Page 1 Advertisements Column 7

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 154, 26 May 1900, Page 1

British Courage.

It has been the fashion during recent years to affect to believe that the British people, owing to their somewhat rank prosperity, were growing effeminate. Certain writers used to declare that they were becoming sedentary, were afraid of bad weather, and were given over to luxury and money-getting. This was a view that naturally found acceptance in France. One effect of the war will be to dissipate this belief. Such an exhibition of courage as that of the heroic defenders of Mafeking, of Ladysmith, and of Kimberley goes far to show what hardships Britons will endure for the honour of theii* country. But it is really doubtful if the desire for luxury impairs fortitude at all. Kings have usually been brave, as well aa luxurious, and the patricians of Rome, nurtured in the lap of luxury, supplied most of the officers of the Empire. The Spectator is not alone in believing that the last of these laments have been beard, at least for many years to come. " All through this war," says that journal, " the luxurious classes, not only the aristocrats, who have the pride of pedigree to support them, but also the sons of the very rich have gone to the f i-ont with more than readiness, have faced the hardships of a campaign in 'the desert with cheery stoicism, and have when needful, paid their blood- tax as willingly as did ever knights of old." There are scores of men at the front who, if they had at home, might have passed lives of unkroken ease and enjoyment without reproach, and in an age of infinite intellectual pleasures, without much fear of the weariness of life which used to torment the Roman -great. The middle class, which ..fuinushes most of the British officers, has sent out its sons to die in such, heaps that they are blamed lor temerity ; while of the class fiom which the " Tommies" are drawn we have the pubicly-expressel rerdict of Sir Redvers Bullet " The men are splendid." These men, as they charge amidst the showering bullets, face what for a third of their number is the certainty of shattering wounds, or the long agony of torn extremities, or - years of existence with maimed limbs, impaired eyesight, or incurable ill-health. The spirit with which they face these ills is well illustrated in the story of the Lincolnshire lad who, during a pause in the rush up a kopje, handed round a bit of looking-glass and laughingly bade his comrades look on their own faces, and " say good-bye to themselves." Of a different nature, again, is the resolute determination of such men as the defenders of Mafekingto/endure death in the most terrible forms rather than allnw their flag to be dishonoured. To hold an open, town against a better - armed and numerically stronger force for seven months is surely no evidence of " growing effeminacy " among the nation to which the defenders, belong. , A -