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The Oppressed English - Ian Hay
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oppressed English, by Ian Hay
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Title: The Oppressed English
Author: Ian Hay
Release Date: November 23, 2012 [EBook #41448]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPPRESSED ENGLISH ***
Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
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THE OPPRESSED ENGLISH
THE
OPPRESSED
ENGLISH
BY
IAN HAY
Author of The First Hundred Thousand,
Getting Together,
"A Safety
Match," Etc.
Garden City New York
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1917
Copyright, 1917, by
Ian Hay Beith
All rights reserved, including that of
translation into foreign languages,
including the Scandinavian
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER ONE
As a Scotsman, the English people have my profound sympathy.
In the comic papers of all countries the Englishman is depicted—or was in the days of peace—as stupid, purseproud, thick-skinned, arrogant, and tyrannical. In practice, what is he? The whipping-boy of the British Empire.
In the War of to-day, for instance, whenever anything particularly unpleasant or unpopular has to be done—such as holding up neutral mails, or establishing a blacklist of neutral firms trading with the enemy—upon whom does the odium fall? Upon England
; never upon France, and only occasionally upon Great Britain. The people and press interested thunder against England's Arrogance.
Again, in the neutral days, when an American newspaper published a pro-British article, Potsdam complained peevishly that the entire American Press was being bribed with English
gold. A German school teacher is greeted by her infant class with the amiable formula: "Good morning, teacher. Gott strafe England! (Never
Britain, as a Scotsman once very rightly complained to me.) On the other hand, when there is any credit going round—say, for the capture of a hitherto impregnable ridge on the Western Front—to whom is that credit assigned? Well, it depends. If the Canadians took the ridge, Canada gets the credit; and the world's press (including the press of London and England generally) pays due tribute to the invincible valour of the men from the Dominions. Or, if a Scottish or Irish regiment took the ridge, the official report from General Headquarters makes appreciative reference to the fact. But how often do we see the phrase:
The ridge was stormed, under heavy fire, by an English regiment?" Practically never. A victory gained by English boys from Devon or Yorkshire appears as a British victory, pure and simple.
Now why? Why should the credit for the good deeds of the British Empire be ascribed to those respectively responsible—except the English—while the odium for the so-called bad deeds is lumped on to England alone? To a certain extent, England herself is to blame. When a Scotsman speaks