LIBER'S NOTEBOOK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 44, 16 November 1918, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTEBOOK

Tom Paine on War, . Before tho war Tom Paine, the famous American patriot and lreeimuKor, .who wrote "Tho .lfiglitsof wan," "Common Sense," '"J'lie Age of Beason," and who was a prominent figure in Clio Lrench devolution, would havo been one of the last authors to lx> quoted with approval in an American oilicial pamphlet, to-day, however, the name that was once anathema is being officially honoured, lor extracts from certain uf Paiim's writings have recently figured very prominently in the "Liberty .Loan" posters. One extract (from Paine's pamphlet "The Crisis") reads as follows:-.

These are the times that try men's souls. The-.Suminer'soldier and the suimliine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have thisconsolation with us, that the haiaer the conflict the more'-glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply wa <.?tceni too lightly; it. is. riearness .only ii.u-. gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it-'would no strange indeed if so celestial an iiiticle, as freedom should not ue highly rated. ....

And from the same 'book wo' rend :-- ■ It is the object only of war that makes it honourable. And if there was ever n just war since the world began, it is this in which America is-now engaged. . . . We 'fight not. to enslave, but to set. a country free, and to make room upon the earth for iione3t men, to live in.

And again, .in "Common Sense," we read •:—.■

The cause of America is in -. a great measure'the cause of-all mankind..

Tom Paine was one. of tho "best sellers," as the current phrase goes, of, his own uny. Within a lew weeks of Us publication more than 120,000 copies ot. his ■•"Common Sense" were sold. It is said lo have exercised no : small effect in stimulating the spirit which led to the Declaration lot'' Independence.' , : For.many years 1. havo-had .on my shelves a nicely-bound copy.'of Tom Paine's "Common Sense," bound up with which is Paine's" yet:"-;noro tumoua "flights of Mau: An Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the, French devolution." The. book ..has a. special interest for me, as on its title-page it bears, in a--.microscopically small- but beautifully clear hand, 'the inscription; "George Augustus Saia; Brighton, 1834." I bought it ill'.Liverpool "oito'.horribly wet'day in 1003., when I took-shelter in that haven of delightful refuge'for a --bookman; a second-hand bookshop. . And now, let me inako'the" confession that in'all these fifteen years I have never read more than the title : prige!. The first sparo evening I have 1 really must "dip" into the -pagesof- my'long-neglected purchase, into which, I observe, 1 have pasted an article (from "T.P.'s'Weekly") on the Thonins Paine''centenary*', which' was celebrated' in .'I9OO. This ..article I have just reread, and .am" glad to.'set- that. .Paine was the spokesman of the few leaders in the French Revolution.who recognised that to send Louis XVI fo the ■guillotine was not only a crime but a blunder. Paine's plea for mercy for the unhappy monarch, whom all historians agree was a very well-meaning man resulted only in bis'being" denounced as a .Quaker," and thrown into prison. Ho was marked down for the guillotine, buti escaped in 'a manner -so extraordinary that it is worth recounting, in Paine's own words, ns quoted in tho interesting article just mentioned:

One hundred and sixty eight persons were taken out ol ihe Luxembourg in one night,-and a hundred and sixty'of them guillotined next day, of which I knew f was to be.one; and the manner. 1 escaped that,tato is-curious, and has all the appearance of accident. The room' in which J. lodged was on -the ground door, and one ol a long range of rooms under a gallery, and tho door of it opened outward and flat against the wall, so that when it was open the inßide of the door appeared outward, and the contrary when it was shut., 1 had three companions, fellow prisoncrs'with nier-Joscph Vanhuile, of Bruges, since president of the municipality of that, town;._ .Michael and Bobbins Baßtini, of liouva-in. When persons by scores and by hundreds were.to bo taken out of the prison, for the guillotine it was always done in the - night, and those who performed that had a private, mark or signal by which they knew what rooms to go to and what number to take. We, as I have said, .were four, and the door of our room was marked,-unobserved by us, with that number in chalk; but it happened, if happening is the proper word, that tho mark-lwas put on when .the inside door was. open and flat against the wall, and thereby came on the inside when wo shut it at night, and the Destroying Angel passed .by it.

It reads like an account of Bolshevik methods-all of. the present 'limes. In the same article Mr. Moncure Couway, who edited a complete edition of Tom • Pninos works, and wrote' what is the Standard biography of Paine. is quoted as saying that Paine refused to make : money out of his-pamphlets or take what ho considered to be tho wages of a hireling. He donated the copyright of his pamphlet, "Common Sense,"-to America for the cause of Independence, likewise that of his pamphlet, "The Crisis." ]n the? words of Mr. Conway, "peace found Paine a penniless patriot, • eating his crust contentedly when he might easily have had fifty thousand pounds in his pocket." He died almost a pauper and friendless, in a Paris garret, a miserable end for the-man who, whatever his faults and mistakes, was unquestionablv n true and disinterested patriot, the value of whose advice to his fellow-countrymen is now being proved. His eloquent appeal for staunchness against tyranny is now receiving an honourable twentieth century application.

