diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:50 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:50 -0700 |
| commit | 7f56076a078b278a473ea8b373334037cb2ed1fa (patch) | |
| tree | 5e7bd57eff72a67bfbc5ba15a4ee9f9cf4c1c46d | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320-0.txt | 11058 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 239701 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320-8.txt | 11060 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 237433 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 258481 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320-h/17320-h.htm | 11473 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320.txt | 11060 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17320.zip | bin | 0 -> 236977 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
11 files changed, 44667 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17320-0.txt b/17320-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d4a569 --- /dev/null +++ b/17320-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11058 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 +by Evelyn Baring + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 + +Author: Evelyn Baring + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + + + + + + + + + +POLITICAL AND LITERARY + +ESSAYS + +1908-1913 + + +BY THE + +EARL OF CROMER + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1913 + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MELBOURNE + + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO + + +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. +TORONTO + + + + +PREFACE + + +I have to thank the editors of _The Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly Reviews_, +_The Nineteenth Century and After_, and _The Spectator_ for allowing the +republication of these essays, all of which appeared originally in their +respective columns. + +No important alterations or additions have been made, but I should like +to observe, as regards the first essay of the series--on "The Government +of Subject Races"--that, although only six years have elapsed since it +was written, events in India have moved rapidly during that short +period. I adhere to the opinions expressed in that essay so far as they +go, but it will be obvious to any one who has paid attention to Indian +affairs that, if the subject had to be treated now, many very important +issues, to which I have not alluded, would have to be imported into the +discussion. + +CROMER. + +_September 30, 1913._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW" + +I. THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES 3 +II. TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE 54 + + +"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW" + +III. SIR ALFRED LYALL 77 + + +"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER" + +IV. ARMY REFORM 107 +V. THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE 127 +VI. CHINA 141 +VII. THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT 156 + + +"THE SPECTATOR" + +VIII. DISRAELI 177 +IX. RUSSIAN ROMANCE 204 +X. THE WRITING OF HISTORY 214 +XI. THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY 226 +XII. LORD MILNER AND PARTY 237 +XIII. THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA 250 +XIV. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 264 +XV. WELLINGTONIANA 277 +XVI. BURMA 287 +XVII. A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION 298 +XVIII. THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS 307 +XIX. AN INDIAN IDEALIST 317 +XX. THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA 227 +XXI. ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 340 +XXII. A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER 351 +XXIII. ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL 361 +XXIV. PORTUGUESE SLAVERY 372 +XXV. ENGLAND AND ISLAM 407 +XXVI. SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS 416 +XXVII. THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE 427 +XXVIII. SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL 439 +XXIX. SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY 449 + + INDEX 459 + + + + +"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW" + + + + +I + +THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES[1] + +_"The Edinburgh Review," January 1908_ + + +The "courtly Claudian," as Mr. Hodgkin, in his admirable and instructive +work, calls the poet of the Roman decadence, concluded some lines which +have often been quoted as applicable to the British Empire, with the +dogmatic assertion that no limit could be assigned to the duration of +Roman sway. _Nec terminus unquam Romanae ditionis erit._ At the time +this hazardous prophecy was made, the huge overgrown Roman Empire was +tottering to its fall. Does a similar fate await the British Empire? Are +we so far self-deceived, and are we so incapable of peering into the +future as to be unable to see that many of the steps which now appear +calculated to enhance and to stereotype Anglo-Saxon domination, are but +the precursors of a period of national decay and senility? + +A thorough examination of this vital question would necessarily involve +the treatment of a great variety of subjects. The heart of the British +Empire is to be found in Great Britain. It is not proposed in this place +to deal either with the working of British political institutions, or +with the various important social and economic problems which the actual +condition of England presents, but only with the extremities of the body +politic, and more especially with those where the inhabitants of the +countries under British rule are not of Anglo-Saxon origin. + +What should be the profession of faith of a sound but reasonable +Imperialist? He will not be possessed with any secret desire to see the +whole of Africa or of Asia painted red on the maps. He will entertain +not only a moral dislike, but also a political mistrust of that +excessive earth-hunger, which views with jealous eyes the extension of +other and neighbouring European nations. He will have no fear of +competition. He will believe that, in the treatment of subject races, +the methods of government practised by England, though sometimes open to +legitimate criticism, are superior, morally and economically, to those +of any other foreign nation; and that, strong in the possession and +maintenance of those methods, we shall be able to hold our own against +all competitors. + +On the other hand, he will have no sympathy with those who, as Lord +Cromer said in a recent speech, "are so fearful of Imperial greatness +that they are unwilling that we should accomplish our manifest destiny, +and who would thus have us sink into political insignificance by +refusing the main title which makes us great." + +An Imperial policy must, of course, be carried out with reasonable +prudence, and the principles of government which guide our relations +with whatsoever races are brought under our control must be politically +and economically sound and morally defensible. This is, in fact, the +keystone of the Imperial arch. The main justification of Imperialism is +to be found in the use which is made of the Imperial power. If we make a +good use of our power, we may face the future without fear that we shall +be overtaken by the Nemesis which attended Roman misrule. If the reverse +is the case, the British Empire will deserve to fall, and of a surety it +will ultimately fall. There is truth in the saying, of which perhaps we +sometimes hear rather too much, that the maintenance of the Empire +depends on the sword; but so little does it depend on the sword alone +that if once we have to draw the sword, not merely to suppress some +local effervescence, but to overcome a general upheaval of subject +races goaded to action either by deliberate oppression, which is highly +improbable, or by unintentional misgovernment, which is far more +conceivable, the sword will assuredly be powerless to defend us for +long, and the days of our Imperial rule will be numbered. + +To those who believe that when they rest from their earthly labours +their works will follow them, and that they must account to a Higher +Tribunal for the use or misuse of any powers which may have been +entrusted to them in this world, no further defence of the plea that +Imperialism should rest on a moral basis is required. Those who +entertain no such belief may perhaps be convinced by the argument that, +from a national point of view, a policy based on principles of sound +morality is wiser, inasmuch as it is likely to be more successful, than +one which excludes all considerations save those of cynical +self-interest. There was truth in the commonplace remark made by a +subject of ancient Rome, himself a slave and presumably of Oriental +extraction, that bad government will bring the mightiest empire to +ruin.[2] + +Some advantage may perhaps be derived from inquiring, however briefly +and imperfectly, into the causes which led to the ruin of that +political edifice, which in point of grandeur and extent, is alone +worthy of comparison with the British Empire. The subject has been +treated by many of the most able writers and thinkers whom the world has +produced--Gibbon, Guizot, Mommsen, Milman, Seeley, and others. For +present purposes the classification given by Mr. Hodgkin of the causes +which led to the downfall of the Western Empire has been adopted. They +were six in number, viz.: + +1. The foundation of Constantinople. + +2. Christianity. + +3. Slavery. + +4. The pauperisation of the Roman proletariat. + +5. The destruction of the middle class by the fiscal oppression of the + Curiales. + +6. Barbarous finance. + +1. _The Foundation of Constantinople._--It is, for obvious reasons, +unnecessary to discuss this cause. It was one of special application to +the circumstances of the time, notably to the threatening attitude +towards Rome assumed by the now decadent State of Persia. + +2. _Christianity._--That the foundation of Christianity exercised a +profoundly disintegrating effect on the Roman Empire is unquestionable. +Gibbon, although he possibly confounds the tenets of the new creed with +the defects of its hierarchy, dwells with characteristic emphasis on +this congenial subject.[3] Mr. Hodgkin, speaking of the analogy between +the British present and the Roman past, says: + + The Christian religion is with us no explosive force threatening + the disruption of our most cherished institutions. On the contrary, + it has been said, not as a mere figure of speech, that + "Christianity is part of the common law of England." And even the + bitterest enemies of our religion will scarcely deny that, upon the + whole, a nation imbued with the teaching of the New Testament is + more easy to govern than one which derived its notions of divine + morality from the stories of the dwellers on Olympus. + +From the special point of view now under consideration, the case for +Christianity admits of being even more strongly stated than this, for no +attempt will be made to deal with the principles which should guide the +government of a people imbued with the teaching of the New Testament, +but rather with the subordinate, but still highly important question of +the treatment which a people, presumed to be already imbued with that +teaching, should accord to subject races who are ignorant or irreceptive +of its precepts. From this point of view it may be said that +Christianity, far from being an explosive force, is not merely a +powerful ally. It is an ally without whose assistance continued success +is unattainable. Although dictates of worldly prudence and opportunism +are alone sufficient to ensure the rejection of a policy of official +proselytism, it is none the less true that the code of Christian +morality is the only sure foundation on which the whole of our vast +Imperial fabric can be built if it is to be durable. The stability of +our rule depends to a great extent upon whether the forces acting in +favour of applying the Christian code of morality to subject races are +capable of overcoming those moving in a somewhat opposite direction. We +are inclined to think that our Teutonic veracity and gravity, our +national conscientiousness, our British spirit of fair play, to use the +cant phrase of the day, our free institutions, and our press--which, +although it occasionally shows unpleasant symptoms of sinking beneath +the yoke of special and not highly reputable interests, is still greatly +superior in tone to that of any other nation--are sufficient guarantees +against relapse into the morass of political immorality which +characterised the relations between nation and nation, and notably +between the strong and the weak, even so late as the eighteenth +century.[4] It is to be hoped and believed that, for the time being, +this contention is well founded, but what assurance is there--if the +Book which embodies the code of Christian morality may without +irreverence be quoted--that "that which is done is that which shall be +done"?[5] That is the crucial question. + +There appear to be at present existent in England two different Imperial +schools of thought, which, without being absolutely antagonistic, +represent very opposite principles. One school, which, for want of a +better name, may be styled that of philanthropy, is occasionally tainted +with the zeal which outruns discretion, and with the want of accuracy +which often characterises those whose emotions predominate over their +reason. The violence and want of mental equilibrium at times displayed +by the partisans of this school of thought not infrequently give rise to +misgivings lest the Duke of Wellington should have prophesied truly when +he said, "If you lose India, the House of Commons will lose it for +you."[6] These manifest defects should not, however, blind us to the +fact that the philanthropists and sentimentalists are deeply imbued with +the grave national responsibilities which devolve on England, and with +the lofty aspirations which attach themselves to her civilising and +moralising mission. + +The other is the commercial school. Pitt once said that "British policy +is British trade." The general correctness of this aphorism cannot be +challenged, but, like most aphorisms, it only conveys a portion of the +truth; for the commercial spirit, though eminently beneficent when under +some degree of moral control, may become not merely hurtful, but even +subversive of Imperial dominion, when it is allowed to run riot. +Livingstone said that in five hundred years the only thing the natives +of Africa had learnt from the Portuguese was to distil bad spirits with +the help of an old gun barrel. This is, without doubt, an extreme +case--so extreme, indeed, that even the hardened conscience of +diplomatic Europe was eventually shamed into taking some half-hearted +action in the direction of preventing a whole continent from being +demoralised in order that the distillers and vendors of cheap spirits +might realise large profits. But it would not be difficult to cite other +analogous, though less striking, instances. Occasions are, indeed, not +infrequent when the interests of commerce apparently clash with those of +good government. The word "apparently" is used with intent; for though +some few individuals may acquire a temporary benefit by sacrificing +moral principle on the altar of pecuniary gain, it may confidently be +stated that, in respect to the wider and more lasting benefits of trade, +no real antagonism exists between commercial self-interest and public +morality.[7] + +To be more explicit, what is meant when it is said that the commercial +spirit should be under some control is this--that in dealing with +Indians or Egyptians, or Shilluks, or Zulus, the first question is to +consider what course is most conducive to Indian, Egyptian, Shilluk, or +Zulu interests. We need not always inquire too closely what these +people, who are all, nationally speaking, more or less _in statu +pupillari_, themselves think is best in their own interests, although +this is a point which deserves serious consideration. But it is +essential that each special issue should be decided mainly with +reference to what, by the light of Western knowledge and experience +tempered by local considerations, we conscientiously think is best for +the subject race, without reference to any real or supposed advantage +which may accrue to England as a nation, or--as is more frequently the +case--to the special interests represented by some one or more +influential classes of Englishmen. If the British nation as a whole +persistently bears this principle in mind, and insists sternly on its +application, though we can never create a patriotism akin to that based +on affinity of race or community of language, we may perhaps foster some +sort of cosmopolitan allegiance grounded on the respect always accorded +to superior talents and unselfish conduct, and on the gratitude derived +both from favours conferred and from those to come.[8] There may then at +all events be some hope that the Egyptian will hesitate before he throws +in his lot with any future Arabi The Berberine dweller on the banks of +the Nile may, perhaps, cast no wistful glances back to the time when, +albeit he or his progenitors were oppressed, the oppression came from +the hand of a co-religionist. Even the Central African savage may +eventually learn to chant a hymn in honour of _Astraea Redux_, as +represented by the British official who denies him gin but gives him +justice. More than this, commerce will gain. It must necessarily follow +in the train of civilisation, and, whilst it will speedily droop if that +civilisation is spurious, it will, on the other hand, increase in volume +in direct proportion to the extent to which the true principles of +Western progress are assimilated by the subjects of the British king and +the customers of the British trader. This latter must be taught patience +at the hands, of the statesman and the moralist. It is a somewhat +difficult lesson to learn. The trader not only wishes to acquire wealth; +he not infrequently wishes that its acquisition should be rapid, even at +the expense of morality and of the permanent interests of his country. + + Nam dives qui fieri vult, + Et cito vult fieri. Sed quae reverentia legum, + Quis metus aut pudor est unquam properantis avari?[9] + +This question demands consideration from another point of view. A clever +Frenchman, keenly alive to what he thought was the decadence of his own +nation, published a remarkable book in 1897. He practically admitted +that the Anglophobia so common on the continent of Europe is the outcome +of jealousy.[10] He acknowledged the proved superiority of the +Anglo-Saxon over the Latin races, and he set himself to examine the +causes of that superiority. The general conclusion at which he arrived +was that the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race lay in the fact that its +society, its government, and its habits of thought were eminently +"particularist," as opposed to the "communitarian" principles prevalent +on the continent of Europe. He was probably quite right. It has, indeed, +become a commonplace of English political thought that for centuries +past, from the days of Raleigh to those of Rhodes, the position of +England in the world has been due more to the exertions, to the +resources, and occasionally, perhaps, to the absence of scruple found in +the individual Anglo-Saxon, than to any encouragement or help derived +from British Governments, whether of the Elizabethan, Georgian, or +Victorian type. The principle of relying largely on individual effort +has, in truth, produced marvellous results. It is singularly suited to +develop some of the best qualities of the vigorous, self-assertive +Anglo-Saxon race. It is to be hoped that self-help may long continue to +be our national watchword. + +It is now somewhat the fashion to regard as benighted the school of +thought which was founded two hundred years ago by Du Quesnay and the +French Physiocrates, which reached its zenith in the person of Adam +Smith, and whose influence rapidly declined in England after the great +battle of Free Trade had been fought and won. But whatever may have been +the faults of that school, and however little its philosophy is capable +of affording an answer to many of the complex questions which modern +government and society present, it laid fast hold of one unquestionably +sound principle. It entertained a deep mistrust of Government +interference in the social and economic relations of life. Moreover, it +saw, long before the fact became apparent to the rest of the world, +that, in spite not only of some outward dissimilarities of methods but +even of an instinctive mutual repulsion, despotic bureaucracy was the +natural ally of those communistic principles which the economists deemed +it their main business in life to combat and condemn. Many regard with +some disquietude the frequent concessions which have of late years been +made in England to demands for State interference. Nevertheless, it is +to be hoped that the main principle advocated by the economists still +holds the field, that individualism is not being crushed out of +existence, and that the majority of our countrymen still believe that +State interference--being an evil, although sometimes admittedly a +necessary evil--should be jealously watched and restricted to the +minimum amount absolutely necessary in each special case. + +Attention is drawn to this point in order to show that the observations +which follow are in no degree based on any general desire to exalt the +power of the State at the expense of the individual. + +Our habits of thought, our past history, and our national character all, +therefore, point in the direction of allowing individualism as wide a +scope as possible in the work of national expansion. Hence the career of +the East India Company and the tendency displayed more recently in +Africa to govern through the agency of private companies. On the other +hand, it is greatly to be doubted whether the principles, which a wise +policy would dictate in the treatment of subject races, will receive +their application to so full an extent at the hands of private +individuals as would be the case at the hands of the State. The +guarantee for good government is even less solid where power is +entrusted to a corporate body, for, as Turgot once said, "La morale des +corps les plus scrupuleux ne vaut jamais celle des particuliers +honnêtes."[11] In both cases, public opinion is relatively impotent. In +the case of direct Government action, on the other hand, the views of +those who wish to uphold a high standard of public morality can find +expression in Parliament, and the latter can, if it chooses, oblige the +Government to control its agents and call them to account for unjust, +unwise, or overbearing conduct. More than this, State officials, having +no interests to serve but those of good government, are more likely to +pay regard to the welfare of the subject race than commercial agents, +who must necessarily be hampered in their action by the pecuniary +interests of their employers. + +Our national policy must, of course, be what would be called in statics +the resultant of the various currents of opinion represented in our +national society. Whether Imperialism will continue to rest on a sound +basis depends, therefore, to no small extent, on the degree to which +the moralising elements in the nation can, without injury to all that +is sound and healthy in individualist action, control those defects +which may not improbably spring out of the egotism of the commercial +spirit, if it be subject to no effective check.[12] + +If this problem can be satisfactorily solved, then Christianity, far +from being a disruptive force, as was the case with Rome, will prove one +of the strongest elements of Imperial cohesion. + +3. _Slavery._--It is not necessary to discuss this question, for there +can be no doubt that, in so far as his connexion with subject races is +concerned, the Anglo-Saxon in modern times comes, not to enslave, but to +liberate from slavery. The fact that he does so is, indeed, one of his +best title-deeds to Imperial dominion. + +4. _The Pauperisation of the Roman Proletariat._--This is the _Panem et +Circenses_ policy. Mr. Hodgkin appears to think that in this direction +lies the main danger which threatens the British Empire. + + "Of all the forces," he says, "which were at work for the + destruction of the prosperity of the Roman world, none is more + deserving of the careful study of an English statesman than the + grain-largesses to the populace of Rome.... Will the great + Democracies of the twentieth century resist the temptation to use + political power as a means of material self-enrichment?" + +Possibly Mr. Hodgkin is right. The manner in which the leaders of the +Paris Commune dealt with the rights of property during their disastrous, +but fortunately very brief, period of office in 1871, serves as a +warning of what, in an extreme case, may be expected of despotic +democracy in its most aggravated form. Moreover, misgovernment, and the +fiscal oppression which is the almost necessary accompaniment of +militarism dominant over a poverty-stricken population, have latterly +developed on the continent of Europe, and more especially in Italy, a +school of action--for anarchism can scarcely be dignified by the name of +a school of thought--which regards human life as scarcely more sacred +than property. It may be that some lower depth has yet to be reached, +although it is almost inconceivable that such should be the case. +Anarchy takes us past the stage of any defined political or social +programme. It would appear, so far as can at present be judged, to +embody the last despairing cry of ultra-democracy "Furens." + +It is permissible to hope that our national sobriety, coupled with the +inherited traditions derived from centuries of free government, will +save us from such extreme manifestations of democratic tyranny as those +to which allusion has been made above. The special danger in England +would appear rather to arise from the probability of gradual dry rot, +due to prolonged offence against the infallible and relentless laws of +economic science. Both British employers of labour and British workmen +are insular in their habits of thought, and insular in the range of +their acquired knowledge. They do not appear as yet to be thoroughly +alive to the new position created for British trade by foreign +competition. It is greatly to be hoped that they will awake to the +realities of the situation before any permanent harm is done to British +trade, for the loss of trade involves as its ultimate result the +pauperisation of the proletariat, the adoption of reckless expedients +based on the _Panem et Circenses_ policy to fill the mouths and quell +the voices of the multitude, and finally the suicide of that Empire +which is the offspring of trade, and which can only continue to exist so +long as its parent continues to thrive and to flourish. + +5. _The Destruction of the Middle Class by the Fiscal Oppression of the +Curiales._--Leaving aside points of detail, which were only of special +application to the circumstances of the time, this cause of Roman decay +may, for all purposes of comparison and instruction, be stated in the +following terms: funds, which should have been spent by the +municipalities on local objects, were, from about the close of the third +century, diverted to the Imperial Exchequer, by which they were not +infrequently squandered in such a manner as to confer no benefit of any +kind on the taxpayers, whether local or Imperial. Thus, the system of +local self-government, which, Mr. Hodgkin says, was, during the early +centuries of the Empire, "both in name and fact Republican," was +shattered. + +It does not appear probable that an attempt will ever be made to divert +the public revenues of the outlying dependencies of Great Britain to the +Imperial Exchequer. The lesson taught by the loss of the American +Colonies has sunk deeply into the public mind. Moreover, the example of +Spain stands as a warning to all the world. The principle that local +revenues should be expended locally has become part of the political +creed of Englishmen; neither is it at all likely to be infringed, even +in respect to those dependencies whose rights and privileges are not +safeguarded by self-governing institutions. + +There may, however, be some little danger ahead in a sense exactly +opposite to that which was incurred by Rome--the danger, that is to +say, that, under the pressure of Imperialism, backed by influential +class and personal interests, too large an amount of the Imperial +revenue may be diverted to the outlying dependencies. If this were done, +two evils might not improbably ensue. + +In the first place, the British democracy might become restive under +taxation imposed for objects the utility of which would not perhaps be +fully appreciated, and might therefore be disposed to cast off too +hastily the mantle of Imperialism. It is but a short time ago that an +influential school of politicians persistently dwelt on the theme that +the colonies were a burthen to the Mother Country. Although, for the +time being, views of this sort are out of fashion, no assurance can be +felt that the swing of the pendulum may not bring round another +anti-Imperialist phase of public opinion. + +In the second place, if financial aid to any considerable extent were +afforded by the British Treasury to the outlying dependencies, a serious +risk would be run that this concession would be followed at no distant +period by a plea in favour of financial control from England. The +establishment of this latter principle would strike a blow at one of the +main props on which our Imperial fabric is based. It would tend to +substitute a centralised, in the place of our present decentralised +system. Those who are immediately responsible for the administration of +our outlying dependencies will, therefore, act wisely if they abstain +from asking too readily for Imperial pecuniary aid in order to solve +local difficulties. + +These considerations naturally lead to some reflections on the +principles of government adopted in those dependencies of the Empire, +the inhabitants of which are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. Colonies whose +inhabitants are mainly of British origin stand, of course, on a wholly +different footing. They carry their Anglo-Saxon institutions and habits +of thought with them to their distant homes. + +Englishmen are less imitative than most Europeans in this sense--that +they are less disposed to apply the administrative and political systems +of their own country to the government of backward populations; but in +spite of their relatively high degree of political elasticity, they +cannot shake themselves altogether free from political +conventionalities. Moreover, the experienced minority is constantly +being pressed by the inexperienced majority in the direction of +imitation. Knowing the somewhat excessive degree of adulation which some +sections of the British public are disposed to pay to their special +idol, Lord Dufferin, in 1883, was almost apologetic to his countrymen +for abstaining from an act of political folly. He pleaded strenuously +for delay in the introduction of parliamentary institutions into Egypt, +on the ground that our attempts "to mitigate predominant absolutism" in +India had been slow, hesitating, and tentative. He brought poetic +metaphor to his aid. He deprecated paying too much attention to the +"murmuring leaves," in other words, imagining that the establishment of +a Chamber of Notables implied constitutional freedom, and he exhorted +his countrymen "to seek for the roots," that is to say, to allow each +Egyptian village to elect its own mayor (Sheikh). + +It cannot be too clearly understood that whether we deal with the roots, +or the trunk, or the branches, or the leaves, free institutions in the +full sense of the term must for generations to come be wholly unsuitable +to countries such as India and Egypt. If the use of a metaphor, though +of a less polished type, be allowed, it may be said that it will +probably never be possible to make a Western silk purse out of an +Eastern sow's ear; at all events, if the impossibility of the task be +called in question, it should be recognised that the process of +manufacture will be extremely lengthy and tedious. + +But it is often urged that, although no rational person would wish to +advocate the premature creation of ultra-liberal institutions in +backward countries, at the same time that for several reasons it is +desirable to move gradually in this direction. The adoption of this +method is, it is said, the only way to remedy the evils attendant on a +system of personal government in an extreme form; it enables us to learn +the views of the natives of the country, even although we may not accord +to the latter full power of deciding whether or not those views should +be put in practice; lastly, it constitutes a means of political +education, through the agency of which the subject race will gradually +acquire the qualities necessary to autonomy. + +The force of these arguments cannot be denied, but there should be no +delusion as to the weight which should be attached to them. It has been +very truly remarked by a writer, who has dealt with the idiosyncrasies +of a singularly versatile nation, whose genius presented in every +respect a marked contrast to that of Eastern races, that from the dawn +of history Eastern politics have been "stricken with a fatal +simplicity."[13] Do not let us for one moment imagine that the fatally +simple idea of despotic rule will readily give way to the far more +complex conception of ordered liberty. The transformation, if it ever +takes place at all, will probably be the work, not of generations, but +of centuries. + +So limited is the stock of political ideas in the world that some +modified copy of parliamentary institutions is, without doubt, the only +method which has yet been invented for mitigating the evils attendant on +the personal system of government. But it is a method which is +thoroughly uncongenial to Oriental habits of thought. It may be doubted +whether, by the adoption of this exotic system, we gain any real insight +into native aspirations and opinions. As to the educational process, the +experience of India is not very encouraging. The good government of most +Indian towns depends to this day mainly, not on the Municipal +Commissioners, who are generally natives, but on the influence of the +President, who is usually an Englishman. + +A further consideration in connection with this point is also of some +importance. It is that British officials in Eastern countries should be +encouraged by all possible means to learn the views and the requirements +of the native population. The establishment of mock parliaments tends +rather in the opposite direction, for the official on the spot sees +through the mockery and is not infrequently disposed to abandon any +attempt to ascertain real native opinion, through disgust at the +unreality, crudity, or folly of the views set forth by the putative +representatives of native society. + +For these reasons it is important that, in our well-intentioned +endeavours to impregnate the Oriental mind with our insular habits of +thought, we should proceed with the utmost caution, and that we should +remember that our primary duty is, not to introduce a system which, +under the specious cloak of free institutions, will enable a small +minority of natives to misgovern their countrymen, but to establish one +which will enable the mass of the population to be governed according to +the code of Christian morality. A freely elected Egyptian Parliament, +supposing such a thing to be possible, would not improbably legislate +for the protection of the slave-owner, if not the slave-dealer, and no +assurance can be felt that the electors of Rajputana, if they had their +own way, would not re-establish suttee. Good government has the merit of +presenting a more or less attainable ideal. Before Orientals can attain +anything approaching to the British ideal of self-government they will +have to undergo very numerous transmigrations of political thought. + +The question of local self-government may be considered from another, +and almost equally important point of view. + +When writers such as M. Demolins speak of the "particularist" system of +England and of the "communitarian" system prevalent on the continent of +Europe, they generally mean to contrast the British plan of acting +through the agency of private individuals with the Continental practice +of relying almost entirely on the action of the State. This is the +primary and perhaps the most important signification of the two phrases, +but the principles which these phrases are intended to represent admit +of another application. + +It is difficult for those Englishmen who have not been brought into +business relations with Continental officials to realise the extreme +centralisation of their administrative and diplomatic procedures. The +tendency of every French central authority is to allow no discretionary +power whatever to his subordinate. He wishes, often from a distance, to +control every detail of the administration. The tendency of the +subordinate, on the other hand, is to lean in everything on superior +authority. He does not dare to take any personal responsibility; indeed, +it is possible to go further and say that the corroding action of +bureaucracy renders those who live under its baneful shadow almost +incapable of assuming responsibility. By force of habit and training it +has become irksome to them. They fly for refuge to a superior official, +who, in his turn, if the case at all admits of the adoption of such a +course, hastens to merge his individuality in the voluminous pages of a +code or a Government circular. + +The British official, on the other hand, whether in England or abroad, +is an Englishman first and an official afterwards. He possesses his full +share of national characteristics. He is by inheritance an +individualist. He lives in a society which, so far from being, as is the +case on the Continent, saturated with respect for officialism, is +somewhat prone to regard officialism and incompetency as synonymous +terms. By such association, any bureaucratic tendency which may exist on +the part of the British official is kept in check, whilst his +individualism is subjected to a sustained and healthy course of tonic +treatment. + +Thus, the British system breeds a race of officials who relatively to +those holding analogous posts on the Continent, are disposed to exercise +their central authority in a manner sympathetic to individualism; who, +if they are inclined to err in the sense of over-centralisation, are +often held in check by statesmen imbued with the decentralising spirit; +and who, under these influences, are inclined to accord to local agents +a far wider latitude than those trained in the Continental school of +bureaucracy would consider either safe or desirable. + +On the other hand, looking to the position and attributes of the local +agents themselves, it is singular to observe how the habit of assuming +responsibility, coupled with national predispositions acting in the same +direction, generates and fosters a capacity for the beneficial exercise +of power. This feature is not merely noticeable in comparing British +with Continental officials, but also in contrasting various classes of +Englishmen _inter se_. The most highly centralised of all our English +offices is the War Office. For this reason, and also because a military +life necessarily and rightly engenders a habit of implicit obedience to +orders, soldiers are generally less disposed than civilians to assume +personal responsibility and to act on their own initiative. +Nevertheless, whether in military or civil life, it may be said that the +spirit of decentralisation pervades the whole British administrative +system, and that it has given birth to a class of officials who have +both the desire and the capacity to govern, who constitute what Bacon +called[14] the _Participes curarum_, namely, "those upon whom Princes +doe discharge the greatest weight of their affaires," and who are +instruments of incomparable value in the execution of a policy of +Imperialism. + +The method of exercising the central control under the British system +calls for some further remarks. It varies greatly in different +localities. + +Under the Indian system a council of experts is attached to the +Secretary of State in England. A good authority on this subject says[15] +that there can be no question of the advantage of this system. + + No man, however experienced and laborious, could properly direct + and control the various interests of so vast an Empire, unless he + were aided by men with knowledge of different parts of the country, + and possessing an intimate acquaintance with the different and + complicated subjects involved in the government and welfare of so + many incongruous races. + +On the assumption that India is to be governed from London, there can be +no doubt of the validity of this argument. But, as has been frequently +pointed out,[16] this system tends inevitably towards +over-centralisation, and if the British Government is to continue to +exercise a sort of πανκρατορία to use an expressive Greek phrase, over a +number of outlying dependencies of very various types, +over-centralisation is a danger which should be carefully shunned. It is +wiser to obtain local knowledge from those on the spot, rather than from +those whose local experience must necessarily diminish in value in +direct proportion to the length of the period during which they have +been absent from the special locality, and who, moreover, are under a +strong temptation, after they leave the dependency, to exercise a +detailed control over their successors. It is greatly to be doubted, +therefore, whether, should the occasion arise, this portion of the +Indian system is deserving of reproduction. + +There is, however, another portion of that system which is in every +respect admirable, and the creation of which bears the impress of that +keen political insight which, according to many Continental authorities, +is the birthright of the Anglo-Saxon race. India is governed locally by +a council composed mainly of officials who have passed their adult lives +in the country; but the Viceroy, and occasionally the legal and +financial members of Council, are sent from England and are usually +chosen by reason of their general qualifications, rather than on account +of any special knowledge of Indian affairs. This system avoids the +dangers consequent on over-centralisation, whilst at the same time it +associates with the administration of the country some individuals who +are personally imbued with the general principles of government which +are favoured by the central authority. Its tendency is to correct the +defect from which the officials employed in the outlying portions of the +Empire are most likely to suffer, namely, that of magnifying the +importance of some local event or consideration, and of unduly +neglecting arguments based on considerations of wider Imperial import. +It enhances the idea of proportion, which is one of the main qualities +necessary to any politician or governing body. Long attention to one +subject, or group of subjects, is apt to narrow the vision of +specialists. The adjunct of an element, which is not Anglo-Indian, to +the Indian Government acts as a corrective to this evil. The members of +the Government who are sent from England, if they have no local +experience, are at all events exempt from local prejudices. They bring +to bear on the questions which come before them a wide general knowledge +and, in many cases, the liberal spirit and vigorous common sense which +are acquired in the course of an English parliamentary career. + +It may be added, as a matter of important detail, that it would be +desirable, in order to give continuity to Indian policy, to select young +men to fill the place of Viceroy, and to extend the period of office +from five to seven, or even to ten years. + +Although over-centralisation is to be avoided, a certain amount of +control from a central authority is not only unavoidable; if properly +exercised, it is most beneficial. One danger to which the local agent +is exposed is that, being ill-informed of circumstances lying outside +his range of political vision, he may lose sight of the general +principles which guide the policy of the Empire; he may treat subjects +of local interest in a manner calculated to damage, or even to +jeopardise, Imperial interests. The central authority is in a position +to obviate any danger arising from this cause. To ensure the harmonious +working of the different parts of the machine, the central authority +should endeavour, so far as is possible, to realise the circumstances +attendant on the government of the dependency; whilst the local agent +should be constantly on the watch lest he should overrate the importance +of some local issue, or fail to appreciate fully the difficulties which +beset the action of the central authority. + +To sum up all that there is to be said on this branch of the subject, it +may be hoped that the fate which befell Rome, in so far as it was due to +the special causes of decay now under consideration, may be averted by +close adherence to two important principles. The first of these +principles is that local revenues should be expended locally. The second +is that over-centralisation should above all things be avoided. This may +be done either by the creation of self-governing institutions in those +dependencies whose civilisation is sufficiently advanced to justify the +adoption of this course; or by decentralising the executive Government +in cases where self-government, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, +is impossible or undesirable. + +6. _Barbarous Finance._--Mr. Hodgkin says that the system of Imperial +taxation under the Roman Empire was "wasteful, oppressive, and in a +word, barbarous." He gives, as an instance in point, the Roman +Indiction. This was the name given to the system under which the taxable +value of the land throughout the Empire was reassessed every fifteen +years. At each reassessment, Mr. Hodgkin says, "the few who had +prospered found themselves assessed on the higher value which their +lands had acquired, while the many who were sinking down into poverty +obtained, it is to be feared, but little relief from taxation on account +of the higher rate which was charged to all." + +It is somewhat unpleasant to reflect that the system which Mr. Hodgkin +so strongly condemns, and which he even regards as one of the causes of +the downfall of the Roman Empire, is--save in respect to the intervals +of periodical reassessment--very similar to that which exists everywhere +in India, except in the province of Bengal, where the rights conferred +on the zemindars under Lord Cornwallis's Permanent Settlement are still +respected in spite of occasional unwise suggestions that time and the +fall in the value of the rupee have obliterated any moral obligations to +maintain them. Nor are the results obtained in India altogether +dissimilar from those observable under Roman rule. The knowledge that +reassessment was imminent has, it is believed, often discouraged the +outlay of private capital on improving the land. More than this, it is +notorious that, at one time, some provinces suffered greatly from the +mistakes made by the settlement officers. These latter were animated +with the best intentions, but, in spite of their marked ability--for +they were all specially selected men--they often found the task +entrusted to them impossible of execution. Unfortunately political or +administrative errors cannot be condoned by reason of good intentions. +Like the Greeks of old, the natives of India suffer from the mistakes of +their rulers. + +The intentions of the British, as compared with the Roman Government +are, however, noteworthy from one point of view, inasmuch as from a +correct appreciation of those intentions it is possible to evolve a +principle perhaps in some degree calculated to avert the consequences +which befell Rome, partly by reason of fiscal errors. + +In spite of some high-sounding commonplaces which were at times +enunciated by Roman lawgivers and statesmen, and in which a ring of +utilitarian philosophy is to be recognised,[17] and of the further fact +that, as in the case of Verres, a check was sometimes applied to the +excesses of local Governors, it is almost certainly true that the rulers +of Rome did not habitually act on the recognition of any very strong +moral obligation binding on the Imperial Government in its treatment of +subject races. The merits of any fiscal system were probably judged +mainly from the point of view of the amount of funds which it poured +into the Treasury. The fiscal principles on which the Emperors of Rome +acted survived long after the fall of the Roman Empire. They deserve the +epithet of "barbarous" which Mr. Hodgkin has bestowed upon them. + +The point of departure of the British Government is altogether +different. Its intentions are admirable. Every farthing which has been +spent--and, it may be feared, often wasted--on the numerous military +expeditions in which the Government of India has been engaged during the +last century would, in the eyes of many, certainly be considered as +expenditure incurred on objects which were of paramount interest to the +Indian taxpayers. Moreover, a whole category of British legislation +connected with fiscal matters has been undertaken, not so much with a +view to increase the revenue as with the object of distributing the +burthen of taxation equally amongst the different classes of society. +Much of this legislation has been perfectly justifiable and even +beneficial. Nevertheless, it should never be forgotten that it is +generally based on the purely Western principle that abstract justice is +in itself a desirable thing to attain, and that a fiscal or +administrative system stands condemned if it is wanting in symmetry. It +was against any extreme application of this principle that Burke +directed some of his most forcible diatribes.[18] It has been already +pointed out that the commendable want of intellectual symmetry which is +the inherited possession of the Englishman gives him a very great +advantage as an Imperialist agent over those trained in the rigid and +bureaucratic school of Continental Europe. But the Englishman is a +Western, albeit an Anglo-Saxon Western, and, from the point of view of +all processes of reasoning, the gulf which separates any one member of +the European family from another is infinitely less wide than that which +divides all Westerns from all Orientals. Even the Englishman, therefore, +is constrained--sometimes much against his will--to bow down in that +temple of Logic, the existence of which the Oriental is disposed +altogether to ignore. Indeed, sometimes the choice lies between the +enforcement on the reluctant Oriental of principles based on +logic--occasionally on the very simple science of arithmetic--or +abandoning the work of civilisation altogether. From this point of view, +the dangers to which the British Empire is exposed by reason of fiscal +measures are due not, as was the case with Rome, to barbarous, but +rather to ultra-scientific finance. The following is a case in point. + +The land-tax has always been the principal source from which Oriental +potentates have derived their revenues. For all practical purposes it +may be said that the system which they have adopted has generally been +to take as much from the cultivators as they could get. Reformers, such +as the Emperor Akbar, have at times endeavoured to introduce more +enlightened methods of taxation, and to carry into practice the +theories upon which the fiscal system in all Moslem countries is based. +Those theories are by no means so objectionable as is often supposed. +But the reforms which some few capable rulers attempted to introduce +have almost always crumbled away under the régime of their +successors.[19] In practice, the only limit to the demands of the ruler +of an Oriental State has been the ability of the taxpayers to satisfy +them.[20] The only defence of the taxpayers has lain in the concealment +of their incomes at the risk of being tortured till they divulged their +amount. + +Nevertheless, even under such a system as this, the wind is tempered to +the shorn lamb by the fact that Oriental rulers recognise that they +cannot get money from a man who possesses none. If, from drought or +other causes, the cultivator raises no crop, he is not required to pay +any land-tax. The idea of expropriation for the non-payment of taxes is +purely Western and modern. Under Roman law, it was the rule in contracts +for rent that a tenant was not bound to pay if any _vis major_ prevented +him from reaping. + +The European system is very different. A far less heavy demand is made +on the cultivator, but he is, at all events in principle and sometimes +in practice, called upon to meet it in good and bad years alike. He is +expected to save in years of plenty in order to make good the deficit in +lean years. If he is unable to pay, he is liable to be expropriated, and +he often is expropriated. This plan is just, logical, and very Western. +It may be questioned whether Oriental cultivators do not sometimes +rather prefer the oppression and elasticity of the Eastern to the +justice and rigidity of the Western system. + +Various palliatives have been adopted in India with a view to giving +some elasticity to the working of the Land Revenue system. In Egypt, +where the administration is much less Anglicised than in India, and +where, for various reasons, the treatment of this subject presents +relatively fewer difficulties, it is the practice now, as was the case +under purely native rule, to remit the taxes on what is known as +_Sharaki_ lands, that is to say, land which, owing to a low Nile, has +not been irrigated. It is not, however, necessary to dwell on the +details of this subject. It will be sufficient to draw attention to the +different points of view from which the Eastern and the Western approach +the subject of fiscal administration. The latter urges with unanswerable +logic that financial equilibrium must be maintained, and that he cannot +frame a trustworthy Budget unless he knows the amount he may count on +receiving from direct taxes, especially from the land-tax. The Eastern +replies that he knows nothing of either financial equilibrium or of +budgets, that it has, indeed, from time immemorial been the custom to +leave him nought but a bare pittance when he had money, but to refrain +from any endeavours to extort money from him when he had none. + +Another instance drawn, not from the practices of fiscal administration, +but from legislation on a cognate subject, may be cited. + +Directly Western civilisation comes in contact with a backward Oriental +Society, the relations between debtor and creditor are entirely changed. +A social revolution is effected. The Western applies his code with stern +and ruthless logic. The child-like Eastern, on the other hand, cannot be +made to understand that his house should be sold over his head because +he affixed his seal to a document, which, very probably, he had never +read, or, at all events, had never fully understood, and which was +presented to him by a man at one time apparently animated with +benevolent intentions, inasmuch as he wished to lend him money, but who +subsequently showed his malevolence by asking to be repaid his loan with +interest at an exorbitant rate. + +Here, again, many palliatives have been suggested and some have been +applied, but many of them sin against the economic law, which provides +that legislation intended to protect a man against the consequences of +his own folly or improvidence is generally unproductive of result. + +In truth, no thoroughly effective remedy can be applied in cases such as +those mentioned above, without abandoning all real attempt at progress. +Civilisation must, unfortunately, have its victims, amongst whom are to +some extent inevitably numbered those who do not recognise the paramount +necessities of the Budget system, and those who contract debts with an +inadequate appreciation of the _caveat emptor_ principle. Nevertheless, +the Western financier will act wisely if, casting aside some portion of +his Western habit of thought, he recognises the facts with which he has +to deal, and if, fully appreciating the intimate connection between +finance and politics in an Eastern country, he endeavours, so far as is +possible, to temper the clean-cut science of his fiscal measures in such +a manner as to suit the customs and intellectual standard of the subject +race with which he has to deal. + +The question of the amount of taxation levied stands apart from the +method of its imposition. It may be laid down as a principle of +universal application that high taxation is incompatible with assured +stability of Imperial rule.[21] + +The financier and the hydraulic engineer, who is a powerful ally of the +financier, have probably a greater potentiality of creating an +artificial and self-interested loyalty than even the judge. The reasons +are obvious. In the first place, the number of criminals, or even of +civil litigants, in any society is limited; whereas practically the +whole population consists of taxpayers. In the second place, the +arbitrary methods of administering justice practised by Oriental rulers +do not shock their subjects nearly so much as Europeans are often +disposed to think. Custom has made it in them a property of easiness. +They often, indeed, fail to appreciate the intentions, and are disposed +to resent the methods, of those whose object it is to establish justice +in the law-courts. On the other hand, the most ignorant Egyptian fellah +or Indian ryot can understand the difference between a Government which +takes nine-tenths of his crop in the shape of land-tax, and one which +only takes one-third or one-fourth. He can realise that he is better off +if the water is allowed to flow periodically on to his fields, than he +was when the influential landowner, who possessed a property up-stream +on the canal, made a dam and prevented him from getting any water at +all. + +These principles would probably meet with general acceptance from all +who have considered the question of Imperial rule. They are, indeed, +almost commonplace. Unfortunately, in practice the necessity of +conforming to them is often forgotten. India is the great instance in +point. Englishmen are often so convinced that the natives of India ought +to be loyal, they hear so much said of their loyalty, they appreciate so +little the causes which are at work to produce disloyalty, and, in spite +of occasional mistakes due to errors of judgment, they are in reality so +earnestly desirous of doing what they consider, sometimes perhaps +erroneously, their duty towards the native population, that they are apt +to lose sight of the fact that the self-interest of the subject race is +the principal basis of the whole Imperial fabric. They forget, whilst +they are adding to the upper story of the house, that the foundations +may give way. + +This is not the place to enter into any lengthy discussion upon Indian +affairs. It may be said, however, that the Indian history of the last +few years certainly gives cause for some anxiety. Attention was at one +time too exclusively paid to frontier policy, which constitutes only +one, and that not the most important, element of the complex Indian +problem. + +That the policy of "masterly inactivity," to use the phrase +epigrammatically, but perhaps somewhat incorrectly, applied to the line +of action advocated by Lord Lawrence in 1869, required some +modifications as the onward movement of Russia in Asia developed, will +scarcely be contested by the most devoted of Lawrentian partisans and +followers. That those modifications were wisely introduced is a +proposition the truth of which it is difficult to admit. The portion of +Lord Lawrence's programme which was necessarily temporary, inasmuch as +it depended on the circumstances of the time, was rejected without +taking sufficient account of the further and far more important portion +which was of permanent application. This latter portion was defined in +an historic and oft-quoted despatch which he indited on the eve of his +departure from India, and which may be regarded as his political +testament. In this despatch, Lord Lawrence, speaking with all the +authority due to a lifelong acquaintance with Indian affairs, laid down +the broad general principle that the strongest security of our rule lay +"in the contentment, if not in the attachment, of the masses."[22] The +truth of this general principle was at one time too much neglected. +Under the influence of a predominant militarism acting on too pliant +politicians, vast military expenditure was incurred. Territory lying +outside the natural geographical frontier of India was occupied, the +acquisition of which was condemned not merely by sound policy, but also +by sound strategy. Taxation was increased, and, generally, the material +interests of the natives of India were sacrificed and British Imperial +rule exposed to subsequent danger, in order to satisfy the exigencies of +a school of soldier-politicians who only saw one, and that the most +technical, aspect of a very wide and complex question. + +Neither, unfortunately, is there any sure guarantee that the mistakes, +which it is now almost universally admitted were made, will not recur. +Where, indeed, are we to look for any effective check? The rulers of +India, whether they sit in Calcutta or London, may again be carried away +by the partial views of an influential class, or of a few masterful +individuals. It is absurd to speak of creating free institutions in +India to control the Indian Government. Experience has shown that +parliamentary action in England not infrequently degenerates into +acrimonious discussion and recrimination dictated by party passion; in +any case, it is generally too late to change the course of events. Still +less reliance can be placed on the action of the British Press, which +falls a ready victim to the specious arguments advanced by some +strategical pseudo-Imperialist in high position, or by some fervent +acolyte who has learnt at the feet of his master the fatal and facile +lesson of how an Empire, built up by statesmen, may be wrecked by the +well-intentioned but mistaken measures recommended by specialists to +ensure Imperial salvation. The managers of the London newspapers afford, +indeed, be it said to their credit, every facility for the publication +of views adverse to those which they themselves advocate. But it is none +the less true that, during the years when the unwise frontier policy of +a few years ago was being planned and executed, the voices of the +opposition, although they were those of Indian statesmen and officials +who could speak with the highest authority, failed to obtain an adequate +hearing until the evil was irremediable. On the other hand, the views of +the strategical specialists went abroad over the land, with the result +that ill-informed and careless public opinion followed their advice +without having any very precise idea of whither it was being led. + +It would appear, therefore, that there is need for great care and +watchfulness in the management of Indian affairs. That same +inconsistency of character and absence of definite aim, which are such +notable Anglo-Saxon qualities and which adapt themselves so admirably to +the requirements of Imperial rule, may in some respects constitute an +additional danger. If we are not to adopt a policy based on securing the +contentment of the subject race by ministering to their material +interests, we must of necessity make a distinct approach to the +counter-policy of governing by the sword alone. In that case, it would +be as well not to allow a free native Press, or to encourage high +education. Any repressive or retrograde measures in either of these +directions would, without doubt, meet with strong and, to a great +extent, reasonable opposition in England. A large section of the public, +forgetful of the fact that they had stood passively by whilst measures, +such as the imposition of increased taxes, which the natives of India +really resent, were adopted, would protest loudly against the adoption +of other measures which are, indeed, open to objection, but which +nevertheless touch Oriental in a far less degree than they affect +Western public feeling. The result of this inconsistency is that our +present system rather tends to turn out demagogues from our colleges, to +give them every facility for sowing their subversive views broadcast +over the land, and at the same time to prepare the ground for the +reception of the seed which they sow. Now this is the very reverse of a +sound Imperial policy. We cannot, it is true, effectually prevent the +manufacture of demagogues without adopting measures which would render +us false to our acknowledged principles of government and to our +civilising mission. But we may govern in such a manner as to give the +demagogue no fulcrum with which to move his credulous and ill-informed +countrymen and co-religionists. The leading principle of a government of +this nature should be that low taxation is the most potent instrument +with which to conjure discontent. This is the policy which will tend +more than any other to the stability of Imperial rule. If it is to be +adopted, two elements of British society will have to be kept in check +at the hands of the statesman acting in concert with the moralist. These +are Militarism and Commercial Egotism. The Empire depends in a great +degree on the strength and efficiency of its army. It thrives on its +commerce. But if the soldier and the trader are not kept under some +degree of statesmanlike control, they are capable of becoming the most +formidable, though unconscious, enemies of the British Empire. + +It will be seen, therefore, that though there are some disquieting +circumstances attendant on our Imperial rule, the general result of an +examination into the causes which led to the collapse of Roman power, +and a comparison of those causes with the principles on which the +British Empire is governed, are, on the whole, encouraging. To every +danger which threatens there is a safeguard. To every portion of the +body politic in which symptoms of disease may occur, it is possible to +apply a remedy. + +Christianity is our most powerful ally. We are the sworn enemies of the +slave-dealer and the slave-owner. The dangers arising from the possible +pauperisation of the proletariat may, it is to be hoped, be averted by +our national character and by the natural play of our time-honoured +institutions. If we adhere steadily to the principle that local revenues +are to be expended locally, and if, at the same time, we give all +reasonable encouragement to local self-government and shun any tendency +towards over-centralisation, we shall steer clear of one of the rocks on +which the Roman ship of state was wrecked. Unskilful or unwise finance +is our greatest danger, but here again the remedy lies ready to hand if +we are wise enough to avail ourselves of it. It consists in adapting our +fiscal methods to the requirements of our subject races, and still more +in the steadfast rejection of any proposals which, by rendering high +taxation inevitable, will infringe the cardinal principle on which a +sound Imperial policy should be based. That principle is that, whilst +the sword should be always ready for use, it should be kept in reserve +for great emergencies, and that we should endeavour to find, in the +contentment of the subject race, a more worthy and, it may be hoped, a +stronger bond of union between the rulers and the ruled. + +If any more sweeping generalisation than this is required, it may be +said that the whole, or nearly the whole, of the essential points of a +sound Imperial policy admit of being embodied in this one statement, +that, whilst steadily avoiding any movement in the direction of official +proselytism, our relations with the various races who are subjects of +the King of England should be founded on the granite rock of the +Christian moral code. + + Humanity, as it passes through phase after phase of the historical + movement, may advance indefinitely in excellence; but its advance + will be an indefinite approximation to the Christian type. A + divergence from that type, to whatever extent it may take place, + will not be progress, but debasement and corruption. In a moral + point of view, in short, the world may abandon Christianity, but + can never advance beyond it. This is not a matter of authority, or + even of revelation. If it is true, it is a matter of reason as much + as anything in the world.[23] + +[Footnote 1: _Italy and Her Invaders_. Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L. Oxford: +Clarendon Press, 1892.] + +[Footnote 2: Male imperando summum imperium amittitur.--PUBLIUS +SYRUS.] + +[Footnote 3: _Decline and Fall_, chap. xx.] + +[Footnote 4: Any one who wishes to gain an insight into the fundamental +principles which governed those relations cannot do better than read the +opening chapters of Sorel's _L'Europe et la Révolution Française_.] + +[Footnote 5: Ecclesiastes i. 9.] + +[Footnote 6: _Life and Letters of Sir James Graham_, vol. ii. p. 328.] + +[Footnote 7: Lord Farrer says: "It is the privilege of honourable trade +that, like mercy, it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and +him that takes; each of its dealings is of necessity a benefit to both +parties. But traders and speculators are not always the most scrupulous +of mankind. Their dealings with savage and half-civilised nations too +often betray sharp practice, sometimes violence and wrong. The persons +who carry on our trade on the outskirts of civilisation are not +distinguished by a special appreciation of the rights of others, nor are +the speculators, who are attracted by the enormous profits to be made by +precarious investments in half-civilised countries, people in whose +hands we should desire to place the fortunes or reputation of our +country. When a difficulty arises between ourselves and one of the +weaker nations, these are the persons whose voice is most loudly raised +for acts of violence, of aggression, or of revenge."--_The State in its +Relation to Trade_, p. 177.] + +[Footnote 8: It should never be forgotten that, in Oriental countries, +whatever good is done to the masses is necessarily purchased at the +expense of incurring the resentment of the ruling classes, who abused +the power they formerly possessed. Seeley (_Expansion of England_, p. +320) says with great truth: "It would be very rash to assume that any +gratitude, which may have been aroused here and there by our +administration, can be more than sufficient to counterbalance the +discontent which we have excited among those whom we have ousted from +authority and influence."] + +[Footnote 9: Juvenal, xiv. 176-8.] + +[Footnote 10: "La supériorité des Anglo-Saxons! Si on ne la proclame +pas, on la subit et on la redoute; les craintes, les méfiances et +parfois les haines que soulève l'Anglais l'attestent assez haut.... + +"Nous ne pouvons faire un pas à travers le monde, sans rencontrer +l'Anglais. Nous ne pouvons jeter les yeux sur nos anciennes possessions, +sans y voir flotter le pavilion anglais." _A Quoi tient la Supériorité +des Anglo-Saxons?_--Demolins. This work, as well as another on much the +same subject (_L'Europa giovane_, by Guglielmo Ferrero), were reviewed +in the _Edinburgh Review_ for January 1898.] + +[Footnote 11: _Vie de Turgot_, i. 47. In the debate on the India Act in +1858, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, whose views were generally +distinguished for their moderation, said: "I do most confidently +maintain that no civilised Government ever existed on the face of this +earth which was more corrupt, more perfidious, and more capricious than +the East India Company was from 1758 to 1784, when it was placed under +Parliamentary control."] + +[Footnote 12: "It still remains true that there is a large body of +public opinion in England which carries into all politics a sound moral +sense, and which places a just and righteous policy higher than any mere +party interest. It is on the power and pressure of this opinion that the +high character of English government must ultimately depend."--_Map of +Life_, Lecky, p. 184. It will be a matter for surprise if the +ultra-bureaucratic spirit, coupled with a somewhat pronounced degree of +commercial egotism, do not prove the two rocks on which German colonial +enterprise will be eventually shipwrecked.] + +[Footnote 13: Butcher, _Some Aspects of the Greek Genius_, p. 27.] + +[Footnote 14: _Essays_. "Of Honour and Reputation."] + +[Footnote 15: _Sir Charles Wood's Administration of Indian Affairs, +1859-66._ West. 1867. Sir Algernon West was Private Secretary to Sir +Charles Wood, afterwards Lord Halifax, who was the first Secretary of +State for India appointed after the passing of the India Act of 1858, +and, therefore, inaugurated the new system.] + +[Footnote 16: See, _inter alia_, Chesney's _Indian Polity_, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 17: Perhaps the best-known example is "Salus populi suprema +lex esto," a maxim which, as Selden has pointed out (_Table Talk_, +ciii.), is very frequently misapplied. See also the advice given by the +Emperor Claudius to the Parthian Mithridates (Tacitus, _Ann._ xii. 11).] + +[Footnote 18: "The idea of forcing everything to an artificial equality +has something, at first view, very captivating in it. It has all the +appearance imaginable of justice and good order; and very many persons, +without any sort of partial purposes, have been led to adopt such +schemes, and to pursue them with great earnestness and warmth. Though I +have no doubt that the minute, laborious, and very expensive _cadastre_, +which was made by the King of Sardinia, has done no sort of good, and +that after all his pains a few years will restore all things to their +first inequality, yet it has been the admiration of half the reforming +financiers of Europe; I mean the official financiers, as well as the +speculative."--_Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis_, ii. 126.] + +[Footnote 19: Mill, _History of British India_, vi. 433.] + +[Footnote 20: Elphinstone, _History of India_, p. 77.] + +[Footnote 21: Lord Lawrence said: "Light taxation is, in my mind, the +panacea for foreign rule in India." Bosworth Smith, _Life of Lord +Lawrence_, vol. ii. p. 497.] + +[Footnote 22: The essential portions of this despatch, in so far as the +purposes of the present argument are concerned, are given in Sir Richard +Temple's work (p. 185), and in Bosworth Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, +vol. ii. p. 186.] + +[Footnote 23: Goldwin Smith, _Lectures on the Study of History_, p. +154.] + + + + +II + +TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE + +_"The Edinburgh Review," July 1913_ + + +When Emerson said "We like everything to do its office, whether it be a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake," he assumed, perhaps somewhat too hastily in +the latter case, that all the world understands the functions which a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake is called upon to perform. No one can doubt +that the office of a translator is to translate, but a wide difference +of opinion may exist, and, in fact, has always existed, as to the +latitude which he may allow himself in translating. Is he to adhere +rigidly to a literal rendering of the original text, or is paraphrase +permissible, and, if permissible, within what limits may it be adopted? +In deciding which of these courses to pursue, the translator stands +between Scylla and Charybdis. If he departs too widely from the precise +words of the text, he incurs the blame of the purist, who will accuse +him of foisting language on the original author which the latter never +employed, with the possible result that even the ideas or sentiments +which it had been intended to convey have been disfigured. If, on the +other hand, he renders word for word, he will often find, more +especially if his translation be in verse, that in a cacophonous attempt +to force the genius of one language into an unnatural channel, the whole +of the beauty and even, possibly, some of the real meaning of the +original have been allowed to evaporate. Dr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, in an +instructive article on Translation contributed to the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_ quotes the high authority of Dryden as to the course which +should be followed in the execution of an ideal translation. + + A translator (Dryden writes) that would write with any force or + spirit of an original must never dwell on the words of his author. + He ought to possess himself entirely, and perfectly comprehend the + genius and sense of his author, the nature of the subject, and the + terms of the art or subject treated of; and then he will express + himself as justly, and with as much life, as if he wrote an + original; whereas he who copies word for word loses all the spirit + in the tedious transfusion. + +In the application of Dryden's canon a distinction has to be made +between prose and verse. The composition of good prose, which Coleridge +described as "words in the right order," is, indeed, of the utmost +importance for all the purposes of the historian, the writer on +philosophy, or the orator. An example of the manner in which fine prose +can bring to the mind a vivid conception of a striking event is Jeremy +Collier's description of Cranmer's death, which excited the enthusiastic +admiration of Mr. Gladstone.[24] He seemed [Collier wrote] "to repel the +force of the fire and to overlook the torture, by strength of thought." +Nevertheless, the main object of the prose writer, and still more of the +orator, should be to state his facts or to prove his case. Cato laid +down the very sound principle "rem tene, verba sequentur," and +Quintilian held that "no speaker, when important interests are involved, +should be very solicitous about his words." It is true that this +principle is one that has been more often honoured in the breach than +the observance. Lucian, in his _Lexiphanes_,[25] directs the shafts of +his keen satire against the meticulous attention to phraseology +practised by his contemporaries. Cardinal Bembo sacrificed substance to +form to the extent of advising young men not to read St. Paul for fear +that their style should be injured, and Professor Saintsbury[26] +mentions the case of a French author, Paul de Saint-Victor, who "used, +when sitting down to write, to put words that had struck his fancy at +intervals over the sheet, and write his matter in and up to them." These +are instances of that word-worship run mad which has not infrequently +led to dire results, inasmuch as it has tended to engender the belief +that statesmanship is synonymous with fine writing or perfervid oratory. +The oratory in which Demosthenes excelled, Professor Bury says,[27] "was +one of the curses of Greek politics." + +The attention paid by the ancients to what may be termed tricks of style +has probably in some degree enhanced the difficulties of prose +translation. It may not always be easy in a foreign language to +reproduce the subtle linguistic shades of Demosthenic oratory--the +Anaphora (repetition of the same word at the beginning of co-ordinate +sentences following one another), the Anastrophe (the final word of a +sentence repeated at the beginning of one immediately following), the +Polysyndeton (the same conjunction repeated), or the Epidiorthosis (the +correction of an expression). Nevertheless, in dealing with a prose +composition, the weight of the arguments, the lucidity with which the +facts are set forth, and the force with which the conclusions are driven +home, rank, or should rank, in the mind of the reader higher than any +feelings which are derived from the music of the words or the skilful +order in which they are arranged. Moreover, in prose more frequently +than in verse, it is the beauty of the idea expressed which attracts +rather than the language in which it is clothed. Thus, for instance, +there can be no difficulty in translating the celebrated metaphor of +Pericles[28] that "the loss of the youth of the city was as if the +spring was taken out of the year," because the beauty of the idea can in +no way suffer by presenting it in English, French, or German rather than +in the original Greek. Again, to quote another instance from Latin, the +fine epitaph to St. Ovinus in Ely Cathedral: "Lucem tuam Ovino da, Deus, +et requiem," loses nothing of its terse pathos by being rendered into +English. Occasionally, indeed, the truth is forced upon us that even in +prose "a thing may be well said once but cannot be well said twice" (τὸ +καλῶς εἰπεῖν ἅπαξ περιγίγνεται, δὶς δὲ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται), but this is +generally because the genius of one language lends itself with special +ease to some singularly felicitous and often epigrammatic form of +expression which is almost or sometimes even quite untranslatable. Who, +for instance, would dare to translate into English the following +description which the Duchesse de Dino[29] gave of a lady of her +acquaintance: "Elle n'a jamais été jolie, mais elle était blanche et +fraîche, _avec quelques jolis détails"_? On the whole, however, it may +be said that if the prose translator is thoroughly well acquainted with +both of the languages which he has to handle, he ought to be able to pay +adequate homage to the genius of the one without offering undue violence +to that of the other. + +The case of the translator of poetry, which Coleridge defined as "the +best words in the best order," is manifestly very different. A phrase +which is harmonious or pregnant with fire in one language may become +discordant, flat, and vapid when translated into another. Shelley spoke +of "the vanity of translation." "It were as wise (he said) to cast a +violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of +its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into +another the creations of a poet." + +Longinus has told us[30] that "beautiful words are the very light of +thought" (φῶς γὰρ τῷ ὄντι ἴδιον τοῦ νοῦ τὰ καλὰ ὀνόματα), but it will +often happen, in reading a fine passage, that on analysing the +sentiments evoked, it is difficult to decide whether they are due to +the thought or to the beauty of the words. A mere word, as in the case +of Edgar Poe's "Nevermore," has at times inspired a poet. When Keats, +speaking of Melancholy, says: + + She lives with Beauty--Beauty that must die-- + And Joy, whose hand is ever on his lips, + Bidding adieu, + +or when Mrs. Browning writes: + + ... Young + As Eve with Nature's daybreak on her face, + +the pleasure, both of sense and sentiment, is in each case derived alike +from the music of the language and the beauty of the ideas. But in such +lines as + + Arethusa arose from her couch of snows, etc., + +or Coleridge's description of the river Alph running + + Through caverns measureless to man + Down to a sunless sea, + +it is the language rather than the idea which fascinates. Professor +Walker, speaking of the most exquisitely harmonious lyric ever written +in English, or perhaps in any other language,[31] says with great truth: +"The reader of _Lycidas_ rises from it ready to grasp the 'two-handed +engine' and smite; though he may be doubtful what the engine is, and +what is to be smitten." + +It may be observed, moreover, that one of the main difficulties to be +encountered in translating some of the masterpieces of ancient +literature arises from their exquisite simplicity. Although the +indulgence in glaring improprieties of language in the pursuit of +novelty of thought was not altogether unknown to the ancients, and was, +indeed, stigmatised by Longinus with the epithet of "corybantising,"[32] +the full development of this pernicious practice has been reserved for +the modern world. Dryden made himself indirectly responsible for a good +deal of bad poetry when he said that great wits were allied to madness. +The late Professor Butcher,[33] as also Lamb in his essay on "The Sanity +of True Genius," have both pointed out that genius and high ability are +eminently sane. + +In some respects it may be said that didactic poetry affords special +facilities to the translator, inasmuch as it bears a more close relation +to prose than verse of other descriptions. Didactic poets, such as +Lucretius and Pope, are almost forced by the inexorable necessities of +their subjects to think in prose. However much we may admire their +verse, it is impossible not to perceive that, in dealing with subjects +that require great precision of thought, they have felt themselves +hampered by the necessities of metre and rhythm. They may, indeed, +resort to blank verse, which is a sort of half-way house between prose +and rhyme, as was done by Mr. Leonard in his excellent translation of +Empedocles, of which the following specimen may be given: + + οὐκ ἔστιν πελάσασθαι ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἐφεκτὸν + ἡμετέροις ἢ χερσὶ λαβεῖν, ᾗπερ τε μεγίστη + πειθοῦς ἀνθρώποισιν ἁμαξιτὸς εἰς φρένα πίπτει. + + We may not bring It near us with our eyes, + We may not grasp It with our human hands. + With neither hands nor eyes, those highways twain, + Whereby Belief drops into the minds of men. + +But Dr. Symmons, one of the numerous translators of Virgil, said, with +some truth, that the adoption of blank verse only involves "a laborious +and doubtful struggle to escape from the fangs of prose."[34] + +A good example of what can be done in this branch of literature is +furnished by Dryden. Lucretius[35] wrote: + + Tu vero dubitabis et indignabere obire? + Mortua cui vita est prope iam vivo atque videnti, + Qui somno partem maiorem conteris aevi, + Et vigilans stertis nec somnia cernere cessas + Sollicitamque geris cassa formidine mentem + Nec reperire potes tibi quid sit saepe mali, cum + Ebrius urgeris multis miser undique curis, + Atque animi incerto fluitans errore vagaris. + +Dryden's translation departs but slightly from the original text and at +the same time presents the ideas of Lucretius in rhythmical and +melodious English: + + And thou, dost thou disdain to yield thy breath, + Whose very life is little more than death? + More than one-half by lazy sleep possest, + And when awake, thy soul but nods at best, + Day-dreams and sickly thoughts revolving in thy breast. + Eternal troubles haunt thy anxious mind, + Whose cause and case thou never hopest to find, + But still uncertain, with thyself at strife, + Thou wanderest in the labyrinth of life. + +Descriptive poetry also lends itself with comparative ease to +translation. Nothing can be better than the translation made by Mr. +Gladstone[36] of _Iliad_ iv. 422-32. The original Greek runs thus: + + ὡς δ' ὅτ' ἐν αἰγιαλῷ πολυηχέι· κῦμα θαλάσσης + ὄρνυτ' ἐπασσύτερον Ζεφύρου ὕπο κινήσαντος· + πόντῳ μέν τε πρῶτα κορύσσεται, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα + χέρσῳ ῥηγνύμενον μεγάλα βρέμει, ἀμφὶ δέ τ' ἄκρας + κυρτὸν ἐὸν κορυφοῦται, ἀποπτύει δ' ἁλὸς ἄχνην· + ὧς τότ' ἐπασσύτεραι Δαναῶν κίνυντο φάλαγγες + νωλεμέως πόλεμόνδε. κέλευε δὲ οἷσιν ἕκαστος + ἡγεμόνων· οἱ δ' ἄλλοι ἀκὴν ἴσαν, οὐδέ κε φαίης + τόσσον λαὸν ἕπεσθαι ἔχοντ' ἐν στήθεσιν αὐδήν, + σιγῇ, δειδιότες σημάντορας· ἀμφὶ δὲ πᾶσι + τεύχεα ποικίλ' ἔλαμπε, τὰ εἱμένοι ἐστιχόωντο. + +Mr. Gladstone, who evidently drew his inspiration from the author of +"Marmion" and "The Lady of the Lake," translated as follows: + + As when the billow gathers fast + With slow and sullen roar, + Beneath the keen north-western blast, + Against the sounding shore. + First far at sea it rears its crest, + Then bursts upon the beach; + Or with proud arch and swelling breast, + Where headlands outward reach, + It smites their strength, and bellowing flings + Its silver foam afar-- + So stern and thick the Danaan kings + And soldiers marched to war. + Each leader gave his men the word, + Each warrior deep in silence heard, + So mute they marched, them couldst not ken + They were a mass of speaking men; + And as they strode in martial might + Their flickering arms shot back the light. + +It is, however, in dealing with poetry which is neither didactic nor +descriptive that the difficulty--indeed often the impossibility--of +reconciling the genius of the two languages becomes most apparent. It +may be said with truth that the best way of ascertaining how a fine or +luminous idea can be presented in any particular language is to set +aside altogether the idea of translation, and to inquire how some master +in the particular language has presented the case without reference to +the utterances of his predecessors in other languages. A good example of +this process may be found in comparing the language in which others have +treated Vauvenargues' well-known saying: "Pour exécuter de grandes +choses, il faut vivre comme si on ne devait jamais mourir." +Bacchylides[37] put the same idea in the following words: + + θνατὸν εὖντα χρὴ διδύμους ἀέξειν + γνώμας, ὅτι τ' αὔριον ὄψεαι + μοῦνον ἁλίου φάος, + χὥτι πεντήκοντ' ἔτεα + ζωὰν βαθύπλουτον τελεῖς.[38] + +And the great Arab poet Abu'l'Ala, whose verse has been admirably +translated by Mr. Baerlein, wrote: + + If you will do some deed before you die, + Remember not this caravan of death, + But have belief that every little breath + Will stay with you for an eternity. + +Another instance of the same kind, which may be cited without in any way +wishing to advance what Professor Courthope[39] very justly calls "the +mean charge of plagiarism," is Tennyson's line, "His honour rooted in +dishonour stood." Euripides[40] expressed the same idea in the following +words: + + ἐκ τῶν γὰρ αἰσχρῶν ἐσθλὰ μηχανώμεθα. + +To cite another case, the following lines of _Paradise Lost_ may be +compared with the treatment accorded by Euripides to the same subject: + + Oh, why did God, + Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven + With spirits masculine, create at last + This novelty on Earth, this fair defect + Of Nature, and not fill the World at once + With men as Angels, without feminine; + Or find some other way to generate + Mankind? + +Euripides wrote: + + ὦ Ζεῦ, τί δὴ κίβδηλον ἀνθρώποις κακόν, + γυναῖκας ἐς φῶς ἡλίου κατῴκισας; + εἰ γὰρ βρότειον ἤθελες σπεῖραι γένος, + οὐκ ἐκ γυναικῶν χρῆν παρασχέσθαι τόδε.[41] + +Apart, however, from the process to which allusion is made above, very +many instances may, of course, be cited, of translations properly so +called which have reproduced not merely the exact sense but the vigour +of the original idea in a foreign language with little or no resort to +paraphrase. What can be better than Cowley's translation of Claudian's +lines?-- + + Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum + Aequaevumque videt consenuisse nemus. + + A neighbouring wood born with himself he sees, + And loves his old contemporary trees, + +thus, as Gibbon says,[42] improving on the original, inasmuch as, being +a good botanist, Cowley "concealed the oaks under a more general +expression." + +Take also the case of the well-known Latin epigram: + + Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi; + Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui. + +It has frequently been translated, but never more felicitously or +accurately than by the late Lord Wensleydale: + + Be epigrams like bees; let them have stings; + And Honey too, and let them be small things. + +On the other hand, the attempt to adhere too closely to the text of the +original and to reject paraphrase sometimes leads to results which can +scarcely be described as other than the reverse of felicitous. An +instance in point is Sappho's lines: + + καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει, + αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ', ἄλλα δώσει, + αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει + κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα. + +So great a master of verse as Mr. Headlam translated thus: + + The pursued shall soon be the pursuer! + Gifts, though now refusing, yet shall bring + Love the lover yet, and woo the wooer, + Though heart it wring! + +Many of Mr. Headlam's translations are, however, excellent, more +especially those from English into Greek. He says in his preface: +"Greek, in my experience, is easier to write than English." He has +admirably reproduced the pathetic simplicity of Herrick's lines: + + Here a pretty baby lies, + Sung to sleep with Lullabies; + Pray be silent and not stir + The easy earth that covers her. + + μήτηρ βαυκαλόωσά μ' ἐκοίμισεν· ἀτρέμα βαῖνε + μὴ 'γείρῃς κούφην γῆν μ' ἐπιεσσόμενον. + +Many singularly happy attempts to render English into Latin or Greek +verse are given in Mr. Kennedy's fascinating little volume _Between +Whiles_, of which the following example may be quoted: + + Few the words that I have spoken; + True love's words are ever few; + Yet by many a speechless token + Hath my heart discoursed to you. + + οἶδα παῦρ' ἔπη λαλήσας· παῦρ' ἔρως λαλεῖν φιλεῖ· + ξυμβόλοις δ' ὅμως ἀναύδοις σοὶ τὸ πᾶν ᾐνιξάμην. + +The extent to which it is necessary to resort to paraphrase will, of +course, vary greatly, and will largely depend upon whether the language +into which the translation is made happens to furnish epithets and +expressions which are rhythmical and at the same time correspond +accurately to those of the original. Take, for instance, a case such as +the following fragment of Euripides: + + τὰ μὲν διδακτὰ μανθάνω, τὰ δ' εὑρετὰ + ζητῶ, τὰ δ' εὐκτὰ παρὰ θεῶν ᾐτησάμην. + +There is but little difficulty in turning this into English verse with +but slight resort to paraphrase: + + I learn what may be taught; + I seek what may be sought; + My other wants I dare + To ask from Heaven in prayer, + +But in a large majority of cases paraphrase is almost imposed on the +translator by the necessities of the case. Mr. William Cory's rendering +of the famous verses of Callimachus on his friend Heraclitus, which is +too well known to need quotation, has been justly admired as one of the +best and most poetic translations ever made from Greek, but it can +scarcely be called a translation in the sense in which that term is +employed by purists. It is a paraphrase. + +It is needless to dwell on the difficulty of finding any suitable words +capable of being adapted to the necessities of English metre and rhythm +for the numerous and highly poetic adjectives in which the Greek +language abounds. It would tax the ingenuity of any translator to weave +into his verse expressions corresponding to the ἁλιερκέες ὄχθαι +(sea-constraining cliffs) or the Μναμοσύνας λιπαράμπυκος (Mnemosyne of +the shining fillet) of Pindar. Neither is the difficulty wholly confined +to poetry. A good many epithets have from time to time been applied to +the Nile, but none so graphic or so perfectly accurate as that employed +by Herodotus,[43] who uses the phrase ὑπὸ τοσούτου τε ποταμοῦ καὶ οὕτω +ἐργατικοῦ. The English translation "that vast river, so constantly at +work" is a poor equivalent for the original Greek. German possesses to a +greater degree than any other modern language the word-coining power +which was such a marked characteristic of Greek, with the result that it +offers special difficulties to the translator of verse. Mr. Brandes[44] +quotes the following lines of the German poet Bücher: + + Welche Heldenfreudigkeit der Liebe, + Welche Stärke muthigen Entsagens, + Welche himmlisch erdentschwungene Triebe, + Welche Gottbegeistrung des Ertragens! + Welche Sich-Erhebung, Sich-Erwiedrung, + Sich-Entäussrung, völl'ge Hin-sich-gebung, + Seelenaustausch, Ineinanderlebung! + +It is probable that these lines have never been translated into English +verse, and it is obvious that no translation, which did not largely +consist of paraphrase, would be possible. + +Alliteration, which is a powerful literary instrument in the hands of a +skilful writer, but which may easily be allowed to degenerate into a +mere jingle, is of less common occurrence in Greek than in English, +notably early English, literature. It was, however, occasionally +employed by both poets and dramatists. Euripides, for instance, in the +_Cyclops_ (l. 120) makes use of the following expression, which would +serve as a good motto for an Anarchist club, ἀκούει δ' οὐδὲν οὐδεὶς +οὐδενός. Clytemnestra, also, in speaking of the murder of her husband +(_Ag._ 1551-52) says: + + πρὸς ἡμῶν + κάππεσε, κάτθανε, καὶ καταθάψομεν.[45] + +That Greek alliteration is capable of imitation is shown by Pope's +translation of the well-known line[46]: + + πολλὰ δ' ἄναντα κάταντα πάραντά τε δόχμιὰ τ' ἦλθον· + + O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks, they go. + +Pope at times brought alliteration to his aid in cases where no such +device had been adopted by Homer, as when, in describing the labours of +Sisyphus,[47] he wrote: + + With many a weary step, and many a groan, + Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone. + +On the whole, although a good deal more than is contained in this +article may be said on either side, it would appear that, broadly +speaking, Dryden's principle holds good for prose translations, and that +experience has shown, in respect to translations in verse, that, save in +rare instances, a resort to paraphrase is necessary. + +The writer ventures, in conclusion, to give two instances, in one of +which there has been comparatively but slight departure from the text of +the original Greek, whilst in the other there has been greater +indulgence in paraphrase. Both are taken from the Anthology. The first +is an epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor by an unknown author: + + Ναυτίλε, μὴ πεύθου τίνος ἐνθάδε τύμβος ὅδ' εἰμί, + ἀλλ' αὐτὸς πόντου τύγχανε χρηστοτέρου. + + No matter who I was; but may the sea + To you prove kindlier than it was to me. + +The other is by Macedonius: + + Αὔριον ἀθρήσω σε· τὸ δ' οὔ ποτε γίνεται ἡμῖν + ἠθάδος ἀμβολίης αἰὲν ἀεξομένης· + ταῦτά μοι ἱμείροντι χαρίζεαι, ἄλλα δ' ἐς ἄλλους + δῶρα φέρεις, ἐμεθέν πίστιν ἀπειπαμένη. + ὄψομαι ἑσπερίη σε. τί δ' ἕσπερός έστι γυναικῶν; + γῆρας ἀμετρήτῳ πληθόμενον ῥυτίδι. + + Ever "To-morrow" thou dost say; + When will to-morrow's sun arise? + Thus custom ratifies delay; + My faithfulness thou dost despise. + Others are welcomed, whilst to me + "At even come," thou say'st, "not now." + What will life's evening bring to thee? + Old age--a many-wrinkled brow. + +Dryden's well-known lines in _Aurengzebe_ embody the idea of Macedonius +in epigrammatic and felicitous verse: + + Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay, + To-morrow's falser than the former day. + +[Footnote 24: Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 467.] + +[Footnote 25: Weise, 1841, vol. ii. p. 303.] + +[Footnote 26: _Loci Critici_, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 27: _History of Greece_, vol. ii. p. 326.] + +[Footnote 28: The use by Pericles of this metaphor rests on the +authority of Aristotle (_Rhet._ i. 7. 34). Herodotus (vii. 162) ascribes +almost the identical words to Gelo, and a similar idea is given by +Euripides in _Supp._ 447-49.] + +[Footnote 29: _Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 328.] + +[Footnote 30: _On the Sublime_, xxx.] + +[Footnote 31: _Literature of the Victorian Era_, p. 382.] + +[Footnote 32: _On the Sublime_, c. v.] + +[Footnote 33: Aristotle's _Theory of Poetry and Fine Art_, p. 398.] + +[Footnote 34: _Miscellaneous Writings_, Conington, vol. i. p. 162.] + +[Footnote 35: iii. 1045 ff.] + +[Footnote 36: Mr. Gladstone's merits as a translator were great. His +Latin translation of Toplady's hymn "Rock of Ages," beginning "Jesus, +pro me perforatus," is altogether admirable.] + +[Footnote 37: _Od._ iii. 78-82.] + +[Footnote 38: "As a mortal, thou must nourish each of two +forebodings--that to-morrow's sunlight will be the last that thou shalt +see: and that for fifty years thou wilt live out thy life in ample +wealth."] + +[Footnote 39: _History of English Poetry_, iii., 394.] + +[Footnote 40: _Hipp._ 331.] + +[Footnote 41: "Great Zeus, why didst thou, to man's sorrow, put woman, +evil counterfeit, to dwell where shines the sun? If thou wert minded +that the human race should multiply, it was not from women they should +have drawn their stock."--_Hipp._ 616-19.] + +[Footnote 42: _Decline and Fall_, v. 185.] + +[Footnote 43: Book ii. c. 11.] + +[Footnote 44: _Eighteenth Century Literature_, vol. vi. p. 331.] + +[Footnote 45: "By us he fell, he died, and we will bury him."] + +[Footnote 46: _Il._ xxiii. 116.] + +[Footnote 47: _Od._ xi. 733.] + + + + +"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW" + + + + +III + +SIR ALFRED LYALL + +_"Quarterly Review," July 1913_ + + +After reading and admiring Sir Mortimer Durand's life of Alfred Lyall, I +am tempted to exclaim in the words of Shenstone's exquisite inscription, +which has always seemed to me about the best thing that Shenstone ever +wrote, "Heu quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!" +He was one of my oldest and best of friends. More than this, although +our characters differed widely, and although I should never for a moment +think of rating my intellectual attainments on a par with his, at the +same time I may say that in the course of a long life I do not think +that I have ever been brought in contact with any one with whom I found +myself in more thorough community of opinion and sentiment upon the +sundry and manifold questions which excited our common interest. He was +a strong Unionist, a strong Free Trader, and a strong anti-suffragist. +I am, for good or evil, all these things. He was a sincere Liberal in +the non-party sense of that very elastic word. So was I. That is to say, +there was a time when we both thought ourselves good mid-Victorian +Liberals--a school of politicians whose ideas have now been swept into +the limbo of forgotten things, the only surviving principles of that age +being apparently those associated with a faint and somewhat fantastic +cult of the primrose. In 1866 he wrote to his sister--and I cannot but +smile on reading the letter--"I am more and more Radical every year"; +and he expressed regret that circumstances did not permit of his setting +up as "a fierce demagogue" in England. I could have conscientiously +written in much the same spirit at the same period, but it has not taken +me nearly half a century to discover that two persons more unfitted by +nature and temperament to be "fierce demagogues" than Alfred Lyall and +myself were probably never born. In respect to the Indian political +questions which were current during his day--such as the controversy +between the Lawrentian and "Forward" schools of frontier policy, the +Curzon-Kitchener episode, and the adaptation of Western reforms to meet +the growing requirements to which education has given birth--his views, +although perhaps rather in my opinion unduly pessimistic and +desponding, were generally identical with my own. + +Albeit he was an earnest reformer, he was a warm advocate of strong and +capable government, and, in writing to our common friend, Lord Morley, +in 1882, he anathematised what he considered the weakness shown by the +Gladstone Government in dealing with disorder in Ireland. Himself not +only the kindest, but also the most just and judicially-minded of men, +he feared that a maudlin and misplaced sentimentalism would destroy the +more virile elements in the national character. "I should like," he +said, in words which must not, of course, be taken too literally, "a +little more fierceness and honest brutality in the national +temperament." His heart went out, in a manner which is only possible to +those who have watched them closely at work, to those Englishmen, +whether soldiers or civilians, who, but little known and even at times +depreciated by their own countrymen, are carrying the fame, the glory, +the justice and humanity of England to the four quarters of the globe. + + The roving Englishman (he said) is the salt of English land.... + Only those who go out of this civilised country, to see the rough + work on the frontiers and in the far lands, properly understand + what our men are like and can do.... They cannot manage a + steam-engine, but they can drive restive and ill-trained horses + over rough roads. + +He felt--and as one who has humbly dabbled in literature at the close of +an active political life, I can fully sympathise with him--that "when +one has once taken a hand in the world's affairs, literature is like +rowing in a picturesque reach of the Thames after a bout in the open +sea." Yet, in the case of Lyall, literature was not a matter of mere +academic interest. "His incessant study was history." He thought, with +Lord Acton, that an historical student should be "a politician with his +face turned backwards." His mind was eminently objective. He was for +ever seeking to know the causes of things; and though far too observant +to push to extreme lengths analogies between the past and the present, +he nevertheless sought, notably in the history of Imperial Rome, for any +facts or commentaries gleaned from ancient times which might be of +service to the modern empire of which he was so justly proud, and in the +foundation of which the splendid service of which he was an illustrious +member had played so conspicuous a part. "I wonder," he wrote in 1901, +"how far the Roman Empire profited by high education." + +Lyall was by nature a poet. Sir Mortimer Durand says, truly enough, that +his volume of verses, "if not great poetry, as some hold, was yet true +poetry." Poetic expressions, in fact, bubbled up in his mind almost +unconsciously in dealing with every incident of his life. Lord Tennyson +tells us in his _Memoir_ that one evening, when his father and mother +were rowing across the Solent, they saw a heron. His father described +this incident in the following language: "One dark heron flew over the +sea, backed by a daffodil sky." Similarly, Lyall, writing with the +enthusiasm of a young father for his firstborn, said: "The child has +eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon, with wondrous depth of intelligent +gaze." But, though a poet, it would be a great error to suppose that +Lyall was an idealist, if by that term is meant one who, after a +platonic fashion, indulges in ideas which are wholly visionary and +unpractical. He had, indeed, ideals. No man of his imagination and +mental calibre could be without them. But they were ideals based on a +solid foundation of facts. It was here that, in spite of some sympathy +based on common literary tastes, he altogether parted company from a +brother poet, Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, who has invariably left his facts to +take care of themselves. Though eminently meditative and reflective, +Lyall's mind, his biographer says, "seemed always hungry for facts." +"Though he had an unusual degree of imagination, he never allowed +himself to be tempted too far from the region of the known or the +knowable." The reason why he at times appeared to vacillate was that he +did not consider he sufficiently understood all the facts to justify his +forming an opinion capable of satisfying his somewhat hypercritical +judgment. He was, in fact, very difficult to convince of the truth of an +opinion, not because of his prejudices, for he had none, but by reason +of his constitutional scepticism. He acted throughout life on the +principle laid down by the Greek philosopher Epicharmus: "Be sober, and +remember to disbelieve. These are the sinews of the mind." I have been +informed on unimpeachable authority that when he was a member of the +Treasury Committee which sat on the question of providing facilities for +the study of Oriental languages in this country, he constantly asked the +witnesses whom he examined leading questions from which it might rather +be inferred that he held opinions diametrically opposed to those which +in reality he entertained. His sole object was to arrive at a sound +conclusion. He wished to elicit all possible objections to any views to +which he was personally inclined. It is very probable that his Oriental +experience led him to adopt this procedure; for, as any one who has +lived much in the East will recognise, it is the only possible safeguard +against the illusions which may arise from the common Oriental habit of +endeavouring to say what is pleasant to the interrogator, especially if +he occupies some position of authority. + +Only half-reconciled, in the first instance, to Indian exile, and, when +once he had taken the final step of departure, constantly brooding over +the intellectual attractions rather than the material comforts of +European life, Lyall speedily came to the conclusion that, if he was to +bear a hand in governing India, the first thing he had to do was to +understand Indians. He therefore brought his acutely analytical +intellect to the task of comprehending the Indian habit of thought. In +the course of his researches he displayed that thoroughness and +passionate love of truth which was the distinguishing feature of his +character throughout life. That he succeeded in a manner which has been +surpassed by none, and only faintly rivalled by a very few, is now +generally recognised both by his own countrymen and also--which is far +more remarkable--by the inhabitants of the country which formed the +subject of his study. So far as it is possible for any Western to +achieve that very difficult task, he may be said to have got to the back +of the Oriental mind. He embodied the results of his long experience at +times in sweeping and profound generalisations, which covered the whole +field of Oriental thought and action, and at others in pithy +epigrammatic sayings in which the racy humour, sometimes tinged with a +shade of cynical irony, never obscured the deep feeling of sympathy he +entertained for everything that was worthy of respect and admiration. + +Lyall had read history to some purpose. He knew, in the words which +Gregorovius applied to the rule of Theodosius in Italy, that "not even +the wisest and most humane of princes, if he be an alien in race, in +customs and religion, can ever win the hearts of the people." He had +read De Tocqueville, and from the pages of an author whose habit of +thought must have been most congenial to him, he drew the conclusion +that "it was the increased prosperity and enlightenment of the French +people which produced the grand crash." He therefore thought that "the +wildest, as well as the shallowest notion of all is that universally +prevalent belief that education, civilisation and increased material +prosperity will reconcile the people of India eventually to our rule." +Hence he was prepared to accept--perhaps rather more entirely than it +deserved to be accepted--the statement of that very astute Brahmin, Sir +Dinkur Rao, himself the minister of an important native State, that "the +natives prefer a bad native Government to our best patent institutions." +These, and similar oracular statements, have now become the commonplaces +of all who deal with questions affecting India. That there is much +truth in them cannot be gainsaid, but they are still often too much +ignored by one section of the British public, who, carried away by +home-made sentiment, forget that of all national virtues gratitude for +favours received is the most rare, while by another section they are +applied to the advocacy of a degree of autonomous rule which would be +disastrous to the interests, not only of India itself, but also to the +cause of all real civilised progress. + +The point, however, on which in conversation Lyall was wont to insist +most strongly was that the West was almost incomprehensible to the East, +and, _vice versa_, that the Western could never thoroughly understand +the Oriental. In point of fact, when we talk of progress, it is +necessary to fix some standard by which progress may be measured. We +know our Western standard; we endeavour to enforce it; and we are so +convinced that it gives an accurate measure of human moral and material +advancement that we experience a shock on hearing that there are large +numbers of even highly educated human beings who hold that the standard +is altogether false. Yet that, Lyall would argue, is generally the +Oriental frame of mind. Fatalism, natural conservatism and ignorance +lead the uneducated to reject our ideas, while the highly educated often +hold that our standard of progress is too material to be a true +measure, and that consequently, far from advancing, we are standing +still or even retrograding. Lyall, personifying a Brahmin, said, +"Politics I cannot help regarding as the superficial aspect of deeper +problems; and for progress, the latest incarnation of European +materialism, I have an incurable distrust." These subtle intellectuals, +in fact, as Surendranath Banerjee, one of the leaders of the Swadeshi +movement, told Dr. Wegener,[48] hold that the English are "stupid and +ignorant," and, therefore, wholly unfit to govern India. + +I remember Lyall, who, as Sir Mortimer Durand says, had a very keen +sense of humour, telling me an anecdote which is what Bacon would have +called "luciferous," as an illustration of the views held by the +uneducated classes in India on the subject of Western reforms. The +officer in charge of a district either in Bengal or the North-West +Provinces got up a cattle-show, with a view to improving the breed of +cattle. Shortly afterwards, an Englishman, whilst out shooting, entered +into conversation with a peasant who happened to be passing by. He asked +the man what he thought of the cattle-show, and added that he supposed +it had done a great deal of good. "Yes," the native, who was probably a +Moslem, replied after some reflection, "last year there was cholera. +This year there was Cattle Show. We have to bear these afflictions with +what patience we may. Are they not all sent by God?" + +But it was naturally the opinions entertained by the intellectual +classes which most interested Lyall, and which he endeavoured to +interpret to his countrymen. The East is asymmetrical in all things. I +remember Lyall saying to me, "Accuracy is abhorrent to the Oriental +mind." The West, on the other hand, delights beyond all things in +symmetry and accuracy. Moreover, it would almost seem as if in the most +trivial incidents in life some unseen influence generally impels the +Eastern to do the exact opposite to the Western--a point, I may observe, +which Lyall was never tired of illustrating by all kinds of quaint +examples. A shepherd in Perthshire will walk behind his sheep and drive +them. In the Deccan he will walk in front of his flock. A European will +generally place his umbrella point downwards against the wall. An +Oriental will, with far greater reason, do exactly the reverse. + +But, in respect to the main question of mutual comprehension, there are, +at all events in so far as the European is concerned, degrees of +difficulty--degrees which depend very largely on religious differences, +for in the theocratic East religion covers the whole social and +political field to a far greater extent than in the West. Now, the +religion of the Moslem is, comparatively speaking, very easy to +understand. There are, indeed, a few ritualistic and other minor points +as to which a Western may at times have some difficulty in grasping the +Oriental point of view. But the foundations of monotheistic Islam are +simplicity itself; indeed, it may be said that they are far more simple +than those of Christianity. The case of the Hindu religion is very +different. Dr. Barth in his _Religions of India_ says: + + Already in the Veda, Hindu thought is profoundly tainted with the + malady, of which it will never be able to get rid, of affecting a + greater air of mystery the less there is to conceal, of making a + parade of symbols which at bottom signify nothing, and of playing + with enigmas which are not worth the trouble of trying to + unriddle.... At the present time it is next to impossible to say + exactly what Hinduism is, where it begins, and where it ends. + +I cannot profess to express any valuable opinion on a subject on which I +am very imperfectly informed, and which, save as a matter of political +necessity, fails to interest me--for, personally, I think that a book of +the _Iliad_ or a play of Aristophanes is far more valuable than all the +lucubrations that have ever been spun by the subtle minds of learned +Hindu Pundits--but, so far as I am able to judge, Dr. Barth's +description is quite accurate. None the less, the importance to the +Indian politician of gaining some insight into the inner recesses of the +Hindu mind cannot for a moment be doubted. Lyall said, "I fancy that the +Hindu philosophy, which teaches that everything we see or feel is a vast +cosmic illusion, projected into space by that which is the manifestation +of the infinite and unconscious spirit, has an unsettling effect on +their political beliefs." Lyall, therefore, rendered a very great +political service to his countrymen when he took in hand the duty of +expounding to them the true nature of Hindu religious belief. He did the +work very thoroughly. Passing lightly by the "windy moralities" of +Brahmo Somaj teachers of the type of Keshub Chunder Sen, whom he left to +"drifting Deans such as Stanley and Alford," he grasped the full +significance of true orthodox Brahmanism, and under the pseudonym of +Vamadeo Shastri wrote an essay which has "become a classic for the +student of comparative religion, and for all who desire to know, in +particular, the religious mind of the Hindu." In the course of his +enquiries Lyall incidentally performed the useful historical service of +showing that Euhemerism is, or very recently was, a living force in +India,[49] and that the solar myth theory supported by Max Müller and +others had, to say the least, been pushed much too far. + +I turn to another point. All who were brought in contact with Lyall +speedily recognised his social charm and high intellectual gifts, but +was he a man of action? Did he possess the qualifications necessary to +those who take part in the government of the outlying dominions of the +Empire? I have often been asked that question. It is one to which Sir +Mortimer Durand frequently reverts, his general conclusion being that +Lyall was "a man of action with literary tastes." I will endeavour +briefly to express my own opinion on this subject. + +There have been many cases of notable men of action who were also +students. Napier said that no example can be shown in history of a great +general who was not also a well-read man. But Lyall was more than a mere +student. He was a thinker, and a very deep thinker, not merely on +political but also on social and religious subjects. There may be some +parallel in the history of our own or of other countries to the peculiar +combination of thought and action which characterised Lyall's career, +but for the moment none which meets all the necessary requirements +occurs to me. The case is, I think, almost if not quite unique. That +Lyall had a warm admiration for men of action is abundantly clear. His +enthusiasm on their behalf comes out in every stanza of his poetry, and, +when any suitable occasion offered, in every line of his prose. He +eulogised the strong man who ruled and acted, and he reserved a very +special note of sympathy for those who sacrificed their lives for their +country. Shortly before his own death he spoke in terms of warm +admiration of Mr. Newbolt's fine lines: + + Qui procul hinc--the legend's writ, + The frontier grave is far away-- + Qui ante diem periit + Sed miles, sed pro patriâ. + +But he shared these views with many thinkers who, like Carlyle, have +formed their opinions in their studies. The fact that he entertained +them does not help us to answer the question whether he can or cannot be +himself classed in the category of men of action. + +As a young man he took a distinguished part in the suppression of the +Mutiny, and showed courage and decision of character in all his acts. He +was a good, though not perhaps an exceptionally good administrator. His +horror of disorder in any form led him to approve without hesitation the +adoption of strong measures for its suppression. On the occasion of the +punishment administered to those guilty of the Manipur massacres in +1891, he wrote to Sir Mortimer Durand, "I do most heartily admire the +justice and firmness of purpose displayed in executing the Senapati. I +hope there will be no interference, in my absence, from the India +Office." On the whole, the verdict passed by Lord George Hamilton is, I +believe, eminently correct, and is entirely in accordance with my own +experience. Lord George, who had excellent opportunities for forming a +sound opinion on the subject, wrote: + + Great as were Lyall's literary attributes and powers of initiation + and construction, his critical faculties were even more fully + developed. This made him at times somewhat difficult to deal with, + for he was very critical and cautious in the tendering of advice as + regards any new policy or any suggested change. When once he could + see his way through difficulties, or came to the conclusion that + those difficulties must be faced, then his caution and critical + instincts disappeared, and he was prepared to be as bold in the + prosecution of what he advocated as he had previously been + reluctant to start. + +The mental attitude which Lord George Hamilton thus describes is by no +means uncommon in the case of very conscientious and brilliantly +intellectual men, such, for instance, as the late Lord Goschen, who +possessed many characteristics in common with Lyall. They can cite, in +justification of their procedure, the authority of one who was probably +the greatest man of action that the world has ever produced. Roederer +relates in his journal that on one occasion Napoleon said to him: + + Il n'y a pas un homme plus pusillanime que moi quand je fais un + plan militaire; je me grossis tous les dangers et tous les maux + possibles dans les circonstances; je suis dans une agitation tout à + fait pénible; je suis comme une fille qui accouche. Et quand ma + résolution est prise, tout est oublié, hors ce qui peut la faire + réussir. + +Within reasonable limits, caution is, indeed, altogether commendable. On +the other hand, it cannot be doubted that, carried to excess, it is at +times apt to paralyse all effective and timely action, to disqualify +those who exercise it from being pilots possessed of sufficient daring +to steer the ship of state in troublous times, and to exclude them from +the category of men of action in the sense in which that term is +generally used. In spite of my great affection for Alfred Lyall, I am +forced to admit that, in his case, caution was, I think, at times +carried to excess. He never appeared to me to realise sufficiently that +the conduct of public affairs, notably in this democratic age, is at +best a very rough unscientific process; that it is occasionally +necessary to make a choice of evils or to act on imperfect evidence; and +that at times, to quote the words which I remember Lord Northbrook once +used to me, it is even better to have a wrong opinion than to have no +definite opinion at all. So early as 1868, he wrote to his mother, +"There are many topics on which I have not definitely discovered what I +do think"; and to the day of his death he very generally maintained in +respect to current politics the frame of mind set forth in this very +characteristic utterance. Every general has to risk the loss of a +battle, and every active politician has at times to run the risk of +making a wrong forecast. Before running that risk, Lyall was generally +inclined to exhaust the chances of error to an extent which was often +impossible, or at all events hurtful. + +Sir Mortimer Durand refers to the history of the Ilbert Bill, a measure +under which Lord Ripon's Government proposed to give native magistrates +jurisdiction over Europeans in certain circumstances. I was at the time +(1882-83) Financial Member of the Viceroy's Council. After a lapse of +thirty years, there can, I think, be no objection to my stating my +recollections of what occurred in connexion with this subject. I should, +in the first instance, mention that the association of Mr. (now Sir +Courtenay) Ilbert's name with this measure was purely accidental. He had +nothing to do with its initiation. The proposals, which were eventually +embodied in the Bill, originated with Sir Ashley Eden, who was +Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and who certainly could not be accused of +any wish to neglect European opinion, or of any desire to push forward +extreme liberal measures conceived in native interests. The measure had +been under the consideration of the Legislative Department in the time +of Mr. Ilbert's predecessor in the office of Legal Member of Council, +and it was only the accident that he vacated his office before it was +introduced into the Legislative Council that associated Mr. Ilbert's +name with the Bill. + +As was customary in such cases, all the local Governments had been +consulted; and they again consulted the Commissioners, +Deputy-Commissioners, Collectors, etc., within their respective +provinces. The result was that Lord Ripon had before him the opinions of +practically the whole Civil Service of India. Divers views were held as +to the actual extent to which the law should be altered, but, in the +words of a despatch addressed by the Government of India to the +Secretary of State on September 9, 1882, the local reports showed "an +overwhelming consensus of opinion that the time had come for modifying +the existing law and removing the present absolute bar upon the +investment of native magistrates in the interior with powers over +European British subjects." Not one single official gave anything +approaching an indication of the storm of opposition that this ill-fated +measure was about to raise. I do not think that this is very +surprising, for the opposition came almost exclusively from the +unofficial Europeans, who for the most part congregate in a few large +commercial centres, with the result that the majority of the civilians, +who are scattered throughout the country, are not much brought in +contact with them. Nevertheless, the fact that so great a miscalculation +of the state of public opinion could be made left a deep impression on +my mind. The main lesson which I carried away from the Ilbert Bill +controversy was, indeed, that in spite of their great merits, which no +one recognises more fully than myself, it is possible at times for the +whole body of Indian civilians, taken collectively, to be somewhat +unsafe guides in matters of state policy. Curiously enough, the only +danger-signal which was raised was hoisted by Sir Henry Maine, who had +been in India as Legal Member of Council, but who did not belong to the +Indian Civil Service. He was at the time a member of the India Council. +When the despatch of the Government of India on the subject reached +London, Sir Henry Maine was travelling on the Continent. The papers were +sent to him. He called to mind the bitter controversy which arose over +what was known as "the Black Act" in Lord William Bentinck's time, and +wrote privately a few words of warning to Lord Hartington, who was at +the time Secretary of State for India. Lord Hartington put the letter +in his great-coat pocket, went to Newmarket, and forgot all about it, +with the result that Sir Henry Maine's warning never reached Lord Ripon. + +I well remember being present when Mr. Ilbert introduced the measure +into the Legislative Council. It attracted but little attention and led +to only a very brief discussion, in which I took no part. The papers had +been circulated to all Members of Council, including myself. When I +received them I saw at a glance that the subject was not one that +concerned my own department, or one as to which my opinion could be of +any value. I, therefore, merely endorsed the papers with my initials and +sent them on, without having given the subject much attention. In common +with all my colleagues, I was soon to learn the gravity of the step +which had been taken. A furious storm of opposition, which profoundly +shook the prestige and authority of the Government of India, and notably +of the Viceroy, arose. It was clear that a mistake had been made. The +measure was in itself not very important. It was obviously undesirable, +as Lyall remarked, to "set fire to an important wing of the house in +order to roast a healthy but small pig." The best plan, had it been +possible, would have been to admit the mistake and to withdraw the +measure; and this would certainly have been done had it not been for the +unseemly and extravagant violence of the European unofficial community, +notably that of Calcutta. It should, however, in fairness be stated that +they were irritated and alarmed, not so much at the acts of Lord Ripon's +Government, but at some rather indiscreet language which had at times +been used, and which led them, quite erroneously, to suspect that +extreme measures were in contemplation, of a nature calculated to shake +the foundations of British supremacy in India. This violent attitude +naturally led to reprisals and bitter recriminations from the native +press, with the result that the total withdrawal of the measure would +have been construed as a decisive defeat to the adoption of even the +most moderate measures of liberal reform in India. The project of total +withdrawal could not, therefore, be entertained. + +In these circumstances, the duty of a practical rough-and-ready +politician was very clearly indicated. However little he might care for +the measure on its own merits, political instinct pointed unmistakably +to the absolute necessity of affording strong support to the Viceroy. +Lyall failed to realise this fully. He admired Lord Ripon's courage. "We +must," he said, "all do our best to pull the Viceroy through." But +withal it is clear, by his own admission, that he only gave the Viceroy +"rather lukewarm support." "I have intrenched myself," he wrote in a +characteristic letter, "behind cautious proposals, and am quoted on both +sides." This attitude was not due to any want of moral courage, for a +more courageous man, both physically and morally, than Lyall never +lived. It was simply the result of what Lord Lytton called "the Lyall +habit of seeing both sides of a question," and not being able to decide +betimes which side to support. That a man of Lyall's philosophical and +reflective turn of mind should see both sides of a question is not only +natural but commendable, but this frame of mind is not one that can be +adopted without hazard by a man of action at the head of affairs at a +time of acute crisis. + +There is, however, a reverse side to this picture. The same mental +attributes which rendered Lyall somewhat unfit, in my opinion, to deal +with an incident such as the Ilbert Bill episode, enabled him to come +with credit and distinction out of a situation of extreme difficulty in +which the reputation of many another man would have foundered. I have no +wish or intention to stir up again the embers of past Afghan +controversies. It will be sufficient for my purpose to say that Lord +Lytton, immensely to his credit, recognised Lyall's abilities and +appointed him Foreign Secretary, in spite of the fact that he was +associated with the execution of a policy to which Lord Lytton himself +was strongly opposed, and which he had decided to reverse. Lyall did not +conceal his opinions, but, as always, he was open to conviction, and saw +both sides of a difficult question. In 1878, he was "quite in favour of +vigorous action to counteract the Russians"; but two years later, in +1880, after the Cavagnari murder, he records in a characteristic letter +that he "was mentally edging back towards old John Lawrence's counsel +never to embark on the shoreless sea of Afghan politics." On the whole, +it may be said that Lyall passed through this supreme test in a manner +which would not have been possible to any man unless endowed not merely +with great abilities, but with the highest degree of moral courage and +honesty of purpose. He preserved his own self-esteem, and by his +unswerving honesty and loyalty gained that of the partisans on both +sides of the controversy. + +It is pleasant to turn from these episodes to other features in Lyall's +career and character, in respect to which unstinted eulogy, without the +qualification of a shade of criticism, may be recorded. It was more +especially in dealing with the larger and more general aspects of +Eastern affairs that Lyall's genius shone most brightly. He had what +the French call a _flair_ in dealing with the main issues of Oriental +politics such as, so far as my experience goes, is possessed by few. It +was very similar to the qualities displayed by the late Lord Salisbury +in dealing with foreign affairs generally. I give an instance in point. + +In 1884, almost every newspaper in England was declaiming loudly about +the dangers to be apprehended if the rebellion excited by the Mahdi in +the Soudan was not promptly crushed. It was thought that this rebellion +was but the precursor of a general and formidable offensive movement +throughout the Islamic world. "What," General Gordon, whose opinion at +the time carried great weight, had asked, "is to prevent the Mahdi's +adherents gaining Mecca? Once at Mecca we may look out for squalls in +Turkey," etc. He, as also Lord Wolseley, insisted on the absolute +necessity of "smashing the Mahdi." We now know that these fears were +exaggerated, and that the Mahdist movement was of purely local +importance. Lyall had no special acquaintance with Egyptian or Soudanese +affairs, but his general knowledge of the East and of Easterns enabled +him at once to gauge correctly the true nature of the danger. +Undisturbed by the clamour which prevailed around him, he wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve on March 21, 1884: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest +India. The talk in some of the papers about the necessity of smashing +him, in order to avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is +futile and imaginative."