious that the development of drama 0 village inconnu qui me tiens dam le soir, implied afundamental difference in the psychology of Dis-moi pourquoi je suis joyeux, pourquoi je ris, the people; the fact of contemplating action instead of And thereis, I believe, thenote of sincereconviction performing it removes dramaat least one stepfrom in the second prayer to “Several Gods” where he says : life.But every further development of drama should 0 gods whom I have known, a’re yoll near me? remove it still further from actual life, should advance, You have not left me when the train blotted me out, it still further into the intellectual and spiritual spheres. You, thestrongest, you who most crush me into It follows logically that drama must deal with abstrac- nothing, You whom a thousanddepartures tear to pieces in tions, with generalisations, of life, rather than with the vain ? facts ; for contemplation is of principles, not of details. And you, that other, uncertain as mist and water, It is clear,then, that a dramatist who boasts of his YOLI,who seen1 ever not to desire us, observation of character, of the “reality” of his charac- YOLI,seizer of hearts who think themselves alone, ters, is not really a dramatist ; he is only a person per-. Master of the step without cause, and of the sleep that forming a rite, contemplating facts. moves ? But drama differs from other arts in this respect, that And he shows a knowledge that is not limited to his it has to deal with characters. I do not want to labour own peculiar pantheon in the verse beginning :- the point, but I must remind my readers that a dramatic Je ne veux pas murmurer un seul nom, characteris itself anabstraction. A realperson is Ce soir; je ne veux pas tenter les ombres ; always somewhatincomprehensible ; it is conceivable . If one retain any doubt as to Romains’ deed to Par- that if every detail of his history. and development were nassus, this poem should serve for proof. known that e.Y-ery thoughtand action of hismight be Whatever we may think of his theories, in whatever prophesied. We have no suchknowledge. We can paths we mayfind ituseless to followhim, we have discover by observation the general rules of his action, here at last the poet, and our best critiaue is quotation. andsome comparatively exact prophecy may be made by us ; but the character is more than our abstraction of it, and, at crucial moments, is likely to behave in an Drama. unexpectedmanner. Thecharacter in drama is dif-. ferent. Ithas no life of its own, it cannot behave in By John Francis Hope. a manner differentfrom thatpermitted by its creator, RETURNING tothe subject of my lastarticle, it is, I itis itself entirelycomprehensible because it is an ab- think,clear that drama (in this country, at least) has straction ; and the only question to be asked by a criti;. reached a dead end. Dramatic criticism, if ever it had is : “what is its relation tothe drama, howdoes thii any principles, hasforgotten them ; and, at best,we particularindividual emphasise the general idea ex- have only relative criticism of plays, instead of a test of pressed by the whole play?” them by anabsolute standard. We are told that such Before this can be determined, it is obvious that we a play is better or worse than another such one (I say must consider the assumptions tKat drama must make. nothing now of the criticism that regards every play as It is clear that if drama, by its very nature, is based on being a good one) ; but of the nature of a good play we abstractions,on generalisations, that the mererepeti- areleft inignorance. There isnot to bediscovered, tion of commonplaces is not drama. Take, for example. at present, any purpose in drama ; it is certainly not art, thesubject of sex, which isthe staple of mostplays. it is not an originalcontribution tothought, it can Sex is a fact of life known to everybody. It is no longer scarcely be called amusing. It isreally only the clichd communalised in theSaturnalia; it is nowalmost en- cf culture. It has lapsed into the mistake of Plato, that tirelyindividualised, and under individual control. But art is imitation ; with the consequence that we are re- preciselybecause it is only afact, it really affords no duced to seeingpeople drinktea, or other beverages, material fordrama. There is no essential difference smoke cigarettes, indulge in various forms of gambling, betweenthe courtship of one virginand another, be- orpreparing the wayfor whatthe lawyers callcrim. tween the adultery of one couple and that of another. con. All thisis exactly likelife, and,therefore, we do Everybody knows now all the possible reactions in life not need to go to the theatre to see it. of sex; and what everybody knows nobody needs to be I may be able to make my meaning clear if I refer told.Yet we are inundatedwith plays of the“Who again to Miss Harrison’s“Ancient Art and Ritual.’’ Shall Win Her?” type, as though it mattered to any- This little book is of value because it tells us concisely bodyexcept the poor devil who succeeded. Itis how, as a matter of fact, drama actually arose. Know- almost impossible to make an- abstraction of sex, and ing this, it should not be difficult to state some sf the our dramatists seem to be incapable of it ; and th,erefore elementary principles of drama. Drama arose from the itsdramatic value is verysmall. Itis true that one Dithyramb, which was originallya Spring-Songat a can set men and women on the stage lying, seducing, Springfestival, which was accompaniedby a rite of murdering, and committing suicide, all for the sake of sacrifice anda magical dance in which all joined. Its sex ; and to those people who think that this is drama, intent was to promote magically the food-supply ; and, I have nothing to say. But it is a subject that does not consequently,it was a rite in which alljoined. But lend itself to much variety it is essentially a matter of owing to anumber of causes, a separation occurred; action, not of contemplation,and therefore is only a not everybodytook part in thedromenan, the ‘‘thing dromenon, not a drama. done,” but the people were separated into dancers and It will, of course, be retorted that I am asking for an spectators.The verybuilding of atheatre, whichis a 66 intellectual drama, that by eliminating sex as a subject, spectator-place,” marks this division ; “the seats for I ameliminating passion and, therefore, denying the the spectators,” says Miss Harrison, “grow and grow necessity of action. But how muchsex is there in in importance till at lastthey absorb, as itwere, the “The Merchant of Venice,” for example? There ic 610 plenty of passion in the play, but sex ranks only as an DO YOU remember, Valerie, how I once was sprung upon interlude,something unnecessary and retarding to the at lunch with YOU by four of your PhiIistine cousins, hoxv 1 Positively cracked my wits to help you, how 1 fell action of the play. From this point of view, our drama exhausted under the table alter they’d taken their blessed isnot even like life. After maturity, at least, sex occu- leave? I a’m not ungrateful,she returned, nautily, I pies but a little of our spare time, unless we are silly WNI~~have loved to ask you out to dinner next Friday, enough to marry, and then we have no spare time; but but I haven’t got a cent in the world. Champagne and dry in drama, everybody seems to spend their time in marry- bread would do for me, I retorted, you can always afford ing,.or being married, or approving or condemning that, but I remember that you belong to the crowd that is always broke when it comes to friend. 