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Organised Slander

It used to be said that the Ten Commandments had no currency east of Suez. But there are apparently regions to west of the city of riff-raff, cosmopolitanism where their operation is likewise suspended— as regards at least the precept which places a discount on bearing false wifthess against one's neighbor. Some years ago wo gave particulars of a bureau of anti-Catholic slander that was conducted by a Swiss criminal and had itg headquarters in Milan. His methods werie a, complete departure from the usual style of no-Popery calumny, with its studied vagueness, and its careful suppression of names of persons and places, dates, and other circumstances that would facilitate investigation. The Swiss gaol-bird's bureau filled in the minutest details and rounded off a tale that would deceive the elject and make Ananias green witjh envy. Inquiry, however, almost invariably elicited the fact 4 that the names were all fictitious, the dramatis pefr&onae of the bureau's anti-

priest and an'ti-convetnt tales nonrexdstent, and the whole business a fabrication from beginning to end. But in the meantime the evil tale had gone round the earth on seven-league boots, while slow-paced truth was drawing on its sandals. L'Estrange, in his ' Fables,' tells of a cavalier who ordered his lawyer to draw up the sort of affidavit that would suit his case— a false one, to wit ; ' and let me alone,' he declared, 'to do the part of a gentleman and swear to ir ' Among the ' ca\ulieis ' that conduct the anti-clerical gutter-press of Continental Europe and its foreign echoes there is a steady demand for anti-prieslt and anti-convent fiction. The SwissMilanese bureau played to them the part of the pettifogg)Lng^ lawyer. And the canialiier si swore 'like 'gentlemen ' to the truth and honor-ibirigEt of every concocted tale. We had a part in exposing the perjured character of Isome of the Swiss-Milanese productions that found their way; into the New Zealand secular press. The operations of the sJanderous association ceased through the imprisonment of its principal for a nameless and abominafole crime against morality.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.I whakaputaina aunoatia ēnei kuputuhi tuhinga, e kitea ai pea ētahi hapa i roto. Tirohia te whārangi katoa kia kitea te āhuatanga taketake o te tuhinga.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT19050713.2.2.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 28, 13 July 1905, Page 1

Word count
Tapeke kupu
342

Organised Slander New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 28, 13 July 1905, Page 1

Organised Slander New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 28, 13 July 1905, Page 1

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