Loving One's Country; H. B. Gow

than the state. For Burke, it also meant a commitment to a cluster of values and the religious foun dation for those values such as tra dition, liberty under law, courage, love, integrity, honor, civility, the dignity of the individual because he is made in the image of God, individual freedom and responsi bility, the recognition of rights and corresponding duties. By the "spirit of the gentle man," Burke was referring to something more than mere social poise and the ability to win friends and influence people. Cardinal John Henry Newman once described the gentleman as one who is "tender towarus the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd. . . He never speaks of himself unless compel led, never defends himself by mere retort, he has no ears for slander or gossip. . . ." The gentleman, continued Newman, is "patient and forbearing"; he resigns him self to suffer because "it is inevita ble, to bereavement because it is 155 156 THE FREEMAN March irreparable, and to death because it is his destiny." And if the gen tleman engages in controversy of any kind, "his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds, ,who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack in stead of cutting clean, who mis take the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, miscon ceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it."

Burke would have agreed with Newman's sentiments; but he, like Newman, meant something more than the observance of the tradi tions of civility. Burke also was talking about the refinement of mind and character which elevates one above the social and intellec tual fads and foibles of his group and of his times. As Russell Kirk observes, Burke believed that the spiri t of the gentleman meant "that elevation of mind and tem per, that generosity and courage of mind, [and that] habit of act ing upon principles which rise superior to immediate advantage and private interest." Were Burke alive today, he would find little of the spirit of religion and the spirit of the gentleman in our country. He would discover little respect for the canons of civilized discourse; and he would find little observance of the norms and traditions of civility. Instead, Burke would find the spirit of the gentleman considered "effeminate" by those most doubt ful of their own masculinity; he would encounter widespread in difference, if not hostility, toward religion in both private and public life. He would find increasing num bers who think in slogans, who shout down speakers, who refuse to listen to views contrary to their own; he would see a denigration of the concepts of individual free dom and responsibility; he would witness in our society an attack by those without roots upon the delicate balance between freedom and order, tradition and change.

And Burke, to his dismay, would discover a violent and tragic dis ruption of what Garry Wills terms "the bond of social affections," the ties that promote unity rather than division; the ties, that is to say, which bind a person to his neighbor, to his family, to his com munity, to his country. To fight today for the resusci tation of the spirit of religion and the spirit of the gentleman would seem to be in a lost cause. Yet, for so worthy a cause we must· con tinue to struggle until these qual ities prevail - qualities which cause a country, as well as an individual, to be lovely. ~ V. ORVAL WATTS WHAT I have to say about the UNorthwood Idea" is not original with me. I have tried to do little but put together what I have gleaned from discussions with many persons at Northwood trustees, administrators, faculty and students; but perhaps this summary may be useful and it may be that my concluding point deserves a little more emphasis than we usually give it.