1 spent pounds marriage, 06- arranging to do without marriage. One on YOU at the Grand Puffle that time, said Valerie. yes, IS SO tired of hearing of the subject that one feels in- although YOU know I hate hotels, and shall I ever forget clined to say, with Hamlet, that “there shall b1 e no more sittingin that vulgar shiny library full of Baedekers marriages. ” while you scribbled notes to half London a2d telephoned toten inferior persons ? When you corne to seeme I have no other friends, no appointments, no nothing-but all that.is past. Good-bye ! Valerie wept. 1 saw a lot Pastiche. of little boats lying all round, and I placed my feet in EN VOYAGE; : BARQUE “RE-BIRTH.” theminutest shallopimaginable, no more of me would go in. YOU can’t go in that, cried the Godmother, pro- 1 was in sucha wax that 1 laughed.Ah, quoth I, ducinga heap of oystershells. You’ll never catch the think not thatmy mirth augurs anything but illfor ship up on thatgreat lumbering thing. Sit on one of thee ! Am I going up and down the world still as I have theseand row withthese spoons, here’s the baby ! A for thesehundreds of yearspast deceived by yourpre- heavy plump that nearly overset the oyster-shell, warned tended beck and call ? Whyare you a liar ? Valerie me that the baby had landed close by. I scooped round saidshe wasn’t, it was all true a11d meant. ,jcn.lzt, I at the back of me with one of the spoons, and fortunately grorthled, do you ox what meant means? it means hooked the ladlethrough 2 floating shoe-lace. Then we being where you say you’ll be, doing what you say you’ll set sail. The “Re-Birth” was the most stupendously do mt pretending you want what you don’t want, hating agile ship. I saw her approach an island and heave airily human beasts and lovingthem thathate beasts. Pooh ! over some stone dock walls and half anchor herself, but -what doesn’t it mean of all the things. you don’t know she saw me and heaved out again. Valerie was paddling anythingabout? People were seasick just then though after 11s in a canoe, explaining tkat I had kidnapped her we hadn’t even left the dock. Valerie ran up and down baby. Which its godfathers and godmothers did for it, the crowdon the shore,and kepton hutting into the I quoted the catechism, snuffily, for the Godmother had godmother who carried thatsort of figure which says certainlychucked it to me. Besides, it’s as much mine ‘now then, young person, don’t you see there’s no room? as yours, Valerie ! X would love to be friendswith you, We all sang about sailing away, and the godmother began cried Valerie, only it wouldn’t seem spontaneous on your to throw up shoals of tracts. Some stuck on Valerie, and part, it would only seen1 you were beingkind to me when the wind blew, thetracts blew up and filled out because I have been a damned ass I Hush, said I, everybody’s hobble-skirt, so they all looked extraordinary. blasphemer ! you are using the language of candour, look ’T‘hat’11 be the fashion next year, I shouted, and Valerie out it doesn’t bite you ! The baby seeing its other mother, said with modifications. I suggestedthree horizontal set up ;I beastly howl. Grow up, I growled atit, and bands of gun-metalembroidery, and Valerie said,what shut up ! It barged at me like an old fishwife. I never &out the back ? I said something Rabelais couldn’t have heardsuch language out of philosophical circles! Go printed, butit was onlywhat has been seen onevery back, I cried, to Valerie, this little anyel and I will soon plage this summer. All the same. I said let’s returnto come to an understanding. We shall spend the week-end our own particular joint. You and I are not even going on it. If you come, I shall be driven to preaching,and to pretendto be intimatefriends any longer-any ! you will only sulk or run away. I hate yo!^. You never Well, your savage language is more thm I can bear, said let me be myself. I know when you arrivethat you Valerie. It’s the only thing in yourfavour, said I, that hare looked out theearliest possible decent train hack, you really do in a way sense truth, for you prove you do andthat’s a Sit of a check. to spontaneity. Your visits ’bybolting away from it. If the truth were flattering to are a misery to me, for I know that you would imperti- you, you wouldn’t bolt.It’s the way you sayit, said nently break up even the most ,excellent converse for the Valerie. Ah, nq doubt, I said, and perhaps I shall walk sake of some trifling business. What ! 1 have seen yon in hell for making truthappear ugly. hut,take cheer! come in and scatter an ldea withyour late arrival, and What seems to you unbearable now will prove like moun- scatter it qyin withyour ill-timed departure, and the tain water when you a’reburning up ! I keep on assuring shame mas mine, as you were myfriend ! You have vou thct I meant to do what I said, Valerie whimpered. introduced inferior persons into good company. and have And I keep on assuring you that I don’t care what yott accepted their opinion that we were all very dull. Damn ! assure me, X yelled, Bah ! Rah ! Bah ! T tell you what ! ~11but oats is dull to an ass ! ’170u hnre allowed me to I’d sooner have to scrimmage dong theStyx for a few appear thick-skinned before your intimates. Rtlt the fact thousand years thanlive overthe last few daysevery was I never even noticed their insults at the time. Ants othermonth while you cheat me. After all, hellwill mockingeagles are not noticed. And if T had noticed I soon teach me ‘to speak nicely, butten manvantaras should hnre disregardedthem nut of consideration for wouldn’t suffice to find you out again if after this I let VOU, concluding that your anger would have heon aroused yourlies waste myspirit. Go, girl! I know you! beyond dignityagainst such worms. But that was a11 “Valerie said, I never definitely accepted your invitation ! lonq ago. nut most 1 have suffered from your detestable Of course not, I said, you being a modern and never tact. And whatnotions you have of finance betmeen knowing whether something better wouldn’t turn up, but friends. ~~OIIhave always known exactly how much that’s the best of you, there’s always a chance that you money I had. But did f know- how vou wereSittlated ? won’t, and then the things last out a week. YOUSee how no I kno\xy now ? You sxy you would have asked me to disgusting yo can be,retorted Valerie. Yes, I said, dinner-only you arewithout money. SO far as I have bitterly, and that is the worst of YOU thnt you can always been allowed to guess, you have a regular inCOme. I goad me to put myself in the wrong. Valerie wept. At know for certain that you were recently spending a great that moment, while I was about turning to pick UP the deal of money. How is it you have none to spend on baby, my eyes being fixed onmv native land, I was Vonr dear beloved Alice? Valerie wept. Justthen the horrified to sep the scarcely born infant still on the quay- baby suddenlygrew its teeth. \&‘hat a breeze 1 it said. Without an instant’s hesitation I sprung overboard 1 snatched off Valerie’s wig and wrapped it lm jn it, and towards thelanding stage. -4s I scrambled throughthe that horrid wig burst into venomous flames like the shirt crowd, all dripping,the ship steamed round the corner. of Nessusupon Hercules. Baptise it. veiled the God- Snatching up the baby, I was preparingto swim back, mother. SO I ducked the screaming infant below the Waves. when a11 the crowd vanished except the Godmother, me, rind SRid, Be Quiet! When I looked round. Valerie IY~ VaIerie, ancl the child. SO me are alone, I said to der^. fainted. I ‘was about to pick he+ Up. Awst that! cried She backed. 