The Aftermath; Or, Gleanings from a Busy Life: Called upon the outer cover, for purposes of sale, Caliban's Guide to LettersBelloc, Hilaire
General
The Aftermath; Or, Gleanings from a Busy Life: Called upon the outer cover, for purposes of sale, Caliban's Guide to Letters
Belloc, Hilaire
Authorship; Satire
Russia he hated as the oppressor of Finland and Poland, for
oppression he loathed and combatted wherever it appeared; nor
had Mr. Arthur Balfour a stronger supporter than he when that
statesman, armed only in the simple manliness of an English
Christian and Freeman, combatted and destroyed the terrorism that
stalked through Ireland.
Of Scandinavia he knew singularly little, but that little was in
its favour; and as for the German Empire, his stanzas to Prince
Bismarck, and his sermon on the Emperor’s recent visit, are too
well known to need any comment here. To Holland he was, until
recently, attracted. Greece he despised.
Nowhere was this fine temper of unflinching courage and sterling
common sense more apparent than in the great crisis of the
Dreyfus case. No man stood up more boldly, or with less thought
of consequence, for Truth and Justice in this country. He was not
indeed the chairman of the great meeting in St. James’ Hall, but
his peroration was the soul of that vast assemblage. “England will
yet weather the storm....” It was a true prophecy, and in a sense a
confession of Faith.
There ran through his character a vein of something steady and
profound, which inspired all who came near him with a sense of
quiet persistent _strength_. This, with an equable, unfailing
pressure, restrained or controlled whatever company surrounded
him. It was like the regular current of a full but silent tide,
or like the consistent power of a good helmsman. It may be called
his _personal force_. To most men and women of our circle, that
force was a sustenance and a blessing; to ill-regulated or worldly
men with whom he might come in contact, it acted as a salutary
irritant, though rarely to so intense a degree as to give rise to
scenes. I must unfortunately except the case of the Rural Dean of
Bosham, whose notorious excess was the more lamentable from the
fact that the Council of the _S.P.C.A._ is strictly non-sectarian,
and whose excuse that the ink-pot was not thrown but brushed aside
is, to speak plainly, a tergiversation.
The recent unhappy war in South Africa afforded an excellent
opportunity for the exercise of the qualities I mean. He was still
active and alert; still guiding men and maidens during its worse
days. His tact was admirable. He suffered from the acute divisions
of his congregation, but he suffered in powerful silence; and
throughout those dark-days his sober _necquid nimis_[4] was like a
keel and ballast for us all.
A young radical of sorts was declaiming at his table one evening
against the Concentration Camp. Dr. Caliban listened patiently, and
at the end of the harangue said gently, “Shall we join the ladies?”
The rebuke was not lost.[5]
On another occasion, when some foreigner was reported in the papers
as having doubted Mr. Brodrick’s figures relative to the numbers
of the enemy remaining in the field, Dr. Caliban said with quiet
dignity, “It is the first time I have heard the word of an English
gentleman doubted.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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