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The false flag of the British colonisation is“patriotism”. It seems“quite strange”that Samuel Johnson had always kept“opened eyes”on the British colonising war and even all wars. In his speech“The Patriot”(addressed to the electors of Great Britain, 1774), Samuel Johnson said:“A patriot is he whose publick conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear,neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest”;“Patriotism is not necessarily included in rebellion. A man may hate his king, yet not love his country. He that has been refused a reasonable, or unreasonable request, who thinks his merit underrated,and sees his influence declining, begins soon to talk of natural equality, the absurdity of‘many made for one,’the original compact, the foundation of authority, and the majesty of the people”; and finally,“A patriot is always ready to countenance the just claims, and animate the reasonable hopes of the people; he reminds them, frequently, of their rights, and stimulates them to resent encroachments, and to multiply securities.”The above three quotes have spoken for the truth, which makes Samuel Johnson the only found writer and scholar requiring careful and conscientious examination in the contemporary academic arena.
Samuel Johnson is a critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer, widely regarded as one of the greatest figures of the 18
th
-century life and letters. One of his greatest contributions was
The Dictionary of the English Language
(1747). His thought of patriotism,as recorded in James Boswell's
The Life of Johnson
(1791), is widely quoted:“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest.”He wrote poetry throughout his life, but most of which have not in general been well known. His poetic production is best known for the long poem
London
(1738) and
The Vanity of Human Wishes
(1749), in which he, like Juvenal,the Roman Satirist whose works denounced the corruption and extravagance of the privileged classes, satirises the folly of human desires such as wealth, power, war and et al., of which the excerpt is about King Charles XII of Sweden.
To Samuel Johnson, war is not the test lab of“Patriotism”, but the stigma of the privileged class.
On what foundation stands the warrior's pride,
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide;
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquered lord of pleasure and of pain;
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield,
War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field;
Behold surrounding kings their powers combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign;
Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
‘Think nothing gained,’he cries,‘till naught remain,
On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the polar sky.’
The march begins in military state,
And nations on his eye suspended wait;
Stern Famine guards the solitary coast,
And Winter barricades the realms of Frost;
He comes, nor want nor cold his course delay—
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day:
The vanquished hero leaves his broken bands,
And shows his miseries in distant lands;
Condemned a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destined to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand;
He left the name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.