Mr. Churchill's England
ON Monday evening, while a distinguished company of members of the Royal Society of St. George were sitting at dinner in a London hotel, where a guard of honour in Elizabethan uniform attended the pro- cession of cooks who carried " the roast beef of Old England " round the hall, fifty-five Englishmen in Basra, and we know not how many in other cities the world over, were simultaneously celebrating St. George's Day. They were assembled on that occasion—these various companies in many lands—in common con- sciousness of the fact that they were Englishmen. It fell to Mr. Churchill, in London, to propose the toast of " England," and to dwell in distinguished speech on some of the merits of his country and some of the grounds of our loyalty. Perhaps it was not unnatural at such a moment to call upon his audience to rejoice that in many respects they were not as other men. With the memory of certain proceedings in Moscow fresh in their thoughts, it was legitimate to remind them that " here no one questions the fairness of the Courts of Law and Justice." He was doubtless reflecting on the Nazi treatment of the Jews when he said, without much exaggeration, that here " no one would dream of per- secuting his fellow-subjects on account of their religion or their race." And he appeared to be making a dis- tinction, excusable in the circumstances, between the English and American systems of banking, when he remarked that " here it never occurs to anyone that the banks would close their doors against their de- positors." " England," he added, " with all her faults, is still the best country for the duke or the dustman to live in."
It is well to retain consciousness of country and pride of race so long as it is free from arrogance, on the one hand, or complacency, on the other. It is easy on public occasions to drift into the language of that speech of Sir Charles Adderley made memorable by Matthew Arnold : " Talk of the improvement of breed Why, the race we ourselves represent, the men and women, the old Anglo-Saxon race, are the best breed in the whole world "—or of Mr. Roebuck " I ask you whether, the world over or in past history, there is anything like it." It was obvious to Arnold that there was " peril for poor human nature in words and thoughts of such exuberant self-satisfaction, until we find ourselves safe in the streets of the Celestial City." It was somewhat in the spirit of Mr. Roebuck and Sir Charles Adderley that Cecil Rhodes, believing in the heaven-sent mission of Englishmen to develop all the backward regions of the world, dreamed of a map of Africa " all red," and that Lord Roberts, in the simple soldierly spirit of the last century, deplored concession to Indians, on the ground that " if you give them an inch, they will take an ell." But the mind of the nation has moved far since then. To-day there seems to us nothing " un- English " in-making concessions to India or granting independente to Egypt or Irak. The old spirit of patriotism which once so readily asserted itself in flag- waving has given place to a new spirit, not to be taken as unpatriotic, in which all recognize that we have much to learn and gain from other countries, and that to cut ourselves off from them is to do ourselves irreparable injury.
There is nothing there that argues lack of patriotism, or indifference to the conception of England, nothing certainly of what Mr. Churchill calls " defeatism " or " unwarrantable self-abasement," but rather a new understanding of patriotism and of what it means to be " English." No nation can prosper or be fully alive or pull its weight among the forces of the world unless it is intensely conscious of its individuality and deter- mined to express its character and extend its influence by - legitimate means wherever it can. Self-knowledge and self-criticism are the first ingredients in such a patriotism, and these activities, which will make us aware of our social errors and failures, will equally make us conscious of the national virtues and determined at all costs to maintain them in the face of the world. It will be a part of our patriotism to recognize that this country we have inherited is disfigured by slums and unemployment, that its people are under-educated, that it tolerates iniquitous gambling among its financiers and demoralizing sensations in its Press, that it is partisan in its politics and snobbish in its social life. There can be no good patriotism which does not recognize these defects in the hope—and resolve—of eliminating them. But equally there can be no patriotism which denies the nobler characteristics. It behoves English- men, with Mr. Churchill, to cling to the English con- ception of law and justice, of the rights of free thought. and free speech, of the " square deal " in business and between nations, of compassion for the unfortunate, fair give and take, sanctity of contract, and the superiority of the spirit to the letter of the law.
Believing intensely in the value of these national characteristics the genuine Englishman is bound, meta- phorically speaking, to " fight for King and country ". in the endeavour to make these English qualities prevail at all times and everywhere—first, in our own country, and then, other nations holding back, in the extended relationship of the Empire ; and then, since we must, being English, endeavour to promote our ideals for a world society to the utmost, we are bound to hold up our Imperial ideal of co-operation, not as something, opposed to other ideals, but as an example on a limited scale of relationships which the world on a larger scale would do well to cultivate. Fields are opened up here which it is profitable to explore. It may conceivably be the function of the Commonwealth to extend its ideals through the world, not merely by holding them up for emulation, but by actually widening its own borders. The conception of a widening ring of States the Scandinavian countries and Holland suggest. themselves first—in "some special relationship to the Empire is by no means to be cast aside lightly. There knight be clear gain for the world in such an association Of nations ready to accept the. English or British ideal; in the sense that they wish to be on such terms with us that they will not seek to discourage legitimate trade or force us to arm against them •or treat our welfare as antagonistic to theirs. English patriotism is not less alive to-day than in the days. of Queen Elizabeth. But in so far as the national consciousness has developed, and takes-- account of the other : units _which compose an interdependent ,world, to that extent the character of our patriotism must change with it, and, in changing, make the crude.Imperialism of earlier times seem childish and out of date.
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