New-York tribune., 1901-01-13
MORALISTS' DAY.
ENGLISH RETROSPECTS AND PROPHE-
CIES WITHOUT PERSPECTIVE-IM-
PERIALISM AND MUNICIPAL
SOCIALISM FORCES IN
RESERVE.
RESERVE,

SOCIALISM FORCES IN
RESERVE.
London, January /.
The rnoralsts with their retrospects Of disa-
greeable year and overwrougkt century,
have been Unsuitable and relentless. Alack!
Why has Kipling written the three words. Lest
we forget" when there is a swarm OF dull chron-
iclers ready to bore the world with "reminiscences
of its own vicissitudes Of fortune! For a week
the croakers have been holding high inquest.
and in their processes of dissection they have
probed every organ Of human activity, every
phase Of intellectual life and every tract OF the
worlds progress. Art, literature drama, science,
religion, education, medicine, law, engineering.
politics, diplomacy, economics, trade. society,
fashion sports and everything else under the
have been under review topics well timed for
the transit from one century to another. The NOR
alists cling 10 their homilies country squres
cherish the best stories of their youth and they
will work them off again whenever they can
drag them in. without doubt all these learned
treatises have been filed away by their authors
with painstaking care for revision and repro
duction when the Victorian reign comes to an
end All these essays will need TO be read again
when Edward VII comes in. That is a rehec-
tion which ought to irnpart fervor to the
national refrain, God Save the Queen" With
moralizng as with medicine, public with slow
processes Of assimilation can be overdrugged.
Among the reviewers with their endless retro
spects there is here and there a Cassandra
looking forward with auguries Of evil OF a long
haired jeremiah with lamentations over the de-
generacy of the times and melancholy forecasts
Of the collapse OF the British Empire before an
other century can be rounded out One Of the
most mournful Of these dyspeptic sages has
view" and foretold wrath TO come for world
wide realm unless men OF English blood stop
playing cricket and football and watching horse
racing. and pull themselves together so as TO
bear with unfinching endurance the weight OF
the white mans burden" British degeneracy
was stock theme when the nineteenth century
opened, for there had been the loss Of the Amer
ican colonies at Yorktown. and England's naval
supremacy had barely been saved by the genius
Of Rodney in the West Indies and Napoleon
was triumphing over European coalitions for
which England was the banker. The shield Of
Achilles seemed too heavy for Englishmen TO
bear in the Homeric lines
Not twelve strong men the mighty shield could
Such men as live in these degenerate days.
The prophets were out Of touch with the
genius Of the coming age. The shield Of Achilles
has not fallen during century of empire. but
has been carried in triumph TO the ends Of the
earth. So also every good optimist believes IT
will be a hundred years hence, although the
blind seers are forecasting cycle Of decadence,
when the strain of English blood will be cor
rupted and the bow Of Ulysses will be unstrung
in the Empire Of the Degenerates.
1t is lack of perspective and of sense of pro-
portion that stamps the retrospects of reviewers
and the vaticinatons of the prophets in their
singing robes. What errors OF judgment would
have been avoided if the moralists and seers a
hundred years ago could have interpreted Alright
the significance of the American Revolution It
not only marked the creation Of q new national
ity of English blood destined share the
burdens and rewards of civilization. but there
had also been an object lesson to England in
statesmanlike government of colonies. The mis-
takes made by George III in America would
never be repeated anywhere. Colonies would be
armed with the powers of self-government, and
their loyalty to the mother State would be power
fully stimulated. II the prophets a century ago
could have caught a glimpse Of the scene en-
acted this day in the antipodes. where the Fed
Grated Australian Commonwealth has been ere
ated with an outburst of loyal rejoicing, what
compensations they would have found for the
memories of Yorktown and the pressing burdens
Of the wars Of Napoleon, That is to-day solid
landmark rising high and pointing in the direc-
uon Of reconstruction and civil progress IN south
Africa complex as are the difficulties of the
situation and fierce are the resentments OF
race feuds No prophet is needed TO forecast a
South African federaticf some time in the near
future for Canada and Australia contain the
promise Of it, and long way back the Ameri-
can Revolution implied the logic Of it. When it
comes and there is a federated union OF self
governing colonies. another generation will
marvel over the lack Of faith and the hghtness
o. mind which once inspired forebodings of evil
SO also IL is a lack Of perspective which
blinds the eyes of pessimsts TO the saving grace
English citizenship at home The Manchester
school, which centred its attention upon do
nestle legislation and diverted public interest
ifom foreign affairs. has run it's course; but not
Inul local government in England has been
eompetely reformed and the municipalities have
psen armed with resources for graphing with
~ The difficulties of urban progress. The town