CONTENTIONS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21258, 1 September 1934, Page 12

CONTENTIONS

XLII.—THAT RUDYARD KIPLING IS NOT A JINGO (SI'KCIALLI WRITTiN t'OR THB PJIESS.) [By CHARLES I. CADDICK.)

Since pen was first put to paper or parchment there have been at limes a few writers whom we shall style "anti-humbugs." We can name at random Rabelais, Shakespeare, Voltaire, and in our own time Anatole France, Mark Twain, and that master-craftsman, Iludyard Kipling, Bernard Shaw began well, but failed to maintain a rigid standard, himself indulging in a popular cant, anti-British or anti-English. in fact lie set up his own image of John Bull and still whacks it with Quilp-like pleasure. The great anti-humbugs have their imitators. A few of these are clever; most are merely '.shrewd or crafty—popular writers. They set up their little chemist shops or large drug emporiums, and sell, the people their patent medicines, the "isms," the ■"ists,'' and the "isations"; and profits accrue. Why not? The people can be fooled all the time, so long as the humbug potion is sweet to the taste. In youth, at least, it is a rare thing not to be caught in and swept along by Hie reform rapids. It is our greatest, weakness to believe m a perfect future, if we talk enough and write volumes about it. Barely does a young mind see the cold and brutal facts of life. Simpletons and Humbugs But such a mind had Rudyard Kipling. He was a seer in youth, and had the added ability to put his vision into words. One must, carefully and without haste, read his verse and prose. There we shall find exposed all the little humbugs and cants of "the babblers, dreamers, and visionaries." These little people who are going to part the world carefully into perfect sections among all colours, races, 'and, above all things, creeds, do not like to be handed a fool's cap. One little: tale, "RemgeJder and the German Flag," will suffice to illustrate. A German naturalist is searching in South America for a deadly poisonous snake, coloured or striped like the German flag. He believes it to be harmless, and carries with him a book by one Yates, to prove it. He handles the reptile carelessly, is bitten, and dies. Although Yates was a "great authority,'' he had, as Reingelder real-] ises too late, "lied in print." You may swallow Marx or some other theory, and, as foolish people do, blindly endeavour to put it to the proof On the Continent you will ■probably die a sudden and violent death, 'in the British colonies, and in old England, especially in old England, such a one is tolerated and kindly protected from violence. Yet these" little people would willingly dismember the Empire, or the whole universe, if they could, as a sacrifice to their own small fetish. You must not hint to them that the Inexorable laws of life were born and definitely shaped centuries ago; that. life being what it is, you cannot alter it; that then own destinies were shaped long ago. The little people are of two kinds, humbugs and simpletons. The simpletons arc the; greater bother. Discarding thp Tvn Commandments, they will form the world anew. They mean well. but the real world may go hang while they plod steadily towards a mirage. In that masterpiece "Kim," Kipling pictures such a one in the person nf Old Lama. A simple. kindly, lovable old man, the Luma wanders over India, seeking "a rivr of healing,'' Unconsciously and blindly, lie lives an isolated and selfish life, and depends upon others for sustenance and protection. He meets an old Sikh soldier, of whom he asks: "What profit to kill men?" The answer is: "Very little, as I know, but if evil men were not now and then slain, it would be a verv I poor world for weaponless dreamers." A just and proper answer

We know the policeman on the corner is fighting our battles; but we do not admit it, and affect to dfspise him. A Just Anger It is one of Kipling's sins that h<» has shown these people that tlvy are very small grains in Ihe sands of time; that it is not they who do the world's work. That work is done by men who are generally obscure, who do not have time to talk or write, and who often die of overwork, not of too much babbling. But that is not Kipling's greatest sin. Over many lifetimes British > soldiers, sailors, and civilians have blindly, bravely, and with great patience swept the Seven Seas, found new countries, opened them up and made them safe and comfortable for all races and creeds. Over many centuries, England herself has been [ a haven of refuge for the oppressed lof Europe. There can be no denial; [ and the present wild days are prov- | ing it. Many of these people have been grateful, and have become sound and useful citizens. Some have not been so content, but have not been permitted to make a Bedlam of the Mother Country, as their kind has done to some extent in America. In a just and righteous anger, Kipling has pointed out the blind folly and ingratitude of such. Above all.he has drawn with great skill— and a little gall—pictures of little people of our own blood, who raised their own childish image of John Bull "to plaster anew -with dirt." "The Man I Fight" His greatest offence was committed during the Boer War and possibly just afterwards. He had the courage to suggest that the Boers were not oppressed or ill-treated; that they, on the other hand, a bit-ter-tempered and jealous people, were at least very unfair to British colonists; that the ambition of Kruger and the jealousy and mischiefmaking of other nations were serious contributing factors. He showed, too, with great clearness, the murderous selfishness of English-speak-ing people who joined the Boers for the sake of gain. He stung them in verse and tale, and in a nutshell gave fair and just appreciation of the enemy proper. In "Piet" for instance — I do not love my Country's iocs Nor call 'em angels; still, What is the use of 'atin' those 'Oom you are paid to kill? So barrin' all that foreign lot Which only joined for spite, Myself, I'd just as soon as not Respect the man I fight. Again in "General Joubert"— With those that bred, with those that loosed the strife He had no part whose hands were clear of gain; But, subtle, strong, and stubborn, gave his life To a lost cause, and know the gift was vain. See "Stalky" So the little people raged furiously, and at various times called him names—Jingo, flagwagger. That he loathed flag-flapping is shown in that fine anti-humbug story,* "Stalky and Co." Briefly, Kipling made his points in the old-fashioned way of tales in prose and rhyme. In them you find the good and the bad, the simple and the cheat. It is the supreme art of the story-teller. Even now his vision is proven. The Empire held, and still holds, a strong measure of justice for all peoples. Elsewhere this is not always so. To-day we see people openly ill-treating each other in the grossest fashion. Kipling is not primarily preacher or teacher, or reformer. You will find one small request running through his work; and that is, "If you use the Union Jack as a covering in bad weather, and yet will not acknowledge its protective power, at least do not deliberately befoul it."