THE ARBITER IN COUNCIL (CLASSIC REPRINT)

Excerpt from The Arbiter in CouncilThe death of my old friend, the Arbiter, has left me alone to arrange and edit a work, of which he is the principal author, without his supervision. Happily before the sudden illness which ended his long and useful life we had spent many hours together read ing over and correcting the reports, and his own contributions had all been carefully revised. He particularly requested me not to let our friends, who took part in the discussion, alter the sentiments they had expressed. If that were allowed, he said, the dialogue would lose its vivacity and character. You, he went on, must correct the report as an editor, in the interest of the reader. Cast out rubble shorten Where you can do so without altering the sense, let there be as little repetition as possible, for remember that the eye, tho so much more rapid (and therefore with less excuse) is a far more impatient organ than the ear. The others all agreed, the more willingly as the course proposed relieved them both of labour and responsibility. They only stipulated that their identity should be concealed. The names therefore are fictitious, but I must beg the reader to believe that by this device veracity has been protected from the inroads of timidity and caution.Certainly we all tried to speak without reserve, guided by a precept that the Arbiter had either recalled or invented for the occasion