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or Swedish, or Dutch, or Spanish, or, it may be Portuguese soldiers, are invincible. From which it may be confessed, that it is unfortunate that the bayonet is so seldom used that the point can hardly be decided; and also that one or other of these assertions must be false. I have a suspicion, founded partly on my own consciousness, and partly on avowals not often made in print, that the real contest on a battle-field is one not of courage but of cowardice. I believe that military history is really what all history has been declared to be, a conspiracy to conceal the truth. There is every inducement to enormous lying about battles, and nobody has any interest in giving us the plain facts without the gloss, as the smoke and the roar of cannons conceal

are alike unreasonable, it follows that we ought not to like our own. We ought to be graceful cosmopolites, acknowledging no ties of country, free from all vulgar prejudices, and regarding the kingdoms of the world, and their intrigues and squabblings, in the spirit with which we should look upon the doings in another planet. International prejudices, from this point of view, may be a folly, and patriotism must be a vice. I confess that I am inclined to accept the conclusion. Patriots, as a general rule, seem to me to be a very hotheaded and noxious set of people; and their favourite virtue to be a convenient cloak for all the most mischievous prejudices that are current in the world. Why should I "glory in the name of Briton?" Is there any particular satisfaction in being for a time half the horrors of the occasion. the inhabitant of an island to which nobody The bombastic rhetoric of military histodenies a good many virtues, but which rians conceals the cowardice, and the meancertainly has as many faults as it can con- ness, and the brutality by which these horveniently manage to get along with? Peo- rors are produced. Whenever I have had ple tell me that this, and that, and the other an opportunity of seeing men in dangerous thing is grossly wrong; that our prevailing positions, I have remarked that even animal beliefs are narrow and provincial, that our courage, so far from being common, is one government is a muddle, that our educa- of the rarest of qualities. Our instinct, tion is contemptible, that our politics are whatever we may say, is to look another petty, and, after saying a great deal more way when we hear cries of murder, and to of the same kind, and much more, indeed, be unavoidably occupied in important busithan I believe to be true, they turn roundness when there is likely to be a row in the upon me with immense indignation, if I streets. Discipline works wonders in a venture to sum up all these criticisms in crowd of cowards, by providing them with one, and say that Englishmen are no better as good motives for standing still as for than their neighbours, and that they ought running away, and by forming an artificial not to give themselves airs as if they were. instinct for obeying orders in moments of We may find fault with every particular confusion. But I never met a brave man detail in the country, and be praised for who did not confess to being terribly frightdoing it; but the inference that the whole ened in his first action, whilst it is a wellis faulty, is regarded as a crime against known truth that the more you see of such patriotism and as an unpardonable sin. If things the less you like them. From all we put the criticism with any force, we are which I infer that the prevailing opinion of finally assured, by way of an unanswerable the courage of each particular race must be condemnation, that our views are un-Eng- a measure as much of its powers of lying as lish. Yet, as an honest man, can't avoid of its natural disposition to fight. I would certain conclusions. Every national com- rather not stake my patriotic feelings on monplace has its counterpart. We boast, the existence of a quality which is the chosor used to boast, that when a slave put his en subject for the most monstrous self-defoot on English soil his chains dropped off. ception. Take any set of men, dress them When a similar question was argued in in one colour, and accustom them to stand France a hundred years ago it was met by in a row, and they will, in all probability, a similar sentiment. 66 Dès qu'un esclave be more afraid of running away than of anyest entré en France," said the lawyers, "il thing else. Their merit will depend on the y devient libre." Is England or France intelligence with which they are combined the land of liberty? Every nation, again, much more than on any intrinsical pugnacin Europe, so far as I know, asserts with a ity. What is generally called patriotism unanimous voice that, whatever other faults leads us to sink these notorious facts, and it may possess, its soldiers are the bravest to brag intolerably about the most doubtful in the world. In other matters they may of all merits. And consequently our polihave their equals, but once let them come tics too often resemble the behaviour of a to the bayonet, and then it will be seen that couple of cowardly dogs, who growl at English, or French, or German, or Russian, | each other with every hair bristling by way

of concealing their real state of mind, till at last one of them bites the other from sheer nervous irritability. It will be long before we venture to tell the truth about our extreme unwillingness to be shot, and we shall continue to boast of the patriotism involved in keeping up a childish game of brag. Often as the absurdity of the proceeding may be exposed, it will not be really weakened till the spirit of patriotism is more or less sapped at its base.

