THE GENTLEMAN

Hokitika Guardian, 18 September 1930, Page 2

THE GENTLEMAN

The idea of a gentleman is the fine flower of our national character (writes Dean Inge in the “Times.”) Stripped of its adventitious connection with heraldry and, property in land, and with the class morality which brought it into disrepute when England was under an oligarchy, it is the finest ideal which a nation has ever set before itself. To it we owe most of the things in our history of which we may he reasonably/proud. To it we owe our incorruptible magistrates, our habitual fairness, our instinct to help the weak and to hurry to the post of danger, our respect for speaking the troth, our dislike for tortuous and underhand procedures. We do not always live up to our convictions, and of course many Englishmen do not even try to live up to them; but for all the world the English gentleman stands for a recognisable type. It is, beyond question, the national ideal. Is this ideal Christian ? That a great many English gentlemen are sincere Christians goes without saying, and it is often assumed by such men, in earnest talks with the young, for example, that the two‘ words are almost interchangeable. This is the staple moral teaching in our public, schools. Nor do I see anything amiss in this amalgamation of the two ideals. Democracy has purified the idea of gentlemanlike conduct by insisting that every human being has a right, and an equal right, to have his or her personality respected. This was always implicit in the chivalrous code, though in times of great social inequality it was forgotten. The “pride” of a gentleman is merely “noblesse oblige”; he would fall short of his own ideal if he did not show himself true and just in all his dealings. I can find no point at which the code of honour and chivalry comes into conflict with the standard of the Gospels or the ethics of the New Testament.