A Hindoo Criticism of John Bull.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 218, 15 September 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

A Hindoo Criticism of John Bull.

[An educated Hindoo, yrho is writing s! iSeries of his first impressions of England in! the 'Indian Spectator,' eulogises the com-' fort of English homes, laments the costli-! ness of English fruits,' and declares thati; John Bull has too many things to attend to; look after cooking. >In fruits he excels; everybody. In sweets he is not inferior to, the Frenchman, and always inferior to the;; Indian.', ; - : ~ :

The Cold Solemnity of Onr Flirt*, j He continues:—John Bull lores to bo! exclusive. Every man for himself is!,his_ motto; let me alone his ideal ofi society. You might travel for hours inj the same compartment of a train withputoj exchanging half a dozen words with your' companions. I should not be surprised iff they wanted a heaven to themselves. Per-i haps Swedenbbrg was right.; Even their! flirts, males and females, have an air ofi cold solemnity about them which makes! your, blood run qpld, in your yeinß. Their, very amusements savour off business.! Most of them have a f cynic disgust of life,1; are always, morose, and though burning! with a desire to oblige 7911, quite capable! of making you turn away in disgust" at>J their coldness. Then there iarso J much) stoutness and stolidity in their character.. What, they dd they do with a will' If iheyi eat, they eats-like giants, if they drink theji drink like giants, turning brandy: into! J water, but if they w,ork they also work like' giants. No hali-heartedness, no irresolu'! tion, no want of earnestness about them.i If you see'them walking in the streets'of j London you would think the world had! come to an end. Yet they are only "gome! to the parks... I* ;? •: - ; Mammon, the English God. '<M*^§: • Everybqdyhßsahobby. Thanationiseofull! of eccentricities, .The English hqld thpir: own j tell a lie $nd stick tp it, is their motto;! and then they love opposition; It is ai crime to be poor. The goddess of wealth,! has more votaries 'tjhan. any church. Taj one a beggar is the greatest insult: Short? accounts make long friends, so. goes thsi , English prpverb, not like the Indian pro-i verb, friends' accounts: are settled in hearth Nobody tolerates being under money obligations to another if be can help it. Youi? money is the te ß t of your merit. Inlndiq-j poor men could live and even becbmpara-: tively comfortable; In England it is np6 j ao. ;It is the 'law, of the survival of thai fittest, and the fittest is he who cpinniandßi moßt money. There is a feverish competi-! tion everywhere, and to be a man of independent means is everybody's ambition. This lies at the foot of all that material progress Which one everywhere finds ia England; But unlike our* people^ whose four pcr1 cents, or massive' buildings or curious jewels'are often the only- evidence• of i their wealth* they know how to .iflake "'■ good use of their money;' Every • Englisman and English' woman workis, if npt to earn a;livelihood, to do good to'; others. The climate is fatal to an idle man. ■-. A_ Frenchman 'considers to show capacity is the end of speech in debate; an i Englishman considers the end of speech io debate isr to advance ■ They requireeverybody to- bel true to his engagements, and i.often missed many a one by being only a minute too late. For-a punctual man, ! a man of wbrk^ nothing ia too goodjl and there is not a public man * who is not a man;of work. *A-good speaker i is not always looked-.'upon as;tne best man. '•■■ in a:Ministry ; a,; Minister■■ who does nofc Work is soon?elbowed' out. ; Their 61adt-; stoiieß, Hartingtons, Churchills, Parsiells, Bradlaughs- are 5 working i. themselves' to dea^h in their, respective causes,. pther^jßisa tney would Be 'nowhere. -Reserve powers| nothing, by fits and starts^ is the rule.! Noljodj;^^hajteg aftid hflMljug; mpi?fi than' ]$&s, :'arid. the.best dressed'is he whose,), dressexcitesnonotice. *

Thq Rich, the Brahmins of the icngit«h. Englishmen talk of the baneful effects of caste in India as if they had none in England, though it may not bb in the sama Benee. A poor man 1b a Sudra/ and a rioti1 h man, a lord, a-peer^a Brahmin : but£hsir: English ySudra can, like Viswamitra of! Hindoo fmytholopy, be a Brahmin, not by! austerities like ■ the1' royal -sage, but by;'■•■■ austerities in the accumulation, of wealth."i '> An Englishmftri riev§r pardons his; superiors J ■ •for any! familiarity > towards him1,- nor doeft he pardon himself for any towardsithose;* below him. We in India have yeb to learnv the lessbri of stubbornness and resoluteness,1 and one'-tnight- willingly sacrifice half the • rhetoric of the country for a tenth of; thate«' spiJit ot'self-helji \vhich is so strongly ribticie-! ' able in England! -There they do all: that) they^. attempt. Perhaps -Vthis- system p£j mutual dependence is the great bane of ourf cV". society. .' Joint family' ia not their motto ;f as soon'as a man marries he hires separate! . lodgings arid keeps separate houße. ,ThS" Hindoo suffers, the Englishman struggles. .;