Three more main facts must be borne in mind:
THE ESSENTIAL DEMOCRACY OF THE GOVERNMENT.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THE PRESS.
ABSENCE OF COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE.
These, the outcome of the quiet and stable home life of an island
people, have done more than anything to make the Englishman a deceptive
personality to the outside eye. He has for centuries been permitted to
grumble. There is no such confirmed grumbler--until he really has
something to grumble at, and then no one who grumbles less. There is no
such confirmed carper at the condition of his country, yet no one really
so profoundly convinced of its perfection. A stranger might well think
from his utterances that he was spoiled by the freedom of his life,
unprepared to sacrifice anything for a land in such a condition.
Threaten that country, and with it his liberty, and you will find that
his grumbles have meant less than nothing. You will find, too, that
behind the apparent slackness of every arrangement and every individual
are powers of adaptability to facts, elasticity, practical genius, a
latent spirit of competition and a determination that are staggering.
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