New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-30

- journalists The one who goes nearer
.ban any other to making Radlcalism
e,.r,nathetic is Mr. II. w. Massingham,
.s,.or If The Nation a weekly paper
high intellectual level The Ameri-
can who cares to know what English
Rodicalism really means will find no bet
,cr puide. He will have the pleasure Of
Icing the most miSchieyous principles
cot forth in their most plausible form in
rure and persuasive English. When l
cav mischievous l mean, of course, that
I disagree with them. In fact, ! agree
with Mr.. Massingham on no essential
point Of politics, but it is none the less a
Measure to read him. He presents to
vou the fallacies underlying Radical pol
TOW with an accent of sincerity and in
language free from the bitterness and
crude violence which too many Radical
journals think it desirable to use. It is
equally free from the unctuous rhetoric
IN which one or two of them Clothe their
thoughts. Inasmuch as there are sides
of Radicalsm which the non-Radical
mind finds it difficult to comprehend or
even 10 apprehend, we may be grateful
10 Mr.. Massingham for eXpound.ag these
strange doctrines. Even he cannot make
them all ineligible, nor does one always
feel sure they are ineligible to himself.
The Navy, for instance. There is a
strong section-strong numerically-of
the Radical band in the House of Com
mons which is unwilling to spend an
ADEQUATE sum for national defence.
They want the money for Old Age
Pensions for Insurance and for other
schemes calculated, as they think, to
improve the lot and increase the happi-
ness Of the masses and keep the Radical
marty in power. They think it more i'm
portant TO insure the worKngman
against illness and unemployment than
I, insure the country against aggression
and invasion. To the argument of dan
ger they reply, Make friends with Ger
many" apparently at any price. l am
afraid Mr. Massingham is of this school.
l don't suppose he would accept my
statement. He seems to disbelieve In
the menace Of foreign war. AT any rate,
h. distrusts the judgment of naval eX-
uent to theirs. He would be content
with a navy which the Admiralty and
the Admirals think insufficient to pro-
tect the Kingdom and the Empire.
There Is no present prospect that Ger
man Anglophobia will die out. There ts
q certainty that the shipbuilding pro
gramme Of Germany has been enlarged
and that, in German opinion, the hee-
is meant TO be used against Great Brit
ain. But the Little Navy faction con-
templates the naval future without anX-
iety. 1t desires to pursue internal re-
forms. Whether the new reformed King
dom shall remain a Kingdom or re-
main British or become German seems
to them by comparison unimportant'
Most Of these gentlemen have an i'm
perfect appreciation Of foreign a1airs'
Mr.. Massingham understands foreign
affairs, yet seems to acquiesce IN pohcy
based on ignorance Of them.
The Malecka case is another example.
Mr.. Massingham thinks, as we all think,
that there has probably been miscar-
rage Of justice What is his remedy?
That Sir Edward Grey should go to-
the Russian Ambassador and tell him
that Miss Malecka must be released or
the entente between Russia and Great
Britain is at an end! Foreign Ministers,
it may be remarked, do not go to- Am
bassadors; they send for them. But that
is a trifle, and when international dis
putes are handled in an emotional spirit
strict accuracy in matters Of etiquette
cannot be looked for. But since the only
chance Of securing Miss Malecka's re-
lease lies in an appeal to the clemency Of
the Emperor, who is to be advised by his
Ministers, emotional diplomacy does not
seem the best kind Of diplomacy for the
purpose.
l quote Mr.. Massingham's printed dec
larations not to confute them, but as
tests C those Radical ideas which have
beco, inwoven with his character.
Men could be named too many Of
III IN, for whom this process has resulted
in a peevish temper and in some con-
fusion Of mind. II is not only frequent
but d natural effect. With Mr.. Massing-
ham there has been nothing of the kind.
His sweetness of nature is just what 1t
was. Remem bering him in earlier stages,
! should say that suavity is perma-
nent condition with him, and is now
more marked than when he nrst entered
upon his apostolic mission. He is an ex-
ample Of sweet reasonableness in preach
ing the least reasonable doctrines That,
TO say the least, is rare. If he is ever
irritating it is not because he means TO
be irritating. There is no bitterness in
him. Yet ! imagine he belongs to the
same school as Lord Morley. He would
90 to the stake for his beliefs, and send
YOU or me there for ours with equal
readiness. To him an opinion is a re-
ligion a thing for which martyrdom is
TO be lheerfully endured or inflicted.
The hypocrisy Of the Inquisition is not
his He would never pretend to torture
and burn for the good Of the victim S
soul He would do it, il at all, because
ha thought US dangerous men who
e. ght, in the interests Of society, to be
-xtinguished.
There is nothing Of the professional
agitator He announces a message of
revolution as if it were a new gospel OF
love: a message from on high and not
from the bottomless pit. So convince
is he of the righteousness Of his cause,
Of his many causes, each more sub
yersive than the other, that he does not