RANDOM NOTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 42, 14 February 1874, Page 7

RAND OM NOTES.

" A clnel's a'.rmng ye tokin 1 notes, Aiul faith he'll limit 'em." I observed a document in a recont issue ot the Tadlet, si^nai «' R. H. Bakewell, iT. D.," which had been specia'ly dedicited to your readers at a distance. I h.ive not the honor of the distinguished medico's acquaintance ; but if his chiriu'gical skill be but on a pa>.with his logical acumen, I pity hu patiauts. Tb.j •vorthy dootoi- s.;v3, while indignantly dhclaiuiig the charge of party p.-ej.tiice :— :< Tiiero was no mention made of the Irish ; and thero was no phraso used ' which couLl be tortured into an exclusion of the Irish on account ef

their nationality." The first seed of discord sown in the great • Times,' and which called forth the animadversions of all liberal minds, was couched thus :— " Wanted a servant $no Irish need apply." This being laughed to scorn, persons with a mean, paltry spirit, having the same object in view, yet shrinking to bear the obloquy attaohed to it, hit upen the expedient of modifying it by inserting : " A servant wanted ; English or Scotch preferred.* 1 Our local Esculapius, however, was not satisfied with this, and informed intending applicants for ♦he honour of serving him that they should be "English or Scotch ;" and though, as our logican truly asserts, the word Irish was totally ignored, not even his sophistry can disprove that their nationality was a bar sinister, for the very fact of the two nationalities required being stated, plainly indicated that those belonging to the objectionable one were not wanted. Dr. Bakewell, however, unfortunately for himself, gives as a reason for the peculiar wording of the advertisement, that he was afraid if the situation was open to all comers, and a Hibernian help selected, she must of necessity be a Catholic. Now, the doctor, with all his prejudice, does the Irish servant the credit of possessing a wish to carry out in this land the teachings of the old ; and as Irish Catholics rt quire one short hour of the 168 for devotion to their Creator, the concession was not to be granted, and their services were dispensed with. He says : "We found it so very inconvenient to have a servant who was obliged to go to Mass, that Mrs Bakewell determined to have a Protestant in future j" and this Christian lady prefers the Protestant — who, we presume, from the preference, to be possessed of neither conscience or scruple— to those of her own fold, because of the wish to carry out its teachings. The whole document from beginning to end is a series of contradictions, admissions, and counter-con-tradictions, for the writer, after striving inanely to dispute the partizanship, crjs peccavi, and admits that of " two equally good domestics, he would prefer his own countrywoman." Then in a fit of remorseful generosity, he declares " thut he would rather have good Irish or Scotch servants, than bad English ones." Mirabile dictu ! What sublime magnanimity ! To stigmatise the doctor as guilty of narrowmindedness, while holding such cosmopolitan views, is simply shameful. lam afraid your correspondent has opened a wound, which, with all his professional skill, he will find it difficult to heal, and I regret the fact, inasmuch as I am led to believe, from another portion of the letter, that the doctor's gravest error was in his defence. No man pleads well as his own lawyer, and it were n pity that Dr. Bakewell had no kind friend at his elbow when he indited his epistle. In a new country like this, where people of different nationalities, and differentreligious beliefs, are occupied in the formation of a new commonwealth, it is the duty of each of us to allay ancient animosites and bbc tarian differences, rather than to quicken into malevolence the dangerous practices of the Old World, by invidious reflections on any particular race or creed. Even the most liberal minds are not altogether free from those characteristics which are incidental to their birth, and tho meanest and most debased will occasionally rise in arms at any taunt or slur levelled at the old home, or the Church of which they muy be but unworthy members ; for it is well known that on on two points are the feelings of mankind so easily stirred as those affect, ing either creed or country. That the doctor may not sincerely hold the opinions with regard to Irishmen and matters which he asserts in concluding his communication I will not attempt to question, and can respect him for their liberality ; that the insertion of the obnoxious advertisement left room for a doabt of such lie must admit ; but that the publication of his pseudo-explanation was a plain and unequivocal confirmation of what had been all egi-d against him is patent to all who have read it — a result for which he alone is to blame.