THE UNPOPULARITY OF ENGLAND. T WELVE men once agreed that each
should ask the most unpopular man of his acquaintance to dinner. They sat down thirteen, for the twelve votes had all fallen on one man. It is very much to be feared that if the peoples of the earth were to be asked to name the most unpopular nation, they would, with one assent, name England. Some of them might say that, per- sonally, they liked her, but all would agree in the fact that she is the most unpopular member of the family of nations. With the French, our unpopularity as a nation almost passes into actual hatred ; while Germany, though she agrees with us in many things, and has many points of sympathy, finds us all over the world a source of dislike and irritation. By Russia, we are still more openly regarded as the disagreeable Power whose function is to be stolidly and stubbornly tiresome and unamiable. Even Austria, though she has little real cause to hate, and some cause to like, admits with a sigh that we are intolerable, "like all selfish people,"—for that we are always selfishly looking out for our own interests she regards as an undeniable fact. To Italy alone of the Powers we present a pleasant face ; but she, while she disavows the feeling for herself, has to admit that her experience is contrary to the rest of man- kind, and that therefore, in the true sense of the word, we are unpopular. She may deny that the unpopularity is deserved, but she cannot but note the phenomenon. Our own flesh and blood in America join the chorus, and declare that though we are sound at heart and in essentials virtuous, and full of moral worth, we are in the daily intercourse of international life very unpleasant,— a blundering, bullying, grabbing Power with no regard for the feelings of others, and therefore naturally and inevitably disliked. Even the Colonies are often inclined to represent something of the same feeling, and to express the opinion that they do not wonder the Governor is so much disliked when lie pays so little attention to 'Other people's views, and is so dashed patronising.—" Of course one doesn't mind it a bit from one's own father, but it must be deeidedly annoying from a stranger." As for the little Powers, they are white with rage when they think of England. It is no good to tell them that they always get justice from England, when what they want is a touch of "high consideration." They would far rather be robbed and injured than, as they think, humiliated. The poor Southerner would always rather be plundered by a nobleman who gives him a bow and a salute, than have a loaf of bread chucked him by a rich bourgeois who makes a joke about his lantern jaws and empty belly. With Spain, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, and. the Spanish Republics of South America we are therefore quite as actively unpopular as we are with the great States. They may not hate us for any cause, or have indeed any sort of real grievance against us, but our unpopularity with them is a matter of instinct. We are Dr. Fell to each and all of them.
But though the fact of our unpopularity is so clear, it is by no means easy to state the cause. No doubt, in the case of the great Powers, our vast commercial pro- sperity, our success in the work of governing distant Empires, and in doing what all the world now wants specially to do—i.e., develop colonies,—our easy :solution of the Socialist problems, and our stable yet democratic scheme of government, all tend to make us deeply envied and so very unpopular. Look at England,' says the Frenchman,—and here it is worth while to point out that it is the country as a separate entity which is unpopular, and not the individual Englishman ; he, of late years, has become exceedingly popular on the Continent.—' England has a bad climate, and a poor soil,—she has, that is, not half the natural riches of France, and yet she is far less hardly pressed by taxation. Outside Europe she has all the best pieces of the world, and holds them so easily that they do not cost her a sixpence, and indirectly bring her in a great deal. On the other hand, the French Colonies are a con- stant drain of money and men on the mother-country, and no one can ever get satisfaction out of them. In spite of all that is done for them, they are the source of countless regrets and disappointments. England, again, has no conscription, while our life-blood is drained by it. If England had this boon through her own wise policy or courage, or admitted peacefulness and. want of aggression, I could bear it. But she has not. It is simply hers by luck, and such undeserved, luck cannot, while human nature remains what it is, be anything but bitterly disagreeable to those who are less fortunate, but in reality far more deserving.' That the apparent ease with which we surmount the difficulties, commercial, financial, and political, that poison the life of so many States, should raise such feelings in our nearest neigh- bours, is most natural ; nor is it to be wondered at that these feelings are echoed with more or less intensity by all the Powers. Our present and past good fortune as long as it lasts—though how long that will be, who can tell ?