LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE UNPOPULARITY OF ENGLAND. [To TIIE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I do not feel it my province to traverse your article, in the Spectator of October 19th, on the "Unpopularity of England," although I am inclined to believe that the view it takes is generally exaggerated, and the relations alluded to perhaps of a more ephemeral and leas ominous character than the article admits of. But if you would kindly allow me, I should like to write you a few lines of protest against including my own country, for one, in the list of the little Powers "white with rage when they think of England," with which you contend that England is quite as "actively unpopular as with the great States," and this unpopularity a "matter of instinct."
I confess I was rather stunned by this statement. I believe I am fairly well acquainted with the drift of public opinion and popular feeling in Denmark—I may say, in the Scandi- navian countries generally—and I venture to submit that in neither of them has an Englishman living there gained an experience supporting this view. I will not here allude to political grievances of more or less remote date as an element of the feeling between nations. As a matter of fact, we have at various times been ill-treated by most of the Powers with whom we have been in contact, and could not afford in the long-run to be "white with rage" at the mere thought of all or any of them. But I t ak it that a people's lasting sympathy is much less determinated by the events of its past history than by the bent of its mind, its aims, its habit of thought, its ideals, and its detestations. And my contention is, that England is popular in Denmark as well as in Norway and Sweden, not only because we admire its institutions, its strength, and the work it accomplishes, nor, indeed, because England is amongst our best customers—though that goes a long way—but more than that, because our way of thinking and judging matters is essentially similar. Where you see light we see it, and what is darkness to you is darkness to us. As to the greater nations' struggle for power and ascendency— in which, by the way, each of them is likely to prove just as " selfish " and " materialistic " as the other—we watch it with interest, but with a neutral mind. Still, I should think, judging from myself, that England's share in the progress of the world is the one we appreciate the best, because—well, because "blood is thicker than water."—I am, Sir, &c., A DANE IN ENGLAND.
Previous page
