THE 'GUARDIAN'S' SAXON.

Evening Star, Issue 3714, 18 January 1875, Page 3

THE 'GUARDIAN'S' SAXON.

To the Editor. ‘‘There is no Church sayest thou? The voice of prophecy has gone dumb? This is even what I dispute, but in any case hast thou not still preaching enough ? A preaching friar settles himself in every village, and builds a pulpit which he calls a newspaper.” —Thomas Carlyle. Sib,—l regret much to see that you have incurred the displeasure of the ‘ Cu i-djan,’ and deeply do I sympathise with you in your distress. To a well-regulated mind it is an unpleasant feeling to know th .t something you have done has given offence, and I can fully understand how readily you will atone for your error when once the injustice comes home to your mind. You, on second thoughts, must feel that it is the duty of a j urnalist holding the leading i osition of your contemporary as a commercial, moral, and particularly religious journal, mildly and, >if necessary, severely to remonstrate with a-pi ants who, unasked, thrust their opinions fonvard to the public. You must be aware, Mr Editor, that there are individuals heavenly endowed w-ith the g. nius, and specially selected to lead and lecture tbe common herd. The world would he lost without such men, and it is manifest that your editorial friend is one of the elected, and, with the touchiness of genius, recoils from contact with lower beings He may be a trifle bigoted in his religions views, and his moral notions may, to some heavy-headed people, appear inflated, botitisnotgiven to all readers to understand tbe wonderful thoughts and inspirations of writers w’eighted with original ideas. Carlyle has been misunderstood. Stuart Mill oa led a humbug, ami John Tyndall an unbeliever. With such examples before him. your contemporary can, in his exalted position and with his c rn maud ng intellect' afford to smile at the puny efforts of intellectual randflies to diaturb him His Saxon you attempted to show was rather windy j but have no ioubr,. supplied as he. in tommon with other literary giant-, must he with Max M uller and all the other talent on his book shelves, added to an intuitive geuins f »r language, he might, could ha stoop so low, i-how you, Mr Editor', that puro JSaxon is not the plain and simple language you suppose it to be, I sincerely

trust, Mr Editor, that yon will not be offended at my plain speaking, and that your contemporary will reel pieased in knowing that at least there is one who, however ignorant, tries to appreciate his talent and s> mpathises with th ■ annoyance he must feel at being misunderstood ; and who, feeling unable to clothe his thoughts in the homely Saxon so endeared to your cont-empora y, lias done what Biglow calls his “level best” in defence of hj appreciated intellect. In anti upation of the humble apology which I on 11. hope will soon appear n-i your column- - miy I, Mr Editor, subscribe my&eli yours. &■; , Humility. Dunedin, January 16.