The Pacific Monthly/Volume 14/Number 3/Impressions

by Charles Erskine Scott Wood

By CHARLES ERSKINE SCOTT WOOD

Wnat IS called envy is generally the instinct for justice

I believe no right-minded person who has read even a little of those- Pirates very fragmentary reports which we name History, would object to-

being called "Pirate." Kidd, Morgan and Blackbeard were unlovely characters of freebooting propensities, thus the w'ord usually implies some reproach, though the same freebooting acts done under cover of law raise men to eminence. On the other hand, Admiral John Paul Jones, whose mere bones have been brought to this country today in a sort of idolatry, better given to his name than to his bones, was- called a "Pirate." Sir Francis Drake was called a "Pirate" by the Spanish, but to- Queen Elizabeth he was her Incomparable Admiral.

Traitor too, is a hard term. Yet, George Washington was branded with it. As^ for rebel — why, the rebels of the world are such a host that I cannot even hint at them. Oliver Cromwell and Benjamin Franklin are mere examples. John Brown was- hung by due process of law for a rebel and a rioter, a leader of a mob. Today, it is- said, his soul is marching on.

The Press and Odessa Mutiny

Pirate, traitor, rebel, and such like words, depend on time and cir- cumstances whether they be of praise or reproach. But I was sur- prised to see the very general tone of hatred which ran through our press in comments on the uprising m Odessa, and the mutiny of the Kniaz Potemkin, There is no objection to the use of the words "mutiny" or "rebellion" — they simply describe the fact of a revolt against organized authority. They mark an effort to over- throw tyranny and to arrive at justice. We of English blood ought to set up altars at Runny- mede, Marston Moor and Bunker Hill to the worship of Rebellion and Mutiny; by them we have inherited all that makes life worth living and by them others in other lands' and our children shall inherit more and more freedom.

Russian Patriots

When I think of Russia's despotism, her salt mines and Siberian wastes,, her voiceless dungeons under the Neva, her peasantry treated like cattle, Omiltchuck shot down in c old blood because he dared to voice a plea for food, artisans and shopkeepers of Odessa mow^ed down by machine guns, plighted word broken, and men who had surrendered on the faith marched out in squads of fifty and shot to death, insolent Grand Dukes and feudal aristocracy repeating the old tyrannies of France, I wonder at our intelligent journalistic headlines — ' ' The Pirates Forced to Sur- render; Fifty of the Ring Leaders Shot. More of the Rebels to Be Executed as an Exam- ple." "Machine Guns and Cossacks mowing down the mob of rebels in Odessa. Quiet will soon be restored. ' '

The quiet of the graveyard!

Now, for myself, I would have called all these people patriots, long suffering martyrs. But that is what today's "Pirates" and "Rebels" will mean in after times, and the in- telligent journalist will still discover them.

Only out of change comes progress. Only out of revolt comes freedom.