'Is the Fall of England Near?’

New Zealand Mail, Issue 933, 17 January 1890, Page 9

'ls the Fall of England Near?’

A RUSSIAN VIEW. Colburn’s United Service Magazine. A Russian writer (N Kunitryin) asks himself the above question, ‘ls tbe fall of England near ?’ and it is in the belief that his reasonings may be found both interesting and instructive to our readers that I translate the following. The author begins by quoting a few lines, written over half a century ago, by the poet Khomiakov, and of which also I subjoin a translation : * Foi thee. Empress of the seas, A day will come and ’tis not remote : Thy purple, thy gold, thy splendour—- <-■ II will pass, will pass as a dream. The thunderbolt in thy hands will cool, Thy sword shall cease to glitter, , And the very thought of prosperity Will quit thy sons for ever.’ ‘England, by her politics in the late Russo-Turkish war, roused the deep antipathy of the whole Russian nation. From all parts of Russia, from her centre as from her farthest limits, one only heard of English selfishness, of the insatiable thirst for new possessions, and of the cunning and perfidy peculiar to the sons of Albion. It is hardly necessary to say that these aecusations were not merely the fruit of a biassed and excited patriotic sentiment. Many peoples have had to experience the hollowness of English friendship, and the great injustice of English pretentions and claims. The Afghans, the Zulus, and the Indian Rajahs stand as the most convincing proofs in this respect. Yet there is one thing which may appear strange to many ; it would be thought that a system of politics devoid of moral foundation would bring the country to a state of weakness aDd ruin. We see, however, that tbe interior and exterior power of England increases steadily, and that her influence does not diminish in the least. She is just as she was fifty years ago, when our defunct bard, Khomiakov, foretold a speedy end to this “ threatening monarch of the seas,” for her cra'tiness, her pride, and her striving after, worldly fame, She is still, to quote once more the poet’s words : ‘ “covered with bright gold, Happy and rich, Sumptuous and strong.’ * Evidently there is some hidden, unseen force which keeps up the power of England and places her at the head of the civilised world. Can it be, indeed, that mere blind chance gives into her hands riches, dominion, and all earthly blessings ? Can it be a Biraple caprice of fate which guarantees her colossal power? In such cases one is apt to forget that the question of politics is far from being an exhaustive one, and that the oharaoter of the people must also be taken into account. To form a judgment on England, founded on her politics alone, would be a great mistake. This is only the outer part of English existence, the scenery so to say ; a part, however, on which most writers on that country unfortunately dwell too much. This scenery is not pretty, is occasionally even somewhat repulsive, but behind it lies a highly developed and sound system of social and public life. An Englishman comprises in himself two individuals, one radically opposed to the other ; selfish and full of contempt in regard to other nations, he, in his interior life, is absolutely generous, disinterested, honourable and just. In these last qualities lies the secred of England’s power. It is not politics, it is not parliamentarism, or even the much talked of English liberty, which serves as its source.

