AMAZING PEOPLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 200, 23 August 1940, Page 5

AMAZING PEOPLE.

ALL BRITAIN CALM. 'THE ANGLO-SAXON IS TOUGH' (By VIRGINIA COWLES.) LONDON, July 10. The attack which is about to fall on London threatens to be more decisive for the future of mankind than any battle ever fought, but if you were here in London you would be astonished by the calmness with which the people are facing the ordeal. They have already accepted with a strange imperturbability the fact that their last ally, France, has . fallen, and that their small island is now the outpost of Western civilisation, standing alone against the whole armed might of the Continent. The collapse of France produced an extraordinary effect on the man in the street. He accepted the blow with a deep philosophical air. A soldier explained it to me by saying cheerfully, "Well, at least there is nobody left to let us down now. We know where we are, and, frankly, it is a comfort to be able to rely on our own people to see us through." The ordinary Englishman is well aware of the ordeal he is facing. Self-reliant and Light-hearted. The Englishman, however, has always had more confidence in his own people than in that strange race classified as "foreigners." Although most of countries of Europe have acquired not only hatred but fear of the Germans, the Anglo-Saxon is the only race which still regards the Germane, with contempt. Even now the English are not impressed. They still operate on the theory that one Englishman can successfully handle four Germans. This beliefi has been further promoted by the success with which the Royal Air Force has operated against great odds. Secondly, the English are still positive that their island cannot be invaded. From the point of view of morale, English insularity, based on the fact that there has not been a successful invasion here for near!; one thousand years, is now

serving them in good stead. The possi-j bility of Germans getting a footing here] appears so comical to the average inhabitant that the outsider might almost feel the people are being dangerously lighthearted about it. Nevertheless the idea of men dressed as bishops and curates dropping from the skies, carrying sub-machine guns, is still as good a joke to the English as it was when they were supported by all the power of- France. The only difference I can notice is that now it is a joke which they are taking seriously, just as they took the possibility of an invasion by Napoleon seriously more than one hundred years ago, after he had begun assembling pontoons which he never found the opportunity of using. Then. as now, old men began digging up their muskets, and they probably did it with much the same humour, mingled with determination, as they are doing it now. To-day the countryside is stripped of all its road signs; lanes are barricaded and at night farmers, their guns slung over their shoulders, prowl through the fields. Hunting for Parachutists. I had an amusing experience the other night when I was driving back to London. My oar was suddenly stopped on a country lane by three men who sprang out on the road waving a lantern. Thev asked for my registration card, and when I showed it they waved me on. I asked them what they were doing, and the leader grinned sheepishly and said, "Trying to catch a parachutist." They discussed the situation with a good deal of amusement, and one of them added that it was all such a strange idea, he wondered how the Germans had ever come to think of it. "I can explain that," said the third man. "They must have seen pictures of Chamberlain and hi* umbrella." ' Everybody seemed to think this a fine joke. The confidence of the people that Eng-i land cannot be defeated is not only; liased on their insularity; it also has' jits roots in the past. An Englishman can never forget he once had very fewj .and very small ships, and yet he beat! the Armada of Spain, and that Napoleon! with all his armies never even attempted! to cross the Channel. They have an unshakable faith in their navy, and no; gibe pleases the English more than the! fact that Hitler ie a landsman and knows nothing of the sea. 1

I It is for all these reasons that that i question of surrender, like the surrender of France, has never entered the English mind as even the remotest of possibilities. Everybody hah heard the maxim that the British never, know when they are beaten, but I never really believed it until I bad seen at fiist hand the calmness with which they have accepted the catastrophe of the last six weeks. Only a few weeks ago, when a friend and 1 were driving from Paris to Tours in the middle of a great wave of refugees fleeing before the German advance, I had a conversation with a group of English officers billeted in a small village. Their company was moving up to new lines of defence that night, but the officers said they had juet enough time to take us into the cookhouse and give us a cup of tea. "Better Dead than Under Hitler.Although Paris had been occupied by the Germans and there already were rumours of a complete French collapse, the English officers did not appear to be the slightest bit concerned. In spits of a world breaking up around them, they were as confident of ultimate victory as though their columns were taking part in an advance rather than a retreat. I shall never forget one of them, waving good-bye and calling out jovially, "See you in Cologne next Christmas." I have followed war all the way from Spain to Finland, and I have not many illusions as to the integrity of presentday Europe, but of one thing I am sure. England will never make peace until rlie is victorious or until she is completely defeated. Whatever happens, she will never compromise, for on the issue to-day hangs not only her own existence but the whole future of Western civilisation. The Anglo-Saxon is tough. Englishmen are proud of being Englishmen. They have been the most powerful race ;in Europe for more than 300 years, and they believe in themselves with passionate conviction. In the same way, as all through history, the famous English Guards' regiments have fought to the death, to-day 40,000,000 people of the British Isles are Guards regiments of civilisation. When an English shopkeeper says to you in a quiet voice, "It is better to be dead than to live under Hitler." do not mistake the English character. Hβ means it.—(NJLN.A.J