THE "MECHANICAL" ENGLISH.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 233, 2 October 1928, Page 6

THE "MECHANICAL" ENGLISH.

Your correspondent is like the Irishman who was about to hanged. Neither a long ropa nor a short rcpe would suit him. I quoted John Dull on hi-rself. But your correspondent savs the Englishman is no judge of his own temperament. To such reasoning there can be no reply. The s"o-an that the Englishman "masks h's emotion" has lone ago been relegated to the l : rrto of exploded fallacies. (I know that Flo'jans carry more weight with a certain class of p' • ->?e than the keenest of mathematical rca?o::"ns:.) This slogan absolutely disproves the very thing Irishman, Too' is attempting. to prove. An emotional nat'on cnvld ro i"ore r ask its emotion than a luna'"? co-j;d mark his insanity, or a drunkard ma--': his di'inkcr.nr-s. Emotion is part of the individual. In a r.rrion it shows itself in literature, art, hr.mc life, customs, food, habits 01 thought—in the verv atmosphere of the people. Whoever hr-evd of an emotional race trying to 'n ask"' its emu ion! I notice that the Engi:-h are verv fo: d of using slogans to prove a point. This ha!>lt. as Thomas Hardy says, proves that a- a race they speak without thinking. St re nre that Shaw should be so popular in EniJanl if he, as your correspondent says. has <I.>no notVnu hut throw mud at his adopted «->u~trv. Shaw, as Joseph McCabe points out. writes to irritate, to stimulate thourrht. In this re-:-err he bears a strong resemblance to Dlch -ns. (I ran see similar traits in the two wrlleis.) V.'hen I stated that the E:;2l : *s were a edinnical" race I used the word l»-st to describe their national character. I hnve evcrv respect for the English. I would never cir.au: of suggesting that because t-v are "mechanical'* they have no virtues, no 'more thru I would accuse the Scots of bem? a race of :..u»!c - ans because they played the bagpipes, or a of saints because of the pertect manner in which they keep the Sabbath. HERBERT MULVTFTLL*