Unpublished draft
Derived mostly from the British Library Newspapers Online database.
Sir, – Will you permit me through the medium of your valuable paper to bring under the notice of Cornishmen the claims of the Belgian Reception Committee to public support, for I regret to say that up to the present time, although nearly every county in England has responded to the appeal made by the committee for funds, yet Cornwall singularly holds aloof. In October last the Belgian Guard Civique – a body in some respects answering to our volunteers– invited the English volunteers to Brussels. Over eleven hundred from all parts of England availed themselves of that invitation. Ministers of State, the army, the municipal authorities, and the people generally came forward and helped in purse and person to welcome our volunteers, and the King and Queen, sympathising with their subjects, in the most lavishly hospitable manner entertained the guests of the Guard Civique ; one and all displayed a hearty desire to fraternise with the English, and to draw more closely the bonds which unite the two nations. The Belgians made the invitation given by their Guard Civique a national movement, and the return invitation by the volunteers of England should be, and I believe to a great extent is, looked upon in tho same light.
Personally, I have not the honour to belong to tho volunteer service, but not the less had I reason to admire the noble and enthusiastic manner in which our volunteers were received by the entire Belgian nation, and as a Cornishman I feel that it does not reflect great credit on a county noted for its hospitality that it should bo the last to respond to the appeal of the reception committee. Surely, sir, the people of England will not prove themselves less enthusiastic in such a movement than the Belgians did. It must not be said that we are behind-hand in hospitality, and that there is a difficulty in raising funds sufficient to entertain the representatives of a nation who positively loaded our people with honour. This is not, I maintain, sir, a volunteer movement essentially. In Brussels, the King, the Ministers of State, the public bodies, found the funds – not the Guard Civique– the Belgians considered the invitation (though given by their Guard Civique) as national, and affecting their national honour, and I do trust that the Cornish people will yet heartily reciprocate that feeling.
I shall have much pleasure in taking charge of any subscriptions that may be forwarded to me, which I will acknowledge and hand over to Captain Mackenzie, of the London Scottish, the hon. treasurer to the Reception Fund. –
PERHAPS the following facts may have an interest for English authors whose works are
occasionally reprinted in America without their leave and without compensation. The other day I
received a letter from a firm of Boston publishers asking me if I would ascertain the address
of a certain English author whose books are published anonymously, because, wrote they, ‘we
want to pay her something.’ Being naturally solicitous that this message of conciliation and
justice should reach the author as speedily as possible, I enclosed a stamped unaddressed
letter to him (or her) in a letter to his (or her) London publisher. I waited some little time
for a reply, and not receiving any acknowledgment one way or the other, I wrote again to the
London publisher. I said that I had ventured to trouble him with my former letter, which
had reference to the payment of some money, because. at the moment, I knew of no better
way of reaching the author, and that if my letter had not been forwarded, I might consider the
propriety of publishing an advertisement in the Athenaeum, This elicited a reply, saying, ‘The
author is at present abroad, and will no doubt send an answer to your note if he considers one
necessary ; but having many similar ones [the italics are mine] from other people,
he may not feel called upon to do so.’
This last paragraph is so rich that I ask permission to submit it to your consideration. It appears to be a fact that there is at least one English author in existence who can boast receiving ‘many’ letters having reference to the payment of American copyright money, and who can afford to ignore them. It is hardly of much interest to your readers to know that, though acting as ‘literary agent” in England for the Boston firm in question, I am no more answerable for what English books they publish than the man in the moon. I am as earnest an advocate of international copyright as their honesty in this case leads me to hope they are; and whenever the opportunity has served during the past twelve years, I have done my utmost with them and others in America to insist on the right of the English author to a fair measure of compensation. Perhaps, after all, the London publisher may have misjudged his client. I shall rest in hope.
