WHY IS ENGLAND UNPOPULAR?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10037, 25 January 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHY IS ENGLAND UNPOPULAR?

BY COLON US. Thai England is disliked among tho nations seems to be admitted by general consent, and it is a position thab cannob fail to give a feeling of uneasiness in the present conjuncture of affairs.

Wo see it in the spiteful references of the press from time to time in nearly every country of Europe, and ib appears to be the testimony of every foreign correspondent of English newspapers, reflecting as ho is supposed to do, the sentiments of the people among whom he is located.

The Briton is not personally hated. Individuals occasionally giving utterance to their insular prejudices, and showing themselves intolerant of the usages of the people among whom they mix in other countries, may excite dislike; bub taken all in all there is friendliness everywhere towards English visitors and residents.

Bub whenever ib is the action or the policy ot the nation that is in question, there are distrust, misrepresentation, and dislike.

Perfidy, greed, and treachery appear to be the characteristics with which, as a nation, the British race is croditod, and the charges which have become traditional are all the more provoking from the consciousness we have that thoy aro nob doserved. Faithless to treaty obligations England has not been, rounding on frionds cannot bo specifically charged, and though it may bo admitted that England has been given to territorial extension, her acquisitions during tho last half century at least have nob been at the expense of any of her European neighbours, and have only been of the " waste places of tho earth" required for tho overflow of her redundant population.

And if we come down to the more recent extensions of territory, we find that some of her neighbours, as France and Germany, and even Italy in Africa, and Russia in Asia, have not been a whib more selfdenying. Yet every move that England makes is promptly regarded as aggressive, and she is spoken of as being continually on the lookout for something on which she can placo hor thievish hands.

A good deal of the latter charge is of course a reflection of the incidents of former days; for no doubt Eugland, by her strong hand and by the right of war, has swept in a vast amount) of territory that once owned other lordship. That this rankles in the minds of some foreign States, is reasonable to conclude, but it) does not warrant the insinuation that she is watching still to take tho " blind sido"ofher neighbours with whoir she is not at war.

In the case of some of the nations of Europe we seo specific grounds for ill will. Egypt is at tho bottom of tho gcomingly undying hatred of the French people to England, which we know to bo intensified by the fact that France has herself alone to blame for nob being at this hour in joint possession of the Nile. Chagrin at the oversight or timidity which prompted them to withdraw their ships from Alexandria, when England essayed to repress the trouble in Egypt gives bitterness to the feelings with which the French people regard England, and it is the consciousness that they outwitted themselves to England's gain that givos the vim to the charges against perfidious Albion. Russia, of course, has always soen in England the unflinching harrier that has stopped her way to Constantinople, and as the chief Power in closing the Seagate to her great possessions on the Black Sea, and as the only Power that rears itself in tho path of Russia's advance to universal dominion in Asia, England naturally comes in for the hatred of Russia.

With such causes as these two Powers have, wo are not to wonder at their dislike of England ; and when deep-sonted hatred is the animating sentiment, nations, like individuals, are not restained by any fino lines of discrimination in charging their objects of dislike with any or all tho crimes in the calendar.

Germany's dislike of England is one of those irrational things that seem somewhat) difficult to account for. We have beon hereditary frionds of Gormany, and her benefactor even, in relieving her from time to time of a swarm of impecunious princelings, for whom England has provided a matrimonial happy hunting ground, that ought to have softened the asperity of the Teuton heart.

Wo have not crossed the path of German) in any way, and even in the sphere of distant colonial extension, where our paths ran parallel, she experienced nothing but an amicable and conciliatory disposition 011 the part of England in the delimitation of their respective spheres. Vet the tone of German papers, expressing as we may suppose, tho prevalent sentiment of tho people, has been from time to time characterised by a bitterness of feeling towards England that would seem to indicate a deep-seated sense that England had either done, or was contemplating, some great injury to Germany. In this particular case, from tho absolute absence of any conflict of national interests or sentiment, we are shut up to the conclusion that the unconcealed dislike in Germany towards England only comes of the base elements of trade rivalry, and of envy of England's commercial expansion and influence throughout the world.

In Austria, which has been the traditional friend of England, any sentiments of dislike of England—and they have been manifested occasionally— only come of the sympathy ered of her identical interests with Germany as the leading member of the Triple Alliance. Of Italy, the other member of tho Alliance, this cannot be said, nor do we find that England has any cause of complaint regarding the estimate in which sho is held by either the people or the Government of Italy. On the contrary, of all the nations of Europe, Italy seems the only one 011 whose sympathy and goodwill towards England we can look with unmingled satisfaction.

With reference to the minor Powers of Europo ib does nob appear that it can be truthfully said that there is any general dislike of England among their populations. On the contrary, with the exception of any remnant of feeling which may lintrer in Portugal from the sharp passages between her and England over Eastern Africa a fow years ago, and the late, and only temporary ebullitioh of feeling in Holland over the Boers, the general feeling of tho minor European States appears to be one of respect for England's sense of justice and fair dealing, as well as her love of liberty and readiness to espouse the causo of the oppressed.

In Sweden and Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Greeco, we have no reason to think that there is any existence of that unpopularity of England, of which we hoar so much. Their ambitions do not prompt them to view with disfavour the growth of England's greatness, and if the truth were told, there is not the least doubt that that greatness is the principal cause of the unpopularity in the larger States with which England is confronted. It is not that that greatness stands in the way of tho commercial interosta, or the gonoral well-boing of any other people, for wherever England'* flag is planted there the citizen of avory civilised nationality in the world is placed on an equal footing with the British subject. The free trade policy of England ought to disarm tho hostility of nations if anything could, for it throws tho ports of British territory open to the ships of tho world, and even in the colonies of England whore protection tariffs are imposed, German, French, and Russian goods are admitted on identical tortus with those

of Englaud. ' In the face of such frank and generous recognition of equality it seems ungracious, to say tho least, that there should bo jealousy of England's greatness; yet that this is the principal cause of the unpopularity of England is boyond a peradvonture. The crimson dots and lines on the map of the world that mark the outlines of British territory all over the world, impinge on the borders of the territory of nearly every Power, and the colossal strength of England's navy seems to say to each : Hitherto ahull) thou came, bub so farther.' \

The sense of restraint is always irksome to ambitious people, and however proud a nation may be of its possessions in foreign parts, there cannot be but a consciousness that it holds its own on British sufferance. Whatever its developments of setblemenb and progress, ib feols that, let a breeze bub arise between ib and England and possession and all its appurtenances may bo swept away, and so long as that consciousness remains, there must be a sense of humiliation that easily converts itsdlf into dislike. The hauteur with which England holds herself aloof from alliances is another item of provocation to the nations. Thab self-imposed isolation mayseem a weakness, and would be a weakness in cortain contingencies, but holding as it does the balance of powor, ib carries a moral strength that is more potential than fleets and armies.

Against it nations may chafe and fume, and not unnaturally feel dislike of the Power that exercises an influence which they can neither control nor resist. But whatever unpleasantness of feeling may be excited in our minds by tho thought of England's unpopularity, it is something to know that notwithstanding there is not a Power in Europe that would not mako heavy sacrifices, and fuel unfeigned delight if it could only secure the friendship and alliance of the Power that is so much disliked.