1 would stay, darling, she Said. only 1 have the ha&. I rowed like mad, and we came to 3’ PlXe like :yn absolute engagement at four o’clock. Engagement ! Charing Cross, if all the railway lines were canals and .I waved my tomahawk. I would ask. you afterwardsto balconies ran all round. ‘She open sea wasoutside. 1 the flat, sFLid Valerie, only it’s all dusty, and I’m alone dashed along themidmost balcony, and Cmne mtmd to there withont anv sheets. Ah, I said, if 1 onlyhad had the “Re-Birth.” T noticed that the deck w8.S fitted with 3’ kennel at one time T would have asked YOU to share it. furnitures each resembling a music-stool. Could 1 b~t Valerie said, I w0111d have loved to See YOU to-morrow, bounce the baby on to one of these! 2 tried : and the ,only YOU haye Millicent coming,and I Can’t bear her- 61I

baby Stuck, thoughrevolving round and round. All IN PARADISE. aboard ! cried the Captain. I threw ofi my wig which The angel said to him :--“Your life below Popped like thirteen poisonous crackers, faintedand You mourn, with heaven, music, saints about ? jumped forthe moving ship. And I stuck.Then I saw You stagger on, you sigh as if in woe, Valerie on the seat beyond the baby. Now attend, said Can’t you feel wings that from your shoulders sprout? that child, as neither of you can get away you can have You were :x poet--slng. Observe this row it all out on equal terms. Oh, I’ve ha,d my say, I replied, Of blossoms on their stalk. W-hy all this doubt?” thankfully;and Valeriesaid, you know my peaceful “I did not burn my letters, aad I know nature. Well, perhaps I’m detrop, said the baby dis- solving-how mortal:; do astonish me ! What pleasant tales down yonder have come out.” BEFORE THE FIRST NUMBER OF A NEW VOLUME. THE EVERLASTINGFOURPENCE. The Editor of “Sunbeams” looks distraught. (Inspired by you know what.) He gets no sleep, or wakes in loud dismay. From break of daytill dewy night If he but knew what miracles are wrought I was a luckless, helpless wight. For the first number of that cursed “Day.” Innumerablepains I bore, Will he have Alpha ? So much--and he’s bought. And drunk or sober still I swore ; Or Beta? What aprice he asks ! But,stay, Year in, year out, I cried with pain It is with lime, you know, that birds are caught- And fought dreadsickness might and main. In the first number, it’s the names that pay. Salvation came, and cleansed my heart. A QUESTION. Me knew my grief, he took his part, To put me right for four-D. The critic writes :-“Our art appears to me And now I’m washed from sin, yon see. Quite weak and wheezy in its aged distress. Years had I whored and knocked about Where can our epoch’s youthful spirit be? In gin-shops vile, and giddy rout Who’ll chant of spring in poems that possess I-Tad set the town alight with shame The sap of spring? Who from the grave will free Until the fourpenny saviour came. Youth, strength, with wondrous verses €or their He walked right in, he did not knock, dress ?” And as he came St. Peter’s cock He wrote. And rubbing both his hands with glee Crowed on the musty dunghill,thrice. He squinted at his own book, in the press. He stretched his royal neck so nice That all the starsdanced out to see POETS AND WEDLOCK. The singer of such minstrelsy. My dear, he’; scribbling all the night, and pays Fourpence I paid up like a lamb, No heed to the allurements of his bed, With profuse thanks-this is no cram- Where I my sighs in solitude upraise And thanked him till my voice gave aut, And hear the servant snore to wake the dead. For lifting me, a lazy lout. Only from time to time he lifts his gaze, And then 1 crossed .the ploughfield brown And then his pencil forges on ahead. And wandered to the murky town, Oh, love in torrents gushes from his lays- And Bass-less home 1 took my way I soak my pillow with the tears I shed. To look out for the blessed day When saviours might, at three a penny, Save each and everyone and any. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Summer has sped, and my song is ended, Cucumber, turnip, and carrot and pea‘, SABOTAGE. Each to the stew-pot their wav have wended. Sir,-In your issue of September 4, Mr. Henry, Lascelles But nom I’m reformed and sing merrily. endeavours to reply to my letter on “Sabotage” by accus- Merrily, merrily do 1 sing pow, ing me of introducing a travesty of words used by him My fourpence is missing, the fruit’s on the bough. in an entirely different connection. EXTRACTS FROM THE REVIEWS OF “THE EVERLASTING In my letter I said “it would be interesting to know FOURPENCE.” whatthere is inthe practice of Sabotage that would “Evening Gazeeka. ”--“William Repton sings so grace- preventaman from beingable to evolve andmake fully that we camot stop our ears to hissong; it is seldom possible the smooth workingarrangements necessary to that a writer of poetry in these days can select a theme initiatea National Railway Guild.” I should be glad if with such noble possibilities.” you would let me quote in full the words oi your con- “Saturday Sizzler.”-“The nation will be grateful to tributor, upon which I based my query. He says in the William Repton for pointing out the concealed obvious- earlier part of his article in your issue of July 31 :- a modern miracle for four coins of the realm.” “Fromillustrations of the complexity of railway “Westminster Carb-Soda.”-“There are many poets, but management today,the reader map see what problems only one William Repton. In the chemical analysis of the Guild Socialism would solve, whilstleaving men who drunkard’s psychology he shows us the soul of a wayward have the technical training of a lifetime free to anticipate humanbeing cleansed, purged, an,d whitened through and solve the lesser difficulties to be expected inthe having less money to spendon beer. The magnificent building up of a National Railway Guild.” finale reminds us of Milton at his best. This work should After giving some instances of the difficulties men- be in the. hands of every missionary a’s an example of tioned, he says :- economy In conversion.” WILLIAM REPTON. “Thegenius that has evolved and made possible the smooth working of such arrangements could !f released -4~tt.Klastersky. “lronicke. Siciliany.”