r there was a curious note in the
anti-Imperialism of the Chesterbelloc that has not always been
recognised. The ordinary anti-Imperialist holds that England has no
right to govern an Empire and that her leadership is bad for the
other dominions. But the Chesterbelloc view was that the Dominions
were inferior and unworthy of a European England. The phrase "suburbs
of England" (quoted in a later chapter) was typical. But Kipling was
thrilled by those suburbs and Chesterton, who had as a boy admired
Kipling, attacks him in _Heretics_ for lack of patriotism. _Puck of
Pook's Hill_ was not yet written, but like Kipling's poem on Sussex
it expressed a patriotism much akin to Gilbert's own. Remember the
man who returned from the South African veldt to be the Squire's
gardener--"Me that have done what I've done, Me that have seen what
I've seen"--that man, with eyes opened to a sense of his own tragedy,
was speaking for Chesterton's people of England who "have not spoken
yet." Yes, they have spoken through the mouth of English genius: as
Langland's Piers Plowman, as Dickens's Sam Weller, but not least as
Kipling's Tommy Atkins. It was a pity Chesterton was deaf to this
last voice. With a better understanding of Kipling he might in turn
have made Kipling understand what was needed to make England "Merrie
England" once again, have given him the philosophy that should make
his genius fruitful.

For the huge distinction between Chesterton and most of his
contemporaries lay not in the wish to get something done but in the
conviction that the right philosophy alone could produce fruitful
action. A parable in the Introduction shows the point at which his
thinking had arrived.

Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something,
let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull
down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is
approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of
the Schoolmen, "Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value
of Light. If Light be in itself good." At this point he is somewhat
excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post,
the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about
congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as
things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled
the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some
because they wanted old iron; so