THE GADFLY AT WORK.*
" LIBERTY is the right to be in the wrong." Mr. Norman calls this the finest definition of liberty. Why then does he so impartially blame everyone for differing from him? The lesson of his collection of reviews, articles, and letters is that everyone, except himself and Mr. Hyndman, is wickedly using his liberty to be in the wrong on every point that he touches. The quantity of complaint seriously depreciates its force, and • Essays and Letters on Public Affairs. By C. a. Norman. London: F. Palmer. [5s. net.] so becomes subject to that irony which robs of their value his efforts to draw public attention to real errors or crimes. He would wish, apparently, to be thought a republican Socialist, but shows himself a truculent individualist. " As though any man can judge what is best for another !" he exclaims in the midst of his correctives of all and sundry. Elsewhere he writes, "Liberalism . . . is building up a vast bureaucracy of non-producers as an additional burden to that of rent and interest on the working classes." Except that he abuses the fine name of Liberalism when he means "the present Government," we have here almost the only condemnation with which we agree. But if State Socialism were established we would wager that he would agree with us in yearning for anarchy or any other relief. Liability to promiscuous criticism is no doubt wholesome, but one cannot help thinking of the comedies which might follow if Mr. Norman were set in the places of some of those at whom he tilts. To speak frankly, he does not impress us with the possession of judicial faculties or any sense of proportion. What he takes to be a passion for justice might seem to others a tyrannical itch to order every- one else for his good. We do not grudge existence to the gadfly, even when the role is self-imposed, but we object to personal abuse of judges by name, and one article is abomin- able on account of its rudeness to the present King and Queen. We cannot enter into a dispute on the respective merits of a republic or hereditary monarchy, but no opinions, whether agreeable or hateful, can excuse the publication of vulgar insult to perfectly innocent individuals whose unsought position irritates a person devoid of self-control.
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