1959-01-24 — Page 14

THE CHINA, MAIL, SATURDAY, JANUARY, 24, 1959.

A BOOK OUT TODAY POINTS THE QUESTION:

This man's crime'

-would it matter so much now?

by PAUL JOHNSON

SEX was the great leveller of the Victorian age. It swept national heroes from their pedestals into total oblivion with the speed of lightning, and there was no appeal from the judgments of public morality.

Of all these great BOX- tragedies, the fall of Sir Charles Dilke was the most poignant. Farnell and Oscar Wilde at least admitted their gußt, and soon found increiful release in death.

by

SIR CHARLES DILKE invested with a spurious glamour.

Even so, he did not deserve such as women's suffrage and

union rights-and in his appalling bad luck. On July trade

headed the Radicals which,

the newly-entranch absorbing

19, 1885, Dilke learned that Mrs despairing search for evidence Ised industrial masses, had be

slater of his to prove his innocence. His come the fastest-growing politi- Crawford, the

brother's widow, hal confessed gleanings are contained to a cal force the country.

that she won inass of papers depozited in the But Dilke mode two mistakes. tu her husband

Crawford sued British Museum, which only First, carly in his political Dilke's lover. career,

became available for inspection he

1 for divorce, altacked Monarchy. This earned him the

Chamberlain, Dilke's closest in 1955.

Intervene the torio, ไก on age when sovereign was sill often in a position to veto appointments, and of the great mess of the

Hut Dilke lived on in the political wilderness for a quarter of a century—un died protest undying hatred of Queen Vic- friend, urged him to

ing his innocence.

In 1803 Dilke, next to Rog boty, และ the most envied political gure in Britain.

Two mistakes

Tory Party

His second error compounded the first, and proved falal. Sta

his mid - forties, Dilke had a taste for complex fashionable with wealthy," baronet, possessed of adventures superb health (he had an ener- married women. fle and been a mora- Whiz aristocrat or a High Tory gelle fencing-bout every ing), enormously Industrious he might have get away with it and intelligent, his political as did the Prince of Wales.

But Dilke forgot an important momentum seemed irresistible.

Gladstone, much againai his political maxim, which is still the morals of the will. had been obliged to take true today:

the Cabinet. him into

For, Left are always judged more together with Chamberlain, be strictly than those of the Right,

A COCKNEY EXPLAINS LIFE ON THE INSIDE'

by HAROLD M. HARRIS

BANG TO RIGHTS. By Frank Norman.

Warburg. 15s.

Secker

in the case and swear on oath that he was Innocent. Dilke, on the advice of his lawyers, de

lined, hoping the storm would blow over.

I did not.

The wretched baronet was mercilessly hounded by the Press,

Lost friends

Dilke was thus obliged to ask the Queen's Proctor to intervene; the case was reopened; and a special jury had no hesitation in fading him guilty.

From them, Roy Jenkins, In this new biography, attempts to reverse the verdict.

He is only moderately success- ful. Though he shows that Mrs Crawford was a liar, a syphilitic and a practised adulteress, he falls to establish a sumcient motive for her accusations, other

than the obvious one that they were true.

He is thus forced to fall back on hints of a political conspiracy by either Rosebery or Chamber- lain, his chief rivals for Liberal leadership, to Dilk'e career,

the

smash

-

Now Lord Altrincham's turn!

TODAY the Chine

Mail brings a third WRITING ON KING GEORGE VI view of the book that HE SAYS... has-presented in new- light the story of King George VI. It is the turn of Lord' Altrincham to re- view John Wheeler--

Suppose Edward

Bonnett's authorised had said: 'I'll stand

biography, "King George VI." He dis-

cussed one of the for

Book's most vital

issues.....

for Parliament'!

IF King Edward VIII had handled the Abdication crisis differently he might still be on the Throne. Suppose he had said to Baldwin: "All right, I will abdicate, but I will not accept a royal dukedom or a peerage of any kind, because I intend to stand for the House of Commons-as a Social candidate.

"In foreign affairs my policy will be to rearm and resist the dictators, In this I shall have the help and support of my friend Winston Churchill. In home affairs my policy will be to tackle unemployment, and in this I shall be advised by my friend Lloyd George.

"If the Socialist Party ask contemporary record of the dis- me to be their leader I will cuzzion he wrote:- accept, so I may perhaps be your successor at 10, Down- ing Street!"