Mr. Pascoe, author of the “Dramatic List” and other well-known publications, sends us the following note regarding a grievance which, judging from the letters we receive from time to time, is widely felt by a large and important section of the play-going public:
Is this a subject you would draw attention to? I feel sure it is one of some interest to many. In these times of co-operation and cheap trading, is there no manager of a London theatre wise and enterprising enough to conciliate the interests of a very large section of the middle-class—the hard-working and thrifty? The most of that class rise early and go to bed early, and live in the suburbs. It ordinarily dines at six and gets to bed about 11. Moreover, it can afford a few pounds a year, for amusements and holidays. Because Mayfair, which neither toils nor spins, turns night into day, and chooses to dine when all sensible folk are thinking of going to bed, no inconsiderable section of this middle-class is debarred going to the theatres. The stall régime, for which we have to thank Mr Bancroft, is becoming an intolerable nuisance. The managers seem to think there is no public outside of Mayfair, and we of liberal tendencies (as to our shillings for the play) and of Home Rule influences suburbwise are, forsooth, compelled to accept an alien form of government most foreign to our tastes. We have to pay 10s. for a stall when 6s. are amply sufficient; to wait till 6.15 for our play when 7.30 is a reasonable hour for its commencement; and to be content to get to bed at 1 when 11 is an hour beyond which a wise man will not wish to be kicking his heels about outside of it. Who will rise and deliver us from this aristocratic thraldom? What has Mayfair to do with Putney that it should be thus dictated to by an oligarchy of voluptuous diners at eight, with which, Conservative, alas! as it is, Putney should have no affinity, Our ancestors, whose rule it would conserve, dined early and went to bed early, and got home from the theatre at 10.
[From some out of the enormous number of letters ... respecting the Maybrick case, we give the following extracts] ...
Mr. Charles Eyre Pascoe:-" Most of your correspondents give the go-bye to the point, is
there `reasonable doubt’? That, as it seems to me (and to thousands of others doubtless), is
the all-important question. The majority with whom I have discussed the case say there is. If
misfortune had placed me on the jury, having carefully read the whole of the evidence and the
judge's summing up in your columns, I should have stuck to that point, and said there is. Mr.
Donald Nicoll’s letter is but one of many that might be a written touching the fallibility of
judges and jurors. There was the case in 1884 of Siddle and Lowson condemned to death at the
Durham Assizes. Siddle emphatically swore to his innocence throughout. The jury found both
prisoners guilty. I have no reason, notwithstanding your assertions, said the judge in passing
sentence, to entertain the smallest doubt – [the italics are mine] – that the jury has
come to a right and conscientious verdict. But Siddle was found to be innocent, was reprieved,
and received a free pardon. My father took arsenic on his own account for gouty complaint, He
was induced to do so by a book sent to him by an old and valued friend. I well remember the
protests of my mother, and, let me add, our own family doctor. But my father persisted, and was
cured. A `valetudinarian dyspeptic’ will take almost anything to alleviate his sufferings,
about which doctors know as little as medical students. They mostly laugh at them. (I wonder
whether Carlyle had recourse to doctors to alleviate his). Then the dyspeptic doctors himself,
and will doctor himself in face of all the Physicians in the world, because he finds, from
years of experience of many, that they do him no good. It is, I submit not unreasonable to give
credit to Mrs. Maybrick's statements concerning the `the beef juice. As for the `sick unto
death,' a wife knows more of her husbands ailments and previous sufferings and constitutional
weaknesses than many a physician. To hang a woman because she wrote these words would be
murder.
. Sir, – It was almost a foregone conclusion as to what the judgment in the case of the Drummond Castle would be. It commends itself to the common sense of all who have had experience of ships or travelled the ocean. Your leader in to-day's issue tempts one to contribute my humble word of agreement to all you say. But in doing so, all my personal sympathy lies with the skipper. He is expected by his directors to make himself courteous and attentive to the passengers. That order stands among his "confidential" directions. Now, in the Atlantic trade, for example, it has become a custom to hold a saloon concert on behalf of the Liverpool Seamen's Orphanage at the end of almost every voyage. Tho passengers look for the presence and support of the captain on these occasions. The captain himself can hardly hold aloof, if he would. I do not know of any more difficult position to fill than that of skipper of an ocean steamship, in which a seaman's sense of duty and responsibility is oftimes very nearly in conflict with his directors' desire to keep the goodwill and support of their company's passengers. Only those who are behind the scenes know of the frivolous and vexatious complaints concerning captains, officers, and stewards carried to the manager's ears by thoughtless and irresponsible travellers. These complaints are too often listened to than not. The complainants, for the most part, have not the smallest notion of the grave responsibilities and arduous duties captains are frequently called upon to fulfil. Many passengers seem to think that he should be at their beck and call to dance attendance on them on the deck, to tell funny stories in the saloon, or to answer any and every silly question they may please to put to him. If he shows a disposition to keep to his cabin and hold to his legitimate duties he is voted the very reverse of what he is. I have made my sixteenth ocean trip; and I may confidently say that the only occasions when I have felt nervous at sea have been when the skipper's attention to his passengers have been more marked than his presence on the bridge.-
Mr. Charles Eyre Pascoe, author of “London of To-day," writes as follows :-—
Sir,—A week or two ago I happened to be in Liverpool. Your famous city presents many points of interest to person intent on business, but those points may be said to decrease in proportion as he reflects on pleasure. Holiday makers hardly hanker after docks, shipping, and seamen. Yet I do not know one city in England offering so many inducements at this summer season of the year to the haphazard traveller to sojourn within its borders for a while as Liverpool. It affords so many cheap, convenient, daily facilities for inland and seaward excursions as to lead a Londoner to envy the opportunities of its citizens. Apparently, Liverpool makes no boast of its superior attractions this way, for it does little to-day to encourage the stranger to tarry, take note of them, and turn them to account.
