SEDITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 April 1922, Page 7

SEDITION.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—To th© average Anglo-Saxon, even though he only possesses a working knowledge of the history of his race, there appears to be an element of absurdity in the frantic efforts of officialdom to apply the law of sedition on the slightest pretex. As a general thing the only result following a prosecution of this sort is to convert an ass into a hero. A lion which turns to roar at a pup, which is yelping at his heels, adds nothing to his dignity by doing so, but he adds a lot to the self-importance of the pup and its little circle of admirers. The Empire was neither made nor marred by men who talked, but every step towards our highest freedom was won by men who did things. We freed ourselves from feudal vassalage to the Plantagenets, and established the principles of Magna Charta in blood. We freed ourselves from ecclesiastical vassalage to a foreign potentate under Tudors, and established the Church of England instead of the Church of Rome in blood. We freed ourselves from domestic ecclesiastical vassalage under the Stuarts, and established the principles of the Bill of Rights in bk>od. W'e freed ourselves from the vassalage of taxation without representation, and established the principle of Democracy in blood after years of much toil and blood and preparation for them. Despite all that his enemies, either within his gates or abroad, may say, the Anglo-Saxon is probably God’s King of men. The trail he leaves on the screen of history proves him to be a builder and not a destructor. The ilium in ism of his race has caused him to think in Empires and stand astride of continents. He has dealt successfully, and, on the whole, humanly, with more colored and aboriginal races than any man living or who ever has lived. He has spread the light of illuminism over lands darkened by centuries of stagnation and superstition. He has absorbed to his benefit the best bone and blood of every white migratory race on earth, and he can justly claim to be the greatest migratory force known to man since the dawn of time. And whatever its internal defects may be the fact remains that the superstructure of the British Empire is the greatest, freest and most glorious that has ever been evolved by time or the mind of man. I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am not referring to Bishop Liston in any way. I haven’t even read that gentleman’s speech. In any case bigotry is not the monopoly of any one religion, but I am referring to seditious utterances in general, and the worst that can be said of them is that they are one of the penalties we pay for the privilege of freedom of speech. I am no rabid Imperialist, but if the destructors of the British Empire can produce another race with a history to equal ours we would like to hear of them.—I am, etc., FRANK BELL. Toko, April 3.