ENGLAND'S FADED GLORY

Evening Star, Issue 19352, 11 September 1926, Page 3

ENGLAND'S FADED GLORY

THE ”GLOOMY DEAR’S" VIEWS CHRONIC CIVIL WAR A TOTTERING POWERPress Association —By Telegraph —Copyright. LONDON, September 9. Dean Inge doubly justifies the title of “the gloomy dean” in-a book which is being published, to-morrow entitled ‘ England.’ . , , An extract reads; ‘British naval supremacy is ended, and with it the instrument by which we have built up and maintained the Empire. We are no longer rich enough to build ships against possible rivals. Tho Americans, by insisting on tho repayment of tlm debt which wo incurred on behalf of Franco and to'which we rashly put our names, have secured that wo shall remain permanently tributary to them and incapable of challenging them on tho water. Our position as a world Power is permanently altered for the worse. It may well be that tho historian of the future will record the end of the nineteenth century or the death of Queen Victoria as the culminating point of England as a world Power. Since then the Colossus has tottered. We are governed by Scots, Welsh, Irish, and Jews. The whole position has changed radically for the worse. The day of the amateur with haphazard methods is over. This Is not a good thing for England.” Dean Inge thinks that tho loyalty of the dominions, though it was shown splendidly in war time, is less wholehearted than could bo wished. The future of Canada is problematical and the danger of her Americanisation is ever present. The future of India is lying on the knees of tho gods. A Socialist Government would bo a signal lor dangerous disturbances in India. Uncertainty about the future is doing incalculable harm to the British (lag. Ho says: “ Tho whole machinery of the Empire is in chaos. It bolds together because there is an abundance of good-will, not because tho gossamer threads joining the parts could bear tho slightest strain. There is no disguising the fact that England is in a state of chronic civil war. The forces of law and order are on the defensive. It is too early to predict that the virtual independence of the dominions will be permanently compatible with membership of tho Empire. The strongest tic in the absence of coercion must be self-interest. This motive is strongest in Australia and New Zealand, where the protection of tho fleet is necessary in the face of probable Oriental ambitions. It is the almost universal belie! of Australians that the unrestricted settlement of Chinese and Japanese would bring insupportable conditions to a race with higher standards. Tho policy of a White Australia can only Iks maintained while it is possible to exclude Asiatics by force. It is unlikely that Australia will wish to cut tho painter when the probable result would bo an unsuccessful war with Japan and China. Should tho British (loot be unable to protect Australia and New Zealand, probably they will endeavor to come into closer relations with the United States. The real danger is tho dog-in-the-manger policy of dominion Labor towards migration and the unfitness of tho degenerate population at home and their reluctance tq emigrate.”