Kipling  the  other  day  sang  "  The  White  Man's  Burden,"
he  struck  a  string  alien  to  us,  and  we  liked  it  as  much  as
a  wet  slate  pencil  rubbed  against  a  slate  ;  it  was  the  first
line  we  had  ever  met  of  his  that  we  did  not  understand
— it  found  in  our  hearts  no  echo.  We  old-fashioned
Teutons  have  never  felt  any  amount  of  Empire  any
burden,  and  we  do  not  intend  to  rule  "sullen,  silent
people  "  ;  such  things  are  not  in  our  line,  we  want  and
we  will  have  all  the  world  we  can,  and  we  will  have  it
no  burden  to  us  ;  nor  will  we  calmly  allow  England  to  be
a  burden  on  those  we  gather  beneath  the  shadow  of
her  wings.  Our  watchword  is  Egmont's  "Fruchtheit
und  Freiheit !  Froheit  und  Ruhe  ! "  We  know  no  white
man's  burden  save  of  white  man's  making ;  we  can
manage  the  rest.  Supposing  this  is  so,  you  remark.  You
have  only  said  that  Mr.  John  Morley  and  his  group  are
really  helping  Imperialism,  and  that  Mr.  Kipling  has
only  once  failed  to  please  your  group.     Where  is    the


XXI  ALARMING  THE  TAXPAYER  421

danger  of  these  men  aiding  a  general  policy-moulding
outburst  on  an ti- Imperialism?  That  is  soon  demon-
strated. Mr.  John  Morley's  group  are  like  unto  medical
books — bad  reading  for  the  unprofessional.  You  know
how  a  sound  healthy  man,  may  be  with  just  a  touch  of
gout  or  dyspepsia  on  him,  will,  on  perusing  a  physician's
vade  mecum,  straightway  fall  into  the  belief  that  he
has  everything  in  it  the  matter  with  him,  barring  the
spotted  diseases,  and  those  he  fears  may  be  coming  on.
