PATRIOTS STILL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue XIII, 28 March 1896, Page 344

PATRIOTS STILL.

Pessimists are not lacking to tell us that the Army and Navy have fallen in the estimation of the youth of Britain, and that the red coat and the blue jacket no longer fascinate them. This were sad if true ; for, in the last analysis, it would mean the decay of patriotism. But those dyspeptic patriots are not to be taken seriously. A Highland regiment may scour the Highland glens in search of men and secure only one or two, and the business of the recruiting sergeant may drag drearily most days of the year. That only means that patriotism slumbers. You may gaze at a drowsy lion through the bars of his cage ; rattle a stick across them, and he may not deign even to wink at you. Do not argue from that that his spirit is broken. He will show differently if you get on the inner side of the bars. Patriotism slumbers when swords remain sheathed for lack of argument, and slumbers because of its very earnestness Sentiment that is real and strong never displays itself in fussy activity. When ‘the blast of war blows in our ears,’ the glens will not be scoured for men in vain, and the recruiting sergeant sweats from exertion. No better proof of this—if proof were needed—could be furnished than the martial ardour that leapt into flame from Land’s End to John o’ Groat’s House a few weeks ago when the peace of Britain seemed threatened. True the blast of war on that occasion was not very terrible. A little flare by a black king ; a President’s message in grandiloquent prose ; a doctor's ride over the Transvaal border ; and a little telegram from a little king. Still, it led to the stiffening of British sinews. From the beginning of the war scare, recruiting for the army and navy went up enormously. In one month more men were enlisted at the Army Recruiting Depot in Glasgow, for which we have the figures, than for the three months previously. The greater number of recruits were Scotsmen, but it may be interesting if not pleasing to learn that not a few of them were Irishmen. The rush at the Naval Recruiting Depot was probably even greater. Every day considerable crowds of young fellows surrounded the doors of the depot. Its accommodation was often Severely taxed It was quite fil ed with youths eager to enter the Queen’s Navee—stalwart-looking chaps most of them were. In this display of patriotism Glasgow may be taken as typical of other places throughout the kingdom. In London the rush on the armv and navy recruiting stations was so great that the staffs were at times unable to cope with it, which is a sufficient answer to the pessimists of British patriotism.