Time was when every Atlantic liner contributed its handsome summer quota of passengers to Liverpool's hotels. That time is gone. Local Liverpool knows it and apparently folds its hands with a kind of sleepy complacency. The Cunard Company and the White Star Company are nothing if not go-ahead and up-to-date. ‘They and the North-Western Railway Company have, so to say, tapped and drawn off the local American trade. This was inevitable, for Southampton still stands where it did, and Sir Charles Scotter rules the South-Western road with energy.
Such ships as the Campania and Teutonic now run along the Prince's Landing-stage ; a couple of gangways fore and aft are hoisted out; down one glide the mails and down the other walk the passengers ; and within the space of an hour both are on their way to London by special trains from the very point of disembarkation. What few Transatlantic tourists the greater or lesser liners turn into the city may generally be found at the Adelphi Hotel. In that respect they show a wise discretion, for in the category of British hotels, metropolitan or provincial, little or great, old or modern, there is none, in my humble opinion, that excels the Adelphi in Liverpool for solid comfort, excellence of living and able administration. It is a model hotel worthy of being studied by whatsoever company, syndicate, or bold proprietor seeks a dividend at the business of hotel-keeping. As to its style of living, that might be studied with very great advantage to their customers by four-fifths of the hotel keepers and restaurateurs of London.
In June we shall be in the thick of the American tourist season. The Cunard Company and the White Star are sending their splendid ships out of New York and Boston filled with holiday-makers : good Americans who come to spend a couple of summer months in England, to see what may be seen, and to enjoy themselves generally.
My immediate purpose in asking you to publish this letter (if haply it may be read by Americans) is to advise some of them, sufficiently leisure- loving, let’s hope, when they come to England to pause in their present too rapid flight onward to London. I venture to say on behalf of Liverpool what Liverpool will not venture to say for itself, that it excels London -- namely, in many respects as a place of sojourn with a view to inexpensive, varied, and exceedingly attractive excursions, to wit, into Wales, to the North of Ireland, to the Isle of Man, to the Lake District, and into that rarely beautiful Midland county—Derby- shire.
I do not know, for example, one part of England st once so charming and invigorating as that of which Matlock Bath is the centre. Its beauties are unbounded, its opportunities of easy excursions almost limitless. It has two excellent hotels which for picturesque setting are not to be matched—the Royal Bath and the New Bath hotels. I take leave to warrant the comforts of both, having but lately having had experience of them, to which fair warranty I hereunto append my name. Practical experiences are far more useful than theoretical opinions. From May 6 to May 12 I stayed in Liverpool at the Adelphi ; from May 13 to 16 at the Royal Bath, Matlock. My moderate bill for rooms and board was duly met on presentation. From Liverpool I excursionised to Llandudno, Beaumaris, Isle of Man, Londonderry, and the nearer parts of Cheshire : from Matlock Bath I went to Rowsley, to Miller's Dale, to Darley Dale, to Chatsworth, Haddon Hali, Buxton—I know not where, in a district full of beauty. And I was back in London within ten days. If there be any Americans now landing in Liverpool, trudging along unknowing what they seek, let them follow in my path, and I'll lay a wager that they'll not regret having read this contribution from their obedient servant,
Sir,—The latest newspapers from Boston devote columns to the reception given in that city to
Mr. Bryan, Democratic candidate for the Presidency. Among other things he was of course
entertained to dinner. While he was eating a hasty meal, a gentleman representing the
Bimetallic Union of Boston delivered himself of what he called “a non-partisan welcome" in
which he said: Already the lovers of liberty throughout the world are making the cable
hot with messages to you as a great emancipator of nations. The agriculturists of all Europe
ask you to strike the blow, and they will follow your lead in restoring prices with the free
coinage of silver. Seven hundred members of England's Parliament, with Balfour at the head,
honour your mission. Grenfell, the multi millionaire chairman of tho bimetallic committee of
England, sends greeting a column long to the "New York Journal" and says were he in America he
would be proud to wear the Bryan button: and Bismarck, the creator of the German Empire, who
has seen the prices of labour cut down one half by deminting silver, asks your to break the
fetters of Europe, and promises Europe will follow.
