The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15. 1909. POSTHUMOUS POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 690, 15 December 1909, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15. 1909. POSTHUMOUS POLITICS.

■: K i'■'■:.r r . ••."" t . •.. ..,■■'.-. ;■■:' The English papers received this week contain a good deal about Mr.: {Stead's interview with' Gladstone's ghost, a fiiimmary of •which ■ we'. print ■ in. another cpjiimn;,* Tbe : interview, aj^.''•which , .Mr! appears' to have degenerated into'a:w)rtpf' tenth-rate Radical ' JQurna'list, occupied .two; columns' of the• Daily OKronide, Which was" riot long-in feeling rather' ashamed' of itself ..for "its temppr : 'ary aberration.' There are, several aspects of tho'absurd affair that may be, studied w}fih;Bome profit.. In the first ; place,. the position''of;.the' Daily Ohfmiide itkeli : is interesting from two ppints of yieyt. We should like t'o know what light "is thrown upon the- character and tendency of i the Brjtißh'.press by the inability of one : of the. leading' newspapers in Britain to perceive that, it wae not decent,', and not dlgni&ed, not to use a higher adjeotjyo J still, to permit any charlatan to make a I,'yujgar" sppw' 'ol'f, !who |45?noV ; iopg:^a4.'.an3 ; wh - (>w''rplatjvee , and friends .'are sjjill abjindaiit arid propiiisipt ! ijvThe. life, of England.', 'There is much .to -bo ■ deplored in what one pf'tho Chronicle's critics called its "readiness to reap the benefit pf, tradjng^pn^ho.in' ,tellpotual':;■ pf... a. -Buljmorged class.'' No better cY|dencepfthp fjer'cp? 1 ness'of the B/u'dget or of tho unbalancijig effects of that smuggle upon even '. thp .' ; s.tea<}iest jjiinds,, 'cou)d ' be :iniag|n l efj.:tlj3n, fchje ■wild, appeal tq,Mb. ,Glai>stone!s shade to cbme to the respuo, 'No doubt, as' one. writer pointed out, M* Stead and tfia Chrqiiicle bljpwe.d''a', cojf/moderation 'iii being'patisfiecl so' little affer |iavipg;gpt the :in_ their "It only .remain?;" this "critic pointed out, ''for the Navy Leaguers, to' call -.up ••'Ein.ck Alfred, and for'the Tariff' Reformers to produce an authentic r.e.ciyjtatipyi pf p.ree-trade from the spirit of Richard Cobdeji." Really, i.when the . Chronicle ■ can .think, jt good 'politics to print spirit' interviews,'and Me, - Lf;pYp-GEoßOE:"cai} bursjfc int-o ■ tears oh a publje platform; there Jβ. np knowing what may Happen. ',"'■ :' . ; : The rintorview.;'itself is hopelessly, absurd. -."'■;Neither" the thoughts nor the lajiguftge is-m-the least like Mr.' Gupstone.' That .illustrious man's" political beliefs would 1 never have made him say "I,am in agreement'with ihe pripciplnf that are embodied in the Bill"; his'culture forbids tho idea that he could bring himself to .'utter, tho atrpcious. barbarisrn in thiji gentoncp:.'-'lt is-very diptasto'fiil tp'jno.tp contact this, political arpha'ppec jnpro." The result- o£ fclje ■intcrvio'vn .was tho of Jlb.. Stead and the Cflfipriicle in- a'flood of ridicijje fLrj'd cc'hp|ir'c ; 'whjcli' fjpwcd ' w|t|)' adrnirabk impartiality;from hpth sides in the Budget;battle. So far as tho'Radicals arc ,/:bncprned,';.the real fault.of i'lVlß.. Steai; wa^hjs' : to reproduce' like' t|)p mftss}ye.ness, : and lucjtj; lty, that wore .the'.distinguishing markf

of Me. Gladstone's political utterances— some sentence that would appear at. any rape, congruous with the manner of the statesman who would roll forth majestically against'an' opponent 'who proposed 'to apply,; in all • their unmitigated; authority, the principles of abstract political economy to tho people and'circumstances of Ireland, exactly as if ho had been proposing to legislate for the inhabitants of Saturn or 'Jupiter." It' is not surprising that Mil- Gladstone's des: coridants were indignant at the. unhappy zeal of Slr. Sttjad: Mb. G. C. Gladstone, a' grandson, declared that while ho to "profoundly uninterested" to hear that, his grandfather was supposed to navq patronised "Julia's' Bureau," yot 'he was' filled with resentment, tc think that the great causes which underlay, tho Budget should be thought to need substantiation from such a farcical source,"; '"'.' :; . ■■"■" :, '...' ';..' :■' " No' doubt thew are many people wtic will believe that communication with Mr, Gladstone's shade was really established. Many people believed that a certain lengthy, farrago, of nonsense pub hshed about , three years ago was a genuine posthumous speech by the'late Mr Seddon. . Av writer in ' the Nfltio'n sug : gpsts what, is obvipusly tho true explanation of the interview—an '■' explanatior that covers all the alleged 'messages frore Spirit-land.; Mr. Stead's, hired' mediums "may consciously have played upon Mr. .Stead's credulity—a (temptation to Wbicl more hofable persons have succumbed ir the past. It is ■ also possible that the me dium is .a person of gooii faith giftec with the. faculty of thought-reading:'' lit may very well'have read something. ISui it ig more probable that he read the worH ings of Me. Stead's own brain than thai he conversed with Gladstone." .TWtfri tioh points out that so far from/advanc ing■ to 'some., new : and. e?alted -ptaso' pi civilisation, the of Spiritual ism are really "rattljn'g into barbarism , ': "Nothing could have been'nipforefhinis rant'of. the : habits : of savages than ;ihii oi Mr.; Stead's bf. ; ' consulting. th( shade'pf Gladstone on the; eye -of th< Budget fight.' In "coftiiin tribes that gdr of ■ritual:'is' almost' obligatory ■''on' supl occasions. One ' ne,e.d: not ..dwoH .01 Homeric parallels nor follow Saul t< the' Witch.of Endor. The annals'qf'Be.c Indiaii tribes phqw', the. practice' ']n'.' iti fulle|| : development.. ;...:.'Tlie' presen , writer onpc happened, upon ai even; more, startling, consultation in ;.'« Balkan village.: It was on the syp of ai insurrection...' The peasants had .met bj order;, in'the chμr,ches, : ajid the rov.plt about to'be proclaimed. When' mass wai over, an ; uncanny ,v.oice. from behind thi was; Keard annpuncjiig. thi He.was the f.puhdb'r 'p| ; the Christian re ligjori,. and that it' was. the; duty, of al Hisl followers to, make an. nndr of tin Turks. A phonograph, so said the'enemy : was ; seen ; about .the' same time in. the saiini neighbourhood." ■ There is no ' occasiqi for; lamonts uppti. th<^l C/iro Ai cits't testi mony to tho enduranco of human eyed ujity, although; a little.irritation' may. b< excused.'- The rqally striking 'thing appu the incident is its/roVeJatipn of the grea weight ..that Mr'.. Gladstonels name itjl carries in- present-day political' discus sions. .■ ':;:?;■ -.;•'■ ■.::-.: : ';,■'■'•: ; : '■.':""