THE ENGLISHMAN IN CANADA. LTO Tex EDITOR or car •
sescrrroit.") SIR,—The subject of your article (Spectator, September 7th) merits even more extended remark than you give,to it. I think, hoWever, your diagnoiis of the case is erroneous. The reserve of which you speak as so characteristic of an English- man is only marked in a very high class of Englishmen, and cannot be taken as representative nationally. On the contrary, Many Englishmen are garrulous as to their private relations to a degree which surprises any Scotsman, as it is to the highest class of Englishman also offensive. The real cause of Englishmen in general " getting on " less easily in Canada, Australia, or anywhere else than a Scot, an Irishman, or a Welshman is not that an Englishman is more reserved about himself, butlYiat he fails constantly and consistently to display an interest in the concerns of people and things outside his Circle of immediate knowledge. It is not from any racial quality or disqiialification* that he does so, but it'is a fact that he does. Englishmen are better mannered and better lOoking than Scots or Welsh. They start, therefore, with an initial advantage; but they are easily passed in the race of popularity anywhere outside these islands for the reason I have given. It is not due to any want of politeness, but simply and solely to ignorance, and that is the fault of English education. The Scot 'is much less highly educated, but infinitely better informed. He is rarely a pure scholar, but is always possessed of a general intelligence on subjects which may be quite outside his sphere. Only on two subjects is the average Scot dull and dumb,—cricket 'and horse-racing. These are pre- cisely the subjects of the most vivid and keen interest to any group of Englishmen, and so engrained are these interests in the English mind 'from early training that, apart from them or his own particular profession or business, he rarely is able to take, or at least to show, an intelligent interest in other things. Ile simply does not know about them, and therefore no one blames hinia but it is not to be wondered at that he is not always a persona grata in circles—Colonial or foreign—outside his own. .1 recollect at the last General Election when Gladstone defeated Disraeli the newsboys were calling " Queen's Speech." I was one of a group which included two men who bad been educated at public schools and Cambridge' and were well-known athletes. Said one to the other : " Who writes the Queen's Speech ? " " Oh," said the other, " Dizzy always does." When I suggested (I hope not too pragmati- cally in the Scots manner) that Gladstone was scarcely likely to permit Disraeli to outline his policy, both my acquaintances agreed, and were surprised that the idea had not occurred to them. On another occasion—the night of Lord Beaconsfield's death—I was travelling in a first-class compartment to Rich- mond. The business men who filled it were interested in the question of who should succeed to the title. They accepted the solution of one who stated that it would go to Montague Corry, as he had been a great favourite of the deceased Earl, and was also a persona grata to her Majesty. Such remark- able instances of ignorance are entirely inconceivable in Scotsmen or Welshmen of the same class. At the table d'h6te at Blair Atholl Hotel an English solicitor joined in the general conversation as to the Duke of Atholl's bodyguard simply to state that until that moment he had never heard that there was a Duke of Atholl. There was a general laugh of surprise, not at the ignorance of the title or the personage, but at the confession. Even a very second-rate Scot would have been careful to avoid making such a frank avowal for fear of possibly hurting local susceptibilities. The educated Englishman who was living in the same district, and under- stood the battle of Killiecrankie to have been a fight between English and Scots ; the Major who had been twenty years in India, and informed us—desirous of accurate detail as to certain religious matters—that the Gurkhas and Sikhs had no form of religion whatever, so far as lie knew ; these are only instances which might be multiplied ad nauseam. " The Englishman is not disliked. He is admired and esteemed, and even envied, for his strength of character, general good breeding, and hearty geniality on occasions; but despite all, he is often a less agreeable companion because his general ignorance absolutely prevents his showing interest or sympathy for what is of the most vivid, or even vital, interest to other people or peoples among whom he may be moving. I dare say Colonials may mistake his blankness for arrogance or contempt. It 'is only ignorance, and the English schOol system is to blame for it. I have many times defended my English fellow-countrymen from the charges of arrogance and contempt of others levelled against them by Ainericans, Canadians, New Zealanders, or foreigners. But
until their training is altered these mistakes in judgment will recur.—I am Sir, &c., CIVIS BRITANNICIIS SUM.
[There is a good deal of truth, we fear, in our corre- spondent's charge; but colossal ignorance is not always confined to the south side of the Border. A Scotswoman vouches for the following personal experience. It was the Whitsun Bank Holiday, and the London express was an hour late. On asking the reason, she received the following answer : " Ah ! its Christmas Day, or Good Friday, or ane o' they days in England."—ED. Spectator.]
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