The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-06-30


a revelation of the secret of British |
power and denomination over world
wide empire, and proved that the |
English. people have succeeded to the
spirit which made Rome the master of |
risen from barbarism.
This virtue of loyalty to their country
which all Englishmen gloried in ex-
hibiting last week, must characterize
always people capable of building up
and holding together a great empire.
Honoring their own country and be-
lieving in its superiority means that
they respect themselves and believe in
their own prowess; and that is half Of
LIES battle. Faint heart meier won
fair lady or anything else. The heart
must be.strong with confidence, aggress-
i've, determined, and country which
is to be masterful must be masterful in
its feeling, not doubtful, self-disparag-
ing. self-critical, or fearful of outside
opinions, and secretly worshipful of
some other country. II must have indie
pendence of will and an absolute belief
in its own destiny of greatness.
This quality of self-satisfaction the
English people have at home to a
marked, even to an exaggerated, ex-
tent, and they carry it with them wher-
ever they go. They are disliked for it
everywhere; England really has no sim
cere friend among all the powers of
the world, and the self-assertion of
Englishmen as body makes them dis
agreeable wherever they may go. But
they are respected; they accomplish re-
suits, brutally, bullyingly, or sancti-
moniously it may be, but they are i'm
portant results, and they compel all 9TH
ers to recognize the people who bring
them to pass as powerful race.
This ability of England as nation
to make itself felt as a dominating
power in the world is due to the 10y.
atty which leads her people to stand
together resolutely, ardently, on the
side of their own country, though all
the world be against it. They are not
ashamed to declare the faith that is in
them, under whatever circumstances /;
and it is absolute and unconquerable
faith in England, faith to which every
sentiment in an Englshman offers its
contribution, his love, his pride, his
deepest devotion, his very religion. He
carries it with him wherever he pushes
his way, and by its impulse the British
flag has been borne to every part of the
earth and flies in the remotest regions,
kept aloft by undoubting and unquench-
able devotion to the fame of England.
Hence when Queen Victoria, the
titular embodiment of English power
and greatness, celebrated the sixty
years of her nominal reign, all Eng
land, all Englishmen joined with one
accord in offering to her, and through
her to their country, the homage OF
their affectionate, passionate, and
boundless loyalty. The glory of that
day was not hers; it was England's;
and the steady and great development
of English rule in commerce, in letters
and in society during the long period
of her reign received its impetus from
the burning national sentiment of which
that occasion provided the jubilant ex-
preston.
Strangely enough, however, that one
great and unquestionable title of Eng
lishmen to the admiration of the worlC
escapes the recognition of the clique
which in this country makes itself con
spicuous by laudation and servile imi
tation of England and superficial Eng
lish characteristics. The sentiment t.
which it has special and peculiar
aversion, when manifested in America
is the sentiment, the emotion of ma
tional patriotism. An Americana un
reasoning, unquestioning love for hii
country and his pride in its power anc
growth provoke only ridicule from tina
source as vulgar passion aroused il
unbalanced natures exclusively. They
cannot tolerate in America the spiri
which gives to England its imperia
dominion and its glory.
We honor the English for their pat
riotism unreservedly. But shame upor
the Americans who in respect of thi!
same feeling toward their country are
not as good as Englishmen!-New Yorl
Sun.