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. 
