i INTRODUCTORY 9 



my sympathies are on the side of my fellow-country- 

 men. To save any misapprehension, it will perhaps be 

 well to confess the worst at once, and plead guilty. 

 For some years there has been a tendency, and an 

 ever-growing one, to decry ourselves and praise 

 foreigners — white, yellow and black. This is the case 

 in art, in sport, or in questions of justice. An English- 

 man shoots an alien. Let him hang. He flogs a 

 native. To prison with him. An alien shoots an 

 Englishman or a native assaults him. Well, after all, 

 the provocation must have been very great ! German 

 methods of warfare, of mechanics, and even of 

 colonisation — save the mark ! — arouse our enthusiasm : 

 while, of course, in matters of literature and art we lag 

 woefully behind. As for sport, it is a well-known fact 

 that when we win a series of international encounters, 

 it points only too plainly to our decadence, seeing that 

 we devote ourselves wholly to sport, neglecting mean- 

 while matters of real and vital importance, such as 

 woman's suffrage or plural voting. On the other 

 hand, should we be beaten, our state is even worse, 

 pointing to nothing else than the rapid deterioration 

 of British physique and pluck. I believe none of it, 

 but rather that the Britisher and American is as 

 superior to the rest of the world, not even excluding 

 the German, as he has been for 300 years. This 

 self-depreciation is only a temporary, if rather 

 loathsome, skin-disease on our naturally healthy skin, 

 and will disappear with the first wash of a national 

 emergency. Consequently, I say that though as a 

 matter of course both the native and the Indian should 

 receive fair and equitable treatment, yet the first and 

 prime consideration of our Government should be the 

 well-being and prosperity of the British colonist. 



