LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ENGLAND ? [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sts,—Of course. England will come through. There is no more possibility of her not coming through. than there is of
night not following day. She is like the house built upon the rock. The storms came and the wind blew, but the house stands because it is built on a rock. Gradually the fundamental laws of civilization have developed, and England from the beginning has endeavoured to act in conformity with them and as a matter of fact through these laws has upheld civiliza- tion almost single-handed for a hundred years or more.
Great Britain has made payment of her War debt to the United States of something like four billion dollars, and in doing so has, willingly almost, taken the life blood of her people to accomplish the object. I do not care a penny for the pecuniary or material features involved, but I care vitally and eternally for the establishment of truth. Aside from the determination to pay her debt, she had a deeper and broader reason. I think her idea was to sustain the sanctity of contract. The sanctity of contract is the basis upon which all commerce and civilization must rest, and it is this under- lying principle in the British nation and the ideals of her people (as in the American people of British origin) that forms the difference between her people and the people of other nations.
It is the principle that England stands for. Her act, just as she intended it should do, drove in the first spike of stabilization. It brought order out of chaos, and that is exactly what she intended it should do ; and it had to have this result because it was the truth, and the truth never dies.
" Right is right since God is God, And right the day must win To die would be disloyalty To falter would be sin."
What worries me most just now is why quite an important fraction of the English people do not realize what they have and why they should protect it. From the Magna Charta down citizens are guaranteed, in the words of the American Declara- tion of Independence, protection to life, liberty and property and an equal right to the pursuit of happiness. Where would these people, who are now trying to undermine the British Government, be if the British Government were not built on this rock ? It seems to me that there should be some way of having these truths brought before these people. It would, I think, be a much more easy proposition than to undertake the same thing in the United States, for practically in England the citizens are all English. The English labourer, clerk, aristocrat, and, indeed, to some extent, those from the slums turned out gladly, or at least willingly, to save the nation in time of war. The nation is now perhaps in as great danger as she was then, and many sit back, doing nothing to help.
Why not join up and work for less than what seems to be their share in the production so as to enable the manufacturers and others possessing capital to go out in the world and get the trade which makes Great Britain great ?
Why not have a campaign of enlistment just as during the War and appeal to the loyalty and nationality of these people ? Where would they be if England lost her trade ? They should also have in mind that the chances of England losing her trade now are greater than before the War for the reason that other nations developed by the War and since the War and given protection by the League of Nations are now in a position to become strong competitors of Great Britain. Great Britain need fear no competition as long as Englishmen are Englishmen and will each and all " do their bit " now just as during the
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