[falconer] conflict OF EDUCATIONAL IDEAS 235 



read, Robinson Crusoe, Westward Ho! Tom Brown's Schooldays — 

 and in the household novels of Scott, Thackeray and Dickens. 



Pervading this history and literature is the passion for freedom, 

 "We must be free or die w^ho speak the tongue 

 That Shakespeare spoke ; the faith and morals hold 

 Which Milton held." 



Free in religion, free in government; it is the same story con- 

 tinued to the present democracy which is resolved that the liberty 

 it enjoys shall be made possible for small nations. And the obligation 

 of the freeman is to perform his duty and respect the rights of others. 

 The ideals of freedom and duty which Britain has professed have not 

 been as a rule narrowly national. Her line is gone out through all 

 the earth. No estimate of her character would be sufficient unless it 

 take account of the fact that "her home is on the deep." It is to 

 the sailor that the heart of England turns, daring, resourceful, eager 

 to ride the gale, his eye keen for change, but careless and open-hearted 

 withal. Accustomed to new experiences he is impatient of the tram- 

 mels of convention and loves freedom. Many a cruel deed has been 

 done upon the sea but far more that were brave and generous; the 

 story of the city slum is worse than that of the forecastle. Britain's 

 sailors have carried freedom over the seven seas. That they should 

 turn pirates is unthinkable; they have roamed the ocean too long 

 for that and have learned its spirit too well. 



Nor would Britain be what she is had she not been compelled 

 by circumstances, which it must be confessed one sometimes wishes 

 could have been different, to perform the arduous task of governing 

 millions of subject peoples. That commercial advantage has accrued 

 to her and that her great trading companies often exhibited more 

 self-interest than benevolence should not tarnish the record of duty 

 performed by thousands of her best men, who have spent themselves 

 without stint and for no great personal gain, simply to maintain good 

 order and render justice to those committed to their charge. India, 

 Egypt, Africa, the Crown colonies have received the best that Britain 

 had to give from her schools and universities, and the traditions 

 cherished in many English homes of far-off service have left their 

 mark on the ideals of to-day. 



Those who have performed this duty are the finest product of 

 English education, and nothing more distinguished can be found 

 anywhere than this intelligence based on moral character. Oxford 

 and Cambridge rest upon the homes of England; their schools and 

 triposes have been devised to fashion those who inherit the traditions 

 of English life. Few Englishmen are so remorselessly scientific as the 



