ENGLISH AND ARAB MANNERS.

Southland Times, Issue 1237, 15 April 1870, Page 3

ENGLISH AND ARAB MANNERS.

The (Ecumenical Council would do us a service if they would propound and answer the question, " Why is it that Christianity and civilisation have failed to give us the manners of gentlemen ?" On reading the account of the inauguration of the Suez Canal by the Times correspondent, it is impossible not to be struck with the superiority of the Arab over the Englishman in this respect. We read that the Arabs make way for a stranger with promptness and courtesy, never stare or affect the ill-bred ease; or indulge in the vulgar chaffing of far better dressed mobs in lands nearer home. On the other hand, we read of the ridiculous and unreasonable grumbling of the Christian guests of the Viceroy, and of a gentleman demanding an audience of his Highness for the purpose of complaining that he had been put to sleep in a double-bedded room. This is not as it should be. Good as the manners of the children of the desert are, ours should be as superior to theirs as our relative; position in the great society of nations. Our very, vestrymen should by rights be more graceful, more courteous, more composed than the most highly cultivated among these worshippers of the Prophet ; then why is it that England has so often to blush for the conduct of her children, who behave, not only at home but abroad, as though tact and good taste form 'no part of a Christian's outfit ? They are always standing upon what they conceive to be their rights, utterly forgetting that even if they, have any rights, selfdenial is one of the first duties of a civilised being, and by occasionally waiving their rights they will acquire far more influence and inspire more respect than by attempting to obtain them by a bluster which makes them either odious- or contemptible. Perhaps the secret lies in our eating and drinking bo much ; if we exercised a little selfdenial in our appetites we might bring that virtue to bear upon our general behaviour. If, in return for the missions the faithful send in such numbers to the infidel, the latter would send us a few missionaries to teach ua good manners, we should be under an obligation to them,, and then perhaps, might 'be tried the experiment of feeding a vestryman on milled maize and vegetables for a month, with water for his drink. Ifc is just possible he might thus be converted into a Lord Chesterfield.— Pall Mall Gazette.