(Translated from the solving of these and similar complex problems from the Czech by P. Selver). initiate a National Railway Guild and he xs successful in overcoming difficulties yet unforeseen, but of a far less THE PAST LiFE. difficult character. That I have lived in other worlds of yore “The time is ripe now, but once let rot set in through The strangest inkling haunts thissoul of mine. the physical and moral decadence which would assuredly I was a poet . . . rugs and flowers galore follow permeation by the Sabotage so glibly spoken of I slept on. Patrons asked me out to dine. by one of your correspondents upon syndicalism. and the 1 was still young at thirty. By my door opportunity will have gone 111 this country fwever-tbe Publishers thronged and struggled in a: line. men would he past spiritual redemption.” No critic leered. Yes, I have lived before- Now, sir, if his remarks ahout Sabotage do not apply TO this my sou! continues to incline. to the men who areto evolve andmake possible the smooth working arrangements necessary to initiate a‘ REVENGE. National Railway Guild,to whom do they apply ? T Deep in my heart you, Emma, were enscrolled, presumehe does not think that only Railway Directors Elf with the golden locks, serenely fair. are eligible for this task? If so, does he think the time 01: you I lavished verse of shapely mould, will ever come when,say, Lord Claud Hamilton will The fame of Laura might have been your share. join with the National Union of Railwaymen in order to BII~YOU betrayed me. . . Well, it leaves me cold. form a National Guild with a view to overthrowing the Karla’s brunette-I’ll find snp solace there. Wage System ? Sjtc’11 save me, Ariadne-like.I’ll hold In 211~7 case, T think it is a well-known fact that the nfy verse, hut change the colour of the hair. working arragements of the Railways are evolved and 612 carried out by the rank and file together with nlen tvho ’l‘hc Socialists oi the innocent lamb schools too, the have sprung II-OI~the ranks, and so, owing, maybe, to my clever Syndicalists-should not be taken seriously. To “disordered mentality,” I sho~zld still like to see a reply convert them wouldbe really dangerous, and toargue to my query. with them is futile torture. As regards my charges of anti-syndicalist criticism But one’s quarrelwith those n.ho sa>-$ peace, peace, etc., whlchseem to hare so roused the anger of Mr. where there is no peace, is the more embarrassing in that Lascelles, I consider theyare perfectly justified by the those who recognise thenatural antagonism ot interest pronouncement he makes upon Sabotage. If heattacks between exploiterand exploited, address themselves to Sabotage, he attacks Syndicalism as it is known and promote that antagonism in the worst possible way. propagated in England. Objection to Sabotage is con- The adoption of severe repressivemethods by the ventional hypocrisy on the part of anintelligent, really masters and their hired lictors is brutal, cunning without class-conscious Socialist, but perfectly natural coming intelligence ; but so are the methods of the strike agitator from a fool or aCapitalist. I ga’ve yourcontributor the -yes! brutal but densely, stupidly brutal. benefit of any doubt I may have hadL. By the way, hasnot “Romney” disposed rather off- I repeat that the greatest asset of the Capitalist is the handedlyand inadequately of the question of Tactics ? workers’ superstitious belief in the sanctity of property ; To hear of him, informed as he is in mattersmilitary, and the man who objects tothe destruction of a some theory of tactics would be instructive. Capitalist’s property is certainly an asset to Capitalism, Certainly, our Labourleaders can by no’ connotative in so fa,r ashe influences the worker againstSabotage. jugglery be imputedtacticians. Tactics isthe sense of Perhaps there is no fear of this in your contributor’s case. touchextended beyond theindividual sphere.Labour, To be absolutelyfair (and, at the same time,adopt the with all its manual performances lacks in the qualitative style of Mr. Lascelles),your contributor h:is proved his appreciationand manipulation of its affairs. ability to misunderstand his own words and his inability I am pleased to find a NEWAGE principle spring to my to deal with the question of Sabotage. penwith such ease; and the main principle of Tactics With reference to your footnote tomy letter, may I may be stated more fully. Tactics consists in the equat- point out that I did nqt say you advocated Sabotage, ,but ing of quantitative forceby qualitative force. thatSabotage was In accordance with your ideas, inasmuch, as It did not delegate work to others but taught Antagonism is always thought by the brutal to be the theproletariat to do things for themselves. It may in mere opposition of forces it2 kind. “ I have a bigger fist some cases be as you say, a policy for desperate men in than you have” is the enunciationand reduction of its weak Unions, but I believe it 1%-illin the future be the attitude. Antagonism, when real, holds more, and other, policy also of strong-men and desperate, in strong Unions. elementsthan this crude competition of identities.The It ishard to conceive the idea of the Capitalist being result of the simpleopposition of like forces is mathe- willing to submit to the Unions without a fight, even if matically calculable--and God is on the side of the big the Union possess a complete monopoly of its labour battalion. power. There is going to be muchfighting and blood- Atits barest thetackling of any tactical problem shed before that happens,and the worker cannot afford demands the adoption of unlike: methods of combat. Any to throw away sucha strong weapon as Sabotage, schoolboy who hassurvived the parasangs of Anabasis intelligently applied. intelligently SYNDICUS. 111. has learnt something of this elementary requirement of Tactics ; the incalculable and unexpected is a far more [Mr. Lascelles replies : My paragraphupon Sabotage effective weapon than identical means. But what literally remains self-contained despltethe foregoingelaborate appallingstupidity is itthat prescribes thelimits to muddling, and as it contains all I have said upon the snb- Labour’s armoury. Must the workers continue to believe jxct, have notyet “endeavoured to reply” to the first I in the final efficacy of means they can never command 01- letter from “Syndicus” on Sabotage. match in kind, they whosz interest in the contest is the I have shown that “Syndicus” could not or woulcl not more deeply feltpart of Antagonism--the agony part; read my opinion of theeffect of the practice upon the must they be confined both in resistance and attack to X men who should use it, and yet leave me free from any weapon n-hose handle is always in the masters’ hand, and charge of “conventional hypocrisy”and “conventional tllc hurting end always ai; theheart of Labour ? ?‘he respect for capitalist property.” masters haveautomatically, by prior establishment nnd That he is still in this disordered state is evidenced by possession, all the forces of law and order at their corn- the above letter,and his absurd pretence of offering to tlland : and nothing falls in with ’heir plan better, than anyone mho objects toSabotage the choice of being a for militant Labour to adopt and give occasion forthe conventional hypocrite or a fool. employment of only 1ha.t weapon which it can never me We now have a new dictum apparently “That the less effectively. includes thegreater,” as I am told that if I attack Strindberg, in anotherconnection, has spoken of the ,Sabotage I attackSyndicalism. Thisis really too Monomania of inferior brains” a seasonable phrase ! ridiculous, or it would follow that to question the a,dvis- and it is the brains of Labour itself that narrow the fight- ability ol Sabotage under any given conditions would be ing. front cf Labour to fit the cannon’s mouth of to oppose it always and everywhere, and to question the Capitalism. wisdom of a particularstrike would bc to attackthe There is one othersupreme prescription---th:lt of strike weapon altogether. “splashing about.” Has notone said in a certain p1:lCe, Your correspondent has made a mistake; let him own something about a millstone and a neck ?