The Oppressed English

Transcriber's Note: A Table of Contents has been added.
THE OPPRESSED ENGLISH

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

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.