"WAKE UP, JOHN BULL.'

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 67, 9 March 1908, Page 4

"WAKE UP, JOHN BULL.'

••CRITICISMS UK A COCKSURE COLONIAL.'' Loudon, December 13. Mr. P. A. Vaile', new book, " Wake t'p, England!'' i- amusingly discussed by the Manchester Chronicle, which says—"Poor old .Nihil has liecri ciitchi-ig it again. Hi- uuiuly cnluni.il u will give bim n„ peace, and while professing tii love him with .Imiiiil devotion, they -rna-k hi- face and punch him in the ribs, and u-e him with grave di-.-respect. Poor old John!

•Here i- one A. P. Vaile, a wellknown athlete and traveller, and a .New Zealander, who calls his book ' Wake Up, England.' aud dissembles his filial love by kicking Mr. Hull downstairs. Mr. Vaile tells us again and again ho„ deeply he loves England, how profound i> his patriotism, and how acute his perception of John's merit-; but at the same time he sty- some very severe and disrespectful things alwut the poor old man. • Mr. Bull is in many ways getting perilously near his second childhood,' he says. 'Really he is a silly old person, he ejaculates on another page. Mr. Vaile looks at John with the eyes of a New Zealander who has travelled all round the world. John lias nev-r travelled; he snows no other country than his own; consequently he is a narrow, selfish, opinionated, stupid, effete old person. Not to have travelled seems in Mr. Vaile's opinion to pro-e one an idiot. Uur author coins a word for John. He does not like to say he is insolent, but he calls him 'insulam.' The word is intended to express ' tiie combination of the marvellously complacent assumption of the Englishman and his well-known insularity.' John Hull's " insurance' is Ihe theme of nia.ty pages. Our far-travelled visitor is struck by the absence ot a natioual spirit in the old land. 'ln its truest and beat sense patriotism is almost unknown in England'; and that is not to be wondered at, because ' the tendency of life in England to-day is towards selfishness, laiseness, and narrowness. Every man is living his unn file, battling his own battle, thinking his own narrow llioughU, distrusting every man he doc nut know, and many that he does, itis one idea, even if lie has that, is to get enough money to live on when he is old.' " What good tiling can be expected to proceed from a creature so effete aud pernicious? The depraved wretch • does not even love bis country as he ought' to. H« never wants to do anything lor her.' He is ignorant of her beauty, tier 1 grandeur, her resources, and even of her i history. Is it any wonder, then, that i England's best go away to her colonics!; ]ls it any wonder that brave, high-

spirited, strong men, sick of the maudiiu mismanagement of titled fools and amateur business men, shake the dust of

their home off their feet and sail away to join England's men in the England across the sea»! • "Not a bit, Mr. Vaile. I don't wonder. The only tiling that surprises me.

is that anyone should remain in this played-out Old Country, which is reduced in its hoary old age to be the chopping-block of pert colonials. For we are hopeless, arc we iu.i; 'The hopelessness of tin- Englishman is the saddest and most serious feature of national life/ and again, "the weakness ami hopelessness ot ili« Englishman today are too pitiful lor words, John Bull has no idea left save that he must keep on working or starve. ■ The whole tendency of English lite is toward contraction, repression, self-centring, narrowing; and until individuality, resource and originality are prized, it will continue to be so. The result is terrible in many ways, tienius is starved, while mediocrity riots.' A whole chapter is devoted to John Bull's ineptitude. The doddering old idiots does not strive for the best. He doesn't want to improve his position, lie has no ambitions worthy ot the name, he muddles everything, and is a shining example of- senile degeneracy before the whole world. In his educational system, his morals, his religion, he is a sham and a failure. "Poor old fellow, what is to become of him? This is a terrible climax after more than a thousand years of strain and stress. Is there no remedy? Oh, yes. 'The colonies have to support the footsteps of their dear old father.' England must be 'saved by her colonies.' 'The time is at hand when the colonies must awake to a sense of their great task, and must spare no effort to shnv England that she requires to be saved. 'There is much more to the same purpose in this astonishing book, and if plain-speaking be the remedy for our ills it is to our hand. Mr. Vaile is not afraid to be thought egotistical; in fact, he revels in the revelation of his own Ego, and complains that John Bull is afraid to examine his own emotions, is not interested in the emotions of anyone else, and deems ego and self-ccvela tion -bad form.' But this young son of John's is not to be restrained bv anv thought of filial respect. He sees the old man going wrong, and without a blush he tells him that the child is wiser than the father, that youth i 3 more sapient than age. "And old John raises lis shaggy grey eyebrows and contemplates liis cocksure oifspring partly with pride, partly with irntaton. He likes the youngster's sell-confidence, and recognises that he is a chip from the old block. He sees tint lietedity is making itself manifest, and he rejoices in the 'you-be-darnnedness' of the lad, which is an attribute transmitted in the blood. And straightening his back and squaring his shoulders, 1° looks the stalw-urt =on in the eyes and says: 'Yea, my lad, there is a great deal in what you say, and you mean very well, and I reckon you are just as f»nd 01 me as you say you are. But you don t know everything, and you haven't seen everything, and there are thin™ that even you can't teach me. I ...m not so quick on my feet as you arc, and my steps are less nimble tlau yours, but I stand firm, and when 1 make a step forward 1 am sure of the ground 1 am treading on. ily methods are not your methods, but when I make a contract I deliver the goods. I'll W glad of your support, and I'm proud to have you in the partnership, and working together we'll make the business a world's record concern. But quit giving me sauce, for mv temper's only so-so; and just try to get into your head that they don't know everything in New Zealand.' " I