---more effective it and acknowledge %he first principlethat itis not possible than splashing ! to begin intelligentdiscussion until it is freed from Crudity must be met by refinement ; place your artist attributinginsincere motives, and I will then statethe tQ dispose of your hired bully. reasons upon which I found my objections to the sabot- I aln not inthe Labour movement,neither should age spoken of by your first correspondent. be; therefore, it is not for me,with no influence, and Readers of the articleson a NationalRailway Guild little, but accurate, knowledge of the mental and spiritual will have gathered thatthe Guild must be a union be- quality of Organised Labour, toplan the battle.But, tween the men and the presentadministration, the lastly, to dispose of the theoretical lambkins who dread directors and officers in common with the menbeing theslaughter, but ha\--e a fondness for SentimentaI reduced in numbers should any become unnecessary. anaesthetics : Do Christians-did Christ-suspect what Themen can hardly be expected suddenly to develop really lay behind the doctrine of non-resistance? It mas minds of the administrative type and work the railways not passive submission-XO ! but the meeting of blind regardless of all past official experience. It would not be force \\Tith a more refined discernment, ,’i self-restraint, possible, for example, to use locomotives ttnless they were dignity, no less active but infinitely more penetrating. maintained inrunning condition, and old anes replaced The resistance of Iabour, as, too, its attack should be by new, throughthe combined labour of officials and politic, refined, intelligent, andpurposeful-something men.1 **+ corresponding to, and worthy of, the confidence, loyalty, and self-sacrifice which is often elicited, but too often LABOUR TACTICS. broughtto shame,from the massed workers of the Sir,-In Dublin,and elsewhere, we are faced by the country. undeniable demonstration of events. I makethese suggestions without prejudice tothe To the discerning, any event of realitycontains its means so ably advocated by THE NEW AGF:,that of a COIII- own explanation. We need no more than to be informed plete monopoly of Labour, with dl the potency of the fully of the facts to understand. To the efficient intelli- strike. Indeed,these are no more thantimely and gence formal logic is an affront, since the sufficient logic spontaneous comments on THE NEW AGE appeal. For of facts is available. that monopoly to be effective, must needs hare for its So, finetheories of theultimate identity of interest promotion and maintenancethe sense in the workers or’ between Capital and 1,nbonrneed but the tests of facts. some worthy purpose to be achieved. This monopoly y,.~.ill 613

-lot be prior to the rousing of the workers to craft dignity references to THENEW AGE, but the promised letters on :mil consciousness, these will develop simultaneously. the subject of the Guildshave not yet appeared. In a ‘The end will be one with the means ; and above all, they leader on Friday,entitled “ WageSlaves as Master ,:an never be qualitatively independent. Builders,” the “ Daily Herald ” urged its readers to bring 1’. M. SALMON. their friends “ to face thefascinating considerations *** raisedby the scheme for National Guilds.” On Wednes- dayyour comments on the Holt Report were quoted as THE INSURANCE ACT. evidence that postalnationalisation had not settled the Sir,it may amuse your readers to know the result of a wage-earners’ problem. A correspondent inthe “ Hert- challenge issued by the Hounslow branch of the“Daily ford Advertiser ” drams theattention of the readersto Herald” League to the Brentford Radical Association to your Open Letter, the study of which, he thinks, would meet me in public debate and defend their Insurance Act. open their eyes to the present situation. Lastly, for this The challenge was declined in the first instance on the week, the “ Irish Homestead ” has a reference which I ground that the Brentford Association would not like to should like to quote in full. Referring to the Irish lock- debate against a lady, and, in deference to that chivalrous out, the editor says : ‘‘ So far as we can gather from the sentiment, I withdrew,and Nr. McCallum offered him- ‘ IrishWorker ’ [Mr. Larkin’s journal], Labour hasno self inmy place aschallenger. Thls provoked the policy beyond the strike policy. Its leaders seem unable following delightful communication : to see beyond the momentarybattle with this or that Brentford Division of Middlesex, employer. They are not even Socialist or Syndicalist,nor Liberal and Radical Association, do they seem tohave any idea of thefuture. Certainly 134, High Street, Brentford. they do not hint at any future culmination of organised July 29, 1913. labour in guilds of workers, such as the intellectuals of F. 3. Callam, Esq., Labour in England have been expounding in THE NEW 64, Campo Road, Hounslow. AGE.” PRESS-CUTTER. Dear Sir,--Your letter of the 4th inst. mas before my *** Commtttee lastevening, and they instruct me to reply Sir,-I apologise in advance for referring in one letter tk :t in their opinion no good purpose would be served by to several topics, but the explanation is that since I got ,. discussion on thelnsurance Act between twosections put on to THE ?JEW AGE black list, I haveincurred of the Democratic party. responsibilities which I must discharge. No less than -1s you are aware cur prospective candidate holds very threetimes of lateyour contributors-who wish to be advanced views, and whilst we are at 311 times willing to known as artists and gentlemen ”-have made a play discuss with our Tory opponents, we feel we ought not to ‘‘ onmy name ; thisis, of course,quite in order, and I c emphasise the points in which Democrats differ, but by friendly intercourse seek to find common ground for make no objection until I find “Press-Cutter”tickling attack upon our common enemy. his throat with a feather, SG that he may retch up from 1 enclose you booklet which is just publishedby this the place where hekeeps his ill-humour something re- Association, and trust you will accept this explanation as sembling aa pun. But it isnot the pseudo-pun I object satisifactory.