His judgment

Tany

When Wavell, as Viceroy, pro- posed to release Gandhi and Nehru from prison and to invite them to become members of his the King Executive Council, comumented

his in

dlary: "Gandhi is now discredited la USA. & in India & to let is him out of confinement now a suicidal policy."

He was ignorant of India and was obviously under Churchill's induence when he wrote thoso words. But when the time came ho recepted Indian Independ-

"He Roosevelt was definitely onti-Russian, I told him so were we but if we could not have au understanding with her, Ger

would probably niake one." [My italics.] Few poll tielens at the time were equally realistic. Had the King addressed

When Cardinal Tinsley died Such suggestions are ludicrous. Baldwin in this way it is.

Chamberlain wanted to

33 trap more than likely that he in 1943 the King's Instinct

that he should be represented Dilke, why did he tender him such good advice. As for Rose.would have called the Prime at the Requiem Mass In West- 'ence with a good grace and got bery, he was incapable, both by Minister's bluff. But he fail- minster Cathedral. Though ambition and temperament, ofed fortunately in

loyal Anglican he felt that he this should pay court concelying such a plin.

opinion to see the possi a distinguished Christian and Hary In was her allegation that

bilities which were open to patriot. invited Dilke had successfully

him, her to share his bed not only with himself but also with a servant girl,

Nevertheless, the only real evidence against him was the Unsupported word of Mrs Craw- ford, a pert and

self-assured young woman,

What impressed most

the

flon..

The truth?

that

my

1

tribute ta

Hr was, however, advised His brother, though less quick painst it, on grounds of pre

decorum. and wilted, was aware of the danger cedent and sectarian

One would like to know who guarded against it. Hence the much-discussed dis-

were the idiots who gave such advice. closure in this book that it was VI who opposed King George

Was

on to friendly terms with Nehru, He had the adaptability neces- constitutional Monarch. Politically he as Mr Wheeler-Bennett says, no Bourbon, he knew both how to learn and how to forget and he never confused the substance with the shadow."

His staff

In the

.union experience and Left-wing

opinions" be admitted to King's official circio.

tho.

And the Prime Ministers' of ather Commonwealth countries should have urged the Head of the Commonwealth (as King George became) to sag that alt Commonwealth countries were

In properly represented

his entourage.

There is a dangerous tendency for leading politicians,, here and overseas, to feel that the royal set-up is a sacred mystery which does not concern them directly. They give it respect, oven royer- ence, but they do not help it to evolve.

Another stronge omission on the part of King George was that he failed to ensure for hla educational own children the advantages which had been denied. to himself.

He was mainly tought at

did

home, by a tutor, but ho not send his own daughters to for them the

school,

tution.

nor did he even obtain best privato

Prince Charles, at least; i5- being given the chance to mix and compete with boya of his own age, though he too is being

confined to one social group.

On balance there is no doubt that King George was a stCCESS in his job. He enhanced the of the Monarchy reputation after what might have been serious setback.

His success

П

Of course, he was very greatly helped by his wife, but I think the secret of his succEES was that his life before he come to the Throne was not altogether casy.

He was not, like his brother, a "golden boy," with immense

charm and destined maturat from birth for the position of Sovereign.

He did not expect or want to be King, but through the effort of mastering a

physical and psychological defect he became ...what

15 more important

The truth, I suspect, is The jury had to decide

a brief liaison whether it was more incredible Dilke did have

with Mrs Crawford, which she that Dilke should do such a

later magnified and garnished monstrous thing. or that Mra

a personality. Crawford should invent . Being from her own salacious imagina-

The King's judgment was Victorians, they belleved the

the undicating monarch Taking often sound, but it was also

Mr Wheeler - Bennett does Like Dreyfus and the Rosen- the commoner's status. In this liable to go astray. He should lady.

arrangement of his justice to his theme. Ometal bergs, he was an inherently he gave clear proof of political not, for instance, have appeared

the Even before the verdict, Glad-

own routine and the appoint- -blographies tend to err on pedestrian man whom martyr- Judgment. stone had washed his hands of

with Chamberlain on the bal- ment of his own start he was side of flattery, especially when

Neither cony of Buckingham Palace after less adaptable..

the the subject is royal, & Dilke. And when the newsboys

rushed through

Royal Household nor the royal the streets, crying "Sir Charles Dilke has

-programme of activities

But in this book there is so changed so as to bring them into much formation, and it is split the milk, his friends

line with modern developments, well arranged, that the ordinary render can if aoze the cliches and Lord Attlee each his own conclusion,

FRANK NORMAN, the illegitimate son of a harrow boy, is a good-looking young man of 27 with a scar on his face. Or more picturesquely, in his own words:

"Down the left side of my boat I've gol a stripe which 1 collected one dark night in Jennayne Street, W.1,"

He has no husions about the dimculties of going straight after Ave terms of imprison- ment--but he means to stay out of trouble.

