ASININE AUSTRALIANS.

NZ Truth, Issue 123, 26 October 1907, Page 1

ASININE AUSTRALIANS.

Delusions of Demented Democracy.

■The Australian people with' regard ' to the affairs of other people are the most gullible m the world. proneness to be deceived by those who deliberately design to deceive them for personal purposes, political or plutocratiQal— -ihe twain of purposes often being capitalistic corollaries—is assisted by their ignorance or apathy. Few, indeed, are the citizens of this Commonwealth who know or care much or anything about foreign or British Imperial political or social questions worth knowing, and that every intelligent citizen ought to know. Consequently, tlio majority of Australians, «who know all about English sport and sportsmen, and are profoundly learn-r ed m the pedigrees and performances of English houses, are as profoundly ignorant on the subject of English policy and politicians., * .- * * These ignorant and apathetic Australians, wliat time they can spare from bellowing themselves "balmy" over the performances of a coffee-col-ored cricketer like "Ranji," of a coal-colored Christian cyclist like "Majah" Taylor, and the pusillanimous punching performances of a Peter Felix, pretend to cherish the ideal of a "white Australia," conveniently forgetting that they are an infinitesimal white minority of the total population of the biggest and most populous colored Empire of ancient or modern times. These asinine Australians, whose most cherished ideals seem to 'be fecundated m horsedung and fostered m clap-trap, though proudly presuming to proclaim themselves a nation, are neither' a nation nor an . independent self-gov-erning portion of the British Em- ' pire. Australia is but a congeries of coalesced colonies, which under a Tory cast-iron constitution are "de jure and de facto" an integral n .-poj> tion and dependency of the ,£ar'ti-col r ored or piebald British Empire, . * ' * .■', ' .■•.•"' Without the protection* of that Empire, Australia would be conquered and incorporated by Japan m quicker fcime than it took her to conquer Rus-. sia, and certainly m much .shorter; time than it took England t . with - all the aid of her loving and loyal ; colonies, to conquer the two grand and gallant little white Boer Christian Republics of the Transvaal: and Orange Free State' m South Africa. Yet toeing without an independent nationality or policy, and entirely dependent for its National defence; upon the colo/ed Empire, from which it would glaoly break away if it dared, Australia isihe most Chauvinistic portion of the British Empire, its Chauvinism being of that Cockney Jingo pothouse type that delights iv Bbeibaiting and "mafficking." :..- •. ' ' . : * .9. ■ ■• . \ Such is the insolence, of the- igiior-: since 'of a very large section, if not of an actual majority, of Australians, that they seem to have an idea that the great British Empiro ought to be run on local Australian •Native Association lines, to suit the comparatively puerile and parochial ambitions of some score or so' State politicians and social snobs m search of political place and plunder or Of a paltry pinch-beck K.C.M.G.-ship from Downing-streetv They appear to forget—or if they do not forget they im* pudently ignore the fact— that the •British Empire is the greatest, m the sense of being the richest, the .widest, and the most populous that the world has ever seen. This Empire comprises within its limits a, larger number and greater variety; of'raGes and religions of every con-: ceivable color, caste and creed than have ever before been subjected to the single sway of one nation. ■". •* • * In this polyglot, piebald Empire, ;the white race is m an infinitesimal minority, while the Christian religion, amidst the conflict of clashing creeds, sinks into insignificance, and has little lasting influence on the manners or morals of the myriad multicolored millions of the Emnire Few Australians know, or, if told" would believe, that there are more Mohammedans m India . alone tlrtn there are Christians m the.whd.le of the British Empire, and. that the Hindus and devotees of other Asiatic beliefs of the Empire outnumber the Christians— whether .white, black, brown or brindle— by more than a hundred to one. Outside little groups of old men and women and children U scattered tillages m India, jrfco

