DAVID THE KING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14383, 28 November 1908, Page 13

DAVID THE KING.

"THE DELANE OB DEMOCRACY." In this volume we have a biographical record of extraordinary interest, raising questions of far greater and graver import than merely centre round the life >f David Syme, editor and proprietor of fto Melbourne Age, dubbed by the writer (Mr Ambrose Pratt) "The Father of Prolection in Australia." For in these pages mi are introduced to a man who in one and the same personality embodies the spirit of democracy ■ and the essence" of autocracy. We *ee in David Syme, the champion of the people, a striking illustration of Carlyle's theory concerning the superman, and a tribute to Neitzsche's philosophy that ..e who wills shall rule. David Syme was the man who, acquiring the Age, fought a fierce battle 'single" handed . against the combined forces of capital and class, emerging from the (struggle as great a capitalist as any other Australian. He made the people pay the price of the campaign, and from their frooly tendered pence he amassed a fortune,' Possessed of power and wealth, ho assumed the position of dictator, formulated policies, and thrust them upon tho people, and made and unmade Ministries at his'will, It was Cavlyle who declared "Great is journalism. Is not every able editor a ruler of the world, being a persuader of it?" But David Syme passed the limits of a mere persuader: he was a compeller of public opinion. As his biographer somewhat extravagantly remarks :— ' Courage was ever David Syme's highest virturo, and liis courage was always ■remarkable for its essential quality of grave and cogent endurance. Based upon intellectual conviction, his confidence in himself and in his views held the place occupied in smaller minds by religious superstition. His boldhess led liim to lengths and into situations which frequently astounded and bitterly antagonised his contemporaries, but his fortitude was never eliaken eithe-T by opposition or adversity. He believed in every measure he advocated, and unswervingly pursued his aims until his adversaries retired before a combatant whose pertinacity was as invincible as his opinions were weighty. With many opportunist politicians the custom is to catch a wave, of popular emotion, to ride on its crest, and direct its course, ostensibly in the public, but really too often in their own interests. David Syme despised this practice with all his heart. His methods were essentially different. Conscious of his sagacity and strength, he made it his btisit ness to withstand and criticise and check all sentimental : mob effervescence, well knowing that solid progress is never established by the racing tide of sudden upheavals. He *>a 6 always for the people and for progress, but frequently had to fight the people for what he be'lieved to be their good. His greatest victories were not over rivals or parties, but over the community. At times in the early part of his career he metaphorically seized the- people by the throat and held them writhing in his grasp until they yielded to his dominant intention, ine people did not always relish his masterful ways. But when experience smoothed their ruffled feelings, and unravelled the confusion of their thouchts they forgave him the rough handlin, in their satisfaction at the issue, which'was always to their manifest advantage. It was Carlyle also who remarked that a \yall-wntten life was almost as rare as a well-spent one, and a perusal of these pages at once raises the query as to whether this Life is well written or was well spent, ihe inherent interest attaching to it is indisputable, but both author "and subject are open to criticism, Mr Pratt is we believe the journalist attached to the staff of the Age who some years back created an undeniable sensation by contributing to a London magazine—Bl'aekwood or the Cornhill, we are not sure which—a realistic account of the larrikin organisations of the Commonwealth, and which subsequently came in for severe condemnation as exaggerated and to a large extent unsupported by fact. And while the main facts of David Syme's career as here related are not open to question, yet the deductions made by Mr Pratt are such as incline to comment and controversy. His style throughout is too eulogistic, and his admiration for his old chief is so unbounded as to blind him to the manifest defects in what, after all, is a strong and striking character.' For as Mr Pratt on several occasions points out, David Syme was ' the Age and the Age was David Syme; personality and paper are so intertwin?d and intermingled as to make it impossible to separate them. Syme's whole life was a. paradox. Nurtured in the atmosphere of a stern and austere religion, lie recoiled from all accepted religious systems and strove to find comfort in a steiT and austere agnostic philosophy. He purchased a newspaper on the verge of bankruptcy, and bv sheer industry and x business acumen converted it into the most wealthy and powerful on*a.ii of public opinion in' Australia. He populated the Age by making it the-mouth-piece of the people's wrongs and the people's need, and used the very popularity he had achieved io impose his will upon the people. Living the life of a hsrmit and a recluse, he treated public men as so many puppets to dance obedience at his bidding. And it k remarkable to note that David Syme was the substance of which Eichard Seddon was the shadow. For quoted in this book is the following, written by David Svme himself:-

