Publishers and Memories.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18925, 14 February 1927, Page 8

Publishers and Memories.

; Iti ;i <•.•!!, i- ii.f:- . .i' }: ; liii.- in'ji u- ; ! in«r ih.-iv i* ;i • iw'mv : n i.v «"<; [I:; if: | j I'i-t.T Wr-ii-. v. I;.. ii»i:rci in •!.•• lil.rl j ' iiclinti •' i-iv mi lit I i i;n J t!i;ii j I he w;j -' I rc;il 'i| without ";i -eiiiblanee ! " <>l' 11- ■ i'-i• liy nm-l Inlniimls sneia! i " "i' " —<i true I'lionuli -l.'iii'iii'-nl. i rii■ ■in.'li ii"t true in the - :im- intended. The r.:-," ui (,';i|i:;iin rivhl. and the |piiim-i-"|-.(.ii nl' I li-.-kc:li i'fit t'.-ijn lor 'fraud in i-Kiitji xinii ui'ii "Tin: Wilis- " }ifi iir_ <iallery." li;i<| in common an cli'iiicii! uiiivli ifi i h;r»r been astonishing and di.-quii tini; In tin- public. Hot Ii Wright a:i«l I'c'r-on <j'ibniit ti-rj to publishers mann-ripis of neiir-atioiial ami damaging lncinuiiv, one. dealing with the moral character oL' a statesman not long dead, ami the other with men who am still prominent, in polities. Doth manuscripts appeared as hooks without any serious attempt by the publisher* to eMablish whether they were truthful or well-founded. The subsequent Court eases revealed that Pearson's work was wholly a fabrication, and that Wright, on the strength of gossip he had heard in his youth, had made grievously damaging imputation- against the character of a dead man. .Many people will now lie wondering how much of the Hood of post-war memoirs . by retired diplomats, discredited statesmen, dispossessed monarchs, and clever journalists, is truth, and how much is bold invention or hearsay. There will be an uneasy feeling that where Wright and Pearson have been caught ajut, scores of others have managed to carry it off. The recent prosecutions, unsavoury as they have been, may do a great deal of good by helping people to discriminate between history and gossip, and by awakening publishers to a more acute sense of their duty towards the public. A close investigation of Gladstone's morals is quite conceivably of value to the historian, for in the Victorian age morals and politics were closely interwoven, but such an investigation should in fairness be undertaken by someone who has access to all the materials available, and who can sift the evidence dispassionately. On the other hand, the presentation of unsavoury allegations against Gladstone to a public that would not be interested in a catalogue of his virtues is plainly indecent and improper.