It would be very interesting to some of us on this side to know if this be fact or mere flourish of phrases. I have talked with a good many people on the subject of Mr Bryan's candidature, and may safely say that, as yet, not one single average middle-class Englishman to whom I have spoken understands what Bimetallism is. And now we learn that "700 members of England's Parliament" -- thirty, by the way, more than sit in the House of Commons, so, some of them must be Peers—honour Mr Bryan's mission (whatever that may mean), which is at least a kind of wishing him well in his efforts to turn the financial system of the world topsy-turvy.— Yours faithfully, London, CHARLES EYRE PASCOE.
Sir,—That reference of Sir Edward Clarke's to Majuba Hill should be protested against by every fair-minded journal in the Kingdom. It is an outrage on the honest desire to be just and fair of every earnest-minded, thoughtful Englishman. I have been travelling about England a great deal of late, and have talked with all sorts and conditions of men on this very grave subject—only lately, with a well-known and prominent citizen of Leeds, Conservative in politics. L have not spoken with one who has not earnestly and thoughtfully recognised the gravity of the Transvaal business, nor with one who has so much as once alluded to the subject of “Majuba Hill,” or to any suggestion or desire to wipe out the stain of that defeat. It is my belief that not one Englishman of any thoughtfulness, or capacity and judgment, in ten desires to proceed against the Boers with sword and fire. What every Englishman wishes to do, and hopes the Government will do, is to settle once and for all the interminable dispute with Mr. Kruger, and to stop a course of conduct on the Boers’ part which every man I have spoken to who has had any experience of the Transvaal—and I have talked with friends and relations who have lived there—says is simply intolerable, and no longer to be borne by one proud of and honoured in bearing the name of Englishman. That's the point, Sir, with the average of us, Conservative or Liberal, and no other; and, as for “Majuba Hill," Sir Edward Clarke is utterly misinformed and mast be referring to a class of young English “Boer” who, happily for us, is of no sort of weight in expressing the real opinion of honest Englishmen.—
Sir. -- Truly one grows infinitely weary of the preachers from the house-tops. The fire is burning from below; and when we look up for instructions practical and to the purpose all that we get are words, words, words. It is amazing to me, Sir, that you have the patience just now to print some of the letters which occupy your space. It is as if one were to ho to some man of ripe experience and judgment to solicit his advice on a matter of great urgency and importance, and he met your request for immediate help in the matter in hand with a long-winded argumentative sermon on some points in the Church Catechism. What in the name of common sense has the present condition of things in Natal, Cape Colony, and the Transvaal to do with the "Gospel of Quietism," or for that matter any known gospel at all? The fact is very evident that we are at war -- and that it is a very serious war, too. The one point, then, that concerns us just now is how best and soonest to win. Every man but a knave or a fool, must see that once the Boer ultimatum was delivered we had but one of two courses open to us, either (1) to cry "Peccavi!" and bring our troops and transports back to Britain, in which case we should, as a matter of course, have lost our South African Colonies or (2) to fight to the bitter end, as we propose to do now.
As to what brought about this war, or who actually provoked it, is of no more interest at this juncture. I submit, than, Mr Harold Hare's experiences of the charms of the Gospel of Quietism. Nor (not to seem impertinent) is it of the slightest interest to the great majority of Englishmen, Scotsmen, and Irish men as to what are the particular views of this man or of that on the question of how far we can fulfil today the Divine precepts of the Sermon on the Mount. If a man waylays you with a bludgeon and threatens to kill you, it is your duty to the commonwealth as a citizen to try to protect yourself and to give the assailant over to the charge of the nearest constable. If Mr Silas Hocking, Mr. Stead, and Mr Page-Hopps, and those that think and act with them., fancy for a moment that their countrymen are likely to turn their backs to the Boers and to cry "Dear Christian friends kill, slay, destroy, rob, do as you will, I am your brother," they and their followers had best apply for present admission through the rightful authority, to the nearest lunatic asylum of their county. Having the courage of my opinions, as Christian, I hope, and as a Liberal, I am sure, I beg to sign my name, respectfully CHARLES EYRE PASCOE, Streatham, S.W.
