THE BAILEY SEANCES--NOT FRAUDULENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 601, 1 September 1909, Page 9

THE BAILEY SEANCES--NOT FRAUDULENT.

: Sir;—l have been watching tho battlo from' afar, and: waited to see if tho wise men of Wellington would jirovo' that Mr. Charles Bailey was a fraud, and bring about general rejoicing, but ho appears to have got tho.best of it. Ho ; submitted himself to all tho'precautions that thoughtful men could devise, and thoy, stripped him; searched his clothes, •locked down his throat and into his ears, slapped him ; all'over, helped him-into a bag,- and-'• then into, a, specially .prepared cage. IV tho surprise of- tho company of 11 persons on tho first", night, after the light had. been lowered for a minute,.a littlo bird appeared in the' cage,' Did the pressmen report the occurrence fully, and seek to convey to tho public a favourablo' impression? No, Bailey was heralded lis a conjurer; therefore, a fraud, for he had claimed that apports 'were brought to him by Spiritual entities. Tho pressmen have no time to study spiritual forcesT so .thoy turned:their. attention to tearing ,to pieces the address given through Bailey's, organism, spoke of, "platitudes, "bad grammar," lack of "h's," and mado fun of tho singing of "tho faithful." More,' the press went out of its way to jeer at all who professed faith in Spiritualism. • Why this antagonism to a truth that was held by tho ancients; and by all races down- through tho stream of history? - If I believe in existence after death, and that those who havo passed on can,communicate, why all the fume?. . Then as. to' attacking Bailey for bad grammar, and making such a fuss over his control,, saying that Stanley was an This is quite beside the mark. Those who have passed on aro not walking encyclopaedias. They aw simply living in higher vibrations of life, but in mind they have,to progress by slow degrees. As to baa grammar, and lack of aspirates: well do I remember how a section of the 'press'poured out ridiculo upon the lato Mr. Seddon in the early' days, because there w«re flaws in, his speech; and they tried all tliey could to ruin his reputation'and getliim out of the arena of politics. Yet he proved "a.Triton among the minnows," and some of his bitterest opponents - became • lickspittles afterwards. ,

Notwithstanding bad grammar, etc., the fact remains that Bailey has confounded his critics. First one bird; then two, then three, and nests and eggs thrown in. _ These appeared in tho cage, and all tho malignant' ana merciless criticism of tho press and "wiso men of Gotham" cannot disprovo these assertions. _ Mr. Bailey hns'-'comoontontop," and the foeling is gaining ground among tho public' that ho has been unjustly treated, abused, and condemned before ho was proved to bo fraudulent, and not ono person stands forward to say that bo has failed. ' Ha has fulfilled his mission, and though but a working man is moro a gentleman than thoso who havo assailed him without reason. When scientifically understood, tho bringing of apports and lifting of weights do not appear so wonderful after all. Science lias explained to us that what wo call matter is only an aggregation of atoms, held together by tho law of affinity. Mntter, therefore, when roduoid to its ultimate elements, is nothing but electricity and ether, and thcso'llindu controls of Mr.'Bailey declare that this passage of matter through matter .is nothing supernatural, but is based on a higher law of nature, which is not at present fully understood. Sir Vim. Crookcs, 6poaking before thq London Society for Psychical Research, this year, said that when ho was experimenting in his own homo witli Home, tho medium, in full gasligjjt, a carofo, full of water, rose from tho table,, and d plass also, and they clinked tccothor ii tho.'

oir in answer to questions. Both articles wcro some distance from the medium. Will anyone pooh-pooh what such an eminent scicnitst says? ' - Much lias been made of Bailey's lack of odti. cation anil consequent errors of speech. But what of Eusapia Palladino, the Neapolitan medium? She recently subjected herself to a series of experiments held at the University of. Naples, which wore participated in by Professors Bottazzi and Galeotti, and other woll-known scientists. Eusnpia is an ignorant woman, and is known to have received no education whatever. Nevertheless, while in a trance she is able to converse in several modern languages, and also writes in each of them. Through her, materialisation of spirit forms is a strong phase of manifestation. ' Professor Lombrosso has /testified to her remarkable mediumship. Sir Oliver Lodge, Principal of tho .University of Birmingham, England, savs: "The boundary between the two states—the known and tho uuknown—is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in. places;, and, like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the'roar of water and other noises, ivo nro beginning to hear now and again the stroke of the pickaxes of, our comrades on the other side. Ho wo shall presently como back put of our tunnel- into tho light of day, and relate our experience to a busy and incredulous, or, in Some oases, too easily credulous, world. We expect to bo received with incredulity—though, doubtless, wo shall be told in some quarters that it is all stalo news, that there has been access to, the other sido of the mountain range from time immemorial, and that our labori-ousiy-constructed tunnel was quite unnecessary. Agile climbers may have been'to tho top , and peopled over; flying messages" from tho other side may have arrived, pioneers must liavo surveyed'the route, but we are to construct a permanent road or railway for the service of humanity." ■ Men of high attainments, like those I have quoted, do not indulge in bitter.denunciation. Coolly and calmly they weigh tho evidonco, though' it takes years to gather, and when they speak, it is with authority and weight. Some who have been so prominent in discussing tho Bailey seances are like children quarrelling on the seashore upon whom a great wave is : rushing. ■ They are so absorbed in theit trifling quarrels that they do not see that the wave will, either carry them to higher ground—or overwhelm them—l am, etc., W. C. NATION. ' . Levin, August 28.