[50] + +I need say no more. I am glad, for the sake of Lyall's own reputation, +that the offer of the Viceroyalty was never made to him. Apart from the +question of his age, which, in 1894, was somewhat too advanced to admit +of his undertaking such onerous duties, I doubt if he possessed +sufficient experience of English public life--a qualification which is +yearly becoming of greater importance--to enable him to fill the post in +a satisfactory manner. In spite, moreover, of his splendid intellectual +gifts and moral elevation of thought, it is very questionable whether on +the whole he would have been the right man in the right place. + +Lyall's name will not, like those of some other Indian notabilities, go +down to posterity as having been specially connected with any one +episode or event of supreme historical importance; but, when those of +the present generation who regarded him with esteem and affection have +passed away, he will still deserve an important niche in the Temple of +Fame as a thinker who thoroughly understood the East, and who probably +did more than any of his contemporaries or predecessors to make his +countrymen understand and sympathise with the views held by the many +millions in India whose destinies are committed to their charge. His +experience and special mental equipment eminently fitted him to perform +the task he took in hand. England, albeit a prolific mother of great men +in every department of thought and action, has not produced many Lyalls. + +[Footnote 48: _Nineteenth Century_, May 1913, p. 972.] + +[Footnote 49: When I was at Delhi in 1881, a Nikolsaini, _i.e._ a +worshipper of John Nicholson, came to see me. He showed me a miniature +of Nicholson with his head surrounded by an aureole.] + +[Footnote 50: _Memoirs of Henry Reeve_, ii. 329.] + + + + +"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER" + + + + +IV + +ARMY REFORM + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," February 1904_ + + +The autobiography[51] of my old and highly esteemed friend, Lord +Wolseley, constitutes an honourable record of a well-spent life. Lord +Wolseley may justifiably be proud of the services which he has rendered +to his country. The British nation, and its principal executive +officials in the past, may also be proud of having quickly discovered +Lord Wolseley's talents and merits, and of having advanced him to high +position. + +Obviously, certain conclusions of public interest may be drawn from the +career of this very distinguished soldier. Sir George Arthur, in the +December number of the _Fortnightly Review_, has stated what are the +special lessons which, in his opinion, are to be derived from a +consideration of that career. + +Those lessons are, indeed, sufficiently numerous. I propose, however, to +deal with only two of them. They are those which, apparently, Lord +Wolseley himself wishes to be inculcated. Both involve questions of +principle of no little importance. + +In the first place, Lord Wolseley, if I understand rightly, considers +that the army has suffered greatly from civilian interference. He +appears to think that it should be more exclusively than heretofore +under military control. + +In the second place, he thinks that, in certain cases, the political and +diplomatic negotiations, which generally follow on a war, should be +conducted, not by a diplomatist or politician, but by the officer who +has conducted the previous military operations. + +As regards the first point, I am not now dealing with Lord Wolseley's +remarks in connection with our general unpreparedness for war, nor with +those on the various defects, past or present, of our military +organisation. In a great deal that he has said on these subjects, Lord +Wolseley carries me heartily with him. I confine myself strictly to the +issue as I have defined it above. + +Possibly, I have mistaken the significance of Lord Wolseley's words. If +so, my error is shared by Sir George Arthur, who, in dealing with the +War Office, dwells with emphasis on the occasions when "this great war +expert was thwarted in respect of his best considered plans by the +civilian element in that citadel of inefficiency,"[52] and speaks with +approval of Lord Wolseley's "severe strictures on blundering civilian +interference with the army," as also of the "censure reserved for the +criminal negligence and miserable cowardice of successive Cabinets." + +It seems to me that Lord Wolseley is rather hard on civilians in +general--those "iconoclastic civilian officials who meddle and muddle in +army matters"[53]--on politicians in particular, who, I cannot but +think, are not quite so black as he has painted them; and most of all on +Secretaries of State, with the single exception of Lord Cardwell, to +whom generous and very well deserved praise is accorded. + +It is not quite clear, from a perusal of these volumes, what is the +precise nature of the change which Lord Wolseley wishes to advocate, +although in one passage a specific proposal is made. It is that "a +certificate should be annually laid before Parliament by the +non-political Commander-in-Chief, that the whole of the military forces +of the Empire can be completely and effectively equipped for war in a +fortnight." The general tendency of the reform which commends itself to +Lord Wolseley may, however, readily be inferred. He complains that the +soldiers, "though in office, are never in power." Nevertheless, as he +explains with military frankness, "the cunning politician," when +anything goes wrong, is able "to turn the wrath of a deceived people +upon the military authorities, and those who are exclusively to blame +are too often allowed to sneak off unhurt in the turmoil of execration +they have raised against the soldiers." I may remark incidentally that +exception might perhaps reasonably be taken to the use of the word +"exclusively" in this passage; but the main point to which I wish to +draw attention is that clearly, in Lord Wolseley's opinion, the +soldiers, under the existing system, have not sufficient power, and that +it would be advisable that they should, under a reformed system, be +invested with more ample power. I dare say Lord Wolseley is quite right, +at all events to this extent, that it is desirable that the power, as +also the responsibility, of the highest military authorities should be +as clearly defined as is possible under our peculiar system of +government. But it is essential to ascertain more accurately in what +manner Lord Wolseley, speaking with all the high authority which +deservedly attaches itself to his name, thinks that effect should be +given to the principle which he advocates. In order to obtain this +information, I turn to vol. i. p. 92, where I find the following +passage: "A man who is not a soldier, and who is entirely ignorant of +war, is selected solely for political reasons to be Secretary of State +for War. I might with quite as great propriety be selected to be the +chief surgeon in a hospital." + +I would here digress for a moment to deal with the argument advanced in +the latter part of this sentence. It is very plausible, and, at first +sight, appears convincing. It is also very commonly used. Over and over +again, I have heard the presumed analogy between the surgeon and the +soldier advanced as a proof of the absurdity of the English system. I +believe that no such analogy exists. Surgery is an exact science. To +perform even the most trifling surgical operation requires careful +technical training and experience. It is far otherwise with the case of +the soldier. I do not suppose that any civilian in his senses would +presume, on a purely technical matter, to weigh his own opinion against +that of a trained soldier, like Lord Wolseley, who is thoroughly versed +in the theory of his profession, and who has been through the school of +actual war. But a large number of the most important questions affecting +military organisation and the conduct of military affairs, require for +their solution little or no technical knowledge. Any man of ordinary +common sense can form an opinion on them, and any man of good business +habits may readily become a capable agent for giving effect to the +opinions which he, or which others have formed. + +I may here perhaps give a page from my own personal experience bearing +on the point under discussion. + +The Soudan campaign of 1896-98 was, in official circles, dubbed a +"Foreign Office war." For a variety of reasons, to which it is +unnecessary to allude in detail, the Sirdar was, from the commencement +of the operations, placed exclusively under my orders in all matters. +The War Office assumed no responsibility, and issued no orders.[54] A +corresponding position was occupied by the Headquarters Staff of the +Army of Occupation in Cairo. The result was that I found myself in the +somewhat singular position of a civilian, who had had some little +military training in his youth, but who had had no experience of +war,[55] whose proper functions were diplomacy and administration, but +who, under the stress of circumstances in the Land of Paradox, had to be +ultimately responsible for the maintenance, and even, to some extent, +for the movements of an army of some 25,000 men in the field. + +That good results were obtained under this system cannot be doubted. It +will not, therefore, be devoid of interest to explain how it worked in +practice, and what were the main reasons which contributed towards +success. + +I have no wish to disparage the strategical and tactical ability which +were displayed in the conduct of the campaign. It is, however, a fact +that no occasion arose for the display of any great skill in these +branches of military knowledge. When once the British and Egyptian +troops were brought face to face with the enemy, there could--unless +the conditions under which they fought were altogether extraordinary--be +little doubt of the result. The speedy and successful issue of the +campaign depended, in fact, almost entirely upon the methods adopted for +overcoming the very exceptional difficulties connected with the supply +and transport of the troops. The main quality required to meet these +difficulties was a good head for business. By one of those fortunate +accidents which have been frequent in the history of Anglo-Saxon +enterprise, a man was found equal to the occasion. Lord Kitchener of +Khartoum won his well-deserved peerage because he was a good man of +business; he looked carefully after all important detail, and he +enforced economy. + +My own merits, such as they were, were of a purely negative character. +They may be summed up in a single phrase. I abstained from mischievous +activity, and I acted as a check on the interference of others. I had +full confidence in the abilities of the commander, whom I had +practically myself chosen, and, except when he asked for my assistance, +I left him entirely alone. I encouraged him to pay no attention to those +vexatious bureaucratic formalities with which, under the slang phrase of +"red tape" our military system is overburdened. I exercised some little +control over the demands for stores which were sent to the London War +Office; and the mere fact that these demands passed through my hands, +and that I declined to forward any request unless, besides being in +accordance with existing regulations--a point to which I attached but +slight importance--it had been authorised by the Sirdar, probably tended +to check wastefulness in that quarter where it was most to be feared. +Beyond this I did nothing, and I found--somewhat to my own +astonishment--that, with my ordinary staff of four diplomatic +secretaries, the general direction of a war of no inconsiderable +dimensions added but little to my ordinary labours. + +I do not say that this system would always work as successfully as was +the case during the Khartoum campaign. The facts, as I have already +said, were peculiar. The commander, on whom everything practically +depended, was a man of marked military and administrative ability. +Nevertheless, I feel certain that Lord Kitchener would bear me out in +saying that here was a case in which general civilian control, far from +exercising any detrimental effect, was on the whole beneficial. + +To return to the main thread of my argument. The passage which I have +quoted from Lord Wolseley's book would certainly appear to point to the +conclusion that, in his opinion, the Secretary of State for War should +be a soldier unconnected with politics. Even although Lord Wolseley does +not state this conclusion in so many words, it is notorious to any one +who is familiar with the views current in army circles that the adoption +of this plan is considered by many to be the best, if it be not the +only, solution of all our military difficulties. + +I am not concerned with the constitutional objections which may be urged +against the change of system now under discussion. Neither need I dwell +on the difficulty of making it harmonise with our system of party +government, for which it is quite possible to entertain a certain +feeling of respect and admiration without being in any degree a +political partisan. I approach the question exclusively from the point +of view of its effects on the army. From that point of view, I venture +to think that the change is to be deprecated. + +In dealing with Lord Cardwell's attitude in respect to army reform, Lord +Wolseley says: "Never was Minister in my time more generally hated by +the army." He points out how this hatred was extended to all who +supported Lord Cardwell's views. His own conduct was "looked upon as a +species of high treason." I was at the time employed in a subordinate +position at the War Office. I can testify that this language is by no +means exaggerated. Nevertheless, after events showed clearly enough +that, in resisting the abolition of purchase, the formation of a +reserve, and the other admirable reforms with which Lord Cardwell's +name, equally with that of Lord Wolseley, is now honourably associated, +the bulk of army opinion was wholly in the wrong. I believe such army +opinion as now objects to a civilian being Secretary of State for War to +be equally in the wrong. + +There would appear, indeed, to be some inconsistency between Lord +Wolseley's unstinted praise of Lord Cardwell--that "greatest" of War +Ministers, who, "though absolutely ignorant of our army and of war," +responded so "readily to the demands made on him by his military +advisers," and "gave new life to our old army"--and his depreciation of +the system which gave official birth to Lord Cardwell. There would be no +contradiction in the two positions if the civilian Minister, in 1871, +had been obliged to use his position in Parliament and his influence on +public opinion to force on an unwilling nation reforms which were +generally advocated by the army. But the very contrary of this was the +case. What Lord Cardwell had principally to encounter was "the fierce +hatred" of the old school of soldiers, and Lord Wolseley tells us +clearly enough what would have happened to the small band of army +reformers within the army, if they had been unable to rely on civilian +support. + + "Had it not been," he says, "for Mr. Cardwell's and Lord + Northbrook's constant support and encouragement, those of us who + were bold enough to advocate a thorough reorganisation of our + military system, would have been 'provided for' in distant quarters + of the British world, 'where no mention of us more should be + heard.'" + +There can be no such thing as finality in army reform. There will be +reformers in the future, as there have been in the past. There will, +without doubt, be vested interests and conservative instincts to be +overcome in the future, as there were at the time when Lord Wolseley so +gallantly fought the battle of army reform. What guarantee can Lord +Wolseley afford that a soldier at the head of the army will always be a +reformer, and that he will not "provide for" those of his subordinates +who have the courage to raise their voices in favour of reform, even as +Lord Wolseley thinks he would himself have been "provided for" had it +not been for the sturdy support he received from his civilian superiors? +I greatly doubt the possibility of giving any such guarantee. + +But I go further than this. It is now more than thirty years since I +served under the War Office. I am, therefore, less intimately acquainted +with the present than with the past. But, during those thirty years, I +have been constantly brought in contact with the War Office, and I have +seen no reason whatever to change the opinion I formed in Lord +Cardwell's time, namely, that it will be an evil day for the army when +it is laid down, as a system, that no civilian should be Secretary of +State for War. My belief is that, if ever the history of our military +administration of recent years comes to be impartially written, it will +be found that most of the large reforms, which have beneficially +affected the army, have been warmly supported, and sometimes initiated, +by the superior civilian element in the War Office. Who, indeed, ever +heard of a profession being reformed from within? One of the greatest +law reformers of the last century was the author of _Bleak House_. + +It may, indeed, be urged--perhaps Lord Wolseley would himself urge--that +it is no defence of a bad system to say that under one man (Lord +Cardwell), whom Lord Wolseley describes as "a clear-headed, +logical-minded lawyer," it worked very well. To this I reply that I +cannot believe that the race of clear-headed, logical-minded individuals +of Cabinet rank, belonging to either great party of the State, is +extinct. + +I have been induced to make these remarks because, in past years, I was +a good deal associated with army reform, and because, since then, I have +continued to take an interest in the matter. Also because I am convinced +that those officers in the army who, with the best intentions, advocate +the particular change now under discussion, are making a mistake in army +interests. They may depend upon it that the cause they have at heart +will best be furthered by maintaining at the head of the army a civilian +of intelligence and of good business habits, who, although, equally with +a soldier, he may sometimes make mistakes, will give an impartial +hearing to army reformers, and will probably be more alive than any one +belonging to their own profession to all that is best in the outside and +parliamentary pressure to which he is exposed. + +I turn to the second point to which allusion was made at the +commencement of this article. + +Speaking of the Chinese war in 1860, Lord Wolseley says: "In treating +with barbarian nations during a war ... the general to command the army +and the ambassador to make peace should be one and the same man. To +separate the two functions is, according to my experience, folly gone +mad." Lord Wolseley reverts to this subject in describing the Ashantee +war of 1873-74. I gather from his allusions to Sir John Moore's +campaign in Spain, and to the fact that evil results ensued from +allowing Dutch deputies to accompany Marlborough's army, that he is in +favour of extending the principle which he advocates to wars other than +those waged against "barbarian nations." + +The objections to anything in the nature of a division of +responsibility, at all events so long as military operations are in +actual progress, are, indeed, obvious, and are now very generally +recognised. Those who are familiar with the history of the revolutionary +war will remember the baneful influence exercised by the Aulic Council +over the actions of the Austrian commanders.[56] There can, in fact, be +little doubt that circumstances may occur when the principle advocated +by Lord Wolseley may most advantageously be adopted; but it is, I +venture to think, one which has to be applied with much caution, +especially when the question is not whether there should be a temporary +cessation of hostilities--a point on which the view of the officer in +command of the troops would naturally carry the greatest weight--but +also involves the larger issue of the terms on which peace should +finally be concluded. I am not at all sure that, in deciding on the +issues which, under the latter contingency, must necessarily come under +consideration, the employment of a soldier, in preference to a +politician or diplomatist, is always a wise proceeding. Soldiers, +equally with civilians, are liable to make erroneous forecasts of the +future, and to mistake the general situation with which they have to +deal. I can give a case in point. + +When, in January 1885, Khartoum fell, the question whether the British +army should be withdrawn, or should advance and reconquer the Soudan, +had to be decided. Gordon, whose influence on public opinion, great +before, had been enhanced by his tragic death, had strongly recommended +the policy of "smashing the Mahdi." Lord Wolseley adopted Gordon's +opinion. "No frontier force," he said, "can keep Mahdiism out of Egypt, +and the Mahdi sooner or later must be smashed, or he will smash you." +These views were shared by Lord Kitchener, Sir Redvers Buller, Sir +Charles Wilson, and by the military authorities generally.[57] Further, +the alleged necessity of "smashing the Mahdi," on the ground that his +success in the Soudan would be productive of serious results elsewhere, +exercised a powerful influence on British public opinion at this period, +although the best authorities on Eastern politics were at the time aware +that the fears so generally entertained in this connection were either +groundless or, at all events, greatly exaggerated.[58] Under these +circumstances, it was decided to "smash the Mahdi," and accordingly a +proclamation, giving effect to the declared policy of the British +Government, was issued. Shortly afterwards, the Penjdeh incident +occurred. Public opinion in England somewhat calmed down, having found +its natural safety-valve in an acrimonious parliamentary debate, in +which the Government narrowly escaped defeat. The voices of politicians +and diplomatists, which had been to some degree hushed by the din of +arms, began to be heard. The proclamation was cancelled. The project of +reconquering the Soudan was postponed to a more convenient period. It +was, in fact, accomplished thirteen years later, under circumstances +which differed very materially from those which prevailed in 1885. In +June 1885, the Government of Lord Salisbury succeeded to that of Mr. +Gladstone, and, though strongly urged to undertake the reconquest of the +Soudan, confirmed the decision of its predecessors. + +Sir George Arthur, writing in the _Fortnightly Review_, strongly +condemns this "cynical disavowal" of Lord Wolseley's proclamation. I +have nothing to say in favour of the issue of that proclamation. I am +very clearly of opinion that, as it was issued, it was wise that it +should be cancelled. For, in truth, subsequent events showed that the +forecast made by Lord Wolseley and by Gordon was erroneous, in that it +credited the Mahdi with a power of offence which he was far from +possessing. No serious difficulty arose in defending the frontier of +Egypt from Dervish attack. The overthrow of the Mahdi's power, though +eminently desirable, was very far from constituting an imperious +necessity such as was commonly supposed to exist in 1885. In this +instance, therefore, it appears to me that the diplomatists and +politicians gauged the true nature of the situation somewhat more +accurately than the soldiers. + +More than this, I conceive that, in all civilised countries, the theory +of government is that a question of peace or war is one to be decided by +politicians. The functions of the soldier are supposed to be confined, +in the first place, to advising on the purely military aspects of the +issue involved; and, in the second place, to giving effect to any +decisions at which the Government may arrive. The practice in this +matter not infrequently differs somewhat from the theory. The soldier, +who is generally prone to advocate vigorous action, is inclined to +encroach on the sphere which should properly be reserved for the +politician. The former is often masterful, and the latter may be dazzled +by the glitter of arms, or too readily lured onwards by the persuasive +voice of some strategist to acquire an almost endless succession of +what, in technical language, are called "keys" to some position, or--to +employ a metaphor of which the late Lord Salisbury once made use in +writing to me--"to try and annex the moon in order to prevent its being +appropriated by the planet Mars." When this happens, a risk is run that +the soldier, who is himself unconsciously influenced by a very laudable +desire to obtain personal distinction, may practically dictate the +policy of the nation without taking a sufficiently comprehensive view of +national interests. Considerations of this nature have more especially +been, from time to time, advanced in connection with the numerous +frontier wars which have occurred in India. That they contain a certain +element of truth can scarcely be doubted. + +For these reasons, it appears to me that the application of the +principle advocated by Lord Wolseley requires much care and +watchfulness. Probably, the wisest plan will be that each case should be +decided on its own merits with reference to the special circumstances +of the situation, which may sometimes demand the fusion, and sometimes +the separation, of military and political functions. + +I was talking, a short time ago, to a very intelligent, and also +Anglophile, French friend of mine. He knew England well, but, until +quite recently, had not visited the country for a few years. He told me +that what struck him most was the profound change which had come over +British opinion since the occasion of his last visit. We had been +invaded, he said, by _le militarisme continental_. In common with the +vast majority of my countrymen, I am earnestly desirous of seeing our +military organisation and military establishments placed on a thoroughly +sound footing, but I have no wish whatever to see any portion of our +institutions overwhelmed by a wave of _militarisme continental_. It is +because I think that the views advocated by Lord Wolseley +tend--although, I do not doubt, unconsciously to their distinguished +author--in the direction of a somewhat too pronounced _militarisme_, +that I venture in some degree to differ from one for whom I have for +many years entertained the highest admiration and the most cordial +personal esteem. + +[Footnote 51: _The Story of a Soldier's Life_. Field-Marshal Viscount +Wolseley. Constable.] + +[Footnote 52: After carefully reading the book, I am in doubt as to the +specific occasions to which allusion is here made.] + +[Footnote 53: This expression is used with reference to a warning to +civilians that they should "keep their hands off the regiment." I do not +know if any recent instances have occurred when civilians have wished to +touch the essential portions of what is known as the "regimental +system," but I have a very distinct recollection of the fact that this +accusation was very freely, and very unjustly, brought against the army +reformers in Lord Cardwell's time. Of these, Lord Wolseley was certainly +the most distinguished. I think he will bear me out in the assertion +that it was only by civilian support that, in the special instances to +which I allude, the opposition was overcome.] + +[Footnote 54: Much the same proceeding appears to have been adopted in +the Red River expedition, which was conducted with such eminent success +by Lord Wolseley in 1870. But there was a difference. Lord Wolseley, in +describing that expedition, says: "The Cabinet and parliamentary element +in the War Office, that has marred so many a good military scheme, had, +I may say, little or nothing to do with it from first to last. When will +civilian Secretaries of State for War cease from troubling in war +affairs?" In the case of the Soudan campaigns, on the other hand, Lord +Kitchener and I had to rely--and our reliance was not misplaced--on the +Cabinet and on the parliamentary elements of the Government, to prevent +excessive interference from the London offices.] + +[Footnote 55: I was present for a few weeks, as a spectator, with +Grant's army at the siege of Petersburg in 1864, but the experience was +too short to be of much value.] + +[Footnote 56: _Art of War_, Jomini, p. 59.] + +[Footnote 57: I think I am correct in saying that Sir Evelyn Wood was of +a contrary opinion, but I have been unable to verify this statement by +reference to any contemporaneous document.] + +[Footnote 58: On the 21st of March 1884 Sir Alfred Lyall wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest India. The talk in +some of the papers about the necessity of smashing him, in order to +avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is futile and +imaginative."--_Memoirs of Henry Reeve_, vol. ii. p. 329.] + + + + +V + +THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE + +PAPER READ AT THE INTERNATIONAL FREE TRADE CONGRESS AT ANTWERP, +_August 9-21, 1910_[59] + + +I have been asked to state my opinion on the effect of Free Trade upon +the political relations between States. The subject is a very wide one. +I am fully aware that the brief remarks which I am about to make fail to +do justice to it. + +A taunt very frequently levelled at modern Free Traders is that the +anticipations of their predecessors in respect to the influence which +Free Trade would be likely to exercise on international relations have +not been realised. A single extract from Mr. Cobden's writings will +suffice to show the nature of those anticipations. In 1842, he described +Free Trade "as the best human means for securing universal and permanent +peace."[60] Inasmuch as numerous wars have occurred since this opinion +was expressed, it is often held that events have falsified Mr. Cobden's +prediction. + +In dealing with this argument, I have, in the first place, to remark +that modern Free Traders are under no sort of obligation to be +"Cobdenite" to the extent of adopting or defending the whole of the +teaching of the so-called Manchester School. It may readily be admitted +that the programme of that school is, in many respects, inadequate to +deal with modern problems. + +In the second place, I wish to point out that Mr. Cobden and his +associates, whilst rightly holding that trade was to some extent the +natural foe to war, appear to me to have pushed the consequences to be +derived from that argument much too far. They allowed too little for +other causes which tend to subvert peace, such as racial and religious +differences, dynastic considerations, the wish to acquire national +unity, which tends to the agglomeration of small States, and the +ambition which excites the desire of hegemony. + +In the third place, I have to observe that the world has not as yet had +any adequate opportunity for judging of the accuracy or inaccuracy of +Mr. Cobden's prediction, for only one great commercial nation has, up to +the present time, adopted a policy of Free Trade. It was, indeed, here +more than in any other direction that some of the early British Free +Traders erred on the side of excessive optimism.[61] They thought, and +rightly thought, that Free Trade would confer enormous benefits on their +own country; and they held that the object-lesson thus afforded might +very probably induce other nations speedily to follow the example of +England. They forgot that the special conditions which existed at the +time their noble aspirations were conceived were liable to change; that +the extraordinary advantages which Free Trade for a time secured were +largely due to the fact that seventy years ago England possessed a far +larger supply of mechanical aptitude than any other country; that her +marked commercial supremacy, which was then practically undisputed, +could not be fully maintained in the face of the advance likely to be +made by other nations; that if those nations persisted in adhering to +Protection, their progress--which has really been achieved, not by +reason of, but in spite of Protection--would almost inevitably be +mainly attributed to their fiscal policy to the exclusion of other +contributory causes, such as education; and that thus a revived demand +for protective measures would not improbably arise, even in England +itself. These are, in fact, the results which have accrued. Without +doubt, it was difficult to foresee them, but it is worthy of note that, +in spite of all adverse and possibly ephemeral appearances, symptoms are +not wanting which encourage the belief that the prescience of the early +Free Traders may, in the end, be tardily vindicated. It is the irony of +current politics that at a time when England is meditating a return to +Protection--but is as yet, I am glad to say, very far from being +persuaded that the adoption of such a policy would be wise--the most +advanced thinkers in some Protectionist states are beginning to turn +their eyes towards the possibility and desirability of casting aside +those swaddling-clothes which were originally assumed in order to foster +their budding industries. Many of the most competent German economists, +whilst advocating Protection as a temporary measure, have for many years +fully recognised that, when once a country has firmly established its +industrial and commercial status in the markets of the world, it can +best maintain and extend its acquired position by permitting the freest +possible trade. Even Friedrich List, though an ardent Protectionist, +"always had before him universal Free Trade as the goal of his +endeavours."[62] Before long, Germany will have well-nigh completed the +transition from agriculture to manufactures in which she has been +engaged for the last thirty or forty years; and when that transition is +fully accomplished, it may be predicted with some degree of confidence +that a nation so highly educated, and endowed with so keen a perception +of cause and effect, will begin to move in the direction of Free Trade. +Similarly, in the United States of America, the campaign which has +recently been waged against the huge Trusts, which are the offspring of +Protection, as well as the rising complaints of the dearness of living, +are so many indications that arguments, which must eventually lead to +the consideration--and probably to the ultimate adoption--if not of Free +Trade, at all events of Freer Trade than now prevails, are gradually +gaining ground. Much the same may be said of Canada. A Canadian +gentleman, who can speak with authority on the subject, recently wrote: + + The feeling in favour of Free Trade is growing fast in Western + Canada, and I believe I am right in adding the United States. + + We have our strong and rapidly growing farmers' organisations, such + as the United Farmers of Alberta, and of each Western province, so + that farmers are now making themselves heard and felt in politics, + and farmers realise that they are being exploited for the benefit + of the manufacturer. Excellent articles appear almost weekly in the + _Grain Growers' Guide_, published in Winnipeg, showing the curse of + Protection. + + A Canadian Free Trade Union, affiliated with the International Free + Trade League, has just been formed in Winnipeg, and many prominent + business and professional men are connected with it. + + It ought to be better known among the electors of Great Britain how + Free Trade is growing in Canada, that they may be less inclined to + commit the fatal mistake of changing England's policy. Canada is + often quoted in English politics now, and the real facts should be + known. + +No experience has, therefore, as yet been acquired which would enable a +matured judgment to be formed as to the extent to which Free Trade may +be regarded as a preventive to war. The question remains substantially +much in the same condition as it was seventy years ago. In forming an +opinion upon it, we have still to rely largely on conjecture and on +academic considerations. All that has been proved is that numerous wars +have taken place during a period of history when Protection was the +rule, and Free Trade the exception; though the _post hoc ergo propter +hoc_ fallacy would, of course, be involved, if on that account it were +inferred that the protection of national industries has necessarily +been the chief cause of war. + +Without indulging in any utopian dreams as to the possibility of +inaugurating an era of universal peace, it may, I think, be held that, +in spite of the wars which have occurred during the last half century, +not merely an ardent desire for peace, but also a dislike--I may almost +say a genuine horror--of war has grown apace amongst the civilised +nations of the world. The destructiveness of modern weapons of offence, +the fearful personal responsibility devolving on the individuals who +order the first shot to be fired, the complete uncertainty which +prevails as to the naval, military, and political results which will +ensue if the huge armaments of modern States are brought into collision, +the growth of a benevolent, if at times somewhat eccentric +humanitarianism, possibly also the advance of democracy--though it is at +times somewhat too readily assumed that democracies must of necessity be +peaceful--have all contributed to create a public opinion which holds +that to engage in an avoidable war is the worst of political crimes. +This feeling has found expression in the more ready recourse which, as +compared to former times, is now made to arbitration in order to settle +international disputes. Nevertheless, so long as human nature remains +unchanged, and more especially so long as the huge armaments at present +existing are maintained, it is the imperative duty of every +self-respecting nation to provide adequately for its own defence. That +duty is more especially imposed on those nations who, for one reason or +another, have been driven into adopting that policy of expansion, which +is now almost universal. Within the last few years, the United States of +America have abandoned what has been aptly termed their former system of +"industrial monasticism,"[63] whilst in the Far East a new world-power +has suddenly sprung into existence. Speaking as one unit belonging to a +country whose dominions are more extensive and more widely dispersed +than those of any other nation, I entertain a strong opinion that if +Great Britain continues to maintain her present policy of Free Trade--as +I trust will be the case--her means of defence should, within the limits +of human foresight, be such as to render her empire impregnable; and, +further, that should that policy unfortunately be reversed, it will be a +wise precaution that those means of defence should, if possible, be +still further strengthened. But I also entertain an equally strong +opinion that an imperial nation should seek to fortify its position and +to provide guarantees for the durability of its empire, not merely by +rendering itself, so far as is possible, impregnable, but also by using +its vast world-power in such a manner as to secure in some degree the +moral acquiescence of other nations in its _imperium_, and thus provide +an antidote--albeit it may only be a partial antidote--against the +jealousy and emulation which its extensive dominions are calculated to +incite. + +I am aware that an argument of this sort is singularly liable to +misrepresentation. Militant patriotism rejects it with scorn. It is said +to involve an ignoble degree of truckling to foreign nations. It +involves nothing of the kind. I should certainly be the last to +recommend anything approaching to pusillanimity in the conduct of the +foreign affairs of my country. If I thought that the introduction of a +policy of Protection was really demanded in the interests of the +inhabitants of the United Kingdom, I should warmly advocate it, whatever +might be the effect produced on the public opinion of other countries. +British Free Traders do not advocate the cause which they have at heart +in order to benefit the countries which send their goods to Great +Britain, but because they think it advantageous to their own country to +procure certain foreign products without any artificial enhancement of +price.[64] If they are right in coming to this conclusion, it is surely +an incidental advantage of much importance that a policy of Free Trade, +besides being advantageous to the United Kingdom, tends to give an +additional element of stability to the British Empire and to preserve +the peace of the world. + +From the dawn of history, uncontrolled commercialism has been one of the +principal causes of misgovernment, and more especially of the +misgovernment of subject races. The early history of the Spaniards in +South and Central America, as well as the more recent history of other +States, testify to the truth of this generalisation. Similarly, +Trade--that is to say exclusive trade--far from tending to promote +peace, has not infrequently been accompanied by aggression, and has +rather tended to promote war. Tariff wars, which are the natural outcome +of the protective system, have been of frequent occurrence, and, +although I am not at all prepared to admit that under no circumstances +is a policy of retaliation justifiable, it is certain that that policy, +carried to excess, has at times endangered European peace. There is +ample proof that the Tariff war between Russia and Germany in 1893, "was +regarded by both responsible parties as likely to lead to a state of +things dangerous to the peace of Europe."[65] Professor Dietzel, in his +very remarkable and exhaustive work on _Retaliatory Duties_, shows very +clearly that the example of Tariff wars is highly contagious. Speaking +of the events which occurred in 1902 and subsequent years, he says: +"Germany set the bad example.... Russia, Austria-Hungary, Roumania, +Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Servia, followed suit.... An +international arming epidemic broke out. Everywhere, indeed, it was +said: We are not at all desirous of a Tariff war. We are acting only on +the maxim so often proclaimed among us, _Si vis pacem, para bellum_." + +Can it be doubted that there is a distinct connection between these +Tariff wars and the huge armaments which are now maintained by every +European state? The connection is, in fact, very close. Tariff wars +engender the belief that wars carried on by shot and shell may not +improbably follow. They thus encourage, and even necessitate, the costly +preparations for war which weigh so heavily, not only on the +industries, but also on the moral and intellectual progress of the +world. + +Mr. Oliver, in his interesting biography of Alexander Hamilton, gives a +very remarkable instance of the menace to peace arising, even amongst a +wholly homogeneous community, from the creation of hostile tariffs. The +first step which the thirteen States of America took after they had +acquired their independence was "to indulge themselves in the costly +luxury of an internecine tariff war.... Pennsylvania attacked Delaware. +Connecticut was oppressed by Rhode Island and New York.... It was a +dangerous game, ruinous in itself, and, behind the Custom-House +officers, men were beginning to furbish up the locks of their +muskets.... At one time war between Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York +seemed all but inevitable." + +To sum up all I have to say on this subject--I do not for a moment +suppose that Universal Free Trade--even if the adoption of such a policy +were conceivable--would inaugurate an era of universal and permanent +peace. Whatever fiscal policy be adopted by the great commercial nations +of the world, it is wholly illusory to suppose that the risk of war can +be altogether avoided in the future, any more than has been the case in +the past. But I am equally certain that, whereas exclusive trade tends +to exacerbate international relations, Free Trade, by mutually +enlisting a number of influential material interests in the cause of +peace, tends to ameliorate those relations and thus, _pro tanto_, to +diminish the probability of war. No nation has, of course, the least +right to dictate the fiscal policy of its neighbours, neither has it any +legitimate cause to complain when its neighbours exercise their +unquestionable right to make whatever fiscal arrangements they consider +conducive to their own interests. But the real and ostensible causes of +war are not always identical. When once irritation begins to rankle, and +rival interests clash to an excessive degree, the guns are apt to go off +by themselves, and an adroit diplomacy may confidently be trusted to +discover some plausible pretext for their explosion. + +In a speech which I made in London some three years ago, I gave an +example, gathered from facts with which I was intimately acquainted, of +the pacifying influence exerted by adopting a policy of Free Trade in +the execution of a policy of expansion. I may as well repeat it now. +Some twelve years ago the British flag was hoisted in the Soudan side by +side with the Egyptian. Europe tacitly acquiesced. Why did it do so? It +was because a clause was introduced into the Anglo-Egyptian Convention +of 1899, under which no trade preference was to be accorded to any +nation. All were placed on a footing of perfect equality. Indeed, the +whole fiscal policy adopted in Egypt since the British occupation in +1883 has been based on distinctly Free Trade principles. Indirect taxes +have been, in some instances, reduced. Those that remain in force are +imposed, not for protective, but for revenue purposes, whilst in one +important instance--that of cotton goods--an excise duty has been +imposed, in order to avoid the risk of customs duties acting +protectively. + +Free Trade mitigates, though it is powerless to remove, international +animosities. Exclusive trade stimulates and aggravates those +animosities. I do not by any means maintain that this argument is by +itself conclusive against the adoption of a policy of Protection, if, on +other grounds, the adoption of such a policy is deemed desirable; but it +is one aspect of the question which, when the whole issue is under +consideration, should not be left out of account. + +[Footnote 59: Subsequently published in _The Nineteenth Century and +After_ for September 1910.] + +[Footnote 60: _Life of Cobden_, Morley, vol. i. p. 231.] + +[Footnote 61: Sir Robert Peel, as is well known, did not fall into this +error, and even Mr. Cobden appears to have recognised so early as 1849 +that his original forecasts on this point were too optimistic. Speaking +on January 10, 1849, he said: "At the last stage of the Anti-Corn Law +Agitation, our opponents were driven to this position: 'Free Trade is a +very good thing, but you cannot have it until other countries adopt it +too.' And I used to say: 'If Free Trade be a good thing for us, we will +have it; let others take it if it be a good thing for them; if not, let +them do without it.'"] + +[Footnote 62: Hirst, _Life of Friedrich List_, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 63: Essay on the Influence of Commerce on International +Conflicts; F. Greenwood, _Ency. Brit._ (Tenth Edition).] + +[Footnote 64: In connection with this branch of the question, I wish to +draw attention to the fact that Professor Shield Nicholson, in his +recent brilliant work, _A Project of Empire_, has conclusively shown +that it is a misapprehension to suppose that Adam Smith, in advocating +Free Trade, looked merely to the interests of the consumer, and +neglected altogether those of the producer. Mr. Gladstone's statement on +this subject, made in 1860, is well known.] + +[Footnote 65: Reports on the Tariff wars between certain European +States, Parliamentary paper, Commercial, No. 1 (1904), p. 46.] + + + + +VI + +CHINA + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," May 1913_ + + +Mr. Bland's book, entitled _Recent Events and Present Policies in China_ +(1912), is full of instruction not only for those who are specially +concerned in the affairs of China, but also for all who are interested +in watching the new developments which are constantly arising from the +ever-increasing contact between the East and the West. + +The Eastern world is at present strewn with the _débris_ of paper +constitutions, which are, or are probably about to become, derelict. The +case of Egypt is somewhat special, and would require separate treatment. +But in Turkey, in Persia, and in China, the epidemic, which is of an +exotic character, appears to be following its normal course. + +Constitutions when first promulgated are received with wild enthusiasm. +In Italy, during the most frenzied period of Garibaldian worship, my +old friend, Lear the artist, asked a patriotic inn-keeper, who was in a +wild state of excitement, to give him breakfast, to which the man +replied: "Colazione! Che colazione! Tutto è amore e libertà!" In the +Albanian village in which Miss Durham was residing when the Young Turks +proclaimed their constitution, the Moslem inhabitants expressed great +delight at the news, and forthwith asked when the massacre of the +Giaours--without which a constitution would wholly miss its mark--was to +begin.[66] Similarly, Mr. Bland says that throughout China, although +"the word 'Republic' meant no more to the people at large than the +blessed word 'Mesopotamia,' men embraced each other publicly and wept +for joy at the coming of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." + +These ebullitions provoke laughter. + + Sed facilis cuivis rigidi censura cachinni. + +We Europeans have ourselves passed through much the same phases. Vandal +and others have told us of the Utopia which was created in the minds of +the French when the old régime crashed to the ground. Sydney Smith +caricatured the delusive hopes excited by the passing of the Reform Bill +of 1832, when he said that all the unmarried young women thought that +they would at once get husbands, and that all the schoolboys expected a +heavy fall in the price of jam tarts. A process of disillusionment may +confidently be anticipated in Ireland if the Home Rule Bill becomes law, +and the fairy prospects held out to the Irish people by Mr. Redmond and +the other stage managers of the piece are chilled by the cold shade of +reality. + +We English are largely responsible for creating the frame of mind which +is even now luring Young Turks, Chinamen, and other Easterns into the +political wilderness by the display of false signals. We have, indeed, +our Blands in China, our Milners in Egypt, our Miss Durhams in the +Balkan Peninsula, and our Miss Bells in Mesopotamia, who wander far +afield, gleaning valuable facts and laying before their countrymen and +countrywomen conclusions based on acquired knowledge and wide +experience. But their efforts are only partially successful. They are +often shivered on the solid rock of preconceived prejudices, and genuine +but ill-informed sentimentalism. A large section of the English public +are, in fact, singularly wanting in political imagination. Although they +would not, in so many words, admit the truth of the statement, they none +the less act and speak as if sound national development in whatsoever +quarter of the world must of necessity proceed along their own +conventional, insular, and time-honoured lines, and along those lines +alone. There is a whole class of newspaper readers, and also of +newspaper writers, who resemble that eminent but now deceased Member of +Parliament, who told me that during the four hours' railway journey from +Port Said to Cairo he had come to the definite conclusion that Egypt +could not be prosperous because he had observed that there were no +stacks of corn standing in the fields; neither was this conclusion in +any way shaken when it was explained to him that the Egyptians were not +in the habit of erecting corn stacks after the English model. All these +classes readily lend an ear to quack, though often very well-intentioned +politicians, who go about the world preaching that countries can be +regenerated by shibboleths, and that the characters of nations can be +changed by Acts of Parliament. This frame of mind appeals with +irresistible force to the untrained Eastern habit of thought. T'ang--a +leading Chinese Republican--Mr. Bland says, "like all educated Chinese, +believes in the magic virtue of words and forms of government in making +a nation wise and strong by Acts of Parliament." And what poor, +self-deluded T'ang is saying and thinking in Canton is said and thought +daily by countless Ahmeds, Ibrahims, and Rizas in the bazaars of +Constantinople, Cairo, and Teheran. + +What has Mr. Bland to tell us of all the welter of loan-mongering, +rococo constitution-tinkering, Confucianism, and genuine if at times +misdirected philanthropy, which is now seething in the Chinese +melting-pot? + +In the first place, he has to say that the main obstacle to all real +progress in China is one that cannot be removed by any change in the +form of government, whether the ruling spirit be a full-fledged +Republican of the Sun Yat-Sen type, aided by a number of "imitation +foreigners," as they are termed by their countrymen, or a savage, albeit +statesmanlike "Old Buddha," who, at the close of a life stained by all +manner of blood-guiltiness, at last turned her weary face towards +Western reform as the only hope of saving her country and her dynasty. +The main disease is not political, and is incapable of being cured by +the most approved constitutional formulae. It is economic. Polygamy, +aided by excessive philo-progenitiveness, the result of +ancestor-worship, has produced a highly congested population. Vast +masses of people are living in normal times on the verge of starvation. +Hence come famines and savage revolts of the hungry. "Amidst all the +specifics of political leaders," Mr. Bland says, "there has been as yet +hardly a voice raised against marriages of minors or polygamy, and +reckless over-breeding, which are the basic causes of China's chronic +unrest." + +The same difficulty, though perhaps in a less acute form, exists in +India. Not only cannot it be remedied by mere philanthropy, but it is +absolutely certain--cruel and paradoxical though it may appear to say +so--that philanthropy enhances the evil. In the days of Akhbar or Shah +Jehan, cholera, famine, and internal strife kept down the population. +Only the fittest survived. Now, internal strife is forbidden, and +philanthropy steps in and says that no single life shall be sacrificed +if science and Western energy or skill can save it. Hence the growth of +a highly congested population, vast numbers of whom are living on a bare +margin of subsistence. I need hardly say that I am not condemning +philanthropy. On the contrary, I hold strongly that an +anti-philanthropic basis of government is not merely degrading and +inhuman, but also fortunately nowadays impracticable. None the less, the +fact that one of the greatest difficulties of governing the teeming +masses in the East is caused by good and humane government should be +recognised. It is too often ignored. + +A partial remedy to the state of things now existing in China would be +to encourage emigration; but a resort to this expedient is impossible, +for Europeans and Americans alike, being scared by the prospect of +competing with Chinese cheap labour, which is the only real Yellow +Peril,[67] as also by the demoralisation consequent on a large influx of +Chinamen into their dominions, close their ports to the emigrants. That +Young China should feel this as a gross injustice can be no matter for +surprise. The Chinaman may, with inexorable logic, state his case thus: +"You, Europeans and Americans, insist on my receiving and protecting +your missionaries. I do not want them. I have, in Confucianism, a system +of philosophy, which, whatever you may think of it, suits all my +spiritual requirements, and which has been sufficient to hold Chinese +society together for long centuries past. Nevertheless, I bow to your +wishes. But then surely you ought in justice to allow free entry into +your dominions to my carpenters and bricklayers, of whom I have a large +surplus, of which I should be glad to be rid. Is not your boasted +philanthropy somewhat vicarious, and does not your public morality +savour in some degree of mere opportunist cant?" + +To all of which, Europeans and Americans can only reply that the +instinct of self-preservation, which is strong within them, points +clearly to the absolute necessity of excluding the Chinese carpenters +and bricklayers; and, further, as regards the missionaries, that there +can be but one answer, and that in a Christian sense, to the question +asked by jesting Pilate. In effect they say that circumstances alter +cases, and that might is right--a plea which may perhaps suffice to +salve the conscience of an opportunist politician, but ought to appeal +less forcibly to a stern moralist. + +Foreign emigration, even if it were possible, would, however, be a mere +palliative. A more thorough and effective remedy would be to facilitate +the dispersion of the population in the congested districts over those +wide tracts of China itself which are suffering in a less degree from +congestion. I conceive that the execution of a policy of this nature +would not be altogether impossible. It could be carried into effect by +improving the means of locomotion, possibly by the construction of +irrigation works on a large scale, and by developing the resources of +the country, which are admittedly very great. But there is one condition +which is essential to the execution of this programme, and that is that +the financial administration of the country should be sufficiently +honest to inspire the confidence of those European investors who alone +can provide the necessary capital. Now, according to Mr. Bland, this +fundamental quality of honesty is not to be found throughout the length +and breadth of China, whether in the ranks of the old Mandarins or in +those of the young Republicans. + + The essential virtue of personal integrity [he says], the capacity + to handle public funds with common honesty, has been conspicuously + lacking in Young China. The leopard has not changed his spots; the + sons and brothers of the classical Mandarin remain, in spite of + Western learning, Mandarins by instinct and in practice. + +A very close observer of Eastern affairs--Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole--has +said that the East has an extraordinary facility for assimilating all +the worst features of any new civilisation with which it is brought in +contact. This is what has happened in India, in Turkey, in Egypt, and in +Persia. Even in Japan it has yet to be seen whether the old national +virtues will survive prolonged contact with the West. Hear now what Mr. +Bland has to say of China: + + Where Young China has cast off the ethical restraints and patriotic + morality of Confucianism, it has failed to assimilate, or even to + understand, the moral foundations of Europe's civilisation. It has + exchanged its old lamp for a new, but it has not found the oil, + which the new vessel needs, to lighten the darkness withal. + +In the opinion of so highly qualified an authority as Prince Ito, "the +sentiments of foreign educated Young China are hopelessly out of touch +with the masses." But while there has been alienation from the ideals of +the East, there has been no real approach to the ideals of the West. + + Education at Harvard or Oxford may imbue the Chinese student with + ideas and social tendencies, apparently antagonistic to those of + the patriarchal system of his native land; but they do not, and + cannot, create in him (as some would have us believe) the + Anglo-Saxon outlook on life, the standards of conduct and the + beliefs which are the results of centuries of our process of + civilisation and structural character. Under his top dressing of + Western learning, the Chinese remains true to type, instinctively + detached from the practical and scientific attitude, + contemplatively philosophical, with the fatalistic philosophy of + the prophet Job, concerned rather with the causes than the results + of things. Your barrister at Lincoln's Inn, after ten years of + cosmopolitan experience in London or Washington, will revert in six + months to the ancestral type of morals and manners; the spectacle + is so common, even in the case of exceptionally assimilative men + like Wu Ting-fang, or the late Marquis Tseng, that it evokes little + or no comment amongst Europeans in China. + +Notably from the point of view of financial honesty, which, as I have +already mentioned, is of cardinal importance if the regeneration of the +country is to be undertaken by other means than by mock constitutions, +the results of Western education are most disappointing. + + The opinion [Mr. Bland says] is widely held amongst European + residents and traders that the section of Young China which has + received its education in Foreign Mission schools displays no more + honesty than the rest. + +What is the conclusion to be drawn from these facts? It is that not only +in order to obtain adequate security for the bond-holders--in whom I am +not in any way personally interested, for I shall certainly not be one +of them--but also in the interests of the Chinese people, it is +essential, before any loan is contracted, to insist on a strict +supervision of the expenditure of the loan funds. That Young China, +partly on genuine patriotic grounds and also possibly in some cases on +grounds which are less worthy of respect and sympathy, should resent the +exercise of this supervision, is natural enough, but it can scarcely be +doubted that unless it be exercised a large portion of the money +advanced by European capitalists will be wasted, and that no really +effective step forward will be taken in the solution of the economic +problem which constitutes the main Chinese difficulty. The very +rudimentary ideas entertained by the Chinese themselves in the matter of +applying funds to productive works is sufficiently illustrated by the +episode mentioned by Mr. Bland, where he tells us that "the Szechuan +Railway Company directors made provision for the building of their line +by the appointment of station-masters"; while the fact that but a short +time ago 1400 German machine guns, costing £500 apiece, which had never +been used or paid for, were lying at Shanghai, indicates the manner in +which it is not only possible but highly probable that the loan funds +under exclusively Chinese supervision would be frittered away on +unproductive objects. + +Those, indeed, who have had some practical experience of financial +administration in Eastern countries may well entertain some doubts as to +whether supervision which only embraces the expenditure, and does not +apply to the revenue, will be sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the case. The results so far attained by the more limited scheme of +supervision do not appear to have been satisfactory. Herr Rump was +appointed auditor to the German section of the Tientsin-P'ukou Railway, +but Mr. Bland tells us that "the auditorship on this railway has proved +worse than useless as a preventive of official peculation." On the other +hand, the system of collecting the revenue is in the highest degree +defective. It violates flagrantly a principle which, from the days of +Adam Smith downwards, has always been regarded as the corner-stone of +any sound financial administration. "For every tael officially accounted +for by the provincial authorities," Mr. Bland says, in words which +recall to my mind the Egyptian fiscal system under the régime of Ismail +Pasha, "at least five are actually collected from the taxpayers." + +It is, therefore, earnestly to be hoped that the diplomatists and +capitalists of Europe will--both in the interests of the investing +public and in those of the Chinese people--stand firm and insist on +adequate financial control as a preliminary and essential condition to +the advance of funds. + +As to whether the recently established Republic is destined to last or +whether it will prove a mere ephemeral episode in the life-history of +China, there seems to be much divergence of opinion among those +authorities who are most qualified to speak on the subject. Mr. Bland's +views on this point are, however, quite clear. He thinks that +Confucianism, and all the political and social habits of thought which +are the outcome of Confucianism, have "become ingrained in every fibre +of the national life," and that they constitute the "fundamental cause +of the longevity of China's social structure and of the innate strength +of her civilisation." He refuses to believe that Young China, which is +imbued with "a doctrinaire spirit of political speculation," though it +may tinker with the superstructure, will be able seriously to shake the +foundations of this hoary edifice. He has watched the opinions and +activities in every province from the beginning of the present +revolution, and he "is compelled to the conviction that salvation from +this quarter is impossible." He thinks that although in Canton and the +Kuang Provinces, which are the most intellectually advanced portions of +China, a system of popular representation may be introduced with some +hope of beneficial results, + + ... as regards the rest of China, as every educated Chinese knows + (unless, like Sun Yat-Sen, he has been brought up abroad), the idea + of rapidly transforming the masses of the population into an + intelligent electorate, and of making a Chinese Parliament the + expression of their collective political vitality, is a vain dream, + possible only for those who ignore the inherent character of the + Chinese people. + +There is, however, one consideration set forth by Mr. Bland, which may +possibly prove, at all events for a time, the salvation, while it +assuredly connotes the condemnation of the present system of government, +and that is that the Chinese Republic may continue to exist by +abrogating all republican principles. According to Mr. Bland this "gran +rifiuto" has already been made. "The actual government of China," he +says, "contains none of the elements of genuine Republicanism, but is +merely the old despotism, the old Mandarinate, under new names." "The +inauguration of the Republican idea of constitutional Government in +China," he says in another passage, "can only mean, in the present state +of the people, continual transference of an illegal despotism from one +group of political adventurers to another, the pretence of popular +representation serving merely to increase and perpetuate instability." + +It would require a far greater knowledge of Chinese affairs than any to +which I can pretend to express either unqualified adherence to or +dissent from Mr. Bland's views. But it is clear that his diagnosis of +the past is based on a very thorough acquaintance with the facts, while, +on _a priori_ grounds, his prognosis of the future is calculated to +commend itself to those of general experience who have studied Oriental +character and are acquainted with Oriental history. + +[Footnote 66: _High Albania_, p. 311.] + +[Footnote 67: See on this subject the final remarks in Mr. Bland's very +instructive chapter xiv.] + + + + +VII + +THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," July 1913_ + + +During the six years which have elapsed since I left Cairo I have, for +various reasons on which it is unnecessary to dwell, carefully abstained +from taking any part in whatever discussions have arisen on current +Egyptian affairs. If I now depart from the reticence which I have +hitherto observed it is because there appears at all events some slight +prospect that the main reform which is required to render the government +and administration of Egypt efficient will be seriously considered. As +so frequently happens in political affairs, a casual incident has +directed public attention to the need of reform. A short time ago a +Russian subject was, at the request of the Consular authorities, +arrested by the Egyptian police and handed over to them for deportation +to Russia. I am not familiar with the details of the case, neither, for +the purposes of my present argument, is any knowledge of those details +required. The nature of the offence of which this man, Adamovitch by +name, was accused, as also the question of whether he was guilty or +innocent of that offence, are altogether beside the point. The legal +obligation of the Egyptian Government to comply with the request that +the man should be handed over to the Russian Consular authorities would +have been precisely the same if he had been accused of no offence at +all. The result, however, has been to touch one of the most tender +points in the English political conscience. It has become clear that a +country which is not, indeed, British territory, but which is held by a +British garrison, and in which British influence is predominant, affords +no safe asylum for a political refugee. Without in any way wishing to +underrate the importance of this consideration, I think it necessary to +point out that this is only one out of the many anomalies which might be +indicated in the working of that most perplexing political creation +entitled the Egyptian Government and administration. Many instances +might, in fact, be cited which, albeit they are less calculated to +attract public attention in this country, afford even stronger ground +for holding that the time has come for reforming the system hitherto +known as that of the Capitulations. + +Before attempting to deal with this question I may perhaps be pardoned +if, at the risk of appearing egotistical, I indulge in a very short +chapter of autobiography. My own action in Egypt has formed the subject +of frequent comment in this country; neither, assuredly, in spite of +occasional blame, have I any reason to complain of the measure of +praise--often, I fear, somewhat unmerited praise--which has been +accorded to me. But I may perhaps be allowed to say what, in my own +opinion, are the main objects achieved during my twenty-four-years' +tenure of office. Those achievements are four in number, and let me add +that they were not the results of a hand-to-mouth conduct of affairs in +which the direction afforded to political events was constantly shifted, +but of a deliberate plan persistently pursued with only such temporary +deviations and delays as the circumstances of the time rendered +inevitable. + +In the first place, the tension with the French Government, which lasted +for twenty-one years and which might at any moment have become very +serious, was never allowed to go beyond a certain point. In spite of a +good deal of provocation, a policy of conciliation was persistently +adopted, with the result that the conclusion of the Anglo-French +Agreement of 1904 became eventually possible. It is on this particular +feature of my Egyptian career that personally I look back with far +greater pride and pleasure than any other, all the more so because, +although it has, comparatively speaking, attracted little public +attention, it was, in reality, by far the most difficult and responsible +part of my task. + +In the second place, bankruptcy was averted and the finances of the +country placed on a sound footing. + +In the third place, by the relief of taxation and other reforms which +remedied any really substantial grievances, the ground was cut away from +under the feet of the demagogues whom it was easy to foresee would +spring into existence as education advanced. + +In the fourth place, the Soudan, which had to be abandoned in 1884-85, +was eventually recovered. + +These, I say, are the things which were done. Let me now state what was +not done. Although, of course, the number of Egyptians employed in the +service of the Government was largely increased, and although the +charges which have occasionally been made that education was unduly +neglected admit of easy refutation, it is none the less true that +little, if any, progress was made in the direction of conferring +autonomy on Egypt. The reasons why so little progress was made in this +direction were twofold. + +In the first place, it would have been premature even to think of the +question until the long struggle against bankruptcy had been fought and +won, and also until, by the conclusion of the Anglo-French Agreement in +1904, the acute international tension which heretofore existed had been +relaxed. + +In the second place, the idea of what constituted autonomy entertained +by those Egyptians who were most in a position to make their voices +heard, as also by some of their English sympathisers, differed widely +from that entertained by myself and others who were well acquainted with +the circumstances of the country, and on whom the responsibility of +devising and executing any plan for granting autonomy would naturally +devolve. We were, in fact, the poles asunder. The Egyptian idea was that +the native Egyptians should rule Egypt. They therefore urged that +greatly increased powers should be given to the Legislative Council and +Assembly originally instituted by Lord Dufferin. The counter-idea was +not based on any alleged incapacity of the Egyptians to govern +themselves--a point which, for the purposes of my present argument, it +is unnecessary to discuss. Neither was it based on any disinclination +gradually to extend the powers of Egyptians in dealing with purely +native Egyptian questions.[68] I, and others who shared my views, +considered that those who cried "Egypt for the Egyptians" on the +house-tops had gone off on an entirely wrong scent because, even had +they attained their ends, nothing approaching to Egyptian autonomy would +have been realised. The Capitulations would still have barred the way to +all important legislation and to the removal of those defects in the +administration of which the Egyptians most complained. When the +prominent part played by resident Europeans in the political and social +life of Egypt is considered, it is indeed little short of ridiculous to +speak of Egyptian autonomy if at the same time a system is preserved +under which no important law can be made applicable to an Englishman, a +Frenchman, or a German, without its detailed provisions having received +the consent, not only of the King of England, the President of the +French Republic, and the German Emperor, but also that of the President +of the United States, the King of Denmark, and every other ruling +Potentate in Europe. We therefore held that the only possible method by +which the evils of extreme personal government could be averted, and by +which the country could be provided with a workable legislative machine, +was to include in the term "Egyptians" all the dwellers in Egypt, and to +devise some plan by which the European and Egyptian elements of society +would be fused together to such an extent at all events as to render +them capable of cooperating in legislative effort. It may perhaps be +hoped that by taking a first step in this direction some more thorough +fusion may possibly follow in the future. + +As I have already mentioned, it would have been premature to deal with +this question prior to 1904, for any serious modification of the régime +of the Capitulations could not be considered as within the domain of +practical politics so long as all the Powers, and more especially France +and England, were pulling different ways. But directly that agreement +was signed I resolved to take the question up, all the more so because +what was then known as the Secret Agreement, but which has since that +time been published, contained the following very important clause: + + In the event of their (His Britannic Majesty's Government) + considering it desirable to introduce in Egypt reforms tending to + assimilate the Egyptian legislative system to that in force in + other civilised countries, the Government of the French Republic + will not refuse to entertain any such proposals, on the + understanding that His Britannic Majesty's Government will agree to + entertain the suggestions that the Government of the French + Republic may have to make to them with a view of introducing + similar reforms in Morocco. + +I was under no delusion as to the formidable nature of the obstacles +which stood in the way of reform. Moreover, I held very strongly that +even if it had been possible, by diplomatic negotiations with the other +Powers, to come to some arrangement which would be binding on the +Europeans resident in Egypt, and to force it on them without their +consent being obtained, it was most undesirable to adopt anything +approaching to this procedure. The European colonists in Egypt, although +of course numerically far inferior to the native population, represent a +large portion of the wealth, and a still larger portion of the +intelligence and energy in the country. Moreover, although the word +"privilege" always rather grates on the ear in this democratic age, it +is none the less true that in the past the misgovernment of Egypt has +afforded excellent reasons why even those Europeans who are most +favourably disposed towards native aspirations should demur to any +sacrifice of their capitulary rights. My view, therefore, was that the +Europeans should not be coerced but persuaded. It had to be proved to +them that, under the changed condition of affairs, the Capitulations +were not only unnecessary but absolutely detrimental to their own +interests. Personally, I was very fully convinced of the truth of this +statement, neither was it difficult to convince those who, being behind +the scenes of government, were in a position to judge of the extent to +which the Capitulations clogged progress in many very important +directions. But it was more difficult to convince the general public, +many of whom entertained very erroneous ideas as to the extent and +nature of the proposed reforms, and could see nothing but the fact that +it was intended to deprive them of certain privileges which they then +possessed. It cannot be too distinctly understood that there never +was--neither do I suppose there is now--the smallest intention of +"abolishing the Capitulations," if by that term is meant a complete +abrogation of all those safeguards against arbitrary proceedings on the +part of the Government which the Capitulations are intended to prevent. +Capitulations or no Capitulations, the European charged with a criminal +offence must be tried either by European judges or an European jury. All +matters connected with the personal status of any European must be +judged by the laws in force in his own country. Adequate safeguards +must be contrived to guard against any abuse of power on the part of the +police. Whatever reforms are introduced into the Mixed Tribunals must be +confined to comparatively minor points, and must not touch fundamental +principles. In fact, the Capitulations have not to be abolished, but to +be modified. An eminent French jurist, M. Gabriel Louis Jaray, in +discussing the Egyptian situation a few years ago, wrote: + + On peut considérer comme admis qu'une simple occupation ou un + protectorat de fait, reconnu par les Puissances Européennes, suffit + pour mettre à néant les Capitulations, quand la réorganisation du + pays est suffisante pour donner aux Européens pleine garantie de + bonne juridiction. + +I contend that the reorganisation of Egypt is now sufficiently advanced +to admit of the guarantees for the good administration of justice, which +M. Jaray very rightly claimed, being afforded to all Europeans without +having recourse to the clumsy methods of the Capitulations in their +present form. + +In the last two reports which I wrote before I left Egypt I developed +these and some cognate arguments at considerable length. But from the +first moment of taking up the question I never thought that it would +fall to my lot to bring the campaign against the Capitulations to a +conclusion. The question was eminently one as to which it was +undesirable to force the pace. Time was required in order to let public +opinion mature. I therefore contented myself with indicating the defects +of the present system and the general direction which reform should +take, leaving it to those younger than myself to carry on the work when +advancing years obliged me to retire. I may add that the manner in which +my proposals were received and discussed by the European public in Egypt +afforded good reason for supposing that the obstacles to be overcome +before any serious reforms could be effected, though formidable, were by +no means insuperable. After my departure in 1907, events occurred which +rendered it impossible that the subject should at once come under the +consideration of the Government, but in 1911 Lord Kitchener was able to +report that the legislative powers of the Court of Appeal sitting at +Alexandria had been somewhat increased. Sir Malcolm M'Ilwraith, the +Judicial Adviser of the Egyptian Government, in commenting on this +change, says: + + The new scheme, while assuredly a progressive step, and in notable + advance of the previous state of affairs ... can hardly be + regarded, in its ensemble, as more than a temporary makeshift, and + a more or less satisfactory palliative of the legislative impotence + under which the Government has suffered for so long. + +It is most earnestly to be hoped that the question will now be taken up +seriously with a view to more drastic reform than any which has as yet +been effected. + +There is one, and only one, method by which the evils of the existing +system can be made to disappear. The British Government should request +the other Powers of Europe to vest in them the legislative power which +each now exercises separately. Simultaneously with this request, a +legislative Chamber should be created in Egypt for enacting laws to +which Europeans will be amenable. + +There is, of course, one essential preliminary to the execution of this +programme. It is that the Powers of Europe, as also the European +residents in Egypt, should have thorough confidence in the intentions of +the British Government, by which I mean confidence in the duration of +the occupation, and also confidence in the manner in which the affairs +of the country will be administered. + +As regards the first point, there is certainly no cause for doubt. Under +the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 the French Government specifically +declared that "they will not obstruct the action of government in Egypt +by asking that a limit of time be fixed for the British occupation, or +in any other manner." Moreover, one of the last acts that I performed +before I left Egypt in 1907 was to communicate to the British Chamber of +Commerce at Alexandria a letter from Sir Edward Grey in which I was +authorised to state that His Majesty's Government "recognise that the +maintenance and development of such reforms as have hitherto been +effected in Egypt depend upon the British occupation. This consideration +will apply with equal strength to any changes effected in the régime of +the Capitulations. His Majesty's Government, therefore, wish it to be +understood that there is no reason for allowing the prospect of any +modifications in that régime to be prejudiced by the existence of any +doubt as to the continuance of the British occupation of the country." +It is, of course, conceivable that in some remote future the British +garrison may be withdrawn from Egypt. If any fear is entertained on this +ground it may easily be calmed by an arrangement with the Powers that in +the event of the British Government wishing to withdraw their troops, +they would previously enter into communications with the various Powers +of Europe with a view to re-establishing whatever safeguards they might +think necessary in the interests of their countrymen. + +As regards the second point, that is to say, confidence in the manner in +which the administration of the country is conducted, I need only say +that, so far as I am able to judge, Lord Kitchener's administration, +although one of his measures--the Five Feddan law--has, not unnaturally, +been subjected to a good deal of hostile criticism, has inspired the +fullest confidence in the minds of the whole of the population of Egypt, +whether European or native. I cannot doubt that, when the time arrives +for Lord Kitchener, in his turn, to retire, no brusque or radical change +will be allowed to take place in the general principles under which he +is now administering the country. + +The rights and duties of any such Chamber as that which I propose, its +composition, its mode of election or nomination, the degree of control +to be exercised over it by the Egyptian or British Governments, are, of +course, all points which require very careful consideration, and which +admit of solution in a great variety of ways. In my report for the year +1906 I put forward certain suggestions in connection with each of these +subjects, but I do not doubt that, as the result of further +consideration and discussion, my proposals admit of improvement. I need +not now dwell on these details, important though they be. I wish, +however, to allude to one point which involves a question of principle. +I trust that no endeavour will for the present be made to create one +Chamber, composed of both Europeans and Egyptians, with power to +legislate for all the inhabitants of Egypt. I am strongly convinced +that, under the present condition of society in Egypt, any such attempt +must end in complete failure. It is, I believe, quite impossible to +devise any plan for an united Chamber which would satisfy the very +natural aspirations of the Egyptians, and at the same time provide for +the Europeans adequate guarantees that their own legitimate rights would +be properly safeguarded. I am fully aware of the theoretical objections +which may be urged against trying the novel experiment of creating two +Chambers in the same country, each of which would deal with separate +classes of the community, but I submit that, in the special +circumstances of the case, those objections must be set aside, and that +one more anomaly should, for the time being at all events, be added to +the many strange institutions which exist in the "Land of Paradox." +Whether at some probably remote future period it will be possible to +create a Chamber in which Europeans and Egyptians will sit side by side +will depend very largely on the conduct of the Egyptians themselves. If +they follow the advice of those who do not flatter them, but who, +however little they may recognise the fact, are in reality their best +friends--if, in a word, they act in such a manner as to inspire the +European residents of Egypt with confidence in their judgment and +absence of class or religious prejudice, it may be that this +consummation will eventually be reached. If, on the other hand, they +allow themselves to be guided by the class of men who have of late years +occasionally posed as their representatives, the prospect of any +complete legislative amalgamation will become not merely gloomy but +practically hopeless. The true Egyptian patriot is not the man who by +his conduct and language stimulates racial animosity in the pursuit of +an ideal which can never be realised, but rather one who recognises the +true facts of the political situation. Now, the dominating fact of that +situation is that Egypt can never become autonomous in the sense in +which that word is understood by the Egyptian nationalists. It is, and +will always remain, a cosmopolitan country. The real future of Egypt, +therefore, lies not in the direction of a narrow nationalism, which will +only embrace native Egyptians, nor in that of any endeavour to convert +Egypt into a British possession on the model of India or Ceylon, but +rather in that of an enlarged cosmopolitanism, which, whilst discarding +all the obstructive fetters of the cumbersome old international system, +will tend to amalgamate all the inhabitants of the Nile Valley and +enable them all alike to share in the government of their native or +adopted country. + +For the rest, the various points of detail to which I have alluded above +present difficulties which are by no means insuperable, if--as I trust +may be the case--the various parties concerned approach the subject with +a real desire to arrive at some practical solutions. The same may be +said as regards almost all the points to which Europeans resident in +Egypt attach special importance, such, for instance, as the composition +of criminal courts for trying Europeans, the regulation of domiciliary +visits by the police, and cognate issues. In all these cases it is by no +means difficult to devise methods for preserving all that is really +worth keeping in the present system, and at the same time discarding +those portions which seriously hinder the progress of the country. There +is, however, one important point of detail which, I must admit, presents +considerable practical difficulties. It is certain that the services of +some of the European judges of the Mixed Tribunals might be utilised in +constituting the new Chamber. Their presence would be of great use, and +it is highly probable that they will in practice become the real working +men of any Chamber which may be created. But apart from the objection in +principle to confiding the making as also the administration of the law +wholly to the same individuals, it is to be observed that, in order to +create a really representative body, it would be essential that other +Europeans--merchants, bankers, landowners, and professional men--should +be seated in the Chamber. Almost all the Europeans resident in Europe +are busy men, and the question will arise whether those whose assistance +would, on general grounds, be of special value, are prepared to +sacrifice the time required for paying adequate attention to their +legislative duties. I can only say that I hope that sufficient public +spirit is to be found amongst the many highly qualified European +residents in Egypt of divers nationalities to enable this question to be +answered in the affirmative. + +It is, of course, impossible within the space allotted to me to deal +fully on the present occasion with all the aspects of this very +difficult and complicated question. I can only attempt to direct +attention to the main issue, and that issue, I repeat, is how to devise +some plan which shall take the place of the present Egyptian system of +legislation by diplomacy. The late Lord Salisbury once epigrammatically +described that system to me by saying that it was like the _liberum +veto_ of the old Polish Diet, "without being able to have recourse to +the alternative of striking off the head of any recalcitrant voter." It +is high time that such a system should be swept away and some other +adopted which will be more in harmony with the actual facts of the +Egyptian situation. If, as I trust may be the case, Lord Kitchener is +able to devise and to carry into execution some plan which will rescue +Egypt from its present legislative Slough of Despond, he will have +deserved well, not only of his country, but also of all those Egyptian +interests, whether native or European, which are committed to his +charge. + +[Footnote 68: It is believed that a proposal to reform the constitution +of the Egyptian Legislative Council and to extend somewhat its powers is +now under consideration. Any reasonable proposals of this nature should +be welcomed, but they will do little or nothing towards granting +autonomy to Egypt in the sense in which I understand that word.] + + + + +"THE SPECTATOR" + + + + +VIII + +DISRAELI + +_"The Spectator," November 1912_ + + +No one who has lived much in the East can, in reading Mr. Monypenny's +volumes, fail to be struck with the fact that Disraeli was a thorough +Oriental. The taste for tawdry finery, the habit of enveloping in +mystery matters as to which there was nothing to conceal, the love of +intrigue, the tenacity of purpose--though this is perhaps more a Jewish +than an invariably Oriental characteristic--the luxuriance of the +imaginative faculties, the strong addiction to plausible generalities +set forth in florid language, the passionate outbursts of grief +expressed at times in words so artificial as to leave a doubt in the +Anglo-Saxon mind as to whether the sentiments can be genuine, the +spasmodic eruption of real kindness of heart into a character steeped in +cynicism, the excess of flattery accorded at one time to Peel for purely +personal objects contrasted with the excess of vituperation poured +forth on O'Connell for purposes of advertisement, and the total absence +of any moral principle as a guide of life--all these features, in a +character which is perhaps not quite so complex as is often supposed, +hail from the East. What is not Eastern is his unconventionality, his +undaunted moral courage, and his ready conception of novel political +ideas--often specious ideas, resting on no very solid foundation, but +always attractive, and always capable of being defended by glittering +plausibilities. He was certainly a man of genius, and he used that +genius to found a political school based on extreme self-seeking +opportunism. In this respect he cannot be acquitted of the charge of +having contributed towards the degradation of English political life. + +Mr. Monypenny's first volume deals with Disraeli's immature youth. In +the second, the story of the period (1837-46) during which Disraeli rose +to power is admirably told, and a most interesting story it is. + +Whatever views one may adopt of Disraeli's character and career, it is +impossible not to be fascinated in watching the moral and intellectual +development of this very remarkable man, whose conduct throughout life, +far from being wayward and erratic, as has at times been somewhat +superficially supposed, was in reality in the highest degree +methodical, being directed with unflagging persistency to one end, the +gratification of his own ambition--an ambition, it should always be +remembered, which, albeit it was honourable, inasmuch as it was directed +to no ignoble ends, was wholly personal. If ever there was a man to whom +Milton's well-known lines could fitly be applied it was Disraeli. He +scorned delights. He lived laborious days. In his youth he eschewed +pleasures which generally attract others whose ambition only soars to a +lower plane. In the most intimate relations of life he subordinated all +private inclinations to the main object he had in view. He avowedly +married, in the first instance, for money, although at a later stage his +wife was able to afford herself the consolation, and to pay him the +graceful compliment of obliterating the sordid reproach by declaring +that "if he had the chance again he would marry her for love"--a +statement confirmed by his passionate, albeit somewhat histrionic +love-letters. The desire of fame, which may easily degenerate into a +mere craving for notoriety, was unquestionably the spur which in his +case raised his "clear spirit." So early as 1833, on being asked upon +what principles he was going to stand at a forthcoming election, he +replied, "On my head." He cared, in fact, little for principles of any +kind, provided the goal of his ambition could be reached. Throughout his +career his main object was to rule his countrymen, and that object he +attained by the adoption of methods which, whether they be regarded as +tortuous or straightforward, morally justifiable or worthy of +condemnation, were of a surety eminently successful. + +The interest in Mr. Monypenny's work is enormously enhanced by the +personality of his hero. In dealing with the careers of other English +statesmen--for instance, with Cromwell, Chatham, or Gladstone--we do, +indeed, glance--and more than glance--at the personality of the man, but +our mature judgment is, or at all events should be, formed mainly on his +measures. We inquire what was their ultimate result, and what effect +they produced? We ask ourselves what degree of foresight the statesman +displayed. Did he rightly gauge the true nature of the political, +economic, or social forces with which he had to deal, or did he mistake +the signs of the times and allow himself to be lured away by some +ephemeral will-o'-the-wisp in the pursuit of objects of secondary or +even fallacious importance? It is necessary to ask these questions in +dealing with the career of Disraeli, but this mental process is, in his +case, obscured to a very high degree by the absorbing personality of the +man. The individual fills the whole canvas almost to the extent of +excluding all other objects from view. + +No tale of fiction is, indeed, more strange than that which tells how +this nimble-witted alien adventurer, with his poetic temperament, his +weird Eastern imagination and excessive Western cynicism, his elastic +mind which he himself described as "revolutionary," and his apparently +wayward but in reality carefully regulated unconventionality, succeeded, +in spite of every initial disadvantage of race, birth, manners, and +habits of thought, in dominating a proud aristocracy and using its +members as so many pawns on the chess-board which he had arranged to +suit his own purposes. Thrust into a society which was steeped in +conventionality, he enforced attention to his will by a studied neglect +of everything that was conventional. Dealing with a class who honoured +tradition, he startled the members of that class by shattering all the +traditions which they had been taught to revere, and by endeavouring, +with the help of specious arguments which many of them only half +understood, to substitute others of an entirely novel character in their +place. Following much on the lines of those religious reformers who have +at times sought to revive the early discipline and practices of the +Church, he endeavoured to destroy the Toryism of his day by invoking +the shade of a semi-mythical Toryism of the past. Bolingbroke was the +model to be followed, Shelburne was the tutelary genius of Pitt, and +Charles I. was made to pose as "a virtuous and able monarch," who was +"the holocaust of direct taxation." Never, he declared, "did man lay +down his heroic life for so great a cause, the cause of the Church and +the cause of the Poor."[69] Aspiring to rise to power through the agency +of Conservatives, whose narrow-minded conventional conservatism he +despised, and to whose defects he was keenly alive, he wisely judged +that it was a necessity, if his programme were to be executed, that the +association of political power with landed possessions should be the +sheet-anchor of his system; and, strong in the support afforded by that +material bond of sympathy, he did not hesitate to ridicule the foibles +of those "patricians"--to use his own somewhat stilted expression--who, +whilst they sneered at his apparent eccentricities, despised their own +chosen mouthpiece, and occasionally writhed under his yoke, were none +the less so fascinated by the powerful will and keen intellect which +held them captive that they blindly followed his lead, even to the +verge of being duped. + +From earliest youth to green old age his confidence in his own powers +was never shaken. He persistently acted up to the sentiment--slightly +paraphrased from Terence--which he had characteristically adopted as his +family motto, _Forti nihil difficile_; neither could there be any +question as to the genuine nature either of his strength or his courage, +albeit hostile critics might seek to confound the latter quality with +sheer impudence.[70] He abhorred the commonplace, and it is notably this +abhorrence which gives a vivid, albeit somewhat meretricious sparkle to +his personality. For although truth is generally dull, and although +probably most of the reforms and changes which have really benefited +mankind partake largely of the commonplace, the attraction of +unconventionality and sensationalism cannot be denied. Disraeli made +English politics interesting, just as Ismail Pasha gave at one time a +spurious interest to the politics of Egypt. No one could tell what would +be the next step taken by the juggler in Cairo or by that meteoric +statesman in London whom John Bright once called "the great wizard of +Buckinghamshire." When Disraeli disappeared from the stage, the +atmosphere may have become clearer, and possibly more healthy for the +body politic in the aggregate, but the level of interest fell, whilst +the barometer of dulness rose. + +If the saying generally attributed to Buffon[71] that "the style is the +man," is correct, an examination of Disraeli's style ought to give a +true insight into his character. There can be no question of the +readiness of his wit or of his superabundant power of sarcasm. Besides +the classic instances which have almost passed into proverbs, others, +less well known, are recorded in these pages. The statement that "from +the Chancellor of the Exchequer to an Undersecretary of State is a +descent from the sublime to the ridiculous" is very witty. The +well-known description of Lord Derby as "the Rupert of debate" is both +witty and felicitous, whilst the sarcasm in the context, which is less +well known, is both witty and biting. The noble lord, Disraeli said, was +like Prince Rupert, because "his charge was resistless, but when he +returned from the pursuit he always found his camp in the possession of +the enemy." + +A favourite subject of Disraeli's sarcasm in his campaign against Peel +was that the latter habitually borrowed the ideas of others. "His +(Peel's) life," he said, "has been a great appropriation clause. He is a +burglar of others' intellect.... From the days of the Conqueror to the +termination of the last reign there is no statesman who has committed +political petty larceny on so great a scale." + +In a happy and inimitable metaphor he likened Sir Robert Peel's action +in throwing over Protection to that of the Sultan's admiral who, during +the campaign against Mehemet Ali, after preparing a vast armament which +left the Dardanelles hallowed by the blessings of "all the muftis of the +Empire," discovered when he got to sea that he had "an objection to +war," steered at once into the enemy's port, and then explained that +"the only reason he had for accepting the command was that he might +terminate the contest by betraying his master." + +Other utterances of a similar nature abound, as, for instance, when he +spoke of Lord Melbourne as "sauntering over the destinies of a nation, +and lounging away the glories of an Empire," or when he likened those +Tories who followed Sir Robert Peel to the Saxons converted by +Charlemagne. "The old chronicler informs us they were converted in +battalions and baptized in platoons." + +Warned by the fiasco of his first speech in the House of Commons, +Disraeli for some while afterwards exercised a wise parsimony in the +display of his wit. He discovered that "the House will not allow a man +to be a wit and an orator unless they have the credit of finding it +out." But when he had once established his position and gained the ear +of the House, he gave a free rein to his prodigious powers of satire, +which he used to the full in his attacks on Peel. In point of fact, +vituperation and sarcasm were his chief weapons of offence. He spoke of +Mr. Roebuck as a "meagre-minded rebel," and called Campbell, who was +afterwards Lord Chancellor, "a shrewd, coarse, manœuvring Pict," a +"base-born Scotchman," and a "booing, fawning, jobbing progeny of haggis +and cockaleekie." When he ceased to be witty, sarcastic, or +vituperative, he became turgid. Nothing could be more witty than when, +in allusion to Peel's borrowing the ideas of others, he spoke of his +fiscal project as "Popkins's Plan," but when, having once made this hit, +which naturally elicited "peals of laughter from all parts of the +House," he proceeded further, he at once lapsed into cheap rhetoric. + + "Is England," he said, "to be governed, and is England to be + convulsed, by Popkins's plan? Will he go to the country with it? + Will he go with it to that ancient and famous England that once was + governed by statesmen--by Burleighs and by Walsinghams; by + Bolingbrokes and by Walpoles; by a Chatham and a Canning--will he + go to it with this fantastic scheming of some presumptuous pedant? + I won't believe it. I have that confidence in the common sense, I + will say the common spirit of our countrymen, that I believe they + will not long endure this huckstering tyranny of the Treasury + Bench--these political pedlars that bought their party in the + cheapest market and sold us in the dearest." + +So also on one occasion when in a characteristically fanciful flight he +said that Canning ruled the House of Commons "as a man rules a high-bred +steed, as Alexander ruled Bucephalus," and when some member of the House +indulged in a very legitimate laugh, he turned on him at once and said, +"I thank that honourable gentleman for his laugh. The pulse of the +national heart does not beat as high as once it did. I know the temper +of this House is not as spirited and brave as it was, nor am I +surprised, when the vulture rules where once the eagle reigned." From +the days of Horace downwards it has been permitted to actors and orators +to pass rapidly from the comic to the tumid strain.[72] But in this case +the language was so bombastic and so utterly out of proportion to the +occasion which called it forth that a critic of style will hardly acquit +the orator of the charge of turgidity. Mr. Monypenny recognises that +"in spite of Disraeli's strong grasp of fact, his keen sense of the +ridiculous, and his intolerance of cant, he never could quite +distinguish between the genuine and the counterfeit either in language +or sentiment." + +Much has at times been said and written of the solecisms for which +Disraeli was famous. They came naturally to him. In his early youth he +told his sister that the Danube was an "uncouth stream," because "its +bed is far too considerable for its volume." At the same time there can +be little doubt that his practice of indulging in carefully prepared +solecisms, which became more daring as he advanced in power, was part of +a deliberate and perfectly legitimate plan, conceived with the object of +arresting the attention and stimulating the interest of his audience. + + * * * * * + +I have so far only dealt with Disraeli's main object in life, and with +the methods by which he endeavoured to attain that object. The important +question remains to be considered of whether, as many supposed and still +suppose, Disraeli was a mere political charlatan, or whether, as others +hold, he was a far-seeing statesman and profound thinker, who read the +signs of the times more clearly than his contemporaries, and who was +the early apostle of a political creed which his countrymen will do well +to adopt and develop. + +It is necessary here to say a word or two about Disraeli's biographer. +The charm of Mr. Monypenny's style, the lucidity of his narrative, the +thorough grasp which he manifestly secured of the forces in movement +during the period which his history embraces, and the deep regret that +all must feel that his promising career was prematurely cut short by the +hand of death, should not blind us to the fact that, in spite of a +manifest attempt to write judicially, he must be regarded as an +apologist for Disraeli. In respect, indeed, to one point--which, +however, is, in my opinion, one of great importance--he threw up the +case for his client. The facts of this case are very clear. + +When Peel formed his Ministry in 1841, no place was offered to Disraeli. +It can be no matter for surprise that he was deeply mortified. His +exclusion does not appear to have been due to any personal feeling of +animosity entertained by Peel. On the contrary, Peel's relations with +Disraeli had up to that time been of a very friendly character. Possibly +something may be attributed to that lack of imagination which, at a much +later period, Disraeli thought was the main defect of Sir Robert Peel's +character, and which may have rendered him incapable of conceiving that +a young man, differing so totally not only from himself but from all +other contemporaneous politicians in deportment and demeanour, could +ever aspire to be a political factor of supreme importance. The +explanation given by Peel himself that, as is usual with Prime Ministers +similarly situated, he was wholly unable to meet all the just claims +made upon him, was unquestionably true, but it is more than probable +that the episode related by Mr. Monypenny had something to do with +Disraeli's exclusion. Peel, it appears, was inclined to consider +Disraeli eligible for office, but Stanley (subsequently Lord Derby), who +was a typical representative of that "patrician" class whom Disraeli +courted and eventually dominated, stated "in his usual vehement way" +that "if that scoundrel were taken in, he would not remain himself." +However that may be, two facts are abundantly clear. One is that, in the +agony of disappointment, Disraeli threw himself at Peel's feet and +implored, in terms which were almost abject, that some official place +should be found for him. "I appeal," he said, in a letter dated +September 5, 1841, "to that justice and that magnanimity which I feel +are your characteristics, to save me from an intolerable humiliation." +The other fact is that, speaking to his constituents in 1844, he said: +"I never asked Sir Robert Peel for a place," and further that, speaking +in the House of Commons in 1846, he repeated this statement even more +categorically. He assured the House that "nothing of the kind ever +occurred," and he added that "it was totally foreign to his nature to +make an application for any place." He was evidently not believed. "The +impression in the House," Mr. Monypenny says, "was that Disraeli had +better have remained silent." + +Mr. Monypenny admits the facts, and does not attempt to defend +Disraeli's conduct, but he passes over this very singular episode, which +is highly illustrative of the character of the man, somewhat lightly, +merely remarking that though Disraeli "must pay the full penalty," at +the same time "it is for the politician who is without sin in the matter +of veracity to cast the first stone." + +I hardly think that this consolatory Biblical reflection disposes of the +matter. Politicians, as also diplomatists, are often obliged to give +evasive answers to inconvenient questions, but it is not possible for +any man, when dealing with a point of primary importance, deliberately +to make and to repeat a statement so absolutely untrue as that made by +Disraeli on the occasion in question without undermining any confidence +which might otherwise be entertained in his general sincerity and +rectitude of purpose. A man convicted of deliberate falsehood cannot +expect to be believed when he pleads that his public conduct is wholly +dictated by public motives. Now all the circumstantial evidence goes to +show that from 1841 onwards Disraeli's conduct, culminating in his +violent attacks on Peel in 1845-46, was the result of personal +resentment due to his exclusion from office in 1841, and that these +attacks would never have been made had he been able to climb the ladder +of advancement by other means. His proved want of veracity confirms the +impression derived from this evidence. + +Peel's own opinion on the subject may be gathered from a letter which he +wrote to Sir James Graham on December 22, 1843.[73] Disraeli had the +assurance to solicit a place for his brother from Sir James Graham. The +request met with a flat refusal. Peel's comment on the incident was: "He +(Disraeli) asked me for office himself, and I was not surprised that, +being refused, he became independent and a patriot." + +So far, therefore, as the individual is concerned, the episode on which +I have dwelt above appears to me to be a very important factor in +estimating not merely Disraeli's moral worth, but also the degree of +value to be attached to his opinions. The question of whether Disraeli +was or was not a political charlatan remains, however, to be +considered. + +That Disraeli was a political adventurer is abundantly clear. So was +Napoleon, between whose mentality and that of Disraeli a somewhat close +analogy exists. Both subordinated their public conduct to the +furtherance of their personal aims. It is quite permissible to argue +that, as a political adventurer, Disraeli did an incalculable amount of +harm in so far as he tainted the sincerity of public life both in his +own person and, posthumously, by becoming the progenitor of a school of +adventurers who adopted his methods. But it is quite possible to be a +self-seeking adventurer without being a charlatan. A careful +consideration of Disraeli's opinions and actions leads me to the +conclusion that only on a very superficial view of his career can the +latter epithet be applied to him. It must, I think, be admitted that his +ideas, even although we may disagree with them, were not those of a +charlatan, but of a statesman. They cannot be brushed aside as trivial. +They deserve serious consideration. Moreover, he had a very remarkable +power of penetrating to the core of any question which he treated, +coupled with an aptitude for wide generalisation which is rare amongst +Englishmen, and which he probably derived from his foreign ancestors. An +instance in point is his epigrammatic statement that "In England, where +society was strong, they tolerated a weak Government, but in Ireland, +where society was weak, the policy should be to have the Government +strong." Mr. Monypenny is quite justified in saying: "The significance +of the Irish question cannot be exhausted in a formula, but in that +single sentence there is more of wisdom and enlightenment than in many +thousands of the dreary pages of Irish debate that are buried in the +volumes of Hansard." + +More than this. In one very important respect he was half a century in +advance of his contemporaries. With true political instinct he fell upon +what was unquestionably the weakest point in the armour of the so-called +Manchester School of politicians. He saw that whilst material +civilisation in England was advancing with rapid strides, there was "no +proportionate advance in our moral civilisation." "In the hurry-skurry +of money-making, men-making, and machine-making," the moral side of +national life was being unduly neglected. He was able with justifiable +pride to say: "Long before what is called the 'condition of the people +question' was discussed in the House of Commons, I had employed my pen +on the subject. I had long been aware that there was something rotten in +the core of our social system. I had seen that while immense fortunes +were accumulating, while wealth was increasing to a superabundance, and +while Great Britain was cited throughout Europe as the most prosperous +nation in the world, the working classes, the creators of wealth, were +steeped in the most abject poverty and gradually sinking into the +deepest degradation." The generation of 1912 cannot dub as a charlatan +the man who could speak thus in 1844. For in truth, more especially +during the last five years, we have been suffering from a failure to +recognise betimes the truth of this foreseeing statesman's admonition. +Having for years neglected social reform, we have recently tried to make +up for lost time by the hurried adoption of a number of measures, often +faulty in principle and ill-considered in detail, which seek to obtain +by frenzied haste those advantages which can only be secured by the +strenuous and persistent application of sound principles embodied in +deliberate and well-conceived legislative enactments. + +Disraeli, therefore, saw the rock ahead, but how did he endeavour to +steer the ship clear of the rock? It is in dealing with this aspect of +the case that the view of the statesman dwindles away and is supplanted +by that of the self-seeking party manager. His fundamental idea was that +"we had altogether outgrown, not the spirit, but the organisation of our +institutions." The manner in which he proposed to reorganise our +institutions was practically to render the middle classes politically +powerless. His scheme, constituting the germ which, at a later period, +blossomed into the Tory democracy, was developed as early as 1840 in a +letter addressed to Mr. Charles Attwood, who was at that time a popular +leader. "I entirely agree with you," he said, "that an union between the +Conservative Party and the Radical masses offers the only means by which +we can preserve the Empire. Their interests are identical; united they +form the nation; and their division has only permitted a miserable +minority, under the specious name of the People, to assail all right of +property and person." + +Mr. Monypenny, if I understand rightly, is generally in sympathy with +Disraeli's project, and appears to think that it might have been +practicable to carry it into effect. He condemns Peel's counter-idea of +substituting a middle-class Toryism for that which then existed as +"almost a contradiction in terms." I am unable to concur in this view. I +see no contradiction, either real or apparent, in Peel's +counter-project, and I hold that events have proved that the premises on +which Disraeli based his conclusion were entirely false, for his +political descendants, while still pursuing his main aim, viz. to ensure +a closer association of the Conservative Party and the masses, have been +forced by circumstances into an endeavour to effect that union by means +not merely different from but antagonistic to those which Disraeli +himself contemplated. + +It all depends on what Disraeli meant when he spoke of "Conservatism," +and on what Mr. Monypenny meant when he spoke of "Toryism." It may +readily be conceded that a "middle-class Toryism," in the sense in which +Disraeli would have understood the expression, was "a contradiction in +terms," for the bed-rock on which his Toryism was based was that it +should find its main strength in the possessors of land. The creation of +such a Toryism is a conceivable political programme. In France it was +created by the division of property consequent on the Revolution. Thiers +said truly enough that in the cottage of every French peasant owning an +acre of land would be found a musket ready to be used in the defence of +property. In fact, the five million peasant proprietors now existing in +France represent an eminently conservative class. But, so far as I know, +there is not a trace to be found in any of Disraeli's utterances that he +wished to widen the basis of agricultural conservatism by creating a +peasant proprietary class. He wished, above all things, to maintain the +territorial magnates in the full possession of their properties. When he +spoke of a "union between the Conservative Party and the Radical masses" +he meant a union between the "patricians" and the working men, and the +answer to this somewhat fantastic project is that given by Juvenal 1800 +years ago: + + Quis enim iam non intelligat artes + Patricias?