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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 76
Preface
Preface.
To The New Zealand Public.
I See by this morning's "New Zealand Times" that the Premier has thought fit and proper to make public in the Dunedin Star portions of the correspondence which has passed between himself and me concerning my views as a Journalist upon the Transvaal War.
This most extraordinary and unexpected action on the part of the Premier relieves me from observing longer silence on the subject; indeed it becomes necessary that I should be heard in self-defence.
Taking events in the order of their occurrence, it is incumbent upon me to devote some attention to the doings of the "Dunedin Star" man, and the active part he has taken in the matters disclosed by the correspondence.
"I have the best reason for saying that the "Evening Star's" article calling attention to Mr Grattan Grey's criticisms in the "New York Times"
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of colonial policy has been brought under the notice of the Premier. But for the fact that Mr Grey is an officer of Parliament, and therefore under the direct control of the Speaker, and as practically there is no Speaker at present, immediate action would be taken. It may, however, be taken for granted that the Government intend to prevent Mr Grey, while drawing colonial pay, from repeating the attacks on the Colonial policy he has been in the habit of forwarding to the American press."
The Reporter "had the best reason for saying," Ac., Ac. Of course he had, but he might just as well have been candid, and said for a fact that the "Star" article had been brought under the Premier's notice, and by whom the little comedy was so ill-disguised.
A few days after the appearance of the "Star" article, a very able and manly letter from the pen of Mr Wm. Hutchison, ex-member of the Housed Representatives for Dunedin City, was published in the "Star." That letter not only demolished the "Star," so far as its attitude in regard to myself was concerned, but it was also an eloquent protest against what that gentleman rightly considered to be a most serious menace to liberty. As I consider that every lover of liberty in New Zealand should have an opportunity of perusing Mr Hutchison's letter, I now give it the wider circulation which the issue of this pamphlet will ensure to it. The letter is as follows:—
Freedom of Speech.
To the Editor.
Sir,—Your publication on Monday last of a letter written by Mr. Grattan Grey, of the "Hansard" staff, to the "New York Times" has betrayed you into an advocacy of intolerance, against which, I hope, you will permit me to protest as mildly as I can. I may not blame you over much; Jingoism is in the air. During the last few weeks some of my best friends have written and talked as much rhodomontade about war and glory as would more than suffice for a whole generation—sheer rhodomantade without either rhyme or reason, the "Absent-minded Beggar" included. What fun could have been made of a large portion of it; but the subject is too serious for fun or even an approach to it. "You speak of going to war," says a lady who has much at stake, "as if it were going to a wedding." A wedding indeed—the wedding of death to many a brave heart. What dreary days and sleepless nights this war has already brought to many thou ands of homes. Here are our own young fellows—standing or lying on some veldt strewn with shot and shell, ruined tumbrils, and dead men and horses—in constant danger. It is very pitiful and very cruel; and all for what? But the residents for the most part maintain an uneasy silence, unwilling to add to passions already angry and excited.
Occasionally, however, one must speak even as a measure of self-defence, and this case of Mr. Grey is one in point. This gentleman differs from you, as well as from a large majority of colonists, on the Boer war. He does not think sending contingents from New Zealand necessary, and generally disapproves of the stir which has been made. He may be wrong in these opinions; and it is part of your duty, having published his letter,
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to show that he is so. Simply to say, as you do, that his statements are offensive and inaccurate, as well as "couched in a sneering form of language," is hardly enough. But I am not concerned to maintain the correctness of Mr. Grey's opinions; they speak for themselves. I am, however, concerned to maintain his right, and the right of every New Zealander, to express their views, whether popular or unpopular, on every public question that may arise. Diffidently, but with unwonted confidence, I stand by the right; all the more when I find it has no friends in high places. What do I read in the "Star" of last night? This, namely, that Mr. Grey's letter had been brought under the notice of Mr. Seddon, and that but for there being no Speaker immediate action would be taken in regard to it. The meaning of that intimation is very obvious. It is intended to punish Mr. Grey for publicly exptessing opinions on the war contrary to those held by the Government. Coming events cast their shadows before.
I hold no brief for Mr. Grey, but I am sorrowfully convinced that freedom of speech and what Milton described as "the liberty of unlicensed printing," are just now seriously menaced in this colony. I do not heed much that babbling fellow, the man in the street, or even the crowd, when they hinder men from saying what they will; nothing so unstable as a crowd. But the case assumes a graver aspect when men in responsible positions take upon them at public meetings, not only to assail freedom of speech, but to suggest special treatment for those who indulge in it. If you will allow me I will show how it develops in Dunedin. A gentleman holding the office of Public Prosecutor for Otago is reported to have used this language: "Nor was this a time for criticism. Every man who criticised the policy of the British Empire at the present moment was a traitor, and ought to be hounded out of it." If so, Mr. Public Prosecutor, you have a duty to perform, and I say to you as Hamlet said to the player: "Leave thy coarse faces and begin." The writer of this letter holds Imperialism and the Boer war arising out of it to be terrific evils. He does not write anonymously; he is within your jurisdiction, hound him out or hound him down if you dare. Perhaps, however, I am attaching too much importance to the sayings of one who, although a high official, is good-naturedly credited with speaking first and thinking afterwards.