-yours faithfully, to; it is the deliberate suggestio falsi of his reference to ;S;gd.) A E. CORNISH. me. He wants to make your readers believe that I have, Thisletter is the more interesting inthat when the without acknowledging it, stolen THE NEW AGEthunder Carlisle Branch of the Insurance Tax Resisters’ Defence about the wage system and Guild Socialism for a society Association (an organisation composed, as is well known which has “now incorporated”in its lecture list, etc. in Liberal circles, of Tory duchesses and countesses, and If yourreaders are sufficiently “hare-brained” to care under nosuspicion of being“advanced” or Democratic) only forfacts and not for prejudices, they maylike to had succeeded inarranging a debate between a well- know that one of yourregular staff kindly proposed known local Liberaland myself, this gentlemanwrote thelecture titles to a member who was arranging the withdrawing from the contest,and adding that ‘‘several matter. Now, Mr. Press-Cutter, swallow down that. . . prominent members of the Executive object very strongly I regret, sir, to note that you have not yet found space to myundertaking a public debate. Their view being €or my concluding letter regarding Rabbi Randall, whom that the Act is law, and that xnv debate will do no good I put inthe pillory as a pretender. Re now deserves :2nd might be the cause of friction.” more than the castigation from which you have protected himby his critique on Professor J. B. Bury’sbook; he MARGARET DouGlas, Hon.Secretary. haslearned nothing, not even caution or the wisdomof Insurance Tax Resisters’ Defence Association. elementary consistency. For weeks hehas been “ prov- *%* ing ” that capitalism and the wage system were founded “THE NEW AGE” AND THE PRESS. by theearly Christians, and I had totell him that the Sir,-The editor of the “ Christian Commonwealth ” economic of Christ was akinto communism and his corrects mystatement that his journal mentioned the politic to anarchism.Last week the Rabbi quoted with NationalGuild system for thefirst time on August 27. approvala dictum of Nietzsche’s : “ Theanarchist and “Wehave frequently mentioned yourideas,” he con- theChristian are of thesame origin.” Nietzsche is tinues, “ and in our issue of August 13, to go no further right; butwhat I am waiting for is a quotation from back.” I canonly cry (‘Peccavl !” and regret that my someone greaterthan Mr. Randall,to the effect that negligencehas merited this rebuke. Inits issue of Jesus was “the founder of capitalism.” September 4, the “ Christian Commonwealth ” again re- WILLIAML. HARE. fersfriendlily to THE NEW AGE. “Perhapsthe most [“ Press-Cutter ” replies : If Mr. Hare does not searchinganalysis of the presentsituation appeared in ‘‘ object to ” a pun, I wonder what language he would THE NEW AGEin the shape of a long letter to the Trade employ if he did. I deny the charge of having suggested Union Congress. Admitting its majorpremises that Mr. Hare’sstealing THE NEW AGE thunder.The point labour is a commodity boughtand sold for wages, the that tickledmy sense of humour was thecontrast be- strong plea in that letter for the establishment of a laboor tween his attitude to THE New AGE and the attitude of monopoly thrcugh the betterand better organisation of the society to which hebelongs.] the workers is inevitable. At any rate, it is put forward [Mr. Randall replies : I have never attempted to prove at the psychological moment, and may have bigger con- that Christ was the founder of capitalism, and there is, sequences in the industrial movement than the majority therefore, no need to publish Mr. Hare’s “casti~atim”of of its leaders anticipate.” “ Justice,” on the other hand, a thesis invented by himself.? is less thanjust, or even accurate. Mr. Fred Knee is * 8 9 permitted tostate, without correction in its editorial FOREIGN AFFAIRS. columnS, that “ Guild Socialism ” [they \vi11 continue to Sir,-In replyto Senor Miguel Zapato’s lastletter to call the scheme by that name] was woven ‘‘ all out of his YOU, allow me to say that the Mexican Constitution is a own head by a middle-class sympathiser” with the Labour fiction in precisely the same sense as international law is movement.But, first, this is wrong in point of fact, as a fiction. It is there,laid down in rules and clauses. you have stated; and, secondly, the disgrace, even if it We obey international law, exactly as we abide by sworn were true, would not be yours. Mr. Knee, no doubt, is andsigned treaties, aslong as we can. But sometimes preparedto bow his name toMarx, who was also a treaties,like constitutions, are overthrown by force. “ muddle-class ” sympathiserwith Labour ; or, failing When the use of force is at an end we may go back to Mars, to Mr. Hyndman or Mr. Bax, born of whom belong thetreaty, or thelaw, for definitions and precedents. to the “ middle class.” But these democrats are nothing I have often given instances of this in pour columns in if not thorough. Like certain young birds, they will foul the course of the last three years or so. President Diaz their own nest rather than be denied their callow liberty. seldom troubledto refer tothe Mexican Constitution. The “ Daily Herald ” of the past week has had several General Huerta, on the other hand, has always laid much 614 more emphasis on it. This being so, it is the duty of a first impressions that usehad worn off. It is this fact critic to pay equal attention to it, pointing Out, however, that so surprises R. H. C. Butwhy should it? Mr. as I have done, thatthe Constitution,although im- Rosciszewski comes withthe ever daemonic fresh eye portant, is not necessarily the last word. (which is usually reliable when there are brains behind The United Statespractically owns Panamaand it), hence he sees hissubjects denuded of that cheap Nicaragua; for thesecountries cannot negotiate with glamour that is too apt to blunt our perceptions. Again, foreign Powers, or obtain foreign loans, without the con- THE NEW AGE hasset up such a highstandard that sent of the United States, exactly as Cuba cannot.Per- gush is out of the question.Regarding riots, one can haps Senor Zapato will now inform me precisely who is easilyimagine the uproar that would ensue on the at the back of the railway now being built between Mexico appearance of thesecartoons in the placard Press--that City and Guatemala, and whether or no it is likely that is, if these ’a’penny marvels were notwritten by the the United States will suon own Guatemala as she now dead for the damned. owns Panamaand Nicaragua. A consideration of the Speaking of standards of value, I must say that r am strategic position of the United States in relation to the in entireagreement with R. H. C. in hiscomments on Panama Canal will surely show SenorZapato the im- that neo-European Mr. Pound. Mr. Pound reservedto portance of Mexico, acountry that lies between the himself the right to “ drag in ” one or two authors, and United Statesand these outlying possessions. Theseare hestraightaway lugs in M. Remy de Gourmont (born points, let me add, which Mr. Bryan and President Wilson 1858), andthen pats M. Debussyon the back. And began to study abouta month ago; and to judge from Debussy is no chicken,either. Debussy, with his their public utterances and their diplomatic notes, not to cotton-wool lambs frisking in cotton-wool glades ! speak of their general Central and South American policy, HAROLDLISTER. their knowledge of Mexico is still elementary. The United *** States will in the long run triumph in Mexico; but her victory will come vi%economics and not vi2 