[74] + +"Who in our days is not up to the dodges of the patricians?" + +The programme was foredoomed to failure, and the failure has been +complete. Modern Conservatives can appeal to the middle classes, who--in +spite of what Mr. Monypenny says--are their natural allies. They can +also appeal to the working classes by educating them and by showing them +that Socialism is diametrically contrary to their own interests. But, +although they may gain some barren and ephemeral electoral advantages, +they cannot hope to advance the cause of rational conservative progress +either by alienating the one class or by sailing under false colours +before the other. They cannot advantageously masquerade in Radical +clothes. There was a profound truth in Lord Goschen's view upon the +conduct of Disraeli when, in strict accordance with the principles he +enunciated in the 'forties, he forced his reluctant followers to pass a +Reform Bill far more Radical than that proposed by the Whigs. "That +measure," Lord Goschen said,[75] "might have increased the number of +Conservatives, but it had, nevertheless, in his belief, weakened real +Conservatism." Many of Disraeli's political descendants seem to care +little for Conservatism, but they are prepared to advocate Socialist or +quasi-Socialist doctrines in order to increase the number of nominal +Conservatives. This, therefore, has been the ultimate result of the +gospel of which Disraeli was the chief apostle. It does no credit to his +political foresight. He altogether failed to see the consequences which +would result from the adoption of his political principles. He hoped +that the Radical masses, whom he sought to conciliate, would look to the +"patricians" as their guides. They have done nothing of the sort, but a +very distinct tendency has been created amongst the "patricians" to +allow themselves to be guided by the Radical masses. + +I cannot terminate these remarks without saying a word or two about +Disraeli's great antagonist, Peel. It appears to me that Mr. Monypenny +scarcely does justice to that very eminent man. His main accusation +against Peel is that he committed his country "apparently past recall" +to an industrial line of growth, and that he sacrificed rural England +"to a one-sided and exaggerated industrial development which has done +so much to change the English character and the English outlook." + +I think that this charge admits of being answered, but I will not now +attempt to answer it fully. This much, however, I may say. Mr. +Monypenny, if I understand rightly, admits that the transition from +agriculture to manufactures was, if not desirable, at all events +inevitable, but he holds that this transition should have been gradual. +This is practically the same view as that held by the earlier German and +American economists, who--whilst condemning Protection in +theory--advocated it as a temporary measure which would eventually lead +up to Free Trade. The answer is that, in those countries which adopted +this policy, the Protection has, in the face of vested interests, been +permanent, whilst, although the movement in favour of Free Trade has +never entirely died out, and may, indeed, be said recently to have shown +signs of increasing vigour, the obstacles to the realisation of the +ideas entertained by economists of the type of List have not yet been +removed, and are still very formidable. That the plunge made by Sir +Robert Peel has been accompanied by some disadvantages may be admitted, +but Free Traders may be pardoned for thinking that, if he had not had +the courage to make that plunge, the enormous counter-advantages which +have resulted from his policy would never have accrued. + +As regards Peel's character, it was twice sketched by Disraeli himself. +The first occasion was in 1839. The picture he drew at that time was +highly complimentary, but as Disraeli was then a loyal supporter of Peel +it may perhaps be discarded on the plea advanced by Voltaire that "we +can confidently believe only the evil which a party writer tells of his +own side and the good which he recognises in his opponents." The second +occasion was after Peel's death. It is given by Mr. Monypenny in ii. +306-308, and is too long to quote. Disraeli on this occasion made some +few--probably sound--minor criticisms on Peel's style, manner, and +disposition. But he manifestly wrote with a strong desire to do justice +to his old antagonist's fine qualities. He concluded with a remark +which, in the mouth of a Parliamentarian, may probably be considered the +highest praise, namely, that Peel was "the greatest Member of Parliament +that ever lived." I cannot but think that even those who reject Peel's +economic principles may accord to him higher praise than this. They may +admit that Peel attained a very high degree of moral elevation when, at +the dictate of duty, he separated himself from all--or the greater +part--of his former friends, and had the courage, when honestly +convinced by Cobden's arguments, to act upon his convictions. Peel's +final utterance on this subject was not only one of the most pathetic, +but also one of the finest--because one of the most deeply +sincere--speeches ever made in Parliament. + +I may conclude these remarks by some recollections of a personal +character. My father, who died in 1848, was a Peelite and an intimate +friend of Sir Robert Peel, who was frequently his guest at Cromer. I +used, therefore, in my childhood to hear a good deal of the subjects +treated in Mr. Monypenny's brilliant volumes. I well remember--I think +it must have been in 1847--being present on one occasion when a relative +of my own, who was a broad-acred Nottinghamshire squire, thumped the +table and declared his opinion that "Sir Robert Peel ought to be hanged +on the highest tree in England." Since that time I have heard a good +many statesmen accused of ruining their country, but, so far as my +recollection serves me, the denunciations launched against John Bright, +Gladstone, and even the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, may be +considered as sweetly reasonable by comparison with the language +employed about Sir Robert Peel by those who were opposed to his policy. + +I was only once brought into personal communication with Disraeli. +Happening to call on my old friend, Lord Rowton, in the summer of 1879, +when I was about to return to Egypt as Controller-General, he expressed +a wish that I should see Lord Beaconsfield, as he then was. The +interview was very short; neither has anything Lord Beaconsfield said +about Egyptian affairs remained in my memory. But I remember that he +appeared much interested to learn whether "there were many pelicans on +the banks of the Nile." + +The late Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff was a repository of numerous very +amusing _Beaconsfieldiana_. + +[Footnote 69: This passage occurs in _Coningsby_, and Mr. Monypenny +warns us that "his version of the quarrel between Charles I. and the +Parliament is too fanciful to be quite serious; we may believe that he +was here consciously paying tribute to the historical caprices of +Manners and Smythe."] + +[Footnote 70: Mr. Monypenny says in a note that a hostile newspaper gave +the following translation of Disraeli's motto: "The impudence of some +men sticks at nothing."] + +[Footnote 71: What Buffon really wrote was: "Le style est l'homme +même."] + +[Footnote 72: + + Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore; + Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri + Telephus et Peleus. + +_Ars Poetica_, 94-96.] + +[Footnote 73: _Sir Robert Peel_. Charles Stuart Parker. Vol. iii. 425.] + +[Footnote 74: _Sat._ iv, 101.] + +[Footnote 75: _Life of Lord Goschen_, Arthur D. Elliot, p. 163.] + + + + +IX + +RUSSIAN ROMANCE + +_"The Spectator," March 15, 1913_ + + +De Vogüé's well-known book, _Le Roman Russe_, was published so long ago +as 1886. It is still well worth reading. In the first place, the +literary style is altogether admirable. It is the perfection of French +prose, and to read the best French prose is always an intellectual +treat. In the second place, the author displays in a marked degree that +power of wide generalisation which distinguishes the best French +writers. Then, again, M. de Vogüé writes with a very thorough knowledge +of his subject. He resided for long in Russia. He spoke Russian, and had +an intimate acquaintance with Russian literature. He endeavoured to +identify himself with Russian aspirations, and, being himself a man of +poetic and imaginative temperament, he was able to sympathise with the +highly emotional side of the Slav character, whilst, at the same time, +he never lost sight of the fact that he was the representative of a +civilisation which is superior to that of Russia. He admires the +eruptions of that volcanic genius Dostoïevsky, but, with true European +instinct, charges him with a want of "mesure"--the Greek +Sophrosyne--which he defines as "l'art d'assujettir ses pensées." +Moreover, he at times brings a dose of vivacious French wit to temper +the gloom of Russian realism. Thus, when he speaks of the Russian +writers of romance, who, from 1830 to 1840, "eurent le privilège de +faire pleurer les jeunes filles russes," he observes in thorough +man-of-the-world fashion, "il faut toujours que quelqu'un fasse pleurer +les jeunes filles, mais le génie n'y est pas nécessaire." + +When Taine had finished his great history of the Revolution, he sent it +forth to the world with the remark that the only general conclusion at +which a profound study of the facts had enabled him to arrive was that +the true comprehension, and therefore, _a fortiori_, the government of +human beings, and especially of Frenchmen, was an extremely difficult +matter. Those who have lived longest in the East are the first to +testify to the fact that, to the Western mind, the Oriental habit of +thought is well-nigh incomprehensible. The European may do his best to +understand, but he cannot cast off his love of symmetry any more than he +can change his skin, and unless he can become asymmetrical he can never +hope to attune his reason in perfect accordance to the Oriental key. +Similarly, it is impossible to rise from a perusal of De Vogüé's book +without a strong feeling of the incomprehensibility of the Russians. + +What, in fact, are these puzzling Russians? They are certainly not +Europeans. They possess none of the mental equipoise of the Teutons, +neither do they appear to possess that logical faculty which, in spite +of many wayward outbursts of passion, generally enables the Latin races +in the end to cast off idealism when it tends to lapse altogether from +sanity; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that, having by +association acquired some portion of that Western faculty, the Russians +misapply it. They seem to be impelled by a variety of causes--such as +climatic and economic influences, a long course of misgovernment, +Byzantinism in religion, and an inherited leaning to Oriental +mysticism--to distort their reasoning powers, and far from using them, +as was the case with the pre-eminently sane Greek genius, to temper the +excesses of the imagination, to employ them rather as an oestrus to lash +the imaginative faculties to a state verging on madness. + +If the Russians are not Europeans, neither are they thorough Asiatics. +It may well be, as De Vogüé says, that they have preserved the idiom +and even the features of their original Aryan ancestors to a greater +extent than has been the case with other Aryan nations who finally +settled farther West, and that this is a fact of which many Russians +boast. But, for all that, they have been inoculated with far too strong +a dose of Western culture, religion, and habits of thought to display +the apathy or submit to the fatalism which characterises the conduct of +the true Eastern. + +If, therefore, the Russians are neither Europeans nor Asiatics, what are +they? Manifestly their geographical position and other attendant +circumstances have, from an ethnological point of view, rendered them a +hybrid race, whose national development will display the most startling +anomalies and contradictions, in which the theory and practice derived +from the original Oriental stock will be constantly struggling for +mastery with an Occidental aftergrowth. From the earliest days there +have been two types of Russian reformers, viz. on the one hand, those +who wished that the country should be developed on Eastern lines, and, +on the other, those who looked to Western civilisation for guidance. De +Vogüé says that from the accession of Peter the Great to the death of +the Emperor Nicolas--that is to say, for a period of a hundred and +fifty years--the government of Russia may be likened to a ship, of +which the captain and the principal officers were persistently +endeavouring to steer towards the West, while at the same time the whole +of the crew were trimming the sails in order to catch any breeze which +would bear the vessel Eastward. It can be no matter for surprise that +this strange medley should have produced results which are bewildering +even to Russians themselves and well-nigh incomprehensible to +foreigners. One of their poets has said: + + On ne comprend pas la Russie avec la raison, + On ne peut que croire à la Russie. + +One of the most singular incidents of Russian development on which De +Vogüé has fastened, and which induced him to write this book, has been +the predominant influence exercised on Russian thought and action by +novels. Writers of romance have indeed at times exercised no +inconsiderable amount of influence elsewhere than in Russia. Mrs. +Beecher Stowe's epoch-making novel, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, certainly +contributed towards the abolition of slavery in the United States. +Dickens gave a powerful impetus to the reform of our law-courts and our +Poor Law. Moreover, even in free England, political writers have at +times resorted to allegory in order to promulgate their ideas. Swift's +Brobdingnagians and Lilliputians furnish a case in point. In France, +Voltaire called fictitious Chinamen, Bulgarians, and Avars into +existence in order to satirise the proceedings of his own countrymen. +But the effect produced by these writings may be classed as trivial +compared to that exercised by the great writers of Russian romance. In +the works of men like Tourguenef and Dostoïevsky the Russian people +appear to have recognised, for the first time, that their real condition +was truthfully depicted, and that their inchoate aspirations had found +sympathetic expression. "Dans le roman, et là seulement," De Vogüé says, +"on trouvera l'histoire de Russie depuis un demi-siècle." + +Such being the case, it becomes of interest to form a correct judgment +on the character and careers of the men whom the Russians have very +generally regarded as the true interpreters of their domestic facts, and +whom large numbers of them have accepted as their political pilots. + +The first point to be noted about them is that they are all, for the +most part, ultra-realists; but apparently we may search their writings +in vain for the cheerfulness which at times illumines the pages of their +English, or the light-hearted vivacity which sparkles in the pages of +their French counterparts. In Dostoïevsky's powerfully written _Crime +and Punishment_ all is gloom and horror; the hero of the tale is a +madman and a murderer. To a foreigner these authors seem to present the +picture of a society oppressed with an all-pervading sense of the misery +of existence, and with the impossibility of finding any means by which +that misery can be alleviated. In many instances, their lives--and still +more their deaths--were as sad and depressing as their thoughts. Several +of their most noted authors died violent deaths. At thirty-seven years +of age the poet Pouchkine was killed in a duel, Lermontof met the same +fate at the age of twenty-six. Griboïédof was assassinated at the age of +thirty-four. But the most tragic history is that of Dostoïevsky, albeit +he lived to a green old age, and eventually died a natural death. In +1849, he was connected with some political society, but he does not +appear, even at that time, to have been a violent politician. +Nevertheless, he and his companions, after being kept for several months +in close confinement, were condemned to death. They were brought to the +place of execution, but at the last moment, when the soldiers were about +to fire, their sentences were commuted to exile. Dostoïevsky remained +for some years in Siberia, but was eventually allowed to return to +Russia. The inhuman cruelty to which he had been subject naturally +dominated his mind and inspired his pen for the remainder of his days. + +De Vogüé deals almost exclusively with the writings of Pouchkine, Gogol, +Dostoïevsky, Tourguenef, who was the inventor of the word Nihilism, and +the mystic Tolstoy, who was the principal apostle of the doctrine. All +these, with the possible exception of Tourguenef, had one characteristic +in common. Their intellects were in a state of unstable equilibrium. As +poets, they could excite the enthusiasm of the masses, but as political +guides they were mere Jack-o'-Lanterns, leading to the deadly swamp of +despair. Dostoïevsky was in some respects the most interesting and also +the most typical of the group. De Vogüé met him in his old age, and the +account he gives of his appearance is most graphic. His history could be +read in his face. + + On y lisait mieux que dans le livre, les souvenirs de la maison des + morts, les longues habitudes d'effroi, de méfiance et de martyre. + Les paupières, les lèvres, toutes les fibres de cette face + tremblaient de tics nerveux. Quand il s'animait de colère sur une + idée, on eût juré qu'on avait déjà vu cette tête sur les banes + d'une cour criminelle, ou parmi les vagabonds qui mendient aux + portes des prisons. A d'autres moments, elle avait la mansuétude + triste des vieux saints sur les images slavonnes. + +And here is what De Vogüé says of the writings of this semi-lunatic man +of genius: + + Psychologue incomparable, dès qu'il étudie des âmes noires ou + blessées, dramaturge habile, mais borné aux scènes d'effroi et de + pitié.... Selon qu'on est plus touché par tel ou tel excès de son + talent, on peut l'appeler avec justice un philosophe, un apôtre, un + aliéné, le consolateur des affligés ou le bourreau des esprits + tranquilles, le Jérémie de bagne ou le Shakespeare de la maison des + fous; toutes ces appellations seront méritées; prise isolément, + aucune ne sera suffisante. + +There is manifestly much which is deeply interesting, and also much +which is really lovable in the Russian national character. It must, +however, be singularly mournful and unpleasant to pass through life +burdened with the reflection that it would have been better not to have +been born, albeit such sentiments are not altogether inconsistent with +the power of deriving a certain amount of enjoyment from living. It was +that pleasure-loving old cynic, Madame du Deffand, who said: "Il n'y a +qu'un seul malheur, celui d'être né." Nevertheless, the avowed +joyousness bred by the laughing tides and purple skies of Greece is +certainly more conducive to human happiness, though at times even +Greeks, such as Theognis and Palladas, lapsed into a morbid pessimism +comparable to that of Tolstoy. Metrodorus, however, more fully +represented the true Greek spirit when he sang, "All things are good in +life" (πάντα γὰρ ἐσθλὰ βίῳ). The Roman pagan, Juvenal, gave a fairly +satisfactory answer to the question, "Nil ergo optabunt homines?" +whilst the Christian holds out hopes of that compensation in the next +world for the afflictions of the present, which the sombre and +despondent Russian philosopher, determined that we shall not find +enjoyment in either world, denies to his morose and grief-stricken +followers. + + + + +X + +THE WRITING OF HISTORY[76] + +_"The Spectator," April 26, 1913_ + + +What are the purposes of history, and in what spirit should it be +written? Such, in effect, are the questions which Mr. Gooch propounds in +this very interesting volume. He wisely abstains from giving any +dogmatic answers to these questions, but in a work which shows manifest +signs of great erudition and far-reaching research he ranges over the +whole field of European and American literature, and gives us a very +complete summary both of how, as a matter of fact, history has been +written, and of the spirit in which the leading historians of the +nineteenth century have approached their task. + +Mr. Bryce, himself one of the most eminent of modern historians, +recently laid down the main principle which, in his opinion, should +guide his fellow-craftsmen. "Truth," he said, "and truth only is our +aim." The maxim is one which would probably be unreservedly accepted in +theory by the most ardent propagandist who has ever used history as a +vehicle for the dissemination of his own views on political, economic, +or social questions. For so fallible is human nature that the +proclivities of the individual can rarely be entirely submerged by the +judicial impartiality of the historian. It is impossible to peruse Mr. +Gooch's work without being struck by the fact that, amongst the greatest +writers of history, bias--often unconscious bias--has been the rule, and +the total absence of preconceived opinions the exception. Generally +speaking, the subjective spirit has prevailed amongst historians in all +ages. The danger of following the scent of analogies--not infrequently +somewhat strained analogies--between the present and the past is +comparatively less imminent in cases where some huge upheaval, such as +the French Revolution, has inaugurated an entirely new epoch, +accompanied by the introduction of fresh ideals and habits of thought. +It is, as Macaulay has somewhere observed, a more serious +stumbling-block in the path of a writer who deals with the history of a +country like England, which has through long centuries preserved its +historical continuity. Hallam and Macaulay viewed history through Whig, +and Alison through Tory spectacles. Neither has the remoteness of the +events described proved any adequate safeguard against the introduction +of bias born of contemporary circumstances. Mitford, who composed his +history of Greece during the stormy times of the French Revolution, +thought it compatible with his duty as an historian to strike a blow at +Whigs and Jacobins. Grote's sympathy with the democracy of Athens was +unquestionably to some extent the outcome of the views which he +entertained of events passing under his own eyes at Westminster. +Mommsen, by inaugurating the publication of the Corpus of Latin +Inscriptions, has earned the eternal gratitude of scholarly posterity, +but Mr. Gooch very truly remarks that his historical work is tainted +with the "strident partisanship" of a keen politician and journalist. +Truth, as the old Greek adage says, is indeed the fellow-citizen of the +gods; but if the standard of historical truth be rated too high, and if +the authority of all who have not strictly complied with that standard +is to be discarded on the ground that they stand convicted of +partiality, we should be left with little to instruct subsequent ages +beyond the dry records of men such as the laborious, the useful, though +somewhat over-credulous Clinton, or the learned but arid Marquardt, +whose "massive scholarship" Mr. Gooch dismisses somewhat summarily in a +single line. Such writers are not historians, but rather compilers of +records, upon the foundations of which others can build history. + +Under the process we have assumed, Droysen, Sybel, and Treitschke would +have to be cast down from their pedestals. They were the political +schoolmasters of Germany during a period of profound national +discouragement. They used history in order to stir their countrymen to +action, but "if the supreme aim of history is to discover truth and to +interpret the movement of humanity, they have no claim to a place in the +first class." Patriotism, as the Portuguese historian, Herculano da +Carvalho, said, is "a bad counsellor for historians"; albeit, few have +had the courage to discard patriotic considerations altogether, as was +the case with the Swiss Kopp, who wrote a history of his country "from +which Gessler and Tell disappeared," and in which "the familiar +anecdotes of Austrian tyranny and cruelty were dismissed as legends." + +Philosophic historians, who have endeavoured to bend facts into +conformity with some special theory of their own, would fare little +better than those who have been ardent politicians. Sainte-Beuve, after +reading Guizot's sweeping and lofty generalisations, declared that they +were far too logical to be true, and forthwith "took down from his +shelves a volume of De Retz to remind him how history was really made." +Second-or third-rate historians, such as Lamartine, who, according to +Dumas, "raised history to the level of the novel," or the vitriolic +Lanfrey, who was a mere pamphleteer, would, of course, be consigned--and +very rightly consigned--to utter oblivion. The notorious inaccuracy of +Thiers and the avowed hero-worship of Masson alike preclude their +admissibility into the select circle of trustworthy and veracious +historians. It is even questionable whether one of the most objectively +minded of French writers, the illustrious Taine, would gain admission. +His work, he himself declared, "was nothing but pure or applied +psychology," and psychology is apt to clash with the facts of history. +Scherer described Taine, somewhat unjustly, as "a pessimist in a +passion," whilst the critical and conscientious Aulard declared that his +work was "virtually useless for the purposes of history." Mr. Gooch +classes Sorel's work as "incomparably higher" than that of Taine. +Montalembert is an extreme case of a French historian who adopted +thoroughly unsound historical methods. Clearly, as Mr. Gooch says, "the +author of the famous battle-cry, 'We are the sons of the Crusades, and +we will never yield to the sons of Voltaire,' was not the man for +objective study." + +The fate of some of the most distinguished American and British +historians would be even more calamitous than that of their Continental +brethren. If the touchstone of impartiality were applied, Prescott might +perhaps pass unscathed through the trial. But few will deny that Motley +wrote his very attractive histories at a white heat of Republican and +anti-Catholic fervour. He, as also Bancroft, are classed by Mr. Gooch +amongst those who "made their histories the vehicles of political and +religious propaganda." Washington Irving's claim to rank in the first +class of historians may be dismissed on other grounds. "He had no taste +for research," and merely presented to the world "a poet's appreciation" +of historical events. + +But perhaps the two greatest sinners against the code of frigid +impartiality were Froude and Carlyle. Both were intensely convinced of +the truth of the gospel which they preached, and both were careless of +detail if they could strain the facts of history to support their +doctrines. The apotheosis of the strong man formed no part of Carlyle's +original philosophy. In 1830, he wrote: "Which was the greatest +benefactor, he who gained the battles of Cannae and Trasimene or the +nameless poor who first hammered out for himself an iron spade?" He +condemned Scott's historical writings: "Strange," he said, "that a man +should think he was writing the history of a nation while he is +describing the amours of a wanton young woman and a sulky booby blown up +with gunpowder." After having slighted biography in this +characteristically Carlylese utterance, he straightway set to work, with +splendid inconsistency, to base his philosophy of history mainly on the +biographies of men of the type of Cromwell and Frederic. + +The invective levelled against Froude by Freeman is now generally +recognised as exaggerated and unjust, but it would certainly appear, as +Mr. Gooch says, that Froude "never realised that the main duty of the +historian is neither eulogy nor criticism, but interpretation of the +complex processes and conflicting ideals which have built up the +chequered life of humanity." + +Yet when all is said that can be said on the necessity of insisting on +historical veracity, it has to be borne in mind that inaccuracy is not +the only pitfall which lies in the path of the expounder of truth. +History is not written merely for students and scholars. It ought to +instruct and enlighten the statesman. It should quicken the intelligence +of the masses. Whilst any tendency to distort facts, or to sway public +opinion by sensational writing of questionable veracity, cannot be too +strongly condemned, it is none the less true that it requires not merely +a touch of literary genius, but also a lively and receptive imagination +to tell a perfectly truthful tale in such a manner as to arrest the +attention, to excite the wayward imagination and to guide the thoughts +of the vast majority of those who will scan the finished work of the +historian. It is here that some of the best writers of history have +failed, Gardiner has written what is probably the best, and is certainly +the most dispassionate and impartial history of the Stuart period. "With +one exception," Mr. Gooch says, "Gardiner possessed all the tools of his +craft--an accurate mind, perfect impartiality, insight into character, +sympathy with ideas different from his own and from one another. The +exception was style. Had he possessed this talisman his noble work would +have been a popular classic. His pages are wholly lacking in grace and +distinction." The result is that Gardiner's really fine work has proved +an ineffectual instrument for historical education. The majority of +readers will continue to turn to the brilliant if relatively partial +pages of Macaulay. + +The case of Freeman, though different from that of Gardiner, for his +style, though lacking in grace and flexibility was vigorous, may serve +as another illustration of the same thesis. Freeman was a keen +politician, but he would never have for a moment entertained the thought +of departing by one iota from strict historical truth in order to +further any political cause in which he was interested. Mr. Gooch says, +"He regarded history as not only primarily, but almost exclusively, a +record of political events. Past politics, he used to say, were present +history." Why is it, therefore, that his works are little read, and that +they have exercised but slight influence on the opinions of the mass of +his countrymen? The answer is supplied by Mr. Gooch. Freeman ignored +organic evolution. "The world of ideas had no existence for him.... No +less philosophic historian has ever lived." For one man who, with +effort, has toiled through Freeman's ponderous but severely accurate +Norman and Sicilian histories, there are probably a hundred whose +imagination has been fired by Carlyle's rhapsody on the French +Revolution, or who have pored with interested delight over Froude's +account of the death of Cranmer. + +Much the same may be said of Creighton's intrinsically valuable but +somewhat colourless work. "He had no theories," Mr. Gooch says, "no +philosophy of history, no wish to prove or disprove anything." He took +historical facts as they came, and recorded them. "When events are +tedious," he wrote, "we must be tedious." + +The most meritorious, as also the most popular historians are probably +those of the didactic school. Of these, Seeley and Acton are notable +instances. Seeley always endeavoured to establish some principle which +would capture the attention of the student and might be of interest to +the statesman. He held that "history faded into mere literature when it +lost sight of its relation to practical politics." Acton, who brought +his encyclopaedic learning to bear on the defence of liberty in all its +forms, "believed that historical study was not merely the basis of all +real insight into the present, but a school of virtue and a guide to +life." + +Limitations of space preclude any adequate treatment of the illuminating +work done by Ranke, whom Mr. Gooch regards as the nearest approximation +the world has yet known to the "ideal historian"; by Lecky, who was +driven by the Home Rule conflict from the ranks of historians into those +of politicians; by Milman, whose style, in the opinion of Macaulay, was +wanting in grace and colour, but who was distinguished for his +"soundness of judgment and inexorable love of truth"; by Otfried Müller, +Bérard, Gilbert Murray, and numerous other classical scholars of divers +nationalities; by Fustel de Coulanges, the greatest of +nineteenth-century mediaevalists; by Mahan, whose writings have +exercised a marked influence on current politics, and who is thus an +instance of "an historian who has helped to make history as well as to +record it," and by a host of others. + +At the close of his book Mr. Gooch very truly points out that "the scope +of history has gradually widened till it has come to include every +aspect of the life of humanity." Many of the social and economic +subjects of which the historian has now to treat are of an extremely +controversial character. However high may be the ideal of truth, which +will be entertained, it would appear that the various forms in which the +facts of history may be stated, as also the conclusions to be drawn from +these facts, will tend to divergence rather than to uniformity of +treatment. It is not, therefore, probable that the partisan +historian--or, at all events, the historian who will be accused of +partisanship--will altogether disappear from literature. Neither, on the +whole, is his disappearance to be desired, for it would almost certainly +connote the composition of somewhat vapid and colourless histories. + +The verdicts which Mr. Gooch passes on the historians whose writings he +briefly summarises are eminently judicious, though it cannot be expected +that in all cases they will command universal assent. In a work which +ranges over so wide a field it is scarcely possible that some slips +should not have occurred. We may indicate one of these, which it would +be as well to correct in the event of any future editions being +published. On p. 435 the authorship of _Fieramosca_ and _Nicolo dei +Lapi_, which were written by Azeglio, is erroneously attributed to +Cesare Balbo. + +[Footnote 76: _History and Historians of the Nineteenth Century_. By +G.P. Gooch. London: Longmans and Co. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XI + +THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY[77] + +_"The Spectator," May 10, 1913_ + + +Shelley, himself a translator of one of the best known of the epigrams +of the Anthology, has borne emphatic testimony to the difficulties of +translation. "It were as wise," he said, "to cast a violet into a +crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and +odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations +of a poet." + +The task of rendering Greek into English verse is in some respects +specially difficult. In the first place, the translator has to deal with +a language remarkable for its unity and fluency, qualities which, +according to Curtius (_History of Greece_, i. 18), are the result of the +"delicately conceived law, according to which all Greek words must end +in vowels, or such consonants as give rise to no harshness when +followed by others, viz. _n_, _r_, and _s_." Then, again, the translator +must struggle with the difficulties arising from the fact that the +Greeks regarded condensation in speech as a fine art. Demetrius, or +whoever was the author of _De Elocutione_, said: "The first grace of +style is that which results from compression." The use of an inflected +language of course enabled the Greeks to carry this art to a far higher +degree of perfection than can be attained by any modern Europeans. Jebb, +for instance, takes twelve words--"Well hath he spoken for one who +giveth heed not to fall"--to express a sentiment which Sophocles (_Œd. +Tyr._ 616) is able to compress into four--καλῶς ἔλεξεν εὐλαβουμένῳ +πεσεῖν. Moreover, albeit under the stress of metrical and linguistic +necessity the translator must generally indulge in paraphrase, let him +beware lest in doing so he sacrifices that quality in which the Greeks +excelled, to wit, simplicity. Nietzsche said, with great truth, "Die +Griechen sind, wie das Genie, einfach; deshalb sind sie die +unsterblichen Lehrer." Further, the translator has at times so to +manipulate his material as to incorporate into his verse epithets and +figures of speech of surpassing grace and expressiveness, which do not +readily admit of transfiguration into any modern language; such, for +instance, as the "much-wooed white-armed Maiden Muse" (πολυμνήστη +λευκώλενε παρθένε Μοῦσα) of Empedocles; the "long countless Time" +(μακρὸς κἀναρίθμητος Χρόνος), or "babbling Echo" (ἀθυρόστομος Ἀχώ) of +Sophocles; the "son, the subject of many prayers" (πολυεύχετος υἱός) and +countless other expressions of the Homeric Hymns; the "blooming Love +with his pinions of gold" (ὁ δ' ἀμφιθαλής Ἔρος χρυσόπτερος ἡνίας) of +Aristophanes; "the eagle, messenger of wide-ruling Zeus, the lord of +Thunder" (αἰετός, εὐρυάνακτος ἄγγελος Ζηνὸς ἐρισφαράγου) of Bacchylides; +or mighty Pindar's "snowy Etna nursing the whole year's length her +frozen snow" (νιφόεσς' Αἴτνα πανετες χιόνος ὀξείας τιθήνα). + +In no branch of Greek literature are these difficulties more conspicuous +than in the Anthology, yet it is the Anthology that has from time +immemorial notably attracted the attention of translators. It is indeed +true that the compositions of Agathias, Palladas, Paulus Silentiarius, +and the rest of the poetic tribe who "like the dun nightingale" were +"insatiate of song" (οἷά τις ξουθὰ ἀκόρεστος βοᾶς ... ἀηδών), must, +comparatively speaking, rank low amongst the priceless legacies which +Greece bequeathed to a grateful posterity. A considerable number of the +writers whose works are comprised in the Anthology lived during the +Alexandrian age. The artificiality of French society before the French +Revolution developed a taste for shallow versifying. Somewhat similar +symptoms characterised the decadent society of Alexandria, albeit there +were occasions when a nobler note was struck, as in the splendid hymn of +Cleanthes, written in the early part of the second century B.C. +Generally speaking, however, Professor Mahaffy's criticism of the +literature of this period (_Greek Life and Thought_, p. 264) holds good. +"We feel in most of these poems that it is no real lover languishing for +his mistress, but a pedant posing before a critical public. If ever poet +was consoled by his muse, it was he; he was far prouder if Alexandria +applauded the grace of his epigram than if it whispered the success of +his suit." How have these manifest defects been condoned? Why is it +that, in spite of much that is artificial and commonplace, the poetry of +the Anthology still exercises, and will continue to exercise, an undying +charm alike over the student, the moralist, and the man of the world? +The reasons are not far to seek. In the first place, no productions of +the Greek genius conform more wholly to the Aristotelian canon that +poetry should be an imitation of the universal. Few of the poems in the +Anthology depict any ephemeral phase or fashion of opinion, like the +Euphuism of the sixteenth century. All appeal to emotions which endure +for all time, and which, it has been aptly said, are the true raw +material of poetry. The patriot can still feel his blood stirred by the +ringing verse of Simonides. The moralist can ponder over the vanity of +human wishes, which is portrayed in endless varieties of form, and +which, even when the writer most exults in the worship of youth +(πολυήρατος ἥβη) or extols the philosophy of Epicurus, is always tinged +with a shade of profound melancholy, inasmuch as every poet bids us bear +in mind, to use the beautiful metaphor of Keats, that the hand of Joy is +"ever on his lips bidding adieu," and that the "wave of death"--the +κοινὸν κῦμ' Αΐδα of Pindar--persistently dogs the steps of all mankind. +The curious in literature will find in the Anthology much apparent +confirmation of the saying of Terence that nothing is ever said that has +not been said before. He will note that not only did the gloomy Palladas +say that he came naked into the world, and that naked he will depart, +but that he forestalled Shakespeare in describing the world as a stage +(σκηνὴ πᾶς ὁ βίος καὶ παίγνιον), whilst Philostratus, Meleager, and +Agathias implored their respective mistresses to drink to them only with +their eyes and to leave a kiss within the cup. The man of the world will +give Agathias credit for keen powers of observation when he notes that +the Greek poet said that gambling was a test of character (κύβος +ἀγγέλλει βένθος ἐχεφροσύης[78]), whilst if for a moment he would step +outside the immediate choir of the recognised Anthologists, he may smile +when he reads that Menander thought it all very well to "know oneself," +but that it was in practice far more useful to know other people +(χρησιμώτερον γὰρ ἦν τὸ γνῶθι τοὺς ἄλλουσ). + +Then, again, the pungent brevity of such of the poetry of the Anthology +as is epigrammatic is highly attractive. Much has at times been said as +to what constitutes an epigram, but the case for brevity has probably +never been better stated than by a witty Frenchwoman of the eighteenth +century. Madame de Boufflers wrote: + + Il faut dire en deux mots + Ce qu'on veut dire; + Les longs propos + Sont sots. + +In this respect, indeed, French can probably compete more successfully +than any other modern language with Greek. Democritus (410 B.C.) wrote, +ὁ κόσμος σκηνή, ὁ βίος πάραδος· ἦλθες, εἶδες, ἀπῆλθες. The French +version of the same idea is in no way inferior to the Greek: + + On entre, on crie, + Et c'est la vie! + On crie, on sort, + Et c'est la mort! + +Lastly, although much of the sentiment expressed in the Anthology is +artificial, and although the language is at times offensive to modern +ears, the writers almost invariably exhibit that leading quality of the +Greek genius on which the late Professor Butcher was wont to insist so +strongly--its virile sanity. + +For these reasons the literary world may cordially welcome a further +addition to the abundant literature which already exists on the subject +of the Anthology. The principle adopted by Dr. Grundy is unquestionably +sound. He recognises that great Homer sometimes nods, that even men of +real poetic genius are not always at their best, and that mere +versifiers can at times, by a happy inspiration, embody an idea in +language superior to the general level of their poetic compositions. +English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries abounds +in cases in point. Lovelace, Montrose, and even, it may almost be said, +Wither and Herrick, live mainly in public estimation owing to the +composition of a small number of exquisitely felicitous verses which +have raised them for ever to thrones amongst the immortals. Dr. Grundy, +therefore, has very wisely ranged over the whole wide field of Anthology +translators, and has culled a flower here and a flower there. His method +in making his selections is as unimpeachable as his principle. He has +discarded all predilections based on the authority of names or on other +considerations, and has simply chosen those translations which he +himself likes best. + +Dr. Grundy, in his preface, expresses a hope that he will be pardoned +for "the human weakness" of having in many cases preferred his own +translations to those of others. That pardon will be readily extended to +him, for although in a brief review of this nature it is impossible to +quote his compositions at any length, it is certainly true that some at +least of his translations are probably better than any that have yet +been attempted. Dr. Grundy says in his preface that he "has abided in +most instances as closely as possible to the literal translations of the +originals." That is the principle on which all, or nearly all, +translators have proceeded, but the qualifying phrase--"as closely as +possible"--has admitted of wide divergence in their practice. In some +cases, indeed, it is possible to combine strict adherence to the +original text with graceful language and harmonious metre in the +translation, but in a large number of instances the translator has to +sacrifice one language or the other. He has to choose between being +blamed by the purist who will not admit of any expansion in the ideas of +the original writer, or being accused of turning the King's English to +base uses by the employment of doubtful rhythm or cacophonous +expressions. Is it necessary to decide between these two rival schools +and to condemn one of them? Assuredly not. Both have their merits. An +instance in point is the exquisite "Rosa Rosarum" of Dionysius, which +runs thus: + + Ἡ τὰ ῥόδα, ῥοδόεσσαν ἔχεις χάριν· ἀλλὰ τί πωλεῖς, + σαυτήν, ἢ τὰ ῥόδα, ἠέ συναμφόθερα; + +Mr. Pott, in his _Greek Love Songs and Epigrams_, adopted the triolet +metre, which is singularly suitable to the subject, in dealing with this +epigram, and gracefully translated thus: + + Which roses do you offer me, + Those on your cheeks, or those beside you? + Since both are passing fair to see, + Which roses do you offer me? + To give me both would you agree, + Or must I choose, and so divide you? + Which roses do you offer me, + Those on your cheeks or those beside you? + +Here the two lines of the original are expanded into eight lines in the +translation, and some fresh matter is introduced. Dr. Grundy imposes +more severe limitations on his muse. His translation, which is more +literal, but at the same time singularly felicitous, is as follows: + + Hail, thou who hast the roses, thou hast the rose's grace! + But sellest thou the roses, or e'en thine own fair face? + +Any one of literary taste will find it difficult to decide which of +these versions to prefer, and will impartially welcome both. + +It cannot, however, be doubted that strict adherence to Dr. Grundy's +principle occasionally leads to results which are open to criticism from +the point of view of English style. A case in point is his translation +of Plato's epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor: + + Ναυηγοῦ τάφος εἰμί· ὁ δ' ἀντίον ἐστὶ γεωργοῦ· + ὡς ἁλὶ καὶ γαίῃ ξυνὸς ὕπεστ' Ἀίδης. + +Dr. Grundy's translation, which is as follows, adheres closely to the +original text, but somewhat grates on the English ear: + + A sailor's tomb am I; o'er there a yokel's tomb there be; + For Hades lies below the earth as well as 'neath the sea. + +Another instance is the translation of the epigram of Nicarchus on The +Lifeboat, in which the inexorable necessities of finding a rhyme to +"e'en Almighty Zeus" has compelled the translator to resort to the +colloquial and somewhat graceless phrase "in fact, the very deuce." + +But criticisms such as these may be levelled against well-nigh all +translators. They merely constitute a reason for holding that Shelley +was not far wrong in the opinion quoted above. Few translators have, +indeed, been able to work up to the standard of William Cory's +well-known version of Callimachus's epitaph on Heraclitus, which Dr. +Grundy rightly remarks is "one of the most beautiful in our language," +or to Dr. Symonds's translation of the epitaph on Proté, which "is +perhaps the finest extant version in English of any of the verses from +the Anthology." But many have contributed in a minor degree to render +these exquisite products of the Greek genius available to English +readers, and amongst them Dr. Grundy may fairly claim to occupy a +distinguished place. He says in his preface, with great truth, that the +poets of the Anthology are never wearisome. Neither is Dr. Grundy. + +[Footnote 77: _Ancient Gems in Modern Settings._ By G.B. Grundy. Oxford: +Blackwell, 5s] + +[Footnote 78: Βένθος ἐχεφροσύνης--the depth of a man's common sense.] + + + + +XII + +LORD MILNER AND PARTY + +_"The Spectator," May 24, 1913_ + + +The preface which Lord Milner has written to his volume of speeches +constitutes not merely a general statement of his political views, but +is also in reality a chapter of autobiography extending over the past +sixteen years. If, as is to be feared, it does not help much towards the +immediate solution of the various problems which are treated, it is, +none the less, a very interesting record of the mental processes +undergone by an eminent politician, who combines in a high degree the +qualities of a man of action and those of a political thinker. We are +presented with the picture of a man of high intellectual gifts, great +moral courage, and unquestionable honesty of purpose, who has a gospel +to preach to his fellow countrymen--the gospel of Imperialism, or, in +other words, the methods which should be adopted to consolidate and to +maintain the integrity of the British Empire. In his missionary efforts +on behalf of his special creed Lord Milner has found that he has been +well-nigh throttled by the ligatures of the party system--a system which +he spurns and loathes, but from which he has found by experience that he +could by no means free himself. As a practical politician he had to +recognise that, in order to gain the ear of the public on the subjects +for which he cares, he was obliged to do some "vigorous swashbuckling in +the field of party politics" in connection with other subjects in which +he is relatively less interested. He resigned himself, albeit +reluctantly, to his fate, holding apparently not only that the end +justified the means, but also that without the adoption of those means +there could not be the smallest prospect of the end being attained. The +difficulty in which Lord Milner has found himself is probably felt more +keenly by those who, like himself, have been behind the scenes of +government, and have thus been able fully to realise the difficulties of +dealing with public questions on their own merits to the exclusion of +all considerations based on party advantages or disadvantages, than by +others who have had no such experience. Nevertheless, the dilemma must +in one form or another have presented itself to every thinking man who +is not wholly carried away by prejudice. Most thinking men, however, +unless they are prepared to pass their political lives in a state of +dreamy idealism, come rapidly to the conclusion that to seek for any +thoroughly satisfactory practical solution of this dilemma is as +fruitless as to search for the philosopher's stone. They see that the +party system is the natural outcome of the system of representative +government, that it of necessity connotes a certain amount of party +discipline, and that if that discipline be altogether shattered, +political chaos would ensue. They, therefore, join that party with +which, on the whole, they are most in agreement, and they do so knowing +full well that they will almost certainly at times be associated with +measures which do not fully command their sympathies. What is it that +makes such men, for instance, as Lord Morley and Mr. Arthur Balfour not +merely strong political partisans, but also stern party disciplinarians? +It would be absurd to suppose that they consider a monopoly of political +wisdom to be possessed by the party to which each belongs, or that they +fail to see that every public question presents at least two sides. The +inference is that, recognising the necessity of association with others, +they are prepared to waive all minor objections in order to advance the +main lines of the policy to which each respectively adheres. + +The plan which has always commended itself to those who see clearly the +evils of the party system, but fail to realise the even greater evils to +which its non-existence would open the door, has been to combine in one +administration a number of men possessed of sufficient patriotism and +disinterestedness to work together for the common good, in spite of the +fact that they differ widely, if not on the objects to be attained, at +all events on the methods of attaining them. Experience has shown that +this plan is wholly impracticable. It does not take sufficient account +of the fact that, as the immortal Mr. Squeers or some other of Dickens's +characters said, there is a great deal of human nature in man,[79] and +that one of man's most cherished characteristics--notably if he is an +Englishman--is combativeness. In the early days of the party system even +so hardened and positive a parliamentarian as Walpole thought that +effect might be given to some such project, but when it came to the +actual formation of a hybrid Ministry, Mr. Grant Robertson, the +historian of the Hanoverian period, says that it "vanished into thin +air," and that, as Pulteney remarked about the celebrated Sinking Fund +plan, the "proposal to make England patriotic, pure and independent of +Crown and Ministerial corruption, ended in some little thing for curing +the itch." Neither have somewhat similar attempts which have been made +since Walpole's time succeeded in abating the rancour of party strife. +Moreover, it cannot be said that the attempt to treat female suffrage as +a non-party question has so far yielded any very satisfactory or +encouraging results. + +Lord Milner, however, does not live in Utopia. He does not look forward +to the possibility of abolishing the party system. "It is not," he says, +"a new party that is wanted." But he thinks--and he is unquestionably +right in thinking--"that the number of men profoundly interested in +public affairs, and anxious to discharge their full duty of citizens who +are in revolt against the rigidity and insincerity of our present party +system, is very considerable and steadily increasing." He wishes people +in this category to be organised with a view to encouraging a national +as opposed to a party spirit, and he holds that "with a little +organisation they could play the umpire between the two parties and make +the unscrupulous pursuit of mere party advantage an unprofitable game." + +The idea is not novel, but it is certainly statesmanlike. The general +principle which Lord Milner advocates will probably commend itself to +thousands of his countrymen, and most of all to those whose education +and experience are a warrant for the value of their political opinions. +But how far is the scheme practicable? The answer to this question is +that there is one essential preliminary condition necessary to bring it +within the domain of practical politics; that condition is that a +sufficient number of leading politicians should be thoroughly imbued +with the virtue of compromise. They must erase the word "thorough" from +their political vocabulary. Each must recognise that whilst, to use Lord +Milner's expression, he himself holds firmly to a "creed" on some +special question, he will have to co-operate with others who hold with +equally sincere conviction to a more or less antagonistic creed, and +that this co-operation cannot be secured by mere assertion and still +less by vituperation, but only by calm discussion and mutual +concessions. Marie Antoinette, who was very courageous and very unwise, +said during the most acute crisis of the Revolution, "Better to die than +allow ourselves to be saved by Lafayette and the Constitutionalists." +That is an example of the party spirit _in extremis_, and when it is +adopted it is that spirit which causes the shipwreck of many a scheme +which might, with more moderation and conciliation, be brought safely +into port. In order to carry out Lord Milner's plan any such spirit must +be wholly cast aside. Politicians--and none more than many of those with +whom Lord Milner is associated--must act on the principle which +Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Henry V.: + + There is some soul of goodness in things evil + Would men observingly distil it out. + +They must be prepared to recognise that, whatever be their personal +convictions, there may be some "soul of goodness" in views diametrically +opposed to their own, and, moreover, they must not be scared by what +Emerson called that "hobgoblin of little minds"--the charge of +inconsistency. + +It cannot be said that just at present the omens are very favourable in +the direction of indicating any widespread prevalence amongst active +politicians of the spirit of compromise. The reception given to Lord +Curzon's very reasonable proposal that army affairs should be treated as +a non-party question is apparently scouted by Radical politicians. +Neither does there appear to be the least disposition to accept the +statesmanlike suggestion that in order to avoid the risk of civil war in +Ulster, with its almost inevitable consequence, viz. that the loyalty +of the army will be strained to the utmost, the Home Rule Bill should +not be submitted to the King for his assent until after another general +election. On the other hand, the "Die-hard" spirit, which led to the +disastrous rejection of the Budget of 1909, and was with difficulty +prevented from rejecting the Parliament Bill, is still prevalent amongst +many Unionists, whilst although a somewhat greater latitudinarian spirit +prevails than heretofore, the influence of extreme Unionist politicians +is still sufficiently powerful to prevent full acceptance of the fact +that the only sound and wise Conservative principle is to neglect minor +differences of opinion and to rally together all who are generally +favourable to the Conservative cause. + +Moreover, it must be admitted that Lord Milner is asking a great deal of +party politicians. He points out, in connection with his special +"creed," that the object of Mr. Chamberlain's original proposal was +"undoubtedly laudable. It was prompted by motives of Imperial +patriotism." There are probably few people who would be inclined to +challenge the accuracy of this statement. He alludes to the +unquestionable fact that it is well for every community from time to +time to review the traditional foundations of its policy, and he holds +that, if the controversy which Mr. Chamberlain evoked "had been +conducted on anything like rational lines, the result, whether +favourable or unfavourable to the proposals themselves, might have been +of great public advantage." All these fair hopes, Lord Milner thinks, +were wrecked by the spirit of party. "The new issue raised by Mr. +Chamberlain was sucked into the vortex of our local party struggle." +Lord Milner, therefore, wishes to lift Imperialism out of the party bog +and to treat the subject on broad national lines. + +Here, again, the proposal is undoubtedly statesmanlike, but is it +practicable? There can, it is to be feared, be but one answer to that +question. For the time being, at all events, Lord Milner's proposal is +quite impracticable. Whatever be the merits or demerits of the proposals +initiated by Mr. Chamberlain, one thing appears tolerably certain, and +that is that so long as Tariff Reform and Imperial policy are intimately +connected together there is not, so far as can at present be judged, the +most remote chance of Imperialism emerging from the arena of party +strife. It is true, and is, moreover, a subject for national +congratulation, that there has been of late years a steady growth of +Imperialist ideas. The day is probably past for ever when Ministers, +whether Liberal or Conservative, could speak of the colonies as a +burden, and look forward with equanimity, if not with actual pleasure, +to their complete severance from the Mother country. Few, if any, +pronounced anti-Imperialists exist, but a wide difference of opinion +prevails as to the method for giving effect to an Imperial policy. These +differences do not depend solely, as is often erroneously supposed, on a +rigid adherence by Free Traders to what are now called Cobdenite +principles. There are many Free Traders who would be disposed to make a +considerable sacrifice of their opinions on economic principles, if they +thought that the policy proposed by Mr. Chamberlain would really achieve +the object he unquestionably had in view, viz. that of tightening the +bonds between the Mother country and the colonies. But that is what they +deny. They rely mainly on a common ancestry, common traditions, a common +language, and a common religion to cement those bonds; and, moreover, +they hold, to quote the words of an able article published two years ago +in the _Round Table_: "The chief reason for the sentiment of Imperial +unity is the conscious or unconscious belief of the people of the Empire +in their own political system.... There is in the British Empire a unity +which it is often difficult to discern amid the conflict of racial +nationalities, provincial politics, and geographical differences. It is +a unity which is based upon the conviction amongst the British +self-governing communities that the political system of the Empire is +indispensable to their own progress, and that to allow it to collapse +would be fatal alike to their happiness and their self-respect." They +therefore demur to granting special economic concessions which--unless, +indeed, a policy of perfect Free Trade throughout the Empire could be +adopted--they think, whatever might be the immediate result, would +eventually cause endless friction and tend to weaken rather than +strengthen the Imperial connection. + +Further, it is to be observed that whatever exacerbation has been caused +by party exaggeration and misrepresentation, it is more than doubtful +whether Lord Milner's special accusation against the party system can be +made good, for it must be remembered that Mr. Chamberlain's original +programme was strongly opposed by many who, on mere party grounds, were +earnestly desirous to accord it a hearty welcome. Rather would it be +true to say that, looking back on past events, it is amazing that any +one of political experience could have imagined for one moment that a +proposal which touched the opinions and interests of almost every +individual in the United Kingdom, and which was wholly at variance with +the views heretofore held by Mr. Chamberlain himself, could have been +kept outside the whirlpool of party politics. "A great statesman," it +has been truly said, "must have two qualities; the first is prudence, +the second imprudence." Cavour has often been held up as the example of +an eminent man who combined, in his own person, these apparently +paradoxical qualities. Accepting the aphorism as true, it has to be +applied with the corollary that the main point is to know when to allow +imprudence to predominate over prudence. It is difficult to resist the +conclusion that when Mr. Chamberlain launched his programme, which Lord +Milner admits "burst like a bombshell in the camp of his friends," he +overweighted the balance on the imprudent side. The heat with which the +controversy has been conducted, and which Lord Milner very rightly +deplores, must be attributed mainly to this cause rather than to any +inherent and, to a great extent, unavoidable defects in the party +system. + +But in spite of all these difficulties and objections, Lord Milner and +those who hold with him may take heart of grace in so far as their +campaign against the extravagances of the party system is concerned. It +may well be that no special organisation will enable the non-party +partisans to occupy the position of umpires, but the steady pressure of +public opinion and the stern exposure of the abuses of the party system +will probably in time mitigate existing evils, and will possibly in +some degree purge other issues, besides those connected with foreign +affairs, from the rancour of the party spirit. As a contribution to this +end Lord Milner's utterances are to be heartily welcomed. + +[Footnote 79: This statement is incorrect. The saying quoted above +occurs in Mr. J.R. Lowell's address at the memorial meeting to Dean +Stanley, Dec. 13, 1881. He introduces it as "a proverbial phrase which +we have in America and which, I believe, we carried from England."] + + + + +XIII + +THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA[80] + +_"The Spectator," May 31, 1913_ + + +In the very interesting account which Mrs. Devereux Roy has given of the +present condition of Algeria, she says that France "is now about to +embark upon a radical change of policy in regard to her African +colonies." If it be thought presumptuous for a foreigner who has no +local knowledge of Algerian affairs to make certain suggestions as to +the direction which those changes might profitably assume, an apology +must be found in Mrs. Roy's very true remark that England "can no more +afford to be indifferent to the relations of France with her Moslem +subjects than she can disregard the trend of our policy in Egypt and +India." It is, indeed, manifest that somewhat drastic reforms of a +liberal character will have to be undertaken in Algeria. The French +Government have adopted the only policy which is worthy of a civilised +nation. They have educated the Algerians, albeit Mrs. Roy tells us that +grants for educational purposes have been doled out "with a very sparing +hand." They must bear the consequences of the generous policy which they +have pursued. They must recognise, as Macaulay said years ago, that it +is impossible to impart knowledge without stimulating ambition. Reforms +are, therefore, imposed by the necessities of the situation. + +These reforms may be classified under three heads, namely, fiscal, +judicial, and political. The order in which changes under each head +should be undertaken would appear to be a matter of vital importance. If +responsible French statesmen make a mistake in this matter--if, to use +the language of proverbial philosophy, they put the cart before the +horse--they may not improbably lay the seeds of very great trouble for +their countrymen in the future. Prince Bismarck once said: "Mistakes +committed in statesmanship are not always punished at once, but they +always do harm in the end. The logic of history is a more exact and a +more exacting accountant than is the strictest national auditing +department." + +It should never be forgotten that, however much local circumstances may +differ, there are certain broad features which always exist wherever +the European--be he French, English, German, or of any other +nationality--is brought in contact with the Oriental--be he Algerian, +Indian, or Egyptian. When the former once steps outside the influence +acquired by the power of the sword, and seeks for any common ground of +understanding with the subject race, he finds that he is, by the +elementary facts of the case, debarred from using all those moral +influences which, in more homogeneous countries, bind society together. +These are a common religion, a common language, common traditions, +and--save in very rare instances--intermarriage and really intimate +social relations. What therefore remains? Practically nothing but the +bond of material interest, tempered by as much sympathy as it is +possible in the difficult circumstances of the case to bring into play. +But on this poor material--for it must be admitted that it is poor +material--experience has shown that a wise statesmanship can build a +political edifice, not indeed on such assured foundations as prevail in +more homogeneous societies, but nevertheless of a character which will +give some solid guarantees of stability, and which will, in any case, +minimise the risk that the sword, which the European would fain leave in +the scabbard, shall be constantly flaunted before the eyes both of the +subject and the governing races, the latter of whom, on grounds alike +of policy and humanity, deprecate its use save in cases of extreme +necessity. + +In the long course of our history many mistakes have been made in +dealing with subject races, and the line of conduct pursued at various +times has often been very erratic. Nevertheless, it would be true to say +that, broadly speaking, British policy has been persistently directed +towards an endeavour to strengthen political bonds through the medium of +attention to material interests. The recent history of Egypt is a case +in point. + +No one who was well acquainted with the facts could at any time have +thought that it would be possible to create in the minds of the +Egyptians a feeling of devotion towards England which might in some +degree take the place of patriotism. Neither, in spite of the relatively +higher degree of social elasticity possessed by the French, is it at all +probable that any such feeling towards France will be created in +Algeria. But it was thought that by careful attention to the material +interests of the people it might eventually be possible to bring into +existence a conservative class who, albeit animated by no great love for +their foreign rulers, would be sufficiently contented to prevent their +becoming easily the prey either of the Nationalist demagogue, who was +sure sooner or later to spring into existence, or that of some barbarous +religious fanatic, such as the Mahdi, or, finally, that of some wily +politician, such as the Sultan Abdul Hamid who would, for his own +purposes, fan the flame of religious and racial hatred. For many years +after the British occupation of Egypt began, the efforts of the British +administrators in that country were unceasingly directed towards the +attainment of that object. The methods adopted, which it should be +observed were in the main carried out before any large sums were spent +on education, were the relief of taxation, the abolition of fiscal +inequality and of the _corvée_, the improvement of irrigation, and last, +but not least, a variety of measures having for their object the +maintenance of a peasant proprietary class. The results which have been +attained fully justify the adoption of this policy, which has probably +never been fully understood on the Continent of Europe, even if--which +is very doubtful--it has been understood in England. What, in fact, has +happened in Egypt? Nationalists have enjoyed an excess of licence in a +free press. The Sultan has preached pan-Islamism. The usual Oriental +intrigue has been rife. British politicians and a section of the British +press, being very imperfectly informed as to the situation, have +occasionally dealt with Egyptian affairs in a manner which, to say the +least, was indiscreet. But all has been of no avail. In spite of some +outward appearances to the contrary, the whole Nationalist movement in +Egypt has been a mere splutter on the surface. It never extended deep +down in the social ranks. More than this. When a very well-intentioned +but rather rash attempt was made to advance too rapidly in a liberal +direction, the inevitable reaction, which was to have been foreseen, +took place. Not merely Europeans but also Egyptians cried out loudly for +a halt, and, with the appointment of Lord Kitchener, they got what they +wanted. The case would have been very different if the Nationalist, the +religious fanatic, or the scheming politician, in dealing with some +controversial point or incident of ephemeral interest, had been able to +appeal to a mass of deep-seated discontent due to general causes and to +the existence of substantial grievances. In that case the Nationalist +movement would have been less artificial. It would have extended not +merely to the surface but to the core of society. It would have +possessed a real rather than, as has been shown to be the case, a +spurious vitality. The recent history of Egypt, therefore, is merely an +illustration of the general lesson taught by universal history. That +lesson is that the best, and indeed the only, way to combat +successfully the proceedings of the demagogue or the agitator is to +limit his field of action by the removal of any real grievances which, +if still existent, he would be able to use as a lever to awaken the +blind wrath of Demos. + +How far can principles somewhat analogous to these be applied in +Algeria? + +In the first place, it is abundantly clear that, from many points of +view, the French Government have successfully carried out the policy of +ministering to the material wants of the native population. Public works +of great utility have been constructed. Means of locomotion have been +improved. Modern agricultural methods have been introduced. Famine has +been rendered impossible. Mutual benefit societies have been +established. The creation of economic habits has been encouraged. In all +these matters the French have certainly nothing to learn from us. +Possibly, indeed, we may have something to learn from them. +Nevertheless, when it is asked whether the French Government is likely +to reap the political fruits which it might have been hoped would be the +result of their efforts, whether they are in a fair way towards creating +a conservative spirit which would be adverse to any radical change, and +whether, in reliance on that spirit, they are in a position to move +boldly forward in the direction of that liberal reform, the demand for +which has naturally sprung into existence from their educational policy, +it is at once clear that they are heavily weighted by the policy +originated some seventy years ago by Marshal Bugeaud, under which the +interests of the native population were made subservient to those of the +colonists, numbering about three-quarters of a million, of whom, Mrs. +Roy tells us, less than one-half are of French origin. It may have been +wise and necessary to initiate that policy. It may be wise and necessary +to continue it with certain modifications. But it is obvious that the +adoption of Marshal Bugeaud's plan has necessarily led to the creation +of substantial grievances, which are important alike from the point of +view of sentiment and from that of material interests. It appears now +that there is some probability that this policy will be modified in at +least one very important respect, namely, by the removal of the fiscal +inequality which at present exists between the natives and the +colonists. The former are at present heavily taxed; the latter pay +relatively very little. It may be suggested that it would be worth the +while of the French Government to consider whether this change should +not occupy the first place in the programme of reform. The present +system is obviously indefensible on general grounds, whilst its +continuance, until its abolition results from the strong native +pressure which will certainly ensue after the adoption of any drastic +measure of political reform, would appear to be undesirable. It would +probably be wise and statesmanlike not to await this pressure, but to +let the concession be the spontaneous act of the French Government and +nation rather than give the appearance of its having been wrung +reluctantly from France by the insistence of the native population and +its representatives. + +Next, there is the question of judicial reform. Mrs. Roy tells us that, +under what is called the _Code de l'Indigénat_, "a native can be +arrested and imprisoned practically without trial at the will of the +_administrateur_ for his district." It would require full local +knowledge to treat this question adequately, but it would obviously be +desirable that the French Government should go as far as possible in the +direction of providing that all judicial matters should be settled by +judicial officers who would be independent of the executive and, for the +most part, irremovable. Some local friction between the executive and +the judicial authorities is probably to be expected. That cannot be +helped. It might perhaps be mitigated by a very careful choice of the +officials in each case. + +In the third place, there is the question of political reform. M. +Philippe Millet, who has published an interesting article on this +subject in the April number of _The Nineteenth Century_, is of course +quite right in saying that political reform is the "key to every other +change." Once give the natives of Algeria effective political strength, +and the reforms will be forced upon the Government. But, as has been +already stated, it would perhaps be wiser and more statesmanlike that +these changes should be conceded spontaneously by the French Government, +and that then, after a reasonable interval, the bulk of the political +reforms should follow. + +A distinction, however, has to be made between the various +representative institutions which already exist. The _Conseil Supérieur_ +and the _Délégations Financières_ have very extensive powers, including +that of rejecting or modifying the Budget. At present these bodies may +be said, for all practical purposes, to be merely representative of the +colonists. It would certainly appear wise eventually to allow the +natives both a larger numerical strength on the _Conseil_ and on the +_Délégations_, and also, by rearranging the franchise, to endeavour to +secure a more real representation of native interests. It must, however, +be borne in mind that the difficulties of securing any real +representation of the best interests in the country will almost +certainly be very great, if not altogether insuperable. In all +probability the loquacious, semi-educated native, who has in him the +makings of an agitator, will, under any system, naturally float to the +top, whilst the really representative man will sink to the bottom. It +would perhaps, therefore, be as well not to move in too great a hurry in +this matter, and, when any move is made, that the advance should be of a +very cautious and tentative nature. + +The _Conseils Généraux_, which are provincial and municipal bodies, +stand on a very different footing. Here it may be safe to move forward +in the path of reform with greater boldness and with less delay. But +whatever is done it will probably be found that real progress in the +direction of self-government will depend more on the attitude of the +French officials who are associated with the Councils than on any system +which can be devised on paper. It may be assumed that the French +officials in Algeria present the usual characteristics of their class, +that is to say, that they are courageous, intelligent, zealous, and +thoroughly honest. Also it may probably be assumed that they are +somewhat inelastic, somewhat unduly wedded to bureaucratic ideas, and +more especially that they are possessed with the very natural idea that +the main end and object of their lives is to secure the efficiency of +the administration. Now if self-government is to be a success, they will +have to modify to some extent their ideas as to the supreme necessity of +efficiency. That is to say, they will have to recognise that it is +politically wiser to put up with an imperfect reform carried with native +consent, rather than to insist on some more perfect measure executed in +the teeth of strong--albeit often unreasonable--native opposition. +English experience has shown that this is a very hard lesson for +officials to learn. Nevertheless, the task of inculcating general +principles of this nature is not altogether impossible. It depends +mainly on the impulse which is given from above. To entrust the +execution of a policy of reform in Algeria to a man of +ultra-bureaucratic tendencies, who is hostile to reform of any kind, +would, of course, be to court failure. On the other hand, to select an +extreme radical visionary, who will probably not recognise the +difference between East and West, would be scarcely less disastrous. +What, in fact, is required is a man of somewhat exceptional qualities. +He must be strong--that is to say, he must impress the natives with the +conviction that, albeit an advocate of liberal ideas, he is firmly +resolved to consent to nothing which is likely to be detrimental to the +true interests of France. He must also be sufficiently strong to keep +his own officials in hand and to make them conform to his policy, whilst +at the same time he must be sufficiently tactful to win their confidence +and to prevent their being banded together against him. The latter is a +point of very special importance, for in a country like Algeria no +government, however powerful, will be able to carry out a really +beneficial programme of reform if the organised strength of the +bureaucracy--backed up, as would probably be the case, by the whole of +the European unofficial community--is thrown into bitter and +irreconcilable opposition. The task, it may be repeated, is a difficult +one. Nevertheless, amongst the many men of very high ability in the +French service there must assuredly be some who would be able to +undertake it with a fair chance of success. + +One further remark on this very interesting subject may be made. M. +Millet, in the article to which allusion has already been made, says, +"The Algerian natives will look more and more to France as their natural +protector against the colonists." It will, it is to be hoped, not be +thought over-presumptuous to sound a note of warning against trusting +too much to this argument. That for the present the natives should look +to France rather than to the colonists is natural enough. It is +manifestly their interest to do so. But it may be doubted whether they +will be "more and more" inspired by such sentiments as time goes on. +There is an Arabic proverb to the effect that "all Christians are of one +tribe." That is the spirit which in reality inspires the whole Moslem +world. It is illustrated by the author of that very remarkable work, +_Turkey in Europe_, in an amusing apologue. Let once some +semi-religious, semi-patriotic leader arise, who will play skilfully on +the passions of the masses, and it will be somewhat surprising if the +distinction which now exists will long survive. All Frenchmen, those in +France equally with those in Algeria, will then, it may confidently be +expected, be speedily confounded in one general anathema. + +[Footnote 80: _Aspects of Algeria_. By Mrs. Devereux Roy. London: Dent +and Son. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XIV + +THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE[81] + +_"The Spectator," June 14, 1913_ + + +Although proverbial philosophy warns us never to prophesy unless we +know, experience has shown that political prophets have often made +singularly correct forecasts of the future. Lord Chesterfield, and at a +much earlier period Marshal Vauban, foretold the French Revolution, +whilst the impending ruin of the Ottoman Empire has formed the theme of +numerous prophecies made by close observers of contemporaneous events +from the days of Horace Walpole downwards. "It is of no use," Napoleon +wrote to the Directory, "to try to maintain the Turkish Empire; we shall +witness its fall in our time." During the War of Greek Independence the +Duke of Wellington believed that the end of Turkey was at hand. Where +the prophets have for the most part failed is not so much in making a +mistaken estimate of the effects likely to be produced by the causes +which they saw were acting on the body politic, as in not allowing +sufficient time for the operation of those causes. Political evolution +in its early stages is generally very slow. It is only after long +internal travail that it moves with vertiginous rapidity. De Tocqueville +cast a remarkably accurate horoscope of the course which would be run by +the Second Empire, but it took some seventeen years to bring about +results which he thought would be accomplished in a much shorter period. +It has been reserved for the present generation to witness the +fulfilment of prophecy in the case of European Turkey. The blindness +displayed by Turkish statesmen to the lessons taught by history, their +complete sterility in the domain of political thought, and their +inability to adapt themselves and the institutions of their country to +the growing requirements of the age, might almost lead an historical +student to suppose that they were bent on committing political suicide. +The combined diplomatists of Europe, Lord Salisbury sorrowfully remarked +in 1877, "all tried to save Turkey," but she scorned salvation and +persisted in a course of action which could lead to but one result. That +result has now been attained. The dismemberment of European Turkey, +begun so long ago as the Peace of Karlovitz in 1699, is now almost +complete. "Modern history," Lord Acton said, "begins under the stress of +the Ottoman conquest." Whatever troubles the future may have in store, +Europe has at last thrown off the Ottoman incubus. A new chapter in +modern history has thus been opened. Henceforth, if Ottoman power is to +survive at all, it must be in Asia, albeit the conflicting jealousies of +the European Powers allow for the time being the maintenance of an +Asiatic outpost on European soil. + +It is as yet too early to expect any complete or philosophic account of +this stupendous occurrence, which the future historian will rank with +the unification first of Italy and later of Germany, as one of the most +epoch-making events of the later nineteenth and early twentieth +centuries. Notably, there are two subjects which require much further +elucidation before the final verdict of contemporaries or posterity can +be passed upon them. In the first place, the causes which have led to +the military humiliation of a race which, whatever may be its defects, +has been noted in history for its martial virility, require to be +differentiated. Was the collapse of the Turkish army due merely to +incapacity and mismanagement on the part of the commanders, aided by +the corruption which has eaten like a canker into the whole Ottoman +system of government and administration? Or must the causes be sought +deeper, and, if so, was it the palsy of an unbridled and malevolent +despotism which in itself produced the result, or did the sudden +downfall of the despot, by the removal of a time-honoured, if unworthy, +symbol of government, abstract the corner-stone from the tottering +political edifice, and thus, by disarranging the whole administrative +gear of the Empire at a critical moment, render the catastrophe +inevitable? Further information is required before a matured opinion on +this point, which possesses more than a mere academic importance, can be +formed. + +There is yet another subject which, if only from a biographical point of +view, is of great interest. Two untoward circumstances have caused +Turkish domination in Europe to survive, and to resist the pressure of +the civilisation by which it was surrounded, but which seemed at one +time doomed to thunder ineffectually at its gates. One was excessive +jealousy--in Solomon's words, "as cruel as the grave"--amongst European +States, which would not permit of any political advantage being gained +by a rival nation. The other, and, as subsequent events proved, more +potent consideration, was the fratricidal jealousy which the +populations of the Balkan Peninsula mutually entertained towards each +other. The maintenance and encouragement of mutual suspicions was, in +either case, sedulously fostered by Turkish Sultans, the last of whom, +more especially, acted throughout his inglorious career in the firm +belief that mere mediaeval diplomatic trickery could be made to take the +place of statesmanship. He must have chuckled when he joyously put his +hand to the firman creating a Bulgarian Exarch, who was forthwith +excommunicated by the Greek Patriarch, with the result, as Mr. Miller +tells us, that "peasants killed each other in the name of contending +ecclesiastical establishments." + +In the early days of the last century the poet Rhigas, who was to Greece +what Arndt was to Germany and Rouget de Lisle to Revolutionary France, +appealed to all Balkan Christians to rise on behalf of the liberties of +Greece. But the hour had not yet come for any such unity to be cemented. +At that time, and for many years afterwards, Europe was scarcely +conscious of the fact that there existed "a long-forgotten, silent +nationality" which, after a lapse of nearly five centuries, would again +spring into existence and bear a leading part in the liberation of the +Balkan populations. But the rise of Bulgaria, far from bringing unity in +its wake, appeared at first only to exacerbate not merely the mercurial +Greek, proud of the intellectual and political primacy which he had +heretofore enjoyed, but also the brother Slav, with whom differences +arose which necessitated an appeal to the arbitrament of arms. + +Although the thunder of the guns of Kirk Kilisse and Lüle Burgas +proclaimed to Europe, in the words of the English Prime Minister, that +"the map of Eastern Europe had to be recast," it is none the less true +that the cause of the Turk was doomed from the moment when Balkan +discord ceased, and when the Greek, the Bulgarian, the Serb, and the +Montenegrin agreed to sink their differences and to act together against +the common enemy. Who was it who accomplished this miracle? Mr. Miller +says, "the authorship of this marvellous work, hitherto the despair of +statesmen, is uncertain, but it has been ascribed chiefly to M. +Venezélos." All, therefore, that can now be said is that it was the +brain, or possibly brains, of some master-workers which gave liberty to +the Balkan populations as surely as it was the brain of Cavour which +united Italy.[82] + +Although these and possibly other points will, without doubt, eventually +receive more ample treatment at the hands of some future historian, Mr. +Miller has performed a most useful service in affording a guide by the +aid of which the historical student can find his way through the +labyrinthine maze of Balkan politics. He begins his story about the time +when Napoleon had appeared like a comet in the political firmament, and +by his erratic movements had caused all the statesmen of Europe to +diverge temporarily from their normal and conventional orbits, one +result being that the British Admiral Duckworth wandered in a somewhat +aimless fashion through the Dardanelles to Constantinople, and had very +little idea of what to do when he got there. Mr. Miller reminds us of +events of great importance in their day, but now almost wholly +forgotten: of how the ancient Republic of Ragusa, which had existed for +eleven centuries and which had earned the title of the "South Slavonic +Athens," was crushed out of existence under the iron heel of Marmont, +who forthwith proceeded to make some good roads and to vaccinate the +Dalmatians; of how Napoleon tried to partition the Balkans, but found, +with all his political and administrative genius, that he was face to +face with an "insoluble problem"; of how that rough man of genius, +Mahmoud II., hanged the Greek Patriarch from the gate of his palace, but +between the interludes of massacres and executions, brought his "energy +and indomitable force of will" to bear on the introduction of reforms; +of how the Venetian Count Capo d'Istria, who was eventually +assassinated, produced a local revolt by a well-intentioned attempt to +amend the primitive ethics of the Mainote Greeks--a tale which is not +without its warning if ever the time comes for dealing with a cognate +question amongst the wild tribes of Albania; and of how, amidst the +ever-shifting vicissitudes of Eastern politics, the Tsar of Russia, who +had heretofore posed as the "protector" of Roumans and Serbs against +their sovereign, sent his fleet to the Bosphorus in 1833 in order to +"protect" the sovereign against his rebellious vassal, Mehemet Ali, and +exacted a reward for his services in the shape of the leonine +arrangement signed at Hunkiar-Iskelesi. And so Mr. Miller carries us on +from massacre to massacre, from murder to murder, and from one +bewildering treaty to another, all of which, however, present this +feature of uniformity, that the Turk, signing of his own free will, but +with an unwilling mind--ἑκὼν ἀέκοντί γε θυμῷ--made on each occasion +either some new concession to the ever-rising tide of Christian demand, +or ratified the loss of a province which had been forcibly torn from his +flank. Finally, we get to the period when the tragedy connected with the +name of Queen Draga acted like an electric shock on Europe, and when +the accession of King Peter, "who had translated Mill _On Liberty_," to +the blood-stained Servian throne, revealed to an astonished world that +the processes of Byzantinism survived to the present day. Five years +later followed the assumption by Prince Ferdinand of the title of "Tsar +of the Bulgarians," and it then only required the occurrence of some +opportunity and the appearance on the scene of some Balkan Cavour to +bring the struggle of centuries to the final issue of a death-grapple +between the followers of aggressive Christianity and those of stagnant +Islamism. + +The whole tale is at once dramatic and dreary, dramatic because it is +occasionally illumined by acts of real heroism, such as the gallant +defence of Plevna by Ghazi Osman, a graphic account of which was written +by an adventurous young Englishman (Mr. W.V. Herbert) who served in the +Turkish army, or again as the conduct of the Cretan Abbot Máneses who, +in 1866, rather than surrender to the Turks, "put a match to the +powder-magazine, thus uniting defenders and assailants in one common +hecatomb." It is dreary because the mind turns with horror and disgust +from the endless record of government by massacre, in which, it is to be +observed, the crime of bloodguiltiness can by no means be laid +exclusively at the door of the dominant race, whilst Mr. Miller's +sombre but perfectly true remark that "assassination or abdication, +execution or exile, has been the normal fate of Balkan rulers," throws a +lurid light on the whole state of Balkan society. + +But how does the work of diplomacy, and especially of British diplomacy, +stand revealed by the light of the history of the past century? The +point is one of importance, all the more so because there is a tendency +on the part of some British politicians to mistrust diplomatists, to +think that, either from incapacity or design, they serve as agents to +stimulate war rather than as peace-makers, and to hold that a more +minute interference by the House of Commons in the details of diplomatic +negotiations would be useful and beneficial. It would be impossible +within the limits of an ordinary newspaper article to deal adequately +with this question. This much, however, may be said--that, even taking +the most unfavourable view of the results achieved by diplomacy, there +is nothing whatever in Mr. Miller's history to engender the belief that +better results would have been obtained by shifting the responsibility +to a greater degree from the shoulders of the executive to those of +Parliament. The evidence indeed rather points to an opposite conclusion. +For instance, Mr. Miller informs us that inopportune action taken in +England was one of the causes which contributed to the outbreak of +hostilities between Greece and Turkey in 1897. "An address from a +hundred British members of Parliament encouraged the masses, ignorant of +the true condition of British politics, to count upon the help of Great +Britain." + +It is, however, quite true that a moralist, if he were so minded, might +in Mr. Miller's pages find abundant material for a series of homilies on +the vanity of human wishes, and especially of diplomatic human wishes. +But would he on that account be right in pronouncing a wholesale +condemnation of diplomacy? Assuredly not. Rather, the conclusion to be +drawn from a review of past history is that a small number of very +well-informed and experienced diplomatists showed remarkable foresight +in perceiving the future drift of events. So early as 1837 Lord +Palmerston supported Milosh Obrenovitch II., the ruler of Servia, +against Turkey, as he had "come to the conclusion that to strengthen the +small Christian States of the Near East was the true policy of both +Turkey and Great Britain." Similar views were held at a later period by +Sir William White, and were eventually adopted by the Government of Lord +Beaconsfield. An equal amount of foresight was displayed by some Russian +diplomatists. In Lord Morley's _Life of Gladstone_ (vol. i. p. 479) a +very remarkable letter is given, which was addressed to the Emperor +Nicholas by Baron Brunnow, just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, +in which he advocated peace on the ground that "war would not turn to +Russian advantage.... The Ottoman Empire may be transformed into +independent States, which for us will only become either burdensome +clients or hostile neighbours." It may be that, as is now very generally +thought, the Crimean War was a mistake, and that, in the classic words +of Lord Salisbury, we "put our money on the wrong horse." But it is none +the less true that had it not been for the Crimean War and the policy +subsequently adopted by Lord Beaconsfield's government, the independence +of the Balkan States would never have been achieved, and the Russians +would now be in possession of Constantinople. It is quite permissible to +argue that, had they been left unopposed, British interests would not +have suffered; but even supposing this very debatable proposition to be +true, it must be regarded, from an historical point of view, as at best +an _ex post facto_ argument. British diplomacy has to represent British +public opinion, and during almost the whole period of which Mr. Miller's +history treats, a cardinal article of British political faith was that, +in the interests of Great Britain, Constantinople should not be allowed +to fall into Russian hands. The occupation of Egypt in 1882 without +doubt introduced a new and very important element into the discussion. +The most serious as also the least excusable mistake in British +Near-Eastern policy of recent years has been the occupation of Cyprus, +which burthened us with a perfectly useless possession, and inflicted a +serious blow on our prestige. Sir Edward Grey's recent diplomatic +success is in a large measure due to the fact that all the Powers +concerned were convinced of British disinterestedness. + +[Footnote 81: _The Ottoman Empire_, 1801-1913. By W. Miller. Cambridge: +At the University Press. 7s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 82: This article was, of course, written before the war which +subsequently broke out between the Bulgarians and their former allies, +the Greeks and the Servians.] + + + + +XV + +WELLINGTONIANA[83] + +_"The Spectator," June 21, 1913_ + + +In dealing with Lady Shelley's sprightly and discursive comments upon +the current events of her day, we have to transport ourselves back into +a society which, though not very remote in point of time, has now so +completely passed away that it is difficult fully to realise its +feelings, opinions, and aspirations. It was a time when a learned +divine, writing in the _Church and State Gazette_, had proved entirely +to his own satisfaction, and apparently also to that of Lady Shelley, +that a "remarkable fulfilment of that hitherto incomprehensible prophecy +in the Revelations" had taken place, inasmuch as Napoleon Bonaparte was +most assuredly "the seventh head of the Beast." It was a time when +Londoners rode in the Green Park instead of Rotten Row, and when, in +spite of the admiration expressed for the talents of that rising young +politician, Mr. Robert Peel, it was impossible to deny that "his birth +ran strongly against him"--a consideration which elicited from Lady +Shelley the profound remark that it is "strange to search into the +recesses of the human mind." + +Lady Shelley herself seems to have been rather a _femme incomprise_. She +had lived much on the Continent, and appreciated the greater deference +paid to a charming and accomplished woman in Viennese and Parisian +society, compared with the boorishness of Englishmen who would not +"waste their time" in paying pretty compliments to ladies which "could +be repaid by a smile." She records her impressions in French, a language +in which she was thoroughly proficient. "Je sais," she says, "qu'en +Angleterre il ne faut pas s'attendre à cultiver son esprit; qu'il faut, +pour être contente à Londres, se résoudre à se plaire avec la +médiocrité; à entendre tous les jours répéter les mêmes banalités et à +s'abaisser autant qu'on le peut au niveau des femmelettes avec +lesquelles l'on vit, et qui, pour plaire, affectent plus de frivolité +qu'elles n'ont réellement. Le plaisir de causer nous est défendu." +Nevertheless, however much she may have mentally appreciated the +solitude of a crowd, she determined to adapt herself to her social +surroundings. "C'est un sacrifice," she says, "que je fais à mon Dieu et +à mon devoir comme Anglaise." Impelled, therefore, alike by piety and +patriotism, she cast aside all ideas of leading an eremitic life, +plunged into the vortex of the social world, and mixed with all the +great men and women of the day. Of these the most notable was the Duke +of Wellington. + +Lady Shelley certainly possessed one quality which eminently fitted her +to play the part of Boswell to the Duke. The worship of her hero was +without the least mixture of alloy. She had a pheasant, which the Duke +had killed, stuffed, and "added to other souvenirs which ornamented her +dressing-room"; and she records, with manifest pride, that "amongst her +other treasures" was a chair on which he sat upon the first occasion of +his dining with her husband and herself in 1814. It was well to have +that pheasant stuffed, for apparently the Duke, like his great +antagonist, did not shoot many pheasants. He was not only "a very wild +shot," but also a very bad shot. Napoleon, Mr. Oman tells us,[84] on one +occasion "lodged some pellets in Masséna's left eye while letting fly at +a pheasant," and then without the least hesitation accused "the faithful +Berthier" of having fired the shot, an accusation which was at once +confirmed by the mendacious but courtierlike victim of the accident. +Wellington also, Lady Shelley records, "after wounding a retriever early +in the day and later on peppering the keeper's gaiters, inadvertently +sprinkled the bare arms of an old woman who chanced to be washing +clothes at her cottage window." Lady Shelley, who "was attracted by her +screams," promptly told the widow that "it ought to be the proudest +moment of her life. She had had the distinction of being shot by the +great Duke of Wellington," but the eminently practical instinct of the +great Duke at once whispered to him that something more than the moral +satisfaction to be derived from this reflection was required, so he very +wisely "slipped a golden coin into her trembling hand." + +For many years Lady Shelley lived on very friendly and intimate terms +with the Duke, who appears to have confided to her many things about +which he would perhaps have acted more wisely if he had held his tongue. +When he went on an important diplomatic mission to Paris in 1822, she +requested him to buy her a blouse--a commission which he faithfully +executed. All went well until 1848. Then a terrific explosion occurred. +It is no longer "My dearest Lady! Mind you bring the blouse! Ever yours +most affectionately, Wellington," but "My dear Lady Shelley," who is +addressed by "Her Ladyship's most obedient humble servant, Wellington," +and soundly rated for her conduct. The reason for this abrupt and +volcanic change was that owing to an indiscretion on the part of Lady +Shelley a very important letter about the defenceless state of the +country, which the Duke had addressed to Sir John Burgoyne, then the +head of the Engineer Department at the Horse Guards, got into the +newspapers. The Duke's wrath boiled over, and was expressed in terms +which, albeit the reproaches were just, showed but little chivalrous +consideration towards a peccant but very contrite woman. He told her +that he "had much to do besides defending himself from the consequences +of the meddling gossip of the ladies of modern times," and he asked +indignantly, "What do Sir John Burgoyne and his family and your Ladyship +and others--talking of old friendship--say to the share which each of +you have had in this transaction, which, in my opinion, is disgraceful +to the times in which we live?" What Sir John Burgoyne and his family +might very reasonably have said in answer to this formidable +interrogatory is that, although no one can defend the conduct of +Delilah, it was certainly most unwise of Samson to trust her with his +secret. It is consolatory to know that, under the influence of Sir John +Shelley's tact and good-humour, a treaty of peace was eventually +concluded. Sir John happened to meet the Duke at a party. +"'Good-evening, Duke,' said Sir John, in his most winning manner. 'Do +you know, it has been said, by some one who must have been present, that +the cackling of geese once saved Rome. I have been thinking that perhaps +the cackling of my old Goose may yet save England!' This wholly +unexpected sally proved too much for the Duke, who burst out into a +hearty laugh. 'By G----d, Shelley!' said he, 'you are right: give me +your honest hand.'" The Duke then returned to Apsley House and "penned a +playful letter to Lady Shelley." + +It is not to be expected that much of real historical interest can be +extracted from a Diary of this sort. It may, however, be noted that when +the _Bellerophon_ reached the English coast "it was only by coercion +that the Ministers prevented George IV. from receiving Bonaparte. The +King wanted to hold him as a captive." Moreover, Brougham, who was in a +position to know, said, "There can be little doubt that if Bonaparte had +got to London, the Whig Opposition were ready to use him as their trump +card to overturn the Government." + +The main interest in the book, however, lies in the light which it +throws on the Duke's inner life and in the characteristic _obiter dicta_ +which he occasionally let fall. Of these, none is more characteristic +than the remark he made on meeting his former love, Miss Catherine +Pakenham, after an absence of eight years in India. He wrote to her, +making a proposal of marriage, but Miss Pakenham told him "that before +any engagement was made he must see her again; as she had grown old, had +lost all her good looks, and was a very different person to the girl he +had loved in former years." The story, which has been frequently +repeated, that Miss Pakenham was marked with the smallpox, is +untrue,[85] but, without doubt, during the Duke's absence, she had a +good deal changed. The Duke himself certainly thought so, for, on first +meeting her again, he whispered to his brother, "She has grown d----d +ugly, by Jove!" Nevertheless he married her, being moved to do so, not +apparently from any very deep feelings of affection, but because his +leading passion was a profound regard for truth and loyalty which led +him to admire and appreciate the straightforwardness of Miss Pakenham's +conduct. Lady Shelley exultingly exclaims, "Well might she be proud and +happy, and glory in such a husband." That the Duchess was proud of her +husband is certain. Whether she was altogether happy is more doubtful. + +One of the stock anecdotes about the Duke of Wellington is that when on +one occasion some one asked him whether he was surprised at Waterloo, he +replied, "No. I was not surprised then, but I am now." We are indebted +to Lady Shelley for letting us know what the Duke really thought on this +much-debated question. In a letter written to her on March 22, 1820, he +stated, with his usual downright common sense, all that there is to be +said on this subject. "Supposing I _was_ surprised; I won the battle; +and what could you have had more, even if I had not been surprised?" + +It is known on the authority of his niece, Lady Burghersh, that the Duke +"never read poetry," but his "real love of music," to which Lady Shelley +alludes, will perhaps come as a surprise to many. Mr. Fortescue, +however,[86] has told us that in his youth the Duke learnt to play the +violin, and that he only abandoned it, when he was about thirty years +old, "because he judged it unseemly or perhaps ill-sounding for a +General to be a fiddler." The Duke is not the only great soldier who has +been a musical performer. Marshal St. Cyr used to play the violin "in +the quiet moments of a campaign," and Sir Hope Grant was a very fair +performer on the violoncello. + +It was characteristic of the Duke to keep the fact of his being about to +fight a duel with Lord Winchelsea carefully concealed from all his +friends. When it was over, he walked into Lady Shelley's room while she +was at breakfast and said, "Well, what do you think of a gentleman who +has been fighting a duel?" + +It appears that during the last years of his life the Duke's great +companion-in-arms, Blücher, was subject to some strange hallucinations. +The following affords a fitting counterpart to those "fears of the +brave" which Pope attributed to the dying Marlborough. On March 17, +1819, Lady Shelley made the following entry in her diary: + + We laughed at poor Blücher's strange hallucination, which, though + ludicrous, is very sad. He fancies himself with child by a + Frenchman; and deplores that such an event should have happened to + him in his old age! He does not so much mind being with child, but + cannot reconcile himself to the thought that he--of all people in + the world--should be destined to give birth to a _Frenchman_! On + every other subject Blücher is said to be quite rational. This + peculiar form of madness shows the bent of his mind; so that while + we laugh our hearts reproach us. The Duke of Wellington assures me + that he knows this to be a fact. + +Finally, attention may be drawn to a singular and interesting letter +from Sir Walter Scott to Shelley, giving some advice which it may be +presumed the young poet did not take to heart. He was "cautioned against +enthusiasm, which, while it argued an excellent disposition and a +feeling heart, requires to be watched and restrained, though not +repressed." + +[Footnote 83: _The Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley_ (1818-1873). London: +John Murray. 10s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 84: _History of the Peninsular War_, vol. iii. p. 209.] + +[Footnote 85: Maxwell's _Life of Wellington_, vol. i. p. 78] + +[Footnote 86: _British Statesmen of the Great War_, p. 241.] + + + + +XVI + +BURMA[87] + +_"The Spectator," June 28, 1913_ + + +The early history of the British connection with Burma presents all the +features uniformly to be found in the growth of British Imperialism. +These are, first, reluctance to move, coupled with fear of the results +of expansion, ending finally with a cession to the irresistible tendency +to expand; secondly, vagueness of purpose as to what should be done with +a new and somewhat unwelcome acquisition; thirdly, a tardy recognition +of its value, with the result that what was first an inclination to make +the best of a bad job only gradually transforms itself into a feeling of +satisfaction and congratulation that, after all, the unconscious +founders of the British Empire, here as elsewhere, blundered more or +less unawares into the adoption of a sound and far-seeing Imperial +policy. + +In 1825, Lord Amherst, in one of those "fits of absence" which the +dictum of Sir John Seeley has rendered famous, took possession of some +of the maritime provinces of Burma, and in doing so lost three thousand +one hundred and fifteen men, of whom only a hundred and fifty were +killed in action. Then the customary fit of doubt and despondency +supervened. It was not until four years after the conclusion of peace +that a British Resident was sent to the Court of Ava in the vain hope +that he would be able to negotiate the retrocession of the province of +Tenasserim, as "the Directors of the East India Company looked upon this +territory as of no value to them." For a quarter of a century peace was +preserved, for there ruled at Ava a prince "who was too clear-sighted to +attempt again to measure arms with the British troops." Anon he was +succeeded by a new king--the Pagàn Prince--"who cared for nothing but +mains of cocks, games, and other infantile amusements," and who, after +the manner of Oriental despots, inaugurated his reign by putting to +death his two brothers and all their households. "There were several +hundreds of them." It is not surprising that under a ruler addicted to +such practices the British sailors who frequented the Burmese ports +should have been subjected to maltreatment. Their complaints reached the +ears of the iron-fisted and acquisitive Lord Dalhousie, who himself +went to Rangoon in 1852, and forthwith "decided on the immediate attack +of Prome and Pegu." M. Dautremer speaks in flattering terms of "the +tenacity and persistence of purpose which make the strength and glory of +British policy." He might truthfully have added another characteristic +feature which that policy at times displays, to wit, sluggishness. It +was not until sixteen years after Lord Dalhousie's annexation of Lower +Burma that the English bethought themselves of improving their newly +acquired province by the construction of a railway, and it was not till +1877 that the first line from Rangoon to Prome--a distance of only one +hundred and sixty-one miles--was opened. During all this time King +Mindon ruled in native Burma. He "gave abundant alms to monks," and, +moreover, which was perhaps more to the purpose, he was wise enough to +maintain relations with Great Britain which were "quite cordial." +Eventually the Nemesis which appears to attend on all semi-civilised and +moribund States when they are brought in contact with a vigorous and +aggressive civilisation appeared in the person of the "Sapaya-lat," the +"middle princess," who induced her feeble husband, King Thibaw, to carry +out massacres on a scale which, even in Burma, had been heretofore +unprecedented. Then the British on the other side of the frontier began +to murmur and "to consider whether it was possible to endure a neighbour +who was so cruel and so unpopular." All doubts as to whether the limits +of endurance had or had not been reached were removed when the +impecunious and spendthrift king not only imposed a very unjust fine of +some £150,000 on the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, but also had the +extreme folly to "throw himself into the arms of France"--a scheme which +was at once communicated by M. Jules Ferry to Lord Lyons, the British +Ambassador in Paris. Then war with Burma was declared, and after some +tedious operations, which involved the sacrifice of many valuable lives, +and which extended over three years, the country was "completely +pacified" by 1889, and Lord Dufferin added the title of "Ava" to the +Marquisate which was conferred on him. + +In 1852, when Lord Dalhousie annexed Lower Burma, Rangoon was "merely a +fishing village." It is now a flourishing commercial town of some +300,000 inhabitants. In 1910-11 the imports into Burmese ports, +including coast trade, amounted to £13,600,000. The exports, in spite of +a duty on rice which is of a nature rather to shock orthodox economists, +were nearly £23,000,000 in value. The revenue in 1910 was about +£7,391,000, of which about £2,590,000 was on Imperial and the balance on +local account. Burma is in the happy position of being in a normal state +of surplus, and is thus able to contribute annually a sum of about +£2,500,000 to the Indian exchequer, a sum which those who are specially +interested in Burmese prosperity regard as excessive, whilst it is +apparently regarded as inadequate by some of those who look only to the +interests of the Indian taxpayers. + +The account which M. Dautremer, who was for long French Consul at +Rangoon, has given of the present condition of Burma is preceded by an +introduction from the pen of Sir George Scott, who can speak with +unquestionable authority on Burmese affairs. It is clear that neither +author has allowed himself in any way to be biassed by national +proclivities, for whilst the Frenchman compares British and French +administrative methods in a manner which is very much to the detriment +of the latter, the Englishman, on the other hand, launches the most +fiery denunciations against those of his countrymen who are responsible +for Indian policy. Their want of enterprise is characterised by the +appalling polysyllabic adjective "hebetudinous," which it is perhaps as +well to explain means obtuse or dull, and they are told that they "are +infected with the Babu spirit, and cannot see beyond their immediate +horizon." + +M. Dautremer thinks that it is somewhat narrow-minded of the Englishman +to inflict on himself the torture of wearing cloth or flannel clothes in +order that he may not be taken for a _chi-chi_ or half-caste, who very +wisely dresses in white. He expostulates against the social tyranny +which obliges him to pay visits between twelve and two "in such a +climate and with such a temperature," and he gently satirises the +isolation of the different layers of English society--civilian, +military, and subordinate services--in words which call to mind the +striking account given by the immortal Mr. Jingle of the dockyard +society of Chatham and Rochester. It is, however, consolatory to learn +that all classes combined in giving a hearty welcome to the genial and +sympathetic Frenchman who was living in their midst. Save on these minor +points, M. Dautremer has, for the most part, nothing but praise to +accord. He thinks that "all the British administrative officers in Burma +are well-educated and capable men, who know the country of which they +are put in charge, and are fluent in the language." He writhes under the +highly centralised and bureaucratic system adopted by his own +countrymen. He commends the English practice under which "the Home +Government never interferes in the management of internal affairs," and +it is earnestly to be hoped that the commendation is deserved, albeit of +late years there have occasionally been some ominous signs of a tendency +to govern India rather too much in detail from London. Speaking of the +rapid development of Burmese trade, M. Dautremer says, in words which +are manifestly intended to convey a criticism of his own Government, +"This is an example of the use of colonies to a nation which knows how +to put a proper value on them and to profit by them." + +The warm appreciation which M. Dautremer displays of the best parts of +the English administrative system enhances his claims for respectful +attention whenever he indulges in criticism. He finds two rather weak +points in the administration. In the first place, he attributes the +large falling-off in the export of teak, _inter alia_, to "the increase +in Government duties and the much more rigid rules for extraction," and +he adds that the Government, which is itself a large dealer in timber, +has "by its action created a monopoly which has raised prices to the +highest possible limit." The subject is one which would appear to +require attention. The primary business of any Government is not to +trade but to administer, and, as invariably happens, the violation of a +sound economic principle of this sort is certain sooner or later to +carry its own punishment with it. In the second place, the Forest +Department, which is of very special importance in Burma, is a good deal +crippled by the "want of energy and want of industry which are +unfortunately common in the subordinate grades. The reason for this +state of things is to be found in the fact that the pay and prospects +are not good enough to attract really capable men." In many quarters, +notably in Central Africa, British Treasury officials have yet to learn +that, from every point of view, it is quite as great a mistake to employ +underpaid administrative agents as it would be for an employer of labour +to proceed on the principle that low wages necessarily connote cheap +production. + +Sir George Scott in his introduction strikes a very different note from +that sounded by M. Dautremer. He alleges that the wealthy province of +Burma, which M. Dautremer tells us is not unseldom called "the milch-cow +of India," is starved, that its financial policy has been directed by +"cautious, nothing-venture, mole-horizon people," who have hid their +talent in a napkin; that "everything seems expressly designed to drive +out the capital" of which the country stands so much in need; that not +nearly enough has been done in the way of expenditure on public works, +notably on roads and railways, and that when these latter have been +constructed, they have sometimes been in the wrong directions. He cavils +at M. Dautremer's description of Burma as "a model possession," and +holds that "as a matter of bitter fact, the administrative view is that +of the parish beadle, and the enterprise that of the country-carrier +with a light cart instead of a motor-van." + +It would require greater local knowledge than any possessed by the +writer of the present article either to endorse or to reject these +formidable accusations, although it may be said that the violence of Sir +George Scott's invective is not very convincing, but rather raises a +strong suspicion that he has overstated his case. Nothing is more +difficult, either for a private individual or for a State financier, +than to decide the question of when to be bold and when cautious in the +matter of capital outlay. It is quite possible to push to an extreme the +commonplace, albeit attractive, argument that large expenditure will be +amply remunerative, or even if not directly remunerative, highly +beneficial "in the long run." Although this plea is often--indeed, +perhaps generally--valid, it is none the less true that the run which is +foreshadowed is at times so long as to make the taxpayer, who has to +bear the present cost, gasp for breath before the promised goal is +reached. Pericles, by laying out huge sums on the public buildings of +Athens, earned the undying gratitude of artistic posterity. Whether his +action was in the true interests of his Athenian contemporaries is +perhaps rather more doubtful. The recent history of Argentina is an +instance of a country in which, as subsequent events have proved, the +plea for lavish capital expenditure was perfectly justifiable, but in +which, nevertheless, the over-haste shown in incurring heavy liabilities +led to much temporary inconvenience and even disaster. But on the whole +it may be said that where all the general conditions are favourable, and +point conclusively to the possibility and probability of fairly rapid +economic development, a bold financial policy may and should be adopted, +even although it may not be easy to prove beforehand by very exact +calculations that any special project under consideration will be +directly remunerative. Egyptian finance is a case in point. At a time +when the country was in the throes of bankruptcy, a fresh loan of +£1,000,000 was, to the dismay of the conventional financiers, +contracted, the proceeds of which were spent on irrigation works. So +also the construction of the Assouan dam, which cost nearly double the +sum originally estimated, was taken in hand at a moment when a +liability of a wholly unknown amount on account of the war in the Soudan +was hanging over the head of the Egyptian Treasury. In both of these +cases subsequent events amply justified the financial audacity which had +been shown. In the case of Burma there appears to be no doubt as to the +wealth of the province or its capacity for further development. In view +of all the circumstances of the case the amount of twelve millions, +which is apparently all that has been spent on railway construction +since 1869, would certainly appear to be rather a niggardly sum. In +spite, therefore, of the very unnecessary warmth with which Sir George +Scott has urged his views, it is to be hoped that his plea for the +adoption of a somewhat bolder financial policy in the direction of +expenditure on railways, and still more on feeder roads, will receive +from the India Office, with whom the matter really rests, the attention +which it would certainly appear to deserve. The case of public +buildings, of which Burma apparently stands much in need, is different. +They cannot, strictly speaking, be said to be remunerative, and should +almost, if not quite, invariably be paid for out of revenue. + +[Footnote 87: _Burma under British Rule_. By Joseph Dautremer. London: +T. Fisher Unwin. 15s.] + + + + +XVII + +A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION[88] + +_"The Spectator," July 5, 1913_ + + +If it be a fact, as Carlyle said, that "History is the essence of +innumerable biographies," it is very necessary that the biographies from +which that essence is extracted should be true. It was probably a +profound want of confidence in the accuracy of biographical writing that +led Horace Walpole to beg for "anything but history, for history must be +false." Modern industry and research, ferreting in the less frequented +bypaths of history, have exposed many fictions, and have often led to +some strikingly paradoxical conclusions. They have substituted for +Cambronne's apocryphal saying at Waterloo the blunt sarcasm of the Duke +of Wellington that there were a number of ladies at Brussels who were +termed "la vieille garde," and of whom it was said "elles ne meurent +pas et se rendent toujours." They have led one eminent historian to +apologise for the polygamous tendencies of Henry VIII.; another to +advance the startling proposition that the "amazing" but, as the world +has heretofore held, infamous Emperor Heliogabalus was a great religious +reformer, who was in advance of his times; a third to present Lucrezia +Borgia to the world as a much-maligned and very virtuous woman; and a +fourth to tell us that the "ever pusillanimous" Barère, as he is called +by M. Louis Madelin, was "persistently vilified and deliberately +misunderstood." Biographical research has, moreover, destroyed many +picturesque legends, with some of which posterity cannot part without a +pang of regret. We are reluctant to believe that William Tell was a +mythological marksman and Gessler a wholly impossible bailiff. +Nevertheless the inexorable laws of evidence demand that this sacrifice +should be made on the altar of historical truth. M. Gastine has now +ruthlessly quashed out another picturesque legend. Tallien--the +"bristly, fox-haired" Tallien of Carlyle's historical rhapsody--and La +Cabarrus--the fair Spanish Proserpine whom, "Pluto-like, he gathered at +Bordeaux"--have so far floated down the tide of history as individuals +who, like Byron's Corsair, were + + Linked with one virtue and a thousand crimes. + +Of the crimes there could, indeed, never have been any doubt, but +posterity took but little heed of them, for they were amply condoned by +the single virtue. That virtue was, indeed, of a transcendent character, +for it was nothing less than the delivery of the French nation from the +Dahomey-like rule of that Robespierre who deluged France in blood, and +who, albeit in Fouché's words he was "terribly sincere," at the same +time "never in his life cared for any one but himself and never forgave +an offence." Moreover, the act of delivery was associated with an +episode eminently calculated to appeal to human sentiment and sympathy. +It was thought that the love of a fair woman whose life was endangered +had nerved the lover and the patriot to perform an heroic act at the +imminent risk of his own life. Hence the hero became "Le Lion Amoureux," +and the heroine was canonised as "Notre Dame de Thermidor." + +M. Gastine has now torn this legend to shreds. Under his pitiless +analysis of the facts, nothing is left but the story of a contemptible +adventurer, who was "a robber, a murderer, and a poltroon," mated to a +grasping, heartless courtesan. Both were alike infamous. The ignoble +careers of both from the cradle to the grave do not, in reality, present +a single redeeming feature. + +Madame Tallien was the daughter of François Cabarrus, a wealthy +Spaniard who was the banker of the Spanish Court. The great influence +which she unquestionably exerted over her contemporaries was wholly due +to her astounding physical beauty. Her intellectual equipment was meagre +in the extreme. At one period of her life she courted the society of +Madame de Staël and other intellectuals, but Princess Hélène Ligne said +of her that she "had more jargon than wit." As regards her physical +attractions, however, no dissentient voice has ever been raised. "Her +beauty," the Duchess d'Abrantès says in her memoirs, "of which the +sculptors of antiquity give us but an incomplete idea, had a charm not +met with in the types of Greece and Rome." Every man who approached her +appears to have become her victim. Lacretelle, who himself worshipped at +her shrine, says, "She appeared to most of us as the Spirit of Clemency +incarnate in the loveliest of human forms." At a very early age she +married a young French nobleman, the Marquis de Fontenay, from whom she +was speedily divorced. It is not known for what offence she was arrested +and imprisoned. Probably the mere fact that she was a marquise was +sufficient to entangle her in the meshes of the revolutionary net. It is +certain, however, that whilst lying under sentence of death in the +prison at Bordeaux she attracted the attention of Tallien, the son of +the Marquis of Bercy's butler and _ci-devant_ lawyer's clerk, who had +blossomed into "a Terrorist of the first water." He obtained her release +and she became his mistress. She took advantage of the equivocal but +influential position which she had attained to engage in a vile traffic. +She and her paramour amassed a huge fortune by accepting money from the +unfortunate prisoners who were threatened with the fate which she had so +narrowly escaped, and to which she was again to be exposed. The venal +lenity shown by Tallien to aristocrats rendered him an object of +suspicion, whilst the marked tendency displayed by Robespierre to +mistrust and, finally, to immolate his coadjutors was an ominous +indication of the probable course of future events. Robespierre had +already destroyed Vergniaud by means of Hébert, Hébert by means of +Danton, and Danton by means of Billaud. As a preliminary step to the +destruction of Tallien, he caused his mistress to be arrested, probably +with a view to seeing what evidence against her paramour could be +extracted before she was herself guillotined. + +From this point in the narrative history is merged into legend. The +legend would have us believe that on the 7th Thermidor the "Citoyenne +Fontenay" sent a dagger to the "Citoyen Tallien," accompanied by a +letter in which she said that she had dreamt that Robespierre was no +more, and that the gates of her prison had been flung open. "Alas!" she +added, "thanks to your signal cowardice there will soon be no one left +in France capable of bringing such a dream to pass." Tallien besought +Robespierre to show mercy, but "the Incorruptible was inflexible." Then +the "Lion Amoureux" roared, being, as the legend relates, stricken to +the heart at the appalling danger to which his beloved mistress was +exposed or, as his detractors put the case, being in deadly fear that +the untoward revelations of the Citoyenne might cost him his own head. +The next act in this Aeschylean drama is described by the believers in +the legend in the following words: "Tallien drew Theresia's dagger from +his breast and flashed it in the sunlight as though to nerve himself for +the desperate business that confronted him. 