A Tribute To England

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 68, 13 December 1939, Page 13

A Tribute To England

-Sir, —“It was a longing to know the country to which; Shakespeare belonged that drew me to England, and a longing to know the people to whom personal liberty is the most sacred possession—the people that stands in a body behind each of Its citizens, that will not tolerate interference with the freedom of its sons by any country in the world. The solidarity of the English people, the distinctive quality of their thought, their superiority, their conception of the gentleman, make them the guardians of civilization in Europe.” The above words, penned by a political prisoner in Germany, are not the work of one who surveyed humanity through rose-tinted glasses. Their author was a foreigner who suffered the tortures of the damned, thanks to the treachery and brutality of the S.H. men. I came across them in a recent publication, and to my mind they give the. lie completely to' those who doubt England’s sincerity and greatness. They are also food for thought among those who find democracy elusive of definition. Here indeed is a tribute to England and, I think, a remarkable pen picture of England’s traditions and institutions. —1 am, etc.,

DEMOCRAT. Shannon, December 9, 1939.