New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-12
LONDON NOTES.
MIR. PARNELL-MR. FREDERIC HARRISON
3 AND MR.. JAMES KNoWLES-PROFES-
soR HERKoMER AND MIR. PENNELL.
London. March %


ject to various uncertainties, among Others that
of expressing an opinion exactly contrary to the one
YOU wish 10 express. There was sentence In
dispatch of March Ia meant to run as follows:
But since Home Rule without Mr. Parnen
seems not less chmerical than Home Rule without
Mr. Gladstone the logical dilemma is Just as CON-
plete on one side the other
The first "withoutn was printed with" MI.
Parnelps fortunes may add, have been, 10 all
Temperatures. steadily declining since that was
- written but his prestige is, for the moment IeSs
,yshan it was. He may or may not recover wh"O
II he has lost, but whether he does OF not ho,no
sIRule seems about equally certain 10 sulier' rVi
IA cause, be it good or bad, wants a leader.
bad cause with good leader has better chance
.ssAan n rood cause with bad leader; and IL can
mot be too clearly said that among the anu
Parnellite faction no man has yet appeared WIN
shows any real power Of leadership, or htness
for it, or perception of what leadership reaiiS
means Therefore il is that Home Rule without
AFR. Parnell seems 10 the impartial observer un
likely to make much Roadway at present
, A rival to Mr. Stead has appeared in the person
of Mr. Frederic Harrison. ] do not mean riVal
for the good graces of the Pope. or OF General
Booth. or as editor of monthly collections OF
scraps But heretofore the Universe has been
wont 10 look up to Mr.. Stead as the man mosO
ready to take charge of it; the man win 'ne
highest sense of the position in it to which frovl
dence has appointed him or anybody. IL Is LII
this capacity that Mr.. Frederic Harrison no"
appears as a rival to him. Strictly, one ought
not TO speak of this as q novelty. III II hau
been YOUR fate in recent years. say about the
date of the Parnell Commission TO look through
the London organ of Gladstonianism, ana III IL
had then fallen to your lot TO read, or even 10
look at the communications Which Mr. Frederic
Harrison addressed TO that journal you wouiu
have seen that as between him and the rope III
the matter of infallibility, or as between MN anu
the Grand Panjandrum for loftiness OF tone MI
Harrison could-pardOn the coHoqulansin-sNe
points to either. He is an able man In DIS way
IL is his sense of proportion-of the proportion
be4yveen himself and the remainder OF the UNI
yerse-which is defective.
Well. Mr. James Knowles has had the temerl1y
to make fun of Mr.. Frederic Harrison, anu h'U
only to make fun of him, but to administer whaV
fear must be called rebuke TO his contributor.
Mr.. James Knowles, need l say is the Editor oil
THE Nineteenth Century" MI HARRISON sonie
months ago sent him paper in favor Oh re'uin
ing the Egin marbles TO Greece. as an aoV VI
Justice to Greece and Of honesty and OF expeuieney
and so on. Last month Mr.. Knowles, over ms
own signature in his own review, repheu 10 MI
Harrison. His reply was clever exposure oaSeu
ON the history of actual present facts in the case
of the absurdity of the suggestion. AT the SAINT
time he dealt Mr.. Harrison shrewd dow III HIS
capacty of Radical and Social Reformer ana zen
eral Guide Philosopher and Friend 10 'he UNI
verse aforesaid BY that familiar but 10 the VIZ
tim sometimes irritating logical process known as
q reductio ad absurdum, he showed to wnat MI
Harrison's principles led in the case OF the Eislh
marbles and would lead-do lead In fact-lh oliei
larger matters And he drew the exasperatlnS
H.
render of the marbles must have been Joke, ana
Joke meant TO make IL clear 10 all ineh "H'"0
such ideas tended.
Mr. Harrison. TO whom the idea of a joke is as
hlen as that of conservatism was angry. ne
either did not the point of Mr.. knowles JOKE
or saw it too plainly. He wrote reply ;-lmagihe
a man of fifty or more sitting down IN serious
earnest to write reply to q joke! lie seht IL 10
Mr. Knowles or think. asked him to say WIN
out seeing it that he would publish the reply MI
Knowles. on the sound principle that charponmer
. q maitre chez lui.n and that an editor ought to
edit his own review and not have it done for MIN
IN the dark even by Mr.. Frederic Harrison. de-
clined Tbereupon the ant-Elginist sent IT to
.Tbe Fortnightly Review the editor of which
gleefully published it The readers of that some
what stodgy collection of periodical literature
hailed it with even greater glee. MI Harrisons
seriousness is more comic than anything in MI.
Punch.
He is more than serious; he is solemn. lie writes
of himself and his little squabble with MI
Knowles in tone which would seem exalted IN
dealing with an Oecumenical Council. Il am
accustomed" says Mr. Harrison, loftily, to the
professional terms of abuse current with party
seribes. and he takes as little notice of them as
of the bad language Of cabman. Are we TO
understand that this disciple of Comte Is in the
habit of disputing with his cabman about fares
7 hone not: it is not what should expect from
a philosopher; or from the pupil of philosopher
"Does any one" continues our ComtlSt, VINO
knows me think that am a likely person to con-
81 sent to any horseplay?" Nobody thinks SO, dear
sdSlr. Harrison. l am certain nobody does, and we
y, are all distressed that you should imagine that
any of us could think So 1t is deplorable that
lie should be subjected to such a suspicion: even
! though the suspicion be only his own. Mr.
KNOWLES himself must regret it, He must be IN
distress as he hears these screams OF 1ntoleraole
agony from his "old contributor" He is a
humane and amiable man, and he would, am
quite sure do what he could TO mitigate Mr.
Harrisons pangs. Just what he can do is not
clear. and il is delicate business to offer even
hint in such case But 1 think Mr. Knowles
might borrow suggestion from our ever ad-
mirable DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes who has so
many wise and excellent maXims that he would
never miss this one-borrow, L say, from DR..
Holmes, and promise Mr.. Harrison never again
to be as funny as he can; or, at least, not at
Mr.. Harrison's expense. So shall peace be re-
stored and the Hope of Positivism, the English
Heir-of Comte, be released to return once more to
that duty of experimenting things in general
which he must see is too heavy for Mr.. Stead to
bear alone.
What is an etching? What is pboto-etching ?
What is the difference between the two? Who
will tell us Not, it seems Mr.. Hubert Herlfomer,
whose new "Idyl' has raised afresh these and
other questions that are waiting to be answered
The Idyla is not, perhaps, publication of a
very important kind. 1t contains a number OF
verses by poet of no great fame, and seventeen
illustrations by Mr., or TO give him his more