The San Francisco call., 1898-06-26
.aa.a. .a.aa :. 5. ass 5. {. 8 s s.a:sas aaaa:ss
WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
By HENRY JAMES.


 jection to the custom of killing tame pigeons loosed from a box, or even breaking their wings and legs, and terming the unrefined cruelty sport D The news is cheering. Sometimes hu- man endeavor meets with scant reward. If I have succeeded in mourning the disregard of anybody who joys in the maiming and slaughter of harmless birds I hope feeling of elation is ex- cusable.
 Perhaps the commander of the Astor Battery is the celebrated Forward March, who has done excellent service in campaigns without number.
 It seems that some readers failed to identify the poetry published last week, and desire to know the language in which it was so beautifully expressed. What are our public schools for, any how? The language was Basque l may add that Basque is province somewhere or other.
 About the process of being tilted there seems to be something which arouses all the heroism latent in a man. No sooner does a soldier by sea or land attain to fame than uprises the plenteous sweetheart averrinr that under such and such circumstances in the dear dead past she gave him the mitten. Already we are made glad by an array of women who had a chance to be Dewey. There is a Merritt set of these, too, of whom a roster is being prepared while the Hobson list is re- ceiving daily additions and -retching to an imposing magnitude. It would appear that the chief occupation of a military or naval man when not on the warpath is to go about by night and by day casting his heart and fortune at the feet of beauty. It is circum- stance worth considering that revela- tions concerning these sentimental af- fairs come from the ladies themselves. The heroes are apt to be busy men. Possibly they forget about them.
 There comes to me a letter from Mrs. Mary Smith of 2O29 Virginia street, Berkeley, which I read with attention and respect, congratulating the lady upon having an opinion to express, as well as the ability to express it. That her view seems to me to be narrow and her conclusions all wrong is circum- stance of trif1ing importance. The writing of the letter was melted by recent editorial in this paper under the caption. ''The Essence of Treason" I remember the editorial well and agree with it fully. It was a rebuke to Presi- dent Eliot and others who denounce the present war as unpatriotic and un- necessary. Mrs. Smith upholds Eliot and believes that millions of, others do. Possibly she is correct. If there are such millions they fail grievously in their duty, as citizens, care little for national honor, and see in the flag nothing but a show of cheap bunting. They are governed by a rule of selfish ness, and while they descant upon the horrors of war have not the perspicu- ity to look beyond the smoke and flame of battle to grander achievements of peace, impossible save when the armed strength of civilization rises to beat back oppression and ignorance. Mrs. Smith draws a picture of war, @ famil- far picture, a terrible picture. Then she peremptorily reaches the verdict that war ought not to be-a kindly verdict, but one sweeping justice aside and leaving the downtrodden calling vainly for help, placing smirch upon our name, and the brand of cowardice over us all. Mrs. Smith had not thought of these things, and I ask her to consider them. She utterly ignores all the beneficent effect of war She says nothing of great wrongs to be righted, of integrity to be upheld, of assassination to be rebuked and check ed. She seems to regard war, declared after mature deliberation, after our dignity as a people had been assailed, our men murdered, as occupying the moral plane of fight between ruffians in ring. She takes no note of the hundreds of thousands slain by Span ish cruelty, the millions held in practi- cal serfdom. Had this nation declined to take up the gauntlet thrown down by Spain it would have been despised, and the stain washed out only in tor rent of blood far more appalling ''en can possibly mark the present struggle. The war has awakened Europe to the fact that we are here, and to be con- SlQSlt0 III tilS Cl lIlS WOIle' l ilS spirit of aggression had been gaining force. Had we not shown our strength now, sooner or later it would have had to be displayed against a mightier power and many nations in all likeli- hood been involved. So the present war makes for ultimate peace. I do not be- lieve in turning the other cheek, and a people should be as manly collectively as individually. If Mrs. Smiths coun- sel were to prevail, few generations and the United States would be elim- mated from the map. the nation re- membered as one that died because not fit to live. Such are my views as op- posed to those of Mrs. Smith. I ex- press them with the utmost venera- tion for her sex and her years. She is a woman of three score. the mother of half dozen men. My hat is off to her, and I think she is mistaken.
 On the stage Richard Mansfield is one of the most finished of actors. Off the stage he Is an insufferable, snarling, overbearing, ridiculous snob. One ad- mires him in the play and wants to kick him when the curtain rings down. Therefore the report that Mansfield is to leave the United States causes mixed