Liberty is a two edged weapon ; it may be S used for good or evil. To form a farllament, intelligent, experienced, and honourable men are required. Jn Walpole’s time, eveu in England, Parliament was but an arena for intrigue and bribery, Institutions, however good they may be, do not in themselves cause a people’s prosperity ; all depends upon the skill and tact shown in their use. It is her social ideals and character which make England’s real power. Every people whose existence is in any way remarkable follows in life its ideal; and the place which a people holds in history ii defined by the viability of that ideal. Rome trusted to the strength of her iron legions, in the strength of the spear and the s ord, Greece in the strength of Art and her creative genim. England puts her trust in her own moral qualities. She trusts in them with a full, true and perfect faith, which nothing can cause to waver. That is why at Trafalgar the famous Nelson could say to his men. ‘ England expects every man to do his duty.’ Is not this short and apparently dry order astonishing from a commander of such genius at this, for him. fatal moment ? Before him lies tbe numerous fleet of an enemy renowned for his victories, but Nelson takes no measures to stimulate the courage of his men, nor does he appeal to their self-love, nor even to their recollections of a former glorious career; he appeals to their one sentiment of duty. One must know a people well indeed, and be very sure of one’s men to address them in such a manner. This conclusion is no phraseology, Many writers, with a thorough-knowledge of their subject, have portrayed the character of-the English natiou in similar colours. Look, for example, how an English writer (Robertson), well known for his impartiality, characterises English manners. ' ‘ Yes ; goodness, duty, sacrifice—these are the qualities that England honours. Sne gapes and wonders every now and then, like an awkward peasant, at some other things, but nothing stirs her grand old heart down to its central depths universally tnd long except the right. She puts on her shawl very badly, and is awkward enough in a concert-room, "scarcely knowing a Swedish nightingale from a jackdaw ; but—blessings long and large upon her !—she knows how to teach her sons to .-ink like men amongst sharks and billows, without parade, without display, as if duty were the most natural thing in the world, and she never mistakes long an actor for a hero or a hero for an actor. Men like Arnold and Wordsworth she recognises at last—men like Wellington, more visibly right, at once, and With unalterable fidelity. ’ (Life and Letters of F. W. Robertson, by Stopford Brooke, vol. ii., p. 157.) * Lest, however, the author of the above words should be suspected of partiality we will turn to a French writer—a man over ready to put into the front rank the sympathetic qualities of his own country. “ A certain cold heroism,’ says the learned Lanael, who has long and conscientiously studied English institutions and manners, “ an innate and restless energy, a suppressed strength, a vistue disdainful of appearances, and retaining something austere about it these are some of the leading features in which England recognises herself with complacency.” This grand and universal ideal shows itself in the English in reference to their country in a deep patriotic feeling. But British patriotism is no sounding phrase—it is quiet, steady, and grave. It does not lead to noisy and empty “ Chauvinism,” with neither aim nor means ; it evinces itself in a sincere and definite desire for the good of the country and in a mode of action corresponding < to that desire. The true Euglishman thinks less of himself than of the whole nation, and forgets his own rights as a citizen whenciroumstancas require the performance of his duty as a subject. He finds a greatness in his own significance, and he is ready for his countiy’s sake to make himself a very graiu oE sand. His pride consists in the happiness and prosperity of his native land, his* highest wish is the respect of his compatriots. This latter is for him a very summum bonum. Travellers make their w-»y through Central Africa, through the ice and snow of the North, suffer hunger and thirst, undergo countless dangers and trials, and yet think themselves amply rewarded if they are deemed worthy of an honourable mention from the Royal Geographical Society, or of a touch of the hand from their Sovereign. They are proud in the consciousness that they have done something for the eomthon weal, and that this was recognised by public opinion. * England is not quite free from weak points also. The Englishman, full of civil virtues and good qualities, as we have said above, is quite another man in his dealings with other nations. The words of Cobbett, as to the contempt of Englishmen for all other peoples, may serve, to a certain degree, as characteristic of English views on this subject. “The belief in his own superiority and grand predestination is firmly rooted in the breast of every Briton. That is why he so often regards his allies as mere instruments for the attaining of a certain aim, and despises his friends as much as his enemies ; that i 3 why he sometimes imposes on his vanquished foe conditions of such awful severity.” Laugel explains this discordance, among the other good qualities of the English race, by the remains of Norman influence. “England,” says he, “ has never gone iu for sentimental policy ; she has fought for her interests and not for ideas. Her selfishness, now daring, now patient, without distraction, without weakness, without remorse, has supplied the place of virtue.” This Norman influence is to be seen chiefly in the politics of the nation; it is perceptible neither in the manners, the literature, nor the character of the people. Politics—this is England’s sore point ; it is a blot on the whole country, and instead of a oiviliser, as the nation turns out to be, often turns it into a spoiler and oppressor. In the long run this system of politics will have a baneful result, for it corrupts, in no small degree, the popular sentiment. Greece, despising all other nations as barbarous, herself became the slave of barbarians. Iron Rome, with its powe- I'v.-ated by plunder and the sword, also iefi umhr the fire and sword of savage . Venice, founding her power on the unstable basis of commercial untruth and perfidy, paid soon and

dearly for her blindness. The once mighty SpaiD, extending her possessions over the New World, probably also thought that there would be no end to her colossal dominion. But she f..rgot that dishonesty was the foundation of her politics, that under her influence the young peoples of this New World were being demoralized ; and the colossus reeled over, rotten at its very roots. The philosophy of history teaches us that the law of retribution and eternal truth n ign in the world, in spite of temporary violations of it. Nemesis never closes her eyes She observes the actions and watches the fate of nation *>, “every guilty action is avenged in th’s world,” according to the expression of the immortal Goethe.’