The Wanganui Chronicle AND Rangitikei Advertiser "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27th, 1900. MARIE CORELLI AND THE ENGLISH PRESS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 15000, 27 November 1900, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle AND Rangitikei Advertiser "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27th, 1900. MARIE CORELLI AND THE ENGLISH PRESS.

Mabik Cobklli, after having successfully introduced "The Master Christian" to a more or less appreciative public, has seen fit to devote a little of her spare time to •a criticism of "The Bad Manners of the English Press." A disposition to sacrifice truth for the sake of hysterical sensation-

iilism is the chief fault which she a.Wges tigainat the leading newspapers of the Old Lund, and it is worthy of note Unit she soes nothing incongrous in levelling sucli it, charge through American columns. Miss Corelli makes no distinction. She docs not pick out the black sheep, but with an impetuosity only excusable by reason of her sex she castigates the lot. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Marie Corel, li's preach at the Press is the wide differ* enco manifested therein between precept and practice. The talented authoress has in this respect followed closely on the lines of the cleric who unblushingly advised his congregation "to do as your parson says, dear folks, and not as your parson does." For instance she accuses the journalists of England of want of courtesy, yet almost in the same breath she inferentially alleges thsit the men and women who . have made tho Press ot Britain the power that it undoubtedly is to-day are "as boorish with the pen as a drunken 'coster' with the tongue." If this is typical of the courtesy which Marie Uorelli has been looking for it is not sm prising to learn from her that sho has not found it in the English Press. Again, it is amusing, and in some degree instructive, to read that to her would-be "smart" journalists is due "much of the regrettable ill-feeling between France and England." The assertion provokes a smile, more especially when we think of the excessive courtesy and the strict impartiality 01 the journalists of France! Here is a .sample of Miss Corelli's reasoning, in which it will be seen there is cleverly interwoven that grain of troth which is sometimes sufficient to leaven a bushel of — well, inaccuracies : — When France was discussing her "Dreyfus affair" our press could not let her alone. Each little penster, from the highest to the lowest, got into clean clericals at once and preached at her. France has her own journalists and a, Zola to talk to her in the way sho best understands; but our English "oracles" did not care for that. They "went on" at her, like several Methodist parsons rating one "'orrid example." iLater, and possibly by way of a quid pro quo, some scurrilous Paris boulevurdier censured Ihe Queen. And then our Press did exactly what it ought not to have done. Took notice of that petty and vulgar offence against good manners — an offence which all intelligent French people repudiate. Our press has often caricatured the Kaiser, but our "sketchy bits" need never hopes for such a compliment to their cleverness as notice from the whole press of Germany. True, none of our cartoonists uro so gross in their ideas as their French confreres, bnt because the French mind frequently lowers itself to mud levels in both art and literature we need not call tho attention of the whole world to its temporary state of filth. Its lapse from courtesy und cleanliness should be politely and kindly ignored, in such a manner as wo would ignore the ' roystering condition of a potvaliant brother, while gently assisting him to bed to sleep off his "booze." You should not strive to emulate the child who pipes :

"You shunt holler down my rain-barrel ! You shunt climb my apple tree ! If you are not good to me I"

And the idea of boycotting or suggesting a "boycott" of the Paris exhibition should not have disgraced to pettiness the spirit of tho British Press. So magnificent a representative of the arts and crafts of all peoples as the "Exposition Universelle" of 1900 has surely never been seen before and perhaps will never be seen again, and it is a thousand pities that it sliould have to close "under a cloud" all through the distempered folly of a. handful of journalists. For it is fairly certain that if the majority of writers on our Pi-ens had been cool-headed, logical, prudent and well-in-structed men instead of raw, half-educated, under-paid youths of both sexes, a very different plan of action would have been pursued, and the English would have been warmly persuaded and encouraged to visit Paris not only as a matter of iiiteination-' al courtesy, but of wise policy us well..

Here, ut the very outset, is a misrepresentation. The attitude of the Press of England in regard to the Dreyfus affair was certainly not lacking in dignity. The "crime of the century" was surely a fitting subject for comment, not only by tlio Press of England but by the Press of tiie world, and if at times a tone of severity pervaded tho righteous condemnation of the iniquitous (system which could tolerate such a crime, it was obviously the sponsors of the system and not- the people of the nation who were condemned. The policy of England towards France has ever been one of toleration and conciliation, and tuat policy has -never been wantonly violated by the Press «f the nation. As to the suggested boycott of lh« Paris Exhibition, ; it was made at a time of great national irritation, and it was made moreover not j in any petty spirit of revenue but with the object of convincing the French people of the folly of bickering with her neighbour. Mario Corelli's estimate of the Press oi England may be an honest estimate : She is it woman, and we therefore prefer to think that her motives are good. Nevertheless her allegations are as unfounded aa her insults are unladylike. Marie Corelli is ;i successful novelist. Let her stop at that. Having got "The Master Christian" out of the way it would be well if she were now to exchange ideas with "Mistress Charity,"