The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-14 00:00:00

E4eg,tour`otiby elsetber

SATIPIDA.Y, JA.NIJARY ',14, 1898.
41 (RASING TO BE ENG-LIST:I."

E other day, Mr. Bridge, the magistrate
Bow-street Police-Court, asked indig-
• atly—" Are we ceasing to be English ?"
e question arose from an ebullition of
•• :hteons feeling evoked by the evidence
• " a London detective, who deposed that
-• tile attempting ths arrest of an tin-
(abtedly desperate burglar, armed with a
I, • Lcled revolver; for some time no one in a
I:onged thoroughfare afforded him any
istance, though his life was at stake.
• ',re we ceasing to be English ?" hotly
culated the stipendiary, a gentleman
Llbeit unused to the melting mood.'' Mr.
;.•idge's question was widely reproduced in
rint, and called forth, not unnaturally,
•me comment, most of it on the side of
imanity and Mr. Bridge. Beyond, and
••rhaps above, all the newspaper remark
•.ncerning this incident, however, is the
• '-ort characteristicnote from john Ruskin
nceruing the incident, which appeared in
) columns of a London contemporary on
•Codnesday. Professor Ruskin does not
en speak on a great public question; be
• °nor° of a lover of art and literature than
neddler in the world's management; bat
• len he does lift his voice it is as with the
;- empet tongue. He is always earnest,
-rays original, and what he says the world
• uires and remembers; even if, being
•. rldly and not academic, it cannot, give
..ictical response thereto. The cultured
rid admires the beautiful mind which—
▪ Ruskin calls this indispensable adjunct
• modern days by very ugly names-
- iling the lovely landscapes of Britain
. ,•-,h its hard lines in the scenery and its
).115 of obscuring smoke; bat that same
I:Lured world is reminded on reflection,
Jr leaving the lecture-room in which it
; listened to the gifted art-room, that,
•b for that "hideous steam driven demon's
; iii" which be so scathingly denounces,
in Ruskin would never have been
nding to speak before them his words of
( Lignant thunders. The matter-of-fact
. }rids also L ears inconviently in mind when
..eads lofty Rnskinesque diatribes in Fors
tvigera against the grovellers who dig
ep in the earth's bowels and scatter ugly
-i..•kin„o- pit shaft machinery and great
k refuse heaps among the seqnestred
s of our isle that the stirring indictment
disfignrers of nature was penned
ore a comfortably blazing fire of coal
the professor's study. Neverless, our
-loving nature responds at all times
- :he conclusions of this master of the ideal;
1 one is ever glad to be able to go all the
y with him in his thinking upon any art or
ieral matter. Well, the question of Mr.
idge, "Are we ceasing to be English? " has
. Lsed the old annotator on sheepfolds, the
; ole-hearted enemy of shams and beauty-de-
• )yers. Says Mr. Ruskin. "We are not
sing to be English, because for the last
rty years, at the least, we have ceased to
• such. Swindling was not formerly the
. thod of English trade, nor advertising its
;cessity. Luxury was not anciently the
:•ory of English life, nor glory and filth its
• :avitable conditions. Once we imported
'Olll America neither meat nor manners;
::•)fla Fronee neither art nor religion. Our
itish Navy did not use to fight with
Tedoes under water, nor our British Army
bh rifles from behind a hedge. And—to
'op to the case before the magistr ste—
. ither Roman nor English peace consists
allowing our police to be shot by burglars
• forges(uless, perchance, the rev o \ 1 13
but primarily in forbidding the sale of
• :olvers to any private person whatsoever."
as sharply the author of" Sesame and
• iies " assails the decadencies of these
peerate days, and what philosophic mind
L say he is altogether unreasonable in his
la•ight ? Ours is a selfish matter-of-fact
•, in which everyone is fighting for his
hand, heedless of the needs of others ;
:.t that is why the " English " nobility is
ig ground out of our nature. We are
, c.ons and unsympathetic, passing by a
• •• in danger, because his trouble is no
• ..tness of ours; we are 'cute and smart,
tig advantage of our neighbour by reason
eir special knowledge, or betraying his
ideuce in ways which the world calls
(Jumble, but which honourable men
ild turn from with loathing had not de-
' :racy blunted their sense of simple truth
(. right. Mr. Bridge has justification for
question' " Are we ceasing to be
:I ish ?"—Mr. Ruskin for his cynical rep' y.
not what we used to consider English
••ave a man in the lurch ; it is distinctly
• Lt:ngiish to do any deed not straightfor-
s, .d aml open as the light of day. But
• , essor Ruskin's tremendous indictment
l; sufficient foundation in fact to carry
t it the lesson of an urgent need for a
•4 )ration of our decaying Anglicism. Let
•ouse, ere it may be said with tull truth
.1 we have ceased to be English. Let us
to give back to the national character
vanishing blunt manliness and nobility
- di made the name of England a glory
•r the whole world.

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