lives to their improvement without believing that they are one bit better or cleverer than their neighbours. Being an Englishman, I rceognize the duties which my position imposes upon me, and am yet satisfied that Englishmen are full of the grossest faults and stupidities. I don't think that they are in any serious degree the superiors of any of the nations with which they come in contact; but practically, it may be, I would do as much to improve them as those who talk the greatest nonsense about their supposed good qualities, and especially, I should be willing to do them the proverbially unpleasant service of exposing their faults; but whenever I come in contact with any specially notorious evil, I am put down with solemn appeals to local self-government, or the British Constitution, or the interests of this great empire, or some other idol to which we have been accustomed to pay a blind reverence. I am bound to swear by

Of course, I might be easily answered by a long string of statements about the beneficial results which patriotism has at different times produced. I would willingly admit every one of them; but they only prove, what no sensible man denies, that many false opinions have been of essential service to mankind. The great majority of the existing race of mankind still believes in religious creeds which we know to be false; yet it would be an incalculable evil if they were deprived of those creeds, without re-every abuse, and to defend every possible ceiving anything better in their place. The inhabitants of a certain small island, known by the nickname of Bimshire, believe, I am told, that they are the very cream of the world. They exclaim, "Bimshire, with all thy faults we love thee still!" They think that Bimshire could, if it liked, rule the main; and that after the decay of other nations, Bimshire will flourish, great and free, the dread and envy of them all. If the effect of these opinions is to make the Bims more energetic and reforming than they would otherwise be, it would be a poor service to Bimshire to prove to its inhabitants, in the clearest way, that other nations possess nearly as much virtue and talent as they do themselves. Indeed, to take a more limited circle, everybody knows families which have been much benefited by the belief that there never were such people in the world as the Browns, or Joneses, or Robinsons. It is a good thing that a man should stick by his brother, even when his brother has been convicted of picking pockets; and if his fraternal affection is kept up by the belief that the pickpocket is a perfect character in spite of his little failings, we need not be too anxious to dispel so pleasant an illusion. But this does not prove that we might not be at once wiser and better, that we might not get rid of the illusion without sacrificing the good feeling. We have been placed for good or for evil in a certain small island and brought into the closest connection with its inhabitants; we may surely be profoundly attached to them and willing to devote our

misconduct at home or abroad, so long as it
can be brought under one of these sacred
principles, or to be described as, in some
sense, the act of the collective people. This
is the obligation which I altogether repudi-
ate, for the simple reason that we know, as
clearly as we know anything, that neither
our institutions nor our character are, as a
whole, better than those of our neighbours,
The duties which are imposed upon us in
the name of patriotism might be urged,
with at least equal force, on the ground
that we are specially stupid and immoral;
and though I consider such an assertion to
be as erroneous as its opposite, I should
not try to howl down anybody who made
it. We suffer grievously from a supposed
necessity of omniscience in such matters.
The number of people who can really form
any judgment as to the comparative merits
of English and foreign nations might be
reckoned almost on one's fingers. The
number of people who make the most con-
fident and dogmatic assertions about it, and
who fancy that they are specially virtuous
for so doing, is almost incalculable. Of all
European countries England is probably
that where the most utter ignorance pre-
vails as to the history, statistics, institu-
tions, and politics of every other country;
and, therefore, I don't see the virtue of
cherishing opinions which can only be veri-
fied or refuted by an amount of investiga-
tion which is scarcely within human capac-
ity, and most unequivocally beyond our
own.
A CYNIC.

