CELEBRATION OF GREAT DAYS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13386, 12 September 1905, Page 6

CELEBRATION OF GREAT DAYS.

TO THE EDITOR. ' ' .' Slit,—Your correspondent "No Trix 1 * must feel himself under dcop obligation to mo for the, " genuino 'fun" and "much amusement" with which I'havo provided him.' Thoro aro, men, however, who aro known to entertainers as always ready to laugh in tho wrong place, and, to bo serious when they should bo merry. It is no causo for wonder that such men should contradict what is correct, and endorse what is orroneous, and at the same timo imagino themselves clever, tcachers, of others. These / men know all about, ahd can settle straight ' off in ft few sentences, things regarding which the wisest sages confess their inability to como to a conclusion. Superior men of this stamp are over with us, like tho poor, and aro almost as much in cvidohco as they. A stroke of the facilo pen of ,cno of theso knowing individuals is enough to put beyond dispute for ovcrinore what has perplexed tho minds of philosophers aind historians for centuries. Is it not folly to venturo a remonstrance? Tho only reward will. prove a laugh, or a hysterical screech. For to them truth is to bo sneered at, and logic is a "fceblo rigmarole," whilo tLo acknowledgment of the sentiment that

Tliero is a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will, is "superstitious," and is elegantly - called "bunkum." Tho sapient. "No Trix" is-nothing if ho fails t-o be dogmatic. His knowledge is exact; these who speak otherwise aro "nonsensical;" Consequently when ho says that "Tresham and Mountcaglo wore tho instigators" of the gunpowder plot, no matter how inconsistent,' wo must take his word for it; he offers ho other proof. When he asserts that tho plot "was never intended to come' to fruition," his bare statement, however adverso it may ho to all facts, must bo true. , Oh, certainly I and why not? Ho is a master of unsupported assertion who can cost a glamour over fiction so that it may ,'assumo tho rolo of facts as fancy desires. Of course, whon'this' great man writes " theso two worthies concocted the famous let-tor " the error is at onee transformed into a profound and indisputable truth. When ho takes -upon him to tell us "that it was Tresham who delivered tho letter to Mounteagle's page" ho at onoo dispels tho black cloud of formerly impenetrable mystery that has baffled the skill of tlio keenest historians'. But ho cannot possibly descend to tho perpetration of " bunkum." So when ho writes of Mounteagle. and Tresham that they "worked up tho conspiracy with tho full intention of 'giving the show away,'" in spito of all tho facts against him, wo must not suggest that ho has' given away his claim to veracity. This is tho sort of man who, by casting a falso and a stupidly-blinding veil over national episodes, succeeds in bringing tho most startling events of our history into contempt among a largo following who aro so ready to believe'bold, though erroneous, statements in preference to attested facts and logical arguments; and the pressure of such falso views operating on _ public opinion bonds the knees of politicians, ecclesiastics, and church unions until they genuflect and wobble in fear of offending tho bold t-raducers of stern facts, and givo way for want of eourago to uphold the right, forgetting that " one man with God is in tho majority.''' _ Willi your permission I shall deal with tho facts denied by your correspondent in a subsequent letter.—l am, etc.. „ September 9. ' A; Delegate.