WEEK.
[Under this heading re notice such Itcoks of the neck as hare not been reserved for review in other forms.]
Betting Newspapers and Quakerism.—We have received a copy of a reprint of Sir Edward Fry's pamphlet on " Betting Newspapers and Quakerism," which contains a few alterations as. well as a postscript. In the latter Sir Edward Fry begins by explaining that the pamphlet was addressed exclusively to mem- bers of the Society of Friends, and that the copy of it which reached the Editor of the Spectator was not sent by him or with. his knowledge. He proceeds as follows :— " There has also been issued a reply to my letter by 'The. Friends against whom Sir Edward Fry's criticisms have been directed.' It corrects one error, and adds certain particulars with regard to the finances of the papers concerned, of which I have availed myself in this reprint, but the information thus given in no way affects the moral questions I have raised. The reply raises one personal issue : it suggests that I went to the Conference at the Hague under instructions from the Government to maintain the right of seizure of private property at sea, that I considered this an evil,. that I decided to choose the lesser of two evils, and so acted against my conscience in obeying the Government. The point is a very unfortunate one to have made, for it proceedsentirely upon the false assumption that my personal convictions on the point were at variance with the instructions I received. In point of fact, my convictions were entirely at one with my instructions. The. reply appears to me to leave the questions between us just as I stated them. It is not denied that betting is a huge curse to this- country, that the betting papers promote and encourage the evil habit, that the four papers in question are partly possessed by, and largely under the control of, members of our Society, and that these papers daily contain incitements to betting. On these ad- mitted facts I ask the judgment of the Society. I must add one word more. From first to last I can find in the reply no word of sympathy with the teachers and labourers amongst the poorer classes whose efforts against betting are baffled by the conduct of the proprietors ; I can find no word of sorrow for the miseries and the crimes which these betting papers produce."
As we have already brought the discussion of this question in our columns to a close and cannot reopen it, we will add no comment whatever upon Sir Edward Fry's rejoinder. It is, however, only fair to him that his reply to the attack made on his conduct at the Hague should be brought to the notice of our readers.
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