The Press Saturday, July 19, 1924. Some Aspeets of Patriotism.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18129, 19 July 1924, Page 12

The Press Saturday, July 19, 1924. Some Aspeets of Patriotism.

During the last few years the average man has been compelled to think more about patriotism than he ever did before. Old, easily accepted convictions and conventions have been questioned and shaken, and the very opinions of those who suffer from th-j "anti-patriotic bias," distasteful though they may be, have sometimes driven a dissentient to testing the foundations of his faith. Many of us, while still believing with profound conviction that patriotism is one of the fundamental decencies, and capable of being a pure and exalted passion, are disposed to take a broader view of the problem than we were before the catastrophe that subjected the patriotism of man to its severest test. There is therefore need for treatments of patriotism in its various phases that will be broad-minded and philosophical and in touch with the events of the past few years, and yet be informed with that passion and mysticism which keep the inner shrine of the true patriot's heart. Such a need'is supplied, in great part at any rate, by a volume.that has just been, published in that admirable series the Home.University Library: ' 'Patriotism "in Literature," by Mr John Drinkwater. It is an essay on patriotism illustrated by finely-chosen selections fro&a literature. The central difficulty about patribtisnv as Mr Drinkwater sees clearly enough, is that it.can never be entirely /controlled by reason. The argument of the internationalist, that since man's nationality is an accidentj he should not set great store by it, makes no appeal to most men. In his | courageous grapple with that difficult problem■».{my country right or wrong," Mr Drinkwater Bhows that high-minded men have subordinati I their convictuos about policy to What they considered to be the higher claims of their country.'. No example is more telling thai; that of Eobert E. -Lee.;* By univ Tsai consent the great; soldier of the Confederate > cause was a man of unblemished nobility. . His private opinion was against tho decision of his State on the two points at issue, slavery and secession, yet When Virginia decided to take up arms he served her cause, anjd to the bitter end. There was in Lee,, flays Mr Drinkwater, "the "mystical sense that life and ."ter are greater than points of view." Lee said in effect "I will serve Vir"ginia because I am a Virginian. "Whether Bhe is right or wrong is not "now the question. These issues ara "complex, beyond the sure solution of "my individual judgment. My opin"ion is of leßs value than the State's . Argument is; over and faith "begins." Yet Lincoln, Who.was not a;'better; man"than Lee, came to aft exactly opposite conclusion—-that the ■North was justified in forcing the South to remain in the Union. Noble minds, therefore, may differ as- to the causes their patriotism serveSj but the quality | of their patriotism is the same. Mr Drinkwater considers the cases of the conscientious Objector in particular and the dissenting minority in gen-i eral, In his calm and fair consideration of the attitude of those who refused to bear arms, he puts the matter .well when he says: "But.honour"able, and in many cases heroic, as f? their motives may have been, the "great body of instructed and humane "opinion was against them, and it was "against them because it had some ««conception of the. mystical idea that "governs the individual's relation to ''the State; an idea which, for all their " disinterested courage, escaped con"scientious , objectors altogether." And there were, he. thinks, many people in England who could have persuaded themselves to a similar course of action had it not been that "they we/e met "at last by that same mystical con"cept of the citizen's duty, and ''many thousands of livea were given "in a : cause of which militarism and "fire-eating journalism had not tha "faintest perception," for "to true "patriotism there is always behind or Mabove any folly of Ministers and offi"cers in authority the abiding virtue M o f the Motherland." Mr Drinkwater notes that with many this abiding virtue lies not so much in the State as v a whole as in some corner of it. We are tempted to linger over the fascination of his chapters .on the patriotism of place and the poetry written by exiles. The ideal patriotism, unites loyo of c the. actual place where o&e is born with love of the laws and traditions and achievements of the nation. To many, however, the call of the one email spot beloved over all is stronger than that of the abstractions and triumphs of the State. Our. literature is strewn with expressions of such devotion, and anyone who- has read much of the verse written by soldier poets in the Great War will remember some of the passages in which those exiles poured out their passionate longing for', the English countryside that they knew. Love . of birthplace and of homeland, it may be observed, is .different fromlove of 'Empire. Indeed, it is doubtful, ■ if tno, term love can properly be applied to a thing so Vast a« the(idea of Empire, an idea that ex-

eludes intimacy. Awe, reverence, and pride are rather the feelings that it excites. But, as Mr Drinkwater says, this love of one spot is the foundation for other patriotic virtues. "A man "cannot cherish any profound national "sentiment upon whose character there "is not some abiding influence'of place." ■ The patriotism that would deny* to other men the right to criticise, and criticise vehemently, the nation's actions at home and abroad, is an abuse of a noble sentiment. The "rebel" of to-day, the man pursued by the taunts of those whose patriotism is purely a mechanical process, may be the accepted patriot of to-morrow. Yet there is a stage where dissent becomes something like a habit, and love of country is turned to a kind of hatred. Criticism becomes malediction. The "rebel" may still be a patriot at heart, but many of those he addresses get an impression of bitterness. The case of Wilfred Scawen Blunt, cited by Mr Drinkwater, is in point. That this gifted and remarkablo man loved his native landscape is clear. In his relations with his country as a nation, however, he became obsessed by a sense of wrong, and in this atmosphere of bitter antagonism he lived to the end. The deeply-dyed prejudice that informs his contributions to the history of his time deprives them of most of their value. Finally, we may note Mr Drinkwater's well-erpressed agreement with those who hold that there can be no real internationalism without true nationalism as a basis. He believes it to be erroneous and dangerous to argue that an ardent national sense is an obstacle to the attainment of goodwill among mankind. For "the man who "most intelligently loves the corner "of the earth that is his.own, is on the "beßt way to becoming a useful citi"zen of the world," this love being "one of the foundations of character "from which proceed all other loves "whatever." No one doubts the sincerity of Mr Bamßay Mac Donald's desire for international goodwill, yet Mr MaeDonald, the leader of a party that claims to be more in earnest on this matter than any other party, has most clearly and emphatically proclaimed hiß belief in nationalism. Knowing the Scriptures well, he has probably thought of the application of the text, "For he "that loveth not his brother whom he "hath seen, how can he love God Whom he hath not seen?"