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THE SENSE OF POWER IN BRITAIN

4 A LONDON IMPRESSION; BY A BERLIN WRITER Dr. Hans Vorst,, the neutral who is writing in tile "Berliner Tageblatt" a series of articles on his impressions of France and England, appears in the number to hand with an article on London. He begins by mentioning a Russian Government official whom he met in London and who had been in Paris on some mission. This man gave vent to a depressed state of feelings consequent 011 the news of the then recent Russian failures, but he finished up with: "At any rate, one feels quite at ease and heartened again after one has been a few days in London." Dr. \orst looked at him questioningly, and tho Russian went oil: "Yes, indeed; you can feel it here quite plainly and directly; England is a good Ally." This statement interested Dr. Vorst, and he confesses to having understood it thoroughly after a closer investigation. Indeed, he says that it was tile same with him as with Heinricb Heine, who had made up his mind beforehand not to be astonished at London's greatness, of which he had heard so much; however, he discovered that he resembled the schoolboy who had made up his mind not to feel the thrashing he was going to get. Dr. Vorst soon succumbed to the imposing senso of London's mightiness, "its silent demonstration of solid wealth, quiet strength, and established power." Dr. Vorst thinks he was able to detect a resolve on the part of Londoners to Jet the war bo as little noticeable as possible. Of course, there is the darkness of the city at night. But nowMre has the street traffic suffered so little as London. In Berlin and Paris all motor omnibuses have disappeared tiom the streets. It is true they disappeared from London at the beginning of the war, but they have been replaced a long time now'. Dr. Vorst goes on to notice a few of the slight dinerences between Paris and Loncton m this respect. _ All the Paris museums and galleries have been shut, but those of London are still lopen as usual, except that the more valuable things have been . removed out of reach of Zeppelin bombs. In Pans war prices have been instituted 111 the big hotels and theatres, but London has 110 intention of trying to attract the ordinary public in order to tide over the stoppage of visitors' traffic. The effect of the new prices 13 noticeable in the toilettes . of. tho actors and actresses in Paris, whilst in bonclon the various stages are just as resplendent as ever. People do not put on evening olothes for the theatre nowadays m Paris, but the London theatres are as strict as ever 011 this J point; and whereas Paris theatres are loud with patriotic turns and songs, and revues and varietes are dominated by uniforms, one can still find theatres m London where one is not overwhelmed with patriotic songs. In spits of all this, Dr. Vorst concludes (in a passage already quoted in a telegram from Holland to the "Manchester Guardian"), only a short stay in London is necessary for one to obtain that general impression rf conscious power which had made the Russian make his naive remark. "This impression grows tho more one talks with linglishmcn about their position with regard to the war. I shall have more Si ff about that, and shall content myself here with saying that the hysterical behaviour of certain English newspapers docs not seem to me to reflect the nation's feelings in any way. 011 the contrary, I have always noticed a totally calm and objective attitude towards the whole business, for extravagant excitement is not at all a part of the national character.

. "So from my own experience I am inclined to consider these last peacespeeches in tho House of Lords' as a sign of this conscious power. The English people still feels itself strong enough for anything, and is consequently not afraid to have such speeches exploited as signs of weakness, especially when they are an expression of what all nations without exception want at tho bottom of their hearts—peace."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160125.2.12

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2677, 25 January 1916, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
698

THE SENSE OF POWER IN BRITAIN Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2677, 25 January 1916, Page 3

THE SENSE OF POWER IN BRITAIN Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2677, 25 January 1916, Page 3

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