.... Mr. Charles Eyre Pascoe “hopes" that he is Liberal and a Christian. Well, I hope so, too; but why one Liberal should object to another Liberal thinking for himself, or expressing his thoughts, I do not understand. Perhaps this is the new Liberalism we have heard so much about lately. Mr. Charles Eyre Pascoe’s Christianity is so large and generous that he would like to see me locked up in a lunatic asylum. After this gentlemanly method of conducting a controversy I do not wonder he says, “I beg to sign my name respectfully." Mr. Charles Eyre Pascoe's Christianity is not only large and generous, but delightfully latitudinarian. “‘What in the name of common-sense,"’ he asks, “has the present condition of things in Natal, Cape Colony, and the Transvaal to do with the gospel of ‘ Quiet ism,’ or, for that matter, with any known gospel at all?’’ Exactly; the gospel appears to be of no account to-day. The ethics of the New Testament are in the way when Christians are thirsting for blood. Any suggestion of peace makes Mr. Pascoe impatient, and he wonders at the patience of the Editor; but people who are so certain they are right ought not to be impatient, and a man who hopes he is Liberal and a Christian ought to have charity. It is little chance the minority has to-day of uttering its protest, and so the majority need not be churlish about the matter.
One thing, however, seems clear. The tide in England is turning. We have been trapped by inept diplomacy, hoodwinked by adventurers, blinded by an unreasoning passion, and led astray by those whom we trusted as our guides. And we are slowly awaking to the fact. It is no wonder, perhaps, that the bulk of Englishmen are angry and resentful, and are casting round for a scapegoat, but they should not hurl their brickbats at those who have protested from the first that the war was unnecessary, and therefore a crime. Let them go for the real makers of the mischief—Messrs. Chamberlain, Rhodes, and Milner. Those who have pleaded for peace instead of war, for arbitration instead of the sword, need not fear the verdict of time. If, however, to preach the gospel of righteousness and brotherhood and goodwill be a crime, I am prepared to abide by the consequences.—
Sir,—It is evident that the Rev. Silas Hocking is not to be pinned down to the plain consideration of a plain question, which, if you will allow me, I will put in this way: Supposing we are passengers in a ship on fire in a great storm at sea, which is the best to be done, to utter a silent, heartfelt prayer to the Almighty for pardon and courage, and turn to and help the ship’s company to get the fire under, and the ship under control, or to call a meeting in the saloon to discuss the cause of the calamity and the Law of Storms, and the question of whether we should bend to every trouble and difficulty that assails us, or yet trusting in God, rise up and gird ourselves like men and strive to overcome our trouble and difficulty? Mr. Hocking invites us to a conference, where we shall probably get little else but speeches and talk, talk and speeches, with possibly invective against the Government. Well, what I maintain, in defiance of Mr. Hocking, is, that just at this moment we want much less talk and far more quiet thought and well planned action. We shall be pleased to attend Mr. Hocking and his conference by and by, when the storm is abated and the fire under. Then, perhaps, wo may be found to agree in a variety of matters, political and religious, Meanwhile, I am still living in hope that I am a Christian by persuasion, and a good Liberal too; albeit my angry passions will arise when I find other Christians and other Liberals inviting us to meetings to hear their speeches when we desire to be otherwise occupied in any capacity, however humble, that may be helpful to our country at present engaged in a very serious and terrible war. May I add this—I did not say I would like to see Mr. Hocking in a lunatic asylum. God forbid. I hope he will enjoy mental quiet and every happiness to the last hour of his life, and that ho may help us also to get what measure we can of both at this particular moment, by sparing us further consideration of his sermons, at all events in the newspapers. I hope to be allowed again to subscribe myself, respectfully yours (and his, if he will), CHARLES EYRE PASCOE Streatham, Jan. 1st
Sir,—‘ Let dogs delight to bark and bite.” Certainly ; but not in London. It is bad enough to have your ears tormented all day long with street music, without the extra nuisance of your neighbours’ dogs barking, as well as the annoyance of a pavement unfit to walk upon. People who live in large cities must consult the convenience of others as well as their own pleasure, or they become a public nuisance.—I am, sir, yours, &c.,
March 30. ONE OF THE COMMUNITY.