Untitled

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16268, 19 July 1918, Page 6

Sir "Walter Raleigh, the eminent Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, in a paper read beroro the Royal Colonial Institute on "Some Gains of the War," said that whac mignt already be called a certain gain, ■ and the clearest gain of all, was that after the war, the English language would have such a position as it never, had before. ,It would be established in world-wide security. Even beiore the war it might truly bo said our language was in no danger from tho competition of tho German language. I Ho added:— ! The Germans have never had much | success in the attempt to get tlieir language adopted by other peoples. J .Not all the military laws of Prussia ; can drive out French from the heaitsi and homes ot tho people of Alsace, j In the ports of the Near and Far! East you will hear English spoken—j pidgin English as it is called; that' is to say, a selection of English words suited for the business of daily life. Bub you may roam the world over and you will hear no pidgin German. . . . Armed ruffians can do some tilings, but one thing they can- j not do : they cannot laden their lan-! guage to those who have suffered ; from their violence. The Germans, poisoned the wells in South-West! Africa; in Europe they did all thev j could to poison tho wells of mutual; trust and mutual understanding among civilised men. Do they think : that these things will make a good advertisement for the explosive guttural sounds and the huddled depressed syntax of the speech in whi-sh they express their arrogance and their hate? Which of the chief European languages 'will come first after the war with the little nations? Will Serbia be content to speak German? Will Norway and Denmark feel a new affection for the speech of the men who have degraded the old humanity of the seas? Neighbourhood, kinship, and the necessities of commerce may retain for the German language a certain measure of custom in Sweden and Switzerland and in Holland. But for the most i part Germans will have to be content to be addressed in their onn tongue only by those who fear them, or by those who hopo to cheat them." 6 Incidentally, Sir William Raleigh mentioned" that he asked a good German scholar what was the German word for "fair play.*' He replied, as they do in Parliament, that he must ask for notice of that question. "I fear," said Sir Walter, "there is no German word for fair pJay."

The Oxford professor paid a great tribute to American literature and American orators. "There is no more beautiful English prose," he said, "than Nathaniel Hawthorne's. The, best speech of Abraham Lincoln, and, we may truly add, of President Wilson, are merely classic English." He regarded the entry of America into the war as assuring the kinship of our common language. Professor Raleigh did not hesitate to say that he noticed tlio special usages of the two peoples drawing closer together. "On inforriuil occasions," he added, "I sometimes brighten my own speech with phrases which I think I owe to one of the bedt American authors, Mr George Ade, of Chicago, the author of 'Fables in Slang.' "

Tie English language, Sir Walter Raleigh contends, is "incomparably richer, more fluid, and more vital than the German language. He showed that, beginning with the old Tou tonic stocky we subsequently added thousands of .Romanic words, aoid later we imported thousands of Greek and Latin words direct from the ancient world, consequently w© can say most things in three ways according as we draw m one or another of the three main sources of our speech

'l'iius you caii ufegin or Commence or iuiiiiiio oil uxiuertaking witn .boldness, or Courage, or itesolution. It you aie a Vv oiKmuti, or Jjauouier, or Operative you can Ask or Atequest, or Solicit your employer to iieid or Grant or Concede an increase in tno learnings or Wages or Remuneration wJiich tall to tlie lot of your Fellow or Companion or Associate. Your employer is perhaps Old or Veteran or Superannuated, which may Hinder or Delay or Retard th G success of your application. But if you Foretell or Prophesy or Predict that the war will have an End or Close or Termination, that shall not only bo Spoedy or Rapid or Accelerated, but also Great or Grand or Magnificent, you may perhaps Stir or Movo or Actuate him to have Ruth or Pity or Compassion on your Mate, or Colleague or Collaborator."

The Right Hon. H. H. Asquith, who was in the chair, did not fail to profit by this philological lesson. At the end of tho address he rose and said, in reference to the lecturer: "You will bo anxious to tender to him—h© has reminded us of the large resources of our language—our Thanks or Gratitude or Obligation for tho lecture he has been good enough to deliver." It is to be hoped that the right honourable gentleman will not carry the new fashion into tho House of Commons, thus investing Parliamentary oratory with a fresh terror.