The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1923. BOGIES.

Evening Star, Issue 18332, 20 July 1923, Page 6

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1923. BOGIES.

Thekk wcro three great bogies before the war for different divisions of the credulous. They were the Jew, the Jesuit, and the Freemason. One or two others have been added to them in more recent years, but the first bugbears have not ceased to exist. It is still the habit of millions in Europe to attribute every misfortune which happens to the malign influence of the Jews, and that survival of mediteval prejudice has made a deadly scourge for the chosen, race. Jew-baiting has nob been restored ns a popular sport in England; but the troubles of the times, combined with the large part which Jews have played in the government of Britain, and also of its great Eastern dominions, have been far from conducive to their popularity. In an age when the medium and the crystal gazer find

inoi’o dupes than over before, it would be strange if the wildest inventions which nro the fruit of nnti-Semitio fears and passions on the Continent failed to create the impression that there “ might bo something in them,” when they are not fearfully believed by more simple minds even in the comparatively rational atmosphere of Britain. It is forgjj.ten that a Jew was the Prime Minister of England, and no harm came of his long ascendancy, only forty years' i\go. It is not long, for "that matter, since a Jew was Prime Minister of New Zealand. For other minds the Pope, the Jesuits, or the “ Romanists ” have been the arch-plotters, and in every trouble or threatened trouble mental invalids sco tho working of Rome, as tho Maori of a less-enlightened ago would have seen those of the “ Taipo ” or “Old Bogy.” Nor have tho old European fears of Freemasonry as an anti-religious and political craft failed altogether to be extended to countries where Freemasonry has nothing whatever to do with religion or politics. Of tho pitiable state to which those and like superstitions can bring men when their intelligences are surrendered to their control, Lord Alfred Douglas provides a most tragic example. Lord Alfred some years ago was a good deal before the courts ns a result of domestic troubles and tho association with Oscar Wilde, twelve years his senior, which was tho misfortune of his youth. Do was tho son of the Marquess of Queensberry, whoso lawsuit caused Wilde's exposure, and, apart from more sordid connections in which ho has been repeatedly before tho public, ho was tho editor for three years of tho ‘Academy,’ and ho has been one of tho most accomplished sonnet writers of his time. Twelve years ago Lord Alfred w.t» received into the Roman Catholic Church. His character is now presumably beyond reproach. He scorns to havo become, indeed, something of a religious zealot. It is unfortunate that he has also become imbued with a passion of suspicion against Jews which can only bo described now as a mania. Three years ago Lord Alfred began to publish a weekly newspaper of his own entitled ‘Plain English.’ In tho only copy- of it which wo have scon almost every article which could attract attention was an attack, direct or by implication, against Jews. “Look for tho Jew ” was his motto in regard to every {rouble disturbing Europe or the world at large, and he found him as infallibly as that earlier fanatic and persecutor who sworo ho could tell Dissenters by their smell. “King Charles s head ” would havo been easier to believe in than tho extravagance of this bogy ns Lord Alfred pursued it. In the course of the libel action brought by him against tho ‘Morning Rost,’ tho evidence of which has been enlivening our cable nows, ho admitted that his own beliefs included the following:—“That tho Jew? planned Lord Kitchener’s death; that an os-Ministcr, Sir Alfred Mbnd, would destroy tho Christian world by all means in his power; that a great personage at tho Admiralty was in constant communication with tho Germans during tho Battle of Jutland; that an Admiralty traitor recalled tho destroyers to Harwich in order to allow the German -fleet to escape ” —but why pursue,the list ? Enough has been said to establish in any natural mind tho conviction of Lord Alfred’s irresponsibility. The libel which made his complaint against tho ‘Morning Post’ was stained in a statement that it must bo a paying proposition to men of his kind to invent wild insults against the Jews. Tho jury gave him a farthing damages, and Lord Alfred will have no doubt that it was a Jewry. Thero will bo less tendency to make hobgoblins of Jews when it is peon how far that particular intemperance is able to carry .ona; but what of tho other bogies? Any one of them might havo been as bad for Lord Alfred Douglas. If he had been a Socialist instead of a Jewhatcr, ho might havo seen a combination of tho great armament firms applying successful pressure at the crucial moment to call off tho Fleet at Jutland, on tho ground that at that sfcago they had not had sufficient of tho war. Wo can imagine P.P.A. extremists who could subscribe to almost tho whole of this poor lord’s delusions, putting “ Vatican ” in the place of Jew. Nor lias tho Labor man who ascribes to “ capitalists ” all tho woes from which tho world suffers much canso to prido himsolf on his superior intelligence. But a proportion of mankind will havo its bogies. Their persistence is not surprising when they make life so much more exciting, so much more like the fairy talcs of our first delight, than it would otherwise bo.