are known as "rice Christians," ,because they have become "converted" to procure a daily dole of rice to save themselves and their offspring from starving, there are not five thousand —probably not five hundred— genuine colored Christian converts among the many millions of King Edward's Asiatic subjects. • ' * • To make such matter-of-fact statements as 'these, or to assert that British rule m India, no more than it has been m Ireland, South Africa, and other parts of the Empire, is neither beneficent nor popular, is to bring oneself under the Chauvinistic censure of ignorant Australian Cockney Jingoes, and to be denounced as disloyal by antipodean ."mafficking" maniacs. The simple fact of the matter is that Australians are smitten silly with sport, which for the most part is a mere , pretext for gambling, when it is not a cloak for swindling. They are, moreover, so far removed from the centres of Eastern and Western civilisation and enterprise, especially m the spheres of policy and diplomacy, that they have neither the inclination nor the opportunity to inquire . or inform themselves concerning outside world affairs. This it is that makes Australians so gullible and so he/pless a prey to the plutish press, which m the interest of a putrid plutocracy has so long misinformed and misled a sport-smit-ten ami, democratically, speaking, demented democracy. * * * The people of Australia are being perpetually gulled by this pimp press. It matters not what the question or policy, who the person, or which the nation involved, or interested may be, the majority of Australians receive and read the "obiter dicta" of the daily newspapers as the ut-, tetarices' of divinely inspired oracles. The average Australian, absolutely addlepated with sport, regards ;the daily newspaper as his secular bible, to which he goes for information anil t inspiration on social . and» political I matters, upon which, for the most part, he is ignorant or indifferent. The belief of the Australian m the infallibility and rectitude of the plutocratic pimp press is firmer and .more general than; his belief m the divinity and inspiration of Holy Writ. In their own Home politics a large proportion of educated Australians, are heathens ; m foreign politics the majority of them are Hottentots. This is largely and primarily due to their ludicrously exaggerated I love of sport ; and secondarily, tp : their blind and servile submission !of their political and social .beliefs to the dictation of the predatory, plutocratic, pimp press; ;'■-•. . • ■ • • * ■■•.■•: This press, while daily plundering the people of their pennies, on the false pretence of publishing reliable news ' and givfrig reasonable views on questions of policy, poisons the minds ; of the people with distorted or absolutely false news. It . bulldozes them into outbreaks of ■ sectarian savagery or murderous "mafficking." To what lengths of criminal Chauvinism and Imperial insanity a lying and "loyal" capitalistic press can lash an otherwise ordinarily law-abiding and peace-loving . community V the political' history of Australia during the last twenty years tells with warning eloquence. That a paltry three millions or so of the white minority of King Edward's ■ many millions of multi-colored subjects, settled m" Australia, should without pommon-sense cause, or rational v reason, or color of right; or warrant of wrong, ljave become transformed into a community of cut-throats, ready at the call of the capitalistic "patriotic press" to raid into any country m any part of the world, and wage war against any people of any religion, shows what a damned twin sham Christian Civilization has become. All this Australians proudly boast of having done for the love and loyalty they profess towards the British Empire upon whom, they loaf for their National defence, and whose protection they recognise and reward by taxing her products and barring and banning her subjects. The story of Australia's participation m the wicked war against the Soudanese, whom Mr Gladstone declared to be rightly struggling to be free from the hateful tyranny of the Khedive, the aolifc.teal puppet of the