It is impossible, while on this subject, to avoid referring to what Mr. Justice Williams said regarding it At a large meeting in the Agricultural Hall he spoke as follows: "If anyone says to you 'I don't approve of the war,' then there is only one answer: 'Sir, you have got to approve of it. When your mother is in trouble it is your duty to help her even though she may to some extent have brought her trouble upon herself." I have the greatest respect for Mr. Justice Williams, if he will allow me to say so, and I don't think, from his point of view, the case could have been better put, but the least said of its logic the better. I can only suppose that in the furore of cheers and songs and martial music—an atmosphere so different from that to which he is accustomed—he was carried away by the crowded and enthusiastic meeting, and said more or less than he intended. Does Judge Williams think that an honest man should go about among his fellows day by day saying fine things about Imperialism and its war, when he believes them all the time to be outrageous wrongs? That is in effect what the Judge's dictum amounts to; it, however, suggests but poor specimens of manhood, and I at least must respectfully decline to follow it. The simile of the mother is very fine, but it lacks applicability. Children who do not help their mother when in trouble are not worth their salt, but the kind of help depends entirely upon the nature of the trouble. The Eastern sage has told us long ago that the mother may forget—alas! it is an everyday experience; a knock on the head, some mysterious illness, may turn a sweet and loving woman into a raving maniac. She is to be
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tenderly cared for, but she may not be allowed to work her will. She must be restrained. And our British Mother would just now be all the better of a good deal of judicious restraint.
But I pursue the subject no further. Be assured it is no pleasant experience to be compelled to differ from friends and neighbours on a matter of momentous importance, but there are times when what one believes to be the interests of truth and humanity forbid the suppression of opinions, however unpopular, and this appears to me to be eminently such a time.
February 2nd, 1900.
William Hutchison.
In Dunedin last week the spirit of Jingoism was at fever point. In addition to the excited City population itself, thousands of people from the country had poured into Dunedin to witness the despatch of New Zealand's fourth contingent to South Africa. The opportunity, therefore, especially in that inflamed condition of people's minds, must not be lost to publish portions of the correspondence behind the back of an absent man. The whole business was evidently pre-conceived to fit in with the occasion. It is clear that the Premier must have carried the documents with him to Dunedin for that special purpose.
Thus I find in the Dunedin "Star" of March 23, the very eve of the departure of the Fourth Contingent, when the whole place and people were in a whirl of warlike excitement and enthusiasm, the correspondence introduced under the glaring head lines:—
"The Chief of Hansard."
"Avows Himself A Pro-Boer."
"And Glories in His Rank Republicanism."
"Some time after his arrival in Dunedin last night a member of our staff waited on the Premier at the Grand Hotel and endeavoured to elicit information on matters of general importance. Amongst other matters Mr. Seddon was questioned regarding an article which had appeared in this paper taking Mr. Grattan Grey, chief of the 'Hansard,' to task for his strictures published in the "New York Times" on the Colony's attitude on the war in South Africa. The Premier said that, the "Star" having published the attack, he deemed it right that the paper should he allowed to have Mr. Grey's rejoinder. Parliamentary officers are under the control of Mr Sneaker, and as there is no Speaker till the new House meets it is impossible that any action can be taken till June next. Parliament, however, would have to deal with the matter at once. Had Mr. Grey been a Government officer, the Premier said that he would at once have taken such action as would have prevented a repetition of an offence which was clearly setting at naught the decision of a parliamentary body (vide the report of the Printing and Debates Committee herewith), since the sanction of Parliament had been given to the despatch of the First Contingent to the front,"
It will thus be seen that once again the Dunedin "Star" man, to Use an expressive vulgarism, was quickly "on the job." I ask the public if it was Fairplay to select such an occasion to publish these portions of the correspondence? Was the fact of doing so not calculated to seriously prejudice me in the minds of the excited residents of Dunedin and those who had come in to witness the departure of the Contingent next day? Nay more, was it not also calculated to prejudice me beforehand in the eyes of that very tribunal to which my case was to be referred hereafter? Most certainly it was. Was it fairplay? Was it manly?
As to the scandalous aspersions cast upon me by the glaring head-lines I have already quoted, they shew an amount of personal hostility and maliciousness which is shocking to contemplate or to think possible as between one man and another. They are, to say the least of them, cowardly in the extreme.
But I am not the only one who has been stigmatised by offensive epithets because I hold certain views upon the Transvaal War; and amongst others thus attacked is a gentleman (a brother Journalist) who has not escaped insult and abuse, although he is distant 16,000 miles from his unscrupulous and venomous detractors. Has not our Agent-General, the Hon. W. P. Reeves, been accused as I have been and shamefully slandered behind his back? Has not a prominent citizen of Dunedin charged Mr. Reeves with sending Pro-Boer despatches to this Colony, and has he not demanded that Mr. Reeves should declare himself? Has not the Agent-General even been made the subject of a cartoon, in one part of which he is represented as a sanguinary sans-culotte of the Reign of Terror species, despatching a pro-Boer cablegram to the New Zealand Government as "Citizen" Reeves, and in another part of the same cartoon, dressed in the pink of fashion as Agent-General, sending off another cablegram to quite a different effect?
