My Life

My Life - Oswald MosleyThe third case was a triumphant victory which culminated in a roaring farce. At CruxEaston we went in for pig fattening on quite a large scale. We did well with our pigson their usual noxious diet of the post-war period until suddenly they began to wiltaway before our eyes. Despite the heavy and hitherto successful feeding, they gotthinner every day. I was naturally in every sense much concerned with the fate ofthese poor animals, and found at last full exercise in farming for those disturbing,dynamic qualities of which politicians had so much complained. In my efforts to finda cure I called in no less than nine vets in a short space of time; the ninth found boththe small parasite responsible and the remedy. Thereafter the pigs rapidly recoveredtheir pristine health and blooming condition.Fate in official shape struck first; I was served with a swine-fever notice, quicklyfollowed by a foot-and-mouth notice, and then by a summons for starving andconsequently ill-treating the pigs. I was incensed. The remedy had been found and wewere going ahead with the treatment, but I said nothing. Instead, I went to London tosee a good friend, the foremost physician Dr. Geoffrey Evans, who had treated me atthe time of my release from prison. He told me that a pig's stomach most closelyresembled the human; I became an expert on pigs' stomachs. The case was soon heard.I spent the whole morning cross-examining the official evidence on pigs' stomachswithout disclosing an inkling of the defence. To my consternation, just before lunch,the magistrates unanimously and heartily dismissed the case. I was a free man; greatwas my indignation. Vehemently I protested that I wanted the case to continue so thatI could call my evidence; I wanted to make the other side look a proper Charlie. Themagistrates, however, decided they had heard more than enough, and apparently somehilarity still prevails in legal circles at the tale of the defendant who so vigorouslyresisted his own acquittal.For many reasons large and small it was better to move, and we established what wastechnically called a main residence in Ireland, and a secondary residence in France,which later became our only home. After the requisite break in English residence, Ihad the right to spend up to ninety days in England, which were adequate to themeetings and conferences it was necessary to hold. Our first house in Ireland was atClonfert in County Galway and almost in the exact centre of the country; our house inFrance was at Orsay in the Chevreuse valley, some twenty kilometres from Paris. It isa small house of exquisite beauty which was built by the architect Vignon, who alsodesigned the Madeleine. He followed the style of Palladio, who added to theperfection of Greek architecture an elevation which nobly displays it. My passion forHellenism is there consummated at every waking hour.357 of 424