From The Grocer.

ANCHOVIES.

IN former times our own coasts were able to supply occasional delicacies to grace the banquets of the patricians of ancient Rome. Since then the commerce of the world has changed its basis to these small islands, and we in our turn have laid other countries under tribute. The Mediterranean is said to swarm with fish of all kinds, and amongst others the anchovy has long been known and appreciated by the Italians, and of late years has been exported in increasing quantities to this country. Like the herring, the sardine, and the sprat, the shoals appear at certain seasons of the year, when the catching and curing give occupation to a large number of people. The best descriptions are taken not far distant from the port of Leghorn, near the island of Gorgona, where the population are all engaged in these fisheries. The anchovy is caught off the islands of Elba and Corsica, and lower down around the coasts of Sicily, also at Antibes, Fréjus, Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Martigues, along the coast of France. It is to be found in the Baltic and the North Sea, although of a larger and coarser kind, and unfitted for the table. The season lasts from May to July, the arrival of the shoals being heralded and made known by the appearance of the porpoise, the dog-fish, and other scavengers of the deep. The powers of increase must be prodigious which can survive all the modes of attack, and yet return again in innumerable swarms, coming one knows not from whence or whither bound. Formerly, it is said, they were very abundant along the shores of Brittany, and in one month upwards of a million were taken off the town of Douarnenez. These were smaller than usual, and mixed with the sprats, the wives and children of the fishermen being employed in picking them out from the nets. As many as 100,000 were taken at a single cast of the net, and, although these have disappeared, the sardine has since been cured like the anchovy, and sold under pretence of being the same fish. We have, therefore, a guarantee, when dealing with certain well-known firms, that we are purchasing the real Gorgona anchovies.

The mode in which they are taken is somewhat peculiar and deserving of mention. It is customary to select a cloudy night for the purpose, when three or four boats, each manned by two or three men,

set out in the evening. They light their torches and go about a couple of leagues out to sea, upon the spots where they think the fish are likely to be most numerous. Behind them comes noiselessly and in the shadow the boat which carries the net. This boat, which has four or five men on board, is called the rissollier, after the net used for the purpose. The fastiers, which is the name also of the boat with the torches, keep at a certain distance apart, about 150 or 200 yards, and when they see that the anchovies, collected together by the illumination, are in great numbers, they make a s gnal to the rissollier, which approaches gradually and cautiously, until the fishermen can slip their nets into the water around the fastiers. Then, when this is done, at a given signal all the torches are extinguished, the fishermen lash the water, at the same time making as much noise as possible. The anchovies, frightened, and endeavouring to escape, dash heedlessly into the meshes of the nets, in which their heads are transfixed. It it only necessary then to haul in the nets to secure the catch, and proceed to a distance and renew the same operation if the night be sufficiently dark.

The curing of the anchovy takes place in brine, and not in oil like the sardine. The heads, gills, and entrails are separated from the bodies, which are salted, and arranged in circular boxes called drums, varying from 5lb to 20lb weight. Messrs. Burgess & Sons, 107, Strand, have been for many years large importers of the real Gorgona anchovy, and any one who desires to become acquainted with the mode of curing and packing cannot do better than visit their establishment. The essence of anchovy was first introduced by this firm so long ago as the year 1760. At the present time their consumption of the Gorgonas is between 200 and 300 gross monthly. These are sold in labelled bottles, in the original brine in which they are cured, also prepared in oil like the sardine, and in vinegar. The paste, for toast and sandwiches, is also well-known for its piquant flavour. The demand has increased so much of late, that it is difficult to obtain the requisite supplies from Gorgona, and other houses are importing from different parts of France, with a view to supply the public with an article which they claim to be almost equal to the Italian anchovy.

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