the diplomacy BURY’S “HISTORY OF THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT.” of the present Administration. %-I find in your issue of this week an article well I have, alas ! no cousin in the beautiful city of San Jose. expressing. the duty of a reviewer-to say what he thinks I can well imagine, however, that Senor Zapato has many about a hook without any concern for the writer’s feelings cousins, both in America andEurope. S. VERDAD. or for the publisher’s purse, or for the advertisement of. *** the newspaper in which hewrites. The doctrine is “THE NEW AGE.” sound,but there is one more canOn : a book should be Sir,-One cannot but sympathise with the complaint of criticised upon hies consonant with its character. For your contributor, R. H. C., regarding the reception of instance,a Chemical textbookshould not be criticised adversely because theauthor is deaf to thesubtler ‘‘ Tomt ” series of caricatures by the readers of THENEW AGE. And yet, what was to be expected? We cannot for rhythms of English prose, nor should it be praised if he ever be writing and assuring you of our appreciation. is acutelysensitive tothose rhythms but weak in Speaking for myself, I have been a regular subscriber chemistry. for nearly six years,and THE NEWAGE is more to me I am moved to consider this canon by 3 review coming than a periodical-it is a living organism aad a thinking, immediatelyafter this article on reviewing. Your re- feeling, conversing friend. Only once have I had doubts viewer there deals with an historical work which has about and that was when, shortly after the price had recently proceeded fromthe pen of Professor Bury, the it, head of, and spokesman for, the History School at Cam- been raised (as far as I remember, I haven’t my volumes bridge. by me), a new policy of independence was outlined which This book is an historicalattack upon theChristian definitely rejected the purely class outlook of the existing Church asthe enemy of certain normal humanrights Labour andSocialist organisations. It wasnot this fact and, in particular, of freedom in discussion and argument. which made me look askance. It was the tone and terms In the course of the work Professor Bury relies upon. in which the new policy was laid down that caused me the dogma, common to Oxford and Cambridge men of to fear that THENEW AGE, disgusted at theslow approach distinction, thatthere is no Got, and he expresses-as of the millennium,had fallen back intothe capitalist might any of his academic colleagues-a poor opinion of delusion and was thenceforward to lead a highly artificial and altogether hollow existence after the fashion of the Jesus Christ. then “ Academy.” Now this commonplace but solid attitude of“ mind is not But whatever created the impression, it was quickly only to be expected from our English Universities, but it dispelled by the increased vigourand earnestness with agreeswith the general conclusions of educated men which the economic problem continued to be attacked, outsidethem. Take educated Englandin the lum and and I have never lost confidence in the journal since. opinions of thissort are insympathy with that lump. It has the classical quality of permanence, and, were it Indeed,save in certain small bodies (the Catholic body to cease publication to-morrow, so much of it as has seen in particular) such interest as there is in philosophy-and thelight would neverthelessremain a work worthy of it is not widespread-seems to make men waver between having beenachieved-a source of spiritual satisfaction the good old substantialAtheism of our fathers and a alike to the contributors who have made it what it is and weakerPantheism. It is, therefore, justand right that to the subscribers who have been privileged to enjoy it. Professor Bury’s attackupon Jesus Christ and His What matters it if its critical staff do devour wolf-like Churchshould have been favourably received bythe their predecessors, if S. Verdad contemnStanhope of whole press of thiscountry, just as apatriotic book is Chester, if Huntly Carter ridiculeAshley Dukes, if the favourably received, or one praisingthe royal family- haveno quarrel with your reviewer’s agreement with writer of “ Present-Day Criticism ” despise Jacob Tonson, I if Holbrook Jackson be pilloried more than often in the ProfessorBury’s theology. He is rightto express that ageement. do quarrelwith his praise of an historical “ Cant ” column ? The spirit of the criticism remains the I same-plain, personal, sincere, and to the point. book which is full of bad history. We who watch thesewriters pass across theprinted I want to mzke myself quite clear on this before going sheet, who know not the hour of their coming nor of their further, because many of your readers know that I hold gomg, save as they appear in and disappear from your very .different opinions, and they may believe that what pages, can only rejoice silently in their work whilst they 1 am going to say next is on that account not sincere. I are with us. We raise our voices if we disagree or quarrel can only assure them that it is ; 2nd what I am going to with them (it is a virtue of THE NEWAGE that it can pick say next is this : that Professor Bury’s work being an quarrelswith its admirersand increase their affection historical work thevery firstcriterion to apply to it thereby),but we cannot chorus OLI~appreciation every should be the criterion of historical accuracy. If an week ; it would grow monotonous. historian is grosslyinaccurate, not in hisproof-reading The quality and force of “ Tomts ” caricatures can have northrough slips of thepen, but because he does not escaped few readers, I am positive, and it must have come think that accuracy counts, then he is a bad historian. as great a surpriseto most as it did to me tolearn a Even if the mistakes he makes in dates and names and short time ago that the artistwho could so aptly “hit off” facts are mistakes which might have been rectified by all in a few strokes the essential characteristics of our public easily obtained reference he is still a bad historian ; be- men was not himself anEnglishman. Cause hiserrors show that he is indiffer-ntto the I enclose an order for a volume of the caricatures. structure of history.Such errors furtherargue a con- HAROLD FISHER. temptuouscertitude that there is no instructed public *++ capable of discovering the charlatanism of the Sir,-As one of the obscure writers THE NEW AGEhas Universities. Professor Bury was shaky uponcertain elementary brought tolight, may I protestagainst R. H. C.’s dates in hissubject, and he has, therefore, been guilty assumption that silence on the part of your readers im- of seriouserrors : errors which could never have been plies indifference ? ‘‘ Tomt ” has refreshed for me many made by one who was not also wrong about a number of otherdates and historical facts as well. Now in an his- own speech, forexample, when Congress met. Did this torical work that sort of thing is damning, and I hold in Wilson seem too ambitious ? He has certainly put the that no review of Professor Bury’s book is sound which fear of Haman into the lobbyists who used to infest legis- does not notice or recognise these errors. lation as weevils in biscuits. Did