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Mr. Kipling's Call to America
By Alfred Webb
Dublin, Feb. 7, 1899
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To the Editor of The Nation:
Sir: The cable informs us that "Kipling's stirring verses, the
'Call to America,' have created a profound impression" on your
side. What that impression may be, we can only conjecture. They
profoundly impress many of us here as first-class specimens of
cant, to which one of the examples, drawn from Dryden, given by
Johnson as an example of the proper use of the word cant, aptly
applies:
"Of promise prodigal, while pow'r you want,
And preaching in the self-denying cant."
There is something almost sickening in this "imperial" talk of
assuming and bearing burdens for the good of others. They are
never assumed or held where they are not found to be of material
advantage or ministering to honor or glory. Wherever empire (I
speak of the United Kingdom) is extended, and the climate suits
the white man, the aborigines are, for the benefit of the white
man, cleared off or held in degradation for his benefit. Where
the climate does not suit us, and the natives are in too advanced
a condition to be cleared off, the first consideration (at least
with the majority, men of Kipling's turn of mind) is our material
advantage and honor and glory. We are in a precious hurry to lay
burdens down when they do not pay, as in the case of our solemn
obligations to the Armenians. We are ever ready to shirk them, as
in the case of the status of our Indian fellow-subjects in our
colonies, when the bearing of the burden of seeing fair play done
would be inconvenient. In so far as is compatible with our
interests and honor and glory, we have perhaps made the interests
of "natives" under our rule of higher and more enduring
consideration than that recorded of any other conquering and
governing Power. But this talk of burdens is, as I have said,
unadulterated cant.
Taking India as a test, no one moves a foot in her government
that is not well paid and pensioned at her cost. No appointments
are more eagerly contended for than those in the Indian service.
A young man is made for life when he secures one. The tone of
that service is by no means one "bound to exile," "to serve . . .
captives' need," "to wait in heavy harness," or in any degree as
expressed in Mr. Kipling's highfalutin lines. It is entirely the
contrary: 'You are requested not to beat the servants" is a not
uncommon notice in Indian hotels. The most refined and educated
natives with three-fourths of British officials narrowly and not
indeed always escape the appellation of "D----d niggers." Much of
England's wealth is derived from the connection with India. She
is one of the richest countries in the world (average income, £40
per head); India one of the poorest (average income, thirty
shillings). If there were any reality in a united, equally
considered empire and of the white man bearing burdens, it would
be shown in relation to her. But no -- India is made to pay to
the last farthing in all questions of common account. She was
made to pay for the erection of that palatial India Office in
Whitehall; she has had to pay for a state ball given to the
Sultan of Turkey in London; she is made to pay even for the
training in England of British troops sent out to govern her --
of course for their transit, maintenance, and pay in India. So
anxious are we, where good pay is concerned, to save Indians the
heavy burden of enjoying them, that, while our sons can study and
pass at home for Indian appointments, her sons must study and
pass in England; and even in India itself whites are afforded
chances closed to natives. You are told to go abroad and "Fill
full the mouth of famine." Within the last three years we have
had the worst famine of the century in India -- some eight
million perished of disease and starvation. The heroic efforts to
combat it have been, with the exception of voluntary
contributions, at the expense of India, and have added to her
debt. It is impossible to gauge the eventual inevitably
impoverishing effect upon India of the millions of pounds
annually drawn from her and, under the heads of salaries,
pensions, home charges, and army and navy construction, spent in
Great Britain.
There never was a fostered trade and revenue in more disastrous
consequences to humanity than the opium trade and revenue. There
never was a more grinding and debilitating tax than that on salt
(it would be a criminal offence in India for a poor woman to
evaporate from sea water the smallest grain of it). Upon any
principle of clearing our consciences and "taking up the white
man's burden," we might assume both, and none of us eat a
mouthful less or enjoy a moment's less real happiness. By none
have such suggestions been laughed to greater scorn than by men
of the Kipling cast of mind. And what nice feeling he displays
towards your future fellow-citizens -- "New-caught sullen
peoples, half devil and half child," "Sloth and human folly,"
"Silent sullen peoples," etc. Surely you are not to be egged on
to the relinquishment of all your best traditions by such
impudent Pharisaical rhyming. Since 1862 you have enjoyed
institutions as perfect as man has yet contrived them, let some
in their application misuse and degrade them as they may. Here,
through old traditions and foreign complications, each one of us
is made responsible for unfairness and villainies of many kinds.
You and we have each to clear ourselves from our several
reproaches and work out our destinies as best we may, with all
humanity and searchings of spirit. In deliberately entering upon
our courses, you would jeopardize all the principles in which you
lead, without possessing the traditions and experiences rendering
it likely you would improve upon the methods by which we have so
faultily led.
Dublin, February 7, 1899.
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Preferred citation: Webb, Alfred. "Mr. Kipling's Call to
America." The Nation 68 (Feb. 23, 1899).
http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/kipling/webb.html In Jim Zwick, ed.,
Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935.
http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/ail98-35.html (January 1996).
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Created 1/29/96; Updated 3/12/96
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