The Wanganui Chronicle AND RANGITIKI ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, JULY. 26, 1901. THE TENNIEL DINNER.

Wanganui Chronicle, 25 July 1901, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle AND RANGITIKI ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, JULY. 26, 1901. THE TENNIEL DINNER.

This is an age of pictures. Perhaps, having regard to the respect that is due to the memory of the old masters, xre should call it an age of illustrations. In any case, it is perfectly safe to. say that never in the world's history has there been such a, flood of pictorial literature as toiday pours hourly from the printing offices of the different nations. No event of importance is- allowed to go unpictured. Royalty and racehorse, mysterious comet and prize cockerel, mighty men and magnified microbes,: anything and everything, no matter what, who, or where it is, that for the time being holds the attention of the people must be pourtrayed in the pages of magazines and journals. Whether or not the consequence of this is beneficial or otherwise in its. educational effect may" be open to question. There .is, however, one description of pictorial art- which is not open to this doubt. The power of tl:e cartoon, especially in the political sphere, is undoubted. Many a man impervious to the severest printed criticism, has been made to writhe under the biting sarcasm of the cartoon. • And the reason is not far to se«k. Ridicule cuts deeper than the .sword, and ridicule is the chief weapon of the skilful" cartoonist. Nevertheless ridicule is not the soje mission of the pictorial free-lance. He can praise as well as he can blame, and_ happy is the man or the movement, which has him for a champion. His power lies in the width of his field, . end in the happy license which peimits him to associate the imaginative with the real—a license tempered only by the .dictates of. good taste. The man whose license is not so tempered is not a cartoonist, but. at the best a more or less skilful sketcher of vulgar and more often than not offensive caricature. That the bona fide cartoonist has come to be regarded as n force to be reckoned with was abundantly evidenced by, the honour accorded to Sir John Tenniel, that famous'man of "Punch," at the dinner given on his behalf at tho Hotel Metropole, London, one evening last month. Home papers just to hand record the fa«t that over two hundred gentlemen famed in the world of science, the arts; commerce, finance,, diplomacy, literature, and the law, sat down to the dinner at which Sir John was the guest, and at which Mr Balfour presided. It was as if a drag-net had been ■ pub out to bring in the great men of the land; Sir John completed his fiftieth year on "Punch" in January, and this Jinner was aranged in his honour by his friends and admirers. At the head of the I table were Mr Choate (the American Am- j bassador), the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Rothchild, Lord James of Hereford, the Earl of. Crewe, Lord Burghclere, Mr Sar- j gent, R.A., Mr Briton Riviere, Sir Robert j Finlay (Attorney-General^ Mr Herbert j Gladstone, M.P., Mr Luke Fildes, R.A.,' the Rev. Archdeacon Wilberforce, D.D., Sir John Brunner, M.P., Sir Frederick AbH, M.P., Mr Augustine Birrell, M.P., Mr Frank Dicksce, R.A., Sir AVilliam Agnew, Mr Alfred de Rothschild, Professor yon Herkomer, R.A., Sir George Lewis, Mr Val Prinsep, R.A., Sir Douglas Straight, the Rev. Dr Warre, and Sir Edward Lawson. The heads of the various t-ib'.cs were occupied by members of the staff of "Punch"—namely, Messrs F. C. Burnand, E. T. Reed, H. W. Lucy, F. Anstcy, Linley Sambourne, Bernard Partridge, and Arthur a Beckett. Famous men w*j-e seen on all sides. Mr Balfour, in proposing the health of Sir John Tenniel, referred to his invaluable services to British journalism, which he had helped to elevate by his untiring industry in;picturing the thoughts and doings of Englishmen from generation to generation for the past fifty years. "I belong to- a clnts," lie said, "which is the natural prey, the predestined victim of men like my friend, the guest of the evening. It saems as unnatural that I should stand up here and propose his health as it would be for the lamb, after a long and successful career of destruction on the part of the wolf, to jiropose the toast of the retiring pirate. Sir John has, in the course of his career, issued in 'Punch' more than 2000 cartoons, and for more than fifty years he has been seldom absent from his post. In fact, his abstentions could be counted on the fingers of two hands, a s marvellous feat vi industry and conlinuims

and suacessful perseverance." The conclusion of Mr Balfour's brilliant speech was crowned, with the graceful passage, "He has- never shown that want of charity without which even our greatest virtues lose all their charm. To us, Sir John Tenniel will always be . the great artist and" the great gentleman." Sir John I Tenniel's response to the toast was characteristic of the man. Prolific with the pen, overflowing witty ideas, he. was absolutely dumb of speech. A few scarcely audible words, a long silence, broken by applause and a few, encouraging words by Mr Balfour and a.-, final shake of the head, and Sir John sat down. He could not make his speech. Mr Choate, the American Ambassador, eulogised the great cartoonist in a speech full of brilliant satire, in which the following passage occurred:—"The hairs ,of a statesman are all numbered. Sir John Tenniel takes a blushing, rosy-cheeked youth by the hand w.hen he gets up in the House of Commons, ami by studying his successive speeches leads him on until one by one you sco the hairs fall away and the great dome of thought rises far above the strife of party." As a London paper remarked, in referring to this distinguished gathering, "seldom has an Englishman been so honoured." Tae appreciation so deservedly showered upon the veteran of "Punch" should encourage his younger contemporaries to follow in his footsteps. These colonies ore not devoid of the necessary talent. Australia has produced more than one not unworthy rival of the great Sir John, and even in New Zealand the famaliar signatures of "Bio" and "Hiscocks" have been appended to many happily conceived and cleverely executed cartoons. Let them stick tenaciously to their art, and couple with their perseverance the charm of charity, and it may be that in the days to come they, too, will find themselves guests in the banquet hall of the great.