The New Zealand THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1913. SIR EDWARD CARSON AS LIBERAL

New Zealand Tablet, 28 August 1913, Page 33

The New Zealand THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1913. SIR EDWARD CARSON AS LIBERAL

T would seem clear that the sincerity, or at any rate the disinterestedness, of Sir Ed- ./£ INI ward Carson’s present anti-Home Rule tJfciLJfl sentiments and propaganda is, like Hood’s wj) oyster, open to suspicion. The suspicion' & arises from the fact that at the very time that the Home Rule Bill of 1886 was before the House • of Commons Sir Edward Carson sought and obtained admission as a ‘Liberal’ to membership in the National’ Liberal Club that he only resigned his membership after the Liberal Government had been defeated and when it seemed clear that the big battalions. were on the side of the Conservatives; and that as law officer under the Tories'Sir Edward Carson earned very large fees. Strenuous attempts have been made to explain away and even to deny the fact of the Carson membership in the National Liberal Club at a time when Home Rule was part of the Liberal Government’s policy. Sir Edward Carson himself at first attempted denial; and on February 15, 1912, wrote to the Times to say that

Health to our great King Carson! now and then He’s not too proud to talk to humble men; Supremely brave, he bids each listening worm: Uprise, rebel, defy the Law, be firm, And T—the Great One will bear the blame!’ (Though Mrs. Pankhurst said the very same, He imitates no woman, and we own That Carson says it in a manlier tone!) ‘ I am the Government you,’ says he, ‘ There shall exist no Government but me; I am a patriot, fierce and unafraid, You are good patriots in my image made. And by this truth shall all our acts be bound, Because it has a sort of Irish sound : We can’t be trusted, as you understand, To rule ourselves in our dear native land, Yet, none the less, we’re fit, both I and you, To help to govern it and England too. So all good patriots take this pledge with me; ‘ England shall rule us, and we won’t be free!’ O patriots, who have spent both blood and pelf That your own nation might control herself, Turn in your graves, lament your lack of light, And see how nobly Carson put you right! It was not patriotic thus, alack! To die and win your country’s freedom back; The truer patriot, stamped with Carson’s brand, Would sooner die than govern his own land ! A Call to Publishers ‘ Of making many books there is no end,’ said the Preacher long ago, in words that, have been much quoted and it is safe to say that, great as the output is, the books that are actually issued form only an infinitesimal proportion of the would-be and intended books which fail to win acceptance from the publishers. ‘ Manuscripts pour in upon the publisher by the hundred,’ said Mr. Christopher G. Grauer in a paper lately read by him before the American Booksellers’ Convention. ‘ Every author has distinct visions of his pet cantering to fame along with the “best seller,” but it is a lamentable fact that 98 per cent, of them are so lame with literary rheumatism that it is almost a high crime to call them from the obscurity and emptiness of their creator’s cranium to a painful birth and a regretless death.’ Great as is the proportion of ‘ rejects,’ however, Mr. Grauer is of opinion that it is still far too low; and he pleads earnestly with his fellow booksellers for a yet more relentless sifting of the manuscripts submitted to them, with the view of , completely weeding out the questionable and dangerous class. ‘ When we who pride ourselves upon our noble profession, and the high ideals of our craft, make it easy by a broadcast distribution reaching down almost to the corner store, for boys and girls, and for mentally depraved men and women, to procure with ease such literature (if I may be pardoned the term), we are degrading our calling; we are dragging our high ideals through the mire and we are forfeiting the respect and support of all clean-minded people.’ 'These are noble words, that ought to be placarded in every publishing office in the country. •