¶ Rosie Rosenberg is a John Smith sort of name. Last week the thousands of Rosie Rosenbergs had cause to rejoice. His Majesty George V, Defender of the Faith, King and Emperor, had just conferred the august title "Commander of the Civil Division Order of the British Empire" upon Miss Rose ("Rosie") Rosenberg.
U. S. Citizens remember how Rose Rosenberg landed in New York last fall amid salutes, sirens, cheers and a blizzard of ticker tape; how she went by special train to Washington and was received at the White House; how she moved in a triumphal pageant through Canada and finally sailed for home and England with James Ramsay MacDonald whose hard-slaving private secretary she is.
¶ Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby is not a name like Rosie Rosenberg. His father was private secretary to the late great Victoria, Queen and Empress, who made "dear little Arthur" her pageboy. From knee breeches and gold lace Mr. Ponsonby grew up to be a Liberal politician, but his conscientious objection to the World War caused him to be ostracised by all his friends and he was forced into the Labor Party. Last week, as one of the staunchest intimates of the Prime Minister, Mr. Ponsonby, M. P., was created Baron.
In the U. S., Onetime Page Ponsonby is chiefly famed for his book Falsehood in Wartime (Dutton, $2), exposing Allied lies used to win the War. Its most devastating passage is a simple sequence of five newspaper clippings:
When the fall of Antwerp became known the church bells were rung.
Kölnische Zeitung (Cologne).
According to the Kölnische Zeitung, the clergy of Antwerp were compelled to ring the church bells when the fortress was taken. —Le Matin (Paris).
According to what Le Matin has heard from Cologne, the Belgian priests who refused to ring the church bells when Antwerp was taken have been driven away from their places.
—The Times (London).
According to what The Times has heard from Cologne "via Paris, the unfortunate Belgian priests who refused to ring the church bells when Antwerp was taken have been sentenced to hard labor.
—Corriere della Sera (Milan).
According to information to the Corriere della Sera from Cologne via London, it is confirmed that the barbaric conquerors of Antwerp punished the unfortunate Belgian priests for their heroic refusal to ring the church bells by hanging them as living clappers to the bells with their heads down. Le Matin (Paris).
¶ Only one other Labor peer was created last week, Major Dudley Leigh Aman, by profession a wireless expert, who did yeoman service as a speaker during the last General election. With Baron Ponsonby and Baron Aman the number of Laborites in the House of Lords is now 14, as against approximately 500 Conservatives and 90 Liberals. It had been rumored that Scot MacDonald would "advise" (i.e. instruct) the King to create 100 Labor peers, but the public excitement sure to follow such a perfectly justifiable move was deemed not worth risking until Labor has an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons.