Lifts at the Lloyds Building in Lime Street, London.
Lifts scurry up and down the outside of the Lloyds Building in Lime Street in the City of London. Gardiner, a committed Liberal in the classical mould, took the line that the force of law and the law of force were equally powerless to deal with incivilities and insults. Punitive responses feed the worst in human nature; each one is not a victory, but an insidious little defeat for individual and community alike. The only constructive response, he believed, was for the offended party to be the bigger, better and more gracious man.
Part 1 of 2
THE young lift-man in a City office who threw a passenger out of his lift the other morning and was fined for the offence was undoubtedly in the wrong. It was a question of “Please.” The complainant, entering the lift, said, “Top.” The lift-man demanded, “Top, please,” and this concession being refused he not only declined to comply with the instruction, but hurled the passenger out of the lift. This, of course, was carrying a comment on manners too far. Discourtesy is not a legal offence,* and it does not excuse assault and battery. [...]
It is a matter of general agreement that the war has had a chilling effect upon those little every-day civilities of behaviour that sweeten the general air. We must get those civilities back if we are to make life kindly and tolerable for each other. We cannot get them back by invoking the law. The policeman is a necessary symbol and the law is a necessary institution for a society that is still somewhat lower than the angels. But the law can only protect us against material attack.
* This was written shortly after the Great War of 1914-1918.
Précis
A. G. Gardiner once saw a lift attendant toss out a passenger for not saying ‘please’. The attendant was fined, and though Gardiner sympathised he thought this was right. He regretted the decline in courtesy since the Great War, but he was sure neither physical violence nor the force of law was the answer. (54 / 60 words)
Part Two
Northumberland House, London, painted by Giovanni-Antonio-Canal ‘Canaletto’ (1697–1768) in 1752. The lack of proper road surfaces and pavements and the rutted, muddy condition of the public areas are clearly visible. As Gardiner says, the drier and surer footing was found close in the lee of the buildings. The grand house at the western end of the Strand overlooked the junction of Charing Cross (Trafalgar Square was subsequently built in the space off to the left of the picture), but it was demolished in 1874 and the area was remodelled. The equestrian statue of Charles I seen here on the right remains in situ.
NOR will the lift-man’s way of meeting moral affront by physical violence help us to restore the civilities. I suggest to him that he would have had a more subtle and effective revenge if he had treated the gentleman who would not say “Please” with elaborate politeness. He would have had the victory, not only over the boor, but over himself, and that is the victory that counts. The polite man may lose the material advantage, but he always has the spiritual victory.
I commend to the lift-man a story of Chesterfield.* In his time the London streets were without the pavements of to-day, and the man who “took the wall” had the driest footing. “I never give the wall to a scoundrel” said a man who met Chesterfield one day in the street. “I always do” said Chesterfield, stepping with a bow into the road. I hope the lift-man will agree that his revenge was much more sweet than if he had flung the fellow into the mud.
* Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1745-46) and subsequently Secretary of State for the Northern Department (1746-48), the equivalent of Home Secretary today.
Précis
Gardiner suggested that the affronted attendant might have done better to respond with exaggerated politeness rather than physical force. He reminded readers that when an acquaintance haughtily refused to give way to Lord Chesterfield in the street, the statesman simply walked around him, thereby proving which of them really was a gentleman. (52 / 60 words)