'This,' he cried +passionately, 'will be my final argument,' and looking about him to make +sure he was alone he raised the blade to his lips and kissed it." + +The result, it is alleged, was that Tallien provoked the episode of the +9th Thermidor (July 22, 1794). The few faltering sentences which +Robespierre wished to utter were never spoken. He was "choked by the +blood of Danton," and hurried off to the guillotine which awaited him on +the morrow. + +History, which in this instance is not legendary, relates that on the +death of the tyrant a wild shout of exultation was raised by the joyous +people who had for so long wandered in the Valley of the Shadow of +Death. To whom, they asked, did they owe their liberty? What was more +natural than to assume that it was to the brave Tallien and to the +loving woman who armed him to strike a blow for the freedom of France? +Tallien and his mistress became, therefore, the idols of the French +people. The Chancellor Pasquier relates their appearance at a theatre: + + The enthusiasm and the applause were indescribable. The occupants + of the boxes, the people in the pit, men and women alike, stood up + on their chairs to look at him. It seemed as though they would + never weary of gazing at him. He was young, rather good-looking, + and his manner was calm and serene. Madame Tallien was at his side + and shared his triumph. In her case also everything had been + forgiven and forgotten. Similar scenes were enacted all through the + autumn of that year. Never was any service, however great, rewarded + by gratitude so lively and so touching. + +It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to +summarise the arguments by which M. Gastine seeks to destroy this myth. +Allusion may, however, be made to two points of special importance. The +first is that neither Tallien nor the lovely Spaniard languishing in +the dungeon of La Force had much to do with the episode of the 9th +Thermidor. "Tallien was a mere super, a mere puppet that had to be +galvanised into action up to the very last." The man who really +organised the movement and persuaded his coadjutors that they were +engaged in a life and death struggle with Robespierre was he who, as +every reader of revolutionary history knows, was busily engaged in +pulling the strings behind the scenes during the whole of this chaotic +period. It was the man whose iron nerve and subtle brain enabled him, in +spite of a secular course of betrayals, to keep his head on his +shoulders, and finally to escape the clutches of Napoleon, who, as Lord +Rosebery tells us,[89] always deeply regretted that he had not had him +"hanged or shot." It was Fouché. + +In the second place, there is conclusive evidence to show that, to use +the ordinary slang expression of the present day, the celebrated dagger +letter was "faked." When Robespierre fell, Tallien never gave a thought +to his mistress. He still trembled for his own life. "His sole aim was +to make away with Robespierre's papers." It was only on the 12th +Thermidor--that is to say, two days after Robespierre's mangled head had +been sheared off by the guillotine--that, noting the trend of public +opinion, and appreciating the capital which might be made out of the +current myth, he hurried off to La Force and there concocted with his +mistress the famous letter which he, of course, antedated. + +The subsequent careers of Tallien and his wife--for he married La +Cabarrus in December 1794--are merely characterised by a number of +unedifying details. The hero of this sordid tale passed through many +vicissitudes. He went with Napoleon to Egypt. He was, on his return +voyage, taken prisoner by an English cruiser. On his arrival in London +he was well received by Fox and the Whigs--a fact which cannot be said +to redound much to the credit either of the Whig party or its leader. He +gambled on the Stock Exchange, and at one time "blossomed out as a +dealer in soap, candles, and cotton bonnets." After passing through an +unhonoured old age, he died in great poverty in 1820. The heroine became +intimate with Josephine during Napoleon's absence in Egypt, was +subsequently divorced from Tallien, and later, after passing through a +phase when she was the mistress of the banker Ouvrard, married the +Prince of Caraman-Chimay. Her conduct during the latter years of her +life appears to have been irreproachable. She died in 1835. + +[Footnote 88: _The Life of Madame Tallien._ By L. Gastine. Translated +from the French by J. Lewis May. London: John Lane. 12s. 6d. net.] + +[Footnote 89: _The Last Phase_, p. 203.] + + + + +XVIII + +THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS + +_"The Spectator," July 5, 1913_ + + +There was a time, not so very long ago, when the humanists enjoyed a +practical monopoly in the domain of English education, and, by doing so, +exercised a considerable, perhaps even a predominant, influence not only +over the social life but also over the policy, both external and +internal, adopted by their countrymen. Like most monopolists, they +showed a marked tendency to abuse the advantages of their position. +Science was relegated to a position of humiliating inferiority, and had +to content itself with picking up whatever crumbs were, with a lordly +and at times almost contemptuous tolerance, allowed to fall from the +humanistic table. Bossuet once defined a heretic as "celui qui a une +opinion" (αἵρεσις). A somewhat similar attitude was at one time adopted +to those who were inclined to doubt whether a knowledge of Latin and +Greek could be considered the Alpha and Omega of a sound education. The +calm judgment of that great humanist, Professor Jebb, led him to the +conclusion that the claims of the humanities have been at times defended +by pleas which were exaggerated and paradoxical--using this latter term +in the sense of arguments which contain an element of truth, but of +truth which has been distorted--and that in an age remarkable beyond all +previous ages for scientific research and discoveries, that nation must +necessarily lag behind which, in the well-known words uttered by Gibbon +at a time when science was still in swaddling-clothes, fears that the +"finer feelings" are destroyed if the mind becomes "hardened by the +habit of rigid demonstration." All this has now been changed. Professor +Huxley did not live in vain. His mantle fell on the shoulders of many +other doughty champions who shared his views. Science no longer slinks +modestly in educational bypaths, but occupies the high road, and, to say +the least, marches abreast of her humanistic sister. Yet the scientists +are not yet content. Their souls are athirst for further victories. A +high authority on education, himself a classical scholar,[90] has +recently told us that, although the English boy "as he emerges from the +crucible of the public school laboratory" may be a fairly good agent +for dealing with the "lower or more submissive races in the wilds of +Africa or in the plains of India," elsewhere--notably in Canada--he is +"a conspicuous failure"; that one of the principal reasons why he is a +failure is that "the influence of the humanists still reigns over us"; +and that "the future destiny of the Empire is wrapt up in the immediate +reform of England's educational system." In the course of that reform, +which it is proposed should be of a very drastic character, some +half-hearted efforts may conceivably be made to effect the salvage of +whatever will remain of the humanistic wreck, but the real motto of the +reformers will almost certainly be Utilitarianism, writ large. The +humanists, therefore, are placed on their defence. It may be that the +walls of their entrenchment, which have already been a good deal +battered, will fall down altogether, and that the garrison will be asked +to submit to a capitulation which will be almost unconditional. + +In the midst of the din of battle which may already be heard, and which +will probably ere long become louder, it seems very desirable that the +voices of those who are neither profound scholars nor accomplished +scientists nor educational experts should be heard. These--and there are +many such--ask, What is the end which we should seek to attain? Can +science alone be trusted to prevent education becoming, in the words of +that sturdy old pagan, Thomas Love Peacock, a "means for giving a fixed +direction to stupidity"? The answer they, or many of them, give to these +questions is that the main end of education is to teach people to think, +and that they are not prepared to play false to their own intellects to +such an extent as to believe that the national power of thinking will +not be impaired if it is deprived of the teaching of the most thoughtful +nation which the world has ever known. That nation is Greece. These +classes, therefore, lift up their hands in supplication to scientists, +educational experts, and parliamentarians--yea, even to soulless +wire-pullers who would perhaps willingly cast Homer and Sophocles to the +dogs in order to win a contested election--and with one voice cry: We +recognise the need of reform; we wish to march with the times; we are no +enemies to science; but in the midst of your utilitarian ideas, we +implore you, in the name both of learning and common sense, to devise +some scheme which will still enable the humanities to act as some check +on the growing materialism of the age; otherwise the last stage of the +educated youth of this country will be worse than the first; remember +what Lucretius--on the bold assumption that wire-pullers ever read +Lucretius--said, "Hic Acherusia stultorum denique vita"; above all +things, let there be no panic legislation--and panic is a danger to +which democracies and even, Pindar has told us, "the sons of the +gods,"[91] are greatly exposed; in taking any new departure let us, +therefore, very carefully and deliberately consider how we can best +preserve all that is good in our existing system. + +Whatever temporary effect appeals of this sort may produce, it is +certain that the ultimate result must depend very greatly on the extent +to which a real interest in classical literature can be kept alive in +the minds of the rising and of future generations. How can this object +best be achieved? The question is one of vital importance. + +The writer of the present article would be the last to attempt to raise +a cheap laugh at the expense of that laborious and, as it may appear to +some, almost useless erudition which, for instance, led Professor +Hermann to write four books on the particle ἄν and to indite a learned +dissertation on αὐτός. The combination of industry and enthusiasm +displayed in efforts such as these has not been wasted. The spirit which +inspired them has materially contributed to the real stock of valuable +knowledge which the world possesses. None the less it must be admitted +that something more than mere erudition is required to conjure away the +perils which the humanities now have to face. It is necessary to quicken +the interest of the rising generation, to show them that it is not only +historically true to say, with Lessing, that "with Greece the morning +broke," but that it is equally true to maintain that in what may, +relatively speaking, be called the midday splendour of learning, we +cannot dispense with the guiding light of the early morn; that Greek +literature, in Professor Gilbert Murray's words,[92] is "an embodiment +of the progressive spirit, an expression of the struggle of the human +soul towards freedom and ennoblement"; and that our young men and women +will be, both morally and intellectually, the poorer if they listen to +the insidious and deceptive voice of an exaggerated materialism which +whispers that amidst the hum of modern machinery and the heated wrangles +incident to the perplexing problems which arise as the world grows +older, the knowledge of a language and a literature which have survived +two thousand eight hundred storm-tossed years is "of no practical use." + +It is this interest which the works of a man like the late Dr. Verrall +serve to stimulate. He was eminently fitted for the task. On the +principle which Dr. Johnson mocked by saying that "who drives fat oxen +should himself be fat," it may be said that an advocate of humanistic +learning should himself be human in the true and Terentian meaning of +that somewhat ambiguous word. This is what Verrall was. All who knew him +speak of his lovable character, and others who were in this respect less +favoured can judge of the genuineness of his human sympathies by +applying two well-nigh infallible tests. He loved children, and he was +imbued with what Professor Mackail very appropriately calls in his +commemorative address "a delightful love of nonsense." His kindly and +genial humour sparkles, indeed, in every line he wrote. Moreover, +whether he was right or wrong in the highly unconventional views which +he at times expressed, his scorn for literary orthodoxy was in itself +very attractive. Whenever he found what he called a "boggle"--that is to +say an incident or a phrase in respect to which, he was dissatisfied +with the conventional explanation--"he could not rest until he had made +an effort to get to the bottom of it." He treated old subjects with an +originality which rejuvenated them, and decked them again with the charm +of novelty. He bade us, with a copy of Martial in our hands, accompany +him to the Coliseum and be, in imagination, one of the sixty thousand +spectators who thronged to behold the strange Africans, Sarmatians, and +others who are gathered together from the four quarters of the Roman +world to take part in the Saturnalia. He asked us to watch with +Propertius whilst the slumbers of his Cynthia were disturbed by dreams +that she was flying from one of her all too numerous lovers. Under his +treatment, Mr. Cornford says, the most commonplace passages in classical +literature "began to glow with passion and to flash with wit." His main +literary achievement is thus recorded on the tablet erected to his +memory at Trinity College: "Euripidis famam vindicavit." He threw +himself with ardour into the discussion on the merits and demerits of +the Greek tragedian which has been going on ever since it was originally +started by Aristophanes, and he may at least be said to have shown that +what French Boileau said of his own poetry applies with equal force to +the Greek--"Mon vers, bien ou mal, dit toujours quelque chose." In the +process of rehabilitating Euripides, Verrall threw out brilliantly +original ideas in every direction. Take, for instance, his treatment of +the _Ion_. Every one who has dabbled in Greek literature knows that +Euripides was a free-thinker, albeit in his old age he did lip-service +to the current theology of the day, and told the Athenians that they +should not "apply sophistry," or, in other words rationalise, about the +gods.[93] Every one also has rather marvelled at the somewhat lame and +impotent conclusion of the play when Athene--herself in reality one of +the most infamous of the Olympian deities--is brought on the stage to +save the prestige of the oracle at Delphi and to explain away the +altogether disreputable behaviour of the no less infamous Apollo. But no +one before Verrall had thought of coupling together the free-thinking +and the episode in the play. This is what Verrall did. Ion sees that the +oracle can lie, and, therefore, "Delphi is plainly discredited as a +fountain of truth." The explanation is, of course, somewhat conjectural. +Homer, who was certainly not a free-thinker, made his deities +sufficiently ridiculous, and, at times, altogether odious. Mr. Lang says +with truth: "When Homer touches on the less lovable humours of women--on +the nagging shrew, the light o' love, the rather bitter virgin--he +selects his examples from the divine society of the gods."[94] But +whether the very plausible conjectures made by Verrall as to the real +purpose of Euripides in his treatment of the oracle in _Ion_, or, to +quote another instance, his explanation of the phantom in _Helen_, be +right or wrong, no one can deny that what he wrote is alive with +interest. On this point, the testimony of his pupils, albeit in some +respects contradictory, is conclusive. One of them (Mr. Marsh) says: "I +was usually convinced by everything," whilst another (Mr. J.R.M. Butler) +says: "I don't think we believed very much what he said; he always said +he was as likely to be wrong as right. But he made all classics so +gloriously new and living. He made us criticise by standards of common +sense, and presume that the tragedians were not fools and that they did +mean something. They were not to be taken as antiques privileged to use +conventions that would be nonsense in any one else." + +Classical learning will not be kept alive for long by forcing young men +with perhaps a taste for science or the integral calculus to apply +themselves to the study of Aristotle or Sophocles. The real hope for the +humanities in the future lies in the teaching of such men as Butcher, +Verrall, Gilbert Murray, Dill, Bevan, Livingstone, Zimmern, and, it may +fortunately be said, many others, who can make the literature of the +ancient world and the personalities of its inhabitants live in the eyes +of the present generation. + +[Footnote 90: _The Public Schools and the Empire_. By D.H.B. Gray.] + +[Footnote 91: Ἐν γὰρ δαιμονίοισι φόβοις φεύγοντι καὶ παῖδες +θεῶν.--_Nem._ ix. 27.] + +[Footnote 92: _Rise of the Greek Epic_, p. 3.] + +[Footnote 93: Οὐδὲν σοφιζόμεσθα τοῖσι δαίμοσι.--_Bacchae_, 200.] + +[Footnote 94: _The World of Homer_, p. 34.] + + + + +XIX + +AN INDIAN IDEALIST[95] + +_"The Spectator," July 12, 1913_ + + +Amidst the jumble of political shibboleths, mainly drawn from the +vocabulary of extreme Radical sentimentalists, which Mr. Mallik supplies +to his readers in rich abundance, two may be selected which give the +keynote to his opinions. The first, which is inscribed on the +title-page, is St. Paul's statement to the Athenians that all nations of +men are of one blood. The second, which occurs towards the close of his +work, is that "sane Imperialism is political Idealism." Both statements +are paradoxical. Both contain a germ of truth. In both cases an extreme +application of the principle involved would lead to dire consequences. +The first aphorism leads us to the unquestionably sound conclusion that +Newton, equally with a pygmy from the forests of Central Africa, was a +human being. It does not take us much further. The second aphorism bids +us remember that the statesman who is incapable of conceiving and +attempting to realise an ideal is a mere empiricist, but it omits to +mention that if this same statesman, in pursuit of his ideal, neglects +all his facts and allows himself to become an inhabitant of a political +Cloud Cuckoo-land, he will certainly ruin his own reputation, and may +not improbably inflict very great injury upon the country and people +which form the subject of his crude experiments. On the whole, if we are +to apply that proverbial philosophy which is so dear to the mind of all +Europeanised Easterns to the solution of political problems, it will +perhaps be as well to bear constantly in mind the excellent Sanskrit +maxim which, amidst a collection of wise saws, Mr. Mallik quotes in his +final chapter, "A wise man thinks of both _pro_ and _con_." + +Starting with a basis of somewhat extreme idealism, it is not surprising +that Mr. Mallik has developed not only into an ardent Indian +nationalist, but also into an advanced Indian Radical. As to the latter +characteristic, he manifestly does not like the upper classes of his own +country. They are, in fact, as bad or even worse than English peers. +They are "like the 'idle rich' elsewhere; they squander annually in +luxuries and frivolities huge sums of money, besides hoarding up +jewels, gold and silver of immense value." Occasionally, they pose as +"upholders of the Government." "Even so they do not conceal their fangs. +When small measures of conciliation have in recent times been proposed, +the 'Peers' in India have not been slow to proclaim through their organs +that the Government were rousing their suspicion." + +Turning, however, to the relations between Europe and Asia, Mr. Mallik +says that it is often asserted that the two continents "cannot +understand each other--that Asia is a mystery to Europe, and must always +remain so." Most people who have considered this subject have so far +thought that the main reason why Europeans find it difficult to +understand Asia is because, in some matters, Asia is difficult to +understand. They have, therefore, been deeply grateful to men like the +late Sir Alfred Lyall, who have endeavoured with marked ability and +sympathy to explain the mystery to them. But Mr. Mallik now explains to +us that no such gratitude is due, for the reason why Asia is so often +misunderstood is not on account of any difficulties attendant on +comprehension, but because those who have paid special attention to the +subject are "persons whose nature or training or self-interest leads +them not to wish the understanding to take place." Whether Mr. Mallik +has done much to lighten the prevailing darkness and to explain the East +to the West is perhaps somewhat doubtful, but it is quite certain that +he has done his utmost to explain to those of his countrymen who are +conversant with the English language the attitude which, in his opinion, +they should adopt towards Westerns and Western civilisation. In one of +the sweeping generalities in which his work abounds, Mr. Mallik says +with great truth, that "however manners may differ ... nothing is gained +by nursing a feeling of animosity." It is to be regretted that Mr. +Mallik has not himself acted on the wise principle which he here +enunciates. He has, however, not done so. Under the familiar garb of a +friend who indulges in an excess of candour he has made a number of +observations which, whether true or false, are eminently calculated to +inflame that racial animosity which it is the duty of every well-wisher +of India to endeavour by every means in his power to allay. He makes a +lengthy and elaborate comparison between East and West, in which every +plague-spot in European civilisation is carefully catalogued. Every +ulcer in Western life is probed. Every possible sore in the connection +between the European and Asiatic is made to rankle. On the other hand, +with the cries of the Christians massacred at Adana still ringing in +our ears, Mr. Mallik, forgetful apparently of the fact that the Turk is +an Asian, tells us that "Asia, typical of the East, looks upon all races +and creeds with absolute impartiality," and, further, that "gentleness +and consideration are the peculiar characteristics of the East, as +overbearing and rudeness, miscalled independence, and not unfrequently +deserving to be called insolence, are products of the West." + +But it is the word Imperialism which more especially excites Mr. +Mallik's wrath. In the first place, he altogether denies the existence +of an "imperial race," being convinced of its non-existence by the +strangely inconclusive argument that "if a race is made by nature +imperial, every member of that race must be imperial too and equally +able to rule." In the second place, he points out that the results which +flow from the Imperial idea are in all respects deplorable. The East had +"always believed that mankind could be made saints and philosophers," +but the West, represented by Imperialism, stepped in and "shattered its +belief." The West, as shown by the deference now paid to Japan, "values +the bloodthirsty propensities much more than humane activities." "The +expressed desire of the Imperialist is to let darkness flourish in order +that he may personally benefit by it.... Empire and Imperialism mean +the triumph of retrograde notions and the infliction of insult and +suffering on three hundred millions of human beings." It is this +Imperial policy which has led to the most gross injustice being +inflicted on every class of the community in India. As regards the civil +services, "the policy of fat pay, ease, perquisites, and praise are the +share of the European officers, and hard work and blame that of the +Indian rank and file." It is the same in the army. "In frontier wars the +Indian troops have had to bear the brunt of the fighting, the European +portion being 'held in reserve' and coming up at the end to receive all +the glory of victory and the consequent rewards." It is sometimes said +that the masses in India trust Englishmen more than their own +countrymen. That this statement is erroneous is clearly proved by "the +absence of interest of the rulers themselves in the moral and material +advancement of the poorer classes." Not content with uttering this +prodigious falsehood, Mr. Mallik adds a further and fouler calumny. He +alludes to the rudeness at times displayed by Englishmen towards the +natives of India--a feature in Indian social life which every +right-thinking Englishman will be prepared to condemn as strongly as Mr. +Mallik. But, not content with indicating the evil, Mr. Mallik alleges +that any special act of insolence perpetrated by an Indian official +meets with the warm approval of the Government. Promotion, he says, is +"usual in such cases." Again, Mr. Mallik's dislike and distrust of +Moslems crops up whenever he alludes to them. Nevertheless, he does not +hesitate to denounce that Government whose presence alone prevents an +outbreak of sectarian strife for "sedulously fomenting" religious +animosities with a view to arresting the Nationalist movement. +Similarly, the constitution of the Universities has been changed with a +view to rendering the youth of India "stupid and servile" instead of +"clever and patriotic." + +Moreover, whilst India, under the sway of Imperialism, is "drifting to +its doom," Mr. Mallik seems to fear that a somewhat similar fate awaits +England. He observes many symptoms of decay to which, for the most part, +Englishmen are blind. He greatly fears that "the liberties of the people +are not safe when the Tory Party continues in power for a long period." +Neither is the prospect of Liberal ascendancy much less gloomy. Liberals +are becoming "Easternised." They are getting "more and more leavened by +reaction imported from India." It really looks as if "English Liberalism +might soon sink to a pious tradition." In the meanwhile, Mr. Mallik, +with true Eastern proclivities, warmly admires that portion of the +English system which Englishmen generally tolerate as a necessary evil, +but of which they are by no means proud. Most thinking men in this +country resent the idea of Indian interests being made a shuttlecock in +the strife of party. Not so Mr. Mallik. He shudders at the idea of +Indian affairs being considered exclusively on their own merits. "If it +is no party's duty to champion the cause of any part of the Empire, that +part must be made over to Satan, or retained, like a convict settlement, +for the breeding of 'Imperial' ideas." He is himself quite prepared to +adopt an ultra-partisan attitude. In spite of his evident dislike to the +nomination of any Englishman to take part in the administration of +India, he warmly applauds the appointment of "a young and able official" +to the Viceroy's Council, because he was "associated with a great +Liberal Minister of the Crown." + +It is not quite clear what, beyond a manifestation of that sympathy +which his own writings are so well calculated to alienate, Mr. Mallik +really wants. He thinks that there is "perhaps some truth" in the +assertion that the "Aryans of India are not yet fit for +self-government," and he says that "wise Indians do not claim at once +the political institutions that Europeans have gained by a long course +of struggle and training, the value of which in advancing happiness is +not yet always perceptible in Europe." On the other hand, he appears to +be of opinion that the somewhat sweeping reforms recently inaugurated by +Lord Morley and Lord Minto do not go far enough. The only practical +proposals he makes are, first, that the old _punchayet_ system in every +village should be revived, and that a consultative assembly should be +created, whose functions "should be wholly social and religious, +political topics being out of its jurisdiction." He adds--and there need +be no hesitation in cordially accepting his view on this point--that the +"plan would have to be carefully thought out" before it is adopted. + +The problem of how to govern India is very difficult, and is +unquestionably becoming more and more so every year. Although many of +the slanders uttered by Mr. Mallik are very contemptible, it is useless +to ignore the fact that they are believed not only by a large number of +the educated youth of India, of which he may perhaps to some extent be +considered a type, but also by many of their English sympathisers. +Moreover, in spite of much culpable misstatement and exaggeration, Mr. +Mallik may have occasionally blundered unawares into making some +observations which are deserving of some slight consideration on their +own merits. The only wise course for English statesmen to adopt is to +possess their souls in patience, to continue to govern India in the best +interests of its inhabitants, and to avoid on the one hand the extreme +of repressive measures, and on the other hand the equally dangerous +extreme of premature and drastic reform in the fundamental institutions +of the country. In the meanwhile, it may be noted that literature such +as Mr. Mallik's book can do no good, and may do much harm. + +[Footnote 95: _Orient and Occident_. By Manmath C. Mallik. London: T. +Fisher Unwin. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XX + +THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA + +_"The Spectator," July 19, 1913_ + + +Sir Roper Lethbridge says that his object in writing the book which he +has recently published (_The Indian Offer of Imperial Preference_) is to +provoke discussion, but "not to lay down any dogma." It is related that +a certain clergyman, after he had preached a sermon, said to Lord +Melbourne, who had been one of his congregation, "I tried not to be +tedious," to which Lord Melbourne replied, "You were." Sir Roper +Lethbridge may have tried not to dogmatise, but his efforts in this +direction have certainly not been crowned with success. On the contrary, +although dealing with a subject which bristles with points of a highly +controversial nature, he states his conclusions with an assurance which +is little short of oracular. Heedless of the woful fate which has +attended many of the fiscal seers who have preceded him, he does not +hesitate to pronounce the most confident prophecies upon a subject as to +which experience has proved that prophecy is eminently hazardous, viz. +the economic effect likely to be produced by drastic changes in the +fiscal system. Moreover, his pages are disfigured by a good deal of +commonplace invective about "the shibboleths of an obsolete Cobdenism," +the "worship of the fetish of Cobdenism," and "the bigotry of the Cobden +Club," as to whom the stale fallacy is repeated that they "consider the +well-being of the 'poor foreigner'" rather than "our own commercial +interests." Language of this sort can only serve to irritate. It cannot +convince. Sir Roper Lethbridge appears to forget that, apart from those +who, on general party grounds, are little inclined to listen to the +gospel which he has to preach, there are a large number of Unionists who +are to a greater extent open to conviction, and who, if their conversion +can be effected, are, in the interests of the cause which he advocates, +well worth convincing. These blemishes--for blemishes they +unquestionably are--should not, however, blind us to the fact that Sir +Roper Lethbridge deals with a subject of very great importance and also +of very great difficulty. It is most desirable that it should be +discussed. Sir Fleetwood Wilson, in the very statesmanlike speech +delivered in the Indian Legislative Council last March, indicated the +spirit in which the discussion should take place. "The subject," he +said, "is one which in the public interest calls for consideration, not +recrimination." It would be Utopian to suppose that it can be kept +altogether outside the arena of party strife, but those who are not +uncompromising partisans, and who also strongly deprecate Indian +questions being made the shuttlecock of party interests, can at all +events endeavour to approach the question with an open mind and to treat +it dispassionately and exclusively on its own merits. + +The main issue involved may be broadly stated in the following terms. Up +to the present time the fiscal policy of the Indian Government has been +based on Free Trade principles. Customs duties are collected for revenue +purposes. A general 5 per cent _ad valorem_ duty is imposed on imports. +Cotton goods pay a duty of 3½ per cent. An excise duty of a similar +amount is imposed on cotton woven at Indian mills. A duty of three annas +a maund is paid on exported rice. Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who +concur with him now propose that this system should undergo a radical +change. The main features of their proposal, if the writer of the +present article understands them correctly, seem to be that the duty on +cotton goods imported from the United Kingdom, as also the +corresponding excise duty levied in India, should be altogether +abolished; that the duties raised on goods--apparently of all +descriptions--imported into India from non-British ports should be +raised; that a preference should be accorded in British ports to Indian +tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, etc.; and that an export duty should be +levied at Indian ports on certain products, notably on jute and lac. +This new duty would not, however, be levied on goods sent to the United +Kingdom. + +There does not appear to be any absolute necessity for dealing with this +question at once, but Sir Roper Lethbridge is quite justified in calling +attention to it, for it is not only conceivable, but even probable, that +at no very remote period the Government of India will have to deal with +a problem which, it may readily be admitted, will tax their +statesmanship to the very utmost. It is no exaggeration to say that +since the Crown took over the direct management of Indian affairs no +issue of greater magnitude has been raised. Moreover, although Lord +Crewe had an easy task in showing that in some respects the difficulties +attendant on any solution would be enhanced rather than diminished if +the fiscal policy of the British Government in the United Kingdom +underwent a radical change, it is none the less true that those +difficulties will remain of a very formidable character even if no such +change is effected. + +It is essential to bear in mind that the difficulties which beset this +question are not solely fiscal, but also political. This feature is +almost invariably characteristic of Oriental finance, and nowhere is it +more prominent than in India. The writer of the present article can +speak with some special knowledge of the circumstances attendant on the +great Free Trade measures introduced in India under the auspices of Lord +Ripon. He can state very confidently that, although Lord Ripon and all +the leading members of his Government were convinced Free Traders, it +was the political to a far greater extent than the fiscal arguments +which led them to the conclusion that the Indian Customs barriers should +be abolished. They foresaw that the rival commercial interests of India +and Lancashire would cause a rankling and persistent sore which might do +infinite political harm. They wished, therefore, to apply a timely +remedy, and it cannot be doubted that, so long as it lasted, the remedy +was effective. In most respects the fiscal policy adopted then and that +now advocated by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his coadjutors are the poles +asunder. Nevertheless, in one respect they coincide. Sir Roper +Lethbridge places in the forefront of his proposals the abolition both +of the import duty on cotton goods and the corresponding excise duty +levied in India. He is unquestionably right. That is an ideal which both +Free Traders and Protectionists may very reasonably seek to attain. It +is, in fact, the only really satisfactory solution of the main point at +issue. The difficulty is to realise this ideal without doing more than +an equivalent amount of injury to Indian interests in other directions. + +The chief arguments by which Sir Roper Lethbridge defends the special +proposals which he advances are three in number. They are (1) that the +nascent industries of India require protection; (2) that it is necessary +to raise more revenue, and that the suggestions now made afford an +unobjectionable method for achieving this object; and (3) that the +economic facts connected with India afford special facilities for the +adoption of a policy of retaliation. + +From a purely economic point of view the first of these three pleas is +singularly inconclusive. + +It was refuted by Sir Fleetwood Wilson, whom both Mr. Austen +Chamberlain, in the introduction which he has written to Sir Roper +Lethbridge's book, and Sir Roper Lethbridge himself seem to regard, on +grounds which are apparently somewhat insufficient, as a partial convert +to their views. It may be said without exaggeration that if any country +in the world is likely to benefit by the adoption of Free Trade +principles that country is India. Industries cannot, as Sir Fleetwood +Wilson very truly said, be "encouraged" by means of a protective tariff +without raising home prices. Without going over all the well-trodden +ground on this subject, which must be familiar to all who have taken +part in the fiscal controversy, and without, moreover, denying that +nascent industries have in some countries been successfully encouraged +by the adoption of a protective system, it will be sufficient to say +that, looking at all the economic facts existent in India, the period of +partial transition from agriculture to industries, during which the +process of encouragement will have to be maintained, will almost +certainly last much longer than even in America or Germany, and that +during the whole of that lengthy period the mass of the population, who +are very poor and who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, will not +benefit from the protection, although they will at the same time suffer +grievously from the rise in prices. + +The main importance of this argument, however, is not to be derived from +its economic value, but rather from the important political fact that it +is one which finds favour with a large and influential body of Indian +opinion. Sir Roper Lethbridge claims that the leaders of Indian thought +are almost to a man Protectionists, and in his work he gives, as an +example of their views, the very able speech delivered by Sir Gangadhar +Chitnavis in the Calcutta Legislative Council last March.[96] He is +probably right; neither is anything to be gained by ignoring the gravity +of the situation which is thus created. Whether the Indian +Protectionists be right or wrong as to the fiscal policy which is best +adapted to Indian interests, there is no denying the fact that with +Protection flourishing in the self-governing colonies, with the recent +enlargement of the scope and functions of representative institutions in +India, and with the grievance created by the sacrifice of the opium +revenue on the altar of British vicarious philanthropy, it is a serious +matter for the British Government to assert their own views if those +views run diametrically counter to the wishes expressed by the only +representatives of Indian opinion who are in a position to make their +voices heard. Nevertheless, there are two limitations on the extent to +which concessions can or ought to be made to Indian opinion. The first +is based on the necessities of English internal politics. It cannot be +doubted that although Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis and those who agree with +him may perhaps be willing, as a _pis aller_, to accept Sir Roper +Lethbridge's preferential plan, what they really want is not Preference +but Protection against England, and this they cannot have, because, in +Sir Roper Lethbridge's words, "no British Government that offered India +Protection against Lancashire would live for a week." The second +limitation is based on less egotistical and, therefore, nobler grounds. +In spite of recent concessions, India is still, politically speaking, +_in statu pupillari_, neither do the concessions recently made in the +direction of granting self-governing institutions dispense the British +Government from the duty of looking to the interests of the masses, who +are at present very inadequately represented. It must be remembered that +in India, perhaps even more than elsewhere, the voice of the consumer is +hushed, whilst that of the producer is loud and strident. + +The second of Sir Roper Lethbridge's arguments is based on the alleged +necessity of raising more revenue. He, as also Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis, +take it for granted that this necessity has already arisen. It would be +essential, before taking any practical steps to give effect to the +proposals now under discussion, to ascertain beyond any manner of doubt +whether this statement is correct, and also, if correct, what +alternatives exist to the plan proposed by Sir Roper Lethbridge. Sir +Fleetwood Wilson carefully abstained from pledging himself to the +accuracy of Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's view on this point. "There is," he +said, "much room for the development of India's other resources, and it +has yet to be shown that there is no room for further economies in our +administration." In the meanwhile, it would tend to the elucidation of +the subject if Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who agree with him would +lay before the world a carefully prepared and detailed estimate of the +financial results which they consider would accrue from the adoption of +their proposals. We are told, for instance, that raw jute to the value +of £13,000,000 is exported annually from Bengal, of which only +£3,000,000 worth is worked up in Great Britain, and that "a moderate +duty" on this article would produce two millions a year. The prospect of +obtaining a revenue of £2,000,000 in the manner proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge appears at first sight somewhat illusory. In the first place, +the tax would, on the basis of Sir Roper Lethbridge's figures, amount to +20 per cent, which can scarcely be called "moderate." In the second +place, unless an equivalent export duty were imposed at British ports +it would appear probable that the process of re-export for the benefit +of "the lucky artisans of foreign protected nations" would not merely +continue unchecked, but would even be encouraged, for those artisans +would certainly not be supplied direct from India with the duty-laden +raw material, but would draw their supplies from the jute sent to the +ports of the United Kingdom, which would have paid no duty. Is it, +moreover, quite certain that a duty such as that proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge would be insufficient, as he alleges, "to bring in any +competing fibres in the world"? These and other cognate points +manifestly require further elucidation. + +The third argument adduced by Sir Roper Lethbridge is based on the +allegation that India is in a specially favourable position to adopt a +policy of retaliation. It is unnecessary to go into the general +arguments for and against retaliatory duties. They have been exhausted +in the very remarkable and frigidly impartial book written on this +subject by Professor Dietzel. It will be sufficient to say that here Sir +Roper Lethbridge is on stronger ground. The main argument against +retaliation in the United Kingdom is that foreign nations, by stopping +our supplies of raw material, could check our manufactures. We are, +therefore, in a singularly unfavourable position for engaging in a +tariff war. The case of India is wholly different. Foreign nations +cannot, it is alleged, dispense with the raw material which India +supplies. There is, therefore, a good _prima facie_ case for supposing +that India has relatively little to fear from retaliation on their part. + +It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to deal +fully with all the aspects of this vitally important question. Attention +may, however, be drawn to the very weighty remarks of Sir Fleetwood +Wilson when he speaks of "the great alteration which a tariff war in +India would effect in the balance of our trade, in the arrangements that +now exist for the payment of our external debt, and in the whole of our +exchange policy. This aspect of the question is one of extraordinary +complexity, as well as of no small speculation." On the whole, although +the proposals made by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his associates deserve +full and fair consideration, it is most earnestly to be hoped that party +leaders in this country will insist on their elaboration in full detail, +and will then study every aspect of the question with the utmost care +before giving even a qualified pledge to afford them support. The +situation is already sufficiently difficult and complicated. It is not +improbable that the difficulties and complications, far from being +mitigated, would be increased by the pursuit into the economic +wilderness of the _ignis fatuus_ involved in the idea that it is +possible for a nation to impose a tax on itself and then make the +inhabitants of other countries pay the whole or the greater part of it. + +[Footnote 96: It may be noted that Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's idea of +Preference differs widely from that entertained by Sir Roper Lethbridge. +The former apparently wishes to abolish the excise duty on Indian cotton +goods, but to maintain that levied on similar goods imported from the +United Kingdom, whilst levying a still higher duty on goods from other +countries.] + + + + +XXI + +ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT[97] + +_"The Spectator," July 19, 1913_ + + +In spite of the obvious danger of establishing doubtful analogies and of +making insufficient allowance for differences, the history of Imperial +Rome can never cease to be of more than academic interest to the +statesmen and politicians of Imperial England. Rome bequeathed to us +much that is of inestimable value, both in the way of precept and +example. She also bequeathed to us a word of ill omen--the word +"Imperialism." The attempt to embody the broad outlines of a policy in a +single word or phrase has at times exercised great influence in deciding +the fate of nations. M. Vandal[98] says with truth, "Nul ne comprendra +la Révolution s'il ne tient compte de l'extraordinaire empire exercé à +cette époque par les mots et les formules." Imperialism, though +infinitely preferable to its quasi-synonym Caesarism, is, in fact, a +term which, although not absolutely incorrect, is at the same time, by +reason of its historical associations, misleading when applied to the +mild and beneficent hegemony exercised by the rulers and people of +England over their scattered transmarine dominions. It affords a +convenient peg on which hostile critics, such as Mr. Mallik, whose work +was reviewed last week in these columns,[99] as also those +ultra-cosmopolitan Englishmen who are the friends of every country but +their own, may hang partisan homilies dwelling on the brutality of +conquest and on all the harsh features of alien rule, whilst they leave +sedulously in the background that aspect of the case which Polybius, +parodying a famous saying of Themistocles, embodied in a phrase which he +attributes to the Greeks after they had been absorbed into the Roman +Empire, "If we had not been quickly ruined, we should not have been +saved." This pessimistic aspect of Imperialism has certainly to some +extent an historical basis. It is founded on the procedure generally +believed to have been adopted in the process by which Rome acquired the +dominion of the world. The careful attention given of late years to the +study of inscriptions, and generally the results obtained by the +co-operation established between historians and those who have more +especially studied other branches of science, such as archaeology, +epigraphy, and numismatics, have, however, now enabled us to approach +the question of Roman expansion with far greater advantages than those +possessed by writers even so late as the days of Mommsen. We are able to +reply with a greater degree of confidence than at any previous period to +the question of how far Roman policy was really associated with those +principles and practices which many are accustomed to designate as +Imperial. The valuable and erudite work which Mr. Reid has now given to +the world comes opportunely to remind us of a very obvious and +commonplace consideration. It is that although Roman expansion not only +began, but was far advanced during the days of the Republic, Roman +Imperialism did not exist before the creation of Roman Emperors, and did +not in any considerable degree develop the vices generally, and +sometimes rightly, attributed to the system until some while after +Republican had given way to Imperial sway. "The residuary impression of +the ancient world," Mr. Reid says in his preface, "left by a classical +education comprises commonly the idea that the Romans ran, so to speak, +a sort of political steam-roller over the ancient world. This has a +semblance of truth for the period of decline, but none for the earlier +days." + +The fundamental idea which ran through the whole of Roman policy during +the earliest, which was also the wisest and most statesmanlike stage of +expansion, was not any desire to ensure the detailed and direct +government of a number of outlying districts from one all-powerful +centre, but rather to adopt every possible means calculated to maintain +local autonomy, and to minimise the interference of the central +authority. Herself originally a city-state, Rome aspired to become the +predominant partner in a federation of municipalities, to which autonomy +was granted even to the extent of waiving that prerogative which has +generally been considered the distinctive mark of sovereignty, viz. the +right of coinage. Broadly speaking, the only conditions imposed were +very similar to those now forming the basis of the relations between the +British Government and the Native States of India. These were (1) that +the various commonwealths should keep the peace between each other; and +(2) that their foreign policy should be dictated by Rome. It is often +tacitly assumed, Mr. Reid says, that "in dealing with conquered peoples, +the Romans were animated from the first by a passion for immediate +domination and for grinding uniformity." This idea is not merely false; +it is the very reverse of the truth. The most distinctive feature of +Roman rule during the early period of expansion was its marvellous +elasticity and pliability. Everywhere local customs were scrupulously +respected. Everywhere the maintenance of whatever autonomous +institutions existed at the time of conquest was secured. Everywhere the +allies were treated with what the Greeks termed ἐπιμέλεια, which may be +rendered into English by the word "consideration." Nowhere was the fatal +mistake made of endeavouring to stamp out by force a local language or +dialect, whilst until the Romans were brought into contact with the +stubborn monotheism of the Jews, the easy-going pantheistic ideas +current in the ancient world readily obviated the occurrence of any +serious difficulties based on religious belief or ritual. + +That this system produced results which were, from a political point of +view, eminently satisfactory cannot for a moment be doubted. Mr. Reid +says--and it were well that those who are interested in the cause of +British Imperial Federation should note the remark--"In history the +lightest bonds have often proved to be the strongest." The loosely +compacted alliance of the Italic states withstood all the efforts of +Hannibal to rend it asunder. The Roman system, in fact, created a double +patriotism, that which attached itself to the locality, and that which +broadened out into devotion to the metropolis. Neither was the one +allegiance destructive of the other. When Ennius made his famous boast +he did not mean that he spurned Rudiae and that he would for the future +look exclusively to Rome as his mother-country, but rather that both the +smaller and the larger patriotism would continue to exist side by side. +"English local life," it has been truly said, "was the source and +safeguard of English liberty."[100] It may be said with equal truth that +the notion of constituting self-governing town communities as the basis +of Empire, which, Mr. Reid tells us, "was deeply ingrained in the Roman +consciousness," stood Rome in good stead during some of the most stormy +periods of her history. The process of voluntary Romanisation was so +speedy that the natives of any province which, to use the Roman +expression, had been but recently "pacated," became in a very short time +loyal and zealous Roman subjects, and rarely if ever took advantage of +distress elsewhere to vindicate their independence by seeking to cast +off the light shackles which had been imposed on them. + +"So long as municipal liberty maintained its vigour, the empire +flourished." This is the fundamental fact to be borne in mind in +dealing with the history of Roman expansion. Mr. Reid then takes us, +step by step and province by province, through the pitiful history of +subsequent deterioration and decay. After the Hannibalic war, Roman +hegemony in Italy began to pass into domination. A policy of unwise +exclusion applied to the federated states and cities, coupled with the +assertion of irritating privileges on behalf of Roman citizens, led to +the cataclysm of the Great Social War, at the close of which burgess +rights were reluctantly conceded to all Italic communities who had not +joined the rebels. Then followed the era of the great Julius, who +probably--though of this we cannot be quite certain--wished to create a +"world-state" with Rome as its head; Augustus, to whose genius and +administrative ability tardy justice is now being done, and who, albeit +he continued the policy of his uncle, possibly leant rather more to the +idea, realised eighteen centuries later by Cavour, of a united Italy; +Adrian, who aimed above all things at the consolidation of the Empire; +and many others. Consolidation in whatsoever form almost necessarily +connoted the insistence on some degree of uniformity, and "when the +Emperors pressed uniformity upon the imperial system, it rapidly went to +pieces." Finally, we get to the stage of Imperial penury and +extravagance, accompanied by centralisation _in extremis_, when "hordes +of official locusts, military and civil," were let loose on the land, +and the tax-gatherers destroyed the main sources of the public revenues, +with the result that the tax-payers were utterly ruined. The municipal +system possessed wonderful vitality, and displayed remarkable aptitude +for offering a passive resistance to the attacks directed against it. It +survived longer than might have been expected. But when it became clear +that the only function which the _curiales_ were expected to perform was +to emulate the Danaides by pouring gold into the bottomless cask of the +Imperial Treasury,[101] they naturally rejected the dubious honours +conferred on them, and fled either to be the companions of the monks in +the desert or elsewhere so as to be safe from the crushing load of +Imperial distinction. Mr. Hodgkin and others have pointed out that the +diversion of local funds to the Imperial Exchequer was one of the +proximate causes which led to the downfall of the empire. Whilst the +municipal system lasted, it produced admirable results. Dealing with +Northern Africa, whose progress was eventually arrested by the withering +hand of Islam, Mr. Reid speaks of "the contrast between the Roman +civilisation and the culture which exists in the same regions to-day; +flourishing cities, villages, and farms abounded in districts which are +now sterile and deserted." + +Apart from the special causes to which Mr. Reid and other historians +have alluded, and apart, moreover, from the intentions--often the very +wise intentions--of individual Emperors, the municipal system, and with +it the principle that local affairs should be dealt with locally, was +almost bound to founder directly the force of circumstances strengthened +the hands of the central authority at Rome. The battle between +centralisation and decentralisation still continues. Every one who has +been engaged in it knows that, whatever be the system adopted, the +spirit in which it is carried out counts for even more than the system +itself. Once place a firm, self-confident man with the centralising +spirit strong within him at the head of affairs, and he will often, +without any apparent change, go far to shatter any system, however +carefully it may have been devised, to encourage decentralisation. Such +a man was Napoleon. Every conceivable subject bearing on the government +of his fellow-men was, as M. Taine says, "classified and docketed" in +his ultra-methodical brain. It is useless to ask a man of this sort to +decentralise. He cannot do so, not always by reason of a deliberate wish +to grasp at absolute power, but because he sees so clearly what he +thinks should be done that he cannot tolerate the local ineptitude, as +he considers it, that leads to the rejection of his views. Thus, whilst +Napoleon said to Count Chaptal, "Ce n'est pas des Tuileries qu'on peut +diriger une armée," at the same time, as a matter of fact, he never +ceased to interfere with the action of his generals employed at a +distance, with results which, especially in Spain, were generally +disastrous to French arms. Another general cause which militates against +decentralisation is the inevitable tendency of any disputant who is +dissatisfied with a decision given locally to seek redress at the hands +of the central authority. St. Paul appealed to Caesar. A discontented +Rajah will appeal to the Secretary of State for India. It is certain +that in these cases, unless the appellate authority acts with the +greatest circumspection, a risk will be incurred of giving a severe blow +to the fundamental principles of decentralisation. It is no very +hazardous conjecture to assume that many of the Roman Emperors were, +like Napoleon, constitutionally disposed to centralise, and that the +greater their ability the more likely was this disposition to dominate +their minds. Thus Tacitus, speaking of Tiberius, says, "He never relaxed +from the cares of government, but derived relief from his +occupations."[102] A man of this temperament is a born centraliser. +However much his reason or his statesmanship may hold him in check, he +will probably sooner or later yield to the temptation of stretching his +own authority to such an extent as materially to weaken that of his +distant and subordinate agents. + +Considerations of space preclude the possibility of dwelling any further +on the many points of interest suggested by Mr. Reid's instructive work. +This much, however, may be said, that whilst British Imperialism is not +exposed to many of the dangers which proved fatal to Imperial Rome, +there is one principle adopted by the early founders of the Roman Empire +which is fraught with enduring political wisdom, and which may be +applied as well now as it was nineteen centuries ago. That principle is +the preference shown to diversity over uniformity of system. Sir Alfred +Lyall, whose receptive intellect was impregnated with modern +applications of ancient precedents, said, "We ought to acknowledge that +we cannot impose a uniform type of civilisation." Let us beware that we +do not violate this very sound principle by too eager a disposition to +transport institutions, whose natural habitat is Westminster, to +Calcutta or Cairo. + +[Footnote 97: _The Municipalities of the Roman Empire_. By J.E. Reid. +Cambridge: At the University Press. 10s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 98: _L'Avènement de Bonaparte_, i. 217.] + +[Footnote 99: _Vide ante_, pp. 317-326.] + +[Footnote 100: _England Under the Stuarts_, p. 107. G. Trevelyan.] + +[Footnote 101: Hor. _Od._ iii. 11. 25.] + +[Footnote 102: _Ann._ iv. 13.] + + + + +XXII + +A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER[103] + +_"The Spectator," August 2, 1913_ + + +Those who are inclined to take a gloomy view of the future on the +subject of the survival of the humanities in this country may derive +some consolation from two considerations. One is that there is not the +smallest sign either of relaxation in the quantity or deterioration in +the quality of the humanistic literature turned out from our seats of +learning. Year by year, indeed, both the interest in classical studies +and the standard of scholarship appear to rise to a higher level. The +other is that the mere fact that humanistic works are supplied shows +that there must be a demand for them, and that there exists amongst the +general public a number of readers outside the ranks of scholars, +properly so called, who are anxious and willing to acquaint themselves +with whatever new lights assiduous research can throw on the sayings and +doings of the ancient world. Archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics are +year by year opening out new fields for inquiry, and affording fresh +material for the reconstruction of history. More especially much light +has of late been thrown on that chaotic period which lies between the +death of the Macedonian conqueror and the final assertion of Roman +domination. Professor Mahaffy has dealt with the Ptolemies, and Mr. +Bevan with the Seleucids. A welcome complement to these instructive +works is now furnished by Mr. Tarn's comprehensive treatment of an +important chapter in the history of the Antigonids. It is surely the +irony of posthumous fame that whereas every schoolboy knows something +about Pyrrhus--how he fought the Romans with elephants, and eventually +met a somewhat ignoble death from the hand of an old Argive woman who +dropped a tile on his head--but few outside the ranks of historical +students probably know anything of his great rival and relative, +Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius the Besieger. Yet there can in +reality be no manner of doubt as to which of these two careers should +more excite the interest of posterity. Pyrrhus made a great stir in the +world whilst he lived. "He thought it," Plutarch says--we quote from +Dryden's translation--"a nauseous course of life not to be doing +mischief to others or receiving some from them." But he was in reality +an unlettered soldier of fortune, probably very much of the same type as +some of Napoleon's rougher marshals, such as Augereau or Masséna. His +manners were those of the camp, and his statesmanship that of the +barrack-room. He blundered in everything he undertook except in the +actual management of troops on the field of battle. "Not a common +soldier in his army," Mr. Tarn says, "could have managed things as badly +as the brilliant Pyrrhus." Antigonus was a man of a very different type. +"He was the one monarch before Marcus Aurelius whom philosophy could +definitely claim as her own." But in forming an estimate of his +character it is necessary to bear constantly in mind the many different +constructions which in the course of ages have been placed on the term +"philosophy." Antigonus, albeit a disciple of Zeno, the most unpractical +idealist of his age, was himself eminently practical. He indulged in no +such hallucinations as those which cost the Egyptian Akhnaton his Syrian +kingdom. As a thinker he moved on a distinctly lower plane than Marcus +Aurelius. Perhaps of all the characters of antiquity he most resembles +Julian, whose career as a man of action wrung from the Christian +Prudentius the fine epitaph, "Perfidus ille Deo, quamvis non perfidus +orbi." These early Greek philosophers were, in fact, a strange set of +men. They were not always engaged in the study of philosophy. They +occasionally, whilst pursuing knowledge and wisdom, indulged in +practices of singular unwisdom or of very dubious morality. Thus the +eminent historian Hieronymus endeavoured to establish what we should now +call a "corner" in the bitumen which floated on the surface of the Dead +Sea, and which was largely used for purposes of embalming in Egypt; but +his efforts were completely frustrated by the Arabs who were interested +in the local trade. The philosopher Lycon, besides displaying an +excessive love for the pleasures of the table, was a noted wrestler, +boxer, and tennis-player. Antigonus himself, in spite of his love of +learning, vied with his great predecessors, Philip and Alexander, in his +addiction to the wine-cup. When, by a somewhat unworthy stratagem, he +had tricked the widowed queen Nikaia out of the possession of the +Acrocorinthian citadel, which was, politically speaking, the apple of +his eye, he celebrated the occasion by getting exceedingly drunk, and +went "reeling through Corinth at the head of a drunken rout, a garland +on his head and a wine-cup in his hand." Antigonus was, in fact, not so +much what we should call a philosopher as a man of action with literary +tastes, standing thus in marked contrast to Pyrrhus, who "cared as +little for knowledge or culture as did any baron of the Dark Ages." When +he was engaged in a difficult negotiation with Ptolemy Philadelphus he +allowed himself to be mollified by a quotation from Homer, who, as Plato +said, was "the educator of Hellas." Although not himself an original +thinker, he encouraged thought in others. He surrounded himself with men +of learning, and even received at his court the yellow-robed envoys of +Asoka, the far-distant ruler and religious reformer of India. Moreover, +in spite of his wholly practical turn of mind, Antigonus learnt +something from his philosophic friends; notably, he imbibed somewhat of +the Stoic sense of duty. "Do you not understand," he said to his son, +who had misused some of his subjects, "that _our_ kingship is a noble +servitude?" Nevertheless, throughout his career, the sentiments of the +man of action strongly predominated over those of the man of thought. He +treated all shams with a truly Carlylean hatred and contempt. Moreover, +one trait in his character strongly indicates the pride of the masterful +man of action who scorns all adventitious advantages and claims to stand +or fall by his own merits. Napoleon, whilst the members of his family +were putting forth ignoble claims to noble birth, said that his patent +of nobility dated from the battle of Montenotte. Antigonus, albeit he +came of a royal stock, laid aside all ancestral claims to the throne of +Macedonia. He aspired to be king because of his kingly qualities. He +wished his people to apply to him the words which Tiberius used of a +distinguished Roman of humble birth: "Curtius Rufinus videtur mihi ex se +natus" (_Ann._ xi. 21). He succeeded in his attempt. He won the hearts +of his people, and although he failed in his endeavour to govern the +whole of Greece through the agency of subservient "tyrants," he +accomplished the main object which through good and evil fortune he +pursued with dogged tenacity throughout the whole of his chequered +career. He lived and died King of Macedonia. + +The world-politics of this period are almost as confused as the +relationships which were the outcome of the matrimonial alliances +contracted by the principal actors on the world's stage. How bewildering +these alliances were may be judged from what Mr. Tarn says of +Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus I., who married Demetrius, the son +of Antigonus: "Stratonice was her husband's first cousin and also his +aunt, her mother-in-law's half-sister and also her niece, her +father-in-law's niece, her own mother's granddaughter-in-law, and +perhaps other things which the curious may work out." Mr. Tarn has +unravelled the tangled political web with singular lucidity. Here it +must be sufficient to say that, after the death of Pyrrhus, a conflict +between Macedonia and Egypt, which stood at the head of an +anti-Macedonian coalition of which Athens, Epirus, and Sparta were the +principal members, became inevitable. The rivalry between the two States +led to the Chremonidean war--so called because in 266 the Athenian +Chremonides moved the declaration of war against Antigonus. The result +of the war was that on land Antigonus remained the complete master of +the situation. With true political instinct, however, he recognised the +truth of that maxim which history teaches from the days of Aegospotami +to those of Trafalgar, viz. that the execution of an imperial policy is +impossible without the command of the sea. This command had been secured +by his predecessors, but had fallen to Egypt after the fine fleet +created by Demetrius the Besieger had been shattered in 280 by Ptolemy +Keraunos with the help of the navy which had been created by Lysimachus. +Antigonus decided to regain the power which had been lost. His efforts +were at first frustrated by the wily and wealthy Egyptian monarch, who +knew the power of gold. "Egypt neither moved a man nor launched a ship, +but Antigonus found himself brought up short, his friends gone, his +fleet paralysed." Then death came unexpectedly to his aid and removed +his principal enemies. His great opponent, the masterful Arsinoë, who +had engineered the Chremonidean war, was already dead, and, in Mr. +Tarn's words, "comfortably deified." Other important deaths now followed +in rapid succession. Alexander of Corinth, Antiochus, and Ptolemy all +passed away. "The imposing edifice reared by Ptolemy's diplomacy +suddenly collapsed like the card-house of a little child." Antigonus was +not the man to neglect the opportunity thus afforded to him. Though now +advanced in years, he reorganised his navy and made an alliance with +Rhodes, with the result that "the sea power of Egypt went down, never to +rise again." Then he triumphantly dedicated his flagship to the Delian +Apollo. The possession of Delos had always been one of the main objects +of his ambition. It did more than symbolise the rule of the seas. It +definitely brought within the sphere of Macedonian influence one of the +greatest centres of Greek religious thought. + +The rest of the story may be read in Mr. Tarn's graphic pages. He +relates how Antigonus incurred the undying enmity of Aratus of Sicyon, +one of those Greek democrats who held "that the very worst democracy was +infinitely better than the very best 'tyranny'--a conventional view +which neglects the uncomfortable fact that the tyranny of a democracy +can be the worst in the world." He lost Corinth, which he never +endeavoured to regain. His system of governing the Peloponnesus through +the agency of subservient "tyrants" utterly collapsed. "It is," Mr. Tarn +says, "a strange case of historical justice. As regards Macedonia, +Antigonus had followed throughout a sound and just idea of government, +and all that he did for Macedonia prospered. But in the Peloponnese, +though he found himself there from necessity rather than from choice, he +had employed an unjustifiable system; he lived long enough to see it +collapse." + +The main interest to the present generation of the career of this +remarkable man consists in the fact that it is illustrative of the +belief that a man of action can also be a man of letters. As it was in +the days of the Antigonids, so it is now. Napier says that there is no +instance on record of a successful general who was not also a well-read +man. General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, on being asked how he came to +adopt a certain tactical combination which proved eminently successful +at Louisbourg, said, "I had it from Xenophon." Havelock "loved Homer and +took pattern by Thucydides," and, according to Mr. Forrest, adopted +tactics at the battle of Cawnpore which he had learnt from a close +study of "Old Frederick's" dispositions at Leuthen. There is no greater +delusion than to suppose that study weakens the arm of the practical +politician, administrator, or soldier. On the contrary it fortifies it. +Lord Wolseley, himself a very distinguished man of action, speaking to +the students of the Royal Military Academy of Sir Frederick Maurice, who +possessed an inherited literary talent, said that he was "a fine example +of the combination of study and practice. He is not only the ablest +student of war we have, but is also the bravest man I have ever seen +under fire"; and on another occasion he wrote: "It is often said that +dull soldiers make the best fighters, because they do not think of +danger. Now, Maurice is one of the very few men I know who, if I told +him to run his head against a stone wall, would do so without question. +His is also the quickest and keenest intellect I have met in my +service." + +[Footnote 103: _Antigonos Gonatas_. By W. Woodthorpe Tarn. Oxford: At +the Clarendon Press. 14s.] + + + + +XXIII + +ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL[104] + +_"The Spectator," August 9, 1913_ + + +Any new work written by Miss Jane Harrison is sure to be eagerly +welcomed by all who take an interest in classical study or in +anthropology. The conclusions at which she arrives are invariably based +on profound study and assiduous research. Her generalisations are always +bold, and at times strikingly original. Moreover, it is impossible for +any lover of the classics, albeit he may move on a somewhat lower plane +of erudition, not to sympathise with the erudite enthusiasm of an author +who expresses "great delight" in discovering that Aristotle traced the +origin of the Greek drama to the Dithyramb--that puzzling and +"ox-driving" Dithyramb, of which Müller said that "it was vain to seek +an etymology," but whose meaning has been very lucidly explained by +Miss Harrison herself--and whose "heart stands still" in noting that "by +a piece of luck" Plutarch gives the Dionysiac hymn which the women of +Elis addressed to the "noble Bull." + +It is probable that the first feeling excited in the mind of an ordinary +reader, when he is asked to accept some of the conclusions at which +modern students of anthropology and comparative religion have arrived, +is one of scepticism. Miss Harrison is evidently alive to the existence +of this feeling, for in dealing with the ritualistic significance of the +Panathenaic frieze she bids her readers not to "suspect they are being +juggled with," or to think that she has any wish to strain an argument +with a view to "bolstering up her own art and ritual theory." It can, +indeed, be no matter for surprise that such suspicions should be +aroused. When, for instance, an educated man hears that the Israelites +worshipped a golden calf, or that the owl and the peacock were +respectively sacred to Juno and Minerva, he can readily understand what +is meant. But when he is told that an Australian Emu man, strutting +about in the feathers of that bird, does not think that he is imitating +an Emu, but that in very fact he is an Emu, it must be admitted that his +intellect, or it may be his imagination, is subjected to a somewhat +severe strain. Similarly, he may at first sight find some difficulty in +believing that any strict relationship can be established between the +Anthesteria and Bouphonia of the cultured Athenians and the idolatrous +veneration paid by the hairy and hyperborean Ainos to a sacred bear, who +is at first pampered and then sacrificed, or the ritualistic tug-of-war +performed by the Esquimaux, in which one side, personifying ducks, +represents Summer, whilst the other, personifying ptarmigans, represents +Winter. Although this scepticism is not only very natural, but even +commendable, it is certain that the science of modern anthropology, in +which we may reflect with legitimate pride that England has taken the +lead, rests on very solid foundations. Indeed, its foundations are in +some respects even better assured than those of some other sciences, +such, for instance, as craniology, whose conclusions would appear at +first sight to be capable of more precise demonstration, but which, in +spite of this fair appearance, has as yet yielded results which are +somewhat disappointing. At the birth of every science it is necessary to +postulate something. The postulates that the anthropologist demands +rival in simplicity those formulated by Euclid. He merely asks us to +accept as facts that the main object of every living creature is to go +on living, that he cannot attain this object without being supplied +with food, and that, in the case of man, his supply of food must +necessarily be obtained from the earth, the forest, the sea, or the +river. On the basis of these elementary facts, the anthropologist then +asks us to accept the conclusion that the main beliefs and acts of +primitive man are intimately, and indeed almost solely, connected with +his food supply; and having first, by a deductive process of reasoning, +established a high degree of probability that this conclusion is +correct, he proceeds to confirm its accuracy by reasoning inductively +and showing that a similarity, too marked to be the result of mere +accident or coincidence, exists in the practices which primitive man has +adopted, throughout the world, and which can only be explained on the +assumption that by methods, differing indeed in detail but substantially +the same in principle, endeavours have been, and still are being, made +to secure an identical object, viz. to obtain food and thus to sustain +life. The various methods adopted both in the past and the present are +invariably associated in one form or another with the invocation of +magical influences. The primitive savage, Miss Harrison says, "is a man +of action." He does not pray. He acts. If he wishes for sun or wind or +rain, "he summons his tribe, and dances a sun dance or a wind dance or a +rain dance." If he wants bear's flesh to eat, he does not pray to his +god for strength to outwit or to master the bear, but he rehearses his +hunt in a bear dance. If he notices that two things occur one after the +other, his untrained intellect at once jumps to the conclusion that one +is the cause and the other the effect. Thus in Australia--a specially +fertile field for anthropological research, which has recently been +explored with great thoroughness and intelligence by Messrs. Spencer and +Gillen--the cry of the plover is frequently heard before rain falls. +Therefore, when the natives wish for rain they sing a rain song in which +the cry of that bird is faithfully imitated. + +Before alluding to the special point which Miss Harrison deals with in +_Ancient Art and Ritual_, it will be as well to glance at the views +which she sets forth in her previous illuminating treatise entitled +_Themis_. The former is in reality a continuation of the latter work. +The view heretofore generally entertained as regards the anthropomorphic +gods of Greece has been that the conception of the deity preceded the +adoption of the ritual. Moreover, one school of anthropologists ably +represented by Professor Ridgeway, has maintained that the phenomena of +vegetation spirits, totemism, etc., rose from primary elements, notably +from the belief in the existence of the soul after the death of the +body. Miss Harrison and those who agree with her hold that this view +involves an anthropological heresy. She deprecates the use of the word +"anthropomorphic," which she describes as clumsy and too narrow. She +prefers the expression ἀνθρωποφυής used by Herodotus (i. 131), +signifying "of human growth." She points out that the anthropomorphism +of the Greeks was preceded by theriomorphism and phytomorphism, that the +ritual was "prior to the God," that so long as man was engaged in a +hand-to-hand struggle for bare existence his sole care was to obtain +food, and that during this stage of his existence his religious +observances took almost exclusively the form of magical inducements to +the earth to renew that fertility which, by the periodicity of the +seasons, was at times temporarily suspended. It was only at a later +period, when the struggle for existence had become less arduous, that +the belief in the efficacy of magical rites decayed, and that in matters +of religion the primitive Greeks "shifted from a nature-god to a +human-nature god." + +In her more recent work Miss Harrison reverts to this theme, and +subsequently carries us one step further. She maintains that the +original conception of the Greek drama was in no way spectacular. The +Athenians went to the theatre as we go to church. They did not attend to +see players act, but to take part in certain ritualistic things done +(_dromena_). The priests of Dionysos Eleuthereus, of Apollo +Daphnephoros, and of other deities attended in solemn state to assist in +the performance of the rites. With that keen sense of humour which +enlivens all her pages, and which made her speak in her _Themis_ of the +august father of gods and men as "an automatically explosive +thunderstorm," Miss Harrison says, "It is as though at His Majesty's the +front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the +Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall." The actual +_dromenon_ performed was of the same nature as that which in more modern +times has induced villagers to make Jacks-in-the-Green and to dance +round maypoles. It was always connected with the recurrence of the +seasons and with the death and resurrection of vegetation. In fact, the +whole ritual clustered round the idea represented at a later period in +the well-known and very beautiful lines of Moschus in the _Lament for +Bion_, which may be freely translated thus: + + Ah me! The mallows, anise, and each flower + That withers at the blast of winter's breath + Await the vernal, renovating hour + And joyously awake from feignèd death. + +The idea which impelled these ancient Greeks to perform ritualistic +_dromena_ on their orchestras, which took the place of what we should +call the stage, is not yet dead. Miss Harrison quotes from Mr. Lawson's +work on modern Greek folklore, which is a perfect mine of knowledge on +the subject of the survival of ancient religious customs in modern +Greece, the story of an old woman in Euboea who was asked on Easter Eve +why village society was in a state of gloom and despondency, and who +replied: "Of course, I am anxious; for if Christ does not rise +to-morrow, we shall have no corn this year." + +It was during the fifth century that the _dromenon_ and the Dionysiac +Dithyramb passed to some extent away and were merged into the drama. +"Homer came to Athens, and out of Homeric stories playwrights began to +make their plots." The chief agent in effecting this important change +was the so-called "tyrant" Pisistratus, who was probably a free-thinker +and "cared little for magic and ancestral ghosts," but who for political +reasons wished to transport the Dionysia from the country to the town. +"Now," Miss Harrison says, "to bring Homer to Athens was like opening +the eyes of the blind." Independently of the inevitable growth of +scepticism which was the natural result of increased knowledge and more +acute powers of observation, it is no very hazardous conjecture to +assume that the quick-witted and pleasure-loving Athenians welcomed the +relief afforded to the dreary monotony of the ancient _dromena_ by the +introduction of the more lively episodes drawn from the heroic sagas. +"Without destroying the old, Pisistratus contrived to introduce the new, +to add to the old plot of Summer and Winter the life-stories of heroes, +and thereby arose the drama." + +Having established her case so far, Miss Harrison makes what she herself +terms "a great leap." She passes from the thing _done_, whether +_dromenon_ or drama, to the thing _made_. She holds that as it was the +god who arose from the rite, similarly it was the ritual connected with +the worship of the god which gave birth to his representation in +sculpture. Art, she says, is not, as is commonly supposed, the "handmaid +of religion." "She springs straight out of the rite, and her first +outward leap is the image of the god." Miss Harrison gives two examples +to substantiate her contention. In the first place, she states at some +length arguments of irrefutable validity to show that the Panathenaic +frieze, which originally surrounded the Parthenon, represents a great +ritual procession, and she adds, "Practically the whole of the reliefs +that remain to us from the archaic period, and a very large proportion +of those of later date, when they do not represent heroic mythology, are +ritual reliefs, 'votive' reliefs, as we call them; that is, prayers or +praises translated into stone." + +Miss Harrison's second example is eminently calculated to give a shock +to the conventional ideas generally entertained, for, as she herself +says, if there is a statue in the world which apparently represents "art +for art's sake" it is that of the Apollo Belvedere. Much discussion has +taken place as to what Apollo is supposed to be doing in this famous +statue. "There is only one answer. We do not know." Miss Harrison, +however, thinks that as he is poised on tiptoe he may be in the act of +taking flight from the earth. Eventually, after discussing the matter at +some little length, she appears to come to the audacious conclusion +which, in spite of its hardy irreverence, may very probably be true, +that as Apollo was, after all, only an early Jack-in-the-Green, he has +been artistically represented in marble by some sculptor of genius in +that capacity. + +Finally, before leaving this very interesting and instructive work, it +may be noted that Miss Harrison quotes a remarkable passage from +Athenaeus (xiv. 26), which certainly affords strong confirmation of her +view that in the eyes of ancient authors there was an intimate +connection between art and dancing, and therefore, inasmuch as dancing +was ritualistic, between art and ritual. "The statues of the craftsmen +of old times," Athenaeus says, "are the relics of ancient dancing." + +It is greatly to be hoped that Miss Harrison will continue the study of +this subject, and that she will eventually give to the world the results +of her further inquiries. + +[Footnote 104: _Ancient Art and Ritual._ By Miss Jane Harrison. London: +Williams and Norgate. 1s.] + + + + +XXIV + +PORTUGUESE SLAVERY + +_"The Spectator," August 16, 23, 30, 1913_ + + +It is impossible to read the White Paper recently published on the +subject of slavery in the West African dominions of Portugal without +coming to the conclusion that the discussion has been allowed to +degenerate into a rather unseemly wrangle between the Foreign Office +officials and the Anti-Slavery Society. There is always a considerable +risk that this will happen when enthusiasts and officials are brought +into contact with each other. On the one hand, the enthusiasts in any +great cause are rather prone to let their emotions dominate their +reason, to generalise on somewhat imperfect data, and occasionally to +fall unwittingly into making statements of fact which, if not altogether +incorrect, are exaggerated or partial. On the other hand, there is a +disposition on the part of officials to push to an excess Sir Arthur +Helps's dictum that most of the evils of the world arise from +inaccuracy, and to surround all enthusiasts with one general atmosphere +of profound mistrust. An old official may perhaps be allowed to say, +without giving offence, that, quite apart from the nobility and moral +worth of the issue at stake, it is, from the point of view of mere +worldly wisdom, a very great error to adopt this latter attitude. There +are enthusiasts and enthusiasts. It is probably quite useless for an +anti-suffragist or a supporter of vivisection to endeavour to meet +half-way a militant suffragist or a whole-hearted anti-vivisectionist. +In these cases the line of cleavage is too marked to admit of +compromise, and still less of co-operation. But the case is very +different if the matter under discussion is the suppression of slavery. +Here it may readily be admitted that both the enthusiasts and the +officials, although they may differ in opinion as to the methods which +should be adopted, are honestly striving to attain the same objects. The +Anti-Slavery Society, and those who habitually work with them, have +performed work of which their countrymen are very justly proud. But they +are not infallible. It is quite right that the accuracy of any +statements which they make should be carefully tested by whatever means +exist for testing them. For instance, when the Society of Friends[105] +say that they are in possession of "first-hand information" to show that +"atrocities" are being committed in the Portuguese dominions, the +Foreign Office is obviously justified in asking them to state on what +evidence this formidable accusation is founded, and when it appears that +they cannot produce "exactly the kind of evidence as to 'atrocities' +which would strengthen your (_i.e._ the British Government's) hands in +any protest made by you to the Portuguese Government," it is not +unnatural that the officials should be somewhat hardened in their belief +that humanitarian testimony has to be accepted with caution. It would +obviously be much wiser for the humanitarians to recognise that +incorrect statements, or sweeping generalisations which are incapable of +proof, do their cause more harm than good. + +The fact that erroneous statements are frequently made in controversial +matters, and that the data on which generalisations are based are often +imperfect, should not, however, beget the error of attaching undue +importance to matters of this sort, and thus failing to see the wood by +reason of the trees. What object, for instance, is to be gained by +addressing to the Anti-Slavery Society a remonstrance because they only +quote a portion and not the whole of a conversation between Sir Edward +Grey and the Portuguese Minister (M. de Bocage) when, on reference to +the account of that conversation, it would appear that the passages +omitted were not very material to the point under discussion? Again, +considering that the manner in which the so-called "contracts" with +slaves are concluded is notorious, is it not rather begging the question +and falling back on a legal quibble to say that there would "be no +reason for insisting on the repatriation (of a British subject) if he +were working under a contract which could not be shown to be illegal"? +Can it be expected, moreover, that Sir Eyre Crowe's contention that the +slaves "are now legally free" should carry much conviction when it is +abundantly clear from the testimony of all independent and also official +witnesses that this legal freedom does not constitute freedom in the +sense in which we generally employ the term, but that it has, in fact, +up to the present time been little more than an euphemism for slavery? + +Every allowance should, of course, be made for the embarrassing position +in which the present Government of Portugal, from no fault of its own, +is placed. The fact, however, remains that at this moment the criticisms +of those who are interested in the cause of anti-slavery are not solely +directed against the Portuguese Government. They also demur to the +attitude taken up by the British Government. It is, indeed, impossible +to read the papers presented to Parliament without feeling that the +Archbishop of Canterbury was justified in saying, during a recent debate +in the House of Lords, that the Foreign Office and its subordinates have +shown some excess of zeal in apologising for the Portuguese. After all, +it should not be forgotten that the voice of civilised humanity calls +loudly on the Portuguese Government and nation to purge themselves, and +that speedily, of a very heinous offence against civilisation, namely, +that of placing their black fellow-creatures much on the same footing as +the oxen that plough their fields and the horses which draw their carts, +in order that the white man may acquire wealth. It is only fair to +remember that at no very remote period of their history the Anglo-Saxon +race were also guilty of this offence; but the facts that one branch of +that race purged itself of crime by the expenditure of huge sums of +money, and that the other branch shed its best blood in order to ensure +the black man's freedom, give them a moral right, based on very +substantial title-deeds, to plead the cause of freedom. Neither should +it be forgotten that, whatever mistakes those interested in the +Anti-Slavery cause may make in dealing with points of detail, they are +right on the chief issue--right, that is to say, not merely in +intention, but also on the main fact, viz. that virtual slavery still +exists in the Portuguese dominions. Any one who has had practical +experience of dealing with these matters, and can read between the lines +of the official correspondence, cannot fail to see that if the Foreign +Office authorities, instead of dwelling with somewhat unnecessary +insistence on controversial points and only half-accepting the realities +of the situation, had candidly admitted the main facts and had confined +themselves to a discussion of the means available for arriving at the +object which they, in common with the Anti-Slavery Society, wished to +attain, much useless recrimination might have been avoided and the +interests of the cause would, to a far greater extent, have been served. + +The writer of the present article has had a good deal to do with the +Anti-Slavery and other similar societies, such, for instance, as that +which, until recently, dealt with the affairs of the Congo. He has not +always agreed with their proposals, but, being in thorough sympathy with +the objects which they wished to attain, he was fortunately able to +establish the mutual confidence which that bond of sympathy connoted. He +can, moreover, from his own experience, testify to the fact that, +although there may occasionally be exceptions, the humanitarians +generally, however enthusiastic, are by no means unreasonable. On the +contrary, if once they are thoroughly convinced that the officials are +honestly and energetically striving to do their best to remove the +abuses of which they complain, they are quite prepared to make due +allowance for practical difficulties, and to abstain from causing +unnecessary and hurtful embarrassment. They are not open to the +suspicion which often attaches itself to Parliamentarians who take up +some special cause, viz. that they may be seeking to acquire personal +notoriety or to gain some party advantage. The righteousness and +disinterestedness of their motives cannot be doubted. The question of +the abolition of slavery in the Soudan presented many and great +difficulties, which might easily have formed the subject of acrimonious +correspondence and of agitation in Parliament and in the press. Any such +agitation would very probably have led to the adoption of measures whose +value would have been illusory rather than real, and which might well +have endangered both public security and the economic welfare of the +country. The main reason why no such agitation took place was that a +mutual feeling of confidence was established. Sir Reginald Wingate and +his very able staff of officials were left to deal with the matter after +their own fashion. The result has been that, without the adoption of any +very sensational measures calculated to attract public attention, it may +be said, with truth, that for all practical purposes slavery has quietly +disappeared from the Soudan. But if once this confidence is conspicuous +by its absence, a state of more or less latent warfare between the +humanitarians and the official world, such as that revealed in the +papers recently laid before Parliament, is almost certain to be created, +with the results that the public interests suffer, that rather heated +arguments and counter-arguments are bandied about in the columns of the +newspapers, and that the differences of opinion on minor points between +those who ought to be allies tend to obscure the main issue, and +preclude that co-operation which should be secured, and which in itself +would be no slight earnest of success. + +Stress has been laid on this point because of its practical importance, +and also in the hope that, in connection with this question, it may be +found possible ere long to establish better relations between the +Foreign Office officials and the Anti-Slavery Society than those which +apparently exist at present. There ought to be no great difficulty in +effecting an improvement in those relations, for it cannot for one +moment be doubted that both sides are honestly endeavouring to perform +what they consider to be their duty according to their respective +lights. + +Turning now to the consideration of the question on its own merits, it +is obvious that, before discussing any remedies, it is essential to +arrive at a correct diagnosis of the disease. Is the trade in slaves +still carried on, and does slavery still exist in the Portuguese +dominions? The two points deserve separate treatment, for although +slavery is bad, the slave trade is infinitely worse. + +It is not denied that until very recently the trade in slaves between +the mainland and the Portuguese islands was carried on upon an extensive +scale. The Anti-Slavery Society state that within the last twenty-five +years sixty-three thousand slaves, constituting "a human cargo worth +something over £2,500,000," have been shipped to the islands. Moreover, +it appears that, as was to be expected, this trade was, and perhaps to a +certain extent still is, in the hands of individuals who constitute the +dregs of society, and who, it may confidently be assumed, have not +allowed their operations to be hampered by any kind of moral or humane +scruples. Colonel Freire d'Andrade informed Sir Arthur Hardinge that +"many of the Portuguese slave-traders at Angola had been convicts +sentenced to transportation," who had been allowed to settle in the +colony. "It was from among these old convicts or ex-convict settlers and +their half-caste progeny that the slave-trading element, denounced by +the Belgian Government, was largely recruited; they at least were its +most direct agents." Since the accession to power of the Republican +Government in Portugal the trade in slaves has been absolutely +prohibited. No Government which professes to follow the dictates of +civilisation, and especially of Liberalism, could indeed tolerate for a +day the continuance of such a practice. The question which remains for +consideration is whether the efforts of the Portuguese Government, in +the sincerity of which there can be no doubt, have been successful or +the reverse. Has the cessation of the traffic been real and complete or, +as the Anti-Slavery Society appear disposed to think, only partial and +"nominal"? On this point the evidence is somewhat conflicting. On the +one hand, M. Ramaix, writing on behalf of the Belgian Government on May +1, 1912, says, "It is well known that the slave trade is still carried +on to a certain extent in the neighbourhood of the sources of the +Zambesi and Kasai, in a region which extends over the frontiers of the +Congo, Angola, and North-Western Rhodesia," and on June 8, 1912, Baron +Lalaing, the Belgian Minister in London, said, "At the instigation of +the traders the population living on the two slopes of the watershed, +from Lake Dilolo to the meridian of Kayoyo, are actively engaged in +smuggling, arms traffic, and slave trade." On the other hand, Mr. +Wallace, writing from Livingstone, in Northern Rhodesia, on June 25, +1912, says that "active slave-trading does not now exist along our +borders." On December 6 of the same year he confirmed this statement, +but added, "occasional cases may occur, for the status of slave exists, +but they cannot be many." Looking to all the circumstances of the +case--to the great extent and, in some cases, to the remoteness of the +Portuguese dominions, the ruthless character of the slave-traders, the +pecuniary inducements which exist for engaging in a very lucrative +traffic, the helplessness of the slaves themselves, and the fact that +traffic in slaves is apparently a common inter-tribal practice in +Central Africa, it would be unreasonable to expect that the Portuguese +Government should be able at once to put a complete stop to these +infamous proceedings. It may well be that, in spite of every effort, the +slave trade may still linger on for a while. All that can be reasonably +expected is that the Portuguese authorities should do their utmost to +stop it. That they are doing a good deal cannot be doubted, but it is +somewhat of a shock to read (_Africa_, No. 2 of 1912, p. 59) that Senhor +Vasconcellos rather prided himself on the fact that certain "Europeans +who were found guilty of acts of slave traffic" had merely been +"immediately expelled from the region," and were "not allowed to return +to the colonies." Surely, considering the nature of the offence, a +punishment of this sort errs somewhat on the side of leniency. Had these +men been residing in Egypt or the Soudan they would have been condemned +to penal servitude for a term of years. It is more satisfactory to +learn, on the authority of Colonel Freire d'Andrade, that the convicts +to whom allusion has already been made are "no longer permitted to roam +at large about the colony, but are, save a very few who are allowed to +live outside on giving a security, kept in the forts of Loanda." + +Further, it would appear that until recently the officials who +registered the "serviçaes," or native contract labourers, had a direct +pecuniary interest in the matter, and were "thus exposed to the +temptation of not scrutinising too closely the genuineness of the +contracts themselves, or the extent to which they were understood and +accepted by savage or semi-savage contracting parties." In other words, +the Portuguese officials employed in registration, far from having any +inducements offered to them to protect the labourers, were strongly +tempted to engage in what, brushing aside official euphemism, may with +greater accuracy be termed the slave trade pure and simple. It seems +that this practice is now to be altered. The registration fees are no +longer to go into the pockets of the registering officials, but are to +be paid into the Provincial Treasury. The change is unquestionably for +the better. But it is impossible in this connection not to be struck by +the somewhat curious standard of official discipline and morality which +appears to exist in the Portuguese service. Colonel Freire d'Andrade +told Sir Arthur Hardinge that "he knew of one case where £1,000 had been +made over a single contract for 'serviçaes' in this way by a local +official who had winked, in this connection, at some dishonest or, at +least, highly doubtful transactions, and who had been censured and +obliged to refund the money." As in the case of the Europeans found +guilty of engaging in the slave trade, the punishment awarded appears to +be somewhat disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. One would +have thought that peculation of this description would have been visited +at least with dismissal, if not with a short sojourn in the Loanda gaol. + +Colonel Freire d'Andrade further states that "the Lisbon Colonial +Office had sent out very stringent orders to the Governor-General of +Angola to put a stop once and for all to these slavery operations. New +military outposts had now been created near the northern and eastern +frontiers of the province." It is to be hoped that these orders will be +obeyed, and that they will prove effectual to attain the object in view. + +On the whole, in spite of some features in the case which would appear +to justify friendly criticism, it would seem that the Portuguese +Government are really endeavouring to suppress the trade in slaves. All +that the British Government can do is to afford them whatever assistance +is possible in British territory, and to encourage them in bold and +strenuous action against the influential opposition whose enmity has +necessarily been evoked. + +Turning now to the question of whether slavery--as distinct from the +slave trade--still exists in Portuguese West Africa, it is to be +observed that it is essential to inquire thoroughly into this question +for the reason already given, viz. that before considering what remedies +should be applied it is very necessary that the true nature of the evil +should be recognised. On this point there is a direct conflict of +opinion. The Anti-Slavery Society maintain that the present system of +contract labourers ('serviçaes') is merely another name for slavery, +and as one proof of the wide discrepancy between theory and practice +they point to the fact that whereas there can be no manner of doubt that +undisguised slavery existed until only recently, it was nominally +abolished by law so long ago as 1876. On the other hand, to quote the +words of Mr. Smallbones, the British Consul at Loanda, the Portuguese +Government, whose views on this matter appear to have been received with +a certain amount of qualified acceptance by the British Foreign Office, +"consistently deny" the existence of a state of slavery. + +The whole controversy really hangs on what is meant by the word +"slavery." In this, as in so many cases, it is easier to say what the +thing is not than to embrace in one short sentence an accurate and +sufficiently wide explanation of what it is. _Definitio est negatio._ De +Brunetière said that, after fifty years of discussion, it was impossible +to define romanticism. Half a century or more ago, a talented German +writer (Hackländer) wrote a book entitled _European Slave-life_, in +which he attempted to show that, without knowing it, we were all slaves +one of another, and, in fact, that the artisan working in a cotton +factory or the sempstress employed in a milliner's shop was as truly in +a state of slavery as the negro who at that time was working in the +fields of Georgia or Carolina. In a sense, of course, it may be said +that every one who works for his living, from a Cabinet Minister to a +crossing-sweeper, is a slave, for he has to conform to certain rules, +and unless he works he will be deprived of many advantages which he +wishes to acquire, and may even be reduced to a state of starvation. But +speculations of this sort may be left to the philosopher and the +sociologist. They have little interest for the practical politician. Sir +Edward Grey endeavoured, for the purposes of the subject now under +discussion, to define slavery. "Voluntary engagement," he said, "is not +slavery, but forcible engagement is slavery." The definition is correct +as far as it goes, but it is incomplete, for it fails to answer the +question on which a great part of this Portuguese controversy hangs, +viz. what do the words "voluntary" and "forcible" mean? The truth is +that it is quite unnecessary, in dealing with this subject, to wander +off into a field strewn with dialectical subtleties. It may not be +possible to define slavery with the same mathematical precision which +Euclid gave to his definitions of a straight line or a point, but every +man of ordinary common sense knows the difference between slavery and +freedom in the usual acceptation of those terms. He knows well enough +that however much want or the force of circumstances may oblige an +Englishman, a Frenchman, or a German to accept hard conditions in +fixing the price at which he is prepared to sell his labour or his +services, none of these individuals is, in reality, a slave; and he has +only to inquire very cursorily into the subject to satisfy himself that +the relations between employer and employed in Portuguese West Africa +differ widely from those which exist in any European country, and are in +fact far more akin to what, in the general acceptance of the word, is +termed slavery. + +Broadly speaking, it may be said that the contention that the present +system of contract labour is merely slavery in disguise rests on three +pleas, viz. (1) that even if, as was often the case, the contract +labourers now actually serving were not forcibly recruited, they were +very frequently wholly unaware of the true nature of the engagements +which they had taken, or of the conditions under which they would be +called upon to serve; (2) that not only are they unable to terminate +their contracts if they find they have been deceived, but that even on +the termination of those contracts they are not free to leave their +employers; and (3) that, even when nominal freedom is conceded, they +cannot take advantage of it, for the reason that the employers or their +Government have virtually by their own acts created a state of things +which only leaves the slaves to choose between the alternative of +continuing in a state of servitude or undergoing extreme suffering, +ending not improbably in death. It is submitted that, if these three +propositions can be proved, it is mere juggling with words to maintain +that no state of slavery exists. + +As regards the first point, it is to be observed that when the superior +intelligence and education of the recruiting agents are contrasted with +the complete savagery and ignorance of the individuals recruited, there +is obviously a strong presumption that in numberless cases the latter +have been cozened into making contracts, the nature of which they did +not in the least understand, and this presumption may almost be said to +harden into certainty when the fact, to which allusion has already been +made, is remembered, that the Portuguese officials engaged in the +registration of contract labourers had until very recently a direct +pecuniary interest in augmenting the number of labourers. Further, Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 26, 1912, alludes to a letter signed +"Carlos de Silva," which appeared in a local paper termed the +_Independente_. M. de Silva says that the "serviçaes" engaged in Novo +Redondo "all answered the interpreter's question whether they were +willing to go to San Thomé with a decided 'No,' which was translated by +the interpreter as signifying their utmost willingness to be embarked." +If this statement is correct, it is in itself almost sufficient to +satisfy the most severe condemnation of the whole system heretofore +adopted. It is, indeed, impossible to read the evidence adduced in the +White Paper without coming to the conclusion that, whatever may be the +case at present, the system of recruiting in the past has not differed +materially from the slave trade. If this be the case, it is clear that, +in spite of any legal technicalities to the contrary, the great majority +of labourers now serving under contract in the islands should, for all +purposes of repatriation and the acquisition of freedom, be placed on a +precisely similar footing to those whose contracts have expired. There +can be no moral justification whatever for taking advantage of the +engagements into which they may have entered to keep them in what is +practically a condition of servitude. + +Recently, certain improvements appeared to have been made in the system +of recruiting. Mr. Smallbones states his "impression that the present +Governor-General will do all in his power to put the recruiting of +native labour on a sound footing." Moreover, that some change has taken +place, and that the labourers are alive to the fact that they have +certain rights, would appear evident from the fact that Vice-Consul +Fussell, writing from Lobito on September 15, 1912, reports that "the +authorities appear unable to oblige natives to contract themselves." It +is not, however, clear that all the changes are in the right direction. +Formerly, M. Carlos de Silva says, "There was at least a slight +guarantee that 'serviçaes' were not shipped against their wishes in the +fact that they had to contract in the presence of a curator in this +(_i.e._ the Angola) colony." Now this guarantee has been removed. The +contracts may be made in San Thomé before the local guardian, and Mr. +Smallbones, although he is, without doubt, quite right in thinking that +"the best guarantee against abuses will lie in the choice of the +recruiting officials, and the way in which their operations are +controlled," adds the somewhat ominous remark that the object of the +change has been to "override the refusal of a curator in Angola to +contract certain 'serviçaes' should the Governor-General consider that +refusal unreasonable or inexpedient." Sir Edward Grey very naturally +drew attention to this point. "It is obvious," he wrote to Sir Arthur +Hardinge, "that a labourer once in San Thomé can be much more easily +coerced into accepting his lot than if the contract is publicly made in +Angola before he leaves the mainland." It cannot be said that the answer +he received from M. Texeira Gomes was altogether complete or +satisfactory. All the latter would say was that Colonel Wyllie, who had +lately returned from San Thomé, had never heard of any case of a +labourer signing a contract after he had arrived in the island. + +All, therefore, that can at present be said on this branch of the +question is that the evils of the recruiting system which has been so +far adopted are abundantly clear, that the Portuguese Government is +endeavouring to improve that system, but that it would as yet be +premature to pronounce any opinion on the results which are likely to be +obtained. + +The next point to be considered is the position of the contract labourer +on the expiry of his contract. That position is very strikingly +illustrated by an incident which Mr. Smallbones relates in a despatch +dated September 23, 1912. It appears that towards the end of last August +the Governor-General visited an important plantation on which seven +hundred labourers are employed. The contracts of these men had expired. +They asked to be allowed to leave the plantation. They were not +permitted to do so. "Thirteen soldiers were sent from Loanda to +intimidate them, and they returned to work." They were then forced to +recontract. Mr. Smallbones very rightly pointed out to the +Governor-General the illegality of this proceeding. "His Excellency," +he says, "admitted my contention, but remarked that in the present state +of the labour supply such scrupulous observance of the regulations would +entail the entire stoppage of a large plantation, for which he could not +be responsible." Mr. Smallbones adds the following comment: "I have +ventured to relate this incident, because it shows the difficulties of +the situation. The plantation on which it occurred is very well managed, +and the labourers are very well treated there. Yet it has failed to make +the conditions of labour attractive to the natives. And as long as the +Government are unable to force a supply of labour according to the +regulations, they will have to tolerate or even practise irregularities +in order to safeguard the property and interests of the employers." + +There need be no hesitation in recognising "the difficulties of the +situation." They are unquestionably very real. But how does the incident +related by Mr. Smallbones bear on the contention of the Portuguese +Government that no state of slavery exists? In truth, it shatters to +fragments the whole of their argument. As has been already mentioned, +Sir Edward Grey defined "forcible engagement" as "slavery." Can it be +for one moment contended that the engagement of these seven hundred men +was voluntary and not forcible? Obviously not. Therefore slavery still +exists, or at all events existed so late as August 1912. + +The third point to be considered is whether the liberated slave is +practically able to take advantage of the freedom which has been +conferred on him. Assuredly, he cannot do so. Consider what the position +of these men is. They, or their parents before them, have in numerous +instances been forcibly removed from their homes, which often lie at a +great distance from the spot where they are liberated. They are +apparently asked to contribute out of their wages to a repatriation +fund. Why should they do so? They were, in a great many, probably in a +majority of cases, expatriated either against their will or without +really understanding what they were doing. Why should they pay for +repatriation? The responsibility of the Portuguese does not end when the +men have been paid their wages and are set free. Neither can it be for +one moment admitted that that responsibility is limited, as the +Governor-General would appear to maintain in a Memorandum communicated +to Mr. Smallbones on October 25, 1912, merely to seeing that repatriated +slaves disembarked on the mainland "shall be protected against the +effects of the change of climate, and principally against themselves." +No one will expect the Portuguese Government to perform the impossible, +but it is clear that, unless the institution of slavery itself is +considered justifiable, the slaves have a right to be placed by the +Portuguese Government and nation in precisely the same position as they +would have occupied had they never been led into slavery. Apart from the +impossibility, it may, on several grounds, be undesirable to seek to +attain this ideal, but that is no reason why the validity of the moral +claim should not be recognised. In many cases it is abundantly clear +that to speak of a slave liberated at San Thomé being really a free man +in the sense in which that word is generally understood, is merely an +abuse of terms. The only freedom he possesses is that created for him by +his employers. It consists of being able to wander aimlessly about the +African mainland at the imminent risk of starvation, or of being robbed +of whatever miserable pittance may have been served out to him. For +these reasons it is maintained that the starting-point for any further +discussion on this question is that the plea that slavery no longer +exists in the West African dominions of Portugal is altogether +untenable. It still exists, though under another name. There remains the +question of how its existence can be terminated. + +The writer of the present article would be the last to underrate the +enormous practical difficulties to be encountered in dealing +effectively with this question. His own experience in cognate matters +enables him in some degree to recognise the nature of those +difficulties. When the _corvée_ system was abolished in Egypt, the +question which really confronted the Government of that country was how +the whole of a very backward population, the vast majority of whom had +for centuries been in reality, though not nominally, slaves, could be +made to understand that, although they would not be flogged if they did +not clear out the mud from the canals on which the irrigation of their +fields depended, they would run an imminent risk of starvation unless +they voluntarily accepted payment for performing that service. The +difficulties were enhanced owing to the facts that the country was in a +state of quasi-bankruptcy, and the political situation was in the +highest degree complicated and bewildering. Nevertheless, after a period +of transition, which, it must be admitted, was somewhat agonising, the +problem was solved, but it was only thoroughly solved after a struggle +which lasted for some years. It is a vivid recollection of the arduous +nature of that struggle that induces the writer of the present article +so far to plead the cause of the Portuguese Government as to urge that, +if once it can be fully established that they are moving steadily but +strenuously in the right direction, no excessive amount of impatience +should be shown if the results obtained do not immediately answer all +the expectations of those who wish to witness the complete abolition of +the hateful system under which the cultivation of cocoa in the West +African Islands has hitherto been conducted. The financial interests +involved are important, and deserve a certain, albeit a limited, amount +of consideration. There need be no hesitation whatever in pressing for +the adoption of measures which may result in diminishing the profits of +the cocoa proprietors and possibly increasing the price paid by the +consumers of cocoa. Indeed, there would be nothing unreasonable in +arguing that the output of cocoa, worth £2,000,000 a year, had much +better be lost to the world altogether rather than that the life of the +present vicious system should be prolonged. But even if it were +desirable--which is probably not the case--it is certainly impossible to +take all the thirty thousand men now employed in the islands and +suddenly transport them elsewhere. It would be Utopian to expect that +the Portuguese Government, in the face of the vehement opposition which +they would certainly have to encounter, would consent to the adoption of +any such heroic measure. As practical men we must, whilst acknowledging +the highly regrettable nature of the facts, accept them as they stand. +Slight importance can, indeed, be attached to the argument put forward +by one of the British Consular authorities, that "the native lives under +far better conditions in San Thomé than in his own country." It is +somewhat too much akin to the plea advanced by ardent fox-hunters that +the fox enjoys the sport of being hunted. Neither, although it is +satisfactory to learn that the slaves are now generally well treated, +does this fact in itself constitute any justification for slavery. The +system must disappear, and the main question is to devise some other +less objectionable system to take its place. + +There are two radical solutions of this problem. One is to abandon +cocoa-growing altogether, at all events in the island of Principe, a +part of which is infected with sleeping-sickness, and to start the +industry afresh elsewhere. The other is to substitute free for slave +labour in the islands themselves. Both plans are discussed in +Lieutenant-Colonel Wyllie's very able report addressed to the Foreign +Office on December 8, 1912. This report is, indeed, one of the most +valuable contributions to the literature on this subject which have yet +appeared. Colonel Wyllie has evidently gone thoroughly into the matter, +and, moreover, appears to realise the fact, which all experience +teaches, that slavery is as indefensible from an economic as it is from +a moral point of view. Free labour, when it can be obtained, is far +less expensive than slave labour. + +Colonel Wyllie suggests that the Principe planters should abandon their +present plantations and receive "free grants of land in the fertile and +populous colony of Portuguese Guinea, the soil of which is reported by +all competent authorities to be better suited to cacao-growing than even +that of San Thomé itself, and certainly far superior to that of +Principe. Guinea has from time to time supplied labour to these islands, +so that the besetting trouble of the latter is nonexistent there." He +adds: "I am decidedly of opinion that some such scheme as this is the +only cure for the blight that has fallen on the island of Principe." It +would require greater local knowledge than any to which the writer of +the present article can pretend to discuss the merits of this proposal, +but at first sight it would certainly appear to deserve full and careful +consideration. + +But as regards San Thomé, which is by far the larger and more important +of the two islands, it would appear that the importation of free labour +is not only the best, but, indeed, the only really possible solution of +the whole problem. It may be suggested that, without by any means +neglecting other points, such as the repatriation of men now serving, +the efforts both of the Portuguese Government and of all others +interested in the question should be mainly centred on this issue. +Something has been already done in this direction, Mr. Harris, writing +in the _Contemporary Review_ of May 1912, said: "Mozambique labour was +tried in 1908, and this experiment is proving, for the time, so +successful, that many planters look to the East rather than West Africa +for their future supply. All available evidence appears to prove that +Cabinda, Cape Verde, and Mozambique labour is, so far as contract labour +goes, fairly recruited and honestly treated as 'free labour.'" It is an +encouraging sign that a Portuguese Company has been formed whose object +is "to recruit free, paid labourers, natives of the provinces of Angola, +Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea." Moreover, the following passage +from Colonel Wyllie's report deserves very special attention: + + "Several San Thomé planters," he says, "realising the advantage of + having a more intelligent and industrious labourer than the + Angolan, have signed contracts with an English Company trading in + Liberia for the supply of labour from Cape Palmas and its + hinterland, on terms to which no exception can be taken from any + point of view. Two, if not by now three, batches of Liberians have + arrived at San Thomé and have been placed on estates for work. The + Company has posted an English agent there to act as curador to the + men, banking their money, arranging their home remittances, and + mediating in any disputes arising between them and their + employers. The system works wonderfully well, giving satisfaction + both to the masters and to the men, the latter being as pleased + with their treatment as the former are with their physique and + intelligence. There is every prospect of the arrangement being + developed to the extent of enabling Angolan labour to be + permanently dispensed with, and possibly superseding Mozambique + importations as well." + +Colonel Wyllie then goes on to say: "The company and its agents complain +of the many obstacles they have had to overcome in the form of hostility +and intrigue on the part of interested parties. Systematic attempts have +been made in Liberia to intimidate the gangs from going to San Thomé by +tales of cruelty practised by the Portuguese in the islands." More +especially it would appear that the "missionaries" have been advising +the Liberians not to accept the offers made to them. It is not +altogether surprising that they should do so, for the Portuguese have +acquired an evil reputation which it will take time to efface. To an +outside observer it would appear that an admirable opportunity is here +afforded for the Portuguese Government and the Anti-Slavery Society, who +are in close relation with many of the missionaries, to co-operate in +the attainment of a common object. Why should not the Portuguese +authorities invite some agents of the Anti-Slavery Society to visit the +islands and place before them evidence which will enable them +conscientiously to guarantee proper treatment to the Liberian labourers, +and why, when they are once convinced, should not those agents, far from +discouraging, encourage Liberians, and perhaps others, to go to San +Thomé? If this miracle could be effected--and with real good-will on +both sides it ought to be possible to effect it--a very great step in +advance would have been taken to solve this difficult problem. But in +order to realise such an ideal, mutual confidence would have to be +established. When the affairs of the Congo were under discussion the +Belgian air was thick with rumours that British humanitarianism was a +mere cloak to hide the greed of British merchants. Similar ideas are, it +would appear, now afloat at Lisbon. When men's pockets are touched they +are apt to become extremely suspicious of humanitarian intentions. Mr. +Wingfield, writing on August 17, 1912, said that the Portuguese +Government was not "convinced of the disinterestedness of all those who +criticise them," and he intimated that there were schemes on foot on the +part of British subjects to acquire "roças" in the islands "at very low +prices." It ought not to be difficult to convince the Portuguese +authorities that the agents employed by the Anti-Slavery Society are in +no way connected with any such projects. On the other hand, it would be +necessary that those agents should be very carefully chosen, that +besides being humanitarians they should have some knowledge of business, +and that they should enter upon their inquiry in a spirit of fairness, +and not with any preconceived intention to push to an extreme any +suspicions they may entertain of Portuguese acts and intentions. It is +suggested that the adoption of some such mode of proceeding as is here +indicated is worthy of consideration. The Foreign Office might very +properly act as an intermediary to bring the two parties together. + +Finally, before leaving this branch of the subject, it is to be observed +that the difficulty of obtaining free labour has occurred elsewhere than +in the Portuguese possessions. It has generally admitted, at all events, +of a partial solution if the labourers are well treated and adequately +paid. Portuguese experience points to a similar conclusion. Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 23, 1912, quotes the report of the +manager of the Lobito railway, in which the latter, after stating that +he has had no difficulty in obtaining all the labour he has required, +adds, "I attribute the facility in obtaining so large a supply of +labour, relatively cheaply, to the good food we supply them with, and +chiefly to the regularity with which payments in cash are effected, and +also to the justice with which they are treated." + +The question of repatriation remains to be treated. It must, of course, +be remembered that repatriation is an act of justice to the men already +enslaved, but that, by itself, it does little or nothing towards solving +the main difficulties of the slavery problem. Mr. Wingfield, writing to +Sir Edward Grey on August 24, 1912, relates a conversation he had had +with Senhor Vasconcellos. "His Excellency first observed that they were +generally subjected to severe criticism in England, and said to be +fostering slavery because they did not at once repatriate all natives +who had served the term of their original contracts. Now they were +blamed for the misfortunes which resulted from their endeavour to act as +England was always suggesting that they should act!" His Excellency made +what Parliamentarians would call a good debating point, but the +complaint is obviously more specious than real, for what people in +England expect is not merely that the slaves should, if they wish it, be +repatriated, but that the repatriation should be conducted under +reasonably humane conditions. For the purposes of the present argument +it is needless to inquire whether the ghastly story adopted by the +Anti-Slavery Society on the strength of a statement in a Portuguese +newspaper, but denied by the Portuguese Government, that the corpses of +fifty repatriated men who had died of starvation were at one time to be +seen lying about in the outskirts of Benguella, be true or false. +Independently of this incident, all the evidence goes to show that +Colonel Wyllie is saying no more than the truth when he writes: "To +repatriate, _i.e._ to dump on the African mainland without previous +arrangement for his reception, protection, or safe conduct over his +further route, an Angolan or hinterland 'serviçal' who has spent years +of his life in San Thomé, is not merely to sentence him to death, but to +execute that sentence with the shortest possible delay." It is against +this system that those interested in the subject in England protested. +The Portuguese Government appear now to have recognised the justice of +their protests, for they have recently adopted a plan somewhat similar +to that initiated by the late Lord Salisbury for dealing with immigrant +coolies from India. By an Order in Council dated October 17, 1912, it +has been provided that repatriated "serviçaes" should receive a grant of +land and should be set up, free of charge, with agricultural implements +and seeds. This is certainly a step in the right direction. It is as yet +too early to say how far the plan will succeed, but if it is honestly +carried out it ought to go far towards solving the repatriation +question. Mr. Smallbones would appear justified in claiming that it +"should be given a fair trial before more heroic measures are applied." +The repatriation fund, which appears, to say the least, to have been +very badly administered, ought, without difficulty, to be able to meet +the expenses which the adoption of this plan will entail. + +[Footnote 105: Mr. E.W. Brooks subsequently wrote to _The Spectator_ to +explain that "the letter in question was in no sense an official letter +from the Society of Friends. It was the product of one small meeting of +that body, which appears to have been misinformed by one or more of its +members, and was in no sense a letter from the Society of Friends, +which, on the subject of Portuguese Slavery, is officially represented +by its Anti-Slavery Committee, of which he is himself the Honorary +Secretary."] + + + + +XXV + +ENGLAND AND ISLAM + +_"The Spectator," August 23, 1913_ + + +Amidst the many important remarks made by Sir Edward Grey in his recent +Parliamentary statement on the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula, none +deserve greater attention than those which dealt with the duties and +responsibilities of England towards Mohammedans in general. It was, +indeed, high time that some clear and authoritative declaration of +principle on this important subject should be made by a Minister of the +Crown. We are constantly being reminded that King George V. is the +greatest Mohammedan ruler in the world, that some seventy millions of +his subjects in India are Moslems, and that the inhabitants of Egypt are +also, for the most part, followers of the Prophet of Arabia. It is not +infrequently maintained that it is a duty incumbent on Great Britain to +defend the interests and to secure the welfare of Moslems all over the +world because a very large number of their co-religionists are British +subjects and reside in British territory. It is not at all surprising +that this claim should be advanced, but it is manifestly one which +cannot be admitted without very great and important qualifications. +Moreover, it is one which, from a European point of view, represents a +somewhat belated order of ideas. It is true that community of religion +constitutes the main bond of union between Russia and the population of +the Balkan Peninsula, but apart from the fact that no such community of +religious thought exists between Christian England and Moslem or Hindu +India, it is to be noted that, generally speaking, the tie of a common +creed, which played so important a part in European politics and +diplomacy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has now been +greatly weakened, even if it has not disappeared altogether. It has been +supplanted almost everywhere by the bond of nationality. No practical +politician would now argue that, if the Protestants of Holland or Sweden +had any special causes for complaint, a direct responsibility rested on +their co-religionists in Germany or England to see that those grievances +were redressed. No Roman Catholic nation would now advance a claim to +interfere in the affairs of Ireland on the ground that the majority of +the population of that country are Roman Catholics. + +This transformation of political thought and action has not yet taken +place in the East. It may be, as some competent observers are disposed +to think, that the principle of nationality is gaining ground in Eastern +countries, but it has certainly not as yet taken firm root. The bond +which holds Moslem societies together is still religious rather than +patriotic. Its binding strength has been greatly enhanced by two +circumstances. One is that Mecca is to the Moslem far more than +Jerusalem is to the Christian or to the Jew. From Delhi to Zanzibar, +from Constantinople to Java, every devout Moslem turns when he prays to +what Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole aptly calls the "cradle of his creed." The +other circumstance is that, although, as Mr. Hughes has said, "we have +not seen a single work of authority, nor met with a single man of +learning who has ever attempted to prove that the Sultans of Turkey are +rightful Caliphs," at the same time the spiritual authority usurped by +Selim I. is generally recognised throughout Islam, with the result not +only that unity of thought has been engendered amongst Moslems, but also +that religion has to a great extent been incorporated into politics, and +identified with the maintenance of a special form of government in a +portion of the Moslem world. + +The growth of the principle of nationality in those eastern countries +which are under western dominion might not inconceivably raise political +issues of considerable magnitude, but in the discussions which have from +time to time taken place on this subject the inconveniences and even +danger caused by the universality of a non-national bond based on +community of religion have perhaps been somewhat unduly neglected. These +inconveniences have, however, always existed. That the policy which led +to the Crimean War and generally the prolonged tension which existed +between England and Russia were due to the British connection with India +is universally recognised. It would be difficult to differentiate the +causes of that tension, and to say how far it was, on the one hand, due +to purely strategical considerations, or, on the other hand, to a desire +to meet the wishes and satisfy the aspirations of the many millions of +Moslems who are British subjects. Since, however, the general diplomatic +relations between England and Russia have, fortunately for both +countries, been placed on a footing of more assured confidence and +friendship than any which have existed for a long time past, strategical +considerations have greatly diminished in importance. The natural result +has been that the alternative plea for regarding Near Eastern affairs +from the point of view of Indian interests has acquired greater +prominence. Those who have been closely in touch with the affairs of +the Near East, and have watched the gradual decay of Turkey, have for +some while past foreseen that the time was inevitably approaching when +British statesmen and the British nation would be forced by the +necessities of the situation to give a definite answer to the question +how far their diplomatic action in Europe would have to be governed by +the alleged obligation to conciliate Moslem opinion in India. That +question received, to a certain limited extent, a practical answer when +Bulgaria declared war on Turkey and when not a voice was raised in this +country to urge that the policy which dictated the Crimean War should be +rehabilitated. + +The answer, however, is not yet complete. England is now apparently +expected by many Moslems to separate herself from the Concert of Europe, +and not impossibly to imperil the peace of the world, in order that the +Turks should continue in occupation of Adrianople. The secretary of the +Punjab Moslem League has informed us through the medium of the press +that unless this is done the efforts of the extreme Indian Nationalists +to secure the sympathies of Mohammedans in India "will meet with growing +success." + +It was in reality to this challenge that Sir Edward Grey replied. His +answer was decisive, and left no manner of doubt as to the policy which +the British Government intends to pursue. It will almost certainly meet +with well-nigh universal approval in this country. After explaining that +the racial sentiments and religious feelings of Moslem subjects of the +Crown would be respected and have full scope, that British policy would +never be one of intolerance or wanton and unprovoked aggression against +a Mohammedan Power, and that the British Government would never join in +any outrage on Mohammedan feelings and sentiments in any part of the +world, Sir Edward Grey added, "We cannot undertake the duty of +protecting Mohammedan Powers outside the British dominions from the +consequences of their own action.... To suppose that we can undertake +the protection of and are bound to regulate our European policy so as to +side with a Mussulman Power when that Mussulman Power rejects the advice +given to it, that is not a claim we can admit." + +These are wise words, and it is greatly to be hoped that not only the +Moslems of Turkey, but also those inhabiting other countries, will read, +mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. Notably, the Moslems of India +should recognise that, with the collapse of Turkish power in Europe, a +new order of things has arisen, that the change which the attitude of +England towards Turkey has undergone is the necessary consequence of +that collapse, and that it does not in the smallest degree connote +unfriendliness to Islam. In fact, they must now endeavour to separate +Islamism from politics. With the single exception of the occupation of +Cyprus, which, as Lord Goschen very truly said at the time, "prevented +British Ambassadors from showing 'clean hands' to the Sultan in proof of +the unselfishness of British action," the policy of England in the Near +East has been actuated, ever since the close of the Napoleonic wars, by +a sincere and wholly disinterested desire to save Turkish statesmen from +the consequences of their own folly. In this cause no effort has been +spared, even to the shedding of the best blood of England. All has been +in vain. History does not relate a more striking instance of the truth +of the old Latin saying that self-deception is the first step on the +road to ruin. Advice tendered in the best interests of the Ottoman +Empire has been persistently rejected. The Turks, who have always been +strangers in Europe, have shown conspicuous inability to comply with the +elementary requirements of European civilisation, and have at last +failed to maintain that military efficiency which has, from the days +when they crossed the Bosphorus, been the sole mainstay of their power +and position. It is, as Sir Edward Grey pointed out, unreasonable to +expect that we should now save them from the consequences of their own +action. Whether Moslems all over the world will or should still continue +to regard the Sultan of Turkey as their spiritual head is a matter on +which it would be presumptuous for a Christian to offer any opinion, but +however this may be, Indian Moslems would do well to recognise the fact +that circumstances, and not the hostility of Great Britain or of any +other foreign Power, have materially altered the position of the Sultan +in so far as the world of politics and diplomacy is concerned. Whether +the statesman in whose hands the destinies of Turkey now lie at once +abandon Adrianople, or whether they continue to remain there for a time +with the certainty that they will be sowing the seeds of further +bloodshed in the near future, one thing is certain. It is that the days +of Turkey as an European Power are numbered. Asia must henceforth be her +sphere of action. + +That these truths should be unpalatable to Indian Moslems is but +natural; neither is it possible to withhold some sympathy from them in +the distress which they must now feel at the partial wreck of the most +important Moslem State which the world has yet seen. But facts, however +distasteful, have to be faced, and it would be truly deplorable if the +non-recognition of those facts should lead our Moslem fellow-subjects +in India to resent the action of the British Government and to adopt a +line of conduct from which they have nothing to gain and everything to +lose. But whatever that line of conduct may be, the duty of the British +Government and nation is clear. Their European policy, whilst allowing +all due weight to Indian interests and sentiment, must in the main be +guided by general considerations based on the necessities of civilised +progress throughout the world, and on the interests and welfare of the +British Empire as a whole. The idea that that policy should be diverted +from its course in order to subserve the cause of a single Moslem Power +which has rejected British advice is, as Sir Edward Grey very rightly +remarked, wholly inadmissible. + + + + +XXVI + +SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS[106] + +_"The Spectator," August 30, 1913_ + + +In spite of the optimism at times displayed in dealing with Indian +affairs, which may be justified on grounds which are often, to say the +least, plausible, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the general +condition of India gives cause for serious reflection, if not for grave +anxiety. We are told on all sides that the East is rapidly awakening +from its torpid slumbers--even to the extent of forgetting that +characteristically Oriental habit of thought embodied in the Arabic +proverb, "Slowness is from God, hurry from the Devil." If this be so, we +must expect that, year by year, problems of ever-increasing complexity +will arise which will tax to the utmost the statesmanship of those +Western nations who are most brought in contact with Eastern peoples. +In these circumstances, it is specially desirable that the different +points of view from which Indian questions may be regarded should be +laid before the British public by representatives of various schools of +thought. But a short time ago a very able Socialist member of Parliament +(Mr. Ramsay MacDonald) gave to the world the impressions he had derived +whilst he was "careering over the plains of Rajputana," and paying +hurried visits to other parts of India. His views, although manifestly +in some degree the result of preconceived opinions, and somewhat tainted +with the dogmatism which is characteristic of the political school of +thought to which he belongs, exhibit at the same time habits of acute +observation and powers of rapid--sometimes unduly rapid--generalisation. +Neither are they, on the whole, so prejudiced as might have been +expected from the antecedents and political connections of the author. +More recently we have had in a work written by Mr. Mallik, which was +lately reviewed in these columns, a striking specimen of one of those +pernicious by-products which are the natural and unavoidable outcome of +Eastern and Western contact. We have now to deal with a work of a very +different type. Many of the very difficult problems which Mr. Mitra +discusses in his interesting series of _Anglo-Indian Studies_ open up a +wide field for differences of opinion, but whatever views may be +entertained about them, all must recognise not only that no kind of +exception can be taken to the general spirit in which Mr. Mitra +approaches Indian subjects, but also that his observations are the +result of deep reflection, and of an honest endeavour to improve rather +than exacerbate racial relations. His remarks are, therefore, well +worthy of consideration. + +Mr. Mitra shows a perfectly legitimate pride in the past history of his +country. He tells us how Hindu international lawyers anticipated Grotius +by some thirty centuries, how the Mahabharata embodies many of the +principles adopted by the Hague Conference, how India preceded Europe in +her knowledge of all the arts and sciences, even including that of +medicine, and how "Hindu drama was in its heyday before the theatres of +England, France, or Spain could be said to exist." But Mr. Mitra's +ardent patriotism does not blind him to the realities of the present +situation. A very intelligent Frenchman, M. Paul Boell, who visited +India a few years ago, came to the conclusion that the real Indian +question was not whether the English were justified in staying in the +country, but whether they could find any moral justification for +withdrawing from it. Mr. Mitra arrives at much the same conclusion as M. +Boell. "If the English were to withdraw from India to-morrow," he says, +"I fear that, notwithstanding all the peace precepts of our Mahabharata, +and in spite of the stupendous philosophy and so-called fatalism of the +Hindus, our Maharajahs would speedily be at each other's throats, as +they were before the _pax Britannica_ was established there." Moreover, +he asserts a principle of vital importance, which is but too often +ignored by his countrymen, and even at times by those who sympathise +with them in England. "Education and knowledge," he says, "can be pumped +into the student, but there is no royal road for instruction in +'capacity of management.' A Clive, with inferior education, may be a +better manager of men or of an industrial concern than the most learned +student." In other words, character rather than intellect is the +foundation not only of national but also of individual greatness--a +profound truth which is brought home every day to those who are engaged +in the actual management of public affairs, especially in the East. Mr. +Mitra, moreover, makes various praiseworthy efforts to dispel certain +illusions frequently nourished by some of his countrymen, and to +diminish the width of the religious gulf which separates the rulers from +the ruled. He quotes with approval Sir Rajendra Mookerjee's complete, +albeit facile, exposure of the fallacy, dear to the hearts of many +Indian press writers and platform speakers, that Indian interests suffer +by the introduction of British capital into India. "It is wise," Sir +Rajendra said, "to allow British capitalists to interest themselves in +our industries and thus take an active part in their development." He +prefers to dwell on the points of similarity which unite rather than on +the differences which separate Hinduism and Christianity. "The two +religions," he says, "have so much in common when one gets down to +essentials that it seems to me this ought to furnish a great bond of +sympathy between the two peoples," and he urges that "every attempt +should be made to utilise the Hindu University to remove the spirit of +segregation which unquestionably exists between the Christian Government +in India and its Hindu subjects, and thus pave the way to harmonious +co-operation between the Aryan rulers and the ruled in India." + +It will be as well, however, to turn from these points to what Mr. Mitra +considers the shortcomings of the British Government. He is not sparing +in his criticisms. He freely admits that British statesmen have devoted +their energies to improving the conditions of the masses, but he adds, +and it must be sorrowfully admitted that he is justified in adding, +"Material advantages set forth in dry statistics have never made a +nation enthusiastically loyal to the Government." He urges that, +especially in dealing with a population the vast majority of which is +illiterate, "it is the _human element_ that counts most in Imperialism, +far more than the dry bones of political economy." In an interesting +chapter of his book entitled _British Statesmanship and Indian +Psychology_, he asks the very pertinent question, "What does loyalty +mean to the Indian, whether Moslem or Hindu?" The answer which he gives +to this question is that when the idea of loyalty is brought before the +native of India, "it comes in most cases with a jerk, and quickly +disappears." The reason for its disappearance is that no bond of +fellowship has been established between the rulers and the ruled, that +the native of India is not made to feel that "he has any real part in +England's greatness," that the influence and high position of the native +Princes receive inadequate recognition, and that no scope is offered to +the military ambition of the citizens of the Indian Empire. "Under the +Crescent, the Hindu has been Commander of a Brigade; under the Union +Jack, even after a century, he sees no likelihood of rising as high as a +little subaltern." + +There is, of course, nothing very new in all this. It has been pointed +out over and over again by all who have considered Indian or Egyptian +problems seriously that the creation of some sort of rather spurious +patriotism when all the elements out of which patriotism naturally grows +are wanting, is rather like searching for the philosopher's stone. At +the same time, when so sympathetic a critic as Mr. Mitra bids us study +the "psychological traits" of Indian character, it is certainly worth +while to inquire whether all that is possible has been done in the way +of evoking sentiments of loyalty based on considerations which lie +outside the domain of material advantage. The most imaginative British +statesman of recent years has been Lord Beaconsfield. Himself a +quasi-Oriental, he grasped the idea that it would be possible to appeal +to the imagination of other Orientals. The laughter which was to some +extent provoked when, at his suggestion, Queen Victoria assumed the +title of Empress of India has now died away, and it is generally +recognised, even by those who are not on other grounds disposed to +indulge in any exaggerated worship of the primrose, that in this respect +Lord Beaconsfield performed an act dictated by true statesmanship. He +appealed to those personal and monarchical sentiments which, to a far +greater extent than democratic ideas, dominate the minds of Easterns. +The somewhat lavish expenditure incurred in connection with the King's +recent visit to India may be justified on similar grounds. Following +generally the same order of ideas, Mr. Mitra has some further +suggestions to make. The question of opening some field to the very +natural aspirations of the martial races and classes of India presents, +indeed, very great practical difficulties which it would be impossible +to discuss adequately on the present occasion. All that can be said is +that, although the well-intentioned efforts so far made to solve this +thorny problem do not appear to have met with all the success they +deserve, it is one which should earnestly engage the attention of the +Government in the hope that some practical and unobjectionable solution +may eventually be found. Mr. Mitra, however, draws attention to other +cognate points which would certainly appear to merit attention. "The +first thing," he says, "necessary to rouse Indian sentiment is to give +India a flag of her own." He points out that Canada, Australia, South +Africa, and some of the West Indian islands have flags of their own, and +he asks why, without in any way serving as a symbol of separation, India +should not be similarly treated? Then, again, he remarks--and it would +be well if some of our Parliamentarians took careful note of the +observation--that "British statesmen, in their zeal for introducing +their democratic system of government into India, forget that India is +pre-eminently an aristocratic land." This appreciation of the Indian +situation formed the basis of the political system favoured by no less +an authority than Sir Henry Lawrence, and stood in marked contrast to +that advocated by his no less distinguished brother, Lord Lawrence. Mr. +Mitra, therefore, suggests that a certain number of ruling princes or +their heirs-apparent should be allowed to sit in a reformed House of +Lords. "Canada," Lord Meath said some years ago, "is already represented +in the House of Lords," and he pertinently asked, "Why should not India +also have her peers in that assembly?" The particular proposal made by +Mr. Mitra in this connection may possibly be open to some objections, +but the general principle which he advocates, as also the suggestion +that a special flag should be devised for India, would certainly appear +to be well worthy of consideration. + +It is interesting to turn to the view entertained by Mr. Mitra on the +recent transfer of the seat of Government from Calcutta to Delhi. He +manifestly does not regard that transfer with any degree of favour. +Moreover, he thinks that from the point of view of the stability of +British rule, a great mistake has been made. Delhi, he says, has "for +centuries symbolised Moslem-Hindu collective sentiment." He assumes that +it is the object of British statesmanship to prevent any union between +Moslems and Hindus, and that the recent transfer will go far to cement +that union. "In transferring the capital to the old centre of Indian +Imperialism, England has, in a flash, aroused memories to a degree that +thousands of demagogues and agitators would not have done in a century." +He holds, therefore, that the action of British statesmen in this +respect may not improbably "produce the reverse of the result they +intended." The question of whether it was or was not wise to transfer +the seat of Government to Delhi is one on which differences of opinion +may well exist, but Mr. Mitra is in error in supposing that either the +British nation collectively or British statesmen individually have ever +proceeded so far on the _divide et impera_ principle as to endeavour in +their own interests to foster and perpetuate racial and religious +animosities. On the contrary, although they have accepted as a fact that +those animosities exist, and although they have at times been obliged to +interfere with a view to preventing one race or religion infringing the +rights and liberties of others, they have persistently done their best +to allay discord and sectarian strife. In spite of Mr. Mitra's obvious +and honourable attempts to preserve an attitude of judicial +impartiality, it is conceivable that in this instance he may, as a +Hindu, have allowed himself to be unconsciously influenced by fear +that, in transferring the capital to a Moslem centre, the British +Government has, in his own words, "placed itself more within the sway of +Moslem influence than the authorities would care to admit." + +Mr. Mitra alludes to several important points of detail, such, for +instance, as the proposal to establish a port at Cochin, which he fears +"may be allowed to perish in the coils of official routine," and the +suggestion made by Sir Rajendra Mookerjee that by a reduction of railway +freights from the mines in the Central Provinces to the port the trade +in manganese might be encouraged. It is to be hoped that these and some +other similar points will receive due attention from the Indian +authorities. Sufficient has been said to justify the opinion that Mr. +Mitra's thoughtful work is a valuable contribution to Indian literature, +and will well repay perusal by all who are interested in the solution of +existing Indian problems. + +[Footnote 106: _Anglo-Indian Studies_. By S.M. Mitra. London: Longmans +and Co. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XXVII + +THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE[107] + +_"The Spectator" September 13, 1913_ + + +It has happened to most of the great actors on the world's stage that +their posthumous fame has undergone many vicissitudes. _Laudatur ab his, +culpatur ab illis._ They have at times been eulogised or depreciated by +partisan historians who have searched eagerly the records of the past +with a view to eliciting facts and arguments to support the political +views they have severally entertained as regards the present. Even when +no such incentive has existed, the temptation to adopt a novel view of +some celebrated man or woman whose character and career have floated +down the tide of history cast in a conventional mould has occasionally +proved highly attractive from a mere literary point of view. The process +of whitewashing the bad characters of history may almost be said to +have established itself as a fashion. + +A similar fate has attended the historians who have recorded the deeds +of the world's principal actors. A few cases, of which perhaps Ranke is +the most conspicuous, may indeed be cited of historical writers whose +reputations are built on foundations so solid and so impervious to +attack as to defy criticism. But it has more usually happened, as in the +case of Macaulay, that eminent historians have passed through various +phases of repute. The accuracy of their facts, the justice of their +conclusions, their powers of correct generalisation, and the merits or +demerits of their literary style have all been brought into court, with +the result that attention has often been to a great extent diverted from +history to the personality of the historians, and that the verdict +pronounced has varied according to the special qualities the display of +which were for the time being uppermost in the public mind. + +No recent writer of history has experienced these vicissitudes to a +greater extent than the illustrious author of _Les Origines de la France +contemporaine_. That Taine should evoke the enthusiasm of any particular +school of politicians, and still less the partisans of any particular +régime in France, was from the very outset obviously impossible. When +we read his account of the _ancien régime_ we think we are listening to +the voice of a calm but convinced republican or constitutionalist. When +we note his scathing exposure of the criminal folly and ineptitude of +the Jacobins we remain momentarily under the impression that we are +being guided by a writer imbued with strong conservative or even +monarchical sympathies. The iconoclast both of the revolutionary and of +the Napoleonic legends chills alike the heart of the worshippers at +either shrine. A writer who announces in the preface of his work that +the only conclusion at which he is able to arrive, after a profound +study of the most interesting and stormy period of modern history, is +that the government of human beings is an extremely difficult task, will +look in vain for sympathy from all who have adopted any special theory +as to the best way in which that task should be accomplished. Yet, in +spite of Taine's political nihilism, it would be a grave error to +suppose that he has no general principle to enounce, or no plan of +government to propound. Such is far from being the case. Though no +politician, he was a profoundly analytical psychologist. M. Le Bon, in +his brilliant treatise on the psychological laws which govern national +development, says, "Dans toutes manifestations de la vie d'une nation, +nous retrouvons toujours l'âme immuable de la race tissant son propre +destin." The commonplace method of stating the same proposition is to +say that every nation gets the government it deserves. This, in fact, is +the gospel which Taine had to preach. He thought, in Lady +Blennerhassett's words, that it was "the underlying characteristics of a +people; and not their franchise, which determines their Constitution." + +After having enjoyed for long a high reputation amongst non-partisan +students of revolutionary history, Taine's claim to rank as an historian +of the first order has of late been vigorously assailed by a school of +writers, of whom M. Aulard is probably the best known and the most +distinguished. They impugn his authority, and even go so far as to +maintain that his historical testimony is of little or no value. How far +is this view justified? The question is one of real interest to the +historical student, whatsoever may be his nationality, and it is, +perhaps, for more than one reason, of special interest to Englishmen. In +the first place, Taine's method of writing history is eminently +calculated to commend itself to English readers. His mind was eminently +objective. He avoided those brilliant and often somewhat specious _a +priori_ generalisations in which even the best French authors are at +times prone to indulge. His process of reasoning was strictly +inductive. He only drew conclusions when he had laid an elaborate +foundation of facts on which they could be based. The spirit in which he +wrote was more Teutonic than Latin. Again, in the absence of any really +complete English history of the French Revolution--for Carlyle's +rhapsody, in spite of its unquestionable merits, can scarcely be held to +supply the want--most Englishmen have been accustomed to think that, +with De Tocqueville and Taine as their guides, they would be able to +secure an adequate grasp both of the history of the revolutionary period +and of the main political lessons which that history tends to inculcate. + +In a very interesting essay published in Lady Blennerhassett's recent +work, entitled _Sidelights_, which has been admirably translated into +English by Mrs. Gülcher, she deals with the subject now under +discussion. No one could be more fitted to cope with the task. Lady +Blennerhassett's previous contributions to literature, her encyclopaedic +knowledge of historical facts, and her thorough grasp of the main +political, religious, and economic considerations which moved the hearts +and influenced the actions of men during the revolutionary convulsion +give her a claim, which none will dare to dispute, to speak with +authority on this subject. Those who have heretofore looked for +guidance to Taine will, therefore, rejoice to note that she is able to +vindicate his reputation as an historian. "The six volumes of the +_Origines_," she says, "are, like other human works, not free from +errors and exaggerations, but in all essentials their author has proved +himself right, and his singular merit remains." + +As the most suitable illustration of Taine's historical methods Lady +Blennerhassett selects his study of Napoleon. That, she thinks, is "the +severest test of the author's skill." Taine did not, like Fournier and +others, attempt to write a history of Napoleonic facts. The strategical +and tactical genius which enabled Napoleon to sweep across Europe and to +crush Austria and Prussia on the fields of Austerlitz and Jena had no +attraction for him. He wrote a history of ideas. True to his own +psychological habit of thought, he endeavoured to "reconstruct the +figure of Napoleon on psychological and physiological lines." The +justification of this method is to be found in the fact, the truth of +which cannot be gainsaid, that a right estimate of the character of +Napoleon affords one of the principal keys to the true comprehension of +European history for a period of some twenty stirring years. History, +Lord Acton said, "is often made by energetic men steadfastly following +ideas, mostly wrong, that determine events." Napoleon is a case in +point. "The man in Napoleon explains his work." But what were the ideas +of this remarkable man, and were those ideas "mostly wrong"? + +His main idea was certainly to satisfy his personal ambition. "Ma +maîtresse," he said, "c'est le pouvoir," and in 1811, when, although he +knew it not, his star was about to wane, he said to the Bavarian General +Wrede, "In three years I shall be master of the universe." He was not +deterred by any love of country, for it should never be forgotten that, +as Lady Blennerhassett says, "this French Caesar was not a Frenchman." +Whatever patriotic feelings moved in his breast were not French but +Corsican. He never even thoroughly mastered the French language, and his +mother spoke not only bad French, but bad Italian. Her natural language, +Masson tells us, was the Corsican _patois_. In order to gratify his +ambition, all considerations based on morality were cast to the winds. +"I am not like any other man," he told Madame de Rémusat; "the laws of +morality and decorum do not apply to me." Acting on this principle he +did not hesitate to plunge the world into a series of wars. _Saevit toto +Mars impius orbe._ + +The other fundamental idea which dominated the whole of Napoleon's +conduct was based on Voltaire's cynical dictum, "Quand les hommes +s'attroupent, leurs oreilles s'allongent." He was a total disbeliever in +the wisdom or intelligence of corporate bodies. Therefore, as he told +Sir Henry Keating at St. Helena, "It is necessary always to talk of +liberty, equality, justice, and disinterestedness, and never to grant +any liberty whatever." Low as was his opinion of human intelligence, his +estimate of human honesty was still lower. Mr. Lecky, speaking of +Napoleon's relations with Madame de Staël, says: "A perfectly honest man +was the only kind of man he could never understand. Such a man perplexed +and baffled his calculations, acting on them as the sign of the cross +acts on the machinations of a demon." In his callow youth he had +coquetted with ultra-Liberal ideas. He had even written an essay in +which he expressed warm admiration for Algernon Sidney as an "enemy to +monarchies, princes, and nobles," and added that "there are few kings +who have not deserved to be dethroned." These ideas soon vanished. He +became the incarnation of ruthless but highly intelligent despotism. The +reputation acquired at Marengo gave him the authority which was +necessary as a preliminary to decisive action, and albeit, if all +accounts are true, he lost his head at the most important crisis of his +career and owed success to the firmness of that Sieyès whom he +scornfully called an "idéologue" and a "faiseur de constitutions," +nevertheless on the 18th Brumaire he was able to make captive a tired +nation which pined for peace, and little recked that it was handing over +its destinies to the most ardent devotee of the god of war that the +world has ever known. + +Once seated firmly in his saddle Napoleon proceeded to centralise the +whole French administration, and to establish a régime as despotic as +that of any of the hereditary monarchs who had preceded him. But it was +a despotism of a very different type from theirs. Theirs was stupid, and +excited the jealousy and hatred of almost every class. His was +intelligent and appealed both to the imagination and to the material +interests of every individual Frenchman. Theirs was based on privilege; +his on absolute equality. "About Napoleon's throne," Lady Blennerhassett +says, "were gathered Girondists and Jacobins, Royalists and +Thermidorians, Plebeians and the one-time Knights of the Holy Ghost, +Roman Catholics and Voltaireans. Kitchen lads became marshals; Drouet, +the postmaster of Varennes, became Under-Secretary of State; Fouché, the +torturer and wholesale murderer, a duke; the Suabian candidate for the +Lutheran Ministry, Reinhard, was appointed an Imperial Ambassador; +Murat, son of an innkeeper, a king." + +Death, it has been truly said, is the real measure of greatness. What +now remains of the stupendous fabric erected by Napoleon? "Of the work +of the Conqueror," Lady Blennerhassett says, "not one stone remains upon +another." As regards the internal reconstruction of France, the case is +very different. All inquirers are agreed that Napoleon's work endures. +Taine said that "the machinery of the year VIII." still remains. Mr. +Fisher, in his work on _Napoleonic Statesmanship_, says that Napoleon +"created a bureaucracy more competent, active, and enlightened than any +which Europe had seen." Mr. Bodley bears similar testimony. "The whole +centralised administration of France, which, in its stability, has +survived every political crisis, was the creation of Napoleon and the +keystone of his fabric." + +Napoleon's administrative creations may, indeed, be criticised from many +points of view. Notably, it may be said that, if he did not initiate, he +stimulated that excessive "fonctionnarisme" which is often regarded as +the main defect of the French system. But his creations were adapted to +the special character and genius of the nation over which he ruled. His +main title-deed to enduring fame is that, for good or evil, he +constructed an edifice which, in its main features, has lasted to this +day, which shows no signs of decay, and which has exercised a +predominant influence on the administration and judicial systems of +neighbouring countries. Neither the system itself nor the history of its +creation can be thoroughly understood without a correct appreciation of +the character and political creed of its founder. It is this +consideration which affords an ample justification of the special method +adopted by Taine in dealing with the history of the Napoleonic period. + +Nothing illustrates Napoleon's character more clearly than the numerous +_ana_ which may be culled from the pages of Madame de Rémusat, Masson, +Beugnot, Rœderer, and others. Of these, some are reproduced by Lady +Blennerhassett. The writer of the present article was informed on good +authority of the following Napoleonic anecdote. It is related that +Napoleon ordered from Bréguet, the famous Paris watchmaker, a watch for +his brother Joseph, who was at the time King of Spain. The back was of +blue enamel decorated with the letter J in diamonds. In 1813 Napoleon +was present at a military parade when a messenger arrived bearing a +brief despatch, in which it was stated that the French army had been +completely defeated at Vittoria. It was manifest that Spain was lost. +Always severely practical, all that Napoleon did, after glancing at the +despatch, was to turn to his secretary and say, "Write to Bréguet and +tell him that I shall not want that watch." It is believed that the +watch was eventually bought by the Duke of Wellington.[108] + +[Footnote 107: _Sidelights_. By Lady Blennerhassett. Translated by Edith +Gülcher. London: Constable & Co. 7s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 108: My informant in this matter was the late General Sir +Arthur Ellis. Since the above was written, the Duke of Wellington has +informed me that there is at Apsley House a watch, not made by Bréguet +but by another Paris watchmaker, on which is inscribed, "Ordered by +Napoleon for his brother Joseph." The cover is ornamented not with a +diamond J, but with a map of the Peninsula. Inside is the portrait of a +lady. I do not doubt that this is the watch to which Sir Arthur Ellis +alluded.] + + + + +XXVIII + +SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL + +_"The Spectator," September 13, 1913_ + + +All historians are agreed that contemporary ballads and broadsheets +constitute a priceless storehouse from which to draw a picture of the +society existing at the period whose history they seek to relate. Some +of those which have survived to become generally known to later ages +show such poverty of imagination and such total absence of literary +merit as to evoke the surprise of posterity at the ephemeral success +which they unquestionably achieved. An instance in point is the +celebrated poem "Lillibullero," or, as it is sometimes written, "Lilli +Burlero." Here is the final stanza of the pitiful doggerel with which +Wharton boasted that he had "sung a king out of three kingdoms": + + There was an old prophecy found in a bog: + Ireland shall be ruled by an ass and a dog; + And now this prophecy is come to pass, + For Talbot's the dog, and James is the ass. + Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la. + +Doggerel as this was, it survived the special occasion for which it was +written. When Queen Anne's reign was well advanced balladmongers were +singing: + + So God bless the Queen and the House of Hanover, + And never may Pope or Pretender come over. + Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la. + +If the song is still remembered by other than historical students, it is +probably more because Uncle Toby, when he was hard pressed in argument, +"had accustomed himself, in such attacks, to whistle Lillibullero," than +for any other reason. + +But whether it be doggerel or dignified verse, popular poetry almost +invariably possesses one great merit. When we read the outpourings of +the seventeenth and eighteenth century poets to the innumerable Julias, +Sacharissas, and Celias whom they celebrated in verse, we cannot but +feel that we are often in contact with a display of spurious passion +which is the outcome of the head rather than of the heart. Thus Johnson +tells us that Prior's Chloe "was probably sometimes ideal, but the woman +with whom he cohabited was a despicable drab of the lowest species." The +case of popular and patriotic poetry is very different. It is wholly +devoid of affectation. Whatever be its literary merits or demerits, it +always represents some genuine and usually deep-rooted conviction. It +enables us to gauge the national aspirations of the day, and to +estimate the character of the nation whose yearnings found expression in +song. The following lines--written by Bishop Still, the reputed author +of "Gammer Gurton's Needle"--very faithfully represent the feelings +excited in England at the time of the Spanish Armada: + + We will not change our Credo + For Pope, nor boke, nor bell; + And yf the Devil come himself + We'll hounde him back to hell. + +The fiery Protestant spirit which is breathed forth in these lines found +its counterpart in Germany. Luther, at a somewhat earlier period, wrote: + + Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, + Und steur des Papsts und Türken Mord. + +Take again the case of French Revolutionary poetry. The noble, as also +the ignoble, sides of that vast upheaval were alike represented in the +current popular poetry of the day. Posterity has no difficulty in +understanding why the whole French nation was thrilled by Rouget de +Lisle's famous song, to whose lofty strains the young conscripts rushed +to the frontier in order to hurl back the invaders of their country. On +the other hand, the ferocity of the period found expression in such +lines as: + + Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira! + Les aristocrates à la lanterne, + +which was composed by one Ladré, a street singer, or in the savage +"Carmagnole," a name originally applied to a peasant costume worn in the +Piedmontese town of Carmagnola, and afterwards adopted by the Maenads +and Bacchanals, who sang and danced in frenzied joy over the judicial +murder of poor "Monsieur et Madame Véto." + +The light-hearted and characteristically Latin buoyancy of the French +nation, which they have inherited from the days of that fifth-century +Gaulish bishop (Salvianus) who said that the Roman world was laughing +when it died ("moritur et ridet"), and which has stood them in good +stead in many an arduous trial, is also fully represented in their +national poetry. No other people, after such a crushing defeat as that +incurred at Pavia, would have been convulsed with laughter over the +innumerable stanzas which have immortalised their slain commander, M. de +la Palisse: + + Il mourut le vendredi, + Le dernier jour de son âge; + S'il fut mort le samedi, + Il eût vécu davantage. + +The inchoate national aspirations, as also the grave and resolute +patriotism of the Germans, found interpreters of genius in the persons +of Arndt and Körner, the latter of whom laid down his life for the +people whom he loved so well. During the Napoleonic period all their +compositions, many of which will live so long as the German language +lasts, strike the same note--the determination of Germans to be free: + + Lasst klingen, was nur klingen kann, + Die Trommeln und die Flöten! + Wir wollen heute Mann für Mann + Mit Blut das Eisen röten. + Mit Henkerblut, Französenblut-- + O süsser Tag der Rache! + Das klinget allen Deutschen gut, + Das ist die grosse Sache. + +Some six decades later, when Arndt's famous question "Was ist das +deutsche Vaterland?" was about to receive a practical answer, the German +soldier marched to the frontier to the inspiriting strains of "Die Wacht +am Rhein." + +No more characteristic national poetry was ever written than that evoked +by the civil war which raged in America some fifty years ago. Those who, +like the present writer, were witnesses on the spot of some portion of +that great struggle, are never likely to forget the different +impressions left on their minds by the poetry respectively of the North +and of the South. The pathetic song of the Southerners, "Maryland, my +Maryland," which was composed by Mr. T.R. Randall, appeared, even +whilst the contest was still undecided, to embody the plaintive wail of +a doomed cause, and stood in strong contrast to the aggressive and +almost rollicking vigour of "John Brown's Body" and "The Union for ever, +Hurrah, boys, Hurrah!" + +Even a nation so little distinguished in literature as the Ottoman Turks +is able, under the stress of genuine patriotism, to embody its hopes and +aspirations in stirring verse. The following, which was written during +the last Russo-Turkish war, suffers in translation. Its rhythm and +heroic, albeit savage, vigour may perhaps even be appreciated by those +who are not familiar with the language in which it is written: + + Achalum sanjaklari! + Ghechelim Balkanlari! + Allah! Allah! deyerek, + Dushman kanin' ichelim! + Padishahmiz chok yasha! + Ghazi Osman chok yasha![109] + +Let us now turn to Italy and Greece, the nations from which modern +Europe inherits most of its ideas, and which have furnished the greater +part of the models in which those ideas are expressed, whether in prose +or in verse. + +Although lines from Virgil, who may almost be said to have created Roman +Imperialism, have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, it is +probable that in his day no popular poetry, in the sense in which we +should understand the word, existed. But there is something extremely +pathetic--more especially in the days when the Empire was hastening to +its ruin--in the feeling, little short of adoration, which the Latin +poets showed to the city of Rome, and in the overweening confidence +which they evinced in the stability of Roman rule. This feeling runs +through the whole of Latin literature from the days of Ovid and Virgil +to the fifth-century Rutilius, who was the last of the classic poets. +Virgil speaks of Rome as "the mistress of the world" (maxima rerum +Roma). Claudian deified Rome, "O numen amicum et legum genetrix," and +Rutilius wrote: + + Exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi, + Inter sidereos Roma recepta polos, + Exaudi, genetrix hominum, genetrixque deorum, + Non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus. + +Modern Italians have made ample amends for any lack of purely popular +poetry which may have prevailed in the days of their ancestors. It +would, indeed, have been strange if the enthusiasm for liberty which +arose in the ranks of a highly gifted and emotional nation such as the +Italians had not found expression in song. When the proper time came, +Giusti, Carducci, Mameli, Gordigiani, and scores of others voiced the +patriotic sentiments of their countrymen. They all dwelt on the theme +embodied in the stirring Garibaldian hymn: + + Va fuori d'Italia! + Va fuori, o stranier! + +It will suffice to quote, as an example of the rest, one stanza from an +"Inno di Guerra" chosen at random from a collection of popular poetry +published at Turin in 1863: + + Coraggio ... All' armi, all' armi, + O fanti e cavalieri, + Snudiamo ardenti e fieri, + Snudiam l'invitto acciar! + Dall' Umbria mesto e oppresso + Ci chiama il pio fratello, + Rispondasi all' appello, + Corriamo a guerreggiar! + +The cramping isolation of the city-states of ancient Greece arrested the +growth of Hellenic nationalism, and therefore precluded the birth of any +genuinely nationalist poetry. But it only required the occasion to arise +in order to give birth to patriotic song. Such an occasion was furnished +when, under the pressing danger of Asiatic invasion, some degree of +Hellenic unity and cohesion was temporarily achieved. Then the tuneful +Simonides recorded the raising of an altar to "Zeus, the free man's god, +a fair token of freedom for Hellas." + +In more modern times the long struggle for Greek independence produced a +crop of poets who, if they could not emulate the dignity and linguistic +elegance of their predecessors, were none the less able to express their +national aspirations in rugged but withal very tuneful verse which went +straight to the hearts of their countrymen. The Klephtic ballads played +a very important part in rousing the Greek spirit during the +Graeco-Turkish war at the beginning of the last century. The fine ode of +the Zantiote Solomos has been adopted as the national anthem, whilst the +poetry of another Ionian, Aristotle Valaorites, and of numerous others +glows with genuine and perfervid patriotism. But perhaps the greatest +nationalist poet that modern Greece has produced was Rhigas Pheraios, +who, as proto-martyr in the Greek cause, was executed by the Turks in +1798, with the prophecy on his dying lips that he had "sown a rich seed, +and that the hour was coming when his country would reap its glorious +fruits." His Greek Marseillaise (Δεύτε παῖδες τῶν Ἑλλήνων) is known to +Englishmen through Byron's translation, "Sons of the Greeks, arise, +etc." But the glorious lilt and swing of his _Polemisterion_, though +probably familiar to every child in Greece, is less known in this +country. The lines, + + καλλίτερα μιᾶς ὥρας ἐλευθέρη ζωή, + παρὰ σαράντα χρόνων σκλαβιὰ καὶ φυλακή, + +recall to the mind Tennyson's + + Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. + +[Footnote 109: + + Let us unfurl the standards! + Let us cross the Balkans! + Shouting "Allah! Allah!" + Let us drink the blood of the foe! + Long live our Padishah! + Long live Ghazi Osman! +] + + + + +XXIX + +SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY + +_"The Spectator," September 20, 1913_ + + +A British Aeschylus, were such a person conceivable, might very fitly +tell his countrymen, in the words addressed to Prometheus some +twenty-three centuries ago, that they would find no friend more staunch +than Oceanus: + + οὐ γὰρ ποτ' ἐρεῖς ὡς Ὠκεανοῦ + φίλος ἐστὶ βεβαιότερός σοι. + +In truth, the whole national life of England is summed up in the fine +lines of Swinburne: + + All our past comes wailing in the wind, + And all our future thunders in the sea. + +The natural instincts of a maritime nation are brought out in strong +relief throughout the whole of English literature, from its very birth +down to the present day. The author of "The Lay of Beowulf," whoever he +may have been, rivalled Homer in the awe-stricken epithets he applied to +the "immense stream of ocean murmuring with foam" (_Il._ xviii. 402). +"Then," he wrote, "most like a bird, the foamy-necked floater went +wind-driven over the sea-wave; ... the sea-timber thundered; the wind +over the billows did not hinder the wave-floater in her course; the +sea-goer put forth; forth over the flood floated she, foamy-necked, over +the sea-streams, with wreathed prow until they could make out the cliffs +of the Goths." + +Although the claim of Alfred the Great to be the founder of the British +navy is now generally rejected by historians, it is certain that from +the very earliest times the need of dominating the sea was present in +the minds of Englishmen, and that this feeling gained in strength as the +centuries rolled on and the value of sea-power became more and more +apparent. In a poem entitled "The Libel of English Policy," which is +believed to have been written about the year 1436, the following lines +occur: + + Kepe then the see abought in specialle, + Whiche of England is the rounde walle; + As thoughe England were lykened to a cité. + And the walle enviroun were the see. + Kepe then the see, that is the walle of England, + And then is England kepte by Goddes sonde. + +A long succession of poets dwelt on the same theme. Waller--presumably +during a Royalist phase of his chequered career--addressed the King in +lines which forestalled the very modern political idea that a powerful +British navy is not only necessary for the security of England, but also +affords a guarantee for the peace of all the world: + + Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings + Homage to thee, and peace to all, she brings. + +Thomson's "Rule, Britannia," was not composed till 1740, but before that +time the heroism displayed both by the navy collectively and by +individual sailors was frequently celebrated in popular verse. The death +of Admiral Benbow, who continued to give orders after his leg had been +carried off by a chain-shot at the battle of Carthagena in 1702, is +recorded in the lines: + + While the surgeon dressed his wounds + Thus he said, thus he said, + While the surgeon dressed his wounds thus he said: + "Let my cradle now in haste + On the quarter-deck be placed, + That my enemies I may face + Till I'm dead, till I'm dead." + +But it was more especially the long struggle with Napoleon that led to +an outburst of naval poetry. It is to the national feelings current +during this period that we owe such songs as "The Bay of Biscay, O," by +Andrew Cherry; "Hearts of Oak," by David Garrick[110]; "The Saucy +Arethusa," by Prince Hoare; "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea," by Allan +Cunningham; "Ye Mariners of England," by Thomas Campbell, and a host of +others. Amongst this nautical choir, Charles Dibdin, who was born in +1745, stands pre-eminent. Sir Cyprian Bridge, in his introduction to Mr. +Stone's collection of _Sea Songs_, tells us that it is doubtful whether +Dibdin's songs "were ever very popular on the forecastle." The really +popular songs, he thinks, were of a much more simple type, and were +termed "Fore-bitters," from the fact that the man who sang them took his +place on the fore-bitts, "a stout construction of timber near the +foremast, through which many of the principal ropes were led." However +this may be, there cannot be the smallest doubt that Dibdin's songs +exercised a very powerful effect on landsmen, and contributed greatly to +foster national pride in the navy and popular sympathy with sailors. It +was presumably a cordial recognition of this fact that led Pitt to grant +him a pension. It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive poetry more +calculated to make the chord of national sentiment vibrate responsively +than "Tom Bowling" or that well-known song in which Dibdin depicted at +once the high sense of duty and the rough, albeit affectionate, +love-making of "Poor Jack": + + I said to our Poll, for, d'ye see, she would cry, + When last we made anchor for sea, + What argufies sniv'ling and piping your eye? + Why, what a damn'd fool you must be! + . . . . . + As for me in all weathers, all times, tides and ends, + Nought's a trouble from duty that springs, + For my heart is my Poll's, and my rhino my friend's, + And as for my life it's the King's; + Even when my time comes, ne'er believe me so soft + As for grief to be taken aback, + For the same little cherub that sits up aloft + Will look out a good berth for poor Jack! + +Pride in the navy and its commanders is breathed forth in the following +eulogy of Admiral Jervis (Lord St. Vincent): + + You've heard, I s'pose, the people talk + Of Benbow and Boscawen, + Of Anson, Pocock, Vernon, Hawke, + And many more then going; + All pretty lads, and brave, and rum, + That seed much noble service; + But, Lord, their merit's all a hum, + Compared to Admiral Jervis! + +"Tom Tough" is an example of the same spirit: + + I've sailed with gallant Howe, I've sailed with noble Jervis, + And in valiant Duncan's fleet I've sung yo, heave ho! + Yet more ye shall be knowing, + I was cox'n to Boscawen, + And even with brave Hawke have I nobly faced the foe. + +Perfervid patriotism and ardent loyalty find expression in the following +swinging lines: + + Some drank our Queen, and some our land, + Our glorious land of freedom; + Some that our tars might never stand + For heroes brave to lead 'em! + That beauty in distress might find + Such friends as ne'er would fail her; + But the standing toast that pleased the most + Was--the wind that blows, the ship that goes, + And the lass that loves the sailor! + +The whole-hearted Gallophobia which prevailed at the period, but which +did not preclude generous admiration for a gallant foe, finds, of +course, adequate expression in most of the songs of the period. Thus an +unknown author, who, it is believed, lived at the commencement rather +than at the close of the eighteenth century, wrote: + + Stick stout to orders, messmates, + We'll plunder, burn, and sink, + Then, France, have at your first-rates, + For Britons never shrink: + We'll rummage all we fancy, + We'll bring them in by scores, + And Moll and Kate and Nancy + Shall roll in louis-d'ors. + +It was long before this spirit died out. Twenty-two years after the +battle of Waterloo, when, on the occasion of the coronation of Queen +Victoria, Marshal Soult visited England and it was suggested that the +Duke of Wellington should propose the health of the French army at a +public dinner, he replied: "D---- 'em. I'll have nothing to do with them +but beat them." + +Inspiriting songs, such as "When Johnny comes marching home" and "The +British Grenadiers," which, Mr. Stone informs us, "cannot be older than +1678, when the Grenadier Company was formed, and not later than 1714, +when hand-grenades were discontinued," abundantly testify to the fact +that the British soldier has also not lacked poets to vaunt his prowess. +Many of the military songs have served as a distinct stimulus to +recruiting, and possibly some of them were written with that express +object in view. Sir Ian Hamilton, in his preface to Mr. Stone's +collection of _War Songs_, says, "The Royal Fusiliers are the heroes of +a modern but inspiriting song, 'Fighting with the 7th Royal Fusiliers.' +It was composed in the early 'nineties, and produced such an +overwhelming rush of recruits that the authorities could easily, had +they so chosen, have raised several additional battalions." The writer +of the present article remembers in his childhood to have learnt the +following lines from his old nurse, who was the widow of a corporal in +the army employed in the recruiting service: + + 'Twas in the merry month of May, + When bees from flower to flower do hum, + And soldiers through the town march gay, + And villagers flock to the sound of the drum. + Young Roger swore he'd leave his plough, + His team and tillage all begun; + Of country life he'd had enow, + He'd leave it all and follow the drum. + +The British military has perhaps been somewhat less happily inspired +than the naval muse. Nevertheless the army can boast of some good +poetry. "Why, soldiers, why?" the authorship of which is sometimes +erroneously attributed to Wolfe, is a fine song, and the following lines +written by an unknown author after the crushing blow inflicted on Lord +Galway's force at Almanza, in 1707, display that absence of +discouragement after defeat which is perhaps one of the most severe +tests by which the discipline and spirit of an army can be tried: + + Let no brave soldier be dismayed + For losing of a battle; + We have more forces coming on + Will make Jack Frenchman rattle. + +Abundant evidence might be adduced to show that the British soldier is +amenable to poetic influences. Sir Adam Fergusson, writing to Sir Walter +Scott on August 31, 1811, said that the canto of the _Lady of the Lake_ +describing the stag hunt "was the favourite among the rough sons of the +fighting Third Division," and Professor Courthope in his _History of +English Poetry_ quotes the following passage from Lockhart's _Life of +Scott_: + + When the _Lady of the Lake_ first reached Sir Adam Fergusson, he + was posted with his company on a point of ground exposed to the + enemy's artillery; somewhere no doubt on the lines of Torres + Vedras. The men were ordered to lie prostrate on the ground; while + they kept that attitude, the Captain, kneeling at their head, read + aloud the description of the battle in Canto VI., and the listening + soldiers only interrupted him by a joyous huzza whenever the French + shot struck the bank close above them. + +Finally, before leaving this subject, it may be noted that amidst the +verse, sometimes pathetic and sometimes rollicking, which appealed more +especially to the naval and military temperament, there occasionally +cropped up a political allusion which is very indicative of the state of +popular feeling at the time the songs were composed. Thus the following, +from a song entitled "A cruising we will go," shows the unpopularity of +the war waged against the United States in 1812: + + Be Britain to herself but true, + To France defiance hurled; + Give peace, America, with you, + And war with all the world. + +The sixteenth-century Spaniards embodied a somewhat similar maxim of +State policy as applied to England in the following distich, the +principle of which was, however, flagrantly violated by that fervent +Catholic, Philip II.: + + Con todo el mundo guerra + Y paz con Inglaterra. + +[Footnote 110: Since writing the above it has been pointed out to me +that Garrick's song was composed during the Seven Years' War +(1756-63).] + + + + +INDEX + + +Abu'l'Ala, 65 + +Acton, Lord, and the Turks, 80, 223, 266 + +Acton, Lord, on the making of history, 432 + +Adrianople, occupation of, 411 + +Akbar, Emperor, 40 + +Alexandria, society at, 228 + +Alfred the Great, 450 + +Algeria, French in, 250-263 + +Alison, 216 + +Alliteration, 71 + +Almanza, song on defeat at, 456 + +America and Free Trade, 134, 138 + +America, war with, in 1812, unpopularity of, 457 + +Amherst, Lord, occupies Burma, 288 + +Anarchy, 20 + +Ancient Art and Ritual, 361-371 + +Andrade, Colonel Freire d', 380, 383, 384 + +Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, 162, 167 + +Anglo-Saxon individualism, 15 + +Anthology, translations from, 72 + +Anthropology, bases of, 364 + +Antigonus Gonatas, 351 + +Anti-Slavery Society, 373 + +Apollo Belvedere, 370 + +Aratus of Sicyon, 358 + +Army reform, 107-126 + +Arndt, national poetry, 443 + +Arthur, Sir George, 123 + +Asoka, 355 + +Assouan dam, 296 + +Athenaeus, on dancing, 370 + +Attwood, Mr. Charles, 196 + +Aulard, M., on Taine, 430 + +_Aurengzebe_, 73 + +Australia, field of anthropology, 365 + + +Bacchylides, 65 + +Bacon, 31 + +Barère, 299 + +Barth, Dr., on Hinduism, 88 + +Beaconsfield, Lord, and Egypt, 203 + +Beaconsfield, Lord, and Empress of India, 422 + +Bembo, Cardinal, 56 + +Benbow, Admiral, death of, 451 + +Beowulf, on the sea, 450 + +Berthier, Marshal, 279 + +Bismarck, Prince, on statesmanship, 251 + +_Bleak House_, 119 + +Blennerhassett, Lady, 427-438 + +Blücher, Marshal, hallucinations of, 285 + +Blunt, Mr. Wilfrid, 81 + +Bodley, Mr., on French administration, 436 + +Boell, M. Paul, 418 + +Bolingbroke, 182 + +Bossuet, definition of heretic, 307 + +Boufflers, Madame de, 231 + +Brahmanism, Sir A. Lyall on, 89 + +Bright, John, and Disraeli, 183 + +British officials and parliamentary institutions, 27 + +Browning, Mrs., 60 + +Brunnow, Baron, and the Balkan States, 275 + +Bryce, Mr., on the writing of history, 214 + +Budget system, 44 + +Buffon, on style, 184 + +Bugeaud, Marshal, 257 + +Bureaucracy, Continental, 29 + +Burgoyne, Sir John, 281 + +Burke, on fiscal symmetry, 39 + +Burma, 287-297 + +Butcher, Dr. S, on Eastern politics, 26 + + +Cabarrus, La (Madame Tallien), 298-306 + +Cambronne, 298 + +Campbell, Lord, Disraeli on, 186 + +Canada and Free Trade, 131 + +Capitulations in Egypt, 156-174 + +Capo d'Istria, Count, 271 + +Cardwell, Lord, 109, 116, 117, 119 + +Carlyle, 219 + +"Carmagnole," the, 442 + +Cavagnari, Major, murder of, 100 + +Cavour, 269, 272 + +Centralisation, 34 + +Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, 244, 248 + +China, 141-155 + +Chinese labour, 147 + +Chinese War of 1860, 120 + +Chitnavis, Sir Gangadhar, 334, 335 + +Chremonides, 357, 358 + +Christianity, effect on Roman Empire, 7-19, 52, 53 + +Claudian on duration of Roman Empire, 1 + +Clinton, Mr. Fynes, 216 + +Cobden, Mr., 127 + +Cobdenism, abuse of, 328 + +Coleridge, on poetry, 59 + +Coleridge, on prose, 55 + +Collier, Jeremy, on Cranmer's death, 56 + +Commerce and Imperialism, 11 + +Confucianism, 143, 153 + +Constantinople, foundation of, 7 + +Constitutions in the East, 141 + +Cornwallis, Lord, 36 + +_Corvée_ in Egypt, 396 + +Cory, Mr. William, 69 + +Cowley's translation of Claudian, 67 + +Creighton, 222 + +Crewe, Marquis of, 330 + +Crimean War and India, 410 + +Crowe, Sir Eyre, 375 + +Curiales, Fiscal Oppression of, 21 + +Curtius Rufinus, 356 + +Curtius, Professor, on the Greek language, 226 + +Curzon, Lord, on army affairs, 243 + +Cyprus, occupation of, 276, 413 + + +Danton, 302, 303 + +Deffand, Madame du, 212 + +Delhi, transfer of Indian Capital to, 424 + +Delos, possession of, 358 + +Demetrius, on style, 227 + +Democracy and Imperialism, 23 + +Democritus, epigram of, 231 + +Demolins, M., on Anglo-Saxons, 15, 28 + +Demosthenes, Professor Bury, on oratory, 57 + +Derby, Lord, the Rupert of debate, 184 + +Dibdin, 452-454 + +Didactic poetry, 61 + +Dietzel, Professor, 137, 337 + +Dino, Duchesse de, 59 + +Disraeli, 177-203 + +Dithyramb, meaning of word, 361 + +Dostoïevsky, 205, 210 + +Draga, Queen, 271 + +Dryden, on translation, 55 + +Duckworth, Admiral, 270 + +Dufferin, Lord, and Egypt, 25, 160 + + +East India Company, policy of, 17 + +Education in China, 150 + +Egypt, recent history of, 253 + +Emerson, 54 + +Emerson, on inconsistency, 243 + +Empedocles, translation of, 62 + +Emu Man, 362 + +England and Islam, 407-415 + +English individualism, 30 + +Ennius, 345 + +Epicharmus, 82 + +Esquimaux tug of-war, 363 + +Euhemerism, 89 + +Exarch, Bulgarian, 268 + +Expropriation under Roman law, 41 + + +Famines in India, 146 + +Farrer, Lord, on trade, 12 + +Ferry, M. Jules, and Burma, 290 + +Finance of Roman Empire, 36 + +Fisher, Mr., on _Napoleonic Statesmanship_, 436 + +Flag for India, 423 + +"Fore-bitters," 452 + +Forest Department, Burmese, 294 + +Fouché, 305 + +Free Trade, international aspects of, 127-140 + +Froude, 219 + + +Gardiner, historian of the Stuart period, 221 + +George IV. and Napoleon, 282 + +German word-coining, 70 + +Gibbon and the sciences, 308 + +Gladstone, Mr., translations, 63 + +Gogol, 211 + +Gooch, Mr., 214 + +Gordon, General, and the Mahdi, 101-102 + +Goschen, Lord, and Disraeli, 198 + +Government of Subject Races, 1-53 + +Graham, Sir James, 192 + +Grant, Sir Hope, as a musician, 284 + +Greek adjectives, 70 + +Greek drama, 366 + +Greek joyousness, 212 + +Gregorovius on foreign rule, 84 + +Grenadiers, British, 455 + +Grey, Sir Edward, 168, 411, 412 + +Grey, Sir Edward, definition of slavery, 387, 391, 393 + +Grey, Sir Edward, diplomatic success of, 276 + +Grey, Sir Edward, on the Balkan Peninsula, 407 + +Griboïédof, 210 + +Grundy, Dr., translations, 232 + +Guizot, 217 + + +Hackländer, on European slave life, 386 + +Hamilton, Alexander, 138 + +Hamilton, Lord George, on Sir Alfred Lyall, 92 + +Harrison, Miss, 361-371 + +Havelock's love of Homer, 359 + +Headlam, Dr., 68 + +Heliogabalus, the Emperor, 299 + +Helps, Sir Arthur, on inaccuracy, 373 + +Hermann, Professor, 311 + +Herrick, translation of, 68 + +Hieronymus, 354 + +History, the writing of, 214-225 + +Hodgkin, Dr. Thomas, 1, 7, 20, 36, 347 + +Homer's women, 315 + +Humanitarianism, 378 + +Hunkiar-Iskelesi, Treaty of, 271 + + +Ilbert Bill, 94 + +Imperial schools of thought, 10 + +Imperialism, Mr. Mallik on, 321 + +Imperialist, profession of faith of, 1 + +India Council, 33 + +India, Customs duties in, 329 + +India, Fiscal Question in, 327-339 + +Indian Frontier policy, 47-49 + +Indian Problems, 416-426 + +Indiction, Roman, 36 + +_Ion_, Dr. Verrall on, 314 + +Ireland, Disraeli's opinion on, 193-194 + +Islam, influence of, 347 + +Italian patriotic poetry, 446 + + +Jaray, M., 165 + +Jebb, Professor, on the humanities, 308 + +Jervis, Admiral, 453 + +Judicial reform in Algeria, 258 + +Julian the Apostate, 353 + +Jute, duty on, 336 + + +Keats, on Melancholy, 60 + +Kennedy, Mr., translations, 68 + +Kitchener, Viscount, 114, 169, 174, 255 + +Klephtic ballads, 447 + + +Labour, free, at San Thomé, 400 + +Lacretelle and Madame Tallien, 301 + +Lamartine, 218 + +Lamb on sanity of genius, 61 + +Land revenue system in India, 42-45 + +Land tax in Eastern countries, 40 + +Lanfrey, 218 + +Lawrence, Lord, Afghan policy, 100 + +Lawrence, Lord, Central Asian policy, 47 + +Lawrence, Lord, on Indian Taxation, 45 + +Lawson's Greek Folk-Lore, 368 + +Le Bon, M., on national characteristics, 429 + +Lear, Edward, in Italy, 142 + +Lecky, on morals in politics, 19 + +Legislation in India, 39 + +Lermontof, 210 + +Lessing and Greece, 312 + +Lethbridge, Sir Roper, 327-339 + +"Lillibullero," 439 + +List, Friedrich, on Free Trade, 131 + +Livingstone, Dr., on Portuguese, 11 + +Lucian, 56 + +Lucretius, Dryden's translation of, 62 + +Luther, hymn by, 441 + +Lyall, Sir Alfred, 77-103 + +Lyall, Sir Alfred, on uniformity, 350 + +_Lycidas_, Professor Walker on, 60 + +Lycon, the philosopher, 354 + +Lytton, Earl of, 99 + + +Macaulay, partiality of, 221 + +MacDonald, Mr. Ramsay, 417 + +Mahabharata, 419 + +Mahaffy, Professor, 229 + +Mahdi, the, Sir Alfred Lyall on, 101 + +Mahmoud II., 270 + +Maine, Sir Henry, 96 + +Mallik, Mr., 317-326 + +Manchester School, Disraeli on, 194 + +Manipur massacres, 91 + +Marie Antoinette, 242 + +Marquardt, 216 + +"Maryland, my Maryland," 443 + +Masséna, Marshal, 279 + +Maurice, Sir Frederick, 360 + +McIlwraith, Sir Malcolm, 360 + +Meath, Earl of, 424 + +Mecca, importance of, 409 + +Melbourne, Lord, 185 + +Militarism, 126 + +Miller, Mr., 264-276 + +Millet, M. Philippe, 259-262 + +Milner, Viscount, and Party, 237-249 + +Mindon, King of Burma, 289 + +Missionaries in China, 147 + +Mitford, 216 + +Mitra, Mr. S.M., 416-426 + +Mommsen, 216 + +Montalembert, 218 + +Mookerjee, Sir Rajendra, 419, 426 + +Moslems in India, 407 + +Motley, 219 + + +Napoleon, a bad shot, 279 + +Napoleon and Corsica, 433 + +Napoleon and Count Chaptal, 349 + +Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire, 264 + +Napoleon and the battle of Vittoria, 437 + +Napoleon, Roederer on, 92-93 + +Napoleon, Taine on, 348, 427-438 + +Napoleon's patent of nobility, 355 + +Napoleon, Joseph, 437 + +Newbolt, Mr., 91 + +Nicholson, Professor Shield, 135 + +Nietzsche, on Greek simplicity, 227 + +Northbrook, Lord, 118 + +Novelists, political influence of, 208 + + +Ottoman Empire, 264-276 + +Ouvrard, the Banker, 306 + + +Pakenham, Miss (Duchess of Wellington), 283 + +Palisse, M de la, 442 + +Palmerston, Lord, and the Eastern question, 274 + +_Paradise Lost_ and Euripides, 66 + +Paris Commune, 20 + +Party system, 240 + +Pauperisation of Roman Proletariat, 19 + +Peacock, T.L., on education, 310 + +Peasant proprietorship, 197 + +Peel, Sir Robert, 185, 190, 192 + +Peel, Sir Robert, on Free Trade, 199-202 + +Peel, Sir Robert, unpopularity, 202 + +Pericles and public works, 296 + +Pericles, metaphor of, 58 + +Philip II., 457 + +Physiocrates, 16 + +Pitt, on British trade, 11 + +Plagiarism, 65 + +Plato, epitaph by, 235 + +Plevna, defence of, 272 + +Poe, Edgar, 60 + +Poetry, Aristotelian canon, 229 + +_Polemisterion_, 448 + +Polish Diet, 173 + +Poole, Mr. Stanley Lane-, 149 + +"Poor Jack," 453 + +"Popkins's plan," 186 + +Portuguese in Africa, 11 + +Portuguese slavery, 372-406 + +Pouchkine, 210 + +Principe, Island of, 398 + +Proté, epitaph on, 236 + +Prudentius, epitaph on Julian, 353 + +Ptolemy Keraunos, 357 + +Pyrrhus, 352 + + +Rangoon, 290 + +Rao, Sir Dinkur, 84 + +Redmond, Mr., 143 + +Red River campaign, 112 + +Reid, Mr., 340 + +Rhigas Pheraios, 447 + +Ridgeway, Professor, 365 + +Ripon, Marquis of, 98, 331 + +Robespierre, 300, 302, 303, 305 + +Roebuck, Mr. Disraeli on, 186 + +Roman Empire, cause of downfall, 7 + +Rome and Municipal Government, 340-350 + +"Rosa Rosarum," 234 + +_Round Table_, article in, 246 + +Rump, Herr, 152 + +Russian Romance, 204-213 + +Rutilius on power of Rome, 445 + + +Sainte-Beuve, 217 + +St. Cyr, Marshal, as a musician, 284 + +St. Ovinus, epitaph on, 58 + +St.-Victor, Paul de, 57 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, 173 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, and immigrant coolies, 405 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, foreign policy, 101, 123 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, and Turkey, 265 + +Sappho, translation of, 67 + +Scott, Sir George, 291, 294, 295, 297 + +Scott, Sir Walter, advice to Shelley, 285 + +Scott, Sir Walter, Carlyle on, 219 + +Scott, Sir Walter, influence of his poetry on soldiers, 456 + +Seeley, Sir Thomas, 223 + +Sharaki lands in Egypt, 42 + +Shelburne, Lord, 182 + +Shelley, on translating, 59 + +Shelley, Lady, 277-286 + +Silva, Carlos de, 389, 391 + +Slavery, 19 + +Smallbones, Mr., 386, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 403, 406 + +Smith, Dr. Adam, 16 + +Smith, Rev. Sydney, 142 + +Songs, Naval and Military, 449-457 + +Songs, Patriotic and National, 439 + +Soudan, campaign of 1896-98, 112 + +Soudan, commercial policy in, 139 + +Soudan, slavery in the, 379 + +Staël, Madame de, and Napoleon, 434 + +Still, Bishop, 441 + +Stratonice, 356 + +Sultans not rightful Caliphs, 409 + +Surgeon, the, and the soldier, 111 + +Swadeshi movement in India, 86 + +Swift, Dean, 208 + +Swinburne, on the sea, 449 + +Symmons, Dr., on blank verse, 62 + +Szechuan Railway Company, 151 + + +Taine, on Napoleon, 427 + +Tallien, 298-306 + +Tariff wars, 137 + +Tell, William, legend of, 217 + +Tenasserim and E.I. Co. directors, 288 + +Tennyson and Euripides, 65, 81 + +Themistocles, saying of, 341 + +Theodosius, 84 + +Thibaw, King of Burma, 289 + +Thiers on French Conservatism, 197 + +Tiberius, 349 + +Tolstoy, 212 + +Toryism, middle-class, 196 + +Tourguenef, 211 + +Translation and Paraphrase, 54-73 + +Turgot on corporate bodies, 18 + +Turkish war-song, 444 + + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_, 208 + +Usury in the East, 43 + +Utilitarianism, 309 + + +Vandal, M., 142 + +Vasconcellos, Senhor, 383, 404 + +Vauvenargues, 65 + +Venezélos, M., 269 + +Verrall, Dr., 312-316 + +Viceroy of India and his Council, 33 + +Vogüé, M. de, 204 + +Voltaire, 209, 434 + + +Waller, on the British Navy, 451 + +Walpole, Sir Robert, 240 + +War Office, 115 + +Wellington, Duke of, and the Ottoman Empire, 264 + +Wellington, Duke of, as a musician, 284 + +Wellington, Duke of, at Waterloo, 284 + +Wellington, Duke of, hatred of French, 454 + +Wellington, Duke of, on Cambronne, 298 + +Wellington, Duke of, on India, 10 + +Wellingtoniana, 277-286 + +Wensleydale, Lord, translation by, 67 + +Wilson, Sir Fleetwood, 332, 338 + +Wingfield, Mr., 402, 404 + +Wolfe, General, 359 + +Wolseley, Viscount, 107 + +Wolseley, Viscount, and Sir Frederick Maurice, 360 + +Wrede, Generals and Napoleon, 433 + +Wyllie, Colonel, 392, 398, 399, 401, 405 + + +THE END + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, +1908-1913, by Evelyn Baring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 17320-0.txt or 17320-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/2/17320/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/17320-0.zip b/17320-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d208f7c --- /dev/null +++ b/17320-0.zip diff --git a/17320-8.txt b/17320-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ea85c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/17320-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11060 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 +by Evelyn Baring + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 + +Author: Evelyn Baring + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + + + + + +POLITICAL AND LITERARY + +ESSAYS + +1908-1913 + + +BY THE + +EARL OF CROMER + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1913 + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE + + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO + + +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. +TORONTO + + + + +PREFACE + + +I have to thank the editors of _The Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly Reviews_, +_The Nineteenth Century and After_, and _The Spectator_ for allowing the +republication of these essays, all of which appeared originally in their +respective columns. + +No important alterations or additions have been made, but I should like +to observe, as regards the first essay of the series--on "The Government +of Subject Races"--that, although only six years have elapsed since it +was written, events in India have moved rapidly during that short +period. I adhere to the opinions expressed in that essay so far as they +go, but it will be obvious to any one who has paid attention to Indian +affairs that, if the subject had to be treated now, many very important +issues, to which I have not alluded, would have to be imported into the +discussion. + +CROMER. + +_September 30, 1913._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW" + +I. THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES 3 +II. TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE 54 + + +"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW" + +III. SIR ALFRED LYALL 77 + + +"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER" + +IV. ARMY REFORM 107 +V. THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE 127 +VI. CHINA 141 +VII. THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT 156 + + +"THE SPECTATOR" + +VIII. DISRAELI 177 +IX. RUSSIAN ROMANCE 204 +X. THE WRITING OF HISTORY 214 +XI. THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY 226 +XII. LORD MILNER AND PARTY 237 +XIII. THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA 250 +XIV. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 264 +XV. WELLINGTONIANA 277 +XVI. BURMA 287 +XVII. A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION 298 +XVIII. THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS 307 +XIX. AN INDIAN IDEALIST 317 +XX. THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA 227 +XXI. ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 340 +XXII. A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER 351 +XXIII. ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL 361 +XXIV. PORTUGUESE SLAVERY 372 +XXV. ENGLAND AND ISLAM 407 +XXVI. SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS 416 +XXVII. THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE 427 +XXVIII. SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL 439 +XXIX. SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY 449 + + INDEX 459 + + + + +"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW" + + + + +I + +THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES[1] + +_"The Edinburgh Review," January 1908_ + + +The "courtly Claudian," as Mr. Hodgkin, in his admirable and instructive +work, calls the poet of the Roman decadence, concluded some lines which +have often been quoted as applicable to the British Empire, with the +dogmatic assertion that no limit could be assigned to the duration of +Roman sway. _Nec terminus unquam Romanae ditionis erit._ At the time +this hazardous prophecy was made, the huge overgrown Roman Empire was +tottering to its fall. Does a similar fate await the British Empire? Are +we so far self-deceived, and are we so incapable of peering into the +future as to be unable to see that many of the steps which now appear +calculated to enhance and to stereotype Anglo-Saxon domination, are but +the precursors of a period of national decay and senility? + +A thorough examination of this vital question would necessarily involve +the treatment of a great variety of subjects. The heart of the British +Empire is to be found in Great Britain. It is not proposed in this place +to deal either with the working of British political institutions, or +with the various important social and economic problems which the actual +condition of England presents, but only with the extremities of the body +politic, and more especially with those where the inhabitants of the +countries under British rule are not of Anglo-Saxon origin. + +What should be the profession of faith of a sound but reasonable +Imperialist? He will not be possessed with any secret desire to see the +whole of Africa or of Asia painted red on the maps. He will entertain +not only a moral dislike, but also a political mistrust of that +excessive earth-hunger, which views with jealous eyes the extension of +other and neighbouring European nations. He will have no fear of +competition. He will believe that, in the treatment of subject races, +the methods of government practised by England, though sometimes open to +legitimate criticism, are superior, morally and economically, to those +of any other foreign nation; and that, strong in the possession and +maintenance of those methods, we shall be able to hold our own against +all competitors. + +On the other hand, he will have no sympathy with those who, as Lord +Cromer said in a recent speech, "are so fearful of Imperial greatness +that they are unwilling that we should accomplish our manifest destiny, +and who would thus have us sink into political insignificance by +refusing the main title which makes us great." + +An Imperial policy must, of course, be carried out with reasonable +prudence, and the principles of government which guide our relations +with whatsoever races are brought under our control must be politically +and economically sound and morally defensible. This is, in fact, the +keystone of the Imperial arch. The main justification of Imperialism is +to be found in the use which is made of the Imperial power. If we make a +good use of our power, we may face the future without fear that we shall +be overtaken by the Nemesis which attended Roman misrule. If the reverse +is the case, the British Empire will deserve to fall, and of a surety it +will ultimately fall. There is truth in the saying, of which perhaps we +sometimes hear rather too much, that the maintenance of the Empire +depends on the sword; but so little does it depend on the sword alone +that if once we have to draw the sword, not merely to suppress some +local effervescence, but to overcome a general upheaval of subject +races goaded to action either by deliberate oppression, which is highly +improbable, or by unintentional misgovernment, which is far more +conceivable, the sword will assuredly be powerless to defend us for +long, and the days of our Imperial rule will be numbered. + +To those who believe that when they rest from their earthly labours +their works will follow them, and that they must account to a Higher +Tribunal for the use or misuse of any powers which may have been +entrusted to them in this world, no further defence of the plea that +Imperialism should rest on a moral basis is required. Those who +entertain no such belief may perhaps be convinced by the argument that, +from a national point of view, a policy based on principles of sound +morality is wiser, inasmuch as it is likely to be more successful, than +one which excludes all considerations save those of cynical +self-interest. There was truth in the commonplace remark made by a +subject of ancient Rome, himself a slave and presumably of Oriental +extraction, that bad government will bring the mightiest empire to +ruin.[2] + +Some advantage may perhaps be derived from inquiring, however briefly +and imperfectly, into the causes which led to the ruin of that +political edifice, which in point of grandeur and extent, is alone +worthy of comparison with the British Empire. The subject has been +treated by many of the most able writers and thinkers whom the world has +produced--Gibbon, Guizot, Mommsen, Milman, Seeley, and others. For +present purposes the classification given by Mr. Hodgkin of the causes +which led to the downfall of the Western Empire has been adopted. They +were six in number, viz.: + +1. The foundation of Constantinople. + +2. Christianity. + +3. Slavery. + +4. The pauperisation of the Roman proletariat. + +5. The destruction of the middle class by the fiscal oppression of the + Curiales. + +6. Barbarous finance. + +1. _The Foundation of Constantinople._--It is, for obvious reasons, +unnecessary to discuss this cause. It was one of special application to +the circumstances of the time, notably to the threatening attitude +towards Rome assumed by the now decadent State of Persia. + +2. _Christianity._--That the foundation of Christianity exercised a +profoundly disintegrating effect on the Roman Empire is unquestionable. +Gibbon, although he possibly confounds the tenets of the new creed with +the defects of its hierarchy, dwells with characteristic emphasis on +this congenial subject.[3] Mr. Hodgkin, speaking of the analogy between +the British present and the Roman past, says: + + The Christian religion is with us no explosive force threatening + the disruption of our most cherished institutions. On the contrary, + it has been said, not as a mere figure of speech, that + "Christianity is part of the common law of England." And even the + bitterest enemies of our religion will scarcely deny that, upon the + whole, a nation imbued with the teaching of the New Testament is + more easy to govern than one which derived its notions of divine + morality from the stories of the dwellers on Olympus. + +From the special point of view now under consideration, the case for +Christianity admits of being even more strongly stated than this, for no +attempt will be made to deal with the principles which should guide the +government of a people imbued with the teaching of the New Testament, +but rather with the subordinate, but still highly important question of +the treatment which a people, presumed to be already imbued with that +teaching, should accord to subject races who are ignorant or irreceptive +of its precepts. From this point of view it may be said that +Christianity, far from being an explosive force, is not merely a +powerful ally. It is an ally without whose assistance continued success +is unattainable. Although dictates of worldly prudence and opportunism +are alone sufficient to ensure the rejection of a policy of official +proselytism, it is none the less true that the code of Christian +morality is the only sure foundation on which the whole of our vast +Imperial fabric can be built if it is to be durable. The stability of +our rule depends to a great extent upon whether the forces acting in +favour of applying the Christian code of morality to subject races are +capable of overcoming those moving in a somewhat opposite direction. We +are inclined to think that our Teutonic veracity and gravity, our +national conscientiousness, our British spirit of fair play, to use the +cant phrase of the day, our free institutions, and our press--which, +although it occasionally shows unpleasant symptoms of sinking beneath +the yoke of special and not highly reputable interests, is still greatly +superior in tone to that of any other nation--are sufficient guarantees +against relapse into the morass of political immorality which +characterised the relations between nation and nation, and notably +between the strong and the weak, even so late as the eighteenth +century.[4] It is to be hoped and believed that, for the time being, +this contention is well founded, but what assurance is there--if the +Book which embodies the code of Christian morality may without +irreverence be quoted--that "that which is done is that which shall be +done"?[5] That is the crucial question. + +There appear to be at present existent in England two different Imperial +schools of thought, which, without being absolutely antagonistic, +represent very opposite principles. One school, which, for want of a +better name, may be styled that of philanthropy, is occasionally tainted +with the zeal which outruns discretion, and with the want of accuracy +which often characterises those whose emotions predominate over their +reason. The violence and want of mental equilibrium at times displayed +by the partisans of this school of thought not infrequently give rise to +misgivings lest the Duke of Wellington should have prophesied truly when +he said, "If you lose India, the House of Commons will lose it for +you."[6] These manifest defects should not, however, blind us to the +fact that the philanthropists and sentimentalists are deeply imbued with +the grave national responsibilities which devolve on England, and with +the lofty aspirations which attach themselves to her civilising and +moralising mission. + +The other is the commercial school. Pitt once said that "British policy +is British trade." The general correctness of this aphorism cannot be +challenged, but, like most aphorisms, it only conveys a portion of the +truth; for the commercial spirit, though eminently beneficent when under +some degree of moral control, may become not merely hurtful, but even +subversive of Imperial dominion, when it is allowed to run riot. +Livingstone said that in five hundred years the only thing the natives +of Africa had learnt from the Portuguese was to distil bad spirits with +the help of an old gun barrel. This is, without doubt, an extreme +case--so extreme, indeed, that even the hardened conscience of +diplomatic Europe was eventually shamed into taking some half-hearted +action in the direction of preventing a whole continent from being +demoralised in order that the distillers and vendors of cheap spirits +might realise large profits. But it would not be difficult to cite other +analogous, though less striking, instances. Occasions are, indeed, not +infrequent when the interests of commerce apparently clash with those of +good government. The word "apparently" is used with intent; for though +some few individuals may acquire a temporary benefit by sacrificing +moral principle on the altar of pecuniary gain, it may confidently be +stated that, in respect to the wider and more lasting benefits of trade, +no real antagonism exists between commercial self-interest and public +morality.[7] + +To be more explicit, what is meant when it is said that the commercial +spirit should be under some control is this--that in dealing with +Indians or Egyptians, or Shilluks, or Zulus, the first question is to +consider what course is most conducive to Indian, Egyptian, Shilluk, or +Zulu interests. We need not always inquire too closely what these +people, who are all, nationally speaking, more or less _in statu +pupillari_, themselves think is best in their own interests, although +this is a point which deserves serious consideration. But it is +essential that each special issue should be decided mainly with +reference to what, by the light of Western knowledge and experience +tempered by local considerations, we conscientiously think is best for +the subject race, without reference to any real or supposed advantage +which may accrue to England as a nation, or--as is more frequently the +case--to the special interests represented by some one or more +influential classes of Englishmen. If the British nation as a whole +persistently bears this principle in mind, and insists sternly on its +application, though we can never create a patriotism akin to that based +on affinity of race or community of language, we may perhaps foster some +sort of cosmopolitan allegiance grounded on the respect always accorded +to superior talents and unselfish conduct, and on the gratitude derived +both from favours conferred and from those to come.[8] There may then at +all events be some hope that the Egyptian will hesitate before he throws +in his lot with any future Arabi The Berberine dweller on the banks of +the Nile may, perhaps, cast no wistful glances back to the time when, +albeit he or his progenitors were oppressed, the oppression came from +the hand of a co-religionist. Even the Central African savage may +eventually learn to chant a hymn in honour of _Astraea Redux_, as +represented by the British official who denies him gin but gives him +justice. More than this, commerce will gain. It must necessarily follow +in the train of civilisation, and, whilst it will speedily droop if that +civilisation is spurious, it will, on the other hand, increase in volume +in direct proportion to the extent to which the true principles of +Western progress are assimilated by the subjects of the British king and +the customers of the British trader. This latter must be taught patience +at the hands, of the statesman and the moralist. It is a somewhat +difficult lesson to learn. The trader not only wishes to acquire wealth; +he not infrequently wishes that its acquisition should be rapid, even at +the expense of morality and of the permanent interests of his country. + + Nam dives qui fieri vult, + Et cito vult fieri. Sed quae reverentia legum, + Quis metus aut pudor est unquam properantis avari?[9] + +This question demands consideration from another point of view. A clever +Frenchman, keenly alive to what he thought was the decadence of his own +nation, published a remarkable book in 1897. He practically admitted +that the Anglophobia so common on the continent of Europe is the outcome +of jealousy.[10] He acknowledged the proved superiority of the +Anglo-Saxon over the Latin races, and he set himself to examine the +causes of that superiority. The general conclusion at which he arrived +was that the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race lay in the fact that its +society, its government, and its habits of thought were eminently +"particularist," as opposed to the "communitarian" principles prevalent +on the continent of Europe. He was probably quite right. It has, indeed, +become a commonplace of English political thought that for centuries +past, from the days of Raleigh to those of Rhodes, the position of +England in the world has been due more to the exertions, to the +resources, and occasionally, perhaps, to the absence of scruple found in +the individual Anglo-Saxon, than to any encouragement or help derived +from British Governments, whether of the Elizabethan, Georgian, or +Victorian type. The principle of relying largely on individual effort +has, in truth, produced marvellous results. It is singularly suited to +develop some of the best qualities of the vigorous, self-assertive +Anglo-Saxon race. It is to be hoped that self-help may long continue to +be our national watchword. + +It is now somewhat the fashion to regard as benighted the school of +thought which was founded two hundred years ago by Du Quesnay and the +French Physiocrates, which reached its zenith in the person of Adam +Smith, and whose influence rapidly declined in England after the great +battle of Free Trade had been fought and won. But whatever may have been +the faults of that school, and however little its philosophy is capable +of affording an answer to many of the complex questions which modern +government and society present, it laid fast hold of one unquestionably +sound principle. It entertained a deep mistrust of Government +interference in the social and economic relations of life. Moreover, it +saw, long before the fact became apparent to the rest of the world, +that, in spite not only of some outward dissimilarities of methods but +even of an instinctive mutual repulsion, despotic bureaucracy was the +natural ally of those communistic principles which the economists deemed +it their main business in life to combat and condemn. Many regard with +some disquietude the frequent concessions which have of late years been +made in England to demands for State interference. Nevertheless, it is +to be hoped that the main principle advocated by the economists still +holds the field, that individualism is not being crushed out of +existence, and that the majority of our countrymen still believe that +State interference--being an evil, although sometimes admittedly a +necessary evil--should be jealously watched and restricted to the +minimum amount absolutely necessary in each special case. + +Attention is drawn to this point in order to show that the observations +which follow are in no degree based on any general desire to exalt the +power of the State at the expense of the individual. + +Our habits of thought, our past history, and our national character all, +therefore, point in the direction of allowing individualism as wide a +scope as possible in the work of national expansion. Hence the career of +the East India Company and the tendency displayed more recently in +Africa to govern through the agency of private companies. On the other +hand, it is greatly to be doubted whether the principles, which a wise +policy would dictate in the treatment of subject races, will receive +their application to so full an extent at the hands of private +individuals as would be the case at the hands of the State. The +guarantee for good government is even less solid where power is +entrusted to a corporate body, for, as Turgot once said, "La morale des +corps les plus scrupuleux ne vaut jamais celle des particuliers +honntes."[11] In both cases, public opinion is relatively impotent. In +the case of direct Government action, on the other hand, the views of +those who wish to uphold a high standard of public morality can find +expression in Parliament, and the latter can, if it chooses, oblige the +Government to control its agents and call them to account for unjust, +unwise, or overbearing conduct. More than this, State officials, having +no interests to serve but those of good government, are more likely to +pay regard to the welfare of the subject race than commercial agents, +who must necessarily be hampered in their action by the pecuniary +interests of their employers. + +Our national policy must, of course, be what would be called in statics +the resultant of the various currents of opinion represented in our +national society. Whether Imperialism will continue to rest on a sound +basis depends, therefore, to no small extent, on the degree to which +the moralising elements in the nation can, without injury to all that +is sound and healthy in individualist action, control those defects +which may not improbably spring out of the egotism of the commercial +spirit, if it be subject to no effective check.[12] + +If this problem can be satisfactorily solved, then Christianity, far +from being a disruptive force, as was the case with Rome, will prove one +of the strongest elements of Imperial cohesion. + +3. _Slavery._--It is not necessary to discuss this question, for there +can be no doubt that, in so far as his connexion with subject races is +concerned, the Anglo-Saxon in modern times comes, not to enslave, but to +liberate from slavery. The fact that he does so is, indeed, one of his +best title-deeds to Imperial dominion. + +4. _The Pauperisation of the Roman Proletariat._--This is the _Panem et +Circenses_ policy. Mr. Hodgkin appears to think that in this direction +lies the main danger which threatens the British Empire. + + "Of all the forces," he says, "which were at work for the + destruction of the prosperity of the Roman world, none is more + deserving of the careful study of an English statesman than the + grain-largesses to the populace of Rome.... Will the great + Democracies of the twentieth century resist the temptation to use + political power as a means of material self-enrichment?" + +Possibly Mr. Hodgkin is right. The manner in which the leaders of the +Paris Commune dealt with the rights of property during their disastrous, +but fortunately very brief, period of office in 1871, serves as a +warning of what, in an extreme case, may be expected of despotic +democracy in its most aggravated form. Moreover, misgovernment, and the +fiscal oppression which is the almost necessary accompaniment of +militarism dominant over a poverty-stricken population, have latterly +developed on the continent of Europe, and more especially in Italy, a +school of action--for anarchism can scarcely be dignified by the name of +a school of thought--which regards human life as scarcely more sacred +than property. It may be that some lower depth has yet to be reached, +although it is almost inconceivable that such should be the case. +Anarchy takes us past the stage of any defined political or social +programme. It would appear, so far as can at present be judged, to +embody the last despairing cry of ultra-democracy "Furens." + +It is permissible to hope that our national sobriety, coupled with the +inherited traditions derived from centuries of free government, will +save us from such extreme manifestations of democratic tyranny as those +to which allusion has been made above. The special danger in England +would appear rather to arise from the probability of gradual dry rot, +due to prolonged offence against the infallible and relentless laws of +economic science. Both British employers of labour and British workmen +are insular in their habits of thought, and insular in the range of +their acquired knowledge. They do not appear as yet to be thoroughly +alive to the new position created for British trade by foreign +competition. It is greatly to be hoped that they will awake to the +realities of the situation before any permanent harm is done to British +trade, for the loss of trade involves as its ultimate result the +pauperisation of the proletariat, the adoption of reckless expedients +based on the _Panem et Circenses_ policy to fill the mouths and quell +the voices of the multitude, and finally the suicide of that Empire +which is the offspring of trade, and which can only continue to exist so +long as its parent continues to thrive and to flourish. + +5. _The Destruction of the Middle Class by the Fiscal Oppression of the +Curiales._--Leaving aside points of detail, which were only of special +application to the circumstances of the time, this cause of Roman decay +may, for all purposes of comparison and instruction, be stated in the +following terms: funds, which should have been spent by the +municipalities on local objects, were, from about the close of the third +century, diverted to the Imperial Exchequer, by which they were not +infrequently squandered in such a manner as to confer no benefit of any +kind on the taxpayers, whether local or Imperial. Thus, the system of +local self-government, which, Mr. Hodgkin says, was, during the early +centuries of the Empire, "both in name and fact Republican," was +shattered. + +It does not appear probable that an attempt will ever be made to divert +the public revenues of the outlying dependencies of Great Britain to the +Imperial Exchequer. The lesson taught by the loss of the American +Colonies has sunk deeply into the public mind. Moreover, the example of +Spain stands as a warning to all the world. The principle that local +revenues should be expended locally has become part of the political +creed of Englishmen; neither is it at all likely to be infringed, even +in respect to those dependencies whose rights and privileges are not +safeguarded by self-governing institutions. + +There may, however, be some little danger ahead in a sense exactly +opposite to that which was incurred by Rome--the danger, that is to +say, that, under the pressure of Imperialism, backed by influential +class and personal interests, too large an amount of the Imperial +revenue may be diverted to the outlying dependencies. If this were done, +two evils might not improbably ensue. + +In the first place, the British democracy might become restive under +taxation imposed for objects the utility of which would not perhaps be +fully appreciated, and might therefore be disposed to cast off too +hastily the mantle of Imperialism. It is but a short time ago that an +influential school of politicians persistently dwelt on the theme that +the colonies were a burthen to the Mother Country. Although, for the +time being, views of this sort are out of fashion, no assurance can be +felt that the swing of the pendulum may not bring round another +anti-Imperialist phase of public opinion. + +In the second place, if financial aid to any considerable extent were +afforded by the British Treasury to the outlying dependencies, a serious +risk would be run that this concession would be followed at no distant +period by a plea in favour of financial control from England. The +establishment of this latter principle would strike a blow at one of the +main props on which our Imperial fabric is based. It would tend to +substitute a centralised, in the place of our present decentralised +system. Those who are immediately responsible for the administration of +our outlying dependencies will, therefore, act wisely if they abstain +from asking too readily for Imperial pecuniary aid in order to solve +local difficulties. + +These considerations naturally lead to some reflections on the +principles of government adopted in those dependencies of the Empire, +the inhabitants of which are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. Colonies whose +inhabitants are mainly of British origin stand, of course, on a wholly +different footing. They carry their Anglo-Saxon institutions and habits +of thought with them to their distant homes. + +Englishmen are less imitative than most Europeans in this sense--that +they are less disposed to apply the administrative and political systems +of their own country to the government of backward populations; but in +spite of their relatively high degree of political elasticity, they +cannot shake themselves altogether free from political +conventionalities. Moreover, the experienced minority is constantly +being pressed by the inexperienced majority in the direction of +imitation. Knowing the somewhat excessive degree of adulation which some +sections of the British public are disposed to pay to their special +idol, Lord Dufferin, in 1883, was almost apologetic to his countrymen +for abstaining from an act of political folly. He pleaded strenuously +for delay in the introduction of parliamentary institutions into Egypt, +on the ground that our attempts "to mitigate predominant absolutism" in +India had been slow, hesitating, and tentative. He brought poetic +metaphor to his aid. He deprecated paying too much attention to the +"murmuring leaves," in other words, imagining that the establishment of +a Chamber of Notables implied constitutional freedom, and he exhorted +his countrymen "to seek for the roots," that is to say, to allow each +Egyptian village to elect its own mayor (Sheikh). + +It cannot be too clearly understood that whether we deal with the roots, +or the trunk, or the branches, or the leaves, free institutions in the +full sense of the term must for generations to come be wholly unsuitable +to countries such as India and Egypt. If the use of a metaphor, though +of a less polished type, be allowed, it may be said that it will +probably never be possible to make a Western silk purse out of an +Eastern sow's ear; at all events, if the impossibility of the task be +called in question, it should be recognised that the process of +manufacture will be extremely lengthy and tedious. + +But it is often urged that, although no rational person would wish to +advocate the premature creation of ultra-liberal institutions in +backward countries, at the same time that for several reasons it is +desirable to move gradually in this direction. The adoption of this +method is, it is said, the only way to remedy the evils attendant on a +system of personal government in an extreme form; it enables us to learn +the views of the natives of the country, even although we may not accord +to the latter full power of deciding whether or not those views should +be put in practice; lastly, it constitutes a means of political +education, through the agency of which the subject race will gradually +acquire the qualities necessary to autonomy. + +The force of these arguments cannot be denied, but there should be no +delusion as to the weight which should be attached to them. It has been +very truly remarked by a writer, who has dealt with the idiosyncrasies +of a singularly versatile nation, whose genius presented in every +respect a marked contrast to that of Eastern races, that from the dawn +of history Eastern politics have been "stricken with a fatal +simplicity."[13] Do not let us for one moment imagine that the fatally +simple idea of despotic rule will readily give way to the far more +complex conception of ordered liberty. The transformation, if it ever +takes place at all, will probably be the work, not of generations, but +of centuries. + +So limited is the stock of political ideas in the world that some +modified copy of parliamentary institutions is, without doubt, the only +method which has yet been invented for mitigating the evils attendant on +the personal system of government. But it is a method which is +thoroughly uncongenial to Oriental habits of thought. It may be doubted +whether, by the adoption of this exotic system, we gain any real insight +into native aspirations and opinions. As to the educational process, the +experience of India is not very encouraging. The good government of most +Indian towns depends to this day mainly, not on the Municipal +Commissioners, who are generally natives, but on the influence of the +President, who is usually an Englishman. + +A further consideration in connection with this point is also of some +importance. It is that British officials in Eastern countries should be +encouraged by all possible means to learn the views and the requirements +of the native population. The establishment of mock parliaments tends +rather in the opposite direction, for the official on the spot sees +through the mockery and is not infrequently disposed to abandon any +attempt to ascertain real native opinion, through disgust at the +unreality, crudity, or folly of the views set forth by the putative +representatives of native society. + +For these reasons it is important that, in our well-intentioned +endeavours to impregnate the Oriental mind with our insular habits of +thought, we should proceed with the utmost caution, and that we should +remember that our primary duty is, not to introduce a system which, +under the specious cloak of free institutions, will enable a small +minority of natives to misgovern their countrymen, but to establish one +which will enable the mass of the population to be governed according to +the code of Christian morality. A freely elected Egyptian Parliament, +supposing such a thing to be possible, would not improbably legislate +for the protection of the slave-owner, if not the slave-dealer, and no +assurance can be felt that the electors of Rajputana, if they had their +own way, would not re-establish suttee. Good government has the merit of +presenting a more or less attainable ideal. Before Orientals can attain +anything approaching to the British ideal of self-government they will +have to undergo very numerous transmigrations of political thought. + +The question of local self-government may be considered from another, +and almost equally important point of view. + +When writers such as M. Demolins speak of the "particularist" system of +England and of the "communitarian" system prevalent on the continent of +Europe, they generally mean to contrast the British plan of acting +through the agency of private individuals with the Continental practice +of relying almost entirely on the action of the State. This is the +primary and perhaps the most important signification of the two phrases, +but the principles which these phrases are intended to represent admit +of another application. + +It is difficult for those Englishmen who have not been brought into +business relations with Continental officials to realise the extreme +centralisation of their administrative and diplomatic procedures. The +tendency of every French central authority is to allow no discretionary +power whatever to his subordinate. He wishes, often from a distance, to +control every detail of the administration. The tendency of the +subordinate, on the other hand, is to lean in everything on superior +authority. He does not dare to take any personal responsibility; indeed, +it is possible to go further and say that the corroding action of +bureaucracy renders those who live under its baneful shadow almost +incapable of assuming responsibility. By force of habit and training it +has become irksome to them. They fly for refuge to a superior official, +who, in his turn, if the case at all admits of the adoption of such a +course, hastens to merge his individuality in the voluminous pages of a +code or a Government circular. + +The British official, on the other hand, whether in England or abroad, +is an Englishman first and an official afterwards. He possesses his full +share of national characteristics. He is by inheritance an +individualist. He lives in a society which, so far from being, as is the +case on the Continent, saturated with respect for officialism, is +somewhat prone to regard officialism and incompetency as synonymous +terms. By such association, any bureaucratic tendency which may exist on +the part of the British official is kept in check, whilst his +individualism is subjected to a sustained and healthy course of tonic +treatment. + +Thus, the British system breeds a race of officials who relatively to +those holding analogous posts on the Continent, are disposed to exercise +their central authority in a manner sympathetic to individualism; who, +if they are inclined to err in the sense of over-centralisation, are +often held in check by statesmen imbued with the decentralising spirit; +and who, under these influences, are inclined to accord to local agents +a far wider latitude than those trained in the Continental school of +bureaucracy would consider either safe or desirable. + +On the other hand, looking to the position and attributes of the local +agents themselves, it is singular to observe how the habit of assuming +responsibility, coupled with national predispositions acting in the same +direction, generates and fosters a capacity for the beneficial exercise +of power. This feature is not merely noticeable in comparing British +with Continental officials, but also in contrasting various classes of +Englishmen _inter se_. The most highly centralised of all our English +offices is the War Office. For this reason, and also because a military +life necessarily and rightly engenders a habit of implicit obedience to +orders, soldiers are generally less disposed than civilians to assume +personal responsibility and to act on their own initiative. +Nevertheless, whether in military or civil life, it may be said that the +spirit of decentralisation pervades the whole British administrative +system, and that it has given birth to a class of officials who have +both the desire and the capacity to govern, who constitute what Bacon +called[14] the _Participes curarum_, namely, "those upon whom Princes +doe discharge the greatest weight of their affaires," and who are +instruments of incomparable value in the execution of a policy of +Imperialism. + +The method of exercising the central control under the British system +calls for some further remarks. It varies greatly in different +localities. + +Under the Indian system a council of experts is attached to the +Secretary of State in England. A good authority on this subject says[15] +that there can be no question of the advantage of this system. + + No man, however experienced and laborious, could properly direct + and control the various interests of so vast an Empire, unless he + were aided by men with knowledge of different parts of the country, + and possessing an intimate acquaintance with the different and + complicated subjects involved in the government and welfare of so + many incongruous races. + +On the assumption that India is to be governed from London, there can be +no doubt of the validity of this argument. But, as has been frequently +pointed out,[16] this system tends inevitably towards +over-centralisation, and if the British Government is to continue to +exercise a sort of [Greek: pantokratoria] to use an expressive Greek +phrase, over a number of outlying dependencies of very various types, +over-centralisation is a danger which should be carefully shunned. It is +wiser to obtain local knowledge from those on the spot, rather than from +those whose local experience must necessarily diminish in value in +direct proportion to the length of the period during which they have +been absent from the special locality, and who, moreover, are under a +strong temptation, after they leave the dependency, to exercise a +detailed control over their successors. It is greatly to be doubted, +therefore, whether, should the occasion arise, this portion of the +Indian system is deserving of reproduction. + +There is, however, another portion of that system which is in every +respect admirable, and the creation of which bears the impress of that +keen political insight which, according to many Continental authorities, +is the birthright of the Anglo-Saxon race. India is governed locally by +a council composed mainly of officials who have passed their adult lives +in the country; but the Viceroy, and occasionally the legal and +financial members of Council, are sent from England and are usually +chosen by reason of their general qualifications, rather than on account +of any special knowledge of Indian affairs. This system avoids the +dangers consequent on over-centralisation, whilst at the same time it +associates with the administration of the country some individuals who +are personally imbued with the general principles of government which +are favoured by the central authority. Its tendency is to correct the +defect from which the officials employed in the outlying portions of the +Empire are most likely to suffer, namely, that of magnifying the +importance of some local event or consideration, and of unduly +neglecting arguments based on considerations of wider Imperial import. +It enhances the idea of proportion, which is one of the main qualities +necessary to any politician or governing body. Long attention to one +subject, or group of subjects, is apt to narrow the vision of +specialists. The adjunct of an element, which is not Anglo-Indian, to +the Indian Government acts as a corrective to this evil. The members of +the Government who are sent from England, if they have no local +experience, are at all events exempt from local prejudices. They bring +to bear on the questions which come before them a wide general knowledge +and, in many cases, the liberal spirit and vigorous common sense which +are acquired in the course of an English parliamentary career. + +It may be added, as a matter of important detail, that it would be +desirable, in order to give continuity to Indian policy, to select young +men to fill the place of Viceroy, and to extend the period of office +from five to seven, or even to ten years. + +Although over-centralisation is to be avoided, a certain amount of +control from a central authority is not only unavoidable; if properly +exercised, it is most beneficial. One danger to which the local agent +is exposed is that, being ill-informed of circumstances lying outside +his range of political vision, he may lose sight of the general +principles which guide the policy of the Empire; he may treat subjects +of local interest in a manner calculated to damage, or even to +jeopardise, Imperial interests. The central authority is in a position +to obviate any danger arising from this cause. To ensure the harmonious +working of the different parts of the machine, the central authority +should endeavour, so far as is possible, to realise the circumstances +attendant on the government of the dependency; whilst the local agent +should be constantly on the watch lest he should overrate the importance +of some local issue, or fail to appreciate fully the difficulties which +beset the action of the central authority. + +To sum up all that there is to be said on this branch of the subject, it +may be hoped that the fate which befell Rome, in so far as it was due to +the special causes of decay now under consideration, may be averted by +close adherence to two important principles. The first of these +principles is that local revenues should be expended locally. The second +is that over-centralisation should above all things be avoided. This may +be done either by the creation of self-governing institutions in those +dependencies whose civilisation is sufficiently advanced to justify the +adoption of this course; or by decentralising the executive Government +in cases where self-government, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, +is impossible or undesirable. + +6. _Barbarous Finance._--Mr. Hodgkin says that the system of Imperial +taxation under the Roman Empire was "wasteful, oppressive, and in a +word, barbarous." He gives, as an instance in point, the Roman +Indiction. This was the name given to the system under which the taxable +value of the land throughout the Empire was reassessed every fifteen +years. At each reassessment, Mr. Hodgkin says, "the few who had +prospered found themselves assessed on the higher value which their +lands had acquired, while the many who were sinking down into poverty +obtained, it is to be feared, but little relief from taxation on account +of the higher rate which was charged to all." + +It is somewhat unpleasant to reflect that the system which Mr. Hodgkin +so strongly condemns, and which he even regards as one of the causes of +the downfall of the Roman Empire, is--save in respect to the intervals +of periodical reassessment--very similar to that which exists everywhere +in India, except in the province of Bengal, where the rights conferred +on the zemindars under Lord Cornwallis's Permanent Settlement are still +respected in spite of occasional unwise suggestions that time and the +fall in the value of the rupee have obliterated any moral obligations to +maintain them. Nor are the results obtained in India altogether +dissimilar from those observable under Roman rule. The knowledge that +reassessment was imminent has, it is believed, often discouraged the +outlay of private capital on improving the land. More than this, it is +notorious that, at one time, some provinces suffered greatly from the +mistakes made by the settlement officers. These latter were animated +with the best intentions, but, in spite of their marked ability--for +they were all specially selected men--they often found the task +entrusted to them impossible of execution. Unfortunately political or +administrative errors cannot be condoned by reason of good intentions. +Like the Greeks of old, the natives of India suffer from the mistakes of +their rulers. + +The intentions of the British, as compared with the Roman Government +are, however, noteworthy from one point of view, inasmuch as from a +correct appreciation of those intentions it is possible to evolve a +principle perhaps in some degree calculated to avert the consequences +which befell Rome, partly by reason of fiscal errors. + +In spite of some high-sounding commonplaces which were at times +enunciated by Roman lawgivers and statesmen, and in which a ring of +utilitarian philosophy is to be recognised,[17] and of the further fact +that, as in the case of Verres, a check was sometimes applied to the +excesses of local Governors, it is almost certainly true that the rulers +of Rome did not habitually act on the recognition of any very strong +moral obligation binding on the Imperial Government in its treatment of +subject races. The merits of any fiscal system were probably judged +mainly from the point of view of the amount of funds which it poured +into the Treasury. The fiscal principles on which the Emperors of Rome +acted survived long after the fall of the Roman Empire. They deserve the +epithet of "barbarous" which Mr. Hodgkin has bestowed upon them. + +The point of departure of the British Government is altogether +different. Its intentions are admirable. Every farthing which has been +spent--and, it may be feared, often wasted--on the numerous military +expeditions in which the Government of India has been engaged during the +last century would, in the eyes of many, certainly be considered as +expenditure incurred on objects which were of paramount interest to the +Indian taxpayers. Moreover, a whole category of British legislation +connected with fiscal matters has been undertaken, not so much with a +view to increase the revenue as with the object of distributing the +burthen of taxation equally amongst the different classes of society. +Much of this legislation has been perfectly justifiable and even +beneficial. Nevertheless, it should never be forgotten that it is +generally based on the purely Western principle that abstract justice is +in itself a desirable thing to attain, and that a fiscal or +administrative system stands condemned if it is wanting in symmetry. It +was against any extreme application of this principle that Burke +directed some of his most forcible diatribes.[18] It has been already +pointed out that the commendable want of intellectual symmetry which is +the inherited possession of the Englishman gives him a very great +advantage as an Imperialist agent over those trained in the rigid and +bureaucratic school of Continental Europe. But the Englishman is a +Western, albeit an Anglo-Saxon Western, and, from the point of view of +all processes of reasoning, the gulf which separates any one member of +the European family from another is infinitely less wide than that which +divides all Westerns from all Orientals. Even the Englishman, therefore, +is constrained--sometimes much against his will--to bow down in that +temple of Logic, the existence of which the Oriental is disposed +altogether to ignore. Indeed, sometimes the choice lies between the +enforcement on the reluctant Oriental of principles based on +logic--occasionally on the very simple science of arithmetic--or +abandoning the work of civilisation altogether. From this point of view, +the dangers to which the British Empire is exposed by reason of fiscal +measures are due not, as was the case with Rome, to barbarous, but +rather to ultra-scientific finance. The following is a case in point. + +The land-tax has always been the principal source from which Oriental +potentates have derived their revenues. For all practical purposes it +may be said that the system which they have adopted has generally been +to take as much from the cultivators as they could get. Reformers, such +as the Emperor Akbar, have at times endeavoured to introduce more +enlightened methods of taxation, and to carry into practice the +theories upon which the fiscal system in all Moslem countries is based. +Those theories are by no means so objectionable as is often supposed. +But the reforms which some few capable rulers attempted to introduce +have almost always crumbled away under the rgime of their +successors.[19] In practice, the only limit to the demands of the ruler +of an Oriental State has been the ability of the taxpayers to satisfy +them.[20] The only defence of the taxpayers has lain in the concealment +of their incomes at the risk of being tortured till they divulged their +amount. + +Nevertheless, even under such a system as this, the wind is tempered to +the shorn lamb by the fact that Oriental rulers recognise that they +cannot get money from a man who possesses none. If, from drought or +other causes, the cultivator raises no crop, he is not required to pay +any land-tax. The idea of expropriation for the non-payment of taxes is +purely Western and modern. Under Roman law, it was the rule in contracts +for rent that a tenant was not bound to pay if any _vis major_ prevented +him from reaping. + +The European system is very different. A far less heavy demand is made +on the cultivator, but he is, at all events in principle and sometimes +in practice, called upon to meet it in good and bad years alike. He is +expected to save in years of plenty in order to make good the deficit in +lean years. If he is unable to pay, he is liable to be expropriated, and +he often is expropriated. This plan is just, logical, and very Western. +It may be questioned whether Oriental cultivators do not sometimes +rather prefer the oppression and elasticity of the Eastern to the +justice and rigidity of the Western system. + +Various palliatives have been adopted in India with a view to giving +some elasticity to the working of the Land Revenue system. In Egypt, +where the administration is much less Anglicised than in India, and +where, for various reasons, the treatment of this subject presents +relatively fewer difficulties, it is the practice now, as was the case +under purely native rule, to remit the taxes on what is known as +_Sharaki_ lands, that is to say, land which, owing to a low Nile, has +not been irrigated. It is not, however, necessary to dwell on the +details of this subject. It will be sufficient to draw attention to the +different points of view from which the Eastern and the Western approach +the subject of fiscal administration. The latter urges with unanswerable +logic that financial equilibrium must be maintained, and that he cannot +frame a trustworthy Budget unless he knows the amount he may count on +receiving from direct taxes, especially from the land-tax. The Eastern +replies that he knows nothing of either financial equilibrium or of +budgets, that it has, indeed, from time immemorial been the custom to +leave him nought but a bare pittance when he had money, but to refrain +from any endeavours to extort money from him when he had none. + +Another instance drawn, not from the practices of fiscal administration, +but from legislation on a cognate subject, may be cited. + +Directly Western civilisation comes in contact with a backward Oriental +Society, the relations between debtor and creditor are entirely changed. +A social revolution is effected. The Western applies his code with stern +and ruthless logic. The child-like Eastern, on the other hand, cannot be +made to understand that his house should be sold over his head because +he affixed his seal to a document, which, very probably, he had never +read, or, at all events, had never fully understood, and which was +presented to him by a man at one time apparently animated with +benevolent intentions, inasmuch as he wished to lend him money, but who +subsequently showed his malevolence by asking to be repaid his loan with +interest at an exorbitant rate. + +Here, again, many palliatives have been suggested and some have been +applied, but many of them sin against the economic law, which provides +that legislation intended to protect a man against the consequences of +his own folly or improvidence is generally unproductive of result. + +In truth, no thoroughly effective remedy can be applied in cases such as +those mentioned above, without abandoning all real attempt at progress. +Civilisation must, unfortunately, have its victims, amongst whom are to +some extent inevitably numbered those who do not recognise the paramount +necessities of the Budget system, and those who contract debts with an +inadequate appreciation of the _caveat emptor_ principle. Nevertheless, +the Western financier will act wisely if, casting aside some portion of +his Western habit of thought, he recognises the facts with which he has +to deal, and if, fully appreciating the intimate connection between +finance and politics in an Eastern country, he endeavours, so far as is +possible, to temper the clean-cut science of his fiscal measures in such +a manner as to suit the customs and intellectual standard of the subject +race with which he has to deal. + +The question of the amount of taxation levied stands apart from the +method of its imposition. It may be laid down as a principle of +universal application that high taxation is incompatible with assured +stability of Imperial rule.[21] + +The financier and the hydraulic engineer, who is a powerful ally of the +financier, have probably a greater potentiality of creating an +artificial and self-interested loyalty than even the judge. The reasons +are obvious. In the first place, the number of criminals, or even of +civil litigants, in any society is limited; whereas practically the +whole population consists of taxpayers. In the second place, the +arbitrary methods of administering justice practised by Oriental rulers +do not shock their subjects nearly so much as Europeans are often +disposed to think. Custom has made it in them a property of easiness. +They often, indeed, fail to appreciate the intentions, and are disposed +to resent the methods, of those whose object it is to establish justice +in the law-courts. On the other hand, the most ignorant Egyptian fellah +or Indian ryot can understand the difference between a Government which +takes nine-tenths of his crop in the shape of land-tax, and one which +only takes one-third or one-fourth. He can realise that he is better off +if the water is allowed to flow periodically on to his fields, than he +was when the influential landowner, who possessed a property up-stream +on the canal, made a dam and prevented him from getting any water at +all. + +These principles would probably meet with general acceptance from all +who have considered the question of Imperial rule. They are, indeed, +almost commonplace. Unfortunately, in practice the necessity of +conforming to them is often forgotten. India is the great instance in +point. Englishmen are often so convinced that the natives of India ought +to be loyal, they hear so much said of their loyalty, they appreciate so +little the causes which are at work to produce disloyalty, and, in spite +of occasional mistakes due to errors of judgment, they are in reality so +earnestly desirous of doing what they consider, sometimes perhaps +erroneously, their duty towards the native population, that they are apt +to lose sight of the fact that the self-interest of the subject race is +the principal basis of the whole Imperial fabric. They forget, whilst +they are adding to the upper story of the house, that the foundations +may give way. + +This is not the place to enter into any lengthy discussion upon Indian +affairs. It may be said, however, that the Indian history of the last +few years certainly gives cause for some anxiety. Attention was at one +time too exclusively paid to frontier policy, which constitutes only +one, and that not the most important, element of the complex Indian +problem. + +That the policy of "masterly inactivity," to use the phrase +epigrammatically, but perhaps somewhat incorrectly, applied to the line +of action advocated by Lord Lawrence in 1869, required some +modifications as the onward movement of Russia in Asia developed, will +scarcely be contested by the most devoted of Lawrentian partisans and +followers. That those modifications were wisely introduced is a +proposition the truth of which it is difficult to admit. The portion of +Lord Lawrence's programme which was necessarily temporary, inasmuch as +it depended on the circumstances of the time, was rejected without +taking sufficient account of the further and far more important portion +which was of permanent application. This latter portion was defined in +an historic and oft-quoted despatch which he indited on the eve of his +departure from India, and which may be regarded as his political +testament. In this despatch, Lord Lawrence, speaking with all the +authority due to a lifelong acquaintance with Indian affairs, laid down +the broad general principle that the strongest security of our rule lay +"in the contentment, if not in the attachment, of the masses."[22] The +truth of this general principle was at one time too much neglected. +Under the influence of a predominant militarism acting on too pliant +politicians, vast military expenditure was incurred. Territory lying +outside the natural geographical frontier of India was occupied, the +acquisition of which was condemned not merely by sound policy, but also +by sound strategy. Taxation was increased, and, generally, the material +interests of the natives of India were sacrificed and British Imperial +rule exposed to subsequent danger, in order to satisfy the exigencies of +a school of soldier-politicians who only saw one, and that the most +technical, aspect of a very wide and complex question. + +Neither, unfortunately, is there any sure guarantee that the mistakes, +which it is now almost universally admitted were made, will not recur. +Where, indeed, are we to look for any effective check? The rulers of +India, whether they sit in Calcutta or London, may again be carried away +by the partial views of an influential class, or of a few masterful +individuals. It is absurd to speak of creating free institutions in +India to control the Indian Government. Experience has shown that +parliamentary action in England not infrequently degenerates into +acrimonious discussion and recrimination dictated by party passion; in +any case, it is generally too late to change the course of events. Still +less reliance can be placed on the action of the British Press, which +falls a ready victim to the specious arguments advanced by some +strategical pseudo-Imperialist in high position, or by some fervent +acolyte who has learnt at the feet of his master the fatal and facile +lesson of how an Empire, built up by statesmen, may be wrecked by the +well-intentioned but mistaken measures recommended by specialists to +ensure Imperial salvation. The managers of the London newspapers afford, +indeed, be it said to their credit, every facility for the publication +of views adverse to those which they themselves advocate. But it is none +the less true that, during the years when the unwise frontier policy of +a few years ago was being planned and executed, the voices of the +opposition, although they were those of Indian statesmen and officials +who could speak with the highest authority, failed to obtain an adequate +hearing until the evil was irremediable. On the other hand, the views of +the strategical specialists went abroad over the land, with the result +that ill-informed and careless public opinion followed their advice +without having any very precise idea of whither it was being led. + +It would appear, therefore, that there is need for great care and +watchfulness in the management of Indian affairs. That same +inconsistency of character and absence of definite aim, which are such +notable Anglo-Saxon qualities and which adapt themselves so admirably to +the requirements of Imperial rule, may in some respects constitute an +additional danger. If we are not to adopt a policy based on securing the +contentment of the subject race by ministering to their material +interests, we must of necessity make a distinct approach to the +counter-policy of governing by the sword alone. In that case, it would +be as well not to allow a free native Press, or to encourage high +education. Any repressive or retrograde measures in either of these +directions would, without doubt, meet with strong and, to a great +extent, reasonable opposition in England. A large section of the public, +forgetful of the fact that they had stood passively by whilst measures, +such as the imposition of increased taxes, which the natives of India +really resent, were adopted, would protest loudly against the adoption +of other measures which are, indeed, open to objection, but which +nevertheless touch Oriental in a far less degree than they affect +Western public feeling. The result of this inconsistency is that our +present system rather tends to turn out demagogues from our colleges, to +give them every facility for sowing their subversive views broadcast +over the land, and at the same time to prepare the ground for the +reception of the seed which they sow. Now this is the very reverse of a +sound Imperial policy. We cannot, it is true, effectually prevent the +manufacture of demagogues without adopting measures which would render +us false to our acknowledged principles of government and to our +civilising mission. But we may govern in such a manner as to give the +demagogue no fulcrum with which to move his credulous and ill-informed +countrymen and co-religionists. The leading principle of a government of +this nature should be that low taxation is the most potent instrument +with which to conjure discontent. This is the policy which will tend +more than any other to the stability of Imperial rule. If it is to be +adopted, two elements of British society will have to be kept in check +at the hands of the statesman acting in concert with the moralist. These +are Militarism and Commercial Egotism. The Empire depends in a great +degree on the strength and efficiency of its army. It thrives on its +commerce. But if the soldier and the trader are not kept under some +degree of statesmanlike control, they are capable of becoming the most +formidable, though unconscious, enemies of the British Empire. + +It will be seen, therefore, that though there are some disquieting +circumstances attendant on our Imperial rule, the general result of an +examination into the causes which led to the collapse of Roman power, +and a comparison of those causes with the principles on which the +British Empire is governed, are, on the whole, encouraging. To every +danger which threatens there is a safeguard. To every portion of the +body politic in which symptoms of disease may occur, it is possible to +apply a remedy. + +Christianity is our most powerful ally. We are the sworn enemies of the +slave-dealer and the slave-owner. The dangers arising from the possible +pauperisation of the proletariat may, it is to be hoped, be averted by +our national character and by the natural play of our time-honoured +institutions. If we adhere steadily to the principle that local revenues +are to be expended locally, and if, at the same time, we give all +reasonable encouragement to local self-government and shun any tendency +towards over-centralisation, we shall steer clear of one of the rocks on +which the Roman ship of state was wrecked. Unskilful or unwise finance +is our greatest danger, but here again the remedy lies ready to hand if +we are wise enough to avail ourselves of it. It consists in adapting our +fiscal methods to the requirements of our subject races, and still more +in the steadfast rejection of any proposals which, by rendering high +taxation inevitable, will infringe the cardinal principle on which a +sound Imperial policy should be based. That principle is that, whilst +the sword should be always ready for use, it should be kept in reserve +for great emergencies, and that we should endeavour to find, in the +contentment of the subject race, a more worthy and, it may be hoped, a +stronger bond of union between the rulers and the ruled. + +If any more sweeping generalisation than this is required, it may be +said that the whole, or nearly the whole, of the essential points of a +sound Imperial policy admit of being embodied in this one statement, +that, whilst steadily avoiding any movement in the direction of official +proselytism, our relations with the various races who are subjects of +the King of England should be founded on the granite rock of the +Christian moral code. + + Humanity, as it passes through phase after phase of the historical + movement, may advance indefinitely in excellence; but its advance + will be an indefinite approximation to the Christian type. A + divergence from that type, to whatever extent it may take place, + will not be progress, but debasement and corruption. In a moral + point of view, in short, the world may abandon Christianity, but + can never advance beyond it. This is not a matter of authority, or + even of revelation. If it is true, it is a matter of reason as much + as anything in the world.[23] + +[Footnote 1: _Italy and Her Invaders_. Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L. Oxford: +Clarendon Press, 1892.] + +[Footnote 2: Male imperando summum imperium amittitur.--PUBLIUS +SYRUS.] + +[Footnote 3: _Decline and Fall_, chap. xx.] + +[Footnote 4: Any one who wishes to gain an insight into the fundamental +principles which governed those relations cannot do better than read the +opening chapters of Sorel's _L'Europe et la Rvolution Franaise_.] + +[Footnote 5: Ecclesiastes i. 9.] + +[Footnote 6: _Life and Letters of Sir James Graham_, vol. ii. p. 328.] + +[Footnote 7: Lord Farrer says: "It is the privilege of honourable trade +that, like mercy, it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and +him that takes; each of its dealings is of necessity a benefit to both +parties. But traders and speculators are not always the most scrupulous +of mankind. Their dealings with savage and half-civilised nations too +often betray sharp practice, sometimes violence and wrong. The persons +who carry on our trade on the outskirts of civilisation are not +distinguished by a special appreciation of the rights of others, nor are +the speculators, who are attracted by the enormous profits to be made by +precarious investments in half-civilised countries, people in whose +hands we should desire to place the fortunes or reputation of our +country. When a difficulty arises between ourselves and one of the +weaker nations, these are the persons whose voice is most loudly raised +for acts of violence, of aggression, or of revenge."--_The State in its +Relation to Trade_, p. 177.] + +[Footnote 8: It should never be forgotten that, in Oriental countries, +whatever good is done to the masses is necessarily purchased at the +expense of incurring the resentment of the ruling classes, who abused +the power they formerly possessed. Seeley (_Expansion of England_, p. +320) says with great truth: "It would be very rash to assume that any +gratitude, which may have been aroused here and there by our +administration, can be more than sufficient to counterbalance the +discontent which we have excited among those whom we have ousted from +authority and influence."] + +[Footnote 9: Juvenal, xiv. 176-8.] + +[Footnote 10: "La supriorit des Anglo-Saxons! Si on ne la proclame +pas, on la subit et on la redoute; les craintes, les mfiances et +parfois les haines que soulve l'Anglais l'attestent assez haut.... + +"Nous ne pouvons faire un pas travers le monde, sans rencontrer +l'Anglais. Nous ne pouvons jeter les yeux sur nos anciennes possessions, +sans y voir flotter le pavilion anglais." _A Quoi tient la Supriorit +des Anglo-Saxons?_--Demolins. This work, as well as another on much the +same subject (_L'Europa giovane_, by Guglielmo Ferrero), were reviewed +in the _Edinburgh Review_ for January 1898.] + +[Footnote 11: _Vie de Turgot_, i. 47. In the debate on the India Act in +1858, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, whose views were generally +distinguished for their moderation, said: "I do most confidently +maintain that no civilised Government ever existed on the face of this +earth which was more corrupt, more perfidious, and more capricious than +the East India Company was from 1758 to 1784, when it was placed under +Parliamentary control."] + +[Footnote 12: "It still remains true that there is a large body of +public opinion in England which carries into all politics a sound moral +sense, and which places a just and righteous policy higher than any mere +party interest. It is on the power and pressure of this opinion that the +high character of English government must ultimately depend."--_Map of +Life_, Lecky, p. 184. It will be a matter for surprise if the +ultra-bureaucratic spirit, coupled with a somewhat pronounced degree of +commercial egotism, do not prove the two rocks on which German colonial +enterprise will be eventually shipwrecked.] + +[Footnote 13: Butcher, _Some Aspects of the Greek Genius_, p. 27.] + +[Footnote 14: _Essays_. "Of Honour and Reputation."] + +[Footnote 15: _Sir Charles Wood's Administration of Indian Affairs, +1859-66._ West. 1867. Sir Algernon West was Private Secretary to Sir +Charles Wood, afterwards Lord Halifax, who was the first Secretary of +State for India appointed after the passing of the India Act of 1858, +and, therefore, inaugurated the new system.] + +[Footnote 16: See, _inter alia_, Chesney's _Indian Polity_, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 17: Perhaps the best-known example is "Salus populi suprema +lex esto," a maxim which, as Selden has pointed out (_Table Talk_, +ciii.), is very frequently misapplied. See also the advice given by the +Emperor Claudius to the Parthian Mithridates (Tacitus, _Ann._ xii. 11).] + +[Footnote 18: "The idea of forcing everything to an artificial equality +has something, at first view, very captivating in it. It has all the +appearance imaginable of justice and good order; and very many persons, +without any sort of partial purposes, have been led to adopt such +schemes, and to pursue them with great earnestness and warmth. Though I +have no doubt that the minute, laborious, and very expensive _cadastre_, +which was made by the King of Sardinia, has done no sort of good, and +that after all his pains a few years will restore all things to their +first inequality, yet it has been the admiration of half the reforming +financiers of Europe; I mean the official financiers, as well as the +speculative."--_Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis_, ii. 126.] + +[Footnote 19: Mill, _History of British India_, vi. 433.] + +[Footnote 20: Elphinstone, _History of India_, p. 77.] + +[Footnote 21: Lord Lawrence said: "Light taxation is, in my mind, the +panacea for foreign rule in India." Bosworth Smith, _Life of Lord +Lawrence_, vol. ii. p. 497.] + +[Footnote 22: The essential portions of this despatch, in so far as the +purposes of the present argument are concerned, are given in Sir Richard +Temple's work (p. 185), and in Bosworth Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, +vol. ii. p. 186.] + +[Footnote 23: Goldwin Smith, _Lectures on the Study of History_, p. +154.] + + + + +II + +TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE + +_"The Edinburgh Review," July 1913_ + + +When Emerson said "We like everything to do its office, whether it be a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake," he assumed, perhaps somewhat too hastily in +the latter case, that all the world understands the functions which a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake is called upon to perform. No one can doubt +that the office of a translator is to translate, but a wide difference +of opinion may exist, and, in fact, has always existed, as to the +latitude which he may allow himself in translating. Is he to adhere +rigidly to a literal rendering of the original text, or is paraphrase +permissible, and, if permissible, within what limits may it be adopted? +In deciding which of these courses to pursue, the translator stands +between Scylla and Charybdis. If he departs too widely from the precise +words of the text, he incurs the blame of the purist, who will accuse +him of foisting language on the original author which the latter never +employed, with the possible result that even the ideas or sentiments +which it had been intended to convey have been disfigured. If, on the +other hand, he renders word for word, he will often find, more +especially if his translation be in verse, that in a cacophonous attempt +to force the genius of one language into an unnatural channel, the whole +of the beauty and even, possibly, some of the real meaning of the +original have been allowed to evaporate. Dr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, in an +instructive article on Translation contributed to the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_ quotes the high authority of Dryden as to the course which +should be followed in the execution of an ideal translation. + + A translator (Dryden writes) that would write with any force or + spirit of an original must never dwell on the words of his author. + He ought to possess himself entirely, and perfectly comprehend the + genius and sense of his author, the nature of the subject, and the + terms of the art or subject treated of; and then he will express + himself as justly, and with as much life, as if he wrote an + original; whereas he who copies word for word loses all the spirit + in the tedious transfusion. + +In the application of Dryden's canon a distinction has to be made +between prose and verse. The composition of good prose, which Coleridge +described as "words in the right order," is, indeed, of the utmost +importance for all the purposes of the historian, the writer on +philosophy, or the orator. An example of the manner in which fine prose +can bring to the mind a vivid conception of a striking event is Jeremy +Collier's description of Cranmer's death, which excited the enthusiastic +admiration of Mr. Gladstone.[24] He seemed [Collier wrote] "to repel the +force of the fire and to overlook the torture, by strength of thought." +Nevertheless, the main object of the prose writer, and still more of the +orator, should be to state his facts or to prove his case. Cato laid +down the very sound principle "rem tene, verba sequentur," and +Quintilian held that "no speaker, when important interests are involved, +should be very solicitous about his words." It is true that this +principle is one that has been more often honoured in the breach than +the observance. Lucian, in his _Lexiphanes_,[25] directs the shafts of +his keen satire against the meticulous attention to phraseology +practised by his contemporaries. Cardinal Bembo sacrificed substance to +form to the extent of advising young men not to read St. Paul for fear +that their style should be injured, and Professor Saintsbury[26] +mentions the case of a French author, Paul de Saint-Victor, who "used, +when sitting down to write, to put words that had struck his fancy at +intervals over the sheet, and write his matter in and up to them." These +are instances of that word-worship run mad which has not infrequently +led to dire results, inasmuch as it has tended to engender the belief +that statesmanship is synonymous with fine writing or perfervid oratory. +The oratory in which Demosthenes excelled, Professor Bury says,[27] "was +one of the curses of Greek politics." + +The attention paid by the ancients to what may be termed tricks of style +has probably in some degree enhanced the difficulties of prose +translation. It may not always be easy in a foreign language to +reproduce the subtle linguistic shades of Demosthenic oratory--the +Anaphora (repetition of the same word at the beginning of co-ordinate +sentences following one another), the Anastrophe (the final word of a +sentence repeated at the beginning of one immediately following), the +Polysyndeton (the same conjunction repeated), or the Epidiorthosis (the +correction of an expression). Nevertheless, in dealing with a prose +composition, the weight of the arguments, the lucidity with which the +facts are set forth, and the force with which the conclusions are driven +home, rank, or should rank, in the mind of the reader higher than any +feelings which are derived from the music of the words or the skilful +order in which they are arranged. Moreover, in prose more frequently +than in verse, it is the beauty of the idea expressed which attracts +rather than the language in which it is clothed. Thus, for instance, +there can be no difficulty in translating the celebrated metaphor of +Pericles[28] that "the loss of the youth of the city was as if the +spring was taken out of the year," because the beauty of the idea can in +no way suffer by presenting it in English, French, or German rather than +in the original Greek. Again, to quote another instance from Latin, the +fine epitaph to St. Ovinus in Ely Cathedral: "Lucem tuam Ovino da, Deus, +et requiem," loses nothing of its terse pathos by being rendered into +English. Occasionally, indeed, the truth is forced upon us that even in +prose "a thing may be well said once but cannot be well said twice" +([Greek: to kals eipein hapax perigignetai, dis de ouk endechetai]), +but this is generally because the genius of one language lends itself +with special ease to some singularly felicitous and often epigrammatic +form of expression which is almost or sometimes even quite +untranslatable. Who, for instance, would dare to translate into English +the following description which the Duchesse de Dino[29] gave of a lady +of her acquaintance: "Elle n'a jamais t jolie, mais elle tait blanche +et frache, _avec quelques jolis dtails"_? On the whole, however, it +may be said that if the prose translator is thoroughly well acquainted +with both of the languages which he has to handle, he ought to be able +to pay adequate homage to the genius of the one without offering undue +violence to that of the other. + +The case of the translator of poetry, which Coleridge defined as "the +best words in the best order," is manifestly very different. A phrase +which is harmonious or pregnant with fire in one language may become +discordant, flat, and vapid when translated into another. Shelley spoke +of "the vanity of translation." "It were as wise (he said) to cast a +violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of +its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into +another the creations of a poet." + +Longinus has told us[30] that "beautiful words are the very light of +thought" ([Greek: phs gar t onti idion tou nou ta kala onomata]), but +it will often happen, in reading a fine passage, that on analysing the +sentiments evoked, it is difficult to decide whether they are due to +the thought or to the beauty of the words. A mere word, as in the case +of Edgar Poe's "Nevermore," has at times inspired a poet. When Keats, +speaking of Melancholy, says: + + She lives with Beauty--Beauty that must die-- + And Joy, whose hand is ever on his lips, + Bidding adieu, + +or when Mrs. Browning writes: + + ... Young + As Eve with Nature's daybreak on her face, + +the pleasure, both of sense and sentiment, is in each case derived alike +from the music of the language and the beauty of the ideas. But in such +lines as + + Arethusa arose from her couch of snows, etc., + +or Coleridge's description of the river Alph running + + Through caverns measureless to man + Down to a sunless sea, + +it is the language rather than the idea which fascinates. Professor +Walker, speaking of the most exquisitely harmonious lyric ever written +in English, or perhaps in any other language,[31] says with great truth: +"The reader of _Lycidas_ rises from it ready to grasp the 'two-handed +engine' and smite; though he may be doubtful what the engine is, and +what is to be smitten." + +It may be observed, moreover, that one of the main difficulties to be +encountered in translating some of the masterpieces of ancient +literature arises from their exquisite simplicity. Although the +indulgence in glaring improprieties of language in the pursuit of +novelty of thought was not altogether unknown to the ancients, and was, +indeed, stigmatised by Longinus with the epithet of "corybantising,"[32] +the full development of this pernicious practice has been reserved for +the modern world. Dryden made himself indirectly responsible for a good +deal of bad poetry when he said that great wits were allied to madness. +The late Professor Butcher,[33] as also Lamb in his essay on "The Sanity +of True Genius," have both pointed out that genius and high ability are +eminently sane. + +In some respects it may be said that didactic poetry affords special +facilities to the translator, inasmuch as it bears a more close relation +to prose than verse of other descriptions. Didactic poets, such as +Lucretius and Pope, are almost forced by the inexorable necessities of +their subjects to think in prose. However much we may admire their +verse, it is impossible not to perceive that, in dealing with subjects +that require great precision of thought, they have felt themselves +hampered by the necessities of metre and rhythm. They may, indeed, +resort to blank verse, which is a sort of half-way house between prose +and rhyme, as was done by Mr. Leonard in his excellent translation of +Empedocles, of which the following specimen may be given: + + [Greek: ouk estin pelasasthai en ophthalmoisin ephekton + hmeterois chersi labein, hper te megist + peithous anthrpoisin hamaxitos eis phrena piptei.] + + We may not bring It near us with our eyes, + We may not grasp It with our human hands. + With neither hands nor eyes, those highways twain, + Whereby Belief drops into the minds of men. + +But Dr. Symmons, one of the numerous translators of Virgil, said, with +some truth, that the adoption of blank verse only involves "a laborious +and doubtful struggle to escape from the fangs of prose."[34] + +A good example of what can be done in this branch of literature is +furnished by Dryden. Lucretius[35] wrote: + + Tu vero dubitabis et indignabere obire? + Mortua cui vita est prope iam vivo atque videnti, + Qui somno partem maiorem conteris aevi, + Et vigilans stertis nec somnia cernere cessas + Sollicitamque geris cassa formidine mentem + Nec reperire potes tibi quid sit saepe mali, cum + Ebrius urgeris multis miser undique curis, + Atque animi incerto fluitans errore vagaris. + +Dryden's translation departs but slightly from the original text and at +the same time presents the ideas of Lucretius in rhythmical and +melodious English: + + And thou, dost thou disdain to yield thy breath, + Whose very life is little more than death? + More than one-half by lazy sleep possest, + And when awake, thy soul but nods at best, + Day-dreams and sickly thoughts revolving in thy breast. + Eternal troubles haunt thy anxious mind, + Whose cause and case thou never hopest to find, + But still uncertain, with thyself at strife, + Thou wanderest in the labyrinth of life. + +Descriptive poetry also lends itself with comparative ease to +translation. Nothing can be better than the translation made by Mr. +Gladstone[36] of _Iliad_ iv. 422-32. The original Greek runs thus: + + [Greek: hs d' hot' en aigial polychei; kyma thalasss + ornyt' epassyteron Zephyrou hypo kinsantos; + pont men te prta koryssetai, autar epeita + chers rhgnymenon megala bremei, amphi de t' akras + kyrton eon koryphoutai, apoptyei d' halos achnn; + hs tot' epassyterai Danan kinynto phalanges + nlemes polemonde. keleue de oisin hekastos + hgemonn; oi d' alloi akn isan, oude ke phais + tosson laon hepesthai echont' en stthesin audn, + sig, deidiotes smantoras; amphi de pasi + teuchea poikil' elampe, ta eimenoi estichonto.] + +Mr. Gladstone, who evidently drew his inspiration from the author of +"Marmion" and "The Lady of the Lake," translated as follows: + + As when the billow gathers fast + With slow and sullen roar, + Beneath the keen north-western blast, + Against the sounding shore. + First far at sea it rears its crest, + Then bursts upon the beach; + Or with proud arch and swelling breast, + Where headlands outward reach, + It smites their strength, and bellowing flings + Its silver foam afar-- + So stern and thick the Danaan kings + And soldiers marched to war. + Each leader gave his men the word, + Each warrior deep in silence heard, + So mute they marched, them couldst not ken + They were a mass of speaking men; + And as they strode in martial might + Their flickering arms shot back the light. + +It is, however, in dealing with poetry which is neither didactic nor +descriptive that the difficulty--indeed often the impossibility--of +reconciling the genius of the two languages becomes most apparent. It +may be said with truth that the best way of ascertaining how a fine or +luminous idea can be presented in any particular language is to set +aside altogether the idea of translation, and to inquire how some master +in the particular language has presented the case without reference to +the utterances of his predecessors in other languages. A good example of +this process may be found in comparing the language in which others have +treated Vauvenargues' well-known saying: "Pour excuter de grandes +choses, il faut vivre comme si on ne devait jamais mourir." +Bacchylides[37] put the same idea in the following words: + + [Greek: thnaton eunta chr didymous aexein + gnmas, hoti t' aurion opseai + mounon haliou phaos, + chti pentkont' etea + zan bathyplouton teleis.][38] + +And the great Arab poet Abu'l'Ala, whose verse has been admirably +translated by Mr. Baerlein, wrote: + + If you will do some deed before you die, + Remember not this caravan of death, + But have belief that every little breath + Will stay with you for an eternity. + +Another instance of the same kind, which may be cited without in any way +wishing to advance what Professor Courthope[39] very justly calls "the +mean charge of plagiarism," is Tennyson's line, "His honour rooted in +dishonour stood." Euripides[40] expressed the same idea in the following +words: + + [Greek: ek tn gar aischrn esthla mchanmetha.] + +To cite another case, the following lines of _Paradise Lost_ may be +compared with the treatment accorded by Euripides to the same subject: + + Oh, why did God, + Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven + With spirits masculine, create at last + This novelty on Earth, this fair defect + Of Nature, and not fill the World at once + With men as Angels, without feminine; + Or find some other way to generate + Mankind? + +Euripides wrote: + + [Greek: Zeu, ti d kibdlon anthrpois kakon, + gynaikas es phs hliou katkisas? + ei gar broteion theles speirai genos, + ouk ek gynaikn chrn paraschesthai tode.][41] + +Apart, however, from the process to which allusion is made above, very +many instances may, of course, be cited, of translations properly so +called which have reproduced not merely the exact sense but the vigour +of the original idea in a foreign language with little or no resort to +paraphrase. What can be better than Cowley's translation of Claudian's +lines?-- + + Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum + Aequaevumque videt consenuisse nemus. + + A neighbouring wood born with himself he sees, + And loves his old contemporary trees, + +thus, as Gibbon says,[42] improving on the original, inasmuch as, being +a good botanist, Cowley "concealed the oaks under a more general +expression." + +Take also the case of the well-known Latin epigram: + + Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi; + Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui. + +It has frequently been translated, but never more felicitously or +accurately than by the late Lord Wensleydale: + + Be epigrams like bees; let them have stings; + And Honey too, and let them be small things. + +On the other hand, the attempt to adhere too closely to the text of the +original and to reject paraphrase sometimes leads to results which can +scarcely be described as other than the reverse of felicitous. An +instance in point is Sappho's lines: + + [Greek: kai gar ai pheugei, taches dixei, + ai de dra m deket', alla dsei, + ai de m philei, taches philsei + kuk etheloisa.] + +So great a master of verse as Mr. Headlam translated thus: + + The pursued shall soon be the pursuer! + Gifts, though now refusing, yet shall bring + Love the lover yet, and woo the wooer, + Though heart it wring! + +Many of Mr. Headlam's translations are, however, excellent, more +especially those from English into Greek. He says in his preface: +"Greek, in my experience, is easier to write than English." He has +admirably reproduced the pathetic simplicity of Herrick's lines: + + Here a pretty baby lies, + Sung to sleep with Lullabies; + Pray be silent and not stir + The easy earth that covers her. + + [Greek: mtr baukalosa m' ekoimisen; atrema baine + m 'geirs kouphn gn m' epiessomenon.] + +Many singularly happy attempts to render English into Latin or Greek +verse are given in Mr. Kennedy's fascinating little volume _Between +Whiles_, of which the following example may be quoted: + + Few the words that I have spoken; + True love's words are ever few; + Yet by many a speechless token + Hath my heart discoursed to you. + + [Greek: oida paur' ep lalsas; paur' ers lalein philei; + xymbolois d' homs anaudois soi to pan nixamn.] + +The extent to which it is necessary to resort to paraphrase will, of +course, vary greatly, and will largely depend upon whether the language +into which the translation is made happens to furnish epithets and +expressions which are rhythmical and at the same time correspond +accurately to those of the original. Take, for instance, a case such as +the following fragment of Euripides: + + [Greek: ta men didakta manthan, ta d' eureta + zt, ta d' eukta para then tsamn.] + +There is but little difficulty in turning this into English verse with +but slight resort to paraphrase: + + I learn what may be taught; + I seek what may be sought; + My other wants I dare + To ask from Heaven in prayer, + +But in a large majority of cases paraphrase is almost imposed on the +translator by the necessities of the case. Mr. William Cory's rendering +of the famous verses of Callimachus on his friend Heraclitus, which is +too well known to need quotation, has been justly admired as one of the +best and most poetic translations ever made from Greek, but it can +scarcely be called a translation in the sense in which that term is +employed by purists. It is a paraphrase. + +It is needless to dwell on the difficulty of finding any suitable words +capable of being adapted to the necessities of English metre and rhythm +for the numerous and highly poetic adjectives in which the Greek +language abounds. It would tax the ingenuity of any translator to weave +into his verse expressions corresponding to the [Greek: halierkees +ochthai] (sea-constraining cliffs) or the [Greek: Mnamosynas +liparampykos] (Mnemosyne of the shining fillet) of Pindar. Neither is +the difficulty wholly confined to poetry. A good many epithets have from +time to time been applied to the Nile, but none so graphic or so +perfectly accurate as that employed by Herodotus,[43] who uses the +phrase [Greek: hupo tosoutou te potamou kai out ergatikou]. The English +translation "that vast river, so constantly at work" is a poor +equivalent for the original Greek. German possesses to a greater degree +than any other modern language the word-coining power which was such a +marked characteristic of Greek, with the result that it offers special +difficulties to the translator of verse. Mr. Brandes[44] quotes the +following lines of the German poet Bcher: + + Welche Heldenfreudigkeit der Liebe, + Welche Strke muthigen Entsagens, + Welche himmlisch erdentschwungene Triebe, + Welche Gottbegeistrung des Ertragens! + Welche Sich-Erhebung, Sich-Erwiedrung, + Sich-Entussrung, vll'ge Hin-sich-gebung, + Seelenaustausch, Ineinanderlebung! + +It is probable that these lines have never been translated into English +verse, and it is obvious that no translation, which did not largely +consist of paraphrase, would be possible. + +Alliteration, which is a powerful literary instrument in the hands of a +skilful writer, but which may easily be allowed to degenerate into a +mere jingle, is of less common occurrence in Greek than in English, +notably early English, literature. It was, however, occasionally +employed by both poets and dramatists. Euripides, for instance, in the +_Cyclops_ (l. 120) makes use of the following expression, which would +serve as a good motto for an Anarchist club, [Greek: akouei d' ouden +oudeis oudenos]. Clytemnestra, also, in speaking of the murder of her +husband (_Ag._ 1551-52) says: + + [Greek: pros hmn + kappese, katthane, kai katathapsomen.][45] + +That Greek alliteration is capable of imitation is shown by Pope's +translation of the well-known line[46]: + + [Greek: polla d' ananta katanta paranta te dochmia t' lthon;] + + O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks, they go. + +Pope at times brought alliteration to his aid in cases where no such +device had been adopted by Homer, as when, in describing the labours of +Sisyphus,[47] he wrote: + + With many a weary step, and many a groan, + Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone. + +On the whole, although a good deal more than is contained in this +article may be said on either side, it would appear that, broadly +speaking, Dryden's principle holds good for prose translations, and that +experience has shown, in respect to translations in verse, that, save in +rare instances, a resort to paraphrase is necessary. + +The writer ventures, in conclusion, to give two instances, in one of +which there has been comparatively but slight departure from the text of +the original Greek, whilst in the other there has been greater +indulgence in paraphrase. Both are taken from the Anthology. The first +is an epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor by an unknown author: + + [Greek: Nautile, m peuthou tinos enthade tumbos hod' eimi, + all' autos pontou tunchane chrstoterou.] + + No matter who I was; but may the sea + To you prove kindlier than it was to me. + +The other is by Macedonius: + + [Greek: Aurion athrs se; to d' ou pote ginetai hmin + thados ambolis aien aexomens; + tauta moi himeironti charizeai, alla d' es allous + dra phereis, emethen pistin apeipamen. + opsomai hesperi se. ti d' hesperos esti gynaikn? + gras ametrt plthomenon rhytidi.] + + Ever "To-morrow" thou dost say; + When will to-morrow's sun arise? + Thus custom ratifies delay; + My faithfulness thou dost despise. + Others are welcomed, whilst to me + "At even come," thou say'st, "not now." + What will life's evening bring to thee? + Old age--a many-wrinkled brow. + +Dryden's well-known lines in _Aurengzebe_ embody the idea of Macedonius +in epigrammatic and felicitous verse: + + Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay, + To-morrow's falser than the former day. + +[Footnote 24: Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 467.] + +[Footnote 25: Weise, 1841, vol. ii. p. 303.] + +[Footnote 26: _Loci Critici_, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 27: _History of Greece_, vol. ii. p. 326.] + +[Footnote 28: The use by Pericles of this metaphor rests on the +authority of Aristotle (_Rhet._ i. 7. 34). Herodotus (vii. 162) ascribes +almost the identical words to Gelo, and a similar idea is given by +Euripides in _Supp._ 447-49.] + +[Footnote 29: _Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 328.] + +[Footnote 30: _On the Sublime_, xxx.] + +[Footnote 31: _Literature of the Victorian Era_, p. 382.] + +[Footnote 32: _On the Sublime_, c. v.] + +[Footnote 33: Aristotle's _Theory of Poetry and Fine Art_, p. 398.] + +[Footnote 34: _Miscellaneous Writings_, Conington, vol. i. p. 162.] + +[Footnote 35: iii. 1045 ff.] + +[Footnote 36: Mr. Gladstone's merits as a translator were great. His +Latin translation of Toplady's hymn "Rock of Ages," beginning "Jesus, +pro me perforatus," is altogether admirable.] + +[Footnote 37: _Od._ iii. 78-82.] + +[Footnote 38: "As a mortal, thou must nourish each of two +forebodings--that to-morrow's sunlight will be the last that thou shalt +see: and that for fifty years thou wilt live out thy life in ample +wealth."] + +[Footnote 39: _History of English Poetry_, iii., 394.] + +[Footnote 40: _Hipp._ 331.] + +[Footnote 41: "Great Zeus, why didst thou, to man's sorrow, put woman, +evil counterfeit, to dwell where shines the sun? If thou wert minded +that the human race should multiply, it was not from women they should +have drawn their stock."--_Hipp._ 616-19.] + +[Footnote 42: _Decline and Fall_, v. 185.] + +[Footnote 43: Book ii. c. 11.] + +[Footnote 44: _Eighteenth Century Literature_, vol. vi. p. 331.] + +[Footnote 45: "By us he fell, he died, and we will bury him."] + +[Footnote 46: _Il._ xxiii. 116.] + +[Footnote 47: _Od._ xi. 733.] + + + + +"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW" + + + + +III + +SIR ALFRED LYALL + +_"Quarterly Review," July 1913_ + + +After reading and admiring Sir Mortimer Durand's life of Alfred Lyall, I +am tempted to exclaim in the words of Shenstone's exquisite inscription, +which has always seemed to me about the best thing that Shenstone ever +wrote, "Heu quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!" +He was one of my oldest and best of friends. More than this, although +our characters differed widely, and although I should never for a moment +think of rating my intellectual attainments on a par with his, at the +same time I may say that in the course of a long life I do not think +that I have ever been brought in contact with any one with whom I found +myself in more thorough community of opinion and sentiment upon the +sundry and manifold questions which excited our common interest. He was +a strong Unionist, a strong Free Trader, and a strong anti-suffragist. +I am, for good or evil, all these things. He was a sincere Liberal in +the non-party sense of that very elastic word. So was I. That is to say, +there was a time when we both thought ourselves good mid-Victorian +Liberals--a school of politicians whose ideas have now been swept into +the limbo of forgotten things, the only surviving principles of that age +being apparently those associated with a faint and somewhat fantastic +cult of the primrose. In 1866 he wrote to his sister--and I cannot but +smile on reading the letter--"I am more and more Radical every year"; +and he expressed regret that circumstances did not permit of his setting +up as "a fierce demagogue" in England. I could have conscientiously +written in much the same spirit at the same period, but it has not taken +me nearly half a century to discover that two persons more unfitted by +nature and temperament to be "fierce demagogues" than Alfred Lyall and +myself were probably never born. In respect to the Indian political +questions which were current during his day--such as the controversy +between the Lawrentian and "Forward" schools of frontier policy, the +Curzon-Kitchener episode, and the adaptation of Western reforms to meet +the growing requirements to which education has given birth--his views, +although perhaps rather in my opinion unduly pessimistic and +desponding, were generally identical with my own. + +Albeit he was an earnest reformer, he was a warm advocate of strong and +capable government, and, in writing to our common friend, Lord Morley, +in 1882, he anathematised what he considered the weakness shown by the +Gladstone Government in dealing with disorder in Ireland. Himself not +only the kindest, but also the most just and judicially-minded of men, +he feared that a maudlin and misplaced sentimentalism would destroy the +more virile elements in the national character. "I should like," he +said, in words which must not, of course, be taken too literally, "a +little more fierceness and honest brutality in the national +temperament." His heart went out, in a manner which is only possible to +those who have watched them closely at work, to those Englishmen, +whether soldiers or civilians, who, but little known and even at times +depreciated by their own countrymen, are carrying the fame, the glory, +the justice and humanity of England to the four quarters of the globe. + + The roving Englishman (he said) is the salt of English land.... + Only those who go out of this civilised country, to see the rough + work on the frontiers and in the far lands, properly understand + what our men are like and can do.... They cannot manage a + steam-engine, but they can drive restive and ill-trained horses + over rough roads. + +He felt--and as one who has humbly dabbled in literature at the close of +an active political life, I can fully sympathise with him--that "when +one has once taken a hand in the world's affairs, literature is like +rowing in a picturesque reach of the Thames after a bout in the open +sea." Yet, in the case of Lyall, literature was not a matter of mere +academic interest. "His incessant study was history." He thought, with +Lord Acton, that an historical student should be "a politician with his +face turned backwards." His mind was eminently objective. He was for +ever seeking to know the causes of things; and though far too observant +to push to extreme lengths analogies between the past and the present, +he nevertheless sought, notably in the history of Imperial Rome, for any +facts or commentaries gleaned from ancient times which might be of +service to the modern empire of which he was so justly proud, and in the +foundation of which the splendid service of which he was an illustrious +member had played so conspicuous a part. "I wonder," he wrote in 1901, +"how far the Roman Empire profited by high education." + +Lyall was by nature a poet. Sir Mortimer Durand says, truly enough, that +his volume of verses, "if not great poetry, as some hold, was yet true +poetry." Poetic expressions, in fact, bubbled up in his mind almost +unconsciously in dealing with every incident of his life. Lord Tennyson +tells us in his _Memoir_ that one evening, when his father and mother +were rowing across the Solent, they saw a heron. His father described +this incident in the following language: "One dark heron flew over the +sea, backed by a daffodil sky." Similarly, Lyall, writing with the +enthusiasm of a young father for his firstborn, said: "The child has +eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon, with wondrous depth of intelligent +gaze." But, though a poet, it would be a great error to suppose that +Lyall was an idealist, if by that term is meant one who, after a +platonic fashion, indulges in ideas which are wholly visionary and +unpractical. He had, indeed, ideals. No man of his imagination and +mental calibre could be without them. But they were ideals based on a +solid foundation of facts. It was here that, in spite of some sympathy +based on common literary tastes, he altogether parted company from a +brother poet, Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, who has invariably left his facts to +take care of themselves. Though eminently meditative and reflective, +Lyall's mind, his biographer says, "seemed always hungry for facts." +"Though he had an unusual degree of imagination, he never allowed +himself to be tempted too far from the region of the known or the +knowable." The reason why he at times appeared to vacillate was that he +did not consider he sufficiently understood all the facts to justify his +forming an opinion capable of satisfying his somewhat hypercritical +judgment. He was, in fact, very difficult to convince of the truth of an +opinion, not because of his prejudices, for he had none, but by reason +of his constitutional scepticism. He acted throughout life on the +principle laid down by the Greek philosopher Epicharmus: "Be sober, and +remember to disbelieve. These are the sinews of the mind." I have been +informed on unimpeachable authority that when he was a member of the +Treasury Committee which sat on the question of providing facilities for +the study of Oriental languages in this country, he constantly asked the +witnesses whom he examined leading questions from which it might rather +be inferred that he held opinions diametrically opposed to those which +in reality he entertained. His sole object was to arrive at a sound +conclusion. He wished to elicit all possible objections to any views to +which he was personally inclined. It is very probable that his Oriental +experience led him to adopt this procedure; for, as any one who has +lived much in the East will recognise, it is the only possible safeguard +against the illusions which may arise from the common Oriental habit of +endeavouring to say what is pleasant to the interrogator, especially if +he occupies some position of authority. + +Only half-reconciled, in the first instance, to Indian exile, and, when +once he had taken the final step of departure, constantly brooding over +the intellectual attractions rather than the material comforts of +European life, Lyall speedily came to the conclusion that, if he was to +bear a hand in governing India, the first thing he had to do was to +understand Indians. He therefore brought his acutely analytical +intellect to the task of comprehending the Indian habit of thought. In +the course of his researches he displayed that thoroughness and +passionate love of truth which was the distinguishing feature of his +character throughout life. That he succeeded in a manner which has been +surpassed by none, and only faintly rivalled by a very few, is now +generally recognised both by his own countrymen and also--which is far +more remarkable--by the inhabitants of the country which formed the +subject of his study. So far as it is possible for any Western to +achieve that very difficult task, he may be said to have got to the back +of the Oriental mind. He embodied the results of his long experience at +times in sweeping and profound generalisations, which covered the whole +field of Oriental thought and action, and at others in pithy +epigrammatic sayings in which the racy humour, sometimes tinged with a +shade of cynical irony, never obscured the deep feeling of sympathy he +entertained for everything that was worthy of respect and admiration. + +Lyall had read history to some purpose. He knew, in the words which +Gregorovius applied to the rule of Theodosius in Italy, that "not even +the wisest and most humane of princes, if he be an alien in race, in +customs and religion, can ever win the hearts of the people." He had +read De Tocqueville, and from the pages of an author whose habit of +thought must have been most congenial to him, he drew the conclusion +that "it was the increased prosperity and enlightenment of the French +people which produced the grand crash." He therefore thought that "the +wildest, as well as the shallowest notion of all is that universally +prevalent belief that education, civilisation and increased material +prosperity will reconcile the people of India eventually to our rule." +Hence he was prepared to accept--perhaps rather more entirely than it +deserved to be accepted--the statement of that very astute Brahmin, Sir +Dinkur Rao, himself the minister of an important native State, that "the +natives prefer a bad native Government to our best patent institutions." +These, and similar oracular statements, have now become the commonplaces +of all who deal with questions affecting India. That there is much +truth in them cannot be gainsaid, but they are still often too much +ignored by one section of the British public, who, carried away by +home-made sentiment, forget that of all national virtues gratitude for +favours received is the most rare, while by another section they are +applied to the advocacy of a degree of autonomous rule which would be +disastrous to the interests, not only of India itself, but also to the +cause of all real civilised progress. + +The point, however, on which in conversation Lyall was wont to insist +most strongly was that the West was almost incomprehensible to the East, +and, _vice versa_, that the Western could never thoroughly understand +the Oriental. In point of fact, when we talk of progress, it is +necessary to fix some standard by which progress may be measured. We +know our Western standard; we endeavour to enforce it; and we are so +convinced that it gives an accurate measure of human moral and material +advancement that we experience a shock on hearing that there are large +numbers of even highly educated human beings who hold that the standard +is altogether false. Yet that, Lyall would argue, is generally the +Oriental frame of mind. Fatalism, natural conservatism and ignorance +lead the uneducated to reject our ideas, while the highly educated often +hold that our standard of progress is too material to be a true +measure, and that consequently, far from advancing, we are standing +still or even retrograding. Lyall, personifying a Brahmin, said, +"Politics I cannot help regarding as the superficial aspect of deeper +problems; and for progress, the latest incarnation of European +materialism, I have an incurable distrust." These subtle intellectuals, +in fact, as Surendranath Banerjee, one of the leaders of the Swadeshi +movement, told Dr. Wegener,[48] hold that the English are "stupid and +ignorant," and, therefore, wholly unfit to govern India. + +I remember Lyall, who, as Sir Mortimer Durand says, had a very keen +sense of humour, telling me an anecdote which is what Bacon would have +called "luciferous," as an illustration of the views held by the +uneducated classes in India on the subject of Western reforms. The +officer in charge of a district either in Bengal or the North-West +Provinces got up a cattle-show, with a view to improving the breed of +cattle. Shortly afterwards, an Englishman, whilst out shooting, entered +into conversation with a peasant who happened to be passing by. He asked +the man what he thought of the cattle-show, and added that he supposed +it had done a great deal of good. "Yes," the native, who was probably a +Moslem, replied after some reflection, "last year there was cholera. +This year there was Cattle Show. We have to bear these afflictions with +what patience we may. Are they not all sent by God?" + +But it was naturally the opinions entertained by the intellectual +classes which most interested Lyall, and which he endeavoured to +interpret to his countrymen. The East is asymmetrical in all things. I +remember Lyall saying to me, "Accuracy is abhorrent to the Oriental +mind." The West, on the other hand, delights beyond all things in +symmetry and accuracy. Moreover, it would almost seem as if in the most +trivial incidents in life some unseen influence generally impels the +Eastern to do the exact opposite to the Western--a point, I may observe, +which Lyall was never tired of illustrating by all kinds of quaint +examples. A shepherd in Perthshire will walk behind his sheep and drive +them. In the Deccan he will walk in front of his flock. A European will +generally place his umbrella point downwards against the wall. An +Oriental will, with far greater reason, do exactly the reverse. + +But, in respect to the main question of mutual comprehension, there are, +at all events in so far as the European is concerned, degrees of +difficulty--degrees which depend very largely on religious differences, +for in the theocratic East religion covers the whole social and +political field to a far greater extent than in the West. Now, the +religion of the Moslem is, comparatively speaking, very easy to +understand. There are, indeed, a few ritualistic and other minor points +as to which a Western may at times have some difficulty in grasping the +Oriental point of view. But the foundations of monotheistic Islam are +simplicity itself; indeed, it may be said that they are far more simple +than those of Christianity. The case of the Hindu religion is very +different. Dr. Barth in his _Religions of India_ says: + + Already in the Veda, Hindu thought is profoundly tainted with the + malady, of which it will never be able to get rid, of affecting a + greater air of mystery the less there is to conceal, of making a + parade of symbols which at bottom signify nothing, and of playing + with enigmas which are not worth the trouble of trying to + unriddle.... At the present time it is next to impossible to say + exactly what Hinduism is, where it begins, and where it ends. + +I cannot profess to express any valuable opinion on a subject on which I +am very imperfectly informed, and which, save as a matter of political +necessity, fails to interest me--for, personally, I think that a book of +the _Iliad_ or a play of Aristophanes is far more valuable than all the +lucubrations that have ever been spun by the subtle minds of learned +Hindu Pundits--but, so far as I am able to judge, Dr. Barth's +description is quite accurate. None the less, the importance to the +Indian politician of gaining some insight into the inner recesses of the +Hindu mind cannot for a moment be doubted. Lyall said, "I fancy that the +Hindu philosophy, which teaches that everything we see or feel is a vast +cosmic illusion, projected into space by that which is the manifestation +of the infinite and unconscious spirit, has an unsettling effect on +their political beliefs." Lyall, therefore, rendered a very great +political service to his countrymen when he took in hand the duty of +expounding to them the true nature of Hindu religious belief. He did the +work very thoroughly. Passing lightly by the "windy moralities" of +Brahmo Somaj teachers of the type of Keshub Chunder Sen, whom he left to +"drifting Deans such as Stanley and Alford," he grasped the full +significance of true orthodox Brahmanism, and under the pseudonym of +Vamadeo Shastri wrote an essay which has "become a classic for the +student of comparative religion, and for all who desire to know, in +particular, the religious mind of the Hindu." In the course of his +enquiries Lyall incidentally performed the useful historical service of +showing that Euhemerism is, or very recently was, a living force in +India,[49] and that the solar myth theory supported by Max Mller and +others had, to say the least, been pushed much too far. + +I turn to another point. All who were brought in contact with Lyall +speedily recognised his social charm and high intellectual gifts, but +was he a man of action? Did he possess the qualifications necessary to +those who take part in the government of the outlying dominions of the +Empire? I have often been asked that question. It is one to which Sir +Mortimer Durand frequently reverts, his general conclusion being that +Lyall was "a man of action with literary tastes." I will endeavour +briefly to express my own opinion on this subject. + +There have been many cases of notable men of action who were also +students. Napier said that no example can be shown in history of a great +general who was not also a well-read man. But Lyall was more than a mere +student. He was a thinker, and a very deep thinker, not merely on +political but also on social and religious subjects. There may be some +parallel in the history of our own or of other countries to the peculiar +combination of thought and action which characterised Lyall's career, +but for the moment none which meets all the necessary requirements +occurs to me. The case is, I think, almost if not quite unique. That +Lyall had a warm admiration for men of action is abundantly clear. His +enthusiasm on their behalf comes out in every stanza of his poetry, and, +when any suitable occasion offered, in every line of his prose. He +eulogised the strong man who ruled and acted, and he reserved a very +special note of sympathy for those who sacrificed their lives for their +country. Shortly before his own death he spoke in terms of warm +admiration of Mr. Newbolt's fine lines: + + Qui procul hinc--the legend's writ, + The frontier grave is far away-- + Qui ante diem periit + Sed miles, sed pro patri. + +But he shared these views with many thinkers who, like Carlyle, have +formed their opinions in their studies. The fact that he entertained +them does not help us to answer the question whether he can or cannot be +himself classed in the category of men of action. + +As a young man he took a distinguished part in the suppression of the +Mutiny, and showed courage and decision of character in all his acts. He +was a good, though not perhaps an exceptionally good administrator. His +horror of disorder in any form led him to approve without hesitation the +adoption of strong measures for its suppression. On the occasion of the +punishment administered to those guilty of the Manipur massacres in +1891, he wrote to Sir Mortimer Durand, "I do most heartily admire the +justice and firmness of purpose displayed in executing the Senapati. I +hope there will be no interference, in my absence, from the India +Office." On the whole, the verdict passed by Lord George Hamilton is, I +believe, eminently correct, and is entirely in accordance with my own +experience. Lord George, who had excellent opportunities for forming a +sound opinion on the subject, wrote: + + Great as were Lyall's literary attributes and powers of initiation + and construction, his critical faculties were even more fully + developed. This made him at times somewhat difficult to deal with, + for he was very critical and cautious in the tendering of advice as + regards any new policy or any suggested change. When once he could + see his way through difficulties, or came to the conclusion that + those difficulties must be faced, then his caution and critical + instincts disappeared, and he was prepared to be as bold in the + prosecution of what he advocated as he had previously been + reluctant to start. + +The mental attitude which Lord George Hamilton thus describes is by no +means uncommon in the case of very conscientious and brilliantly +intellectual men, such, for instance, as the late Lord Goschen, who +possessed many characteristics in common with Lyall. They can cite, in +justification of their procedure, the authority of one who was probably +the greatest man of action that the world has ever produced. Roederer +relates in his journal that on one occasion Napoleon said to him: + + Il n'y a pas un homme plus pusillanime que moi quand je fais un + plan militaire; je me grossis tous les dangers et tous les maux + possibles dans les circonstances; je suis dans une agitation tout + fait pnible; je suis comme une fille qui accouche. Et quand ma + rsolution est prise, tout est oubli, hors ce qui peut la faire + russir. + +Within reasonable limits, caution is, indeed, altogether commendable. On +the other hand, it cannot be doubted that, carried to excess, it is at +times apt to paralyse all effective and timely action, to disqualify +those who exercise it from being pilots possessed of sufficient daring +to steer the ship of state in troublous times, and to exclude them from +the category of men of action in the sense in which that term is +generally used. In spite of my great affection for Alfred Lyall, I am +forced to admit that, in his case, caution was, I think, at times +carried to excess. He never appeared to me to realise sufficiently that +the conduct of public affairs, notably in this democratic age, is at +best a very rough unscientific process; that it is occasionally +necessary to make a choice of evils or to act on imperfect evidence; and +that at times, to quote the words which I remember Lord Northbrook once +used to me, it is even better to have a wrong opinion than to have no +definite opinion at all. So early as 1868, he wrote to his mother, +"There are many topics on which I have not definitely discovered what I +do think"; and to the day of his death he very generally maintained in +respect to current politics the frame of mind set forth in this very +characteristic utterance. Every general has to risk the loss of a +battle, and every active politician has at times to run the risk of +making a wrong forecast. Before running that risk, Lyall was generally +inclined to exhaust the chances of error to an extent which was often +impossible, or at all events hurtful. + +Sir Mortimer Durand refers to the history of the Ilbert Bill, a measure +under which Lord Ripon's Government proposed to give native magistrates +jurisdiction over Europeans in certain circumstances. I was at the time +(1882-83) Financial Member of the Viceroy's Council. After a lapse of +thirty years, there can, I think, be no objection to my stating my +recollections of what occurred in connexion with this subject. I should, +in the first instance, mention that the association of Mr. (now Sir +Courtenay) Ilbert's name with this measure was purely accidental. He had +nothing to do with its initiation. The proposals, which were eventually +embodied in the Bill, originated with Sir Ashley Eden, who was +Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and who certainly could not be accused of +any wish to neglect European opinion, or of any desire to push forward +extreme liberal measures conceived in native interests. The measure had +been under the consideration of the Legislative Department in the time +of Mr. Ilbert's predecessor in the office of Legal Member of Council, +and it was only the accident that he vacated his office before it was +introduced into the Legislative Council that associated Mr. Ilbert's +name with the Bill. + +As was customary in such cases, all the local Governments had been +consulted; and they again consulted the Commissioners, +Deputy-Commissioners, Collectors, etc., within their respective +provinces. The result was that Lord Ripon had before him the opinions of +practically the whole Civil Service of India. Divers views were held as +to the actual extent to which the law should be altered, but, in the +words of a despatch addressed by the Government of India to the +Secretary of State on September 9, 1882, the local reports showed "an +overwhelming consensus of opinion that the time had come for modifying +the existing law and removing the present absolute bar upon the +investment of native magistrates in the interior with powers over +European British subjects." Not one single official gave anything +approaching an indication of the storm of opposition that this ill-fated +measure was about to raise. I do not think that this is very +surprising, for the opposition came almost exclusively from the +unofficial Europeans, who for the most part congregate in a few large +commercial centres, with the result that the majority of the civilians, +who are scattered throughout the country, are not much brought in +contact with them. Nevertheless, the fact that so great a miscalculation +of the state of public opinion could be made left a deep impression on +my mind. The main lesson which I carried away from the Ilbert Bill +controversy was, indeed, that in spite of their great merits, which no +one recognises more fully than myself, it is possible at times for the +whole body of Indian civilians, taken collectively, to be somewhat +unsafe guides in matters of state policy. Curiously enough, the only +danger-signal which was raised was hoisted by Sir Henry Maine, who had +been in India as Legal Member of Council, but who did not belong to the +Indian Civil Service. He was at the time a member of the India Council. +When the despatch of the Government of India on the subject reached +London, Sir Henry Maine was travelling on the Continent. The papers were +sent to him. He called to mind the bitter controversy which arose over +what was known as "the Black Act" in Lord William Bentinck's time, and +wrote privately a few words of warning to Lord Hartington, who was at +the time Secretary of State for India. Lord Hartington put the letter +in his great-coat pocket, went to Newmarket, and forgot all about it, +with the result that Sir Henry Maine's warning never reached Lord Ripon. + +I well remember being present when Mr. Ilbert introduced the measure +into the Legislative Council. It attracted but little attention and led +to only a very brief discussion, in which I took no part. The papers had +been circulated to all Members of Council, including myself. When I +received them I saw at a glance that the subject was not one that +concerned my own department, or one as to which my opinion could be of +any value. I, therefore, merely endorsed the papers with my initials and +sent them on, without having given the subject much attention. In common +with all my colleagues, I was soon to learn the gravity of the step +which had been taken. A furious storm of opposition, which profoundly +shook the prestige and authority of the Government of India, and notably +of the Viceroy, arose. It was clear that a mistake had been made. The +measure was in itself not very important. It was obviously undesirable, +as Lyall remarked, to "set fire to an important wing of the house in +order to roast a healthy but small pig." The best plan, had it been +possible, would have been to admit the mistake and to withdraw the +measure; and this would certainly have been done had it not been for the +unseemly and extravagant violence of the European unofficial community, +notably that of Calcutta. It should, however, in fairness be stated that +they were irritated and alarmed, not so much at the acts of Lord Ripon's +Government, but at some rather indiscreet language which had at times +been used, and which led them, quite erroneously, to suspect that +extreme measures were in contemplation, of a nature calculated to shake +the foundations of British supremacy in India. This violent attitude +naturally led to reprisals and bitter recriminations from the native +press, with the result that the total withdrawal of the measure would +have been construed as a decisive defeat to the adoption of even the +most moderate measures of liberal reform in India. The project of total +withdrawal could not, therefore, be entertained. + +In these circumstances, the duty of a practical rough-and-ready +politician was very clearly indicated. However little he might care for +the measure on its own merits, political instinct pointed unmistakably +to the absolute necessity of affording strong support to the Viceroy. +Lyall failed to realise this fully. He admired Lord Ripon's courage. "We +must," he said, "all do our best to pull the Viceroy through." But +withal it is clear, by his own admission, that he only gave the Viceroy +"rather lukewarm support." "I have intrenched myself," he wrote in a +characteristic letter, "behind cautious proposals, and am quoted on both +sides." This attitude was not due to any want of moral courage, for a +more courageous man, both physically and morally, than Lyall never +lived. It was simply the result of what Lord Lytton called "the Lyall +habit of seeing both sides of a question," and not being able to decide +betimes which side to support. That a man of Lyall's philosophical and +reflective turn of mind should see both sides of a question is not only +natural but commendable, but this frame of mind is not one that can be +adopted without hazard by a man of action at the head of affairs at a +time of acute crisis. + +There is, however, a reverse side to this picture. The same mental +attributes which rendered Lyall somewhat unfit, in my opinion, to deal +with an incident such as the Ilbert Bill episode, enabled him to come +with credit and distinction out of a situation of extreme difficulty in +which the reputation of many another man would have foundered. I have no +wish or intention to stir up again the embers of past Afghan +controversies. It will be sufficient for my purpose to say that Lord +Lytton, immensely to his credit, recognised Lyall's abilities and +appointed him Foreign Secretary, in spite of the fact that he was +associated with the execution of a policy to which Lord Lytton himself +was strongly opposed, and which he had decided to reverse. Lyall did not +conceal his opinions, but, as always, he was open to conviction, and saw +both sides of a difficult question. In 1878, he was "quite in favour of +vigorous action to counteract the Russians"; but two years later, in +1880, after the Cavagnari murder, he records in a characteristic letter +that he "was mentally edging back towards old John Lawrence's counsel +never to embark on the shoreless sea of Afghan politics." On the whole, +it may be said that Lyall passed through this supreme test in a manner +which would not have been possible to any man unless endowed not merely +with great abilities, but with the highest degree of moral courage and +honesty of purpose. He preserved his own self-esteem, and by his +unswerving honesty and loyalty gained that of the partisans on both +sides of the controversy. + +It is pleasant to turn from these episodes to other features in Lyall's +career and character, in respect to which unstinted eulogy, without the +qualification of a shade of criticism, may be recorded. It was more +especially in dealing with the larger and more general aspects of +Eastern affairs that Lyall's genius shone most brightly. He had what +the French call a _flair_ in dealing with the main issues of Oriental +politics such as, so far as my experience goes, is possessed by few. It +was very similar to the qualities displayed by the late Lord Salisbury +in dealing with foreign affairs generally. I give an instance in point. + +In 1884, almost every newspaper in England was declaiming loudly about +the dangers to be apprehended if the rebellion excited by the Mahdi in +the Soudan was not promptly crushed. It was thought that this rebellion +was but the precursor of a general and formidable offensive movement +throughout the Islamic world. "What," General Gordon, whose opinion at +the time carried great weight, had asked, "is to prevent the Mahdi's +adherents gaining Mecca? Once at Mecca we may look out for squalls in +Turkey," etc. He, as also Lord Wolseley, insisted on the absolute +necessity of "smashing the Mahdi." We now know that these fears were +exaggerated, and that the Mahdist movement was of purely local +importance. Lyall had no special acquaintance with Egyptian or Soudanese +affairs, but his general knowledge of the East and of Easterns enabled +him at once to gauge correctly the true nature of the danger. +Undisturbed by the clamour which prevailed around him, he wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve on March 21, 1884: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest +India. The talk in some of the papers about the necessity of smashing +him, in order to avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is +futile and imaginative."[50] + +I need say no more. I am glad, for the sake of Lyall's own reputation, +that the offer of the Viceroyalty was never made to him. Apart from the +question of his age, which, in 1894, was somewhat too advanced to admit +of his undertaking such onerous duties, I doubt if he possessed +sufficient experience of English public life--a qualification which is +yearly becoming of greater importance--to enable him to fill the post in +a satisfactory manner. In spite, moreover, of his splendid intellectual +gifts and moral elevation of thought, it is very questionable whether on +the whole he would have been the right man in the right place. + +Lyall's name will not, like those of some other Indian notabilities, go +down to posterity as having been specially connected with any one +episode or event of supreme historical importance; but, when those of +the present generation who regarded him with esteem and affection have +passed away, he will still deserve an important niche in the Temple of +Fame as a thinker who thoroughly understood the East, and who probably +did more than any of his contemporaries or predecessors to make his +countrymen understand and sympathise with the views held by the many +millions in India whose destinies are committed to their charge. His +experience and special mental equipment eminently fitted him to perform +the task he took in hand. England, albeit a prolific mother of great men +in every department of thought and action, has not produced many Lyalls. + +[Footnote 48: _Nineteenth Century_, May 1913, p. 972.] + +[Footnote 49: When I was at Delhi in 1881, a Nikolsaini, _i.e._ a +worshipper of John Nicholson, came to see me. He showed me a miniature +of Nicholson with his head surrounded by an aureole.] + +[Footnote 50: _Memoirs of Henry Reeve_, ii. 329.] + + + + +"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER" + + + + +IV + +ARMY REFORM + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," February 1904_ + + +The autobiography[51] of my old and highly esteemed friend, Lord +Wolseley, constitutes an honourable record of a well-spent life. Lord +Wolseley may justifiably be proud of the services which he has rendered +to his country. The British nation, and its principal executive +officials in the past, may also be proud of having quickly discovered +Lord Wolseley's talents and merits, and of having advanced him to high +position. + +Obviously, certain conclusions of public interest may be drawn from the +career of this very distinguished soldier. Sir George Arthur, in the +December number of the _Fortnightly Review_, has stated what are the +special lessons which, in his opinion, are to be derived from a +consideration of that career. + +Those lessons are, indeed, sufficiently numerous. I propose, however, to +deal with only two of them. They are those which, apparently, Lord +Wolseley himself wishes to be inculcated. Both involve questions of +principle of no little importance. + +In the first place, Lord Wolseley, if I understand rightly, considers +that the army has suffered greatly from civilian interference. He +appears to think that it should be more exclusively than heretofore +under military control. + +In the second place, he thinks that, in certain cases, the political and +diplomatic negotiations, which generally follow on a war, should be +conducted, not by a diplomatist or politician, but by the officer who +has conducted the previous military operations. + +As regards the first point, I am not now dealing with Lord Wolseley's +remarks in connection with our general unpreparedness for war, nor with +those on the various defects, past or present, of our military +organisation. In a great deal that he has said on these subjects, Lord +Wolseley carries me heartily with him. I confine myself strictly to the +issue as I have defined it above. + +Possibly, I have mistaken the significance of Lord Wolseley's words. If +so, my error is shared by Sir George Arthur, who, in dealing with the +War Office, dwells with emphasis on the occasions when "this great war +expert was thwarted in respect of his best considered plans by the +civilian element in that citadel of inefficiency,"[52] and speaks with +approval of Lord Wolseley's "severe strictures on blundering civilian +interference with the army," as also of the "censure reserved for the +criminal negligence and miserable cowardice of successive Cabinets." + +It seems to me that Lord Wolseley is rather hard on civilians in +general--those "iconoclastic civilian officials who meddle and muddle in +army matters"[53]--on politicians in particular, who, I cannot but +think, are not quite so black as he has painted them; and most of all on +Secretaries of State, with the single exception of Lord Cardwell, to +whom generous and very well deserved praise is accorded. + +It is not quite clear, from a perusal of these volumes, what is the +precise nature of the change which Lord Wolseley wishes to advocate, +although in one passage a specific proposal is made. It is that "a +certificate should be annually laid before Parliament by the +non-political Commander-in-Chief, that the whole of the military forces +of the Empire can be completely and effectively equipped for war in a +fortnight." The general tendency of the reform which commends itself to +Lord Wolseley may, however, readily be inferred. He complains that the +soldiers, "though in office, are never in power." Nevertheless, as he +explains with military frankness, "the cunning politician," when +anything goes wrong, is able "to turn the wrath of a deceived people +upon the military authorities, and those who are exclusively to blame +are too often allowed to sneak off unhurt in the turmoil of execration +they have raised against the soldiers." I may remark incidentally that +exception might perhaps reasonably be taken to the use of the word +"exclusively" in this passage; but the main point to which I wish to +draw attention is that clearly, in Lord Wolseley's opinion, the +soldiers, under the existing system, have not sufficient power, and that +it would be advisable that they should, under a reformed system, be +invested with more ample power. I dare say Lord Wolseley is quite right, +at all events to this extent, that it is desirable that the power, as +also the responsibility, of the highest military authorities should be +as clearly defined as is possible under our peculiar system of +government. But it is essential to ascertain more accurately in what +manner Lord Wolseley, speaking with all the high authority which +deservedly attaches itself to his name, thinks that effect should be +given to the principle which he advocates. In order to obtain this +information, I turn to vol. i. p. 92, where I find the following +passage: "A man who is not a soldier, and who is entirely ignorant of +war, is selected solely for political reasons to be Secretary of State +for War. I might with quite as great propriety be selected to be the +chief surgeon in a hospital." + +I would here digress for a moment to deal with the argument advanced in +the latter part of this sentence. It is very plausible, and, at first +sight, appears convincing. It is also very commonly used. Over and over +again, I have heard the presumed analogy between the surgeon and the +soldier advanced as a proof of the absurdity of the English system. I +believe that no such analogy exists. Surgery is an exact science. To +perform even the most trifling surgical operation requires careful +technical training and experience. It is far otherwise with the case of +the soldier. I do not suppose that any civilian in his senses would +presume, on a purely technical matter, to weigh his own opinion against +that of a trained soldier, like Lord Wolseley, who is thoroughly versed +in the theory of his profession, and who has been through the school of +actual war. But a large number of the most important questions affecting +military organisation and the conduct of military affairs, require for +their solution little or no technical knowledge. Any man of ordinary +common sense can form an opinion on them, and any man of good business +habits may readily become a capable agent for giving effect to the +opinions which he, or which others have formed. + +I may here perhaps give a page from my own personal experience bearing +on the point under discussion. + +The Soudan campaign of 1896-98 was, in official circles, dubbed a +"Foreign Office war." For a variety of reasons, to which it is +unnecessary to allude in detail, the Sirdar was, from the commencement +of the operations, placed exclusively under my orders in all matters. +The War Office assumed no responsibility, and issued no orders.[54] A +corresponding position was occupied by the Headquarters Staff of the +Army of Occupation in Cairo. The result was that I found myself in the +somewhat singular position of a civilian, who had had some little +military training in his youth, but who had had no experience of +war,[55] whose proper functions were diplomacy and administration, but +who, under the stress of circumstances in the Land of Paradox, had to be +ultimately responsible for the maintenance, and even, to some extent, +for the movements of an army of some 25,000 men in the field. + +That good results were obtained under this system cannot be doubted. It +will not, therefore, be devoid of interest to explain how it worked in +practice, and what were the main reasons which contributed towards +success. + +I have no wish to disparage the strategical and tactical ability which +were displayed in the conduct of the campaign. It is, however, a fact +that no occasion arose for the display of any great skill in these +branches of military knowledge. When once the British and Egyptian +troops were brought face to face with the enemy, there could--unless +the conditions under which they fought were altogether extraordinary--be +little doubt of the result. The speedy and successful issue of the +campaign depended, in fact, almost entirely upon the methods adopted for +overcoming the very exceptional difficulties connected with the supply +and transport of the troops. The main quality required to meet these +difficulties was a good head for business. By one of those fortunate +accidents which have been frequent in the history of Anglo-Saxon +enterprise, a man was found equal to the occasion. Lord Kitchener of +Khartoum won his well-deserved peerage because he was a good man of +business; he looked carefully after all important detail, and he +enforced economy. + +My own merits, such as they were, were of a purely negative character. +They may be summed up in a single phrase. I abstained from mischievous +activity, and I acted as a check on the interference of others. I had +full confidence in the abilities of the commander, whom I had +practically myself chosen, and, except when he asked for my assistance, +I left him entirely alone. I encouraged him to pay no attention to those +vexatious bureaucratic formalities with which, under the slang phrase of +"red tape" our military system is overburdened. I exercised some little +control over the demands for stores which were sent to the London War +Office; and the mere fact that these demands passed through my hands, +and that I declined to forward any request unless, besides being in +accordance with existing regulations--a point to which I attached but +slight importance--it had been authorised by the Sirdar, probably tended +to check wastefulness in that quarter where it was most to be feared. +Beyond this I did nothing, and I found--somewhat to my own +astonishment--that, with my ordinary staff of four diplomatic +secretaries, the general direction of a war of no inconsiderable +dimensions added but little to my ordinary labours. + +I do not say that this system would always work as successfully as was +the case during the Khartoum campaign. The facts, as I have already +said, were peculiar. The commander, on whom everything practically +depended, was a man of marked military and administrative ability. +Nevertheless, I feel certain that Lord Kitchener would bear me out in +saying that here was a case in which general civilian control, far from +exercising any detrimental effect, was on the whole beneficial. + +To return to the main thread of my argument. The passage which I have +quoted from Lord Wolseley's book would certainly appear to point to the +conclusion that, in his opinion, the Secretary of State for War should +be a soldier unconnected with politics. Even although Lord Wolseley does +not state this conclusion in so many words, it is notorious to any one +who is familiar with the views current in army circles that the adoption +of this plan is considered by many to be the best, if it be not the +only, solution of all our military difficulties. + +I am not concerned with the constitutional objections which may be urged +against the change of system now under discussion. Neither need I dwell +on the difficulty of making it harmonise with our system of party +government, for which it is quite possible to entertain a certain +feeling of respect and admiration without being in any degree a +political partisan. I approach the question exclusively from the point +of view of its effects on the army. From that point of view, I venture +to think that the change is to be deprecated. + +In dealing with Lord Cardwell's attitude in respect to army reform, Lord +Wolseley says: "Never was Minister in my time more generally hated by +the army." He points out how this hatred was extended to all who +supported Lord Cardwell's views. His own conduct was "looked upon as a +species of high treason." I was at the time employed in a subordinate +position at the War Office. I can testify that this language is by no +means exaggerated. Nevertheless, after events showed clearly enough +that, in resisting the abolition of purchase, the formation of a +reserve, and the other admirable reforms with which Lord Cardwell's +name, equally with that of Lord Wolseley, is now honourably associated, +the bulk of army opinion was wholly in the wrong. I believe such army +opinion as now objects to a civilian being Secretary of State for War to +be equally in the wrong. + +There would appear, indeed, to be some inconsistency between Lord +Wolseley's unstinted praise of Lord Cardwell--that "greatest" of War +Ministers, who, "though absolutely ignorant of our army and of war," +responded so "readily to the demands made on him by his military +advisers," and "gave new life to our old army"--and his depreciation of +the system which gave official birth to Lord Cardwell. There would be no +contradiction in the two positions if the civilian Minister, in 1871, +had been obliged to use his position in Parliament and his influence on +public opinion to force on an unwilling nation reforms which were +generally advocated by the army. But the very contrary of this was the +case. What Lord Cardwell had principally to encounter was "the fierce +hatred" of the old school of soldiers, and Lord Wolseley tells us +clearly enough what would have happened to the small band of army +reformers within the army, if they had been unable to rely on civilian +support. + + "Had it not been," he says, "for Mr. Cardwell's and Lord + Northbrook's constant support and encouragement, those of us who + were bold enough to advocate a thorough reorganisation of our + military system, would have been 'provided for' in distant quarters + of the British world, 'where no mention of us more should be + heard.'" + +There can be no such thing as finality in army reform. There will be +reformers in the future, as there have been in the past. There will, +without doubt, be vested interests and conservative instincts to be +overcome in the future, as there were at the time when Lord Wolseley so +gallantly fought the battle of army reform. What guarantee can Lord +Wolseley afford that a soldier at the head of the army will always be a +reformer, and that he will not "provide for" those of his subordinates +who have the courage to raise their voices in favour of reform, even as +Lord Wolseley thinks he would himself have been "provided for" had it +not been for the sturdy support he received from his civilian superiors? +I greatly doubt the possibility of giving any such guarantee. + +But I go further than this. It is now more than thirty years since I +served under the War Office. I am, therefore, less intimately acquainted +with the present than with the past. But, during those thirty years, I +have been constantly brought in contact with the War Office, and I have +seen no reason whatever to change the opinion I formed in Lord +Cardwell's time, namely, that it will be an evil day for the army when +it is laid down, as a system, that no civilian should be Secretary of +State for War. My belief is that, if ever the history of our military +administration of recent years comes to be impartially written, it will +be found that most of the large reforms, which have beneficially +affected the army, have been warmly supported, and sometimes initiated, +by the superior civilian element in the War Office. Who, indeed, ever +heard of a profession being reformed from within? One of the greatest +law reformers of the last century was the author of _Bleak House_. + +It may, indeed, be urged--perhaps Lord Wolseley would himself urge--that +it is no defence of a bad system to say that under one man (Lord +Cardwell), whom Lord Wolseley describes as "a clear-headed, +logical-minded lawyer," it worked very well. To this I reply that I +cannot believe that the race of clear-headed, logical-minded individuals +of Cabinet rank, belonging to either great party of the State, is +extinct. + +I have been induced to make these remarks because, in past years, I was +a good deal associated with army reform, and because, since then, I have +continued to take an interest in the matter. Also because I am convinced +that those officers in the army who, with the best intentions, advocate +the particular change now under discussion, are making a mistake in army +interests. They may depend upon it that the cause they have at heart +will best be furthered by maintaining at the head of the army a civilian +of intelligence and of good business habits, who, although, equally with +a soldier, he may sometimes make mistakes, will give an impartial +hearing to army reformers, and will probably be more alive than any one +belonging to their own profession to all that is best in the outside and +parliamentary pressure to which he is exposed. + +I turn to the second point to which allusion was made at the +commencement of this article. + +Speaking of the Chinese war in 1860, Lord Wolseley says: "In treating +with barbarian nations during a war ... the general to command the army +and the ambassador to make peace should be one and the same man. To +separate the two functions is, according to my experience, folly gone +mad." Lord Wolseley reverts to this subject in describing the Ashantee +war of 1873-74. I gather from his allusions to Sir John Moore's +campaign in Spain, and to the fact that evil results ensued from +allowing Dutch deputies to accompany Marlborough's army, that he is in +favour of extending the principle which he advocates to wars other than +those waged against "barbarian nations." + +The objections to anything in the nature of a division of +responsibility, at all events so long as military operations are in +actual progress, are, indeed, obvious, and are now very generally +recognised. Those who are familiar with the history of the revolutionary +war will remember the baneful influence exercised by the Aulic Council +over the actions of the Austrian commanders.[56] There can, in fact, be +little doubt that circumstances may occur when the principle advocated +by Lord Wolseley may most advantageously be adopted; but it is, I +venture to think, one which has to be applied with much caution, +especially when the question is not whether there should be a temporary +cessation of hostilities--a point on which the view of the officer in +command of the troops would naturally carry the greatest weight--but +also involves the larger issue of the terms on which peace should +finally be concluded. I am not at all sure that, in deciding on the +issues which, under the latter contingency, must necessarily come under +consideration, the employment of a soldier, in preference to a +politician or diplomatist, is always a wise proceeding. Soldiers, +equally with civilians, are liable to make erroneous forecasts of the +future, and to mistake the general situation with which they have to +deal. I can give a case in point. + +When, in January 1885, Khartoum fell, the question whether the British +army should be withdrawn, or should advance and reconquer the Soudan, +had to be decided. Gordon, whose influence on public opinion, great +before, had been enhanced by his tragic death, had strongly recommended +the policy of "smashing the Mahdi." Lord Wolseley adopted Gordon's +opinion. "No frontier force," he said, "can keep Mahdiism out of Egypt, +and the Mahdi sooner or later must be smashed, or he will smash you." +These views were shared by Lord Kitchener, Sir Redvers Buller, Sir +Charles Wilson, and by the military authorities generally.[57] Further, +the alleged necessity of "smashing the Mahdi," on the ground that his +success in the Soudan would be productive of serious results elsewhere, +exercised a powerful influence on British public opinion at this period, +although the best authorities on Eastern politics were at the time aware +that the fears so generally entertained in this connection were either +groundless or, at all events, greatly exaggerated.[58] Under these +circumstances, it was decided to "smash the Mahdi," and accordingly a +proclamation, giving effect to the declared policy of the British +Government, was issued. Shortly afterwards, the Penjdeh incident +occurred. Public opinion in England somewhat calmed down, having found +its natural safety-valve in an acrimonious parliamentary debate, in +which the Government narrowly escaped defeat. The voices of politicians +and diplomatists, which had been to some degree hushed by the din of +arms, began to be heard. The proclamation was cancelled. The project of +reconquering the Soudan was postponed to a more convenient period. It +was, in fact, accomplished thirteen years later, under circumstances +which differed very materially from those which prevailed in 1885. In +June 1885, the Government of Lord Salisbury succeeded to that of Mr. +Gladstone, and, though strongly urged to undertake the reconquest of the +Soudan, confirmed the decision of its predecessors. + +Sir George Arthur, writing in the _Fortnightly Review_, strongly +condemns this "cynical disavowal" of Lord Wolseley's proclamation. I +have nothing to say in favour of the issue of that proclamation. I am +very clearly of opinion that, as it was issued, it was wise that it +should be cancelled. For, in truth, subsequent events showed that the +forecast made by Lord Wolseley and by Gordon was erroneous, in that it +credited the Mahdi with a power of offence which he was far from +possessing. No serious difficulty arose in defending the frontier of +Egypt from Dervish attack. The overthrow of the Mahdi's power, though +eminently desirable, was very far from constituting an imperious +necessity such as was commonly supposed to exist in 1885. In this +instance, therefore, it appears to me that the diplomatists and +politicians gauged the true nature of the situation somewhat more +accurately than the soldiers. + +More than this, I conceive that, in all civilised countries, the theory +of government is that a question of peace or war is one to be decided by +politicians. The functions of the soldier are supposed to be confined, +in the first place, to advising on the purely military aspects of the +issue involved; and, in the second place, to giving effect to any +decisions at which the Government may arrive. The practice in this +matter not infrequently differs somewhat from the theory. The soldier, +who is generally prone to advocate vigorous action, is inclined to +encroach on the sphere which should properly be reserved for the +politician. The former is often masterful, and the latter may be dazzled +by the glitter of arms, or too readily lured onwards by the persuasive +voice of some strategist to acquire an almost endless succession of +what, in technical language, are called "keys" to some position, or--to +employ a metaphor of which the late Lord Salisbury once made use in +writing to me--"to try and annex the moon in order to prevent its being +appropriated by the planet Mars." When this happens, a risk is run that +the soldier, who is himself unconsciously influenced by a very laudable +desire to obtain personal distinction, may practically dictate the +policy of the nation without taking a sufficiently comprehensive view of +national interests. Considerations of this nature have more especially +been, from time to time, advanced in connection with the numerous +frontier wars which have occurred in India. That they contain a certain +element of truth can scarcely be doubted. + +For these reasons, it appears to me that the application of the +principle advocated by Lord Wolseley requires much care and +watchfulness. Probably, the wisest plan will be that each case should be +decided on its own merits with reference to the special circumstances +of the situation, which may sometimes demand the fusion, and sometimes +the separation, of military and political functions. + +I was talking, a short time ago, to a very intelligent, and also +Anglophile, French friend of mine. He knew England well, but, until +quite recently, had not visited the country for a few years. He told me +that what struck him most was the profound change which had come over +British opinion since the occasion of his last visit. We had been +invaded, he said, by _le militarisme continental_. In common with the +vast majority of my countrymen, I am earnestly desirous of seeing our +military organisation and military establishments placed on a thoroughly +sound footing, but I have no wish whatever to see any portion of our +institutions overwhelmed by a wave of _militarisme continental_. It is +because I think that the views advocated by Lord Wolseley +tend--although, I do not doubt, unconsciously to their distinguished +author--in the direction of a somewhat too pronounced _militarisme_, +that I venture in some degree to differ from one for whom I have for +many years entertained the highest admiration and the most cordial +personal esteem. + +[Footnote 51: _The Story of a Soldier's Life_. Field-Marshal Viscount +Wolseley. Constable.] + +[Footnote 52: After carefully reading the book, I am in doubt as to the +specific occasions to which allusion is here made.] + +[Footnote 53: This expression is used with reference to a warning to +civilians that they should "keep their hands off the regiment." I do not +know if any recent instances have occurred when civilians have wished to +touch the essential portions of what is known as the "regimental +system," but I have a very distinct recollection of the fact that this +accusation was very freely, and very unjustly, brought against the army +reformers in Lord Cardwell's time. Of these, Lord Wolseley was certainly +the most distinguished. I think he will bear me out in the assertion +that it was only by civilian support that, in the special instances to +which I allude, the opposition was overcome.] + +[Footnote 54: Much the same proceeding appears to have been adopted in +the Red River expedition, which was conducted with such eminent success +by Lord Wolseley in 1870. But there was a difference. Lord Wolseley, in +describing that expedition, says: "The Cabinet and parliamentary element +in the War Office, that has marred so many a good military scheme, had, +I may say, little or nothing to do with it from first to last. When will +civilian Secretaries of State for War cease from troubling in war +affairs?" In the case of the Soudan campaigns, on the other hand, Lord +Kitchener and I had to rely--and our reliance was not misplaced--on the +Cabinet and on the parliamentary elements of the Government, to prevent +excessive interference from the London offices.] + +[Footnote 55: I was present for a few weeks, as a spectator, with +Grant's army at the siege of Petersburg in 1864, but the experience was +too short to be of much value.] + +[Footnote 56: _Art of War_, Jomini, p. 59.] + +[Footnote 57: I think I am correct in saying that Sir Evelyn Wood was of +a contrary opinion, but I have been unable to verify this statement by +reference to any contemporaneous document.] + +[Footnote 58: On the 21st of March 1884 Sir Alfred Lyall wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest India. The talk in +some of the papers about the necessity of smashing him, in order to +avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is futile and +imaginative."--_Memoirs of Henry Reeve_, vol. ii. p. 329.] + + + + +V + +THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE + +PAPER READ AT THE INTERNATIONAL FREE TRADE CONGRESS AT ANTWERP, +_August 9-21, 1910_[59] + + +I have been asked to state my opinion on the effect of Free Trade upon +the political relations between States. The subject is a very wide one. +I am fully aware that the brief remarks which I am about to make fail to +do justice to it. + +A taunt very frequently levelled at modern Free Traders is that the +anticipations of their predecessors in respect to the influence which +Free Trade would be likely to exercise on international relations have +not been realised. A single extract from Mr. Cobden's writings will +suffice to show the nature of those anticipations. In 1842, he described +Free Trade "as the best human means for securing universal and permanent +peace."[60] Inasmuch as numerous wars have occurred since this opinion +was expressed, it is often held that events have falsified Mr. Cobden's +prediction. + +In dealing with this argument, I have, in the first place, to remark +that modern Free Traders are under no sort of obligation to be +"Cobdenite" to the extent of adopting or defending the whole of the +teaching of the so-called Manchester School. It may readily be admitted +that the programme of that school is, in many respects, inadequate to +deal with modern problems. + +In the second place, I wish to point out that Mr. Cobden and his +associates, whilst rightly holding that trade was to some extent the +natural foe to war, appear to me to have pushed the consequences to be +derived from that argument much too far. They allowed too little for +other causes which tend to subvert peace, such as racial and religious +differences, dynastic considerations, the wish to acquire national +unity, which tends to the agglomeration of small States, and the +ambition which excites the desire of hegemony. + +In the third place, I have to observe that the world has not as yet had +any adequate opportunity for judging of the accuracy or inaccuracy of +Mr. Cobden's prediction, for only one great commercial nation has, up to +the present time, adopted a policy of Free Trade. It was, indeed, here +more than in any other direction that some of the early British Free +Traders erred on the side of excessive optimism.[61] They thought, and +rightly thought, that Free Trade would confer enormous benefits on their +own country; and they held that the object-lesson thus afforded might +very probably induce other nations speedily to follow the example of +England. They forgot that the special conditions which existed at the +time their noble aspirations were conceived were liable to change; that +the extraordinary advantages which Free Trade for a time secured were +largely due to the fact that seventy years ago England possessed a far +larger supply of mechanical aptitude than any other country; that her +marked commercial supremacy, which was then practically undisputed, +could not be fully maintained in the face of the advance likely to be +made by other nations; that if those nations persisted in adhering to +Protection, their progress--which has really been achieved, not by +reason of, but in spite of Protection--would almost inevitably be +mainly attributed to their fiscal policy to the exclusion of other +contributory causes, such as education; and that thus a revived demand +for protective measures would not improbably arise, even in England +itself. These are, in fact, the results which have accrued. Without +doubt, it was difficult to foresee them, but it is worthy of note that, +in spite of all adverse and possibly ephemeral appearances, symptoms are +not wanting which encourage the belief that the prescience of the early +Free Traders may, in the end, be tardily vindicated. It is the irony of +current politics that at a time when England is meditating a return to +Protection--but is as yet, I am glad to say, very far from being +persuaded that the adoption of such a policy would be wise--the most +advanced thinkers in some Protectionist states are beginning to turn +their eyes towards the possibility and desirability of casting aside +those swaddling-clothes which were originally assumed in order to foster +their budding industries. Many of the most competent German economists, +whilst advocating Protection as a temporary measure, have for many years +fully recognised that, when once a country has firmly established its +industrial and commercial status in the markets of the world, it can +best maintain and extend its acquired position by permitting the freest +possible trade. Even Friedrich List, though an ardent Protectionist, +"always had before him universal Free Trade as the goal of his +endeavours."[62] Before long, Germany will have well-nigh completed the +transition from agriculture to manufactures in which she has been +engaged for the last thirty or forty years; and when that transition is +fully accomplished, it may be predicted with some degree of confidence +that a nation so highly educated, and endowed with so keen a perception +of cause and effect, will begin to move in the direction of Free Trade. +Similarly, in the United States of America, the campaign which has +recently been waged against the huge Trusts, which are the offspring of +Protection, as well as the rising complaints of the dearness of living, +are so many indications that arguments, which must eventually lead to +the consideration--and probably to the ultimate adoption--if not of Free +Trade, at all events of Freer Trade than now prevails, are gradually +gaining ground. Much the same may be said of Canada. A Canadian +gentleman, who can speak with authority on the subject, recently wrote: + + The feeling in favour of Free Trade is growing fast in Western + Canada, and I believe I am right in adding the United States. + + We have our strong and rapidly growing farmers' organisations, such + as the United Farmers of Alberta, and of each Western province, so + that farmers are now making themselves heard and felt in politics, + and farmers realise that they are being exploited for the benefit + of the manufacturer. Excellent articles appear almost weekly in the + _Grain Growers' Guide_, published in Winnipeg, showing the curse of + Protection. + + A Canadian Free Trade Union, affiliated with the International Free + Trade League, has just been formed in Winnipeg, and many prominent + business and professional men are connected with it. + + It ought to be better known among the electors of Great Britain how + Free Trade is growing in Canada, that they may be less inclined to + commit the fatal mistake of changing England's policy. Canada is + often quoted in English politics now, and the real facts should be + known. + +No experience has, therefore, as yet been acquired which would enable a +matured judgment to be formed as to the extent to which Free Trade may +be regarded as a preventive to war. The question remains substantially +much in the same condition as it was seventy years ago. In forming an +opinion upon it, we have still to rely largely on conjecture and on +academic considerations. All that has been proved is that numerous wars +have taken place during a period of history when Protection was the +rule, and Free Trade the exception; though the _post hoc ergo propter +hoc_ fallacy would, of course, be involved, if on that account it were +inferred that the protection of national industries has necessarily +been the chief cause of war. + +Without indulging in any utopian dreams as to the possibility of +inaugurating an era of universal peace, it may, I think, be held that, +in spite of the wars which have occurred during the last half century, +not merely an ardent desire for peace, but also a dislike--I may almost +say a genuine horror--of war has grown apace amongst the civilised +nations of the world. The destructiveness of modern weapons of offence, +the fearful personal responsibility devolving on the individuals who +order the first shot to be fired, the complete uncertainty which +prevails as to the naval, military, and political results which will +ensue if the huge armaments of modern States are brought into collision, +the growth of a benevolent, if at times somewhat eccentric +humanitarianism, possibly also the advance of democracy--though it is at +times somewhat too readily assumed that democracies must of necessity be +peaceful--have all contributed to create a public opinion which holds +that to engage in an avoidable war is the worst of political crimes. +This feeling has found expression in the more ready recourse which, as +compared to former times, is now made to arbitration in order to settle +international disputes. Nevertheless, so long as human nature remains +unchanged, and more especially so long as the huge armaments at present +existing are maintained, it is the imperative duty of every +self-respecting nation to provide adequately for its own defence. That +duty is more especially imposed on those nations who, for one reason or +another, have been driven into adopting that policy of expansion, which +is now almost universal. Within the last few years, the United States of +America have abandoned what has been aptly termed their former system of +"industrial monasticism,"[63] whilst in the Far East a new world-power +has suddenly sprung into existence. Speaking as one unit belonging to a +country whose dominions are more extensive and more widely dispersed +than those of any other nation, I entertain a strong opinion that if +Great Britain continues to maintain her present policy of Free Trade--as +I trust will be the case--her means of defence should, within the limits +of human foresight, be such as to render her empire impregnable; and, +further, that should that policy unfortunately be reversed, it will be a +wise precaution that those means of defence should, if possible, be +still further strengthened. But I also entertain an equally strong +opinion that an imperial nation should seek to fortify its position and +to provide guarantees for the durability of its empire, not merely by +rendering itself, so far as is possible, impregnable, but also by using +its vast world-power in such a manner as to secure in some degree the +moral acquiescence of other nations in its _imperium_, and thus provide +an antidote--albeit it may only be a partial antidote--against the +jealousy and emulation which its extensive dominions are calculated to +incite. + +I am aware that an argument of this sort is singularly liable to +misrepresentation. Militant patriotism rejects it with scorn. It is said +to involve an ignoble degree of truckling to foreign nations. It +involves nothing of the kind. I should certainly be the last to +recommend anything approaching to pusillanimity in the conduct of the +foreign affairs of my country. If I thought that the introduction of a +policy of Protection was really demanded in the interests of the +inhabitants of the United Kingdom, I should warmly advocate it, whatever +might be the effect produced on the public opinion of other countries. +British Free Traders do not advocate the cause which they have at heart +in order to benefit the countries which send their goods to Great +Britain, but because they think it advantageous to their own country to +procure certain foreign products without any artificial enhancement of +price.[64] If they are right in coming to this conclusion, it is surely +an incidental advantage of much importance that a policy of Free Trade, +besides being advantageous to the United Kingdom, tends to give an +additional element of stability to the British Empire and to preserve +the peace of the world. + +From the dawn of history, uncontrolled commercialism has been one of the +principal causes of misgovernment, and more especially of the +misgovernment of subject races. The early history of the Spaniards in +South and Central America, as well as the more recent history of other +States, testify to the truth of this generalisation. Similarly, +Trade--that is to say exclusive trade--far from tending to promote +peace, has not infrequently been accompanied by aggression, and has +rather tended to promote war. Tariff wars, which are the natural outcome +of the protective system, have been of frequent occurrence, and, +although I am not at all prepared to admit that under no circumstances +is a policy of retaliation justifiable, it is certain that that policy, +carried to excess, has at times endangered European peace. There is +ample proof that the Tariff war between Russia and Germany in 1893, "was +regarded by both responsible parties as likely to lead to a state of +things dangerous to the peace of Europe."