any Presidentdare to Let me give you an example. Your reviewer says, do it before him ? He hasthreatened to call the bluff quiterightly, that Constantine’s Edictgiving peace to of thetrusts if theyshould persist in opposing his the Church was issued in the year 313 ; but he goes on to meaSureS; andin this he has been backed up by an say “Within a century Augustine”-St. Augustine, as we enthusiasticpublic opinion. So farfrom his prestige ,-all him--“was dead.” Now, why does he say this ? St. having declined, I dareventure to saythat Dr. Wilson would be chosen Presidentagain to-morrow, andby a Augustine was not dead in 413, he was brilliantly alive. Indeed, he was at that moment beginningthe De Civi- muchlarger vote than before. Your readers are entitled tate. St.Augustine had seventeenyears of activity to know,since Mr. Verdad has broken hisprinciple of before him in the year four hundred aFd thirteen, an,d an confining himself to foreign affairs, what is his ground for statingthat Dr. Wilson’s prestige is declining.Where, elementaryknowledge of the period, of the career of I ask once more, isit declining? And what is the Boniface, of the movements oE the Vandals, would make evidence of it? DAVIDLAMB. oneinstinctively eo-ordinate one’s dates so that even if **+ one did not remember this particular year 413 as the year of the De Civitate, yet one couldeasily remember that “THEAPPROACH TO PARIS.” St. Augustine’s death must have come much later. &-,-Your critic (“R.H. e.”) seems to labour under Your reviewer is in no way to blame for giving a much certain misapprehensions as to the purpose of my articles. earlier date for the death of St. Augustine; he followed First, I have not, at least not to my knowledge, made any in this the authority of Professor Bury himself, who, in claims to thetitle or appurtenances of Buckhurst. thislittle work,sets down that significantevent for Second, X have not set out to claim that the young writers, the yeay fozw hundred md tell. As a matter of fact, St. or even the living writers of France were gods walking Augustine died in the: year four hundred and thirty, dur- x’s men. To disprove my assertions your correspondent ing thesiege of Hippo ; and between the two dates lies the will not need to prove that the living writers of France most important part of his life and of his influence upon are inferior to Quinet, but simply that the work of the civilisation. younger, orthe living writers of Englandis, from the I go at such length into this one error out of the many point of view of the artist and craftsman, more interest- in order to show the effect which bad historical work has. ~ng?and in ahigher state of development than that of It puts allargument drawn from history out of gear. I their contemporaries south of the channel: or if this be do not mean that because Professor Bury is wrong about too difficult he maypresent us with citations from the his dates that he is, therefore, wrong in his views of the classic authors of this island which forestall theartistic Trinity (which are unfavourable), nor would I saythat discoveries of to-day’s Paris. EZRA POUND. Sir Henry Maine was wrong inhis contempt for *** democracy because in his ignorance of Frenchhe mis- translated Rousseau ; but I say that he is sellingbad ST.COLUM. goods. I say furtherthat, while errors of thiskind are Sir,-I amnot a poet, or a critic of poets or poetry, what one expects in academic work, it is all the more the therefore I hope Mr. EzraPound won’t think me pre- business of non-academic reviewers tG spotthem and to sumptuous if I askhim to explain exactlywhat he emphasise their gravity. wishes us to understand by the following statements :- I willnot add to this already rerylengthy letter by (( I am well aware that poetry was written on this island other examples. Anyone with a love for the huntsman’s before Chaucer. St. Colum wrote itin Latin.” Are we craft can amusehimself with this little volume upon a to infer that St. Colum wrote poetry inLatin in this rainy day and pick them out for himself ; he will find such island-England ? PETERFANNING. other examples scattered up and down the book as amply *** establish my point. H. BELLOC. *w* THE “NEW WITNESS.” &-,-In the (‘Objection List,” commonly known as the THE WILSON ADMINISTRATION. “Black List,” published inthe London Typographical Sir$-I am not competent to dispute Mr. Verdad’s judg- Journal” for August you mill find the name of the “New mentthat the diplomacy of the Wilson Government is Witness” as one of the journals produced at non-society, “ vulgar.” It occurs to me, however, that the word is as that is, that non-union, houses. P. c. applicable to diplomacy as “ inelegant ” to an ironclad. *** Nor is it of much concern to me that he plasters the same termvulgar over the whole administration on account “BY THEOPEN SEA.” of Mr. Bryan’s lecturing tour. No doubt it is a pity that Sir,-’J’he English publisher of the above translation of Mr. Bryanshould feel himself compelled to supplement Strindberg should have waited a’ week or two. He might, his officialsalary in this way; but, for one thing, it is then, no doubt,have obtained the American translation better than “ speculating ” behind the public back as our (authorised by Strindberg’s executors, and made by Ellis ‘‘ well-bred ” legislators do ; and, for another, American Schleussner), which appearedlast week, with Messrs. criticismmay be trustedto supply its own remedy. Huebach. I shall be interested in comparing thetwo There is no need, I feel sure, for Mr. Verdad to make an translations. R. H. international affair of it. It is noteven an American c. national affair, but a subject of purely internal dispute. 0utside foreign affairs, Mr. Verdad is notonly, in my opinion,unjust to the Wilson administration,but his BOOK BARGAINS~ facts are wrong. ITIhis Notes of August 28, he speaks of Write for GLAlSHER’S (136 page) CATALOGUE of “ PUBLISHERS’ REMAINDERS- the extra session as if it were over ; it did not,” he says, . .. ‘ see thepassing ” of the Currency Bill. Your readers are, of course,aware that the extra session is not even yet over, and that the Currency Bill still stands a chance of beingpassed. An even more important Rill than the Currency Bill is the Underwood Tariff Bill. This, as was announced last week, has nom been carried through the Senate. Of the passage of this Bill the “Times” said it is ‘‘a decisive tribute to the efficacy of President Wilson’s leadership. It is more even than that; it is a guarantee of a prestige for Dr. Wilson that none of the last three Presidents has possessed. Yet Mr. Verdad says that “ the prestige of the Wilsonadministration began to decline miscellaneous advertisements within a week of the President’s inauguration,” and has been declining ever since. Where, outside the Republican sections, is there the slightest evidence for it? Mr. Ver- dad cannot have weighed the matter seriously for a single moment. Not only has PresidentWilson succeeded in settling the Tariff (that worse than Balkan business) for at least the period of his office, but he has inaugurated other reforms equally popular, and such, I shouldhave bought, 2s ~~io~i.ldappeal to MI-.Verdad. He read his 616

MR. HALL CAINE.