WELCOME TO THE REV. L. M. ISITT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 311, 9 July 1896, Page 9

WELCOME TO THE REV. L. M. ISITT.

A welcome this reverend gentleman was held on the evening of June 24th The welcome was given by the members attending the prohibition convention sitting in Wellington. Judging by the reports of the meeting which appear in the local papers, Mr Isitt, in the matter of slang, scurrility, and all uncharitableness, cast his notorious Bradford speech into an impenetrable darkness. The burlesque was intensified by the flattery ladled out to the guest of the evening by some of the speakers, and made more ridiculous by Mr Isitt’s assertion relative to the absence of the Mayor of Wellington, which was not only in the worst possible taste, but also extremely unfair to an absent man, who, had he been present, would have given the rev. gentleman such a castigation for his malevolent remarks as Mr George Fisher al me can administer. To outsiders the farce was made all the more “ screaming” by Mr Isitt saying that he was surprised at the “ cordial and sympathetic manner in which he had been received by the people of Wellington,” Just as if every person, including che rev. gentleman himself, was not fully aware that the meeting would be cordial and enthusiastic. Spurious as the cordiality may be, and fictitious as the burst of enthusiasm m all probability was, we do not consider it was any honour to have a direct reference made to our journal, but judging from the report which refers to us, the rev. gentleman appeared to feel keenly our remarks relative to the hope that he would enjoy his visit to England, and remain there. We regret exceedingly that our expressed hope did not obtain realisation, and we say without the slightest hesitation that if it cost this colony one thousand pounds per annum to contribute to that enjoyment and keep him in the Mother Country the best interest of economy would be conserved, and a large contribution to the peace and tranquility of the colony would be assured by such a national monetary contribution to such a slang-using agitor. We wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not fear the rev. gentleman as a power capable of upsetting the rights of vested interests which have been firmly established under the existing law. "We only desire his absence from this colony because we admit that his presence is a disturbing element, and capable of being extremely mischievous, and mischievous only ; and as it would pay the country to get rid of the stoats ancl weasels by voting a large sum for their total extermination, so it would be profitable in the interest of peace, truth, and justice, to vote a large sum to get rid of the gentleman to whom we are making such pointed allusion. In the course of his speech Mr Isitt compared himself inferentially to Mr Gladstone, by saying, like that great statesman, he would be “as harsh and uncompromising as truth.” We have heard a comparison between a roaring lion and a crawling insect, but as comparisons are odious we shall pursue them no further, except to say that during his whole life, as a great statesman, Mr Gladstone denounced anv policy which went in the direction of robbery or spoliation, and surely nothing could possibly show the line of demarcation more clearly which divides a statesman from an agitator who, in our opinion, abrogates the fine principles of justice and righteousness in his every utterance, and in daily life and conduct. In choice

arrd"elegant diction Mr "Isitt goes onto’ say that the prohibitionists were going to land “ their five knuckles” on the very bridge of the nose of the liquor traffic,and then desired to have a “leg of mutton fist” to drive it home. This is metaphor with a vengeance, a simile Isittoriian in its originality — not only: clever, but capable of arousing the risibilities of an audience easily made mirthful. We were not surprised to find that the rev. gentleman traduced his fellow “clergy” in the Old Country, and was it not again an exemplification of Mr Isitt’s nature to refer to English ministers who differed with him in their line of thought and of action as “ knock-kneed, swivel eyed parsons,” and further on to say that the English parsons had to be “ continually tickled up.” We have heard the rev. gentleman spoken of as an eloquent speaker, and perhaps he merits this testimony to a certain extent. We are certain, however, of one thing ; that is of his ability to write a new slang dictionary, which would be instructive as. show; ing the rev. gentleman’s ability in one certain direction, but whether it would be literature that would be accepted as affording readers an intellectual entertainment of a high orderis another phase of the question. We are in doubt’&s to whether or not we are doing the rev. gentleman too much honour by thus alluding to his public utterances. It was once said in the House that a certain member was not worth a righteous man’s anger, and did not deserve his pity. We cannot positively assert that Mr Isitt comes under this category. In our next issue we shall refer to an interview which took place between the convention and the Premier.