New Zealand Literature. I Under the title "New Zealand Literature" there has been issued, by the publishing house of Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, a catalogue which is ot once an. important contribution to tho bibliography of the Dominion and a striking testimony to the ei'ttorpriso . of the firm which is responsible for its production. It is more than doubtful whether, in tho whole of the British overseas dominions, such a long and varied list of publications could be issued by any other firm. Certainly no Australian publishing firm has equalled Messrs, Whitcombe and Tombs in the number, variety, and general interest and excellence of tho books they have issued. The list includes every variety of literature, but is specially rich in works, dealing with the history, natural history, and topography of tho Dominion. Science, art, poetry, and belles lcttres generally are all represented, and tho catalogue includes many important educational works. The brief but pithy bibliographic-.il and generally elucidatory notes appendis lo the varihtis, titles add givatly to the-practical value of .lie. catalogue. The number of copies issued is. I believe, limited. Wise bookmen, more i.nrticulaiiy those who are interested in the early history of tho Dominion, will make a point of adding this useful little pamphlet to their libraries.

"The Pretty Lady." -Arnold Bennett has -.always* prided himself iinou -'being the most businesslike of novelists, and 1 am therefore not surprised, to find, in a New York paper, the following letter written (o his publishers, "tho George H. Doran Co.":— ■ "My Dear Doran: t suppose you are about to publish, or have just published, 'The Pretty Lady.' Here a lew of the lower, cuiss papers have gone for it rather heavily as beiiiK pornographic mid unsuitable .for wartime, etc., etc. The higher class papers, however, with the exception of the .'Star,' have treated it very well indeed, and 1 expect that next week it will have reached a sale of .20,000 copies at least. Soma of the (rood reviews have said that, it is decadent and cynical, and' that it jcives an entirely ruthless picture of heartless people in London. This is not so, and 1 particularly want you to note-that the war has a cootl effect on the three principal character?, namely. Christine, Cnacepcion, and 0.. ..!.. all of whom do what they can. The book is 'emphatically not. cynical. Nor does it. portray heartless people, and'l should like

this to bo insisted upon. I have just taken charge of • British propaganda lor France, so that I have rather more thau 1 can do."

Evidently the novelist was afraid that the American Press might find the story rather too strong', and was anxious that tlie novel should he considered to convey a wholesome moral, whilst dealing, as it certainly does, with people who aro at least "unmoral." Defoe made the same defence, or excuse, for "tiosanu" ami "Moll -Flanders."

Stray. Leaves,

I have always held I hat (lie lute Dora Sigerson (Mrs. C. !v. Shorter) was easily first amongst the many poets whom Ireland has produced during the past two decades. Many of her poems are instinct with a peculiar and wistful beauty,'both of thought and expression. Dora Sigerson, the daughter, by tho way, of an eminent Dublin doctor, man of lei tea's, and friend of Yea(s,."A.E." (G. W.-Tius-sell), and other well-known poets of the Celtic Renaissance, was no "minor" poet, and I am glad to see I hat a book of new poems from her. pen, written after the beginning of the war, is being published by Constables under . tho title "The Sail Years.".Additional interest is lent to the, volume by a memorial biographical sketch of Mrs. Shorter by tho well-known Irish poet and tovelist, Katherine Tynan. .

I &\\\ sorry to 1 learn that the longostiiblislied and well-known firm of booksellers and publishers, Messrs. George Ivobertsou. and Co., of Melbourne, intend closing up their'business in -liuio next. The reasons alleged are the shortage of books and.paper and the licensing system introduced by the Commonwealth Government, unuer which it will be impossible to import, .books .from England or America without special permission from the Government for ieach ...consignment; The bttsinpsstwas. founded, as. far back as lS.it.. It is fo bo looped that the. improved wiiv'-condition's may induce the , Commonwealth' to modify the-system lo which objection -is taken-by the book trade.- •:■'..'..

The posthumous novel by William do Morgan, the final chapter of : which' has been written; (from "the author's notes) by his widow, is ontitled "The Old Madhouse." \ .'Curiously enough',, like 'that, other and famous unfinished story, "The Mystery of Edwin Droo'd,'- do Morgan's story has for it's central theme' a mysterious disappearance.