The San Francisco call., 1910-07-22
BOOKS CONDEMNED
AND SENT TO FLAMES
Ancient AufhoEs Often Had
Their Works DESTROYED

The desire to suppress writings of a
certain class is inte1ligfble; it is also
laudable. when kept within proper
bounds The right to exclude from the
mails Objectionable reading matter is
one that is jealousy reserved and Wig
orously exercised by all civilized gov
ernments.
Very far back in antiquity there are
records of the burning OF obnoxious
books Thus the Athenians are re-
ported to have destroyed the works OF
Protagoras. and we now know only by
mutius Cordus. which. as Tacitus tells
us. the senate of Rome. desiring to
f1atter the Emperor Tiberius. con-
demned. because 1T called c. Cassius
the last of the Romans. Diocletian is
said to have caused the sacred script
ures to be burned. and the writings OF
Arius. of Nestorius and of Eutyehes
met a similar fate at the hands OF sue
cessfve councils of the early Christian
church, says the Washington Post.
The power thus assumed by civil and
ecclesiastical authority is. like every
other power. liable TO be abused. In
stances Of i'll judgment in this respect
are frequent throughout history 1t is
astounding. for example, to learn that
Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations was
prescribed in Spain "on account OF the
Iowness OF its style and the looseness
Of its morals!" The vagaries of those
in high place are illustrated by the
fact that in the reign OF Henry VIII all
antf-popery books were condemned as
heretieal in 1925. and nine years later
all books favoring papal supremacy
were decreed to be seditious.
1t seems altogether absurd that a
book with the innocuous title of a
Law Dictionary" should come under
official ban. but Doctor Cowelrs COM
pilation of that name was burned by
order OF the house of commons. be-
cause. in support of the contention of
James /. il asserted the divine right OF
kings
1t was, however, the periods OF the
dominance of the star chamber in the
reign of Charles 1. of the civil war. and
of the restoration that were most con-
spicuously fruitful in the exercise of
tyranny over the productions of the
press and of persecution against the
producers. Prynne paid dearly by fine.
pillory, Imprisonment. and the loss OF
his ears for his "Histriomastrix." into
which reflections on Charles himself
and on his queen. Henrietta Maria were
read; and DR. Alexander Leighton was
still more horribly mutilated for his
Looking Glass OF the Holy War and
his "ZiOn's Plea Against Pre1acy." In
the '.Areopagftica' noble. impas-
stoned piece of English prose-MiltOn
plcdQcQ III vain TO Ills PTeSDyLcrldn
friends for free press, only TO see his
own works. '1eonoclastes" and the De
fensio Pro Populo Anglicano." sup
pressed by the triumphant Cavaliers
after the restoration
One Of the standing jokes of literary
history was the burning by parliament
of Defoe's Shortest Way with the Dis
senters," in a complete miscOnception
of the trend and aim OF that highly
ironicaI work. Hely Hutchinson's Com
mercial Restraints of Ireland Consid
cred" has the distinction of being the
last book to be consigned to the flames
by public authority in Great Britain.
1t may be said that. in general. the
suppression or the burning of book in
modern times has defeated its own ends,
for the mere act focused so much atten-
tion on IL and advertised il so well
that people were determined. by hook
or by crook. to have copy. and that
the doctrines inculcated carried more
weight than they otherwise would. and
certainly in many cases more than they
were entitled to. To allow books 10
stand or fall on their merits is prob
ably the wisest way.