New Zealand Times - Friday, June 7, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
The Wilde case has been more commented upon than anything that has happened of late years, and the last development will porbably not lessen the volume of remark. In Paris, after the Queensberry trial, the newspapers devoted much attention to this fact of universal curiosity. "We manage these things better in France," they cried in chorus; "we simply do not report them." On this text they all appear to have insinuated sermons on the greater puriency of the British mind. It is one of those questions on which a good deal may be said on both sides. But it is not altogether a question of pruriency. There may be pruriency in everything; especially in the reading of certain reports. But these reports are not published to encourage pruriency. With proper care they should be clean, and then if there is pruriency on the part of the readers it is disappointed.
The Wilde case has been more commented upon than anything that has happened of late years, and the last development will porbably not lessen the volume of remark. In Paris, after the Queensberry trial, the newspapers devoted much attention to this fact of universal curiosity. "We manage these things better in France," they cried in chorus; "we simply do not report them." On this text they all appear to have insinuated sermons on the greater puriency of the British mind. It is one of those questions on which a good deal may be said on both sides. But it is not altogether a question of pruriency. There may be pruriency in everything; especially in the reading of certain reports. But these reports are not published to encourage pruriency. With proper care they should be clean, and then if there is pruriency on the part of the readers it is disappointed.
On one side of the Channel the press aims at giving as accurate a picture of the world as is possible, subject to certain conditions. The press is contemporary history, and history is the teacher of men, and history must not be false. On the other side of the Channel, certain pages of contemporary history being left out, the instruction of the public is defective. Wholesome criticism has appeared with benefit in a hundred papers on the English side. On the other side the world is encouraged to believe that it is very much better than it is.
On one side of the Channel the press aims at giving as accurate a picture of the world as is possible, subject to certain conditions. The press is contemporary history, and history is the teacher of men, and history must not be false. On the other side of the Channel, certain pages of contemporary history being left out, the instruction of the public is defective. Wholesome criticism has appeared with benefit in a hundred papers on the English side. On the other side the world is encouraged to believe that it is very much better than it is.
This difference of practice is difficult to understand. A certain class of literature is printed in France and openly circulated. It is objected to in England as encouraging pruriency. It is defended in France as giving true pictures of life by master hands. But the truth is not always self-evident; and it never is attested by sworn testimony. Why should a press which favours the romance which is confessedly not written for "the young person," object to the publication of reports which take care to be decent, and certainly never present vice in an attractive light?
This difference of practice is difficult to understand. A certain class of literature is printed in France and openly circulated. It is objected to in England as encouraging pruriency. It is defended in France as giving true pictures of life by master hands. But the truth is not always self-evident; and it never is attested by sworn testimony. Why should a press which favours the romance which is confessedly not written for "the young person," object to the publication of reports which take care to be decent, and certainly never present vice in an attractive light?
The French press has curiously enough given matter for further reflection in this Wilde history. After the Queensberry verdict a Paris journalist referred to the disgraced prosecutor as an intimate friend of certain brother journalists and literary men. Among the names mentioned was that of the famous writer M. Catulle Mendes, whose books are certainly (some of them) not written for "the young person." Like Gautier, he might say "I don't cut bread and butter for a young ladies' seminary." Catullus resented the statement made about him, and promptly sent a challenge to the offending journalist, with the result that Catullus was run through the arm. But as that did not prove that Catullus was an intimate friend of Wilde's, people began to talk about the illogicality of duelling.
The French press has curiously enough given matter for further reflection in this Wilde history. After the Queensberry verdict a Paris journalist referred to the disgraced prosecutor as an intimate friend of certain brother journalists and literary men. Among the names mentioned was that of the famous writer M. Catulle Mendes, whose books are certainly (some of them) not written for "the young person." Like Gautier, he might say "I don't cut bread and butter for a young ladies' seminary." Catullus resented the statement made about him, and promptly sent a challenge to the offending journalist, with the result that Catullus was run through the arm. But as that did not prove that Catullus was an intimate friend of Wilde's, people began to talk about the illogicality of duelling.
It was not for the first time. A few weeks before that a Parisian journalist, well known by his signature of Harry Allis, fell out with a captain of Chasseurs, called him out, and was run through the heart. The catastrophe caused a tremendous sensation, chiefly on the ground that duels do not usually cost life in the gay capital. Thoughtful writers took the opportunity of pointing out that in England, twenty miles over the border, nobody fights duels, and nobody's courage or honour is ever on that account called in question. There are, it was stated, other and more rational methods of settling controversies in England.
It was not for the first time. A few weeks before that a Parisian journalist, well known by his signature of Harry Allis, fell out with a captain of Chasseurs, called him out, and was run through the heart. The catastrophe caused a tremendous sensation, chiefly on the ground that duels do not usually cost life in the gay capital. Thoughtful writers took the opportunity of pointing out that in England, twenty miles over the border, nobody fights duels, and nobody's courage or honour is ever on that account called in question. There are, it was stated, other and more rational methods of settling controversies in England.