NOTES 635 



Civis Britanuicus Sum. 



On the 7th December 192 1 Sir Rider Haggard, in giving away the prizes at 

 the Hastings Grammar School, made the following remarks with which all 

 boys nowadays ought to become acquainted. He said : 



"When they had grown up they would have to exercise a duty towards 

 their country. To his mind there had been a considerable loss of sense of that 

 duty during late years. In the old days citizenship was highly prized. ' Civis 

 Romanus Sum ' was the proudest boast a Roman could make, and they would 

 remember also that St. Paul spoke of himself as a citizen of no mean city ; but 

 recently there had been a tendency to deprecate the functions and status of 

 citizenship. He was sorry to say that there was springing up in their midst 

 a school of internationalists which decried all loyalty, and said that patriotism 

 was a curse. No true citizen would ever take that view. He asked them to 

 think what it meant to be a citizen of our Empire ; he had been round the 

 Empire several times, and knew what it meant to be a citizen of the British 

 Empire — that great community of nations which acknowledged one head, the 

 King. As such a citizen they had many rights and glorious privileges, but 

 they also had duties, and they must always bear in mind that each of them 

 was one of a body co-operating together. They did not live to them- 

 selves alone. What was the true object of all education ? It was not merely 

 book learning, but the drawing-out of character. That was the object of 

 education, and it was character above everything else which would make 

 them good citizens of the future. He maintained that the principle of 

 ' propaganda ' was evil in many ways, for it treated a nation as a flock of 

 silly sheep, to be led by pictures, startling headlines, etc. He urged them 

 not to be driven in life, but to drive themselves towards some definite aim. 

 If they were driven, no matter by whom, in the end it would mean trouble. 

 The result of the driving of a community was to be seen in Russia to-day. 

 They must form their own opinions, cultivate their convictions, and change 

 them only through the light of experience, not through prejudice. He urged 

 them to remember that sixty million *yous' made up the Empire. They 

 must not be slaves of newspapers or politicians, but think for themselves. 

 Thousands of voices would call them in all ways, but he urged them not 

 to trust any of them until they had found their worth. They wanted 

 sound, reflecting men and women in the dangerous days they had to face, 

 and they must always bear in mind that the future of England depended 

 upon them collectively, and so they must act as if it depended upon them 

 individually. The opportunities open to them were vast, and everything was 

 to be won by work and efiort. They must remember that the greatest privilege 

 which destiny could give them was to be born a citizen of the British Empire, 

 and to be able to say proudly, ' Civis Britannicus Sum.' The greatest prize any 

 of them could have, when at last their work was done, would be to be able to 

 say and know that their lives had justified that great description." 



From the Hastings Observer. 



Life-Saving. 



Mr. Murray has recently produced the second edition of Dr. Malcolm 

 Watson's book The Prevention of Malaria in the Federated Malay States. 

 A Record of Twenty Years' Progress. It is indeed a magnificent record. The 

 author estimates that something like a hundred thousand hves have been 

 saved in the Malay Peninsula by sanitary improvements, especially those 

 connected with anti-malaria work. Not only have the lives been saved, but 

 the land has been often greatly improved for agricultural purposes and the 

 prosperity of the numerous rubber estates has been greatly enhanced. 

 Seldom has a finer sanitary achievement been accomplished and, when we 

 remember the great difficulties attending the work in the Federated Malay 

 States, we must agree that the achievement is not second even to the achieve- 



