THE DANGERS OF SELF-DEPRECIATION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—In your issue of August 13th the article on "The Dangers of Self-Depreciation" interested me especially. As a Canadian, I am sure I represent the opinion of most of my countrymen in saying that we should deplore any change in • the dignified modesty of Englishmen- on attain- ing success or fame. We trust that our English. brothers
will never become bombastic or boastful ; but to be modest over successful achievement is one thing, and to be over-tolerant is another ; and I think this is the increasing quality in Englishmen which Canadians deplore. Two years ago an Englishman made this remark : "What England wants is not more principles, but more prejudices." The truth of this utterance is well illustrated in the public's acceptance of the play at the Lyric, Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner, in which a British officer is represented as a blackguard and a coward, and the American as the generous and noble hero, notwithstanding the fact that he is a deserter from the British Army, his excuse being that he sent in his resignation (and this in time of war!), but received no reply ! A similar play, entitled Nathan Hale, was produced in a small Canadian town, and was literally hissed off the boards ; all other engagements had to be cancelled, and the manager was forced to take it back to the United States where he could find a sympathetic audience ! In Canada we have enough prejudice to resent an attack on the British Army, and we have not reached that state of tolerance when we can lightly applaud an insult to the King's uniform.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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