WHERE ARE THE GREAT MEN?

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4457, 23 August 1922, Page 3

WHERE ARE THE GREAT MEN?

DEAN INGE ON LOST POWER)ENGLAND’S BEST DAYS. The Dean of St. Paul’s (Dr. -Inge), in the course of his Rede lecture on “The Victorian Age,’’ said ■ that he was inclined to agree with the histprian Lecky, as far as internal affairs *swent, that no country was ever better governed than England between 1832 and 1867. The House of Commons enjoyed that immense prestige which had been completely lost since the old ■ Queen's death. The debates were read with semi-religious fervour by every good citizen over his breakfast. The prosperity and security of the time were due to temporary causes wh’ch could never recur. Ip the 19tn century England was the most fortunately situated country, geographically, in the world. An Atlaptic stage of world-commerce began in which England was in the most favourable position. The Pacific stage, which was now beginning, must inevitably give the primacy to America. Henceforth we should have to compete with other nations on unprivileged condii tions. Tennyson was the grandest and . most fully representative figure in all Victorian literature. Let those who were disposed to follow the present evil fashion of disparaging the great; Victorians set up in a row good portraits of Tennyson, Charles Darwin, Gladstone, Manning, Newman, Martineau, Lord Lawrence, Burne Jones, and, if they liked, a dozen lesser luminaries, and ask themselves candidly whether men of this stature were any longer among us. Since the golden age of Greece no age could boast iso many magnificent types of the human countenance as the reign of Queen Victoria. Tennyson’s leonine head realised the ideal of a great poet. The longevity and unimparieu freshness of the great Victorians had no parallel in history, except in ancient Greece. Tennyson was now depreciated for mapy reasons. A generation which would not Luy a novel unless it contained some scabious story of adultery, and revelled in the “realism” of the man with a muckrake, naturally had no use for the “Idylls of the King,’’ .and called Arthur the blameless prig. It was not a happy time for religious thinkers, unless they made themselves quite independent of organised Christianity. Intolerance was- very bitter. Real , hatred was shown agaipst, the scientific leaders. It might be doubted, however, whether organised Christianity had ever been more influential in England. : Of the novel, the palmiest day was in the ’fifties. The main cause of the decay since, he believed, "was the pernicious habit ofj writing hastily for money. If they consulted Mr Madia's catalogue they would find that there were several writers, who names they had never heard, who had tp their discredit over a hundred works of fiction apiece. The great novelists had generally written rapidly, rather too rapidly; but such a cataract of ink as these heroes of the circulating 1 ibrary spilt was .absolutely inconsistent with even second-rate work. “I have no doubt,” was the Dean’s conclusion, “that the Elizabethan and the Victorian ages will appear tp the historians of the future as the twin peaks in which English civilisation culminated. The 20th century will doubtless be full of interest, and may even develop some elements of greatness. But as regards the fortunes of this country, the signs are that our work on a grand scale, with the whole world as our stage, is. probably nearing its end. Europe has sacrificed its last 50 years of primacy by an insane and suicidal struggle. America has emerged as the tertius gaudensWhere shall we be 30 years hence ?”