- must be paid for in the unpopularity which envy always breeds. It is a law of nature. You cannot grow and prosper above others without envy, and envy must fasten unpopularity on the object envied. But this is, of course, not the sole source of our unpopularity. That is also based on a general belief that we are at once selfish and materialistic in our Jaims, and that we never act on large or wide or noble ideas, but merely look to the main chance. The nations would. hate us -less if we had. tried or were known to aim at universal dominion. What they cannot bear is the feeling that we intend to have the best of every bargain, and that having got it, we always explain that we only got it because we were more businesslike and efficient than other people, and from no other cause, in fact, but our own natural superiority. In other words, we are sup- posed to be a patronising power, and patronising is always a cause of unpopularity., Thousands of people would far rather be cursed than patronised. It wounds their amour- propre much less. It is, indeed, in this inability to under- stand what touches the amour-propre of nations, that a great deal of our disagreeableness lies. We always imagine, as a nation, that other Powers act on principles of pure reason, and that when no injury or insult was intended they will be able to recognise this fact quite easily. We expect them to accept as a, sort of law of Nature, that we have no aggressive or selfish ideas, and express our in- dignation_ when they refuse this hogaage to our virtue. Naturally, then, we are called, self-righteous and reckoned as disagreeable as all self-.righteous people undoubtedly are. Lastly, and perhaps this is the greatest source of our unpopularity, we are considered all the world over to be essentially a hypocritical Power. There is no use in blinking the fact. In the eyes of Europe we are the Peck-sniff of the nations. But though this belief is so universal, we can say with perfect sincerity that we do not believe it to be well-founded. We are not hypo- critical. It is easy, however, to see how the belief arose. We alone of nations do sometimes try to base our foreign policy on moral grounds,—the credit is not quite so great as it looks, as our comparative security takes many questions for us out of the division which is labelled for others, "Matters of life and death." The rest of Europe simply does not comprehend our position here. They all regard foreign policy as something which must be decided purely on considerations of self-interest, and simply think us lying when we claim other motives. And they have this justification. Though we generally try to, and often do, act on moral grounds, it is only possible to do so occasionally. The questions of self-interest are too strong, too vital, and hence self-interest is always getting mixed up with the disinterested motives, and producing a compromise . which superficial and. not very friendly observers regard as pure hypocrisy. We are more dis- interested than other Powers, but not wholly so, and hence we get no credit therefrom, but rather the reverse. • What is the remedy ? There is none as far as we can gee. Ire cannot, strip ourselves of our great possessions, or destroy ouf prosperity, or adopt the conscription merely to avert the evil eye.: Again, _nothing we can do will take away the,pupposed taint of hypocrisy. We have just got to beak our' unpopularity, and. look as pleasant as we can. Fortunately, we are not a thin-skinned people, ii as we think, quite rightly, , never bother about _opiniona of our neighbours, whose competence to form an opinion,werth having in regard to our actions is more than doubtful. But though no attempt must be made to get rid of our unpopularity, we must not ignore it pr forget it. It is a most important fact, and must be noted by our statesmen, for it is a dis- tinct and unfavourable factor in our dealings with foreign owers. It makes our duty plain on two points. We must go on at all costs strengthening our Navy. A popular Power, in our position might afford to run the risk of losing the command of the sea. We dare not, just as the unpopular man in the village dares not leave his deer open at night or go without a _stick. Our un- popularity, pure and simple, might easily le,ad to a com- bination against us with the object of. spoliation. While we have the undoubted and effective command. of the sea, we can laugh at such combinations. If we lose it, God help us. , Our unpopularity, then, should be a constant and strong warning that we keep our Fleet, both as regards men and ships, above all question in. the matter of superiority. The next lesson is that we should be more than ever careful to give no real cause for unpopularity. That is,. we should resolve to be specially .careful to injure neither the feelings nor the rights of other nations, and. to act not on selfish but on higher grounds whenever possible. Such action if persevered in will not perhaps apparently mitigate our unpopularity.; but since the right always wins in the end, it will, in reality, tell in or favour. B,esides, it must be a matteranational pride and honour with us, not to be soured by our unpopularity. At schools unpopularity demoralises, injures, and sours the weak and ill-tempered boys. It improves those of finer nature. The man with the true feelings of a gentleman never turns " nasty " when he gets unpopular. As a nation we must do the same, and. try to get good, not harm, out of the feeling with which others regard us. Of course, to do so, or to write thus, will Only seem to the rest of Europe another act of hypocrisy; but we cannot bother about that. 'England is nothing if she does not take her own line and treat the rest of the world with that "you be d--dnesa " which Robert Lowe so much admired in one of our most typical statesmen. " A.h," says the intelligent foreigner, " there you have it. It is this very you be d—dness ' which makes you English so utterly unbearable."
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