'Jew-Egyptian Bondholders ;; of Australia's eontingenteering campaign against the White Christian Boers, m the lnt£rtstf; ; ;- Of the^.Jbhs^hesfours JeW- of the Ria ( n<i ; and ■het'fa^rdiCal naval contingent to China, to assist the piratical' powers of Europe m the plundering of Pekin, brand her as "a farcical filibuster. All this Australia did m the asinine belief that she was a preponderating power m the comity of nations, ;and and that she can control the Imperial policy of Britain, not only as it affects herself, but also as it affects Britain m regard to her relations with her international allies m the two hemispheres. Such presumptions with regard'to foreign Powers become positively ludicrous m the light of the fact that Australia is unable to protect her own shores from • invasion without the aid of Britain. Yet j while thus claiming to shape and control the policy of the Power upon wMcirshe relies for her safety as a mere dependency, Australia claims the right to ban and bar from her shores the subjects of those Asiatic and European Powers with whom England lias friendly relations, or is m actual treaty alliance, as she is with Japan, the predominating Power m the Eastern Pacific. * * * Such presumption can only be based on -the most deplorable delusions, first 1 and foremost among which is the absurd 1 assumption that the British Imperial authorities, and the British people, are prepared to subordinate the whole policy of the Empire to suit the local aspirations, of a mere ha.ndful of King Edward's white subjects m this remote part . of the world. The concession of such a claim would be to permit the tail to wag the dog with a vengeance. It is, moreover, based on the equally absurd assumption that four millions of white subjects m Australia are to have greater weight in' shaping the policy of the Empire than fifty millions m the United Kingdom ; and that the denlands and interests of the infinitesimal minority are to outweigh those of the hundreds of millions of a majority of the colored citizens of the Empire. Such delusive assumptions, if persisted m, arid sought to be put into practice, can only lead to national disaster and disintegration. « * * * There can be no doubt about the manner m which the majority of Englishmen m England view the delusive demands of Australia. They refuse to recognise or entertain them Heriously. Their attitude towards Australian aspirations is exemplified by British Imperial policy m India, South Africa and by the-'treaty alliance with Japan. India <with its three hundred millions of , mixed colored races -is regarded by Britain as the brightest and most precious eerni m her Imperial diadem. And so it is, notwithstanding that British rule is detested- and British rulers are despised by the subject races. India to Englishmen is a Tom Tiddler's ground, where they pick up gold and | silver by simply shaking the pagoda j tree. British rule m that, Peninsula is a process of bleeding and sweating the impoverished famine-stricken millions, who groan under a most murderous system of taxation^ beside which those under which the Russian moujik and the Irish peasant suffer are mild and merciful. Nevertheless, it is certain that, although the whole; of India ■ is rushing towards revolt,, the. retention of that portion of the Empire m enforced subjection is of .supreme importance to Britain and would, if the choice had to be made, be preferred to the preservation of Australia as a voluntary dependency of the Empire. The manner m which Britain has recently waged . war m South Africa against white labor, and supplanted it with hordes of Chinese coolies, and her defensive and offensive alliance with Japan m contemptuous disregard of Australia's "White Australia" ideal, is proof plain, palpable and positive to all but blind Cockney Chauvinistic cranks that m the plans of British Imperial policy Australia occupies but a secondary place, and m the development of those plans is destined to play but a paltry part for many years to come., ..* * • Probably the most preposterous of all the patriotic presumptions with which Australian patriotism deludes itself is that it can secure and maintain its racial purity and territorial integrity either alone or m conjunction with Great Britain. Australia can do neither one nor the other. The maritime power of • Britain may for many years save her from Asiatic invasion and submersion under a. wave of colored immigration. But indications are not wanting that Britain's maritime suuremacy is neither to be eternal or long-lived. Nevier before has the right of , Britain to rule the waves been so sedulously and successfully contested as now. The time may not be far off when, m order to maintain her proud position as mistress of the seas, maritime alliances' will be as necessary to Britain as were military alliances during the Napoleonic wars just a hundred years ago. To no one nation has it ever been given, or will it ever be given, to be eternally; sun-r

rettie either on land or sea. France had her 'Napoleon?;- England had feer; Nelson, .i,!3>uch Rational heroes only come once m a cycle, and neither France nor England is likely again to produce such national champions for centuries to come. England's sudden and secret alliance with Japan was as much prompted by a desire, to avail herself of ' the newly-revealed maritime power of that Asiatic Power, as to. check the aggrandisement of Russia' m this hemisphere at the expense of China and Japan. This is a fact, of which Australians, trusting to England's boasted naval supremacy for protection against^ Asiatic invasion, would do well to take due note. The dispatch of an. American fleet of battleships to the Pacific Slope, coupled with President Roosevelt's latest utterance wi'tti regard to the arr-ogant, not to say aggressive, attitude of Japan towards the great American Republic, ought to put an end to the deplorable delusions under which so many Australians labor m regard to their national destiny and the ultimate fate of the .white race m the Southern Seas. If it behoves the mighty power of the United States of America to bestir itself and show a determination not •ito submit either to Asiatic invasion or Asiatic arrogance, what must be Australia's duty. : -.in suchf a dilemma ? Can she safely trust the integrity of her shores and the racial purity of her people to Britain, the friend and ally of Japan? Decidedly not. What then is the proper and patriotic course for Australians ,to pursue ? That course is as plain as the colored peril which menaces her from the near East. It is to advocate and support the union, on a defensive basis, of the whole white Englishspeaking peoples. This is the only sure, certain, and permanent palladium of the Anglo-Saxon race m all seas and on every shore. Australia will never be safe until, she finds herself securely sheltered under the aesis of such a union. JOHN NORTON.. Melbourne, October 7th, 1907,