His tears

He la tough but it is nat unknown for him to have cried himself te sleep in his cell. He cannot spell-but how he can write!

Last year he was released from Camp Hill Corrective training prison after serving two years of a three-year sentence. Newnan explains the theory and practice of CT.

"We are not in prison to have our sculs destroyed but cor- rected. This, of course, does not happen very often.

He is bitter about the system without pitying himself. He has a gift for dramma, for pathon, for comedy. And for chōracter.

We meet Jcle, who kept snout (tobacco), chicken sandwiches, and a boiled egg in a canvas bag attached to a string outside his cell window, the Boat-10 named because of his withered leg-who had oil his teeth out and was promptly re-named the Gum Boot; Filthy Frank who never washed; Bottles, senter.ced for <ausing grievous bodily harm, who tenderly nursed the click prison eat, reverently Burled it.

Self-portrait

Above all, there in the self- portrail. Frank Norman must never appear sofi.

governor

When the prison MYS goodbye, Norman. the enemy of authority, refuses to shake the hand of the man, the oppressor, who sentencen other men to bread and water.

But he sees through his own pore. "He sat down again welryly. And I immediately fall sorry for him and regretted not shaking hands with him, after all he was only a man in a very nasty job."

Written in racy, unself- conscious Cockney trimmed with, back alang and rhyming, slang. Bang To Rights is'ay welcome

· change · from thoke jodioul "exposures" of prison, conditions by "educated amateur' crininala. Franir Norman's... backyrdünd practically

Gostinest him?for-fa"

fife of profesBRINALDOZMER VEHI book has more than guriónity!

miamico linamik free of his post.

turned their backs on him. He

dom Invested with a spurious

glamour. Sex ruined him-but Nor was this the only Munich.

When talking to President Roosevelt nt Hyde Park In June, 1939 he fore shadowed

the Molotov A Ribbentrop Paet. In his own Roy

it gave him a fame he would occasion. never otherwise have possessed.

lost his seat, and though he *Sir Charles Dilke: late returned to Parliament, Victorian Tragedy. Flu was never given office again.

The rest of his life was spent

in supporting worthy causes →→

· Jenkins, Collins, 258,

VIGNETTES OF LIFE

SOME PIN THEIR FAITH ON A LIQUID DIET, MILK ETC. — BUT DON'T OVERDO IT~ ONE DOESN'T WANT TO APPEAR THAT YOUNG.

FOR COLOR, GAYETY, YOUTH AND ROMANCE, HOLD ON TO THAT VACATION LOOK..

IF YOU WANT

TO BE THE YOUNG," MODERN EXECUTIVE TYPE. RUN RIGHT OUT.

AND GET TATTOGED.

-(London Express Service),

Macmillan, €0,

By so doing he was Identifying himselt with a policy which was, to say the Idást,, controversial, The Sovereign must always keep aloof from partizan controversy, On the subject of India his Ideas were completely haywire.

Keeping Young

THEY SAY THAT THE COMPANY OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE" SHARING OF THEIR INTERESTS WILL KEEP ONE YOUTAFUL—

GO AHEAD AND TRY IT- SOMEONE HAS TO TAKE CARE

OF THE FIRE,

Шина

COPE HM BY GUNERAL PRATURES

GOLA, DEWORLD MIGHTS RESERVED.

Wha

For this I hold partly responsible. As Prime Minister of a Labour Govern- My own is that King George ment He should have insisted deserves the good name which that some people with trade he has left behind him.

By Harry Weinert

EVERY MAM SHOULD

MAVE A HOBBY- THERE'S COJA COLLECTING- AND THERE'S DRAMA. (AFTER ALL, WHO

WANTS TO BE

A MISER T)

TRY WALKING FOR A CHANGE-

BUT PONT GET

DOUBLE PNEUMONIA, SHOT, FOR A RABBIT, PINCHED FOR TRESPASSING

OR RUN OVER;

-AND POAT WORRY

LET SOMEONE

ELSE DO THAT.

THINK

NOBLE THOUGHTS.