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ADEIiAlDE: SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1910.
ST. GEORGE'S DAY,
This is St. George's Day, and the an
niversary will be celebrated with more
or less ceremony throughout the King's
vast dominions. In Adelaide to-night
the occasion will be honoured, with
characteristic enthusiasm by members
of the local branch of the Royal Society
of St. George. Most of those who may
feast will care little or nothing about
St. George as St. George, and some of
them may even consider as problema
tical the chief exploit with which the
Saint is credited. Their feelings in
this matter will not, however, affect
their enjoyment of the festival in
honour of ''the patron Saint of Old Eng
land,' and, as such gatherings as that
in which they will participate conduce
to practical patriotism, they should be
commended by every good Briton. There
is perennial interest in investigating
the history and the legend of the real
St. George— for there have been more
St. Georges than oue. Amid much
which is doubtful, we are told by a
competent authority that the patron
saint of Englishmen was not the Aryan
George of Cappadocia:—
This George, who lived more than half
a century later, by fraud became Arch
bishop of Alexandria, and was so wicked
that he was lynched by his own people.
. . . England's St. George was mar
tyred in 303 A.D. He was bom at
Lydda, in Palestine, and his memory is
revered even by the- Mohammedans . . .
St. George's parents were noble and
wealthy Christians; his father died
young, and the lad went into the
army, and became a Tribune and a spe
cial favourite of the Roman Emperor.
He fought in the Egyptian campaign
of 295, and the Persian War of 29(5-8.
He was next sent by Diocletian to
Britain, which at the time was ,
governed by Constantius (the father of .
the famous Christian Emperor Constan
tine, the Great), whose wife was the
British-born noble-woman Helena. Her
conversion to Christianity is attributed
to the gallant Christian soldier .St.
George during his stay in Britain. The
? son of Helena, Constantine the Great
caused Christianity in the Roman world
to expel paganism. St. George was,
therefore, symbolically the means of
destroying the dragon of heathen idola
tries; hence his appearance, armed and
mounted, slaying the mythical dragon.
St. George, when he returned to the
East, was so incensed at the persecu
tion of the Christians by Diocletian,
who was instigated by Galerius, that
he tore down the proclamations against
the Christians, and so strongly protested
against Diocletian's action that he was
tortured and slain on April 23, A.D.
303.
The essential point, after all, is that
the qualities idealized in England's
patron saint — as in those of Scotland,
Ireland, and Wales— are the honesty
of purpose, the self-sacrificing valour,
and the nobility which glorify the
name of Britpn in every part of the
world.
In spite of strenuous efforts by
Bishop Kenniou aud others, a local ob
servance of St. George's Day was long
in being accomplished, and the forma
tion of a Society of St. George was
longer still in the coming. Two years
ago, however, both achievements were
noted, owing mainly to the zealous la
bours of Mr. C. E. Owen Smyth, I.S.O.,
and the South Australian branch of
the Royal Society named after the
saint is a vigorous infant, And so It
ought to be, for its aims and its in
fluence are distinctly patriotic. 'It is
nil very well,' ' wrote a loyal
Englishman, 'to boast of be-1
ing an Englishman, but of all
men Englishmen honour their
nativity least in a ceremonial
sense.' They are always afraid of
being considered demonstrative and
fussy; but this, national characteristic
may be exemplified too thoroughly.
One danger is too much indifference;
another is too much exclusive-ness,
The late ill-fated poet, John Davidson,
fairly expressed the happy mean in the
refrain—
' St. George for Merry England thea!
lor we are all pood Englishmen.
St. George for Greater England then!
The Boreal and the Austral men.
By bogland. highland, down, and fen,
_ All Englishmen, all Englishmen ! .
The prosperous Royal Society of
St. George represents a wel-;
come protest against excessive impas
siveness and taciturnity. It deserve*}
well of all Britons. It is not an exprea-j
sion of exelusivism or classism. It
simply claims a place In a British'
community alongside the Scottish, the
Irish, the Welsh, the Cornish, the
German and the Australian Natives'
Societies, and such a claim is entirely
legitimate. The society's motto is
thus expressed:— 'Patriotism is more
than a sentiment It is a conviction
based upon a comprehension of the
duties of a citizen, and a determina
tion loyally to perform such duties.
Patriotism is lo?e of coanti5,-bortt of
familiarity with its history, reverence
for its institutions, and faith in its pos
sibilties, and is evidenced by obedience
to its laws and respect for
its flag.' When the Royal
Society of St.. George was
first founded in the old country, the
taunt was uttered that through its
agency some of its pioneers were
merely thanking God that— being Eng
lishmen—they were not us other men;
but that is nonsense. All they were
trying to do was to keep the distinc
tively English end up in generous
rivalry among the institutions of the
land; to remember practically that
the heart of the Empire is in England,
widely extended as the arteries are
beyond; and that, whether patriotic so
cieties be Welsh, or Irish, or Scotch,
their language is all— and always— Eng-
lish. If such institutions limited the
range of patriotism, they would be
open to reprehension; but they do not.
They stimulate that sublime sentiment.
No true* man loves his country the
less because he loves his hearthstone
the more.
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