LETTER FROM LONDON.

NZ Truth, Issue 90, 9 March 1907, Page 7

LETTER FROM LONDON.

The Cockney's Cold, Callous Contempt for

the Commonwealth.

The Day of the Little Englander— Horatio's Howl— Spawn of Gaol-Birds— God Help Australia— Disgusted Emigrants— " Truth " m London— A National Spirit— "Sinn Fein."

LONDON, Dec. 28, '06. I search the daily papers day after day for Australian . news, but I find only the small paragraphs— poisonous little items telling of the advance of Socialism, of the dangers to which Capital is exposed, of the ignorance and conceit of the Labor Party and their supporters— nothing more. The big island is Unknown td these tightskinned, pompous Little Englanders, we are out of their world far away on. the shores of space and the ordinary Poglander wouldn't care a tinker's ,cuss if the bottom dropped out' of the Commonwealth, and we fell into Gehenna or any other dumping ground beneath. "We, sir, look upon the Australians as foreigners," said a pompous Englishman speaking to me yesterday, and memory 'iconhired up a picture of last' Hempire Ddy with ' 'Hindoodendougii" Henley, Bruce , Smiff ami. their fool companions standing m the raili bragging' loudly of the crimson threads binding the deah old Motherland -to Australia. Bah! /There are no crimson threads. They exist onlyin : the minds of lickspittle loyalists who, strain their optics watchins the, dbitigs of a people who are not aware of their existence. , Australia is a flyspeck on the far horizon, and compared with India m the minds of these islanders shows Up like Mount Rennie alongside Kos--ciusko. Yet pUtirid politicians go round, the country like dancing der-, vishes and choke the patriotism out of the people by asking them to'forget Australia— forget their own coun--try and adore the Motherland. By the bones of Captain Cook it is time: Australasia looked to herself. If she; was m a death-grip with the Brown Man , to-morrow the yells of ten million Bruce Smiths would not stir sympathy m the, minds of these selfish, cold people. They never . ..look through the. fog, the Channel bounds; their Empire, and they don't give a damn for the Commonwealth. They know nothing of Henley, . Cainon Boyce, Tom Jessep/ Dill Macky, Bruce Smith, and others who try to make Australians mean, crawling •bipeds ; hybrid Britishers taking more interest m the doings of a small, cock-nosed princeling than iin the moulding of their own laws. . I have ; been told— not byi- one editor; but by a score-T-to leave. Australia alone. "The British public do not want to hear about the place," is %heir usual remark, and they knowtheir readers. London is the hub, Enclahd circles the hub, and outside that they only know of Ihdi& because oriental pomp: aijd splendor savors of the Crawling, smoodging tactics of their- own people. They, are flabby prigs • wrapped up m their own conceit, and they think, as a writer recently asserted, "that -the colonies without .Great Britain would be ■..reduced -to chaos and insignificance." When will our people understand ? When will they rise >up and vigorously "boot the loyal mob who would emasculate the nation, crush out the strong traits of character, and make-ui worshippers of a fog-smeared spot m the North Sea. . I clip the following par 'from an article published m a small, squeak^ ly sheet edited by Horatio Bottomley, M.P., a shifty old sinner whose reputation requires a freezing chamber to allow it tff trayel round with safety to the community. Speaking of the Commonwealth a squid writer pens the following :— ; "CONVICT'S CHILDREN. , "Who. pray, are these "brethren beyond the seas" ? What claim have they to our veneration? In most cases they or their forbears left' this country far this country's good. Softie colonies were entirely populated, with the ' offscourings of gaols, With trahips, vagabonds, prostitutes, and other wretches so incorrigible that our forefathers declined to tolerate their- presence any ; longer. If we attach any ' importance to the doctrines of \ heredity, we may not expect the 1 ' descendants *of the wdrst evil-doers to be remarkable for the loftiest virtues or the most admirable . •qualities of - mankind." Anyone who has visited Sydney can testify to the fact that more. horrid hooligans are to be found there than anywhere > m. London, or even m Paris. The old convict strain remains and influences 'the life and thought of Australia. It is really too soon for the 'apawn of gaol-birds to make supposititious 'offers, ' to dictate, brag, hector; and bluster." * Think again 'of Bruce Smith and Henley' in the mud with the little Wet flags, handing out sodden buns and telling silly yarns of Britain's, 1 filibusters. We have nothing m common, with this people, they have ' not our Ways, our spirit, 6t our independence. They note the advance of Democracy, they hear the voice of a free people, and' they ate afraid. In a land where the respect for: the gentry is great and wonderful the stories of the, Jack is as good as , his master creed of the Australian stir suspicion m the minds of all classes ; for your British workman looks up to the King as he t does to God. In a short article in 'the "Daily Mail," December 24, 1906, written by a Salvarmy commandant, a pensioner speaking of himself remarks, VI am a soldier serving two kings— King Edward and King Jesus," and no one is amused at dear old Tummy's name being put before our Savior's. How can these people be manacled to us unless it is to out disadvantage ? We m the "Sunny South" are climbing up the heights, looking back each day on the position we occupied on the evening before, but here they plod along m the old rut—dull, stupid, bovine, unthinking clods who gatker m thousands to see a small, badly-constructed dukeling, and s,tare at Buckingham Palace as if the brown grimy building was the front gate of Paradise. They know we are different— they see that Ausjtralians have nothing m c<?mmen I with them, and tke "Little Bug- 1

