The San Francisco call., 1897-02-14
Warning Voice of Albion's Bard.

IOtCC VI htUiOlt y us
THE YEAR OF SHAME-By william Watson
New York: John Lane publisher The Bodley
Head. For sale in this City by William Doxey,
Palace Hotel. Price 81.
This book consists OF about two dozen short
poems and sonnets, most of which are reprints
from Mr.. Watson's pamphlet THE Purple
East" The others have from time to time
appeared in the columns OF London newspa-
pers.
To the present collection the Bishop of Here
ford contributes preface. He points out that
thes poems were written more as patriotic
ppt a. to Englishmen than merely as poet 's
impassioned utterance. The appeal Is specif-
cally addressed to those Britons who, seated
at warm firesides in comfortable homes, shake
their heads negatively at the idea of any of
the great European powers interfering with
the course of Armenian massacres on account t
OF the commercial or financial disturbances
such action would entail.
''The commercial jingo," says the Bishop of
Hereford, "is unhappily becoming very promi-
nent in English lie, and is very militant if
any material interests are threatened, but all
for peace and patience and concerted action
when the only thing concerned is question
OF old-tashioned honor and moral obligation"
Much as the average business man affects TO
despise the criticism of the churchman, the
careful reader of events of the past twelve
months cannot fail to perceive the truth of
the English cleric's words and to agree with
him in his assertion that the 'ssand by and
hands off" policy adopted by the powers
toward the unspeakable Turk is merely the
result OF the prompting OF the bondholder and
the speculator This being So what becomes
OF Britain's claim, iterated and reiterated, that
she is the friend of the oppressed? Where is
the old-fashioned, chivalrous idea of assisting
the downtrodden of the earth, so often ad-
vanced as one of the component parts of the
. .Englishman's makeup? Can it be that this
tradition will not be carried down to posterity
as one belonging to the present genera ton of
Englishmen?
"The Year OF Shame," it can safely be proph-
esied, will not mske pleasant reading to resi-
dents OF the United Kingdom nor the colonies.
The poems are written with an almost brutal
directness and power, as If their writer were
in deadly earnest, meaning every word that
he uttered, warning EngIishmen that national
honor and tradition must at all risks be pre-
served from sacrifice at the altar of mercenary
consideration. What, for instance, do Albion's
sons think of this appeal
A HURRIED FUNERAL.
A little deeper. sexton. You forget
She you would bury meath so thin crust
Of loam was fiery -souled and ev'n in dust
she may lie restless. she may toss and fret,
Nay, she might break seal too lightly set,
And yex, unmannerly, our easel She must
! Beneath no lack of English earth lie thrust
| Would unhaunted sleepl Nay, deeper yet
Quick, friend, the cortege comes. There-thatw
serve;
Deep enough now; ana thou1t need all thy nerve
| If, In her coffin, at the last, amid
The mourners in the customary SUITS
] And to the scandal of these decent mutes,
7 This corpse OF Englands Honor burst the lid
Englishmen are sturdy and materialistic
| not sentimental; but lives there the Britor
who would not blush at the imputation cor
tanned in the last half dozen lines?
Another remarkable poem in this collection
is the one entitled "Repudiated Responsi
bility," wherein the callous indifference o
England to Ottoman atrocities is lashed:
REPUDIATED RESPONSIBILITY.
had not thought to hear it voiced so PLAIN,
Uttered so Fortnight, on Their lips who steer
This nations course: had not thought 10 hear
That word re-echoed by an English thane,
Quilts maiden speech when first man lay slain
''Am my brothers. Keeper" Yet full near
1t sounded, ana the syllab es rang clear
AS the Immortal rhetoric OF Cain.
Wherefore should l0e, sirs, more than they-ol
they
Unto these helpless reach a hand 10 save?"
An English thane, in this our English air,
Speaking for England? Then indeed her day
Slopes 10 its twill ght, and, for Honor there
Is needed but requiem and grave.
Verify, to quote again from the Bishop o.
Hereford's introduction, "1t is the spirit O.
Isaiah that is represented in this book o
poems making us feel that behinc
these desolated Armenian homes, those tor
tured and murdered men, those dishonoreC
and heart-broken women, there stands the
vision OF stern and unavoidable reckonins
for those who might have saved and would no
or dared not'
1t is a relief to turn from verses of so de
| mandatory character as those quo ted to one
nal spirit. In the following lines 1t will b,
| seen that the poet, disdaining to recognize tn,
independ ndent English jingo. exteRds the hant
! OF fellowship 10 the 'half- brother of tht
| world":
ENGLAND TO AMERICA.
! o towering daughter, Titan OF the Wes',
Behind thousand leagues OF foam secure;
Thou toward whom our inmost heart is pure
| OF i'll tent; although thou threatenest
| With most unhlial hand thy mothers breast
! Not for one breathing space may earth endure
| The thought Of wars intolerable cure
For such vague pains vex to-day thy rest!
| But IL thou hast more strength than thou cans
spend
| In tasks of peace, and fnd'st her yoke too tame
! Help US to smite the cruel, to befriend
| The succorless, and put the false to shame.
! SO shall the ages laud thee. and thy name
! Be lovely among nations 10 the end.
EMANUEL ELIAS.