The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-04
Enslnnd,s worship of tie Soldier.

/
EnSlansl's Worship of tie Soldier.
Mr.. Charles E. Russell has been arraigning
England as the arrogant and brutal row.
er that stands everywhere as the champion
and representative of reaction, retrogres-
| sion, and the past" AS a proof of this
he adduces the fact that London streets
are not pretty-destitute of feeling for
art-and that ninety per cent of the monu-
ments in Westminster Abbey are those of
! great soldiers-the men who kill, not the
men who create. He enquiries:
where the monuments to the thinkers, in
yentcrs. scientists artisis?
1t seems to the American reader that
he has heard of such a place as Poets
Corner, but perhaps Mr.. Russell did not
happen to go there. 1t also seems as Il
ninety per cent was rather large pro-
portion of soldiers monuments, but it
may not be exaggerated. However that
may be. why should England be scored
for it? Where is the civilized nation a,.y-
where which gives all her monuments TO
thinkers. inventors. scientists. and ar
fists? Where is our VaIhalla, with stat
ues of Emerson. Edison. Hawthorne Irv-
ing. Poe. Fulton, and Morse? As for ar
fists. we have none who could be named
with our great fighters or statesmen. All
! nations instinctively honor the great fight
er. There must be a resason for it.
There is an especially good reason COR
it in the case of England. There is every
reason why she should honor her soldiers.
They make her empire possible, and have
saved her from being a small outlying
island of about the Importance OF the
/ Scandinavian Peninsula. There is reason,
too. why we should honor Washington,
Putnam. Gates and Greene But for
them We should be colonies today-prob-
ably the original thirteen colonies. with
Spain and France in possession of the
great trans-Mississippi region. But En-
gland owes practically all she is to her
fighters and sailors ana explorers Why
should she not honor them? They made
the scientists. inventors, and artists
possible
Suppose England had remained the in
sular power she was in Piers Plowman's
time. does anybody imagine that Shakes
peare would have given to the world that
marvellous gallery of human portraits !
which We find in his plays? Would the (
imaginative spirit Of the English people /
have been so stirred and quckened. their /
field of fancy widened, as to have |
made the Golden Age what it was? Was |
it not the impulse of travel. of conquest, |
OF discovery, or struggle with the SpaEiard, |
which so developed the English nation as
TO make Shakespeare. Spenser, Bea JON |
son. Marlowe, and Sir Philip Sidney some
thing more than mere tribal singers?
And in the last hundred and fifty |
years. how would England have kept her
very national existence but for the mill |
tary power which secures her the colo
mics whereby her home-staying millions
are fed? Where would she get her mar
kets IL her prestige were not guarded by |
the naval force whoze record hollis |
Continental aggression in allegiance? Is !
there any observer of European affairs |
who doubts that the whole Continent.
with the possible exception of Germany,
would like to see England reduced to the
condition in which Greece is today? Eng
land is a fighting power from very neces-
sity; and it would. to say the least. be
somewhat ungrateful for her to ignore
the services of the men who make pos
sible the comfort, prosperity. and higher
development of her people. 1t is. of course
not to be denied that England herself could
be much more etYili-ed that she Is Without
anybody being hurt. Ii would be a good
thing If every English missionary could
be recalled from foreign lands and set to
evangelize the East End of London and the
slums of the seapor as-that is to say, sup
posing the missionary would be of any use
at that work But In all countries there
are depths of degradation. and the bare
ness and ugliness of London streets do not |
prove that London is any worse than any
other city. Paris is pretty, but certain
sections OF 1t are sinks of niquity. The
beauty of English life is in the country
villages. and where an earnest and con-
scientious landlord has used his power
wisely, some of the big country estates
are charming places to live on, and are
made pleasant for all classes of people
Altogether Mr.. Russell's Indictment seems
% be based on rather insufficient prem 2
ses.