La Chronique, a French journal, published in London, has had a series of most interesting papers, beginning with a description of the Dover Congress, which provoked a letter from Professor Hamonet. In this letter he takes up the old contention, that to propagate Esperanto is to commit a mortal sin, because if men ever come to use this language as a common international means of doing business it will infallibly follow that they will neglect the study and practice of their own languages, and, thus forgetting them, they very soon will fall into desuetude; thus, chefs d’œuvre of national languages, which have so powerfully aided in the progress of science and the spread of humanity, will be neglected and disused, that is to say, that if we use Esperanto as an auxiliary language, Shakespeare and Goethe, Victor Hugo, Schiller, Milton, and the rest will soon be mere names connected with a distant past.
To this M. Michaux, of Boulogne, replies in the issue of August 27th (further letters follow) by explaining that M. Hamonet knows only a part of the truth, that he does not realise that in France the Minister of Public Instruction and other such encourage our work, that many Esperanto translations are made by professors of high standing in the various Universities. He then suggests that, instead of theorising, Mr. Hamonet would do well to study practical effects, and tells him a little story by way of warning. I can only briefly sum up this story.
A hundred years ago an American sought an interview with a monarch. The American had made a model of the first steamboat, and he thought he had brought it to a person who would properly appreciate it. Fulton, the American in question, had managed to have the little boat placed on the lake in front of the Palace windows, and pointed it out to the great Chief. The great man answered, "Oars and the wind have been from all time the sole means for the propulsion of boats, and no other way is possible." "But, Sire," said the gentleman who had introduced him, "if you will just glance at the lake in front of you, you will see that the little model of the inventor does move by other means." The Monarch appeared for the moment astonished; he saw the marvellous boat, he heard the cries of the people and the applause of the helpers, then he became angry, and at last disdainful, shrugged his shoulders and said, "It is not because this little boat goes automatically without oars and against the wind on a little piece of water on my park, that the attempt of this stranger will conquer the world; such things are not born in an hour; every race has developed the art of navigation, but the means of propulsion have remained invariably the same; sails and the oar propelled a boat in pre-historic times, and will continue to be the only motor power. Tell this ambitious young man that my navy and commerce have not waited for his invention to be prosperous, and if men adopt his invention they would neglect the study and practice of navigation, and the victories of our heroes become useless."
Mr. Ellis, of Keighley, contributed a fine article on Esperanto, last August, to the Law Times. It was entitled "Esperanto for Lawyers," and point by point the suitability of our language for law purposes was clearly shown. One interesting argument was taken from a report in the Internacia Scienca Revuo upon a Russian boy who died of a very rare disease. Valuable scientific information was called forth at the inquest, and accurately given in the Revuo through the medium of Esperanto.
Mr. Ledger sends a most interesting summary of articles contributed to the Phonographic Monthly. This paper is printed in shorthand, and here is a list of articles:—
April, 1904.—J. French. Visit to Havre and practicability of Esperanto.
May.—T. Bailey. Outline of Esperanto, but doubts whether Pitman’s be suitable.
August.—G. Ledger. Shows that the phonetic principles upon which Esperanto is based make it admirably adaptable, and gives illustrations.
September.—J. Catton. Continues the subject, challenging Mr. Bailey’s assertion in May.