My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleytime of the Consulate he had it cropped short and brushed forward in pursuit of theRoman cult. I happen to prefer the latter vogue and would wager it will now soonreturn, but it does not much matter so long as men retain the qualities of manhood.The heroism of Thermopylae was not dimmed by the previous evening spent in theSpartan fashion of combing and even scenting their flowing locks. It was not long hairwhich made the Cavaliers lose to the Roundheads, but a certain change in life attituderesulting in an impetuous lack of discipline in the cavalry charge which rendered theiraction less effective than the balance, poise and resolution of their immediate andvictorious predecessors, the Elizabethans.What is wrong with our civilisation is that the best men are often either excludedaltogether until they are needed in some catastrophe or kept waiting for their chancetoo long, which wastes not only their time but the vital assets of the nation. Theremedy is to provide a system which gives all men of ability progressive opportunityfrom an early age, a chance which continues as long as their capacity endures. Isuggested in The Alternative some methods which can at least be more effective tothat end than the crude and wasteful process of setting the young against the old.There is always room at the top in a well-ordered society, because the supply of menwith first-rate capacity is always too small. We must devise means to overcome theobstructive opposition of the league of dunces, who have existed ever since it wasfirst suggested that men should leave the cave for the sunlight.There seem two main reasons for the present cult of Peter Pan in politics. The first isenvy, and that is as old as time. Heraclitus said that all the citizens of Ephesus shouldbe hanged because through envy they prevented the saving of the state by theemergence of eminent men. Goethe in his wise and modern fashion combated thesame vice of envy with the more effective weapon of wit in his epigram: 'the onlyconsolation of the dunce is that genius is not immortal'. I would put it ratherdifferently, and, of course, more modestly: old man, is the last gibe thrown by thesterile at the creative. They hope that age will reduce everyone to their own impotence.They are wrong; the great wines improve. Today we see the dull consoling themselveswith the thought that the bright are not immortal, even while they seek to emulatethem with the flattery of ineffective imitation. It was admiration rather than envywhich was the mark of great ages—'honneur aux maitres d'armes'; and still more inmodern terms to the masters of intellect and character. The desire to tear down allexcellence is the instinct of'Silenus and his long-eared band', whose excesses in thelast moments of decadence usually precede and even evoke renaissance amongpeoples still capable of great thought and action.The second reason for the urge to seek ever younger statesmen, until the cradle itselfis in danger of being ransacked, is surely due to the instinct to escape from a failingsociety. The older men and also the bogus young of the present period becomediscredited because they are trying to work policies doomed to failure. The remedy isnot to make Peter Pan Prime Minister, but to change the system. The whole presentprocess is particularly ridiculous at a moment when science is continually expandingthe effective life-span. In face of the historic examples already quoted, why denycapacity to experienced men just at the moment when the scientific genius of themodern world is much prolonging that capacity? The nonsense will pass with the hourof crisis, and we shall return at least in serious matters to the Roman gravitas whichhas been the imprimatur of all great periods. May this brief and rather dogmatic113 of 424