LEADERS' THOUGHTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 19, 23 January 1913, Page 10

LEADERS' THOUGHTS

SPEECHES OF THE WEEK LONGEVITY AND NONSENSE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 14th December. Sir George Birdwoad, the celebrated scientist, who recently scandalised the British public by advocating the rescue of a valuable painting first fr»m a fire which threatened the painting and a child's life, writes t . "It is t indeed a • most disheartening sign-— this desire of people to live beyond threescore years and ten, unless its prolongation is desirable in the interests of others j and thank . God these abnormal ages of 80, 90, and 100 years are not to be achieved; they simply occur, as exceptions to a /rule, and have always occurred. "As for one man, on the induction of his own experience of a lortg life, prescribing for it to others— it is all .nonsense. My oldest and healthiest acquaintance, and one of the sanest and best of men, was a gentleman who drank a bottle.of . the best Cognac every day of his lifej and apparently was always the better for it. I attribute my senility—let others says senectitude^ — to a certain playful devilry of spirit, a ceaseless militancy, quite suffragettic, so that when I left the India Office on a bilked pension I swore by all the gods I would make up for it by living on ten years, instead of one, which was all an insurance" society told me I was worth. The devil in me has avenged me ; and now I am going, quite sportfully, to live on to 84, because that age, chaurasi, among Hindus, constitutes one of a 'beatus' for evermore — however big a blackguard you may have been. As for the prescription df' lying in bed until noon day, I would rather be some monstrous flat-fish at the bottom of the Atlantic than accept' human life on such terms. I must add that there is no such thing as overwork, even in 'the City.' But there is overeating there as wherever _ eke Britons most do congregate, and our evening banquets, 'East End', or 'West End,' are simply bestial orgies, like those of the Etruskans, which choked in them the artistic ' spirit that is ■ everywhere ' among men the soul of their religion, and poetry," and art. The sovereign ' prescription for health is to think of it as little ,as possible, until our excessive age makes us begin to think of it." TO ENGLAND'S YOUNG MEN. Lorct Roberts, in his "Message to the Nation" :■— "It is for my fellow-countrymen to judge between me and those who during these past few weeks have willingly or unwillingly misrepresented my , purpose or mis-stated my wordl. It is also for my countrymen to decide upon a far mightier issue ; for in this self -governed, free and democratic State of England it is for all its citizens to assert whether, ih this matter of war. and unpreparedness for war, they shall face the facts, resolute to see tilings as they are, or whether they shall continue indifferent to the history of the past and obstinately blind to • the warnings of the pre.sent even '-to such beacons as are now aflame on every hill from the Balkarfs to the Dardanelles. And I appeal above all to the young man of this natioh, to our young men of every rank and social status, to the young men of every trade and profession and calling of any kind ', for it is they who, in victory, or in disaster, will have to meet the consequences of this tremend'bus decision. It is they, in a word, who now are England. Young men, young men of British birth, is it possible that you can shirk the issue, that you can fail to hear, Or that, hearing, you can fail to' 1 Respond to your country's summons, to the; memories; of the past, to the hopes of the future?" THE T\yO NATIONS. Lord Milner, dirclass" divisions :— "Whatever thfr' form of it, I suppose that all citizens must- deplore that- there should be* two nations m one country. Hostility of nation - and nation is bad enough, but 4nmity between "sections of the same nation is much wbrse. I -am not one of those who think that what is known as. the solidarity of workers of all countries is going to promote international peace or the happiness of, mankind. I am a believer in my country, in its having a distinct antl~ priceless message to the world, a distinct place in the onward progress of humanity. My principal cause for detesting social cleavage is that it weakens my country. ."Less and less one is inclined to rely upon drastic political action and ..more and more to look to moral influences for the improvement of our social state. On the whole, it may be said that the working classes of England, at any rate, have shown themselves capable of turning to good advantage whatever they have gained. If I *m right in that belief, it is inevitable that the influences which have brought them thus far will take them still further on the same road. If the wage-earning class can recognise what thsy owe to the better spirits among the' powerful, the /wealthy, and the highly educated, if the majority, of the well-to-do can turn from their incessant carping at' the meaner aspects of the upward struggle of the working classes, then I think ai great deal will be achieved in | the way •of making us a more united people." HEREWAED THE WAKE. Sir Hereward Wake, the old baronet, who, during a speech -on the Budget in 1909, Collapsed with emotion :—-"If: — -"If you allow me, I will- remain seated .while I reoly, or I might collapse, as I did once before. I- would come a great deal oftener if I could afford to ran a motorcar, but I can't. ' .If you would like me to.double your rents I will start a motorcar, SjO-that I can. com© and see you oftener. Indeed, v it is very, likely that I shall have Urwalk soon, according to the way in which -Ministers of the" Crown (the guardians of property and rights) are attacking- property ;• and the measures they' are taking ' make me 1 rather anxious, to know whether I shall be able to. afford a pair of .boote .before long. They have betrayed . their trust, these Ministers of the "Crown, who should always ' protect everybody's - individual rights equally. I sympathise with ' Mr. Lloyd George and all gutter politicians. They can!t- 'stand .that anybody * shduld live in this country with more consideration than themselves. v They do^not like anybody's, skin to be whiter and 'blood bluer than their own, and -they want,to get rid of anybody who .answers that description. What is left of the feudal system is the, old 'affectionate regard felt by landlords, and tenants for 1 each other, because they belong to, one little class or clique. . . . i "Instead of .• bursting the feudal systetn.^Mr. Lloyd George and'-hia friends have revived it. The 1909 Budget has 1 done an' infinite amount' of harm sll oyel'-the- world. \ It^has "created all sorts of disputes and given rise to a sort of feeling in' Other countries and our ow,n colonies that dishonesty is the best policy. It means absolute ruili. They say the land ought to be equally distributed, and talk about bursting up the feudal system. Well, gentlemen, I am giving you more of a lecture than a speech. I thank you very much for to cordially drinking my .health. lam not rich enough to stand for Parliament and give Mr. Asquith and company a bit of my mind. Every night .whey I

go ko bed, and when I wake up in the morning I am in a terrible state of ansiety for the future of this country, because of the vray in which it is being governed.*'