landers'' increase. I wish my countrymen also knew. Our ancestors were choked and crushed by the conditions, prevailing m the old world— it was their independent spirit that prompted them t 0 1 trek, and it is that spirit intensified by the free conditions .under which Australians live that loyal bounders would bend, and snap so that we .might always, be. a Kod-forgotteh brood, helpless and dependent, with one eye on the bloody crease of the spawn of Nippon and the other peering out across the foam to see if the bold warriors of King Edward were coming to our aid. I picture Australia m that position standing .like a, coddled school-boy who has looked to s6meone else to fight his battles, and who finds when 'Hie moment pomes that he is left unpro-; tected! -.. ..- . . -, . •. . Bull is a, rotten reed to lean upon. He smells the trouble that will assuredly come m India when the native papers preach open sedition, and he is uneasy, and when that time does come may the Lard help the Commonwealth. John will be kept busy, m his own corner, and our yells will be unanswered. We are growing up without spiriit, because bur talk is of "home," our newspapers fill their columns with .cable ' news and ignore matters of local importance, we worship an idol that has a very remote idea' of our existence, and we think we will become a nation ! We want a "scrap" at our front door to teach us.self-re-liance, to purge us of this Motherland sickness, and to teach us that the great big fair island is Home, and to us is the duty and honor of protecting it.' The crafty, little Brown Man has measured up the love these cold people have for us ; he sees the contempt of the Little Englander, and he rubs his hands m triumph. There is now a violent reaction' against the little flame of Imperialistic sentiment Tanned by Chamberlain. The Britisher dislikes to think that the colonies helped him When m a corner, and 'it is now England,; England all the time, and may it continue so. We want it — we deserve it— the whip of scorn might make .us stand up to the collar, make us home lovers; proud of our country, proud of our • people, and ready to fight the -. invader without invoking o utside help. | There is on the part of the press a systematic attempt made to blacken Australia m the eyes of the stay, at homes. The yelp of a dissatisfied emigrant is printed with soave headlines, the ignorance of Tommy Bent comes home "holt" and after the twisted speech ,of a democrat has been published one hears the bonds cracking. Joe Chamberlain is out of politics for ever, the "Daily. Chronicle" states that he has lost his memory, and no other politician steps forward to glorify himself by becoming a b.ond-tightener between Englishmen and their "brethren over sea, ' ' and the Englishmen seem pleased, and Australians should feel doubly pleased. We have all to- lose, Britain, although not requiring our help, gains by our loyal protestations. Get up, Australians and shout j for your own fla;g, for your own , country, for your own people. ■ I find here amongst the newspaper editors that the best known Australian papers are the small section that whoops for Australia, and continually urges the Australian to nail his own colors to the mast. The lickspittle rags with their leading articles chock full of stupid nonsense | about the Motherland are not read, or if they are, they make no im- j pression'on the editors, but the, virility of the republican papers attract attention. MTruth" is 1 better known than the "Herald," and John Norton's name is familiar to dozens, who never heard of Sir Fathead Fairfax, m Fleet-street and out of it. Of course, John's name is not reverenced, he is looked upon with the cold eye of suspicion, but it is something to be known. Furthermore, the muck m the loyal papers is never quoted,, but an occasional meaty paragraph is cufled from the others, and printed to show the readers that the people down under have no respect for Britain or her intentions. We require a strong national movement m Australia— a movement similar to the Sinn Fein m Ireland, which seeks to cold shoulder England, and build up and cultivate a pride m home, a pride, m race. The Irish find that they_ cannot become English so by the Sinn Fein (which translated means "For Ourselves Alone"), they are trying to get back to what they were before the hybridising process started. Happily for us our spinal .columns have not been much affected by the claptrap of bounders of the Bruce Smith type, but we must be careful, and <■ the. sooner we learn that we are Australians with a distinct and strong individuality the better.- Ireland, late m the day, turns m her tracks to seek the national pride and national traits she lost through imitating the people of England, and she finds it a hard job, so we must beware ; but whether we bestir ourselves, or whether the prick of a Japanese bayoHet makes us fully realise our position, Bull's indifference is colossal. Nineteen out of every twenty men one converses with are ignorant of our country ; they mix up the cities and States m a way that makes one feel inclined to strangle them, and their ignorance.is only equalled by their contempt for the person who corrects their blunders. It is only Australia, a. speck ,on the far rim . where nuggets, frozen mutton and rabbits are found m great quantities, and it is not worth while scratching on the walL of a brain cell the fact that Sydney is the capital of New South Wales, or any other scrap of information concerning the Commonwealth. 1 They don't want to know and it will fee as hard to stir- these peeple when the Brown Man treks as it would be to shift Pinchfiut with a. bilious bean seed.

They ignore us, they take no interest m our doings, and Australia should ignore Britain, and we, finding at last that Home is bounded by the oceans that wash our shores, may be ready, when the time comes, to hold our own without appealing to the deah old motherland, whose solicitude and sympathy for the Commonwealth is known only to the Hem-i pire Leaguers and their friends.