James M'Cnltoch, the wisest and most courageous Premier the State ever hadGeorge Hilgbboth.ini, and Professor Pearson were all Freetraders till they came under tlie influence of the Ace, and Richard Seddon acknowledged to° a friend of mine, who had congratulated him on a successful career in New Zealand, that he had to thank the Age for it, as he had' only carried out the Age policy, of which he had been a careful student.

Which explains a verv great deal. Mr Pratt, as the subtitle of his book expressly declares, inclines to think that David Syme will be remembered by a grateful posterity as the father of Protection in Australia; but although Mr

'*" David Syme, the Father of, Protection in Australia." By Ambrose Pratt. With introduction by the Hon. Alfred Deakin. Illustrated, London and Melbourne: Ward, Lock, and Co. Dunedirj; R. J. gtajfc (mil Cs. 10a 64,

Pratt is too much of a partisan, to perceive the fact, there is the possibility that the man who forced Protection upon Australia may yet come to be regarded as the evil genius ot that great continent. This is not tho place in. which to enter. upon a discussion of the fiscal question, but it would he as well for an impartial biographer to admit the doubt, instead of dogmatising so strenuously as Mr Pratt has done. For instance, the entire chapter on "The Effects of Protection in Victoria," aud which ho cites as a vindication of what lie calls David Byrne's lifework, is a piece of special' pleading. so essentially controversial in its , character as to ho beyond the ecope of this biography. This leads us to remark that the j publishers would do well to issue another | edition of the book, which, relieved of the I tiresome "Boswellisiuj,'" and the padding of too many leading articles from the .Age, could then be published as a popular biography at a price 'within'the means of the people For it is surely a sarcasm that the life of a great democrat should cost half a guinea. The introduction, too, by Mr Deakin might well be omitted/since ' it contains nothing which cannot be found in the body of the. book, and fails to shed any new light upon the character of Svme. . . ■ ■ Tliese apparent defects apart, there is much in this record which rivets the attention of the student of contemporary history, for, as has been, aptly said, history is'the essence of innumerable biographies. And it is interesting to inquire into the forces which have contributed to make the man who, for weal or for woe, lias left an indelible mark; upon the focial .and'political life of the Australian CommomVDaltll. The most valuable portion of the book is autobiographical, and' it tells in simple fashion the stoyy of the old Haddingtonshire home, of the' father who seldom spoke and who never smiled, of a life without leisure or sport, of'the dreary Sundays spent in the company 'of dry and hard theology, of studies in Uermany and the turning away from the ministry, and of early adventures- in search of gold in California and in Victoria, No less fascinating is the story of the Age and its early editors; and here, again, the best paragraphs'are those from David .Syme's own pen. It is when the autobiography ceases that Mr Pratt gets to work, and at times almost buries-tlie simple story he has to tell under his own opinions and embellishments.- It is -un-" neocasarv to follow him through: the record of tho Age's fight to, unlock the land, of (ho resistance of the squatte.s and runholders, and of the determined efforts made to ruin Symc atiiii (o causehis paper to cease publication. The great lawsuit, Speight versus Syme, is detailed at too great length, and the part- played by the Age in the establishment of .Protection and in bringing about the- federation of the Australian States is 'elaborately enlarged upon. A number of incidents taken' bora. David byme's intimate life, 'and crediting him with more of the milk of human kindness and sympathy with the suffering than is generally imagined, mill be found in tliese pages. It j s tt pity that there is not more of this personal matter and less of that history which is so'recent'as'to possess comparatively little interest, For the value of this record consists in its aid to an understanding of a complex personality, and the causqs which made the man the embodiment of strength and reserved force, Those who can afford the book will not find the time spent upon its perusal wasted. It is well illustrated with poxtraits and views, the type is clear arid bold, the binding is substantial, and altogether the get-up is creditable to the firm of Messrs Ward, Lock, and Co., from whose Melbourne house our copy comes.