As a great deal of misunderstanding appears to exist in the public mind with reference to my position, it is necessary that I should put people right on that subject. I am not, and never have been, a Civil Servant, and am subject to no Civil Service Regulations. During my 24 years' connection with the New Zealand Parliament I have continued the pursuit of my journalistic profession in accordance with the distinct understanding upon which I entered that service. The faithful and efficient discharge of my Parliamentary duties is a fulfilment of the contract on my part, and there my obligations to Parliament end. No one has ever dared to insinuate that those duties have not been performed faithfully and well, and with the most scrupulous impartiality. Governments and Parliaments have come
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and gone during the last quarter of a century, but my position was never challenged until last session, when my political opinions and criticisms as a Journalist raised the ire of certain politicians, whose attitude towards me was subsequently ridiculed by the "Westminster Gazette," "Review of Reviews" and other equally reputable and influential periodicals.
In further confirmation of the original understanding upon which I entered the Parliamentary service 24 years ago, I now publish the written contract (under the hand and seal of the Premier), under which I accepted the office of Chief of the Hansard Staff:—
11th June, 1896.
Sir,—I have the honor to inform you that you have been appointed Chief Reporter of the Parliamentary Hansard Staff vice Mr C. C. N. Barron, retired. Your salary will be at the rate of £400 per annum as from 11th June, 1896, with liberty after completion of Hansard each session to take outside work.
Your most obedient servant,
J. Grattan Grey
, Esq.,R. J. Seddon
." Assembly Buildings, Wellington.Let the people of New Zealand make no mistake about it—this is a matter which strikes deeply at the foundation of their liberties—freedom of thought and speech. An effort is being made to exercise in New Zealand a press censorship which would not be attempted, I believe, even in autocratic Russia, and to prevent freedom of opinion. I should be an unworthy member of the honourable profession I belong to if I allowed myself to be dictated to by any Government or party as to what I shall write, or shall not write, in my capacity of Journalist.
I should be wanting in manliness and self-respect if I allowed myself to be placed in such a dishonourable and humiliating position, and if I tamely submitted to the surrender of my civil and political rights for the mere sake of the personal sacrifices I might thus escape from at the cost of independence and honour. I do not happen to be built that way, however, and it is in the name of Liberty that I resent this attempted interference with my rights, and with the pursuit of ray profession.
What I now want the public of New Zealand to do is to carefully read and analyse the correspondence, to seriously ask themselves—What is British liberty, fair play and justice? and to pronounce their verdict accordingly.
There is an honourable way and there is also an arbitrary, illegal, and dishonourable way of terminating a contract, if that be desired. The choice of alternatives I leave to those undertaking the responsibility.
J. Grattan Grey.
Wellington,March 27th, 1900.
While this pamphlet is passing through the press I am in daily receipt of numerous letters from correspondents, many of them utter strangers to me, expressing concurrence with my opinions with regard to the Transvaal War, and their appreciation of my courageous expression of these views. I feel deeply indebted to these correspondents for their sympathy and encouragement.
One of my correspondents, a perfect stranger to me, but whose personal acquaintance I hope to form, writes to me from Dunedin in these Permit me to express my sympathetic and full concurrence with your views on the Transvaal War. I hope one day will be disclosed how the existing excitement in New Zealand originated and has been worked up.It was not spontaneous. With this conviction, and having just witnessed here the enormous programme in getting away the Fourth Contingent, the fraudulent and selfish elements obviously at work afford the strongest emphasis to the courageous expression of opinion by yourself. That it should be possible, already in New Zealand, for political and selfish strategy to attain such proportions, would afford alarm were it not for the declarations and consolations recorded in Holy Writ, Psalm 37."
From Auckland comes a communication signed by several gentlemen, from which I quote as follows:—"Dear Sir, We the undersigned beg to offer you our sincere sympathy in respect to the unjust persecution you are now suffering for your manly, courageous and feeling conduct in reference to the present wicked, unrighteous and cruel war now being carried on by Britain against the Boers, and we assure you that every sentiment you have or may express is fully and heartily concurred in by us. We are one with you in our opinion of the Jingoistic spirit which is at the present time rampant in these Colonies, and we are of the opinion with you that at no far date a reaction will set in. There are hundreds of genuine liberals, who feel on this matter as we do, and if you like to send up any kind of a petition or testimonial we can get it signed by quite a number."
Telegram from New Plymouth;—"Kindly allow sympathiser to express friendship and admiration your noble fearlessness in just cause."
Already, two Journals of high standing—the Wellington "Evening Post "and the Christchurch "Press"—have ably championed the cause of freedom of opinion.
"It is simply monstrous to talk of punishing Mr Grey because he happens page 12
to hold certain unpopular (and in our opinion incorrect) views on the Transvaal question, and chose to give expression to them in an American paper. We doubt whether if, even in Russia, such censorship of the press would be attempted."
J. G. G.
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