IDEALS OF THE ENGLISHMAN

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23003, 24 April 1940, Page 8

IDEALS OF THE ENGLISHMAN

Great Traditions of Nation ARCHBISHOP AVISRILL’S ADDRESS If the nation eould'in this hour of trial live up to the greatest and finest traditions of the Englishman, it would emerge greater than ever before, said Archbishop Averin in an address to the Christchurch Rotary Club last evening on the occasion of the club’s annual Father and Son Day. His Grace spoke on St. George, the patron saint of England, whose day it was yesterday, to- an audience of about 200 in Heath’s tea-room. 4 Not a great deal was known of Bt. George, said .Archbishop Averill, but It was known that he was well-born, and that he served as a tribune and centurion in the Roman army. While he was at Lydda, the edict of Diocletian, which was .aimed at the extermination of the Christians, was published, apd it was recorded that Bt. George tore the edict down. He was martyred on April 23, in the year 308. It was not clear how St. George became the patron saint of England, but It wag probably during the first crusade, when the Normans, under a son of William the Conqueror, adopted St, George as their patron and won a resounding victory over the Saracens. St, George was formally adopted as the patron saint of England In the reign of Edward the Third. “St. George was known for his devotion to God, his bravery, Courage and chivalry, and for his devotion to duty,’* said His Grace. “These are among the ideals of the typical Englishman, These ideals may be .summed up In the well-known test, 'Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honour the King.’ Those principles are woven Into the national character of the English and the individual character of the typical Englishman, and Englishman is a very wide term.’’ The Englishman was a product of many races, but from his Gallicised Scandinavian ancestors, the Normahs, he had probably acquired his outstanding characteristics. From them he acquired his sea sense, and his genius for colonisation, his ability as a builder and as a lawmaker, and his Insistence on the voluntary principle in all manner of institutions. “As a nation we grumble, but we are not inclined to worry overmuch,” said Archbishop Averill. “The mere difficult the times become, the more cheerful we arc. We appear to be indifferent to things round us but we soon shed that when things become really difficult. We are net a military nation, but we are a nation of great fighters. We have a peculiar sense, of humour but no wit. We have the gift of being able to laugh at ourselves. We have kindliness and Sympathy for the underdog. We have ft love of home. We are strong individualists, yet we can combine for service. We have a profound respect for law and for freedom and ordered liberty.” ,' Those, said his Grace, Were the traditions of the typical Englishman, and If the n&tloh now held to those ideals, it would emerge' from its present difficulties stronger than ever, on England the world depended for a sane lead in these troubled times, “As we approach another Ahaae Day, we are justified in experiencing a certain amount bf pride and thankfulness that we have Inherited. something of those great and noble traditions,” Archbishop Averill concluded. “We must serve so that hose traditions are handed down untarnished.”