THE REPLY OF THE "DIS SECTED."

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10630, 8 June 1897, Page 4

THE REPLY OF THE "DIS SECTED."

Blß,— To dear rha ground, I conslJer the Ibbo pavagraph of " Haruspsx'a " letter firal, He asks " Does your oorrenpoodent oso.aidly consider that In hla reoeut lettera b J a has displayed the manners of a gentleman ?■' Ht\d he favored me with his definition of this much abused word, I might have been able to answer h!a question, although I should Dot havo done ao for tuo simple reason thst If 1 laid olalm to the manners of a gontleman, I should lay myeelf opon to a retort that no man is a competent witness i a cU ph a case. Tha title of "Gentleman/ 1 like that of " Esquire," Is now conferred so Indiscriminately upoD all sovts of meu, that It has coased to ba of any value s or to hove any meaning, Thackeray lo one of hla essays, gives a lice do> •crlptlon of a gentlaman, as does Tennyion In "In Memotlam." On the other hand, I have heard a Minister of the New Zealand Government who, at a publio meeting and la tbe presence of ladies, used the disgusting adjeotlve "snotty ; " I gay I have heard this fellow referred to by some people as a " gentleman." Probably the Ideas of these people aa to the meaning of the term differed from those of Thackeray who, by» the-bye, was told by the Saturday Review that he was not a " Gentleman,'* . Bnt he survived it. To ont this matter ■hort, however, and to save your anonymous correspondent trouble and ink, I may state, once for all, that I don't oars what people orII me, what they say of me, write abont me, or think of mo, that I write that whloh I think it my duty to write, -wlthont considering whom I may please or displease by bo doing, praise and blame being matters of utter Indifference tome.

If my vlswrj ta right they may prevail. If they ba wrong they will fall as they wlHdeßPYve to fall. And whether they prevaf 1 . or fail •' It will be all the samo a honored years henoe." Having by tbe above statement disposed of many of the pretty things which " Harmpex •' writes about me, I now join Issue with him on bis main point of cou< tentlon. Ido oontond that a mun who has, as the representative- of a ootony, to mix In polite society, should be able to aspirate hU "hV and Cb.ua escape the rldloule whloh, although moat ornely and unjustly levelled at v footmaD, is perfectly legitimate when levelled ad a •tatesman. I also oontnnd that a man who is ignorant of grammar 1b unlit for any pnbiio position In whloh he him to make, or to assist In nnklnp, laws, the etfio'joy of whloh dopends upon their be'.ng act forth In preoha nod peraplouous terms. It a tuna have ''great intelligence, 1 ' ha ought surely be able to learn English grammar. The taot that there have In times long past been Tory statesman who have not beon able to write good Eoglmh, la no way alters the case. I gay that by that very Iftot they were unßa for their high position. Cobbott, In orltidßinß Borne of these atatesmerj, contends that obaoutlty of expression is generally tbe result of coufusion of thought (I quoto without book), and my oontoatlon la that men who era too lunotani) to express their mgautUj; dearly ara generally Ignorant of history, polloy, and other nuttora, a knowledge of wblah. is aisentlal to the proper dlioharoe of the funotlons of a legislator, the result of the aooesslon of theta ignorant) men to power Is apparent In the " policy," Buoh as it is, whtoli has rodnced a once prosperous colony to Its present otats. Surely it U tin anomaly that a man . on L r e '°P B83 & dlffi'onlt examina--2?. re ° 9 Ottn Deoom e a olvll Bervant, while another man oau wlthont any examination aa to fitness, booome a legialaior with power to dlßtnlsa the Bald olvll servant for any reason or no reason »J all. "HatUßpex 1 ' is a refutation of hiß own theory. Here wo have a man Who Is evidently well-read, and wbo writes a vigorous letter la good Eagllsh, championing Ignorance in publio mon, although he ma«t see . that bnt for his reading and knowledge of Grammar be would not have been ablo to " lay bare " my "Internal economy" (I am pretty well considering— ) as thoroughly as he thinks that be has done. " Whloh of the two would an elector of average Intelligence sooner eeleob as hit representative In the Senate," suoh a man as this, or snch a m»y as Desmond ? For my part, I wlih tpp,t " Haruspex " were a member of the •jtovernmeut, as they would then be abe to boait of having at least one educated man among them. Ho wonld be very useful in correcting Ministers' speecbeti t and If be were also Intrusted with the revision of their bills, fte colony would probab'y be spared 'one expense and annoyanoe of having Aots passed In one session whloh naVe to be repealed, or cobbled up ttie next, He might also considerably lighten the work of underpaid and overworked private Eooretarles. ijet ni> hope that his letters will in daa time, receive their reward. Mr Seddon Is never ungrateful to his followero. Upan tine part of my letter " Harmpex " maintains a discreet silence. He does not explain how It la (n good taste for the Premier of aa English colony to sing In public a eong whloh is an Insult to the English nation. Having done this, 1b It not rather mean of Mr Saddon to go Homa and accept hoipitallty at the hando of that nation? And la It not fair forme under the olrcamstaoces to point out that his patriotism and goad ttste are on a par with hla grammar? The constrncblon ■which " Hamapex '■ tries to put upon the first paragraph of my letter of the 4ih instant is not warranted by the oontext, "In their separate lines," whloh words point out eaoh of Ito clauses mentioned aa a separate class. Fairneßß forbid that I should imlnuate that any member of the Government, or that " Harnppex " wonld try the " three-o»rd trick " upon me. Ho Is one of a clbbs of writers who " crack np" Democratic statesmen and contend that Ignorance of grammar is no detriment to them ; and in this, his line, ho may attain ou eminence whloh I for one do nob oovet, "Hatuepex" acouies mo of snobblßbnesß In bantering a Liberal idol. Thaokeray, I think, definos a "snob" as "one who meanly admirer mean things." Let your readers ro-read 11 Haruspex's " letter and mine, and decide wHoh la the " enob."— l am, &o ,

H. H. Murdoch Hastings, Jane 7th, 1897.