Page:The Psychology of Jingoism.djvu/43

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Brutality
31

'another British victory' is discernible. Watch the features, listen to the voice of your Jingo friend when he rolls over his tongue some tasty morsel of his favourite war correspondent, or retails the latest sensation of the cablegram. Sex, age, nurture, education, refined surroundings, are of little avail to resist, or even modify, the pulsation of the primitive lust which exults in the downfall and the suffering of an enemy; the patriotic publican or stockbroker may show more honesty in expression of his triumph; but the same animal hate, vindictiveness, and bloodthirstiness, lurks in the mildest-mannered patriot, and surprises him by its occasional outburst. Such passion is a leveller, disclosing human nature in its common character, and teaching an equality which is no flattering ideal, but a convincing testimony to the descent of man. The democratic saturnalia of Ladysmith and Mafeking Days are generally admitted to be a revelation of hitherto unknown British character; and yet the sociality of brutish revelry upon these days was but a faint, spluttering expression of the actual feelings which boiled over into this flag-waving, drunkenness, and maniacal shouting. At all times the mob-nature has seized the coarser and more reckless elements in the

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.