[65] Professor Dietzel, in his +very remarkable and exhaustive work on _Retaliatory Duties_, shows very +clearly that the example of Tariff wars is highly contagious. Speaking +of the events which occurred in 1902 and subsequent years, he says: +"Germany set the bad example.... Russia, Austria-Hungary, Roumania, +Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Servia, followed suit.... An +international arming epidemic broke out. Everywhere, indeed, it was +said: We are not at all desirous of a Tariff war. We are acting only on +the maxim so often proclaimed among us, _Si vis pacem, para bellum_." + +Can it be doubted that there is a distinct connection between these +Tariff wars and the huge armaments which are now maintained by every +European state? The connection is, in fact, very close. Tariff wars +engender the belief that wars carried on by shot and shell may not +improbably follow. They thus encourage, and even necessitate, the costly +preparations for war which weigh so heavily, not only on the +industries, but also on the moral and intellectual progress of the +world. + +Mr. Oliver, in his interesting biography of Alexander Hamilton, gives a +very remarkable instance of the menace to peace arising, even amongst a +wholly homogeneous community, from the creation of hostile tariffs. The +first step which the thirteen States of America took after they had +acquired their independence was "to indulge themselves in the costly +luxury of an internecine tariff war.... Pennsylvania attacked Delaware. +Connecticut was oppressed by Rhode Island and New York.... It was a +dangerous game, ruinous in itself, and, behind the Custom-House +officers, men were beginning to furbish up the locks of their +muskets.... At one time war between Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York +seemed all but inevitable." + +To sum up all I have to say on this subject--I do not for a moment +suppose that Universal Free Trade--even if the adoption of such a policy +were conceivable--would inaugurate an era of universal and permanent +peace. Whatever fiscal policy be adopted by the great commercial nations +of the world, it is wholly illusory to suppose that the risk of war can +be altogether avoided in the future, any more than has been the case in +the past. But I am equally certain that, whereas exclusive trade tends +to exacerbate international relations, Free Trade, by mutually +enlisting a number of influential material interests in the cause of +peace, tends to ameliorate those relations and thus, _pro tanto_, to +diminish the probability of war. No nation has, of course, the least +right to dictate the fiscal policy of its neighbours, neither has it any +legitimate cause to complain when its neighbours exercise their +unquestionable right to make whatever fiscal arrangements they consider +conducive to their own interests. But the real and ostensible causes of +war are not always identical. When once irritation begins to rankle, and +rival interests clash to an excessive degree, the guns are apt to go off +by themselves, and an adroit diplomacy may confidently be trusted to +discover some plausible pretext for their explosion. + +In a speech which I made in London some three years ago, I gave an +example, gathered from facts with which I was intimately acquainted, of +the pacifying influence exerted by adopting a policy of Free Trade in +the execution of a policy of expansion. I may as well repeat it now. +Some twelve years ago the British flag was hoisted in the Soudan side by +side with the Egyptian. Europe tacitly acquiesced. Why did it do so? It +was because a clause was introduced into the Anglo-Egyptian Convention +of 1899, under which no trade preference was to be accorded to any +nation. All were placed on a footing of perfect equality. Indeed, the +whole fiscal policy adopted in Egypt since the British occupation in +1883 has been based on distinctly Free Trade principles. Indirect taxes +have been, in some instances, reduced. Those that remain in force are +imposed, not for protective, but for revenue purposes, whilst in one +important instance--that of cotton goods--an excise duty has been +imposed, in order to avoid the risk of customs duties acting +protectively. + +Free Trade mitigates, though it is powerless to remove, international +animosities. Exclusive trade stimulates and aggravates those +animosities. I do not by any means maintain that this argument is by +itself conclusive against the adoption of a policy of Protection, if, on +other grounds, the adoption of such a policy is deemed desirable; but it +is one aspect of the question which, when the whole issue is under +consideration, should not be left out of account. + +[Footnote 59: Subsequently published in _The Nineteenth Century and +After_ for September 1910.] + +[Footnote 60: _Life of Cobden_, Morley, vol. i. p. 231.] + +[Footnote 61: Sir Robert Peel, as is well known, did not fall into this +error, and even Mr. Cobden appears to have recognised so early as 1849 +that his original forecasts on this point were too optimistic. Speaking +on January 10, 1849, he said: "At the last stage of the Anti-Corn Law +Agitation, our opponents were driven to this position: 'Free Trade is a +very good thing, but you cannot have it until other countries adopt it +too.' And I used to say: 'If Free Trade be a good thing for us, we will +have it; let others take it if it be a good thing for them; if not, let +them do without it.'"] + +[Footnote 62: Hirst, _Life of Friedrich List_, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 63: Essay on the Influence of Commerce on International +Conflicts; F. Greenwood, _Ency. Brit._ (Tenth Edition).] + +[Footnote 64: In connection with this branch of the question, I wish to +draw attention to the fact that Professor Shield Nicholson, in his +recent brilliant work, _A Project of Empire_, has conclusively shown +that it is a misapprehension to suppose that Adam Smith, in advocating +Free Trade, looked merely to the interests of the consumer, and +neglected altogether those of the producer. Mr. Gladstone's statement on +this subject, made in 1860, is well known.] + +[Footnote 65: Reports on the Tariff wars between certain European +States, Parliamentary paper, Commercial, No. 1 (1904), p. 46.] + + + + +VI + +CHINA + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," May 1913_ + + +Mr. Bland's book, entitled _Recent Events and Present Policies in China_ +(1912), is full of instruction not only for those who are specially +concerned in the affairs of China, but also for all who are interested +in watching the new developments which are constantly arising from the +ever-increasing contact between the East and the West. + +The Eastern world is at present strewn with the _dbris_ of paper +constitutions, which are, or are probably about to become, derelict. The +case of Egypt is somewhat special, and would require separate treatment. +But in Turkey, in Persia, and in China, the epidemic, which is of an +exotic character, appears to be following its normal course. + +Constitutions when first promulgated are received with wild enthusiasm. +In Italy, during the most frenzied period of Garibaldian worship, my +old friend, Lear the artist, asked a patriotic inn-keeper, who was in a +wild state of excitement, to give him breakfast, to which the man +replied: "Colazione! Che colazione! Tutto amore e libert!" In the +Albanian village in which Miss Durham was residing when the Young Turks +proclaimed their constitution, the Moslem inhabitants expressed great +delight at the news, and forthwith asked when the massacre of the +Giaours--without which a constitution would wholly miss its mark--was to +begin.[66] Similarly, Mr. Bland says that throughout China, although +"the word 'Republic' meant no more to the people at large than the +blessed word 'Mesopotamia,' men embraced each other publicly and wept +for joy at the coming of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." + +These ebullitions provoke laughter. + + Sed facilis cuivis rigidi censura cachinni. + +We Europeans have ourselves passed through much the same phases. Vandal +and others have told us of the Utopia which was created in the minds of +the French when the old rgime crashed to the ground. Sydney Smith +caricatured the delusive hopes excited by the passing of the Reform Bill +of 1832, when he said that all the unmarried young women thought that +they would at once get husbands, and that all the schoolboys expected a +heavy fall in the price of jam tarts. A process of disillusionment may +confidently be anticipated in Ireland if the Home Rule Bill becomes law, +and the fairy prospects held out to the Irish people by Mr. Redmond and +the other stage managers of the piece are chilled by the cold shade of +reality. + +We English are largely responsible for creating the frame of mind which +is even now luring Young Turks, Chinamen, and other Easterns into the +political wilderness by the display of false signals. We have, indeed, +our Blands in China, our Milners in Egypt, our Miss Durhams in the +Balkan Peninsula, and our Miss Bells in Mesopotamia, who wander far +afield, gleaning valuable facts and laying before their countrymen and +countrywomen conclusions based on acquired knowledge and wide +experience. But their efforts are only partially successful. They are +often shivered on the solid rock of preconceived prejudices, and genuine +but ill-informed sentimentalism. A large section of the English public +are, in fact, singularly wanting in political imagination. Although they +would not, in so many words, admit the truth of the statement, they none +the less act and speak as if sound national development in whatsoever +quarter of the world must of necessity proceed along their own +conventional, insular, and time-honoured lines, and along those lines +alone. There is a whole class of newspaper readers, and also of +newspaper writers, who resemble that eminent but now deceased Member of +Parliament, who told me that during the four hours' railway journey from +Port Said to Cairo he had come to the definite conclusion that Egypt +could not be prosperous because he had observed that there were no +stacks of corn standing in the fields; neither was this conclusion in +any way shaken when it was explained to him that the Egyptians were not +in the habit of erecting corn stacks after the English model. All these +classes readily lend an ear to quack, though often very well-intentioned +politicians, who go about the world preaching that countries can be +regenerated by shibboleths, and that the characters of nations can be +changed by Acts of Parliament. This frame of mind appeals with +irresistible force to the untrained Eastern habit of thought. T'ang--a +leading Chinese Republican--Mr. Bland says, "like all educated Chinese, +believes in the magic virtue of words and forms of government in making +a nation wise and strong by Acts of Parliament." And what poor, +self-deluded T'ang is saying and thinking in Canton is said and thought +daily by countless Ahmeds, Ibrahims, and Rizas in the bazaars of +Constantinople, Cairo, and Teheran. + +What has Mr. Bland to tell us of all the welter of loan-mongering, +rococo constitution-tinkering, Confucianism, and genuine if at times +misdirected philanthropy, which is now seething in the Chinese +melting-pot? + +In the first place, he has to say that the main obstacle to all real +progress in China is one that cannot be removed by any change in the +form of government, whether the ruling spirit be a full-fledged +Republican of the Sun Yat-Sen type, aided by a number of "imitation +foreigners," as they are termed by their countrymen, or a savage, albeit +statesmanlike "Old Buddha," who, at the close of a life stained by all +manner of blood-guiltiness, at last turned her weary face towards +Western reform as the only hope of saving her country and her dynasty. +The main disease is not political, and is incapable of being cured by +the most approved constitutional formulae. It is economic. Polygamy, +aided by excessive philo-progenitiveness, the result of +ancestor-worship, has produced a highly congested population. Vast +masses of people are living in normal times on the verge of starvation. +Hence come famines and savage revolts of the hungry. "Amidst all the +specifics of political leaders," Mr. Bland says, "there has been as yet +hardly a voice raised against marriages of minors or polygamy, and +reckless over-breeding, which are the basic causes of China's chronic +unrest." + +The same difficulty, though perhaps in a less acute form, exists in +India. Not only cannot it be remedied by mere philanthropy, but it is +absolutely certain--cruel and paradoxical though it may appear to say +so--that philanthropy enhances the evil. In the days of Akhbar or Shah +Jehan, cholera, famine, and internal strife kept down the population. +Only the fittest survived. Now, internal strife is forbidden, and +philanthropy steps in and says that no single life shall be sacrificed +if science and Western energy or skill can save it. Hence the growth of +a highly congested population, vast numbers of whom are living on a bare +margin of subsistence. I need hardly say that I am not condemning +philanthropy. On the contrary, I hold strongly that an +anti-philanthropic basis of government is not merely degrading and +inhuman, but also fortunately nowadays impracticable. None the less, the +fact that one of the greatest difficulties of governing the teeming +masses in the East is caused by good and humane government should be +recognised. It is too often ignored. + +A partial remedy to the state of things now existing in China would be +to encourage emigration; but a resort to this expedient is impossible, +for Europeans and Americans alike, being scared by the prospect of +competing with Chinese cheap labour, which is the only real Yellow +Peril,[67] as also by the demoralisation consequent on a large influx of +Chinamen into their dominions, close their ports to the emigrants. That +Young China should feel this as a gross injustice can be no matter for +surprise. The Chinaman may, with inexorable logic, state his case thus: +"You, Europeans and Americans, insist on my receiving and protecting +your missionaries. I do not want them. I have, in Confucianism, a system +of philosophy, which, whatever you may think of it, suits all my +spiritual requirements, and which has been sufficient to hold Chinese +society together for long centuries past. Nevertheless, I bow to your +wishes. But then surely you ought in justice to allow free entry into +your dominions to my carpenters and bricklayers, of whom I have a large +surplus, of which I should be glad to be rid. Is not your boasted +philanthropy somewhat vicarious, and does not your public morality +savour in some degree of mere opportunist cant?" + +To all of which, Europeans and Americans can only reply that the +instinct of self-preservation, which is strong within them, points +clearly to the absolute necessity of excluding the Chinese carpenters +and bricklayers; and, further, as regards the missionaries, that there +can be but one answer, and that in a Christian sense, to the question +asked by jesting Pilate. In effect they say that circumstances alter +cases, and that might is right--a plea which may perhaps suffice to +salve the conscience of an opportunist politician, but ought to appeal +less forcibly to a stern moralist. + +Foreign emigration, even if it were possible, would, however, be a mere +palliative. A more thorough and effective remedy would be to facilitate +the dispersion of the population in the congested districts over those +wide tracts of China itself which are suffering in a less degree from +congestion. I conceive that the execution of a policy of this nature +would not be altogether impossible. It could be carried into effect by +improving the means of locomotion, possibly by the construction of +irrigation works on a large scale, and by developing the resources of +the country, which are admittedly very great. But there is one condition +which is essential to the execution of this programme, and that is that +the financial administration of the country should be sufficiently +honest to inspire the confidence of those European investors who alone +can provide the necessary capital. Now, according to Mr. Bland, this +fundamental quality of honesty is not to be found throughout the length +and breadth of China, whether in the ranks of the old Mandarins or in +those of the young Republicans. + + The essential virtue of personal integrity [he says], the capacity + to handle public funds with common honesty, has been conspicuously + lacking in Young China. The leopard has not changed his spots; the + sons and brothers of the classical Mandarin remain, in spite of + Western learning, Mandarins by instinct and in practice. + +A very close observer of Eastern affairs--Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole--has +said that the East has an extraordinary facility for assimilating all +the worst features of any new civilisation with which it is brought in +contact. This is what has happened in India, in Turkey, in Egypt, and in +Persia. Even in Japan it has yet to be seen whether the old national +virtues will survive prolonged contact with the West. Hear now what Mr. +Bland has to say of China: + + Where Young China has cast off the ethical restraints and patriotic + morality of Confucianism, it has failed to assimilate, or even to + understand, the moral foundations of Europe's civilisation. It has + exchanged its old lamp for a new, but it has not found the oil, + which the new vessel needs, to lighten the darkness withal. + +In the opinion of so highly qualified an authority as Prince Ito, "the +sentiments of foreign educated Young China are hopelessly out of touch +with the masses." But while there has been alienation from the ideals of +the East, there has been no real approach to the ideals of the West. + + Education at Harvard or Oxford may imbue the Chinese student with + ideas and social tendencies, apparently antagonistic to those of + the patriarchal system of his native land; but they do not, and + cannot, create in him (as some would have us believe) the + Anglo-Saxon outlook on life, the standards of conduct and the + beliefs which are the results of centuries of our process of + civilisation and structural character. Under his top dressing of + Western learning, the Chinese remains true to type, instinctively + detached from the practical and scientific attitude, + contemplatively philosophical, with the fatalistic philosophy of + the prophet Job, concerned rather with the causes than the results + of things. Your barrister at Lincoln's Inn, after ten years of + cosmopolitan experience in London or Washington, will revert in six + months to the ancestral type of morals and manners; the spectacle + is so common, even in the case of exceptionally assimilative men + like Wu Ting-fang, or the late Marquis Tseng, that it evokes little + or no comment amongst Europeans in China. + +Notably from the point of view of financial honesty, which, as I have +already mentioned, is of cardinal importance if the regeneration of the +country is to be undertaken by other means than by mock constitutions, +the results of Western education are most disappointing. + + The opinion [Mr. Bland says] is widely held amongst European + residents and traders that the section of Young China which has + received its education in Foreign Mission schools displays no more + honesty than the rest. + +What is the conclusion to be drawn from these facts? It is that not only +in order to obtain adequate security for the bond-holders--in whom I am +not in any way personally interested, for I shall certainly not be one +of them--but also in the interests of the Chinese people, it is +essential, before any loan is contracted, to insist on a strict +supervision of the expenditure of the loan funds. That Young China, +partly on genuine patriotic grounds and also possibly in some cases on +grounds which are less worthy of respect and sympathy, should resent the +exercise of this supervision, is natural enough, but it can scarcely be +doubted that unless it be exercised a large portion of the money +advanced by European capitalists will be wasted, and that no really +effective step forward will be taken in the solution of the economic +problem which constitutes the main Chinese difficulty. The very +rudimentary ideas entertained by the Chinese themselves in the matter of +applying funds to productive works is sufficiently illustrated by the +episode mentioned by Mr. Bland, where he tells us that "the Szechuan +Railway Company directors made provision for the building of their line +by the appointment of station-masters"; while the fact that but a short +time ago 1400 German machine guns, costing 500 apiece, which had never +been used or paid for, were lying at Shanghai, indicates the manner in +which it is not only possible but highly probable that the loan funds +under exclusively Chinese supervision would be frittered away on +unproductive objects. + +Those, indeed, who have had some practical experience of financial +administration in Eastern countries may well entertain some doubts as to +whether supervision which only embraces the expenditure, and does not +apply to the revenue, will be sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the case. The results so far attained by the more limited scheme of +supervision do not appear to have been satisfactory. Herr Rump was +appointed auditor to the German section of the Tientsin-P'ukou Railway, +but Mr. Bland tells us that "the auditorship on this railway has proved +worse than useless as a preventive of official peculation." On the other +hand, the system of collecting the revenue is in the highest degree +defective. It violates flagrantly a principle which, from the days of +Adam Smith downwards, has always been regarded as the corner-stone of +any sound financial administration. "For every tael officially accounted +for by the provincial authorities," Mr. Bland says, in words which +recall to my mind the Egyptian fiscal system under the rgime of Ismail +Pasha, "at least five are actually collected from the taxpayers." + +It is, therefore, earnestly to be hoped that the diplomatists and +capitalists of Europe will--both in the interests of the investing +public and in those of the Chinese people--stand firm and insist on +adequate financial control as a preliminary and essential condition to +the advance of funds. + +As to whether the recently established Republic is destined to last or +whether it will prove a mere ephemeral episode in the life-history of +China, there seems to be much divergence of opinion among those +authorities who are most qualified to speak on the subject. Mr. Bland's +views on this point are, however, quite clear. He thinks that +Confucianism, and all the political and social habits of thought which +are the outcome of Confucianism, have "become ingrained in every fibre +of the national life," and that they constitute the "fundamental cause +of the longevity of China's social structure and of the innate strength +of her civilisation." He refuses to believe that Young China, which is +imbued with "a doctrinaire spirit of political speculation," though it +may tinker with the superstructure, will be able seriously to shake the +foundations of this hoary edifice. He has watched the opinions and +activities in every province from the beginning of the present +revolution, and he "is compelled to the conviction that salvation from +this quarter is impossible." He thinks that although in Canton and the +Kuang Provinces, which are the most intellectually advanced portions of +China, a system of popular representation may be introduced with some +hope of beneficial results, + + ... as regards the rest of China, as every educated Chinese knows + (unless, like Sun Yat-Sen, he has been brought up abroad), the idea + of rapidly transforming the masses of the population into an + intelligent electorate, and of making a Chinese Parliament the + expression of their collective political vitality, is a vain dream, + possible only for those who ignore the inherent character of the + Chinese people. + +There is, however, one consideration set forth by Mr. Bland, which may +possibly prove, at all events for a time, the salvation, while it +assuredly connotes the condemnation of the present system of government, +and that is that the Chinese Republic may continue to exist by +abrogating all republican principles. According to Mr. Bland this "gran +rifiuto" has already been made. "The actual government of China," he +says, "contains none of the elements of genuine Republicanism, but is +merely the old despotism, the old Mandarinate, under new names." "The +inauguration of the Republican idea of constitutional Government in +China," he says in another passage, "can only mean, in the present state +of the people, continual transference of an illegal despotism from one +group of political adventurers to another, the pretence of popular +representation serving merely to increase and perpetuate instability." + +It would require a far greater knowledge of Chinese affairs than any to +which I can pretend to express either unqualified adherence to or +dissent from Mr. Bland's views. But it is clear that his diagnosis of +the past is based on a very thorough acquaintance with the facts, while, +on _a priori_ grounds, his prognosis of the future is calculated to +commend itself to those of general experience who have studied Oriental +character and are acquainted with Oriental history. + +[Footnote 66: _High Albania_, p. 311.] + +[Footnote 67: See on this subject the final remarks in Mr. Bland's very +instructive chapter xiv.] + + + + +VII + +THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," July 1913_ + + +During the six years which have elapsed since I left Cairo I have, for +various reasons on which it is unnecessary to dwell, carefully abstained +from taking any part in whatever discussions have arisen on current +Egyptian affairs. If I now depart from the reticence which I have +hitherto observed it is because there appears at all events some slight +prospect that the main reform which is required to render the government +and administration of Egypt efficient will be seriously considered. As +so frequently happens in political affairs, a casual incident has +directed public attention to the need of reform. A short time ago a +Russian subject was, at the request of the Consular authorities, +arrested by the Egyptian police and handed over to them for deportation +to Russia. I am not familiar with the details of the case, neither, for +the purposes of my present argument, is any knowledge of those details +required. The nature of the offence of which this man, Adamovitch by +name, was accused, as also the question of whether he was guilty or +innocent of that offence, are altogether beside the point. The legal +obligation of the Egyptian Government to comply with the request that +the man should be handed over to the Russian Consular authorities would +have been precisely the same if he had been accused of no offence at +all. The result, however, has been to touch one of the most tender +points in the English political conscience. It has become clear that a +country which is not, indeed, British territory, but which is held by a +British garrison, and in which British influence is predominant, affords +no safe asylum for a political refugee. Without in any way wishing to +underrate the importance of this consideration, I think it necessary to +point out that this is only one out of the many anomalies which might be +indicated in the working of that most perplexing political creation +entitled the Egyptian Government and administration. Many instances +might, in fact, be cited which, albeit they are less calculated to +attract public attention in this country, afford even stronger ground +for holding that the time has come for reforming the system hitherto +known as that of the Capitulations. + +Before attempting to deal with this question I may perhaps be pardoned +if, at the risk of appearing egotistical, I indulge in a very short +chapter of autobiography. My own action in Egypt has formed the subject +of frequent comment in this country; neither, assuredly, in spite of +occasional blame, have I any reason to complain of the measure of +praise--often, I fear, somewhat unmerited praise--which has been +accorded to me. But I may perhaps be allowed to say what, in my own +opinion, are the main objects achieved during my twenty-four-years' +tenure of office. Those achievements are four in number, and let me add +that they were not the results of a hand-to-mouth conduct of affairs in +which the direction afforded to political events was constantly shifted, +but of a deliberate plan persistently pursued with only such temporary +deviations and delays as the circumstances of the time rendered +inevitable. + +In the first place, the tension with the French Government, which lasted +for twenty-one years and which might at any moment have become very +serious, was never allowed to go beyond a certain point. In spite of a +good deal of provocation, a policy of conciliation was persistently +adopted, with the result that the conclusion of the Anglo-French +Agreement of 1904 became eventually possible. It is on this particular +feature of my Egyptian career that personally I look back with far +greater pride and pleasure than any other, all the more so because, +although it has, comparatively speaking, attracted little public +attention, it was, in reality, by far the most difficult and responsible +part of my task. + +In the second place, bankruptcy was averted and the finances of the +country placed on a sound footing. + +In the third place, by the relief of taxation and other reforms which +remedied any really substantial grievances, the ground was cut away from +under the feet of the demagogues whom it was easy to foresee would +spring into existence as education advanced. + +In the fourth place, the Soudan, which had to be abandoned in 1884-85, +was eventually recovered. + +These, I say, are the things which were done. Let me now state what was +not done. Although, of course, the number of Egyptians employed in the +service of the Government was largely increased, and although the +charges which have occasionally been made that education was unduly +neglected admit of easy refutation, it is none the less true that +little, if any, progress was made in the direction of conferring +autonomy on Egypt. The reasons why so little progress was made in this +direction were twofold. + +In the first place, it would have been premature even to think of the +question until the long struggle against bankruptcy had been fought and +won, and also until, by the conclusion of the Anglo-French Agreement in +1904, the acute international tension which heretofore existed had been +relaxed. + +In the second place, the idea of what constituted autonomy entertained +by those Egyptians who were most in a position to make their voices +heard, as also by some of their English sympathisers, differed widely +from that entertained by myself and others who were well acquainted with +the circumstances of the country, and on whom the responsibility of +devising and executing any plan for granting autonomy would naturally +devolve. We were, in fact, the poles asunder. The Egyptian idea was that +the native Egyptians should rule Egypt. They therefore urged that +greatly increased powers should be given to the Legislative Council and +Assembly originally instituted by Lord Dufferin. The counter-idea was +not based on any alleged incapacity of the Egyptians to govern +themselves--a point which, for the purposes of my present argument, it +is unnecessary to discuss. Neither was it based on any disinclination +gradually to extend the powers of Egyptians in dealing with purely +native Egyptian questions.[68] I, and others who shared my views, +considered that those who cried "Egypt for the Egyptians" on the +house-tops had gone off on an entirely wrong scent because, even had +they attained their ends, nothing approaching to Egyptian autonomy would +have been realised. The Capitulations would still have barred the way to +all important legislation and to the removal of those defects in the +administration of which the Egyptians most complained. When the +prominent part played by resident Europeans in the political and social +life of Egypt is considered, it is indeed little short of ridiculous to +speak of Egyptian autonomy if at the same time a system is preserved +under which no important law can be made applicable to an Englishman, a +Frenchman, or a German, without its detailed provisions having received +the consent, not only of the King of England, the President of the +French Republic, and the German Emperor, but also that of the President +of the United States, the King of Denmark, and every other ruling +Potentate in Europe. We therefore held that the only possible method by +which the evils of extreme personal government could be averted, and by +which the country could be provided with a workable legislative machine, +was to include in the term "Egyptians" all the dwellers in Egypt, and to +devise some plan by which the European and Egyptian elements of society +would be fused together to such an extent at all events as to render +them capable of cooperating in legislative effort. It may perhaps be +hoped that by taking a first step in this direction some more thorough +fusion may possibly follow in the future. + +As I have already mentioned, it would have been premature to deal with +this question prior to 1904, for any serious modification of the rgime +of the Capitulations could not be considered as within the domain of +practical politics so long as all the Powers, and more especially France +and England, were pulling different ways. But directly that agreement +was signed I resolved to take the question up, all the more so because +what was then known as the Secret Agreement, but which has since that +time been published, contained the following very important clause: + + In the event of their (His Britannic Majesty's Government) + considering it desirable to introduce in Egypt reforms tending to + assimilate the Egyptian legislative system to that in force in + other civilised countries, the Government of the French Republic + will not refuse to entertain any such proposals, on the + understanding that His Britannic Majesty's Government will agree to + entertain the suggestions that the Government of the French + Republic may have to make to them with a view of introducing + similar reforms in Morocco. + +I was under no delusion as to the formidable nature of the obstacles +which stood in the way of reform. Moreover, I held very strongly that +even if it had been possible, by diplomatic negotiations with the other +Powers, to come to some arrangement which would be binding on the +Europeans resident in Egypt, and to force it on them without their +consent being obtained, it was most undesirable to adopt anything +approaching to this procedure. The European colonists in Egypt, although +of course numerically far inferior to the native population, represent a +large portion of the wealth, and a still larger portion of the +intelligence and energy in the country. Moreover, although the word +"privilege" always rather grates on the ear in this democratic age, it +is none the less true that in the past the misgovernment of Egypt has +afforded excellent reasons why even those Europeans who are most +favourably disposed towards native aspirations should demur to any +sacrifice of their capitulary rights. My view, therefore, was that the +Europeans should not be coerced but persuaded. It had to be proved to +them that, under the changed condition of affairs, the Capitulations +were not only unnecessary but absolutely detrimental to their own +interests. Personally, I was very fully convinced of the truth of this +statement, neither was it difficult to convince those who, being behind +the scenes of government, were in a position to judge of the extent to +which the Capitulations clogged progress in many very important +directions. But it was more difficult to convince the general public, +many of whom entertained very erroneous ideas as to the extent and +nature of the proposed reforms, and could see nothing but the fact that +it was intended to deprive them of certain privileges which they then +possessed. It cannot be too distinctly understood that there never +was--neither do I suppose there is now--the smallest intention of +"abolishing the Capitulations," if by that term is meant a complete +abrogation of all those safeguards against arbitrary proceedings on the +part of the Government which the Capitulations are intended to prevent. +Capitulations or no Capitulations, the European charged with a criminal +offence must be tried either by European judges or an European jury. All +matters connected with the personal status of any European must be +judged by the laws in force in his own country. Adequate safeguards +must be contrived to guard against any abuse of power on the part of the +police. Whatever reforms are introduced into the Mixed Tribunals must be +confined to comparatively minor points, and must not touch fundamental +principles. In fact, the Capitulations have not to be abolished, but to +be modified. An eminent French jurist, M. Gabriel Louis Jaray, in +discussing the Egyptian situation a few years ago, wrote: + + On peut considrer comme admis qu'une simple occupation ou un + protectorat de fait, reconnu par les Puissances Europennes, suffit + pour mettre nant les Capitulations, quand la rorganisation du + pays est suffisante pour donner aux Europens pleine garantie de + bonne juridiction. + +I contend that the reorganisation of Egypt is now sufficiently advanced +to admit of the guarantees for the good administration of justice, which +M. Jaray very rightly claimed, being afforded to all Europeans without +having recourse to the clumsy methods of the Capitulations in their +present form. + +In the last two reports which I wrote before I left Egypt I developed +these and some cognate arguments at considerable length. But from the +first moment of taking up the question I never thought that it would +fall to my lot to bring the campaign against the Capitulations to a +conclusion. The question was eminently one as to which it was +undesirable to force the pace. Time was required in order to let public +opinion mature. I therefore contented myself with indicating the defects +of the present system and the general direction which reform should +take, leaving it to those younger than myself to carry on the work when +advancing years obliged me to retire. I may add that the manner in which +my proposals were received and discussed by the European public in Egypt +afforded good reason for supposing that the obstacles to be overcome +before any serious reforms could be effected, though formidable, were by +no means insuperable. After my departure in 1907, events occurred which +rendered it impossible that the subject should at once come under the +consideration of the Government, but in 1911 Lord Kitchener was able to +report that the legislative powers of the Court of Appeal sitting at +Alexandria had been somewhat increased. Sir Malcolm M'Ilwraith, the +Judicial Adviser of the Egyptian Government, in commenting on this +change, says: + + The new scheme, while assuredly a progressive step, and in notable + advance of the previous state of affairs ... can hardly be + regarded, in its ensemble, as more than a temporary makeshift, and + a more or less satisfactory palliative of the legislative impotence + under which the Government has suffered for so long. + +It is most earnestly to be hoped that the question will now be taken up +seriously with a view to more drastic reform than any which has as yet +been effected. + +There is one, and only one, method by which the evils of the existing +system can be made to disappear. The British Government should request +the other Powers of Europe to vest in them the legislative power which +each now exercises separately. Simultaneously with this request, a +legislative Chamber should be created in Egypt for enacting laws to +which Europeans will be amenable. + +There is, of course, one essential preliminary to the execution of this +programme. It is that the Powers of Europe, as also the European +residents in Egypt, should have thorough confidence in the intentions of +the British Government, by which I mean confidence in the duration of +the occupation, and also confidence in the manner in which the affairs +of the country will be administered. + +As regards the first point, there is certainly no cause for doubt. Under +the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 the French Government specifically +declared that "they will not obstruct the action of government in Egypt +by asking that a limit of time be fixed for the British occupation, or +in any other manner." Moreover, one of the last acts that I performed +before I left Egypt in 1907 was to communicate to the British Chamber of +Commerce at Alexandria a letter from Sir Edward Grey in which I was +authorised to state that His Majesty's Government "recognise that the +maintenance and development of such reforms as have hitherto been +effected in Egypt depend upon the British occupation. This consideration +will apply with equal strength to any changes effected in the rgime of +the Capitulations. His Majesty's Government, therefore, wish it to be +understood that there is no reason for allowing the prospect of any +modifications in that rgime to be prejudiced by the existence of any +doubt as to the continuance of the British occupation of the country." +It is, of course, conceivable that in some remote future the British +garrison may be withdrawn from Egypt. If any fear is entertained on this +ground it may easily be calmed by an arrangement with the Powers that in +the event of the British Government wishing to withdraw their troops, +they would previously enter into communications with the various Powers +of Europe with a view to re-establishing whatever safeguards they might +think necessary in the interests of their countrymen. + +As regards the second point, that is to say, confidence in the manner in +which the administration of the country is conducted, I need only say +that, so far as I am able to judge, Lord Kitchener's administration, +although one of his measures--the Five Feddan law--has, not unnaturally, +been subjected to a good deal of hostile criticism, has inspired the +fullest confidence in the minds of the whole of the population of Egypt, +whether European or native. I cannot doubt that, when the time arrives +for Lord Kitchener, in his turn, to retire, no brusque or radical change +will be allowed to take place in the general principles under which he +is now administering the country. + +The rights and duties of any such Chamber as that which I propose, its +composition, its mode of election or nomination, the degree of control +to be exercised over it by the Egyptian or British Governments, are, of +course, all points which require very careful consideration, and which +admit of solution in a great variety of ways. In my report for the year +1906 I put forward certain suggestions in connection with each of these +subjects, but I do not doubt that, as the result of further +consideration and discussion, my proposals admit of improvement. I need +not now dwell on these details, important though they be. I wish, +however, to allude to one point which involves a question of principle. +I trust that no endeavour will for the present be made to create one +Chamber, composed of both Europeans and Egyptians, with power to +legislate for all the inhabitants of Egypt. I am strongly convinced +that, under the present condition of society in Egypt, any such attempt +must end in complete failure. It is, I believe, quite impossible to +devise any plan for an united Chamber which would satisfy the very +natural aspirations of the Egyptians, and at the same time provide for +the Europeans adequate guarantees that their own legitimate rights would +be properly safeguarded. I am fully aware of the theoretical objections +which may be urged against trying the novel experiment of creating two +Chambers in the same country, each of which would deal with separate +classes of the community, but I submit that, in the special +circumstances of the case, those objections must be set aside, and that +one more anomaly should, for the time being at all events, be added to +the many strange institutions which exist in the "Land of Paradox." +Whether at some probably remote future period it will be possible to +create a Chamber in which Europeans and Egyptians will sit side by side +will depend very largely on the conduct of the Egyptians themselves. If +they follow the advice of those who do not flatter them, but who, +however little they may recognise the fact, are in reality their best +friends--if, in a word, they act in such a manner as to inspire the +European residents of Egypt with confidence in their judgment and +absence of class or religious prejudice, it may be that this +consummation will eventually be reached. If, on the other hand, they +allow themselves to be guided by the class of men who have of late years +occasionally posed as their representatives, the prospect of any +complete legislative amalgamation will become not merely gloomy but +practically hopeless. The true Egyptian patriot is not the man who by +his conduct and language stimulates racial animosity in the pursuit of +an ideal which can never be realised, but rather one who recognises the +true facts of the political situation. Now, the dominating fact of that +situation is that Egypt can never become autonomous in the sense in +which that word is understood by the Egyptian nationalists. It is, and +will always remain, a cosmopolitan country. The real future of Egypt, +therefore, lies not in the direction of a narrow nationalism, which will +only embrace native Egyptians, nor in that of any endeavour to convert +Egypt into a British possession on the model of India or Ceylon, but +rather in that of an enlarged cosmopolitanism, which, whilst discarding +all the obstructive fetters of the cumbersome old international system, +will tend to amalgamate all the inhabitants of the Nile Valley and +enable them all alike to share in the government of their native or +adopted country. + +For the rest, the various points of detail to which I have alluded above +present difficulties which are by no means insuperable, if--as I trust +may be the case--the various parties concerned approach the subject with +a real desire to arrive at some practical solutions. The same may be +said as regards almost all the points to which Europeans resident in +Egypt attach special importance, such, for instance, as the composition +of criminal courts for trying Europeans, the regulation of domiciliary +visits by the police, and cognate issues. In all these cases it is by no +means difficult to devise methods for preserving all that is really +worth keeping in the present system, and at the same time discarding +those portions which seriously hinder the progress of the country. There +is, however, one important point of detail which, I must admit, presents +considerable practical difficulties. It is certain that the services of +some of the European judges of the Mixed Tribunals might be utilised in +constituting the new Chamber. Their presence would be of great use, and +it is highly probable that they will in practice become the real working +men of any Chamber which may be created. But apart from the objection in +principle to confiding the making as also the administration of the law +wholly to the same individuals, it is to be observed that, in order to +create a really representative body, it would be essential that other +Europeans--merchants, bankers, landowners, and professional men--should +be seated in the Chamber. Almost all the Europeans resident in Europe +are busy men, and the question will arise whether those whose assistance +would, on general grounds, be of special value, are prepared to +sacrifice the time required for paying adequate attention to their +legislative duties. I can only say that I hope that sufficient public +spirit is to be found amongst the many highly qualified European +residents in Egypt of divers nationalities to enable this question to be +answered in the affirmative. + +It is, of course, impossible within the space allotted to me to deal +fully on the present occasion with all the aspects of this very +difficult and complicated question. I can only attempt to direct +attention to the main issue, and that issue, I repeat, is how to devise +some plan which shall take the place of the present Egyptian system of +legislation by diplomacy. The late Lord Salisbury once epigrammatically +described that system to me by saying that it was like the _liberum +veto_ of the old Polish Diet, "without being able to have recourse to +the alternative of striking off the head of any recalcitrant voter." It +is high time that such a system should be swept away and some other +adopted which will be more in harmony with the actual facts of the +Egyptian situation. If, as I trust may be the case, Lord Kitchener is +able to devise and to carry into execution some plan which will rescue +Egypt from its present legislative Slough of Despond, he will have +deserved well, not only of his country, but also of all those Egyptian +interests, whether native or European, which are committed to his +charge. + +[Footnote 68: It is believed that a proposal to reform the constitution +of the Egyptian Legislative Council and to extend somewhat its powers is +now under consideration. Any reasonable proposals of this nature should +be welcomed, but they will do little or nothing towards granting +autonomy to Egypt in the sense in which I understand that word.] + + + + +"THE SPECTATOR" + + + + +VIII + +DISRAELI + +_"The Spectator," November 1912_ + + +No one who has lived much in the East can, in reading Mr. Monypenny's +volumes, fail to be struck with the fact that Disraeli was a thorough +Oriental. The taste for tawdry finery, the habit of enveloping in +mystery matters as to which there was nothing to conceal, the love of +intrigue, the tenacity of purpose--though this is perhaps more a Jewish +than an invariably Oriental characteristic--the luxuriance of the +imaginative faculties, the strong addiction to plausible generalities +set forth in florid language, the passionate outbursts of grief +expressed at times in words so artificial as to leave a doubt in the +Anglo-Saxon mind as to whether the sentiments can be genuine, the +spasmodic eruption of real kindness of heart into a character steeped in +cynicism, the excess of flattery accorded at one time to Peel for purely +personal objects contrasted with the excess of vituperation poured +forth on O'Connell for purposes of advertisement, and the total absence +of any moral principle as a guide of life--all these features, in a +character which is perhaps not quite so complex as is often supposed, +hail from the East. What is not Eastern is his unconventionality, his +undaunted moral courage, and his ready conception of novel political +ideas--often specious ideas, resting on no very solid foundation, but +always attractive, and always capable of being defended by glittering +plausibilities. He was certainly a man of genius, and he used that +genius to found a political school based on extreme self-seeking +opportunism. In this respect he cannot be acquitted of the charge of +having contributed towards the degradation of English political life. + +Mr. Monypenny's first volume deals with Disraeli's immature youth. In +the second, the story of the period (1837-46) during which Disraeli rose +to power is admirably told, and a most interesting story it is. + +Whatever views one may adopt of Disraeli's character and career, it is +impossible not to be fascinated in watching the moral and intellectual +development of this very remarkable man, whose conduct throughout life, +far from being wayward and erratic, as has at times been somewhat +superficially supposed, was in reality in the highest degree +methodical, being directed with unflagging persistency to one end, the +gratification of his own ambition--an ambition, it should always be +remembered, which, albeit it was honourable, inasmuch as it was directed +to no ignoble ends, was wholly personal. If ever there was a man to whom +Milton's well-known lines could fitly be applied it was Disraeli. He +scorned delights. He lived laborious days. In his youth he eschewed +pleasures which generally attract others whose ambition only soars to a +lower plane. In the most intimate relations of life he subordinated all +private inclinations to the main object he had in view. He avowedly +married, in the first instance, for money, although at a later stage his +wife was able to afford herself the consolation, and to pay him the +graceful compliment of obliterating the sordid reproach by declaring +that "if he had the chance again he would marry her for love"--a +statement confirmed by his passionate, albeit somewhat histrionic +love-letters. The desire of fame, which may easily degenerate into a +mere craving for notoriety, was unquestionably the spur which in his +case raised his "clear spirit." So early as 1833, on being asked upon +what principles he was going to stand at a forthcoming election, he +replied, "On my head." He cared, in fact, little for principles of any +kind, provided the goal of his ambition could be reached. Throughout his +career his main object was to rule his countrymen, and that object he +attained by the adoption of methods which, whether they be regarded as +tortuous or straightforward, morally justifiable or worthy of +condemnation, were of a surety eminently successful. + +The interest in Mr. Monypenny's work is enormously enhanced by the +personality of his hero. In dealing with the careers of other English +statesmen--for instance, with Cromwell, Chatham, or Gladstone--we do, +indeed, glance--and more than glance--at the personality of the man, but +our mature judgment is, or at all events should be, formed mainly on his +measures. We inquire what was their ultimate result, and what effect +they produced? We ask ourselves what degree of foresight the statesman +displayed. Did he rightly gauge the true nature of the political, +economic, or social forces with which he had to deal, or did he mistake +the signs of the times and allow himself to be lured away by some +ephemeral will-o'-the-wisp in the pursuit of objects of secondary or +even fallacious importance? It is necessary to ask these questions in +dealing with the career of Disraeli, but this mental process is, in his +case, obscured to a very high degree by the absorbing personality of the +man. The individual fills the whole canvas almost to the extent of +excluding all other objects from view. + +No tale of fiction is, indeed, more strange than that which tells how +this nimble-witted alien adventurer, with his poetic temperament, his +weird Eastern imagination and excessive Western cynicism, his elastic +mind which he himself described as "revolutionary," and his apparently +wayward but in reality carefully regulated unconventionality, succeeded, +in spite of every initial disadvantage of race, birth, manners, and +habits of thought, in dominating a proud aristocracy and using its +members as so many pawns on the chess-board which he had arranged to +suit his own purposes. Thrust into a society which was steeped in +conventionality, he enforced attention to his will by a studied neglect +of everything that was conventional. Dealing with a class who honoured +tradition, he startled the members of that class by shattering all the +traditions which they had been taught to revere, and by endeavouring, +with the help of specious arguments which many of them only half +understood, to substitute others of an entirely novel character in their +place. Following much on the lines of those religious reformers who have +at times sought to revive the early discipline and practices of the +Church, he endeavoured to destroy the Toryism of his day by invoking +the shade of a semi-mythical Toryism of the past. Bolingbroke was the +model to be followed, Shelburne was the tutelary genius of Pitt, and +Charles I. was made to pose as "a virtuous and able monarch," who was +"the holocaust of direct taxation." Never, he declared, "did man lay +down his heroic life for so great a cause, the cause of the Church and +the cause of the Poor."[69] Aspiring to rise to power through the agency +of Conservatives, whose narrow-minded conventional conservatism he +despised, and to whose defects he was keenly alive, he wisely judged +that it was a necessity, if his programme were to be executed, that the +association of political power with landed possessions should be the +sheet-anchor of his system; and, strong in the support afforded by that +material bond of sympathy, he did not hesitate to ridicule the foibles +of those "patricians"--to use his own somewhat stilted expression--who, +whilst they sneered at his apparent eccentricities, despised their own +chosen mouthpiece, and occasionally writhed under his yoke, were none +the less so fascinated by the powerful will and keen intellect which +held them captive that they blindly followed his lead, even to the +verge of being duped. + +From earliest youth to green old age his confidence in his own powers +was never shaken. He persistently acted up to the sentiment--slightly +paraphrased from Terence--which he had characteristically adopted as his +family motto, _Forti nihil difficile_; neither could there be any +question as to the genuine nature either of his strength or his courage, +albeit hostile critics might seek to confound the latter quality with +sheer impudence.[70] He abhorred the commonplace, and it is notably this +abhorrence which gives a vivid, albeit somewhat meretricious sparkle to +his personality. For although truth is generally dull, and although +probably most of the reforms and changes which have really benefited +mankind partake largely of the commonplace, the attraction of +unconventionality and sensationalism cannot be denied. Disraeli made +English politics interesting, just as Ismail Pasha gave at one time a +spurious interest to the politics of Egypt. No one could tell what would +be the next step taken by the juggler in Cairo or by that meteoric +statesman in London whom John Bright once called "the great wizard of +Buckinghamshire." When Disraeli disappeared from the stage, the +atmosphere may have become clearer, and possibly more healthy for the +body politic in the aggregate, but the level of interest fell, whilst +the barometer of dulness rose. + +If the saying generally attributed to Buffon[71] that "the style is the +man," is correct, an examination of Disraeli's style ought to give a +true insight into his character. There can be no question of the +readiness of his wit or of his superabundant power of sarcasm. Besides +the classic instances which have almost passed into proverbs, others, +less well known, are recorded in these pages. The statement that "from +the Chancellor of the Exchequer to an Undersecretary of State is a +descent from the sublime to the ridiculous" is very witty. The +well-known description of Lord Derby as "the Rupert of debate" is both +witty and felicitous, whilst the sarcasm in the context, which is less +well known, is both witty and biting. The noble lord, Disraeli said, was +like Prince Rupert, because "his charge was resistless, but when he +returned from the pursuit he always found his camp in the possession of +the enemy." + +A favourite subject of Disraeli's sarcasm in his campaign against Peel +was that the latter habitually borrowed the ideas of others. "His +(Peel's) life," he said, "has been a great appropriation clause. He is a +burglar of others' intellect.... From the days of the Conqueror to the +termination of the last reign there is no statesman who has committed +political petty larceny on so great a scale." + +In a happy and inimitable metaphor he likened Sir Robert Peel's action +in throwing over Protection to that of the Sultan's admiral who, during +the campaign against Mehemet Ali, after preparing a vast armament which +left the Dardanelles hallowed by the blessings of "all the muftis of the +Empire," discovered when he got to sea that he had "an objection to +war," steered at once into the enemy's port, and then explained that +"the only reason he had for accepting the command was that he might +terminate the contest by betraying his master." + +Other utterances of a similar nature abound, as, for instance, when he +spoke of Lord Melbourne as "sauntering over the destinies of a nation, +and lounging away the glories of an Empire," or when he likened those +Tories who followed Sir Robert Peel to the Saxons converted by +Charlemagne. "The old chronicler informs us they were converted in +battalions and baptized in platoons." + +Warned by the fiasco of his first speech in the House of Commons, +Disraeli for some while afterwards exercised a wise parsimony in the +display of his wit. He discovered that "the House will not allow a man +to be a wit and an orator unless they have the credit of finding it +out." But when he had once established his position and gained the ear +of the House, he gave a free rein to his prodigious powers of satire, +which he used to the full in his attacks on Peel. In point of fact, +vituperation and sarcasm were his chief weapons of offence. He spoke of +Mr. Roebuck as a "meagre-minded rebel," and called Campbell, who was +afterwards Lord Chancellor, "a shrewd, coarse, manoeuvring Pict," a +"base-born Scotchman," and a "booing, fawning, jobbing progeny of haggis +and cockaleekie." When he ceased to be witty, sarcastic, or +vituperative, he became turgid. Nothing could be more witty than when, +in allusion to Peel's borrowing the ideas of others, he spoke of his +fiscal project as "Popkins's Plan," but when, having once made this hit, +which naturally elicited "peals of laughter from all parts of the +House," he proceeded further, he at once lapsed into cheap rhetoric. + + "Is England," he said, "to be governed, and is England to be + convulsed, by Popkins's plan? Will he go to the country with it? + Will he go with it to that ancient and famous England that once was + governed by statesmen--by Burleighs and by Walsinghams; by + Bolingbrokes and by Walpoles; by a Chatham and a Canning--will he + go to it with this fantastic scheming of some presumptuous pedant? + I won't believe it. I have that confidence in the common sense, I + will say the common spirit of our countrymen, that I believe they + will not long endure this huckstering tyranny of the Treasury + Bench--these political pedlars that bought their party in the + cheapest market and sold us in the dearest." + +So also on one occasion when in a characteristically fanciful flight he +said that Canning ruled the House of Commons "as a man rules a high-bred +steed, as Alexander ruled Bucephalus," and when some member of the House +indulged in a very legitimate laugh, he turned on him at once and said, +"I thank that honourable gentleman for his laugh. The pulse of the +national heart does not beat as high as once it did. I know the temper +of this House is not as spirited and brave as it was, nor am I +surprised, when the vulture rules where once the eagle reigned." From +the days of Horace downwards it has been permitted to actors and orators +to pass rapidly from the comic to the tumid strain.[72] But in this case +the language was so bombastic and so utterly out of proportion to the +occasion which called it forth that a critic of style will hardly acquit +the orator of the charge of turgidity. Mr. Monypenny recognises that +"in spite of Disraeli's strong grasp of fact, his keen sense of the +ridiculous, and his intolerance of cant, he never could quite +distinguish between the genuine and the counterfeit either in language +or sentiment." + +Much has at times been said and written of the solecisms for which +Disraeli was famous. They came naturally to him. In his early youth he +told his sister that the Danube was an "uncouth stream," because "its +bed is far too considerable for its volume." At the same time there can +be little doubt that his practice of indulging in carefully prepared +solecisms, which became more daring as he advanced in power, was part of +a deliberate and perfectly legitimate plan, conceived with the object of +arresting the attention and stimulating the interest of his audience. + + * * * * * + +I have so far only dealt with Disraeli's main object in life, and with +the methods by which he endeavoured to attain that object. The important +question remains to be considered of whether, as many supposed and still +suppose, Disraeli was a mere political charlatan, or whether, as others +hold, he was a far-seeing statesman and profound thinker, who read the +signs of the times more clearly than his contemporaries, and who was +the early apostle of a political creed which his countrymen will do well +to adopt and develop. + +It is necessary here to say a word or two about Disraeli's biographer. +The charm of Mr. Monypenny's style, the lucidity of his narrative, the +thorough grasp which he manifestly secured of the forces in movement +during the period which his history embraces, and the deep regret that +all must feel that his promising career was prematurely cut short by the +hand of death, should not blind us to the fact that, in spite of a +manifest attempt to write judicially, he must be regarded as an +apologist for Disraeli. In respect, indeed, to one point--which, +however, is, in my opinion, one of great importance--he threw up the +case for his client. The facts of this case are very clear. + +When Peel formed his Ministry in 1841, no place was offered to Disraeli. +It can be no matter for surprise that he was deeply mortified. His +exclusion does not appear to have been due to any personal feeling of +animosity entertained by Peel. On the contrary, Peel's relations with +Disraeli had up to that time been of a very friendly character. Possibly +something may be attributed to that lack of imagination which, at a much +later period, Disraeli thought was the main defect of Sir Robert Peel's +character, and which may have rendered him incapable of conceiving that +a young man, differing so totally not only from himself but from all +other contemporaneous politicians in deportment and demeanour, could +ever aspire to be a political factor of supreme importance. The +explanation given by Peel himself that, as is usual with Prime Ministers +similarly situated, he was wholly unable to meet all the just claims +made upon him, was unquestionably true, but it is more than probable +that the episode related by Mr. Monypenny had something to do with +Disraeli's exclusion. Peel, it appears, was inclined to consider +Disraeli eligible for office, but Stanley (subsequently Lord Derby), who +was a typical representative of that "patrician" class whom Disraeli +courted and eventually dominated, stated "in his usual vehement way" +that "if that scoundrel were taken in, he would not remain himself." +However that may be, two facts are abundantly clear. One is that, in the +agony of disappointment, Disraeli threw himself at Peel's feet and +implored, in terms which were almost abject, that some official place +should be found for him. "I appeal," he said, in a letter dated +September 5, 1841, "to that justice and that magnanimity which I feel +are your characteristics, to save me from an intolerable humiliation." +The other fact is that, speaking to his constituents in 1844, he said: +"I never asked Sir Robert Peel for a place," and further that, speaking +in the House of Commons in 1846, he repeated this statement even more +categorically. He assured the House that "nothing of the kind ever +occurred," and he added that "it was totally foreign to his nature to +make an application for any place." He was evidently not believed. "The +impression in the House," Mr. Monypenny says, "was that Disraeli had +better have remained silent." + +Mr. Monypenny admits the facts, and does not attempt to defend +Disraeli's conduct, but he passes over this very singular episode, which +is highly illustrative of the character of the man, somewhat lightly, +merely remarking that though Disraeli "must pay the full penalty," at +the same time "it is for the politician who is without sin in the matter +of veracity to cast the first stone." + +I hardly think that this consolatory Biblical reflection disposes of the +matter. Politicians, as also diplomatists, are often obliged to give +evasive answers to inconvenient questions, but it is not possible for +any man, when dealing with a point of primary importance, deliberately +to make and to repeat a statement so absolutely untrue as that made by +Disraeli on the occasion in question without undermining any confidence +which might otherwise be entertained in his general sincerity and +rectitude of purpose. A man convicted of deliberate falsehood cannot +expect to be believed when he pleads that his public conduct is wholly +dictated by public motives. Now all the circumstantial evidence goes to +show that from 1841 onwards Disraeli's conduct, culminating in his +violent attacks on Peel in 1845-46, was the result of personal +resentment due to his exclusion from office in 1841, and that these +attacks would never have been made had he been able to climb the ladder +of advancement by other means. His proved want of veracity confirms the +impression derived from this evidence. + +Peel's own opinion on the subject may be gathered from a letter which he +wrote to Sir James Graham on December 22, 1843.[73] Disraeli had the +assurance to solicit a place for his brother from Sir James Graham. The +request met with a flat refusal. Peel's comment on the incident was: "He +(Disraeli) asked me for office himself, and I was not surprised that, +being refused, he became independent and a patriot." + +So far, therefore, as the individual is concerned, the episode on which +I have dwelt above appears to me to be a very important factor in +estimating not merely Disraeli's moral worth, but also the degree of +value to be attached to his opinions. The question of whether Disraeli +was or was not a political charlatan remains, however, to be +considered. + +That Disraeli was a political adventurer is abundantly clear. So was +Napoleon, between whose mentality and that of Disraeli a somewhat close +analogy exists. Both subordinated their public conduct to the +furtherance of their personal aims. It is quite permissible to argue +that, as a political adventurer, Disraeli did an incalculable amount of +harm in so far as he tainted the sincerity of public life both in his +own person and, posthumously, by becoming the progenitor of a school of +adventurers who adopted his methods. But it is quite possible to be a +self-seeking adventurer without being a charlatan. A careful +consideration of Disraeli's opinions and actions leads me to the +conclusion that only on a very superficial view of his career can the +latter epithet be applied to him. It must, I think, be admitted that his +ideas, even although we may disagree with them, were not those of a +charlatan, but of a statesman. They cannot be brushed aside as trivial. +They deserve serious consideration. Moreover, he had a very remarkable +power of penetrating to the core of any question which he treated, +coupled with an aptitude for wide generalisation which is rare amongst +Englishmen, and which he probably derived from his foreign ancestors. An +instance in point is his epigrammatic statement that "In England, where +society was strong, they tolerated a weak Government, but in Ireland, +where society was weak, the policy should be to have the Government +strong." Mr. Monypenny is quite justified in saying: "The significance +of the Irish question cannot be exhausted in a formula, but in that +single sentence there is more of wisdom and enlightenment than in many +thousands of the dreary pages of Irish debate that are buried in the +volumes of Hansard." + +More than this. In one very important respect he was half a century in +advance of his contemporaries. With true political instinct he fell upon +what was unquestionably the weakest point in the armour of the so-called +Manchester School of politicians. He saw that whilst material +civilisation in England was advancing with rapid strides, there was "no +proportionate advance in our moral civilisation." "In the hurry-skurry +of money-making, men-making, and machine-making," the moral side of +national life was being unduly neglected. He was able with justifiable +pride to say: "Long before what is called the 'condition of the people +question' was discussed in the House of Commons, I had employed my pen +on the subject. I had long been aware that there was something rotten in +the core of our social system. I had seen that while immense fortunes +were accumulating, while wealth was increasing to a superabundance, and +while Great Britain was cited throughout Europe as the most prosperous +nation in the world, the working classes, the creators of wealth, were +steeped in the most abject poverty and gradually sinking into the +deepest degradation." The generation of 1912 cannot dub as a charlatan +the man who could speak thus in 1844. For in truth, more especially +during the last five years, we have been suffering from a failure to +recognise betimes the truth of this foreseeing statesman's admonition. +Having for years neglected social reform, we have recently tried to make +up for lost time by the hurried adoption of a number of measures, often +faulty in principle and ill-considered in detail, which seek to obtain +by frenzied haste those advantages which can only be secured by the +strenuous and persistent application of sound principles embodied in +deliberate and well-conceived legislative enactments. + +Disraeli, therefore, saw the rock ahead, but how did he endeavour to +steer the ship clear of the rock? It is in dealing with this aspect of +the case that the view of the statesman dwindles away and is supplanted +by that of the self-seeking party manager. His fundamental idea was that +"we had altogether outgrown, not the spirit, but the organisation of our +institutions." The manner in which he proposed to reorganise our +institutions was practically to render the middle classes politically +powerless. His scheme, constituting the germ which, at a later period, +blossomed into the Tory democracy, was developed as early as 1840 in a +letter addressed to Mr. Charles Attwood, who was at that time a popular +leader. "I entirely agree with you," he said, "that an union between the +Conservative Party and the Radical masses offers the only means by which +we can preserve the Empire. Their interests are identical; united they +form the nation; and their division has only permitted a miserable +minority, under the specious name of the People, to assail all right of +property and person." + +Mr. Monypenny, if I understand rightly, is generally in sympathy with +Disraeli's project, and appears to think that it might have been +practicable to carry it into effect. He condemns Peel's counter-idea of +substituting a middle-class Toryism for that which then existed as +"almost a contradiction in terms." I am unable to concur in this view. I +see no contradiction, either real or apparent, in Peel's +counter-project, and I hold that events have proved that the premises on +which Disraeli based his conclusion were entirely false, for his +political descendants, while still pursuing his main aim, viz. to ensure +a closer association of the Conservative Party and the masses, have been +forced by circumstances into an endeavour to effect that union by means +not merely different from but antagonistic to those which Disraeli +himself contemplated. + +It all depends on what Disraeli meant when he spoke of "Conservatism," +and on what Mr. Monypenny meant when he spoke of "Toryism." It may +readily be conceded that a "middle-class Toryism," in the sense in which +Disraeli would have understood the expression, was "a contradiction in +terms," for the bed-rock on which his Toryism was based was that it +should find its main strength in the possessors of land. The creation of +such a Toryism is a conceivable political programme. In France it was +created by the division of property consequent on the Revolution. Thiers +said truly enough that in the cottage of every French peasant owning an +acre of land would be found a musket ready to be used in the defence of +property. In fact, the five million peasant proprietors now existing in +France represent an eminently conservative class. But, so far as I know, +there is not a trace to be found in any of Disraeli's utterances that he +wished to widen the basis of agricultural conservatism by creating a +peasant proprietary class. He wished, above all things, to maintain the +territorial magnates in the full possession of their properties. When he +spoke of a "union between the Conservative Party and the Radical masses" +he meant a union between the "patricians" and the working men, and the +answer to this somewhat fantastic project is that given by Juvenal 1800 +years ago: + + Quis enim iam non intelligat artes + Patricias?[74] + +"Who in our days is not up to the dodges of the patricians?" + +The programme was foredoomed to failure, and the failure has been +complete. Modern Conservatives can appeal to the middle classes, who--in +spite of what Mr. Monypenny says--are their natural allies. They can +also appeal to the working classes by educating them and by showing them +that Socialism is diametrically contrary to their own interests. But, +although they may gain some barren and ephemeral electoral advantages, +they cannot hope to advance the cause of rational conservative progress +either by alienating the one class or by sailing under false colours +before the other. They cannot advantageously masquerade in Radical +clothes. There was a profound truth in Lord Goschen's view upon the +conduct of Disraeli when, in strict accordance with the principles he +enunciated in the 'forties, he forced his reluctant followers to pass a +Reform Bill far more Radical than that proposed by the Whigs. "That +measure," Lord Goschen said,[75] "might have increased the number of +Conservatives, but it had, nevertheless, in his belief, weakened real +Conservatism." Many of Disraeli's political descendants seem to care +little for Conservatism, but they are prepared to advocate Socialist or +quasi-Socialist doctrines in order to increase the number of nominal +Conservatives. This, therefore, has been the ultimate result of the +gospel of which Disraeli was the chief apostle. It does no credit to his +political foresight. He altogether failed to see the consequences which +would result from the adoption of his political principles. He hoped +that the Radical masses, whom he sought to conciliate, would look to the +"patricians" as their guides. They have done nothing of the sort, but a +very distinct tendency has been created amongst the "patricians" to +allow themselves to be guided by the Radical masses. + +I cannot terminate these remarks without saying a word or two about +Disraeli's great antagonist, Peel. It appears to me that Mr. Monypenny +scarcely does justice to that very eminent man. His main accusation +against Peel is that he committed his country "apparently past recall" +to an industrial line of growth, and that he sacrificed rural England +"to a one-sided and exaggerated industrial development which has done +so much to change the English character and the English outlook." + +I think that this charge admits of being answered, but I will not now +attempt to answer it fully. This much, however, I may say. Mr. +Monypenny, if I understand rightly, admits that the transition from +agriculture to manufactures was, if not desirable, at all events +inevitable, but he holds that this transition should have been gradual. +This is practically the same view as that held by the earlier German and +American economists, who--whilst condemning Protection in +theory--advocated it as a temporary measure which would eventually lead +up to Free Trade. The answer is that, in those countries which adopted +this policy, the Protection has, in the face of vested interests, been +permanent, whilst, although the movement in favour of Free Trade has +never entirely died out, and may, indeed, be said recently to have shown +signs of increasing vigour, the obstacles to the realisation of the +ideas entertained by economists of the type of List have not yet been +removed, and are still very formidable. That the plunge made by Sir +Robert Peel has been accompanied by some disadvantages may be admitted, +but Free Traders may be pardoned for thinking that, if he had not had +the courage to make that plunge, the enormous counter-advantages which +have resulted from his policy would never have accrued. + +As regards Peel's character, it was twice sketched by Disraeli himself. +The first occasion was in 1839. The picture he drew at that time was +highly complimentary, but as Disraeli was then a loyal supporter of Peel +it may perhaps be discarded on the plea advanced by Voltaire that "we +can confidently believe only the evil which a party writer tells of his +own side and the good which he recognises in his opponents." The second +occasion was after Peel's death. It is given by Mr. Monypenny in ii. +306-308, and is too long to quote. Disraeli on this occasion made some +few--probably sound--minor criticisms on Peel's style, manner, and +disposition. But he manifestly wrote with a strong desire to do justice +to his old antagonist's fine qualities. He concluded with a remark +which, in the mouth of a Parliamentarian, may probably be considered the +highest praise, namely, that Peel was "the greatest Member of Parliament +that ever lived." I cannot but think that even those who reject Peel's +economic principles may accord to him higher praise than this. They may +admit that Peel attained a very high degree of moral elevation when, at +the dictate of duty, he separated himself from all--or the greater +part--of his former friends, and had the courage, when honestly +convinced by Cobden's arguments, to act upon his convictions. Peel's +final utterance on this subject was not only one of the most pathetic, +but also one of the finest--because one of the most deeply +sincere--speeches ever made in Parliament. + +I may conclude these remarks by some recollections of a personal +character. My father, who died in 1848, was a Peelite and an intimate +friend of Sir Robert Peel, who was frequently his guest at Cromer. I +used, therefore, in my childhood to hear a good deal of the subjects +treated in Mr. Monypenny's brilliant volumes. I well remember--I think +it must have been in 1847--being present on one occasion when a relative +of my own, who was a broad-acred Nottinghamshire squire, thumped the +table and declared his opinion that "Sir Robert Peel ought to be hanged +on the highest tree in England." Since that time I have heard a good +many statesmen accused of ruining their country, but, so far as my +recollection serves me, the denunciations launched against John Bright, +Gladstone, and even the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, may be +considered as sweetly reasonable by comparison with the language +employed about Sir Robert Peel by those who were opposed to his policy. + +I was only once brought into personal communication with Disraeli. +Happening to call on my old friend, Lord Rowton, in the summer of 1879, +when I was about to return to Egypt as Controller-General, he expressed +a wish that I should see Lord Beaconsfield, as he then was. The +interview was very short; neither has anything Lord Beaconsfield said +about Egyptian affairs remained in my memory. But I remember that he +appeared much interested to learn whether "there were many pelicans on +the banks of the Nile." + +The late Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff was a repository of numerous very +amusing _Beaconsfieldiana_. + +[Footnote 69: This passage occurs in _Coningsby_, and Mr. Monypenny +warns us that "his version of the quarrel between Charles I. and the +Parliament is too fanciful to be quite serious; we may believe that he +was here consciously paying tribute to the historical caprices of +Manners and Smythe."] + +[Footnote 70: Mr. Monypenny says in a note that a hostile newspaper gave +the following translation of Disraeli's motto: "The impudence of some +men sticks at nothing."] + +[Footnote 71: What Buffon really wrote was: "Le style est l'homme +mme."] + +[Footnote 72: + + Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore; + Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri + Telephus et Peleus. + +_Ars Poetica_, 94-96.] + +[Footnote 73: _Sir Robert Peel_. Charles Stuart Parker. Vol. iii. 425.] + +[Footnote 74: _Sat._ iv, 101.] + +[Footnote 75: _Life of Lord Goschen_, Arthur D. Elliot, p. 163.] + + + + +IX + +RUSSIAN ROMANCE + +_"The Spectator," March 15, 1913_ + + +De Vog's well-known book, _Le Roman Russe_, was published so long ago +as 1886. It is still well worth reading. In the first place, the +literary style is altogether admirable. It is the perfection of French +prose, and to read the best French prose is always an intellectual +treat. In the second place, the author displays in a marked degree that +power of wide generalisation which distinguishes the best French +writers. Then, again, M. de Vog writes with a very thorough knowledge +of his subject. He resided for long in Russia. He spoke Russian, and had +an intimate acquaintance with Russian literature. He endeavoured to +identify himself with Russian aspirations, and, being himself a man of +poetic and imaginative temperament, he was able to sympathise with the +highly emotional side of the Slav character, whilst, at the same time, +he never lost sight of the fact that he was the representative of a +civilisation which is superior to that of Russia. He admires the +eruptions of that volcanic genius Dostoevsky, but, with true European +instinct, charges him with a want of "mesure"--the Greek +Sophrosyne--which he defines as "l'art d'assujettir ses penses." +Moreover, he at times brings a dose of vivacious French wit to temper +the gloom of Russian realism. Thus, when he speaks of the Russian +writers of romance, who, from 1830 to 1840, "eurent le privilge de +faire pleurer les jeunes filles russes," he observes in thorough +man-of-the-world fashion, "il faut toujours que quelqu'un fasse pleurer +les jeunes filles, mais le gnie n'y est pas ncessaire." + +When Taine had finished his great history of the Revolution, he sent it +forth to the world with the remark that the only general conclusion at +which a profound study of the facts had enabled him to arrive was that +the true comprehension, and therefore, _a fortiori_, the government of +human beings, and especially of Frenchmen, was an extremely difficult +matter. Those who have lived longest in the East are the first to +testify to the fact that, to the Western mind, the Oriental habit of +thought is well-nigh incomprehensible. The European may do his best to +understand, but he cannot cast off his love of symmetry any more than he +can change his skin, and unless he can become asymmetrical he can never +hope to attune his reason in perfect accordance to the Oriental key. +Similarly, it is impossible to rise from a perusal of De Vog's book +without a strong feeling of the incomprehensibility of the Russians. + +What, in fact, are these puzzling Russians? They are certainly not +Europeans. They possess none of the mental equipoise of the Teutons, +neither do they appear to possess that logical faculty which, in spite +of many wayward outbursts of passion, generally enables the Latin races +in the end to cast off idealism when it tends to lapse altogether from +sanity; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that, having by +association acquired some portion of that Western faculty, the Russians +misapply it. They seem to be impelled by a variety of causes--such as +climatic and economic influences, a long course of misgovernment, +Byzantinism in religion, and an inherited leaning to Oriental +mysticism--to distort their reasoning powers, and far from using them, +as was the case with the pre-eminently sane Greek genius, to temper the +excesses of the imagination, to employ them rather as an oestrus to lash +the imaginative faculties to a state verging on madness. + +If the Russians are not Europeans, neither are they thorough Asiatics. +It may well be, as De Vog says, that they have preserved the idiom +and even the features of their original Aryan ancestors to a greater +extent than has been the case with other Aryan nations who finally +settled farther West, and that this is a fact of which many Russians +boast. But, for all that, they have been inoculated with far too strong +a dose of Western culture, religion, and habits of thought to display +the apathy or submit to the fatalism which characterises the conduct of +the true Eastern. + +If, therefore, the Russians are neither Europeans nor Asiatics, what are +they? Manifestly their geographical position and other attendant +circumstances have, from an ethnological point of view, rendered them a +hybrid race, whose national development will display the most startling +anomalies and contradictions, in which the theory and practice derived +from the original Oriental stock will be constantly struggling for +mastery with an Occidental aftergrowth. From the earliest days there +have been two types of Russian reformers, viz. on the one hand, those +who wished that the country should be developed on Eastern lines, and, +on the other, those who looked to Western civilisation for guidance. De +Vog says that from the accession of Peter the Great to the death of +the Emperor Nicolas--that is to say, for a period of a hundred and +fifty years--the government of Russia may be likened to a ship, of +which the captain and the principal officers were persistently +endeavouring to steer towards the West, while at the same time the whole +of the crew were trimming the sails in order to catch any breeze which +would bear the vessel Eastward. It can be no matter for surprise that +this strange medley should have produced results which are bewildering +even to Russians themselves and well-nigh incomprehensible to +foreigners. One of their poets has said: + + On ne comprend pas la Russie avec la raison, + On ne peut que croire la Russie. + +One of the most singular incidents of Russian development on which De +Vog has fastened, and which induced him to write this book, has been +the predominant influence exercised on Russian thought and action by +novels. Writers of romance have indeed at times exercised no +inconsiderable amount of influence elsewhere than in Russia. Mrs. +Beecher Stowe's epoch-making novel, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, certainly +contributed towards the abolition of slavery in the United States. +Dickens gave a powerful impetus to the reform of our law-courts and our +Poor Law. Moreover, even in free England, political writers have at +times resorted to allegory in order to promulgate their ideas. Swift's +Brobdingnagians and Lilliputians furnish a case in point. In France, +Voltaire called fictitious Chinamen, Bulgarians, and Avars into +existence in order to satirise the proceedings of his own countrymen. +But the effect produced by these writings may be classed as trivial +compared to that exercised by the great writers of Russian romance. In +the works of men like Tourguenef and Dostoevsky the Russian people +appear to have recognised, for the first time, that their real condition +was truthfully depicted, and that their inchoate aspirations had found +sympathetic expression. "Dans le roman, et l seulement," De Vog says, +"on trouvera l'histoire de Russie depuis un demi-sicle." + +Such being the case, it becomes of interest to form a correct judgment +on the character and careers of the men whom the Russians have very +generally regarded as the true interpreters of their domestic facts, and +whom large numbers of them have accepted as their political pilots. + +The first point to be noted about them is that they are all, for the +most part, ultra-realists; but apparently we may search their writings +in vain for the cheerfulness which at times illumines the pages of their +English, or the light-hearted vivacity which sparkles in the pages of +their French counterparts. In Dostoevsky's powerfully written _Crime +and Punishment_ all is gloom and horror; the hero of the tale is a +madman and a murderer. To a foreigner these authors seem to present the +picture of a society oppressed with an all-pervading sense of the misery +of existence, and with the impossibility of finding any means by which +that misery can be alleviated. In many instances, their lives--and still +more their deaths--were as sad and depressing as their thoughts. Several +of their most noted authors died violent deaths. At thirty-seven years +of age the poet Pouchkine was killed in a duel, Lermontof met the same +fate at the age of twenty-six. Gribodof was assassinated at the age of +thirty-four. But the most tragic history is that of Dostoevsky, albeit +he lived to a green old age, and eventually died a natural death. In +1849, he was connected with some political society, but he does not +appear, even at that time, to have been a violent politician. +Nevertheless, he and his companions, after being kept for several months +in close confinement, were condemned to death. They were brought to the +place of execution, but at the last moment, when the soldiers were about +to fire, their sentences were commuted to exile. Dostoevsky remained +for some years in Siberia, but was eventually allowed to return to +Russia. The inhuman cruelty to which he had been subject naturally +dominated his mind and inspired his pen for the remainder of his days. + +De Vog deals almost exclusively with the writings of Pouchkine, Gogol, +Dostoevsky, Tourguenef, who was the inventor of the word Nihilism, and +the mystic Tolstoy, who was the principal apostle of the doctrine. All +these, with the possible exception of Tourguenef, had one characteristic +in common. Their intellects were in a state of unstable equilibrium. As +poets, they could excite the enthusiasm of the masses, but as political +guides they were mere Jack-o'-Lanterns, leading to the deadly swamp of +despair. Dostoevsky was in some respects the most interesting and also +the most typical of the group. De Vog met him in his old age, and the +account he gives of his appearance is most graphic. His history could be +read in his face. + + On y lisait mieux que dans le livre, les souvenirs de la maison des + morts, les longues habitudes d'effroi, de mfiance et de martyre. + Les paupires, les lvres, toutes les fibres de cette face + tremblaient de tics nerveux. Quand il s'animait de colre sur une + ide, on et jur qu'on avait dj vu cette tte sur les banes + d'une cour criminelle, ou parmi les vagabonds qui mendient aux + portes des prisons. A d'autres moments, elle avait la mansutude + triste des vieux saints sur les images slavonnes. + +And here is what De Vog says of the writings of this semi-lunatic man +of genius: + + Psychologue incomparable, ds qu'il tudie des mes noires ou + blesses, dramaturge habile, mais born aux scnes d'effroi et de + piti.... Selon qu'on est plus touch par tel ou tel excs de son + talent, on peut l'appeler avec justice un philosophe, un aptre, un + alin, le consolateur des affligs ou le bourreau des esprits + tranquilles, le Jrmie de bagne ou le Shakespeare de la maison des + fous; toutes ces appellations seront mrites; prise isolment, + aucune ne sera suffisante. + +There is manifestly much which is deeply interesting, and also much +which is really lovable in the Russian national character. It must, +however, be singularly mournful and unpleasant to pass through life +burdened with the reflection that it would have been better not to have +been born, albeit such sentiments are not altogether inconsistent with +the power of deriving a certain amount of enjoyment from living. It was +that pleasure-loving old cynic, Madame du Deffand, who said: "Il n'y a +qu'un seul malheur, celui d'tre n." Nevertheless, the avowed +joyousness bred by the laughing tides and purple skies of Greece is +certainly more conducive to human happiness, though at times even +Greeks, such as Theognis and Palladas, lapsed into a morbid pessimism +comparable to that of Tolstoy. Metrodorus, however, more fully +represented the true Greek spirit when he sang, "All things are good in +life" ([Greek: panta gar esthla bi]). The Roman pagan, Juvenal, gave a +fairly satisfactory answer to the question, "Nil ergo optabunt +homines?" whilst the Christian holds out hopes of that compensation in +the next world for the afflictions of the present, which the sombre and +despondent Russian philosopher, determined that we shall not find +enjoyment in either world, denies to his morose and grief-stricken +followers. + + + + +X + +THE WRITING OF HISTORY[76] + +_"The Spectator," April 26, 1913_ + + +What are the purposes of history, and in what spirit should it be +written? Such, in effect, are the questions which Mr. Gooch propounds in +this very interesting volume. He wisely abstains from giving any +dogmatic answers to these questions, but in a work which shows manifest +signs of great erudition and far-reaching research he ranges over the +whole field of European and American literature, and gives us a very +complete summary both of how, as a matter of fact, history has been +written, and of the spirit in which the leading historians of the +nineteenth century have approached their task. + +Mr. Bryce, himself one of the most eminent of modern historians, +recently laid down the main principle which, in his opinion, should +guide his fellow-craftsmen. "Truth," he said, "and truth only is our +aim." The maxim is one which would probably be unreservedly accepted in +theory by the most ardent propagandist who has ever used history as a +vehicle for the dissemination of his own views on political, economic, +or social questions. For so fallible is human nature that the +proclivities of the individual can rarely be entirely submerged by the +judicial impartiality of the historian. It is impossible to peruse Mr. +Gooch's work without being struck by the fact that, amongst the greatest +writers of history, bias--often unconscious bias--has been the rule, and +the total absence of preconceived opinions the exception. Generally +speaking, the subjective spirit has prevailed amongst historians in all +ages. The danger of following the scent of analogies--not infrequently +somewhat strained analogies--between the present and the past is +comparatively less imminent in cases where some huge upheaval, such as +the French Revolution, has inaugurated an entirely new epoch, +accompanied by the introduction of fresh ideals and habits of thought. +It is, as Macaulay has somewhere observed, a more serious +stumbling-block in the path of a writer who deals with the history of a +country like England, which has through long centuries preserved its +historical continuity. Hallam and Macaulay viewed history through Whig, +and Alison through Tory spectacles. Neither has the remoteness of the +events described proved any adequate safeguard against the introduction +of bias born of contemporary circumstances. Mitford, who composed his +history of Greece during the stormy times of the French Revolution, +thought it compatible with his duty as an historian to strike a blow at +Whigs and Jacobins. Grote's sympathy with the democracy of Athens was +unquestionably to some extent the outcome of the views which he +entertained of events passing under his own eyes at Westminster. +Mommsen, by inaugurating the publication of the Corpus of Latin +Inscriptions, has earned the eternal gratitude of scholarly posterity, +but Mr. Gooch very truly remarks that his historical work is tainted +with the "strident partisanship" of a keen politician and journalist. +Truth, as the old Greek adage says, is indeed the fellow-citizen of the +gods; but if the standard of historical truth be rated too high, and if +the authority of all who have not strictly complied with that standard +is to be discarded on the ground that they stand convicted of +partiality, we should be left with little to instruct subsequent ages +beyond the dry records of men such as the laborious, the useful, though +somewhat over-credulous Clinton, or the learned but arid Marquardt, +whose "massive scholarship" Mr. Gooch dismisses somewhat summarily in a +single line. Such writers are not historians, but rather compilers of +records, upon the foundations of which others can build history. + +Under the process we have assumed, Droysen, Sybel, and Treitschke would +have to be cast down from their pedestals. They were the political +schoolmasters of Germany during a period of profound national +discouragement. They used history in order to stir their countrymen to +action, but "if the supreme aim of history is to discover truth and to +interpret the movement of humanity, they have no claim to a place in the +first class." Patriotism, as the Portuguese historian, Herculano da +Carvalho, said, is "a bad counsellor for historians"; albeit, few have +had the courage to discard patriotic considerations altogether, as was +the case with the Swiss Kopp, who wrote a history of his country "from +which Gessler and Tell disappeared," and in which "the familiar +anecdotes of Austrian tyranny and cruelty were dismissed as legends." + +Philosophic historians, who have endeavoured to bend facts into +conformity with some special theory of their own, would fare little +better than those who have been ardent politicians. Sainte-Beuve, after +reading Guizot's sweeping and lofty generalisations, declared that they +were far too logical to be true, and forthwith "took down from his +shelves a volume of De Retz to remind him how history was really made." +Second-or third-rate historians, such as Lamartine, who, according to +Dumas, "raised history to the level of the novel," or the vitriolic +Lanfrey, who was a mere pamphleteer, would, of course, be consigned--and +very rightly consigned--to utter oblivion. The notorious inaccuracy of +Thiers and the avowed hero-worship of Masson alike preclude their +admissibility into the select circle of trustworthy and veracious +historians. It is even questionable whether one of the most objectively +minded of French writers, the illustrious Taine, would gain admission. +His work, he himself declared, "was nothing but pure or applied +psychology," and psychology is apt to clash with the facts of history. +Scherer described Taine, somewhat unjustly, as "a pessimist in a +passion," whilst the critical and conscientious Aulard declared that his +work was "virtually useless for the purposes of history." Mr. Gooch +classes Sorel's work as "incomparably higher" than that of Taine. +Montalembert is an extreme case of a French historian who adopted +thoroughly unsound historical methods. Clearly, as Mr. Gooch says, "the +author of the famous battle-cry, 'We are the sons of the Crusades, and +we will never yield to the sons of Voltaire,' was not the man for +objective study." + +The fate of some of the most distinguished American and British +historians would be even more calamitous than that of their Continental +brethren. If the touchstone of impartiality were applied, Prescott might +perhaps pass unscathed through the trial. But few will deny that Motley +wrote his very attractive histories at a white heat of Republican and +anti-Catholic fervour. He, as also Bancroft, are classed by Mr. Gooch +amongst those who "made their histories the vehicles of political and +religious propaganda." Washington Irving's claim to rank in the first +class of historians may be dismissed on other grounds. "He had no taste +for research," and merely presented to the world "a poet's appreciation" +of historical events. + +But perhaps the two greatest sinners against the code of frigid +impartiality were Froude and Carlyle. Both were intensely convinced of +the truth of the gospel which they preached, and both were careless of +detail if they could strain the facts of history to support their +doctrines. The apotheosis of the strong man formed no part of Carlyle's +original philosophy. In 1830, he wrote: "Which was the greatest +benefactor, he who gained the battles of Cannae and Trasimene or the +nameless poor who first hammered out for himself an iron spade?" He +condemned Scott's historical writings: "Strange," he said, "that a man +should think he was writing the history of a nation while he is +describing the amours of a wanton young woman and a sulky booby blown up +with gunpowder." After having slighted biography in this +characteristically Carlylese utterance, he straightway set to work, with +splendid inconsistency, to base his philosophy of history mainly on the +biographies of men of the type of Cromwell and Frederic. + +The invective levelled against Froude by Freeman is now generally +recognised as exaggerated and unjust, but it would certainly appear, as +Mr. Gooch says, that Froude "never realised that the main duty of the +historian is neither eulogy nor criticism, but interpretation of the +complex processes and conflicting ideals which have built up the +chequered life of humanity." + +Yet when all is said that can be said on the necessity of insisting on +historical veracity, it has to be borne in mind that inaccuracy is not +the only pitfall which lies in the path of the expounder of truth. +History is not written merely for students and scholars. It ought to +instruct and enlighten the statesman. It should quicken the intelligence +of the masses. Whilst any tendency to distort facts, or to sway public +opinion by sensational writing of questionable veracity, cannot be too +strongly condemned, it is none the less true that it requires not merely +a touch of literary genius, but also a lively and receptive imagination +to tell a perfectly truthful tale in such a manner as to arrest the +attention, to excite the wayward imagination and to guide the thoughts +of the vast majority of those who will scan the finished work of the +historian. It is here that some of the best writers of history have +failed, Gardiner has written what is probably the best, and is certainly +the most dispassionate and impartial history of the Stuart period. "With +one exception," Mr. Gooch says, "Gardiner possessed all the tools of his +craft--an accurate mind, perfect impartiality, insight into character, +sympathy with ideas different from his own and from one another. The +exception was style. Had he possessed this talisman his noble work would +have been a popular classic. His pages are wholly lacking in grace and +distinction." The result is that Gardiner's really fine work has proved +an ineffectual instrument for historical education. The majority of +readers will continue to turn to the brilliant if relatively partial +pages of Macaulay. + +The case of Freeman, though different from that of Gardiner, for his +style, though lacking in grace and flexibility was vigorous, may serve +as another illustration of the same thesis. Freeman was a keen +politician, but he would never have for a moment entertained the thought +of departing by one iota from strict historical truth in order to +further any political cause in which he was interested. Mr. Gooch says, +"He regarded history as not only primarily, but almost exclusively, a +record of political events. Past politics, he used to say, were present +history." Why is it, therefore, that his works are little read, and that +they have exercised but slight influence on the opinions of the mass of +his countrymen? The answer is supplied by Mr. Gooch. Freeman ignored +organic evolution. "The world of ideas had no existence for him.... No +less philosophic historian has ever lived." For one man who, with +effort, has toiled through Freeman's ponderous but severely accurate +Norman and Sicilian histories, there are probably a hundred whose +imagination has been fired by Carlyle's rhapsody on the French +Revolution, or who have pored with interested delight over Froude's +account of the death of Cranmer. + +Much the same may be said of Creighton's intrinsically valuable but +somewhat colourless work. "He had no theories," Mr. Gooch says, "no +philosophy of history, no wish to prove or disprove anything." He took +historical facts as they came, and recorded them. "When events are +tedious," he wrote, "we must be tedious." + +The most meritorious, as also the most popular historians are probably +those of the didactic school. Of these, Seeley and Acton are notable +instances. Seeley always endeavoured to establish some principle which +would capture the attention of the student and might be of interest to +the statesman. He held that "history faded into mere literature when it +lost sight of its relation to practical politics." Acton, who brought +his encyclopaedic learning to bear on the defence of liberty in all its +forms, "believed that historical study was not merely the basis of all +real insight into the present, but a school of virtue and a guide to +life." + +Limitations of space preclude any adequate treatment of the illuminating +work done by Ranke, whom Mr. Gooch regards as the nearest approximation +the world has yet known to the "ideal historian"; by Lecky, who was +driven by the Home Rule conflict from the ranks of historians into those +of politicians; by Milman, whose style, in the opinion of Macaulay, was +wanting in grace and colour, but who was distinguished for his +"soundness of judgment and inexorable love of truth"; by Otfried Mller, +Brard, Gilbert Murray, and numerous other classical scholars of divers +nationalities; by Fustel de Coulanges, the greatest of +nineteenth-century mediaevalists; by Mahan, whose writings have +exercised a marked influence on current politics, and who is thus an +instance of "an historian who has helped to make history as well as to +record it," and by a host of others. + +At the close of his book Mr. Gooch very truly points out that "the scope +of history has gradually widened till it has come to include every +aspect of the life of humanity." Many of the social and economic +subjects of which the historian has now to treat are of an extremely +controversial character. However high may be the ideal of truth, which +will be entertained, it would appear that the various forms in which the +facts of history may be stated, as also the conclusions to be drawn from +these facts, will tend to divergence rather than to uniformity of +treatment. It is not, therefore, probable that the partisan +historian--or, at all events, the historian who will be accused of +partisanship--will altogether disappear from literature. Neither, on the +whole, is his disappearance to be desired, for it would almost certainly +connote the composition of somewhat vapid and colourless histories. + +The verdicts which Mr. Gooch passes on the historians whose writings he +briefly summarises are eminently judicious, though it cannot be expected +that in all cases they will command universal assent. In a work which +ranges over so wide a field it is scarcely possible that some slips +should not have occurred. We may indicate one of these, which it would +be as well to correct in the event of any future editions being +published. On p. 435 the authorship of _Fieramosca_ and _Nicolo dei +Lapi_, which were written by Azeglio, is erroneously attributed to +Cesare Balbo. + +[Footnote 76: _History and Historians of the Nineteenth Century_. By +G.P. Gooch. London: Longmans and Co. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XI + +THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY[77] + +_"The Spectator," May 10, 1913_ + + +Shelley, himself a translator of one of the best known of the epigrams +of the Anthology, has borne emphatic testimony to the difficulties of +translation. "It were as wise," he said, "to cast a violet into a +crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and +odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations +of a poet." + +The task of rendering Greek into English verse is in some respects +specially difficult. In the first place, the translator has to deal with +a language remarkable for its unity and fluency, qualities which, +according to Curtius (_History of Greece_, i. 18), are the result of the +"delicately conceived law, according to which all Greek words must end +in vowels, or such consonants as give rise to no harshness when +followed by others, viz. _n_, _r_, and _s_." Then, again, the translator +must struggle with the difficulties arising from the fact that the +Greeks regarded condensation in speech as a fine art. Demetrius, or +whoever was the author of _De Elocutione_, said: "The first grace of +style is that which results from compression." The use of an inflected +language of course enabled the Greeks to carry this art to a far higher +degree of perfection than can be attained by any modern Europeans. Jebb, +for instance, takes twelve words--"Well hath he spoken for one who +giveth heed not to fall"--to express a sentiment which Sophocles +(_OEd. Tyr._ 616) is able to compress into four--[Greek: kals elexen +eulaboumen pesein]. Moreover, albeit under the stress of metrical and +linguistic necessity the translator must generally indulge in +paraphrase, let him beware lest in doing so he sacrifices that quality +in which the Greeks excelled, to wit, simplicity. Nietzsche said, with +great truth, "Die Griechen sind, wie das Genie, einfach; deshalb sind +sie die unsterblichen Lehrer." Further, the translator has at times so +to manipulate his material as to incorporate into his verse epithets and +figures of speech of surpassing grace and expressiveness, which do not +readily admit of transfiguration into any modern language; such, for +instance, as the "much-wooed white-armed Maiden Muse" ([Greek: +polymnst leuklene parthene Mousa]) of Empedocles; the "long countless +Time" ([Greek: makros kanarithmtos Chronos]), or "babbling Echo" +([Greek: athyrostomos Ach]) of Sophocles; the "son, the subject of many +prayers" ([Greek: polyeuchetos uios]) and countless other expressions of +the Homeric Hymns; the "blooming Love with his pinions of gold" ([Greek: +ho d' amphithals Eros chrysopteros hnias]) of Aristophanes; "the +eagle, messenger of wide-ruling Zeus, the lord of Thunder" ([Greek: +aietos, euryanaktos angelos Znos erispharagou]) of Bacchylides; or +mighty Pindar's "snowy Etna nursing the whole year's length her frozen +snow" ([Greek: niphoess' Aitna panetes chionos oxeias tithna]). + +In no branch of Greek literature are these difficulties more conspicuous +than in the Anthology, yet it is the Anthology that has from time +immemorial notably attracted the attention of translators. It is indeed +true that the compositions of Agathias, Palladas, Paulus Silentiarius, +and the rest of the poetic tribe who "like the dun nightingale" were +"insatiate of song" ([Greek: oia tis xoutha akorestos boas ... adn]), +must, comparatively speaking, rank low amongst the priceless legacies +which Greece bequeathed to a grateful posterity. A considerable number +of the writers whose works are comprised in the Anthology lived during +the Alexandrian age. The artificiality of French society before the +French Revolution developed a taste for shallow versifying. Somewhat +similar symptoms characterised the decadent society of Alexandria, +albeit there were occasions when a nobler note was struck, as in the +splendid hymn of Cleanthes, written in the early part of the second +century B.C. Generally speaking, however, Professor Mahaffy's criticism +of the literature of this period (_Greek Life and Thought_, p. 264) +holds good. "We feel in most of these poems that it is no real lover +languishing for his mistress, but a pedant posing before a critical +public. If ever poet was consoled by his muse, it was he; he was far +prouder if Alexandria applauded the grace of his epigram than if it +whispered the success of his suit." How have these manifest defects been +condoned? Why is it that, in spite of much that is artificial and +commonplace, the poetry of the Anthology still exercises, and will +continue to exercise, an undying charm alike over the student, the +moralist, and the man of the world? The reasons are not far to seek. In +the first place, no productions of the Greek genius conform more wholly +to the Aristotelian canon that poetry should be an imitation of the +universal. Few of the poems in the Anthology depict any ephemeral phase +or fashion of opinion, like the Euphuism of the sixteenth century. All +appeal to emotions which endure for all time, and which, it has been +aptly said, are the true raw material of poetry. The patriot can still +feel his blood stirred by the ringing verse of Simonides. The moralist +can ponder over the vanity of human wishes, which is portrayed in +endless varieties of form, and which, even when the writer most exults +in the worship of youth ([Greek: polyratos hb]) or extols the +philosophy of Epicurus, is always tinged with a shade of profound +melancholy, inasmuch as every poet bids us bear in mind, to use the +beautiful metaphor of Keats, that the hand of Joy is "ever on his lips +bidding adieu," and that the "wave of death"--the [Greek: koinon kym' +Aida] of Pindar--persistently dogs the steps of all mankind. The curious +in literature will find in the Anthology much apparent confirmation of +the saying of Terence that nothing is ever said that has not been said +before. He will note that not only did the gloomy Palladas say that he +came naked into the world, and that naked he will depart, but that he +forestalled Shakespeare in describing the world as a stage ([Greek: +skn pas ho bios kai paignion]), whilst Philostratus, Meleager, and +Agathias implored their respective mistresses to drink to them only with +their eyes and to leave a kiss within the cup. The man of the world will +give Agathias credit for keen powers of observation when he notes that +the Greek poet said that gambling was a test of character ([Greek: +kubos angellei benthos echephrosys][78]), whilst if for a moment he +would step outside the immediate choir of the recognised Anthologists, +he may smile when he reads that Menander thought it all very well to +"know oneself," but that it was in practice far more useful to know +other people ([Greek: chrsimteron gar n to gnthi tous allous]). + +Then, again, the pungent brevity of such of the poetry of the Anthology +as is epigrammatic is highly attractive. Much has at times been said as +to what constitutes an epigram, but the case for brevity has probably +never been better stated than by a witty Frenchwoman of the eighteenth +century. Madame de Boufflers wrote: + + Il faut dire en deux mots + Ce qu'on veut dire; + Les longs propos + Sont sots. + +In this respect, indeed, French can probably compete more successfully +than any other modern language with Greek. Democritus (410 B.C.) wrote, +[Greek: ho kosmos skn, ho bios parados; lthes, eides, aplthes]. The +French version of the same idea is in no way inferior to the Greek: + + On entre, on crie, + Et c'est la vie! + On crie, on sort, + Et c'est la mort! + +Lastly, although much of the sentiment expressed in the Anthology is +artificial, and although the language is at times offensive to modern +ears, the writers almost invariably exhibit that leading quality of the +Greek genius on which the late Professor Butcher was wont to insist so +strongly--its virile sanity. + +For these reasons the literary world may cordially welcome a further +addition to the abundant literature which already exists on the subject +of the Anthology. The principle adopted by Dr. Grundy is unquestionably +sound. He recognises that great Homer sometimes nods, that even men of +real poetic genius are not always at their best, and that mere +versifiers can at times, by a happy inspiration, embody an idea in +language superior to the general level of their poetic compositions. +English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries abounds +in cases in point. Lovelace, Montrose, and even, it may almost be said, +Wither and Herrick, live mainly in public estimation owing to the +composition of a small number of exquisitely felicitous verses which +have raised them for ever to thrones amongst the immortals. Dr. Grundy, +therefore, has very wisely ranged over the whole wide field of Anthology +translators, and has culled a flower here and a flower there. His method +in making his selections is as unimpeachable as his principle. He has +discarded all predilections based on the authority of names or on other +considerations, and has simply chosen those translations which he +himself likes best. + +Dr. Grundy, in his preface, expresses a hope that he will be pardoned +for "the human weakness" of having in many cases preferred his own +translations to those of others. That pardon will be readily extended to +him, for although in a brief review of this nature it is impossible to +quote his compositions at any length, it is certainly true that some at +least of his translations are probably better than any that have yet +been attempted. Dr. Grundy says in his preface that he "has abided in +most instances as closely as possible to the literal translations of the +originals." That is the principle on which all, or nearly all, +translators have proceeded, but the qualifying phrase--"as closely as +possible"--has admitted of wide divergence in their practice. In some +cases, indeed, it is possible to combine strict adherence to the +original text with graceful language and harmonious metre in the +translation, but in a large number of instances the translator has to +sacrifice one language or the other. He has to choose between being +blamed by the purist who will not admit of any expansion in the ideas of +the original writer, or being accused of turning the King's English to +base uses by the employment of doubtful rhythm or cacophonous +expressions. Is it necessary to decide between these two rival schools +and to condemn one of them? Assuredly not. Both have their merits. An +instance in point is the exquisite "Rosa Rosarum" of Dionysius, which +runs thus: + + [Greek: H ta rhoda, rhodoessan echeis charin; alla ti pleis, + sautn, ta rhoda, e synamphothera?] + +Mr. Pott, in his _Greek Love Songs and Epigrams_, adopted the triolet +metre, which is singularly suitable to the subject, in dealing with this +epigram, and gracefully translated thus: + + Which roses do you offer me, + Those on your cheeks, or those beside you? + Since both are passing fair to see, + Which roses do you offer me? + To give me both would you agree, + Or must I choose, and so divide you? + Which roses do you offer me, + Those on your cheeks or those beside you? + +Here the two lines of the original are expanded into eight lines in the +translation, and some fresh matter is introduced. Dr. Grundy imposes +more severe limitations on his muse. His translation, which is more +literal, but at the same time singularly felicitous, is as follows: + + Hail, thou who hast the roses, thou hast the rose's grace! + But sellest thou the roses, or e'en thine own fair face? + +Any one of literary taste will find it difficult to decide which of +these versions to prefer, and will impartially welcome both. + +It cannot, however, be doubted that strict adherence to Dr. Grundy's +principle occasionally leads to results which are open to criticism from +the point of view of English style. A case in point is his translation +of Plato's epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor: + + [Greek: Naugou taphos eimi; ho d' antion esti gergou; + hs hali kai gai xynos hupest' Aids.] + +Dr. Grundy's translation, which is as follows, adheres closely to the +original text, but somewhat grates on the English ear: + + A sailor's tomb am I; o'er there a yokel's tomb there be; + For Hades lies below the earth as well as 'neath the sea. + +Another instance is the translation of the epigram of Nicarchus on The +Lifeboat, in which the inexorable necessities of finding a rhyme to +"e'en Almighty Zeus" has compelled the translator to resort to the +colloquial and somewhat graceless phrase "in fact, the very deuce." + +But criticisms such as these may be levelled against well-nigh all +translators. They merely constitute a reason for holding that Shelley +was not far wrong in the opinion quoted above. Few translators have, +indeed, been able to work up to the standard of William Cory's +well-known version of Callimachus's epitaph on Heraclitus, which Dr. +Grundy rightly remarks is "one of the most beautiful in our language," +or to Dr. Symonds's translation of the epitaph on Prot, which "is +perhaps the finest extant version in English of any of the verses from +the Anthology." But many have contributed in a minor degree to render +these exquisite products of the Greek genius available to English +readers, and amongst them Dr. Grundy may fairly claim to occupy a +distinguished place. He says in his preface, with great truth, that the +poets of the Anthology are never wearisome. Neither is Dr. Grundy. + +[Footnote 77: _Ancient Gems in Modern Settings._ By G.B. Grundy. Oxford: +Blackwell, 5s] + +[Footnote 78: [Greek: Benthos echephrosyns]--the depth of a man's +common sense.] + + + + +XII + +LORD MILNER AND PARTY + +_"The Spectator," May 24, 1913_ + + +The preface which Lord Milner has written to his volume of speeches +constitutes not merely a general statement of his political views, but +is also in reality a chapter of autobiography extending over the past +sixteen years. If, as is to be feared, it does not help much towards the +immediate solution of the various problems which are treated, it is, +none the less, a very interesting record of the mental processes +undergone by an eminent politician, who combines in a high degree the +qualities of a man of action and those of a political thinker. We are +presented with the picture of a man of high intellectual gifts, great +moral courage, and unquestionable honesty of purpose, who has a gospel +to preach to his fellow countrymen--the gospel of Imperialism, or, in +other words, the methods which should be adopted to consolidate and to +maintain the integrity of the British Empire. In his missionary efforts +on behalf of his special creed Lord Milner has found that he has been +well-nigh throttled by the ligatures of the party system--a system which +he spurns and loathes, but from which he has found by experience that he +could by no means free himself. As a practical politician he had to +recognise that, in order to gain the ear of the public on the subjects +for which he cares, he was obliged to do some "vigorous swashbuckling in +the field of party politics" in connection with other subjects in which +he is relatively less interested. He resigned himself, albeit +reluctantly, to his fate, holding apparently not only that the end +justified the means, but also that without the adoption of those means +there could not be the smallest prospect of the end being attained. The +difficulty in which Lord Milner has found himself is probably felt more +keenly by those who, like himself, have been behind the scenes of +government, and have thus been able fully to realise the difficulties of +dealing with public questions on their own merits to the exclusion of +all considerations based on party advantages or disadvantages, than by +others who have had no such experience. Nevertheless, the dilemma must +in one form or another have presented itself to every thinking man who +is not wholly carried away by prejudice. Most thinking men, however, +unless they are prepared to pass their political lives in a state of +dreamy idealism, come rapidly to the conclusion that to seek for any +thoroughly satisfactory practical solution of this dilemma is as +fruitless as to search for the philosopher's stone. They see that the +party system is the natural outcome of the system of representative +government, that it of necessity connotes a certain amount of party +discipline, and that if that discipline be altogether shattered, +political chaos would ensue. They, therefore, join that party with +which, on the whole, they are most in agreement, and they do so knowing +full well that they will almost certainly at times be associated with +measures which do not fully command their sympathies. What is it that +makes such men, for instance, as Lord Morley and Mr. Arthur Balfour not +merely strong political partisans, but also stern party disciplinarians? +It would be absurd to suppose that they consider a monopoly of political +wisdom to be possessed by the party to which each belongs, or that they +fail to see that every public question presents at least two sides. The +inference is that, recognising the necessity of association with others, +they are prepared to waive all minor objections in order to advance the +main lines of the policy to which each respectively adheres. + +The plan which has always commended itself to those who see clearly the +evils of the party system, but fail to realise the even greater evils to +which its non-existence would open the door, has been to combine in one +administration a number of men possessed of sufficient patriotism and +disinterestedness to work together for the common good, in spite of the +fact that they differ widely, if not on the objects to be attained, at +all events on the methods of attaining them. Experience has shown that +this plan is wholly impracticable. It does not take sufficient account +of the fact that, as the immortal Mr. Squeers or some other of Dickens's +characters said, there is a great deal of human nature in man,[79] and +that one of man's most cherished characteristics--notably if he is an +Englishman--is combativeness. In the early days of the party system even +so hardened and positive a parliamentarian as Walpole thought that +effect might be given to some such project, but when it came to the +actual formation of a hybrid Ministry, Mr. Grant Robertson, the +historian of the Hanoverian period, says that it "vanished into thin +air," and that, as Pulteney remarked about the celebrated Sinking Fund +plan, the "proposal to make England patriotic, pure and independent of +Crown and Ministerial corruption, ended in some little thing for curing +the itch." Neither have somewhat similar attempts which have been made +since Walpole's time succeeded in abating the rancour of party strife. +Moreover, it cannot be said that the attempt to treat female suffrage as +a non-party question has so far yielded any very satisfactory or +encouraging results. + +Lord Milner, however, does not live in Utopia. He does not look forward +to the possibility of abolishing the party system. "It is not," he says, +"a new party that is wanted." But he thinks--and he is unquestionably +right in thinking--"that the number of men profoundly interested in +public affairs, and anxious to discharge their full duty of citizens who +are in revolt against the rigidity and insincerity of our present party +system, is very considerable and steadily increasing." He wishes people +in this category to be organised with a view to encouraging a national +as opposed to a party spirit, and he holds that "with a little +organisation they could play the umpire between the two parties and make +the unscrupulous pursuit of mere party advantage an unprofitable game." + +The idea is not novel, but it is certainly statesmanlike. The general +principle which Lord Milner advocates will probably commend itself to +thousands of his countrymen, and most of all to those whose education +and experience are a warrant for the value of their political opinions. +But how far is the scheme practicable? The answer to this question is +that there is one essential preliminary condition necessary to bring it +within the domain of practical politics; that condition is that a +sufficient number of leading politicians should be thoroughly imbued +with the virtue of compromise. They must erase the word "thorough" from +their political vocabulary. Each must recognise that whilst, to use Lord +Milner's expression, he himself holds firmly to a "creed" on some +special question, he will have to co-operate with others who hold with +equally sincere conviction to a more or less antagonistic creed, and +that this co-operation cannot be secured by mere assertion and still +less by vituperation, but only by calm discussion and mutual +concessions. Marie Antoinette, who was very courageous and very unwise, +said during the most acute crisis of the Revolution, "Better to die than +allow ourselves to be saved by Lafayette and the Constitutionalists." +That is an example of the party spirit _in extremis_, and when it is +adopted it is that spirit which causes the shipwreck of many a scheme +which might, with more moderation and conciliation, be brought safely +into port. In order to carry out Lord Milner's plan any such spirit must +be wholly cast aside. Politicians--and none more than many of those with +whom Lord Milner is associated--must act on the principle which +Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Henry V.: + + There is some soul of goodness in things evil + Would men observingly distil it out. + +They must be prepared to recognise that, whatever be their personal +convictions, there may be some "soul of goodness" in views diametrically +opposed to their own, and, moreover, they must not be scared by what +Emerson called that "hobgoblin of little minds"--the charge of +inconsistency. + +It cannot be said that just at present the omens are very favourable in +the direction of indicating any widespread prevalence amongst active +politicians of the spirit of compromise. The reception given to Lord +Curzon's very reasonable proposal that army affairs should be treated as +a non-party question is apparently scouted by Radical politicians. +Neither does there appear to be the least disposition to accept the +statesmanlike suggestion that in order to avoid the risk of civil war in +Ulster, with its almost inevitable consequence, viz. that the loyalty +of the army will be strained to the utmost, the Home Rule Bill should +not be submitted to the King for his assent until after another general +election. On the other hand, the "Die-hard" spirit, which led to the +disastrous rejection of the Budget of 1909, and was with difficulty +prevented from rejecting the Parliament Bill, is still prevalent amongst +many Unionists, whilst although a somewhat greater latitudinarian spirit +prevails than heretofore, the influence of extreme Unionist politicians +is still sufficiently powerful to prevent full acceptance of the fact +that the only sound and wise Conservative principle is to neglect minor +differences of opinion and to rally together all who are generally +favourable to the Conservative cause. + +Moreover, it must be admitted that Lord Milner is asking a great deal of +party politicians. He points out, in connection with his special +"creed," that the object of Mr. Chamberlain's original proposal was +"undoubtedly laudable. It was prompted by motives of Imperial +patriotism." There are probably few people who would be inclined to +challenge the accuracy of this statement. He alludes to the +unquestionable fact that it is well for every community from time to +time to review the traditional foundations of its policy, and he holds +that, if the controversy which Mr. Chamberlain evoked "had been +conducted on anything like rational lines, the result, whether +favourable or unfavourable to the proposals themselves, might have been +of great public advantage." All these fair hopes, Lord Milner thinks, +were wrecked by the spirit of party. "The new issue raised by Mr. +Chamberlain was sucked into the vortex of our local party struggle." +Lord Milner, therefore, wishes to lift Imperialism out of the party bog +and to treat the subject on broad national lines. + +Here, again, the proposal is undoubtedly statesmanlike, but is it +practicable? There can, it is to be feared, be but one answer to that +question. For the time being, at all events, Lord Milner's proposal is +quite impracticable. Whatever be the merits or demerits of the proposals +initiated by Mr. Chamberlain, one thing appears tolerably certain, and +that is that so long as Tariff Reform and Imperial policy are intimately +connected together there is not, so far as can at present be judged, the +most remote chance of Imperialism emerging from the arena of party +strife. It is true, and is, moreover, a subject for national +congratulation, that there has been of late years a steady growth of +Imperialist ideas. The day is probably past for ever when Ministers, +whether Liberal or Conservative, could speak of the colonies as a +burden, and look forward with equanimity, if not with actual pleasure, +to their complete severance from the Mother country. Few, if any, +pronounced anti-Imperialists exist, but a wide difference of opinion +prevails as to the method for giving effect to an Imperial policy. These +differences do not depend solely, as is often erroneously supposed, on a +rigid adherence by Free Traders to what are now called Cobdenite +principles. There are many Free Traders who would be disposed to make a +considerable sacrifice of their opinions on economic principles, if they +thought that the policy proposed by Mr. Chamberlain would really achieve +the object he unquestionably had in view, viz. that of tightening the +bonds between the Mother country and the colonies. But that is what they +deny. They rely mainly on a common ancestry, common traditions, a common +language, and a common religion to cement those bonds; and, moreover, +they hold, to quote the words of an able article published two years ago +in the _Round Table_: "The chief reason for the sentiment of Imperial +unity is the conscious or unconscious belief of the people of the Empire +in their own political system.... There is in the British Empire a unity +which it is often difficult to discern amid the conflict of racial +nationalities, provincial politics, and geographical differences. It is +a unity which is based upon the conviction amongst the British +self-governing communities that the political system of the Empire is +indispensable to their own progress, and that to allow it to collapse +would be fatal alike to their happiness and their self-respect." They +therefore demur to granting special economic concessions which--unless, +indeed, a policy of perfect Free Trade throughout the Empire could be +adopted--they think, whatever might be the immediate result, would +eventually cause endless friction and tend to weaken rather than +strengthen the Imperial connection. + +Further, it is to be observed that whatever exacerbation has been caused +by party exaggeration and misrepresentation, it is more than doubtful +whether Lord Milner's special accusation against the party system can be +made good, for it must be remembered that Mr. Chamberlain's original +programme was strongly opposed by many who, on mere party grounds, were +earnestly desirous to accord it a hearty welcome. Rather would it be +true to say that, looking back on past events, it is amazing that any +one of political experience could have imagined for one moment that a +proposal which touched the opinions and interests of almost every +individual in the United Kingdom, and which was wholly at variance with +the views heretofore held by Mr. Chamberlain himself, could have been +kept outside the whirlpool of party politics. "A great statesman," it +has been truly said, "must have two qualities; the first is prudence, +the second imprudence." Cavour has often been held up as the example of +an eminent man who combined, in his own person, these apparently +paradoxical qualities. Accepting the aphorism as true, it has to be +applied with the corollary that the main point is to know when to allow +imprudence to predominate over prudence. It is difficult to resist the +conclusion that when Mr. Chamberlain launched his programme, which Lord +Milner admits "burst like a bombshell in the camp of his friends," he +overweighted the balance on the imprudent side. The heat with which the +controversy has been conducted, and which Lord Milner very rightly +deplores, must be attributed mainly to this cause rather than to any +inherent and, to a great extent, unavoidable defects in the party +system. + +But in spite of all these difficulties and objections, Lord Milner and +those who hold with him may take heart of grace in so far as their +campaign against the extravagances of the party system is concerned. It +may well be that no special organisation will enable the non-party +partisans to occupy the position of umpires, but the steady pressure of +public opinion and the stern exposure of the abuses of the party system +will probably in time mitigate existing evils, and will possibly in +some degree purge other issues, besides those connected with foreign +affairs, from the rancour of the party spirit. As a contribution to this +end Lord Milner's utterances are to be heartily welcomed. + +[Footnote 79: This statement is incorrect. The saying quoted above +occurs in Mr. J.R. Lowell's address at the memorial meeting to Dean +Stanley, Dec. 13, 1881. He introduces it as "a proverbial phrase which +we have in America and which, I believe, we carried from England."] + + + + +XIII + +THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA[80] + +_"The Spectator," May 31, 1913_ + + +In the very interesting account which Mrs. Devereux Roy has given of the +present condition of Algeria, she says that France "is now about to +embark upon a radical change of policy in regard to her African +colonies." If it be thought presumptuous for a foreigner who has no +local knowledge of Algerian affairs to make certain suggestions as to +the direction which those changes might profitably assume, an apology +must be found in Mrs. Roy's very true remark that England "can no more +afford to be indifferent to the relations of France with her Moslem +subjects than she can disregard the trend of our policy in Egypt and +India." It is, indeed, manifest that somewhat drastic reforms of a +liberal character will have to be undertaken in Algeria. The French +Government have adopted the only policy which is worthy of a civilised +nation. They have educated the Algerians, albeit Mrs. Roy tells us that +grants for educational purposes have been doled out "with a very sparing +hand." They must bear the consequences of the generous policy which they +have pursued. They must recognise, as Macaulay said years ago, that it +is impossible to impart knowledge without stimulating ambition. Reforms +are, therefore, imposed by the necessities of the situation. + +These reforms may be classified under three heads, namely, fiscal, +judicial, and political. The order in which changes under each head +should be undertaken would appear to be a matter of vital importance. If +responsible French statesmen make a mistake in this matter--if, to use +the language of proverbial philosophy, they put the cart before the +horse--they may not improbably lay the seeds of very great trouble for +their countrymen in the future. Prince Bismarck once said: "Mistakes +committed in statesmanship are not always punished at once, but they +always do harm in the end. The logic of history is a more exact and a +more exacting accountant than is the strictest national auditing +department." + +It should never be forgotten that, however much local circumstances may +differ, there are certain broad features which always exist wherever +the European--be he French, English, German, or of any other +nationality--is brought in contact with the Oriental--be he Algerian, +Indian, or Egyptian. When the former once steps outside the influence +acquired by the power of the sword, and seeks for any common ground of +understanding with the subject race, he finds that he is, by the +elementary facts of the case, debarred from using all those moral +influences which, in more homogeneous countries, bind society together. +These are a common religion, a common language, common traditions, +and--save in very rare instances--intermarriage and really intimate +social relations. What therefore remains? Practically nothing but the +bond of material interest, tempered by as much sympathy as it is +possible in the difficult circumstances of the case to bring into play. +But on this poor material--for it must be admitted that it is poor +material--experience has shown that a wise statesmanship can build a +political edifice, not indeed on such assured foundations as prevail in +more homogeneous societies, but nevertheless of a character which will +give some solid guarantees of stability, and which will, in any case, +minimise the risk that the sword, which the European would fain leave in +the scabbard, shall be constantly flaunted before the eyes both of the +subject and the governing races, the latter of whom, on grounds alike +of policy and humanity, deprecate its use save in cases of extreme +necessity. + +In the long course of our history many mistakes have been made in +dealing with subject races, and the line of conduct pursued at various +times has often been very erratic. Nevertheless, it would be true to say +that, broadly speaking, British policy has been persistently directed +towards an endeavour to strengthen political bonds through the medium of +attention to material interests. The recent history of Egypt is a case +in point. + +No one who was well acquainted with the facts could at any time have +thought that it would be possible to create in the minds of the +Egyptians a feeling of devotion towards England which might in some +degree take the place of patriotism. Neither, in spite of the relatively +higher degree of social elasticity possessed by the French, is it at all +probable that any such feeling towards France will be created in +Algeria. But it was thought that by careful attention to the material +interests of the people it might eventually be possible to bring into +existence a conservative class who, albeit animated by no great love for +their foreign rulers, would be sufficiently contented to prevent their +becoming easily the prey either of the Nationalist demagogue, who was +sure sooner or later to spring into existence, or that of some barbarous +religious fanatic, such as the Mahdi, or, finally, that of some wily +politician, such as the Sultan Abdul Hamid who would, for his own +purposes, fan the flame of religious and racial hatred. For many years +after the British occupation of Egypt began, the efforts of the British +administrators in that country were unceasingly directed towards the +attainment of that object. The methods adopted, which it should be +observed were in the main carried out before any large sums were spent +on education, were the relief of taxation, the abolition of fiscal +inequality and of the _corve_, the improvement of irrigation, and last, +but not least, a variety of measures having for their object the +maintenance of a peasant proprietary class. The results which have been +attained fully justify the adoption of this policy, which has probably +never been fully understood on the Continent of Europe, even if--which +is very doubtful--it has been understood in England. What, in fact, has +happened in Egypt? Nationalists have enjoyed an excess of licence in a +free press. The Sultan has preached pan-Islamism. The usual Oriental +intrigue has been rife. British politicians and a section of the British +press, being very imperfectly informed as to the situation, have +occasionally dealt with Egyptian affairs in a manner which, to say the +least, was indiscreet. But all has been of no avail. In spite of some +outward appearances to the contrary, the whole Nationalist movement in +Egypt has been a mere splutter on the surface. It never extended deep +down in the social ranks. More than this. When a very well-intentioned +but rather rash attempt was made to advance too rapidly in a liberal +direction, the inevitable reaction, which was to have been foreseen, +took place. Not merely Europeans but also Egyptians cried out loudly for +a halt, and, with the appointment of Lord Kitchener, they got what they +wanted. The case would have been very different if the Nationalist, the +religious fanatic, or the scheming politician, in dealing with some +controversial point or incident of ephemeral interest, had been able to +appeal to a mass of deep-seated discontent due to general causes and to +the existence of substantial grievances. In that case the Nationalist +movement would have been less artificial. It would have extended not +merely to the surface but to the core of society. It would have +possessed a real rather than, as has been shown to be the case, a +spurious vitality. The recent history of Egypt, therefore, is merely an +illustration of the general lesson taught by universal history. That +lesson is that the best, and indeed the only, way to combat +successfully the proceedings of the demagogue or the agitator is to +limit his field of action by the removal of any real grievances which, +if still existent, he would be able to use as a lever to awaken the +blind wrath of Demos. + +How far can principles somewhat analogous to these be applied in +Algeria? + +In the first place, it is abundantly clear that, from many points of +view, the French Government have successfully carried out the policy of +ministering to the material wants of the native population. Public works +of great utility have been constructed. Means of locomotion have been +improved. Modern agricultural methods have been introduced. Famine has +been rendered impossible. Mutual benefit societies have been +established. The creation of economic habits has been encouraged. In all +these matters the French have certainly nothing to learn from us. +Possibly, indeed, we may have something to learn from them. +Nevertheless, when it is asked whether the French Government is likely +to reap the political fruits which it might have been hoped would be the +result of their efforts, whether they are in a fair way towards creating +a conservative spirit which would be adverse to any radical change, and +whether, in reliance on that spirit, they are in a position to move +boldly forward in the direction of that liberal reform, the demand for +which has naturally sprung into existence from their educational policy, +it is at once clear that they are heavily weighted by the policy +originated some seventy years ago by Marshal Bugeaud, under which the +interests of the native population were made subservient to those of the +colonists, numbering about three-quarters of a million, of whom, Mrs. +Roy tells us, less than one-half are of French origin. It may have been +wise and necessary to initiate that policy. It may be wise and necessary +to continue it with certain modifications. But it is obvious that the +adoption of Marshal Bugeaud's plan has necessarily led to the creation +of substantial grievances, which are important alike from the point of +view of sentiment and from that of material interests. It appears now +that there is some probability that this policy will be modified in at +least one very important respect, namely, by the removal of the fiscal +inequality which at present exists between the natives and the +colonists. The former are at present heavily taxed; the latter pay +relatively very little. It may be suggested that it would be worth the +while of the French Government to consider whether this change should +not occupy the first place in the programme of reform. The present +system is obviously indefensible on general grounds, whilst its +continuance, until its abolition results from the strong native +pressure which will certainly ensue after the adoption of any drastic +measure of political reform, would appear to be undesirable. It would +probably be wise and statesmanlike not to await this pressure, but to +let the concession be the spontaneous act of the French Government and +nation rather than give the appearance of its having been wrung +reluctantly from France by the insistence of the native population and +its representatives. + +Next, there is the question of judicial reform. Mrs. Roy tells us that, +under what is called the _Code de l'Indignat_, "a native can be +arrested and imprisoned practically without trial at the will of the +_administrateur_ for his district." It would require full local +knowledge to treat this question adequately, but it would obviously be +desirable that the French Government should go as far as possible in the +direction of providing that all judicial matters should be settled by +judicial officers who would be independent of the executive and, for the +most part, irremovable. Some local friction between the executive and +the judicial authorities is probably to be expected. That cannot be +helped. It might perhaps be mitigated by a very careful choice of the +officials in each case. + +In the third place, there is the question of political reform. M. +Philippe Millet, who has published an interesting article on this +subject in the April number of _The Nineteenth Century_, is of course +quite right in saying that political reform is the "key to every other +change." Once give the natives of Algeria effective political strength, +and the reforms will be forced upon the Government. But, as has been +already stated, it would perhaps be wiser and more statesmanlike that +these changes should be conceded spontaneously by the French Government, +and that then, after a reasonable interval, the bulk of the political +reforms should follow. + +A distinction, however, has to be made between the various +representative institutions which already exist. The _Conseil Suprieur_ +and the _Dlgations Financires_ have very extensive powers, including +that of rejecting or modifying the Budget. At present these bodies may +be said, for all practical purposes, to be merely representative of the +colonists. It would certainly appear wise eventually to allow the +natives both a larger numerical strength on the _Conseil_ and on the +_Dlgations_, and also, by rearranging the franchise, to endeavour to +secure a more real representation of native interests. It must, however, +be borne in mind that the difficulties of securing any real +representation of the best interests in the country will almost +certainly be very great, if not altogether insuperable. In all +probability the loquacious, semi-educated native, who has in him the +makings of an agitator, will, under any system, naturally float to the +top, whilst the really representative man will sink to the bottom. It +would perhaps, therefore, be as well not to move in too great a hurry in +this matter, and, when any move is made, that the advance should be of a +very cautious and tentative nature. + +The _Conseils Gnraux_, which are provincial and municipal bodies, +stand on a very different footing. Here it may be safe to move forward +in the path of reform with greater boldness and with less delay. But +whatever is done it will probably be found that real progress in the +direction of self-government will depend more on the attitude of the +French officials who are associated with the Councils than on any system +which can be devised on paper. It may be assumed that the French +officials in Algeria present the usual characteristics of their class, +that is to say, that they are courageous, intelligent, zealous, and +thoroughly honest. Also it may probably be assumed that they are +somewhat inelastic, somewhat unduly wedded to bureaucratic ideas, and +more especially that they are possessed with the very natural idea that +the main end and object of their lives is to secure the efficiency of +the administration. Now if self-government is to be a success, they will +have to modify to some extent their ideas as to the supreme necessity of +efficiency. That is to say, they will have to recognise that it is +politically wiser to put up with an imperfect reform carried with native +consent, rather than to insist on some more perfect measure executed in +the teeth of strong--albeit often unreasonable--native opposition. +English experience has shown that this is a very hard lesson for +officials to learn. Nevertheless, the task of inculcating general +principles of this nature is not altogether impossible. It depends +mainly on the impulse which is given from above. To entrust the +execution of a policy of reform in Algeria to a man of +ultra-bureaucratic tendencies, who is hostile to reform of any kind, +would, of course, be to court failure. On the other hand, to select an +extreme radical visionary, who will probably not recognise the +difference between East and West, would be scarcely less disastrous. +What, in fact, is required is a man of somewhat exceptional qualities. +He must be strong--that is to say, he must impress the natives with the +conviction that, albeit an advocate of liberal ideas, he is firmly +resolved to consent to nothing which is likely to be detrimental to the +true interests of France. He must also be sufficiently strong to keep +his own officials in hand and to make them conform to his policy, whilst +at the same time he must be sufficiently tactful to win their confidence +and to prevent their being banded together against him. The latter is a +point of very special importance, for in a country like Algeria no +government, however powerful, will be able to carry out a really +beneficial programme of reform if the organised strength of the +bureaucracy--backed up, as would probably be the case, by the whole of +the European unofficial community--is thrown into bitter and +irreconcilable opposition. The task, it may be repeated, is a difficult +one. Nevertheless, amongst the many men of very high ability in the +French service there must assuredly be some who would be able to +undertake it with a fair chance of success. + +One further remark on this very interesting subject may be made. M. +Millet, in the article to which allusion has already been made, says, +"The Algerian natives will look more and more to France as their natural +protector against the colonists." It will, it is to be hoped, not be +thought over-presumptuous to sound a note of warning against trusting +too much to this argument. That for the present the natives should look +to France rather than to the colonists is natural enough. It is +manifestly their interest to do so. But it may be doubted whether they +will be "more and more" inspired by such sentiments as time goes on. +There is an Arabic proverb to the effect that "all Christians are of one +tribe." That is the spirit which in reality inspires the whole Moslem +world. It is illustrated by the author of that very remarkable work, +_Turkey in Europe_, in an amusing apologue. Let once some +semi-religious, semi-patriotic leader arise, who will play skilfully on +the passions of the masses, and it will be somewhat surprising if the +distinction which now exists will long survive. All Frenchmen, those in +France equally with those in Algeria, will then, it may confidently be +expected, be speedily confounded in one general anathema. + +[Footnote 80: _Aspects of Algeria_. By Mrs. Devereux Roy. London: Dent +and Son. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XIV + +THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE[81] + +_"The Spectator," June 14, 1913_ + + +Although proverbial philosophy warns us never to prophesy unless we +know, experience has shown that political prophets have often made +singularly correct forecasts of the future. Lord Chesterfield, and at a +much earlier period Marshal Vauban, foretold the French Revolution, +whilst the impending ruin of the Ottoman Empire has formed the theme of +numerous prophecies made by close observers of contemporaneous events +from the days of Horace Walpole downwards. "It is of no use," Napoleon +wrote to the Directory, "to try to maintain the Turkish Empire; we shall +witness its fall in our time." During the War of Greek Independence the +Duke of Wellington believed that the end of Turkey was at hand. Where +the prophets have for the most part failed is not so much in making a +mistaken estimate of the effects likely to be produced by the causes +which they saw were acting on the body politic, as in not allowing +sufficient time for the operation of those causes. Political evolution +in its early stages is generally very slow. It is only after long +internal travail that it moves with vertiginous rapidity. De Tocqueville +cast a remarkably accurate horoscope of the course which would be run by +the Second Empire, but it took some seventeen years to bring about +results which he thought would be accomplished in a much shorter period. +It has been reserved for the present generation to witness the +fulfilment of prophecy in the case of European Turkey. The blindness +displayed by Turkish statesmen to the lessons taught by history, their +complete sterility in the domain of political thought, and their +inability to adapt themselves and the institutions of their country to +the growing requirements of the age, might almost lead an historical +student to suppose that they were bent on committing political suicide. +The combined diplomatists of Europe, Lord Salisbury sorrowfully remarked +in 1877, "all tried to save Turkey," but she scorned salvation and +persisted in a course of action which could lead to but one result. That +result has now been attained. The dismemberment of European Turkey, +begun so long ago as the Peace of Karlovitz in 1699, is now almost +complete. "Modern history," Lord Acton said, "begins under the stress of +the Ottoman conquest." Whatever troubles the future may have in store, +Europe has at last thrown off the Ottoman incubus. A new chapter in +modern history has thus been opened. Henceforth, if Ottoman power is to +survive at all, it must be in Asia, albeit the conflicting jealousies of +the European Powers allow for the time being the maintenance of an +Asiatic outpost on European soil. + +It is as yet too early to expect any complete or philosophic account of +this stupendous occurrence, which the future historian will rank with +the unification first of Italy and later of Germany, as one of the most +epoch-making events of the later nineteenth and early twentieth +centuries. Notably, there are two subjects which require much further +elucidation before the final verdict of contemporaries or posterity can +be passed upon them. In the first place, the causes which have led to +the military humiliation of a race which, whatever may be its defects, +has been noted in history for its martial virility, require to be +differentiated. Was the collapse of the Turkish army due merely to +incapacity and mismanagement on the part of the commanders, aided by +the corruption which has eaten like a canker into the whole Ottoman +system of government and administration? Or must the causes be sought +deeper, and, if so, was it the palsy of an unbridled and malevolent +despotism which in itself produced the result, or did the sudden +downfall of the despot, by the removal of a time-honoured, if unworthy, +symbol of government, abstract the corner-stone from the tottering +political edifice, and thus, by disarranging the whole administrative +gear of the Empire at a critical moment, render the catastrophe +inevitable? Further information is required before a matured opinion on +this point, which possesses more than a mere academic importance, can be +formed. + +There is yet another subject which, if only from a biographical point of +view, is of great interest. Two untoward circumstances have caused +Turkish domination in Europe to survive, and to resist the pressure of +the civilisation by which it was surrounded, but which seemed at one +time doomed to thunder ineffectually at its gates. One was excessive +jealousy--in Solomon's words, "as cruel as the grave"--amongst European +States, which would not permit of any political advantage being gained +by a rival nation. The other, and, as subsequent events proved, more +potent consideration, was the fratricidal jealousy which the +populations of the Balkan Peninsula mutually entertained towards each +other. The maintenance and encouragement of mutual suspicions was, in +either case, sedulously fostered by Turkish Sultans, the last of whom, +more especially, acted throughout his inglorious career in the firm +belief that mere mediaeval diplomatic trickery could be made to take the +place of statesmanship. He must have chuckled when he joyously put his +hand to the firman creating a Bulgarian Exarch, who was forthwith +excommunicated by the Greek Patriarch, with the result, as Mr. Miller +tells us, that "peasants killed each other in the name of contending +ecclesiastical establishments." + +In the early days of the last century the poet Rhigas, who was to Greece +what Arndt was to Germany and Rouget de Lisle to Revolutionary France, +appealed to all Balkan Christians to rise on behalf of the liberties of +Greece. But the hour had not yet come for any such unity to be cemented. +At that time, and for many years afterwards, Europe was scarcely +conscious of the fact that there existed "a long-forgotten, silent +nationality" which, after a lapse of nearly five centuries, would again +spring into existence and bear a leading part in the liberation of the +Balkan populations. But the rise of Bulgaria, far from bringing unity in +its wake, appeared at first only to exacerbate not merely the mercurial +Greek, proud of the intellectual and political primacy which he had +heretofore enjoyed, but also the brother Slav, with whom differences +arose which necessitated an appeal to the arbitrament of arms. + +Although the thunder of the guns of Kirk Kilisse and Lle Burgas +proclaimed to Europe, in the words of the English Prime Minister, that +"the map of Eastern Europe had to be recast," it is none the less true +that the cause of the Turk was doomed from the moment when Balkan +discord ceased, and when the Greek, the Bulgarian, the Serb, and the +Montenegrin agreed to sink their differences and to act together against +the common enemy. Who was it who accomplished this miracle? Mr. Miller +says, "the authorship of this marvellous work, hitherto the despair of +statesmen, is uncertain, but it has been ascribed chiefly to M. +Venezlos." All, therefore, that can now be said is that it was the +brain, or possibly brains, of some master-workers which gave liberty to +the Balkan populations as surely as it was the brain of Cavour which +united Italy.[82] + +Although these and possibly other points will, without doubt, eventually +receive more ample treatment at the hands of some future historian, Mr. +Miller has performed a most useful service in affording a guide by the +aid of which the historical student can find his way through the +labyrinthine maze of Balkan politics. He begins his story about the time +when Napoleon had appeared like a comet in the political firmament, and +by his erratic movements had caused all the statesmen of Europe to +diverge temporarily from their normal and conventional orbits, one +result being that the British Admiral Duckworth wandered in a somewhat +aimless fashion through the Dardanelles to Constantinople, and had very +little idea of what to do when he got there. Mr. Miller reminds us of +events of great importance in their day, but now almost wholly +forgotten: of how the ancient Republic of Ragusa, which had existed for +eleven centuries and which had earned the title of the "South Slavonic +Athens," was crushed out of existence under the iron heel of Marmont, +who forthwith proceeded to make some good roads and to vaccinate the +Dalmatians; of how Napoleon tried to partition the Balkans, but found, +with all his political and administrative genius, that he was face to +face with an "insoluble problem"; of how that rough man of genius, +Mahmoud II., hanged the Greek Patriarch from the gate of his palace, but +between the interludes of massacres and executions, brought his "energy +and indomitable force of will" to bear on the introduction of reforms; +of how the Venetian Count Capo d'Istria, who was eventually +assassinated, produced a local revolt by a well-intentioned attempt to +amend the primitive ethics of the Mainote Greeks--a tale which is not +without its warning if ever the time comes for dealing with a cognate +question amongst the wild tribes of Albania; and of how, amidst the +ever-shifting vicissitudes of Eastern politics, the Tsar of Russia, who +had heretofore posed as the "protector" of Roumans and Serbs against +their sovereign, sent his fleet to the Bosphorus in 1833 in order to +"protect" the sovereign against his rebellious vassal, Mehemet Ali, and +exacted a reward for his services in the shape of the leonine +arrangement signed at Hunkiar-Iskelesi. And so Mr. Miller carries us on +from massacre to massacre, from murder to murder, and from one +bewildering treaty to another, all of which, however, present this +feature of uniformity, that the Turk, signing of his own free will, but +with an unwilling mind--[Greek: hekn aekonti ge thym]--made on each +occasion either some new concession to the ever-rising tide of Christian +demand, or ratified the loss of a province which had been forcibly torn +from his flank. Finally, we get to the period when the tragedy connected +with the name of Queen Draga acted like an electric shock on Europe, +and when the accession of King Peter, "who had translated Mill _On +Liberty_," to the blood-stained Servian throne, revealed to an +astonished world that the processes of Byzantinism survived to the +present day. Five years later followed the assumption by Prince +Ferdinand of the title of "Tsar of the Bulgarians," and it then only +required the occurrence of some opportunity and the appearance on the +scene of some Balkan Cavour to bring the struggle of centuries to the +final issue of a death-grapple between the followers of aggressive +Christianity and those of stagnant Islamism. + +The whole tale is at once dramatic and dreary, dramatic because it is +occasionally illumined by acts of real heroism, such as the gallant +defence of Plevna by Ghazi Osman, a graphic account of which was written +by an adventurous young Englishman (Mr. W.V. Herbert) who served in the +Turkish army, or again as the conduct of the Cretan Abbot Mneses who, +in 1866, rather than surrender to the Turks, "put a match to the +powder-magazine, thus uniting defenders and assailants in one common +hecatomb." It is dreary because the mind turns with horror and disgust +from the endless record of government by massacre, in which, it is to be +observed, the crime of bloodguiltiness can by no means be laid +exclusively at the door of the dominant race, whilst Mr. Miller's +sombre but perfectly true remark that "assassination or abdication, +execution or exile, has been the normal fate of Balkan rulers," throws a +lurid light on the whole state of Balkan society. + +But how does the work of diplomacy, and especially of British diplomacy, +stand revealed by the light of the history of the past century? The +point is one of importance, all the more so because there is a tendency +on the part of some British politicians to mistrust diplomatists, to +think that, either from incapacity or design, they serve as agents to +stimulate war rather than as peace-makers, and to hold that a more +minute interference by the House of Commons in the details of diplomatic +negotiations would be useful and beneficial. It would be impossible +within the limits of an ordinary newspaper article to deal adequately +with this question. This much, however, may be said--that, even taking +the most unfavourable view of the results achieved by diplomacy, there +is nothing whatever in Mr. Miller's history to engender the belief that +better results would have been obtained by shifting the responsibility +to a greater degree from the shoulders of the executive to those of +Parliament. The evidence indeed rather points to an opposite conclusion. +For instance, Mr. Miller informs us that inopportune action taken in +England was one of the causes which contributed to the outbreak of +hostilities between Greece and Turkey in 1897. "An address from a +hundred British members of Parliament encouraged the masses, ignorant of +the true condition of British politics, to count upon the help of Great +Britain." + +It is, however, quite true that a moralist, if he were so minded, might +in Mr. Miller's pages find abundant material for a series of homilies on +the vanity of human wishes, and especially of diplomatic human wishes. +But would he on that account be right in pronouncing a wholesale +condemnation of diplomacy? Assuredly not. Rather, the conclusion to be +drawn from a review of past history is that a small number of very +well-informed and experienced diplomatists showed remarkable foresight +in perceiving the future drift of events. So early as 1837 Lord +Palmerston supported Milosh Obrenovitch II., the ruler of Servia, +against Turkey, as he had "come to the conclusion that to strengthen the +small Christian States of the Near East was the true policy of both +Turkey and Great Britain." Similar views were held at a later period by +Sir William White, and were eventually adopted by the Government of Lord +Beaconsfield. An equal amount of foresight was displayed by some Russian +diplomatists. In Lord Morley's _Life of Gladstone_ (vol. i. p. 479) a +very remarkable letter is given, which was addressed to the Emperor +Nicholas by Baron Brunnow, just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, +in which he advocated peace on the ground that "war would not turn to +Russian advantage.... The Ottoman Empire may be transformed into +independent States, which for us will only become either burdensome +clients or hostile neighbours." It may be that, as is now very generally +thought, the Crimean War was a mistake, and that, in the classic words +of Lord Salisbury, we "put our money on the wrong horse." But it is none +the less true that had it not been for the Crimean War and the policy +subsequently adopted by Lord Beaconsfield's government, the independence +of the Balkan States would never have been achieved, and the Russians +would now be in possession of Constantinople. It is quite permissible to +argue that, had they been left unopposed, British interests would not +have suffered; but even supposing this very debatable proposition to be +true, it must be regarded, from an historical point of view, as at best +an _ex post facto_ argument. British diplomacy has to represent British +public opinion, and during almost the whole period of which Mr. Miller's +history treats, a cardinal article of British political faith was that, +in the interests of Great Britain, Constantinople should not be allowed +to fall into Russian hands. The occupation of Egypt in 1882 without +doubt introduced a new and very important element into the discussion. +The most serious as also the least excusable mistake in British +Near-Eastern policy of recent years has been the occupation of Cyprus, +which burthened us with a perfectly useless possession, and inflicted a +serious blow on our prestige. Sir Edward Grey's recent diplomatic +success is in a large measure due to the fact that all the Powers +concerned were convinced of British disinterestedness. + +[Footnote 81: _The Ottoman Empire_, 1801-1913. By W. Miller. Cambridge: +At the University Press. 7s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 82: This article was, of course, written before the war which +subsequently broke out between the Bulgarians and their former allies, +the Greeks and the Servians.] + + + + +XV + +WELLINGTONIANA[83] + +_"The Spectator," June 21, 1913_ + + +In dealing with Lady Shelley's sprightly and discursive comments upon +the current events of her day, we have to transport ourselves back into +a society which, though not very remote in point of time, has now so +completely passed away that it is difficult fully to realise its +feelings, opinions, and aspirations. It was a time when a learned +divine, writing in the _Church and State Gazette_, had proved entirely +to his own satisfaction, and apparently also to that of Lady Shelley, +that a "remarkable fulfilment of that hitherto incomprehensible prophecy +in the Revelations" had taken place, inasmuch as Napoleon Bonaparte was +most assuredly "the seventh head of the Beast." It was a time when +Londoners rode in the Green Park instead of Rotten Row, and when, in +spite of the admiration expressed for the talents of that rising young +politician, Mr. Robert Peel, it was impossible to deny that "his birth +ran strongly against him"--a consideration which elicited from Lady +Shelley the profound remark that it is "strange to search into the +recesses of the human mind." + +Lady Shelley herself seems to have been rather a _femme incomprise_. She +had lived much on the Continent, and appreciated the greater deference +paid to a charming and accomplished woman in Viennese and Parisian +society, compared with the boorishness of Englishmen who would not +"waste their time" in paying pretty compliments to ladies which "could +be repaid by a smile." She records her impressions in French, a language +in which she was thoroughly proficient. "Je sais," she says, "qu'en +Angleterre il ne faut pas s'attendre cultiver son esprit; qu'il faut, +pour tre contente Londres, se rsoudre se plaire avec la +mdiocrit; entendre tous les jours rpter les mmes banalits et +s'abaisser autant qu'on le peut au niveau des femmelettes avec +lesquelles l'on vit, et qui, pour plaire, affectent plus de frivolit +qu'elles n'ont rellement. Le plaisir de causer nous est dfendu." +Nevertheless, however much she may have mentally appreciated the +solitude of a crowd, she determined to adapt herself to her social +surroundings. "C'est un sacrifice," she says, "que je fais mon Dieu et + mon devoir comme Anglaise." Impelled, therefore, alike by piety and +patriotism, she cast aside all ideas of leading an eremitic life, +plunged into the vortex of the social world, and mixed with all the +great men and women of the day. Of these the most notable was the Duke +of Wellington. + +Lady Shelley certainly possessed one quality which eminently fitted her +to play the part of Boswell to the Duke. The worship of her hero was +without the least mixture of alloy. She had a pheasant, which the Duke +had killed, stuffed, and "added to other souvenirs which ornamented her +dressing-room"; and she records, with manifest pride, that "amongst her +other treasures" was a chair on which he sat upon the first occasion of +his dining with her husband and herself in 1814. It was well to have +that pheasant stuffed, for apparently the Duke, like his great +antagonist, did not shoot many pheasants. He was not only "a very wild +shot," but also a very bad shot. Napoleon, Mr. Oman tells us,[84] on one +occasion "lodged some pellets in Massna's left eye while letting fly at +a pheasant," and then without the least hesitation accused "the faithful +Berthier" of having fired the shot, an accusation which was at once +confirmed by the mendacious but courtierlike victim of the accident. +Wellington also, Lady Shelley records, "after wounding a retriever early +in the day and later on peppering the keeper's gaiters, inadvertently +sprinkled the bare arms of an old woman who chanced to be washing +clothes at her cottage window." Lady Shelley, who "was attracted by her +screams," promptly told the widow that "it ought to be the proudest +moment of her life. She had had the distinction of being shot by the +great Duke of Wellington," but the eminently practical instinct of the +great Duke at once whispered to him that something more than the moral +satisfaction to be derived from this reflection was required, so he very +wisely "slipped a golden coin into her trembling hand." + +For many years Lady Shelley lived on very friendly and intimate terms +with the Duke, who appears to have confided to her many things about +which he would perhaps have acted more wisely if he had held his tongue. +When he went on an important diplomatic mission to Paris in 1822, she +requested him to buy her a blouse--a commission which he faithfully +executed. All went well until 1848. Then a terrific explosion occurred. +It is no longer "My dearest Lady! Mind you bring the blouse! Ever yours +most affectionately, Wellington," but "My dear Lady Shelley," who is +addressed by "Her Ladyship's most obedient humble servant, Wellington," +and soundly rated for her conduct. The reason for this abrupt and +volcanic change was that owing to an indiscretion on the part of Lady +Shelley a very important letter about the defenceless state of the +country, which the Duke had addressed to Sir John Burgoyne, then the +head of the Engineer Department at the Horse Guards, got into the +newspapers. The Duke's wrath boiled over, and was expressed in terms +which, albeit the reproaches were just, showed but little chivalrous +consideration towards a peccant but very contrite woman. He told her +that he "had much to do besides defending himself from the consequences +of the meddling gossip of the ladies of modern times," and he asked +indignantly, "What do Sir John Burgoyne and his family and your Ladyship +and others--talking of old friendship--say to the share which each of +you have had in this transaction, which, in my opinion, is disgraceful +to the times in which we live?" What Sir John Burgoyne and his family +might very reasonably have said in answer to this formidable +interrogatory is that, although no one can defend the conduct of +Delilah, it was certainly most unwise of Samson to trust her with his +secret. It is consolatory to know that, under the influence of Sir John +Shelley's tact and good-humour, a treaty of peace was eventually +concluded. Sir John happened to meet the Duke at a party. +"'Good-evening, Duke,' said Sir John, in his most winning manner. 'Do +you know, it has been said, by some one who must have been present, that +the cackling of geese once saved Rome. I have been thinking that perhaps +the cackling of my old Goose may yet save England!' This wholly +unexpected sally proved too much for the Duke, who burst out into a +hearty laugh. 'By G----d, Shelley!' said he, 'you are right: give me +your honest hand.'" The Duke then returned to Apsley House and "penned a +playful letter to Lady Shelley." + +It is not to be expected that much of real historical interest can be +extracted from a Diary of this sort. It may, however, be noted that when +the _Bellerophon_ reached the English coast "it was only by coercion +that the Ministers prevented George IV. from receiving Bonaparte. The +King wanted to hold him as a captive." Moreover, Brougham, who was in a +position to know, said, "There can be little doubt that if Bonaparte had +got to London, the Whig Opposition were ready to use him as their trump +card to overturn the Government." + +The main interest in the book, however, lies in the light which it +throws on the Duke's inner life and in the characteristic _obiter dicta_ +which he occasionally let fall. Of these, none is more characteristic +than the remark he made on meeting his former love, Miss Catherine +Pakenham, after an absence of eight years in India. He wrote to her, +making a proposal of marriage, but Miss Pakenham told him "that before +any engagement was made he must see her again; as she had grown old, had +lost all her good looks, and was a very different person to the girl he +had loved in former years." The story, which has been frequently +repeated, that Miss Pakenham was marked with the smallpox, is +untrue,[85] but, without doubt, during the Duke's absence, she had a +good deal changed. The Duke himself certainly thought so, for, on first +meeting her again, he whispered to his brother, "She has grown d----d +ugly, by Jove!" Nevertheless he married her, being moved to do so, not +apparently from any very deep feelings of affection, but because his +leading passion was a profound regard for truth and loyalty which led +him to admire and appreciate the straightforwardness of Miss Pakenham's +conduct. Lady Shelley exultingly exclaims, "Well might she be proud and +happy, and glory in such a husband." That the Duchess was proud of her +husband is certain. Whether she was altogether happy is more doubtful. + +One of the stock anecdotes about the Duke of Wellington is that when on +one occasion some one asked him whether he was surprised at Waterloo, he +replied, "No. I was not surprised then, but I am now." We are indebted +to Lady Shelley for letting us know what the Duke really thought on this +much-debated question. In a letter written to her on March 22, 1820, he +stated, with his usual downright common sense, all that there is to be +said on this subject. "Supposing I _was_ surprised; I won the battle; +and what could you have had more, even if I had not been surprised?" + +It is known on the authority of his niece, Lady Burghersh, that the Duke +"never read poetry," but his "real love of music," to which Lady Shelley +alludes, will perhaps come as a surprise to many. Mr. Fortescue, +however,[86] has told us that in his youth the Duke learnt to play the +violin, and that he only abandoned it, when he was about thirty years +old, "because he judged it unseemly or perhaps ill-sounding for a +General to be a fiddler." The Duke is not the only great soldier who has +been a musical performer. Marshal St. Cyr used to play the violin "in +the quiet moments of a campaign," and Sir Hope Grant was a very fair +performer on the violoncello. + +It was characteristic of the Duke to keep the fact of his being about to +fight a duel with Lord Winchelsea carefully concealed from all his +friends. When it was over, he walked into Lady Shelley's room while she +was at breakfast and said, "Well, what do you think of a gentleman who +has been fighting a duel?" + +It appears that during the last years of his life the Duke's great +companion-in-arms, Blcher, was subject to some strange hallucinations. +The following affords a fitting counterpart to those "fears of the +brave" which Pope attributed to the dying Marlborough. On March 17, +1819, Lady Shelley made the following entry in her diary: + + We laughed at poor Blcher's strange hallucination, which, though + ludicrous, is very sad. He fancies himself with child by a + Frenchman; and deplores that such an event should have happened to + him in his old age! He does not so much mind being with child, but + cannot reconcile himself to the thought that he--of all people in + the world--should be destined to give birth to a _Frenchman_! On + every other subject Blcher is said to be quite rational. This + peculiar form of madness shows the bent of his mind; so that while + we laugh our hearts reproach us. The Duke of Wellington assures me + that he knows this to be a fact. + +Finally, attention may be drawn to a singular and interesting letter +from Sir Walter Scott to Shelley, giving some advice which it may be +presumed the young poet did not take to heart. He was "cautioned against +enthusiasm, which, while it argued an excellent disposition and a +feeling heart, requires to be watched and restrained, though not +repressed." + +[Footnote 83: _The Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley_ (1818-1873). London: +John Murray. 10s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 84: _History of the Peninsular War_, vol. iii. p. 209.] + +[Footnote 85: Maxwell's _Life of Wellington_, vol. i. p. 78] + +[Footnote 86: _British Statesmen of the Great War_, p. 241.] + + + + +XVI + +BURMA[87] + +_"The Spectator," June 28, 1913_ + + +The early history of the British connection with Burma presents all the +features uniformly to be found in the growth of British Imperialism. +These are, first, reluctance to move, coupled with fear of the results +of expansion, ending finally with a cession to the irresistible tendency +to expand; secondly, vagueness of purpose as to what should be done with +a new and somewhat unwelcome acquisition; thirdly, a tardy recognition +of its value, with the result that what was first an inclination to make +the best of a bad job only gradually transforms itself into a feeling of +satisfaction and congratulation that, after all, the unconscious +founders of the British Empire, here as elsewhere, blundered more or +less unawares into the adoption of a sound and far-seeing Imperial +policy. + +In 1825, Lord Amherst, in one of those "fits of absence" which the +dictum of Sir John Seeley has rendered famous, took possession of some +of the maritime provinces of Burma, and in doing so lost three thousand +one hundred and fifteen men, of whom only a hundred and fifty were +killed in action. Then the customary fit of doubt and despondency +supervened. It was not until four years after the conclusion of peace +that a British Resident was sent to the Court of Ava in the vain hope +that he would be able to negotiate the retrocession of the province of +Tenasserim, as "the Directors of the East India Company looked upon this +territory as of no value to them." For a quarter of a century peace was +preserved, for there ruled at Ava a prince "who was too clear-sighted to +attempt again to measure arms with the British troops." Anon he was +succeeded by a new king--the Pagn Prince--"who cared for nothing but +mains of cocks, games, and other infantile amusements," and who, after +the manner of Oriental despots, inaugurated his reign by putting to +death his two brothers and all their households. "There were several +hundreds of them." It is not surprising that under a ruler addicted to +such practices the British sailors who frequented the Burmese ports +should have been subjected to maltreatment. Their complaints reached the +ears of the iron-fisted and acquisitive Lord Dalhousie, who himself +went to Rangoon in 1852, and forthwith "decided on the immediate attack +of Prome and Pegu." M. Dautremer speaks in flattering terms of "the +tenacity and persistence of purpose which make the strength and glory of +British policy." He might truthfully have added another characteristic +feature which that policy at times displays, to wit, sluggishness. It +was not until sixteen years after Lord Dalhousie's annexation of Lower +Burma that the English bethought themselves of improving their newly +acquired province by the construction of a railway, and it was not till +1877 that the first line from Rangoon to Prome--a distance of only one +hundred and sixty-one miles--was opened. During all this time King +Mindon ruled in native Burma. He "gave abundant alms to monks," and, +moreover, which was perhaps more to the purpose, he was wise enough to +maintain relations with Great Britain which were "quite cordial." +Eventually the Nemesis which appears to attend on all semi-civilised and +moribund States when they are brought in contact with a vigorous and +aggressive civilisation appeared in the person of the "Sapaya-lat," the +"middle princess," who induced her feeble husband, King Thibaw, to carry +out massacres on a scale which, even in Burma, had been heretofore +unprecedented. Then the British on the other side of the frontier began +to murmur and "to consider whether it was possible to endure a neighbour +who was so cruel and so unpopular." All doubts as to whether the limits +of endurance had or had not been reached were removed when the +impecunious and spendthrift king not only imposed a very unjust fine of +some 150,000 on the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, but also had the +extreme folly to "throw himself into the arms of France"--a scheme which +was at once communicated by M. Jules Ferry to Lord Lyons, the British +Ambassador in Paris. Then war with Burma was declared, and after some +tedious operations, which involved the sacrifice of many valuable lives, +and which extended over three years, the country was "completely +pacified" by 1889, and Lord Dufferin added the title of "Ava" to the +Marquisate which was conferred on him. + +In 1852, when Lord Dalhousie annexed Lower Burma, Rangoon was "merely a +fishing village." It is now a flourishing commercial town of some +300,000 inhabitants. In 1910-11 the imports into Burmese ports, +including coast trade, amounted to 13,600,000. The exports, in spite of +a duty on rice which is of a nature rather to shock orthodox economists, +were nearly 23,000,000 in value. The revenue in 1910 was about +7,391,000, of which about 2,590,000 was on Imperial and the balance on +local account. Burma is in the happy position of being in a normal state +of surplus, and is thus able to contribute annually a sum of about +2,500,000 to the Indian exchequer, a sum which those who are specially +interested in Burmese prosperity regard as excessive, whilst it is +apparently regarded as inadequate by some of those who look only to the +interests of the Indian taxpayers. + +The account which M. Dautremer, who was for long French Consul at +Rangoon, has given of the present condition of Burma is preceded by an +introduction from the pen of Sir George Scott, who can speak with +unquestionable authority on Burmese affairs. It is clear that neither +author has allowed himself in any way to be biassed by national +proclivities, for whilst the Frenchman compares British and French +administrative methods in a manner which is very much to the detriment +of the latter, the Englishman, on the other hand, launches the most +fiery denunciations against those of his countrymen who are responsible +for Indian policy. Their want of enterprise is characterised by the +appalling polysyllabic adjective "hebetudinous," which it is perhaps as +well to explain means obtuse or dull, and they are told that they "are +infected with the Babu spirit, and cannot see beyond their immediate +horizon." + +M. Dautremer thinks that it is somewhat narrow-minded of the Englishman +to inflict on himself the torture of wearing cloth or flannel clothes in +order that he may not be taken for a _chi-chi_ or half-caste, who very +wisely dresses in white. He expostulates against the social tyranny +which obliges him to pay visits between twelve and two "in such a +climate and with such a temperature," and he gently satirises the +isolation of the different layers of English society--civilian, +military, and subordinate services--in words which call to mind the +striking account given by the immortal Mr. Jingle of the dockyard +society of Chatham and Rochester. It is, however, consolatory to learn +that all classes combined in giving a hearty welcome to the genial and +sympathetic Frenchman who was living in their midst. Save on these minor +points, M. Dautremer has, for the most part, nothing but praise to +accord. He thinks that "all the British administrative officers in Burma +are well-educated and capable men, who know the country of which they +are put in charge, and are fluent in the language." He writhes under the +highly centralised and bureaucratic system adopted by his own +countrymen. He commends the English practice under which "the Home +Government never interferes in the management of internal affairs," and +it is earnestly to be hoped that the commendation is deserved, albeit of +late years there have occasionally been some ominous signs of a tendency +to govern India rather too much in detail from London. Speaking of the +rapid development of Burmese trade, M. Dautremer says, in words which +are manifestly intended to convey a criticism of his own Government, +"This is an example of the use of colonies to a nation which knows how +to put a proper value on them and to profit by them." + +The warm appreciation which M. Dautremer displays of the best parts of +the English administrative system enhances his claims for respectful +attention whenever he indulges in criticism. He finds two rather weak +points in the administration. In the first place, he attributes the +large falling-off in the export of teak, _inter alia_, to "the increase +in Government duties and the much more rigid rules for extraction," and +he adds that the Government, which is itself a large dealer in timber, +has "by its action created a monopoly which has raised prices to the +highest possible limit." The subject is one which would appear to +require attention. The primary business of any Government is not to +trade but to administer, and, as invariably happens, the violation of a +sound economic principle of this sort is certain sooner or later to +carry its own punishment with it. In the second place, the Forest +Department, which is of very special importance in Burma, is a good deal +crippled by the "want of energy and want of industry which are +unfortunately common in the subordinate grades. The reason for this +state of things is to be found in the fact that the pay and prospects +are not good enough to attract really capable men." In many quarters, +notably in Central Africa, British Treasury officials have yet to learn +that, from every point of view, it is quite as great a mistake to employ +underpaid administrative agents as it would be for an employer of labour +to proceed on the principle that low wages necessarily connote cheap +production. + +Sir George Scott in his introduction strikes a very different note from +that sounded by M. Dautremer. He alleges that the wealthy province of +Burma, which M. Dautremer tells us is not unseldom called "the milch-cow +of India," is starved, that its financial policy has been directed by +"cautious, nothing-venture, mole-horizon people," who have hid their +talent in a napkin; that "everything seems expressly designed to drive +out the capital" of which the country stands so much in need; that not +nearly enough has been done in the way of expenditure on public works, +notably on roads and railways, and that when these latter have been +constructed, they have sometimes been in the wrong directions. He cavils +at M. Dautremer's description of Burma as "a model possession," and +holds that "as a matter of bitter fact, the administrative view is that +of the parish beadle, and the enterprise that of the country-carrier +with a light cart instead of a motor-van." + +It would require greater local knowledge than any possessed by the +writer of the present article either to endorse or to reject these +formidable accusations, although it may be said that the violence of Sir +George Scott's invective is not very convincing, but rather raises a +strong suspicion that he has overstated his case. Nothing is more +difficult, either for a private individual or for a State financier, +than to decide the question of when to be bold and when cautious in the +matter of capital outlay. It is quite possible to push to an extreme the +commonplace, albeit attractive, argument that large expenditure will be +amply remunerative, or even if not directly remunerative, highly +beneficial "in the long run." Although this plea is often--indeed, +perhaps generally--valid, it is none the less true that the run which is +foreshadowed is at times so long as to make the taxpayer, who has to +bear the present cost, gasp for breath before the promised goal is +reached. Pericles, by laying out huge sums on the public buildings of +Athens, earned the undying gratitude of artistic posterity. Whether his +action was in the true interests of his Athenian contemporaries is +perhaps rather more doubtful. The recent history of Argentina is an +instance of a country in which, as subsequent events have proved, the +plea for lavish capital expenditure was perfectly justifiable, but in +which, nevertheless, the over-haste shown in incurring heavy liabilities +led to much temporary inconvenience and even disaster. But on the whole +it may be said that where all the general conditions are favourable, and +point conclusively to the possibility and probability of fairly rapid +economic development, a bold financial policy may and should be adopted, +even although it may not be easy to prove beforehand by very exact +calculations that any special project under consideration will be +directly remunerative. Egyptian finance is a case in point. At a time +when the country was in the throes of bankruptcy, a fresh loan of +1,000,000 was, to the dismay of the conventional financiers, +contracted, the proceeds of which were spent on irrigation works. So +also the construction of the Assouan dam, which cost nearly double the +sum originally estimated, was taken in hand at a moment when a +liability of a wholly unknown amount on account of the war in the Soudan +was hanging over the head of the Egyptian Treasury. In both of these +cases subsequent events amply justified the financial audacity which had +been shown. In the case of Burma there appears to be no doubt as to the +wealth of the province or its capacity for further development. In view +of all the circumstances of the case the amount of twelve millions, +which is apparently all that has been spent on railway construction +since 1869, would certainly appear to be rather a niggardly sum. In +spite, therefore, of the very unnecessary warmth with which Sir George +Scott has urged his views, it is to be hoped that his plea for the +adoption of a somewhat bolder financial policy in the direction of +expenditure on railways, and still more on feeder roads, will receive +from the India Office, with whom the matter really rests, the attention +which it would certainly appear to deserve. The case of public +buildings, of which Burma apparently stands much in need, is different. +They cannot, strictly speaking, be said to be remunerative, and should +almost, if not quite, invariably be paid for out of revenue. + +[Footnote 87: _Burma under British Rule_. By Joseph Dautremer. London: +T. Fisher Unwin. 15s.] + + + + +XVII + +A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION[88] + +_"The Spectator," July 5, 1913_ + + +If it be a fact, as Carlyle said, that "History is the essence of +innumerable biographies," it is very necessary that the biographies from +which that essence is extracted should be true. It was probably a +profound want of confidence in the accuracy of biographical writing that +led Horace Walpole to beg for "anything but history, for history must be +false." Modern industry and research, ferreting in the less frequented +bypaths of history, have exposed many fictions, and have often led to +some strikingly paradoxical conclusions. They have substituted for +Cambronne's apocryphal saying at Waterloo the blunt sarcasm of the Duke +of Wellington that there were a number of ladies at Brussels who were +termed "la vieille garde," and of whom it was said "elles ne meurent +pas et se rendent toujours." They have led one eminent historian to +apologise for the polygamous tendencies of Henry VIII.; another to +advance the startling proposition that the "amazing" but, as the world +has heretofore held, infamous Emperor Heliogabalus was a great religious +reformer, who was in advance of his times; a third to present Lucrezia +Borgia to the world as a much-maligned and very virtuous woman; and a +fourth to tell us that the "ever pusillanimous" Barre, as he is called +by M. Louis Madelin, was "persistently vilified and deliberately +misunderstood." Biographical research has, moreover, destroyed many +picturesque legends, with some of which posterity cannot part without a +pang of regret. We are reluctant to believe that William Tell was a +mythological marksman and Gessler a wholly impossible bailiff. +Nevertheless the inexorable laws of evidence demand that this sacrifice +should be made on the altar of historical truth. M. Gastine has now +ruthlessly quashed out another picturesque legend. Tallien--the +"bristly, fox-haired" Tallien of Carlyle's historical rhapsody--and La +Cabarrus--the fair Spanish Proserpine whom, "Pluto-like, he gathered at +Bordeaux"--have so far floated down the tide of history as individuals +who, like Byron's Corsair, were + + Linked with one virtue and a thousand crimes. + +Of the crimes there could, indeed, never have been any doubt, but +posterity took but little heed of them, for they were amply condoned by +the single virtue. That virtue was, indeed, of a transcendent character, +for it was nothing less than the delivery of the French nation from the +Dahomey-like rule of that Robespierre who deluged France in blood, and +who, albeit in Fouch's words he was "terribly sincere," at the same +time "never in his life cared for any one but himself and never forgave +an offence." Moreover, the act of delivery was associated with an +episode eminently calculated to appeal to human sentiment and sympathy. +It was thought that the love of a fair woman whose life was endangered +had nerved the lover and the patriot to perform an heroic act at the +imminent risk of his own life. Hence the hero became "Le Lion Amoureux," +and the heroine was canonised as "Notre Dame de Thermidor." + +M. Gastine has now torn this legend to shreds. Under his pitiless +analysis of the facts, nothing is left but the story of a contemptible +adventurer, who was "a robber, a murderer, and a poltroon," mated to a +grasping, heartless courtesan. Both were alike infamous. The ignoble +careers of both from the cradle to the grave do not, in reality, present +a single redeeming feature. + +Madame Tallien was the daughter of Franois Cabarrus, a wealthy +Spaniard who was the banker of the Spanish Court. The great influence +which she unquestionably exerted over her contemporaries was wholly due +to her astounding physical beauty. Her intellectual equipment was meagre +in the extreme. At one period of her life she courted the society of +Madame de Stal and other intellectuals, but Princess Hlne Ligne said +of her that she "had more jargon than wit." As regards her physical +attractions, however, no dissentient voice has ever been raised. "Her +beauty," the Duchess d'Abrants says in her memoirs, "of which the +sculptors of antiquity give us but an incomplete idea, had a charm not +met with in the types of Greece and Rome." Every man who approached her +appears to have become her victim. Lacretelle, who himself worshipped at +her shrine, says, "She appeared to most of us as the Spirit of Clemency +incarnate in the loveliest of human forms." At a very early age she +married a young French nobleman, the Marquis de Fontenay, from whom she +was speedily divorced. It is not known for what offence she was arrested +and imprisoned. Probably the mere fact that she was a marquise was +sufficient to entangle her in the meshes of the revolutionary net. It is +certain, however, that whilst lying under sentence of death in the +prison at Bordeaux she attracted the attention of Tallien, the son of +the Marquis of Bercy's butler and _ci-devant_ lawyer's clerk, who had +blossomed into "a Terrorist of the first water." He obtained her release +and she became his mistress. She took advantage of the equivocal but +influential position which she had attained to engage in a vile traffic. +She and her paramour amassed a huge fortune by accepting money from the +unfortunate prisoners who were threatened with the fate which she had so +narrowly escaped, and to which she was again to be exposed. The venal +lenity shown by Tallien to aristocrats rendered him an object of +suspicion, whilst the marked tendency displayed by Robespierre to +mistrust and, finally, to immolate his coadjutors was an ominous +indication of the probable course of future events. Robespierre had +already destroyed Vergniaud by means of Hbert, Hbert by means of +Danton, and Danton by means of Billaud. As a preliminary step to the +destruction of Tallien, he caused his mistress to be arrested, probably +with a view to seeing what evidence against her paramour could be +extracted before she was herself guillotined. + +From this point in the narrative history is merged into legend. The +legend would have us believe that on the 7th Thermidor the "Citoyenne +Fontenay" sent a dagger to the "Citoyen Tallien," accompanied by a +letter in which she said that she had dreamt that Robespierre was no +more, and that the gates of her prison had been flung open. "Alas!" she +added, "thanks to your signal cowardice there will soon be no one left +in France capable of bringing such a dream to pass." Tallien besought +Robespierre to show mercy, but "the Incorruptible was inflexible." Then +the "Lion Amoureux" roared, being, as the legend relates, stricken to +the heart at the appalling danger to which his beloved mistress was +exposed or, as his detractors put the case, being in deadly fear that +the untoward revelations of the Citoyenne might cost him his own head. +The next act in this Aeschylean drama is described by the believers in +the legend in the following words: "Tallien drew Theresia's dagger from +his breast and flashed it in the sunlight as though to nerve himself for +the desperate business that confronted him. 'This,' he cried +passionately, 'will be my final argument,' and looking about him to make +sure he was alone he raised the blade to his lips and kissed it." + +The result, it is alleged, was that Tallien provoked the episode of the +9th Thermidor (July 22, 1794). The few faltering sentences which +Robespierre wished to utter were never spoken. He was "choked by the +blood of Danton," and hurried off to the guillotine which awaited him on +the morrow. + +History, which in this instance is not legendary, relates that on the +death of the tyrant a wild shout of exultation was raised by the joyous +people who had for so long wandered in the Valley of the Shadow of +Death. To whom, they asked, did they owe their liberty? What was more +natural than to assume that it was to the brave Tallien and to the +loving woman who armed him to strike a blow for the freedom of France? +Tallien and his mistress became, therefore, the idols of the French +people. The Chancellor Pasquier relates their appearance at a theatre: + + The enthusiasm and the applause were indescribable. The occupants + of the boxes, the people in the pit, men and women alike, stood up + on their chairs to look at him. It seemed as though they would + never weary of gazing at him. He was young, rather good-looking, + and his manner was calm and serene. Madame Tallien was at his side + and shared his triumph. In her case also everything had been + forgiven and forgotten. Similar scenes were enacted all through the + autumn of that year. Never was any service, however great, rewarded + by gratitude so lively and so touching. + +It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to +summarise the arguments by which M. Gastine seeks to destroy this myth. +Allusion may, however, be made to two points of special importance. The +first is that neither Tallien nor the lovely Spaniard languishing in +the dungeon of La Force had much to do with the episode of the 9th +Thermidor. "Tallien was a mere super, a mere puppet that had to be +galvanised into action up to the very last." The man who really +organised the movement and persuaded his coadjutors that they were +engaged in a life and death struggle with Robespierre was he who, as +every reader of revolutionary history knows, was busily engaged in +pulling the strings behind the scenes during the whole of this chaotic +period. It was the man whose iron nerve and subtle brain enabled him, in +spite of a secular course of betrayals, to keep his head on his +shoulders, and finally to escape the clutches of Napoleon, who, as Lord +Rosebery tells us,[89] always deeply regretted that he had not had him +"hanged or shot." It was Fouch. + +In the second place, there is conclusive evidence to show that, to use +the ordinary slang expression of the present day, the celebrated dagger +letter was "faked." When Robespierre fell, Tallien never gave a thought +to his mistress. He still trembled for his own life. "His sole aim was +to make away with Robespierre's papers." It was only on the 12th +Thermidor--that is to say, two days after Robespierre's mangled head had +been sheared off by the guillotine--that, noting the trend of public +opinion, and appreciating the capital which might be made out of the +current myth, he hurried off to La Force and there concocted with his +mistress the famous letter which he, of course, antedated. + +The subsequent careers of Tallien and his wife--for he married La +Cabarrus in December 1794--are merely characterised by a number of +unedifying details. The hero of this sordid tale passed through many +vicissitudes. He went with Napoleon to Egypt. He was, on his return +voyage, taken prisoner by an English cruiser. On his arrival in London +he was well received by Fox and the Whigs--a fact which cannot be said +to redound much to the credit either of the Whig party or its leader. He +gambled on the Stock Exchange, and at one time "blossomed out as a +dealer in soap, candles, and cotton bonnets." After passing through an +unhonoured old age, he died in great poverty in 1820. The heroine became +intimate with Josephine during Napoleon's absence in Egypt, was +subsequently divorced from Tallien, and later, after passing through a +phase when she was the mistress of the banker Ouvrard, married the +Prince of Caraman-Chimay. Her conduct during the latter years of her +life appears to have been irreproachable. She died in 1835. + +[Footnote 88: _The Life of Madame Tallien._ By L. Gastine. Translated +from the French by J. Lewis May. London: John Lane. 12s. 6d. net.] + +[Footnote 89: _The Last Phase_, p. 203.] + + + + +XVIII + +THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS + +_"The Spectator," July 5, 1913_ + + +There was a time, not so very long ago, when the humanists enjoyed a +practical monopoly in the domain of English education, and, by doing so, +exercised a considerable, perhaps even a predominant, influence not only +over the social life but also over the policy, both external and +internal, adopted by their countrymen. Like most monopolists, they +showed a marked tendency to abuse the advantages of their position. +Science was relegated to a position of humiliating inferiority, and had +to content itself with picking up whatever crumbs were, with a lordly +and at times almost contemptuous tolerance, allowed to fall from the +humanistic table. Bossuet once defined a heretic as "celui qui a une +opinion" ([Greek: airesis]). A somewhat similar attitude was at one time +adopted to those who were inclined to doubt whether a knowledge of Latin +and Greek could be considered the Alpha and Omega of a sound education. +The calm judgment of that great humanist, Professor Jebb, led him to the +conclusion that the claims of the humanities have been at times defended +by pleas which were exaggerated and paradoxical--using this latter term +in the sense of arguments which contain an element of truth, but of +truth which has been distorted--and that in an age remarkable beyond all +previous ages for scientific research and discoveries, that nation must +necessarily lag behind which, in the well-known words uttered by Gibbon +at a time when science was still in swaddling-clothes, fears that the +"finer feelings" are destroyed if the mind becomes "hardened by the +habit of rigid demonstration." All this has now been changed. Professor +Huxley did not live in vain. His mantle fell on the shoulders of many +other doughty champions who shared his views. Science no longer slinks +modestly in educational bypaths, but occupies the high road, and, to say +the least, marches abreast of her humanistic sister. Yet the scientists +are not yet content. Their souls are athirst for further victories. A +high authority on education, himself a classical scholar,[90] has +recently told us that, although the English boy "as he emerges from the +crucible of the public school laboratory" may be a fairly good agent +for dealing with the "lower or more submissive races in the wilds of +Africa or in the plains of India," elsewhere--notably in Canada--he is +"a conspicuous failure"; that one of the principal reasons why he is a +failure is that "the influence of the humanists still reigns over us"; +and that "the future destiny of the Empire is wrapt up in the immediate +reform of England's educational system." In the course of that reform, +which it is proposed should be of a very drastic character, some +half-hearted efforts may conceivably be made to effect the salvage of +whatever will remain of the humanistic wreck, but the real motto of the +reformers will almost certainly be Utilitarianism, writ large. The +humanists, therefore, are placed on their defence. It may be that the +walls of their entrenchment, which have already been a good deal +battered, will fall down altogether, and that the garrison will be asked +to submit to a capitulation which will be almost unconditional. + +In the midst of the din of battle which may already be heard, and which +will probably ere long become louder, it seems very desirable that the +voices of those who are neither profound scholars nor accomplished +scientists nor educational experts should be heard. These--and there are +many such--ask, What is the end which we should seek to attain? Can +science alone be trusted to prevent education becoming, in the words of +that sturdy old pagan, Thomas Love Peacock, a "means for giving a fixed +direction to stupidity"? The answer they, or many of them, give to these +questions is that the main end of education is to teach people to think, +and that they are not prepared to play false to their own intellects to +such an extent as to believe that the national power of thinking will +not be impaired if it is deprived of the teaching of the most thoughtful +nation which the world has ever known. That nation is Greece. These +classes, therefore, lift up their hands in supplication to scientists, +educational experts, and parliamentarians--yea, even to soulless +wire-pullers who would perhaps willingly cast Homer and Sophocles to the +dogs in order to win a contested election--and with one voice cry: We +recognise the need of reform; we wish to march with the times; we are no +enemies to science; but in the midst of your utilitarian ideas, we +implore you, in the name both of learning and common sense, to devise +some scheme which will still enable the humanities to act as some check +on the growing materialism of the age; otherwise the last stage of the +educated youth of this country will be worse than the first; remember +what Lucretius--on the bold assumption that wire-pullers ever read +Lucretius--said, "Hic Acherusia stultorum denique vita"; above all +things, let there be no panic legislation--and panic is a danger to +which democracies and even, Pindar has told us, "the sons of the +gods,"[91] are greatly exposed; in taking any new departure let us, +therefore, very carefully and deliberately consider how we can best +preserve all that is good in our existing system. + +Whatever temporary effect appeals of this sort may produce, it is +certain that the ultimate result must depend very greatly on the extent +to which a real interest in classical literature can be kept alive in +the minds of the rising and of future generations. How can this object +best be achieved? The question is one of vital importance. + +The writer of the present article would be the last to attempt to raise +a cheap laugh at the expense of that laborious and, as it may appear to +some, almost useless erudition which, for instance, led Professor +Hermann to write four books on the particle [Greek: an] and to indite a +learned dissertation on [Greek: autos]. The combination of industry and +enthusiasm displayed in efforts such as these has not been wasted. The +spirit which inspired them has materially contributed to the real stock +of valuable knowledge which the world possesses. None the less it must +be admitted that something more than mere erudition is required to +conjure away the perils which the humanities now have to face. It is +necessary to quicken the interest of the rising generation, to show them +that it is not only historically true to say, with Lessing, that "with +Greece the morning broke," but that it is equally true to maintain that +in what may, relatively speaking, be called the midday splendour of +learning, we cannot dispense with the guiding light of the early morn; +that Greek literature, in Professor Gilbert Murray's words,[92] is "an +embodiment of the progressive spirit, an expression of the struggle of +the human soul towards freedom and ennoblement"; and that our young men +and women will be, both morally and intellectually, the poorer if they +listen to the insidious and deceptive voice of an exaggerated +materialism which whispers that amidst the hum of modern machinery and +the heated wrangles incident to the perplexing problems which arise as +the world grows older, the knowledge of a language and a literature +which have survived two thousand eight hundred storm-tossed years is "of +no practical use." + +It is this interest which the works of a man like the late Dr. Verrall +serve to stimulate. He was eminently fitted for the task. On the +principle which Dr. Johnson mocked by saying that "who drives fat oxen +should himself be fat," it may be said that an advocate of humanistic +learning should himself be human in the true and Terentian meaning of +that somewhat ambiguous word. This is what Verrall was. All who knew him +speak of his lovable character, and others who were in this respect less +favoured can judge of the genuineness of his human sympathies by +applying two well-nigh infallible tests. He loved children, and he was +imbued with what Professor Mackail very appropriately calls in his +commemorative address "a delightful love of nonsense." His kindly and +genial humour sparkles, indeed, in every line he wrote. Moreover, +whether he was right or wrong in the highly unconventional views which +he at times expressed, his scorn for literary orthodoxy was in itself +very attractive. Whenever he found what he called a "boggle"--that is to +say an incident or a phrase in respect to which, he was dissatisfied +with the conventional explanation--"he could not rest until he had made +an effort to get to the bottom of it." He treated old subjects with an +originality which rejuvenated them, and decked them again with the charm +of novelty. He bade us, with a copy of Martial in our hands, accompany +him to the Coliseum and be, in imagination, one of the sixty thousand +spectators who thronged to behold the strange Africans, Sarmatians, and +others who are gathered together from the four quarters of the Roman +world to take part in the Saturnalia. He asked us to watch with +Propertius whilst the slumbers of his Cynthia were disturbed by dreams +that she was flying from one of her all too numerous lovers. Under his +treatment, Mr. Cornford says, the most commonplace passages in classical +literature "began to glow with passion and to flash with wit." His main +literary achievement is thus recorded on the tablet erected to his +memory at Trinity College: "Euripidis famam vindicavit." He threw +himself with ardour into the discussion on the merits and demerits of +the Greek tragedian which has been going on ever since it was originally +started by Aristophanes, and he may at least be said to have shown that +what French Boileau said of his own poetry applies with equal force to +the Greek--"Mon vers, bien ou mal, dit toujours quelque chose." In the +process of rehabilitating Euripides, Verrall threw out brilliantly +original ideas in every direction. Take, for instance, his treatment of +the _Ion_. Every one who has dabbled in Greek literature knows that +Euripides was a free-thinker, albeit in his old age he did lip-service +to the current theology of the day, and told the Athenians that they +should not "apply sophistry," or, in other words rationalise, about the +gods.[93] Every one also has rather marvelled at the somewhat lame and +impotent conclusion of the play when Athene--herself in reality one of +the most infamous of the Olympian deities--is brought on the stage to +save the prestige of the oracle at Delphi and to explain away the +altogether disreputable behaviour of the no less infamous Apollo. But no +one before Verrall had thought of coupling together the free-thinking +and the episode in the play. This is what Verrall did. Ion sees that the +oracle can lie, and, therefore, "Delphi is plainly discredited as a +fountain of truth." The explanation is, of course, somewhat conjectural. +Homer, who was certainly not a free-thinker, made his deities +sufficiently ridiculous, and, at times, altogether odious. Mr. Lang says +with truth: "When Homer touches on the less lovable humours of women--on +the nagging shrew, the light o' love, the rather bitter virgin--he +selects his examples from the divine society of the gods."[94] But +whether the very plausible conjectures made by Verrall as to the real +purpose of Euripides in his treatment of the oracle in _Ion_, or, to +quote another instance, his explanation of the phantom in _Helen_, be +right or wrong, no one can deny that what he wrote is alive with +interest. On this point, the testimony of his pupils, albeit in some +respects contradictory, is conclusive. One of them (Mr. Marsh) says: "I +was usually convinced by everything," whilst another (Mr. J.R.M. Butler) +says: "I don't think we believed very much what he said; he always said +he was as likely to be wrong as right. But he made all classics so +gloriously new and living. He made us criticise by standards of common +sense, and presume that the tragedians were not fools and that they did +mean something. They were not to be taken as antiques privileged to use +conventions that would be nonsense in any one else." + +Classical learning will not be kept alive for long by forcing young men +with perhaps a taste for science or the integral calculus to apply +themselves to the study of Aristotle or Sophocles. The real hope for the +humanities in the future lies in the teaching of such men as Butcher, +Verrall, Gilbert Murray, Dill, Bevan, Livingstone, Zimmern, and, it may +fortunately be said, many others, who can make the literature of the +ancient world and the personalities of its inhabitants live in the eyes +of the present generation. + +[Footnote 90: _The Public Schools and the Empire_. By D.H.B. Gray.] + +[Footnote 91: [Greek: En gar daimonioisi phobois pheugonti kai paides +then.]--_Nem._ ix. 27.] + +[Footnote 92: _Rise of the Greek Epic_, p. 3.] + +[Footnote 93: [Greek: Ouden sophizomestha toisi daimosi].--_Bacchae_, +200.] + +[Footnote 94: _The World of Homer_, p. 34.] + + + + +XIX + +AN INDIAN IDEALIST[95] + +_"The Spectator," July 12, 1913_ + + +Amidst the jumble of political shibboleths, mainly drawn from the +vocabulary of extreme Radical sentimentalists, which Mr. Mallik supplies +to his readers in rich abundance, two may be selected which give the +keynote to his opinions. The first, which is inscribed on the +title-page, is St. Paul's statement to the Athenians that all nations of +men are of one blood. The second, which occurs towards the close of his +work, is that "sane Imperialism is political Idealism." Both statements +are paradoxical. Both contain a germ of truth. In both cases an extreme +application of the principle involved would lead to dire consequences. +The first aphorism leads us to the unquestionably sound conclusion that +Newton, equally with a pygmy from the forests of Central Africa, was a +human being. It does not take us much further. The second aphorism bids +us remember that the statesman who is incapable of conceiving and +attempting to realise an ideal is a mere empiricist, but it omits to +mention that if this same statesman, in pursuit of his ideal, neglects +all his facts and allows himself to become an inhabitant of a political +Cloud Cuckoo-land, he will certainly ruin his own reputation, and may +not improbably inflict very great injury upon the country and people +which form the subject of his crude experiments. On the whole, if we are +to apply that proverbial philosophy which is so dear to the mind of all +Europeanised Easterns to the solution of political problems, it will +perhaps be as well to bear constantly in mind the excellent Sanskrit +maxim which, amidst a collection of wise saws, Mr. Mallik quotes in his +final chapter, "A wise man thinks of both _pro_ and _con_." + +Starting with a basis of somewhat extreme idealism, it is not surprising +that Mr. Mallik has developed not only into an ardent Indian +nationalist, but also into an advanced Indian Radical. As to the latter +characteristic, he manifestly does not like the upper classes of his own +country. They are, in fact, as bad or even worse than English peers. +They are "like the 'idle rich' elsewhere; they squander annually in +luxuries and frivolities huge sums of money, besides hoarding up +jewels, gold and silver of immense value." Occasionally, they pose as +"upholders of the Government." "Even so they do not conceal their fangs. +When small measures of conciliation have in recent times been proposed, +the 'Peers' in India have not been slow to proclaim through their organs +that the Government were rousing their suspicion." + +Turning, however, to the relations between Europe and Asia, Mr. Mallik +says that it is often asserted that the two continents "cannot +understand each other--that Asia is a mystery to Europe, and must always +remain so." Most people who have considered this subject have so far +thought that the main reason why Europeans find it difficult to +understand Asia is because, in some matters, Asia is difficult to +understand. They have, therefore, been deeply grateful to men like the +late Sir Alfred Lyall, who have endeavoured with marked ability and +sympathy to explain the mystery to them. But Mr. Mallik now explains to +us that no such gratitude is due, for the reason why Asia is so often +misunderstood is not on account of any difficulties attendant on +comprehension, but because those who have paid special attention to the +subject are "persons whose nature or training or self-interest leads +them not to wish the understanding to take place." Whether Mr. Mallik +has done much to lighten the prevailing darkness and to explain the East +to the West is perhaps somewhat doubtful, but it is quite certain that +he has done his utmost to explain to those of his countrymen who are +conversant with the English language the attitude which, in his opinion, +they should adopt towards Westerns and Western civilisation. In one of +the sweeping generalities in which his work abounds, Mr. Mallik says +with great truth, that "however manners may differ ... nothing is gained +by nursing a feeling of animosity." It is to be regretted that Mr. +Mallik has not himself acted on the wise principle which he here +enunciates. He has, however, not done so. Under the familiar garb of a +friend who indulges in an excess of candour he has made a number of +observations which, whether true or false, are eminently calculated to +inflame that racial animosity which it is the duty of every well-wisher +of India to endeavour by every means in his power to allay. He makes a +lengthy and elaborate comparison between East and West, in which every +plague-spot in European civilisation is carefully catalogued. Every +ulcer in Western life is probed. Every possible sore in the connection +between the European and Asiatic is made to rankle. On the other hand, +with the cries of the Christians massacred at Adana still ringing in +our ears, Mr. Mallik, forgetful apparently of the fact that the Turk is +an Asian, tells us that "Asia, typical of the East, looks upon all races +and creeds with absolute impartiality," and, further, that "gentleness +and consideration are the peculiar characteristics of the East, as +overbearing and rudeness, miscalled independence, and not unfrequently +deserving to be called insolence, are products of the West." + +But it is the word Imperialism which more especially excites Mr. +Mallik's wrath. In the first place, he altogether denies the existence +of an "imperial race," being convinced of its non-existence by the +strangely inconclusive argument that "if a race is made by nature +imperial, every member of that race must be imperial too and equally +able to rule." In the second place, he points out that the results which +flow from the Imperial idea are in all respects deplorable. The East had +"always believed that mankind could be made saints and philosophers," +but the West, represented by Imperialism, stepped in and "shattered its +belief." The West, as shown by the deference now paid to Japan, "values +the bloodthirsty propensities much more than humane activities." "The +expressed desire of the Imperialist is to let darkness flourish in order +that he may personally benefit by it.... Empire and Imperialism mean +the triumph of retrograde notions and the infliction of insult and +suffering on three hundred millions of human beings." It is this +Imperial policy which has led to the most gross injustice being +inflicted on every class of the community in India. As regards the civil +services, "the policy of fat pay, ease, perquisites, and praise are the +share of the European officers, and hard work and blame that of the +Indian rank and file." It is the same in the army. "In frontier wars the +Indian troops have had to bear the brunt of the fighting, the European +portion being 'held in reserve' and coming up at the end to receive all +the glory of victory and the consequent rewards." It is sometimes said +that the masses in India trust Englishmen more than their own +countrymen. That this statement is erroneous is clearly proved by "the +absence of interest of the rulers themselves in the moral and material +advancement of the poorer classes." Not content with uttering this +prodigious falsehood, Mr. Mallik adds a further and fouler calumny. He +alludes to the rudeness at times displayed by Englishmen towards the +natives of India--a feature in Indian social life which every +right-thinking Englishman will be prepared to condemn as strongly as Mr. +Mallik. But, not content with indicating the evil, Mr. Mallik alleges +that any special act of insolence perpetrated by an Indian official +meets with the warm approval of the Government. Promotion, he says, is +"usual in such cases." Again, Mr. Mallik's dislike and distrust of +Moslems crops up whenever he alludes to them. Nevertheless, he does not +hesitate to denounce that Government whose presence alone prevents an +outbreak of sectarian strife for "sedulously fomenting" religious +animosities with a view to arresting the Nationalist movement. +Similarly, the constitution of the Universities has been changed with a +view to rendering the youth of India "stupid and servile" instead of +"clever and patriotic." + +Moreover, whilst India, under the sway of Imperialism, is "drifting to +its doom," Mr. Mallik seems to fear that a somewhat similar fate awaits +England. He observes many symptoms of decay to which, for the most part, +Englishmen are blind. He greatly fears that "the liberties of the people +are not safe when the Tory Party continues in power for a long period." +Neither is the prospect of Liberal ascendancy much less gloomy. Liberals +are becoming "Easternised." They are getting "more and more leavened by +reaction imported from India." It really looks as if "English Liberalism +might soon sink to a pious tradition." In the meanwhile, Mr. Mallik, +with true Eastern proclivities, warmly admires that portion of the +English system which Englishmen generally tolerate as a necessary evil, +but of which they are by no means proud. Most thinking men in this +country resent the idea of Indian interests being made a shuttlecock in +the strife of party. Not so Mr. Mallik. He shudders at the idea of +Indian affairs being considered exclusively on their own merits. "If it +is no party's duty to champion the cause of any part of the Empire, that +part must be made over to Satan, or retained, like a convict settlement, +for the breeding of 'Imperial' ideas." He is himself quite prepared to +adopt an ultra-partisan attitude. In spite of his evident dislike to the +nomination of any Englishman to take part in the administration of +India, he warmly applauds the appointment of "a young and able official" +to the Viceroy's Council, because he was "associated with a great +Liberal Minister of the Crown." + +It is not quite clear what, beyond a manifestation of that sympathy +which his own writings are so well calculated to alienate, Mr. Mallik +really wants. He thinks that there is "perhaps some truth" in the +assertion that the "Aryans of India are not yet fit for +self-government," and he says that "wise Indians do not claim at once +the political institutions that Europeans have gained by a long course +of struggle and training, the value of which in advancing happiness is +not yet always perceptible in Europe." On the other hand, he appears to +be of opinion that the somewhat sweeping reforms recently inaugurated by +Lord Morley and Lord Minto do not go far enough. The only practical +proposals he makes are, first, that the old _punchayet_ system in every +village should be revived, and that a consultative assembly should be +created, whose functions "should be wholly social and religious, +political topics being out of its jurisdiction." He adds--and there need +be no hesitation in cordially accepting his view on this point--that the +"plan would have to be carefully thought out" before it is adopted. + +The problem of how to govern India is very difficult, and is +unquestionably becoming more and more so every year. Although many of +the slanders uttered by Mr. Mallik are very contemptible, it is useless +to ignore the fact that they are believed not only by a large number of +the educated youth of India, of which he may perhaps to some extent be +considered a type, but also by many of their English sympathisers. +Moreover, in spite of much culpable misstatement and exaggeration, Mr. +Mallik may have occasionally blundered unawares into making some +observations which are deserving of some slight consideration on their +own merits. The only wise course for English statesmen to adopt is to +possess their souls in patience, to continue to govern India in the best +interests of its inhabitants, and to avoid on the one hand the extreme +of repressive measures, and on the other hand the equally dangerous +extreme of premature and drastic reform in the fundamental institutions +of the country. In the meanwhile, it may be noted that literature such +as Mr. Mallik's book can do no good, and may do much harm. + +[Footnote 95: _Orient and Occident_. By Manmath C. Mallik. London: T. +Fisher Unwin. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XX + +THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA + +_"The Spectator," July 19, 1913_ + + +Sir Roper Lethbridge says that his object in writing the book which he +has recently published (_The Indian Offer of Imperial Preference_) is to +provoke discussion, but "not to lay down any dogma." It is related that +a certain clergyman, after he had preached a sermon, said to Lord +Melbourne, who had been one of his congregation, "I tried not to be +tedious," to which Lord Melbourne replied, "You were." Sir Roper +Lethbridge may have tried not to dogmatise, but his efforts in this +direction have certainly not been crowned with success. On the contrary, +although dealing with a subject which bristles with points of a highly +controversial nature, he states his conclusions with an assurance which +is little short of oracular. Heedless of the woful fate which has +attended many of the fiscal seers who have preceded him, he does not +hesitate to pronounce the most confident prophecies upon a subject as to +which experience has proved that prophecy is eminently hazardous, viz. +the economic effect likely to be produced by drastic changes in the +fiscal system. Moreover, his pages are disfigured by a good deal of +commonplace invective about "the shibboleths of an obsolete Cobdenism," +the "worship of the fetish of Cobdenism," and "the bigotry of the Cobden +Club," as to whom the stale fallacy is repeated that they "consider the +well-being of the 'poor foreigner'" rather than "our own commercial +interests." Language of this sort can only serve to irritate. It cannot +convince. Sir Roper Lethbridge appears to forget that, apart from those +who, on general party grounds, are little inclined to listen to the +gospel which he has to preach, there are a large number of Unionists who +are to a greater extent open to conviction, and who, if their conversion +can be effected, are, in the interests of the cause which he advocates, +well worth convincing. These blemishes--for blemishes they +unquestionably are--should not, however, blind us to the fact that Sir +Roper Lethbridge deals with a subject of very great importance and also +of very great difficulty. It is most desirable that it should be +discussed. Sir Fleetwood Wilson, in the very statesmanlike speech +delivered in the Indian Legislative Council last March, indicated the +spirit in which the discussion should take place. "The subject," he +said, "is one which in the public interest calls for consideration, not +recrimination." It would be Utopian to suppose that it can be kept +altogether outside the arena of party strife, but those who are not +uncompromising partisans, and who also strongly deprecate Indian +questions being made the shuttlecock of party interests, can at all +events endeavour to approach the question with an open mind and to treat +it dispassionately and exclusively on its own merits. + +The main issue involved may be broadly stated in the following terms. Up +to the present time the fiscal policy of the Indian Government has been +based on Free Trade principles. Customs duties are collected for revenue +purposes. A general 5 per cent _ad valorem_ duty is imposed on imports. +Cotton goods pay a duty of 3 per cent. An excise duty of a similar +amount is imposed on cotton woven at Indian mills. A duty of three annas +a maund is paid on exported rice. Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who +concur with him now propose that this system should undergo a radical +change. The main features of their proposal, if the writer of the +present article understands them correctly, seem to be that the duty on +cotton goods imported from the United Kingdom, as also the +corresponding excise duty levied in India, should be altogether +abolished; that the duties raised on goods--apparently of all +descriptions--imported into India from non-British ports should be +raised; that a preference should be accorded in British ports to Indian +tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, etc.; and that an export duty should be +levied at Indian ports on certain products, notably on jute and lac. +This new duty would not, however, be levied on goods sent to the United +Kingdom. + +There does not appear to be any absolute necessity for dealing with this +question at once, but Sir Roper Lethbridge is quite justified in calling +attention to it, for it is not only conceivable, but even probable, that +at no very remote period the Government of India will have to deal with +a problem which, it may readily be admitted, will tax their +statesmanship to the very utmost. It is no exaggeration to say that +since the Crown took over the direct management of Indian affairs no +issue of greater magnitude has been raised. Moreover, although Lord +Crewe had an easy task in showing that in some respects the difficulties +attendant on any solution would be enhanced rather than diminished if +the fiscal policy of the British Government in the United Kingdom +underwent a radical change, it is none the less true that those +difficulties will remain of a very formidable character even if no such +change is effected. + +It is essential to bear in mind that the difficulties which beset this +question are not solely fiscal, but also political. This feature is +almost invariably characteristic of Oriental finance, and nowhere is it +more prominent than in India. The writer of the present article can +speak with some special knowledge of the circumstances attendant on the +great Free Trade measures introduced in India under the auspices of Lord +Ripon. He can state very confidently that, although Lord Ripon and all +the leading members of his Government were convinced Free Traders, it +was the political to a far greater extent than the fiscal arguments +which led them to the conclusion that the Indian Customs barriers should +be abolished. They foresaw that the rival commercial interests of India +and Lancashire would cause a rankling and persistent sore which might do +infinite political harm. They wished, therefore, to apply a timely +remedy, and it cannot be doubted that, so long as it lasted, the remedy +was effective. In most respects the fiscal policy adopted then and that +now advocated by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his coadjutors are the poles +asunder. Nevertheless, in one respect they coincide. Sir Roper +Lethbridge places in the forefront of his proposals the abolition both +of the import duty on cotton goods and the corresponding excise duty +levied in India. He is unquestionably right. That is an ideal which both +Free Traders and Protectionists may very reasonably seek to attain. It +is, in fact, the only really satisfactory solution of the main point at +issue. The difficulty is to realise this ideal without doing more than +an equivalent amount of injury to Indian interests in other directions. + +The chief arguments by which Sir Roper Lethbridge defends the special +proposals which he advances are three in number. They are (1) that the +nascent industries of India require protection; (2) that it is necessary +to raise more revenue, and that the suggestions now made afford an +unobjectionable method for achieving this object; and (3) that the +economic facts connected with India afford special facilities for the +adoption of a policy of retaliation. + +From a purely economic point of view the first of these three pleas is +singularly inconclusive. + +It was refuted by Sir Fleetwood Wilson, whom both Mr. Austen +Chamberlain, in the introduction which he has written to Sir Roper +Lethbridge's book, and Sir Roper Lethbridge himself seem to regard, on +grounds which are apparently somewhat insufficient, as a partial convert +to their views. It may be said without exaggeration that if any country +in the world is likely to benefit by the adoption of Free Trade +principles that country is India. Industries cannot, as Sir Fleetwood +Wilson very truly said, be "encouraged" by means of a protective tariff +without raising home prices. Without going over all the well-trodden +ground on this subject, which must be familiar to all who have taken +part in the fiscal controversy, and without, moreover, denying that +nascent industries have in some countries been successfully encouraged +by the adoption of a protective system, it will be sufficient to say +that, looking at all the economic facts existent in India, the period of +partial transition from agriculture to industries, during which the +process of encouragement will have to be maintained, will almost +certainly last much longer than even in America or Germany, and that +during the whole of that lengthy period the mass of the population, who +are very poor and who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, will not +benefit from the protection, although they will at the same time suffer +grievously from the rise in prices. + +The main importance of this argument, however, is not to be derived from +its economic value, but rather from the important political fact that it +is one which finds favour with a large and influential body of Indian +opinion. Sir Roper Lethbridge claims that the leaders of Indian thought +are almost to a man Protectionists, and in his work he gives, as an +example of their views, the very able speech delivered by Sir Gangadhar +Chitnavis in the Calcutta Legislative Council last March.[96] He is +probably right; neither is anything to be gained by ignoring the gravity +of the situation which is thus created. Whether the Indian +Protectionists be right or wrong as to the fiscal policy which is best +adapted to Indian interests, there is no denying the fact that with +Protection flourishing in the self-governing colonies, with the recent +enlargement of the scope and functions of representative institutions in +India, and with the grievance created by the sacrifice of the opium +revenue on the altar of British vicarious philanthropy, it is a serious +matter for the British Government to assert their own views if those +views run diametrically counter to the wishes expressed by the only +representatives of Indian opinion who are in a position to make their +voices heard. Nevertheless, there are two limitations on the extent to +which concessions can or ought to be made to Indian opinion. The first +is based on the necessities of English internal politics. It cannot be +doubted that although Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis and those who agree with +him may perhaps be willing, as a _pis aller_, to accept Sir Roper +Lethbridge's preferential plan, what they really want is not Preference +but Protection against England, and this they cannot have, because, in +Sir Roper Lethbridge's words, "no British Government that offered India +Protection against Lancashire would live for a week." The second +limitation is based on less egotistical and, therefore, nobler grounds. +In spite of recent concessions, India is still, politically speaking, +_in statu pupillari_, neither do the concessions recently made in the +direction of granting self-governing institutions dispense the British +Government from the duty of looking to the interests of the masses, who +are at present very inadequately represented. It must be remembered that +in India, perhaps even more than elsewhere, the voice of the consumer is +hushed, whilst that of the producer is loud and strident. + +The second of Sir Roper Lethbridge's arguments is based on the alleged +necessity of raising more revenue. He, as also Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis, +take it for granted that this necessity has already arisen. It would be +essential, before taking any practical steps to give effect to the +proposals now under discussion, to ascertain beyond any manner of doubt +whether this statement is correct, and also, if correct, what +alternatives exist to the plan proposed by Sir Roper Lethbridge. Sir +Fleetwood Wilson carefully abstained from pledging himself to the +accuracy of Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's view on this point. "There is," he +said, "much room for the development of India's other resources, and it +has yet to be shown that there is no room for further economies in our +administration." In the meanwhile, it would tend to the elucidation of +the subject if Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who agree with him would +lay before the world a carefully prepared and detailed estimate of the +financial results which they consider would accrue from the adoption of +their proposals. We are told, for instance, that raw jute to the value +of 13,000,000 is exported annually from Bengal, of which only +3,000,000 worth is worked up in Great Britain, and that "a moderate +duty" on this article would produce two millions a year. The prospect of +obtaining a revenue of 2,000,000 in the manner proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge appears at first sight somewhat illusory. In the first place, +the tax would, on the basis of Sir Roper Lethbridge's figures, amount to +20 per cent, which can scarcely be called "moderate." In the second +place, unless an equivalent export duty were imposed at British ports +it would appear probable that the process of re-export for the benefit +of "the lucky artisans of foreign protected nations" would not merely +continue unchecked, but would even be encouraged, for those artisans +would certainly not be supplied direct from India with the duty-laden +raw material, but would draw their supplies from the jute sent to the +ports of the United Kingdom, which would have paid no duty. Is it, +moreover, quite certain that a duty such as that proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge would be insufficient, as he alleges, "to bring in any +competing fibres in the world"? These and other cognate points +manifestly require further elucidation. + +The third argument adduced by Sir Roper Lethbridge is based on the +allegation that India is in a specially favourable position to adopt a +policy of retaliation. It is unnecessary to go into the general +arguments for and against retaliatory duties. They have been exhausted +in the very remarkable and frigidly impartial book written on this +subject by Professor Dietzel. It will be sufficient to say that here Sir +Roper Lethbridge is on stronger ground. The main argument against +retaliation in the United Kingdom is that foreign nations, by stopping +our supplies of raw material, could check our manufactures. We are, +therefore, in a singularly unfavourable position for engaging in a +tariff war. The case of India is wholly different. Foreign nations +cannot, it is alleged, dispense with the raw material which India +supplies. There is, therefore, a good _prima facie_ case for supposing +that India has relatively little to fear from retaliation on their part. + +It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to deal +fully with all the aspects of this vitally important question. Attention +may, however, be drawn to the very weighty remarks of Sir Fleetwood +Wilson when he speaks of "the great alteration which a tariff war in +India would effect in the balance of our trade, in the arrangements that +now exist for the payment of our external debt, and in the whole of our +exchange policy. This aspect of the question is one of extraordinary +complexity, as well as of no small speculation." On the whole, although +the proposals made by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his associates deserve +full and fair consideration, it is most earnestly to be hoped that party +leaders in this country will insist on their elaboration in full detail, +and will then study every aspect of the question with the utmost care +before giving even a qualified pledge to afford them support. The +situation is already sufficiently difficult and complicated. It is not +improbable that the difficulties and complications, far from being +mitigated, would be increased by the pursuit into the economic +wilderness of the _ignis fatuus_ involved in the idea that it is +possible for a nation to impose a tax on itself and then make the +inhabitants of other countries pay the whole or the greater part of it. + +[Footnote 96: It may be noted that Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's idea of +Preference differs widely from that entertained by Sir Roper Lethbridge. +The former apparently wishes to abolish the excise duty on Indian cotton +goods, but to maintain that levied on similar goods imported from the +United Kingdom, whilst levying a still higher duty on goods from other +countries.] + + + + +XXI + +ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT[97] + +_"The Spectator," July 19, 1913_ + + +In spite of the obvious danger of establishing doubtful analogies and of +making insufficient allowance for differences, the history of Imperial +Rome can never cease to be of more than academic interest to the +statesmen and politicians of Imperial England. Rome bequeathed to us +much that is of inestimable value, both in the way of precept and +example. She also bequeathed to us a word of ill omen--the word +"Imperialism." The attempt to embody the broad outlines of a policy in a +single word or phrase has at times exercised great influence in deciding +the fate of nations. M. Vandal[98] says with truth, "Nul ne comprendra +la Rvolution s'il ne tient compte de l'extraordinaire empire exerc +cette poque par les mots et les formules." Imperialism, though +infinitely preferable to its quasi-synonym Caesarism, is, in fact, a +term which, although not absolutely incorrect, is at the same time, by +reason of its historical associations, misleading when applied to the +mild and beneficent hegemony exercised by the rulers and people of +England over their scattered transmarine dominions. It affords a +convenient peg on which hostile critics, such as Mr. Mallik, whose work +was reviewed last week in these columns,[99] as also those +ultra-cosmopolitan Englishmen who are the friends of every country but +their own, may hang partisan homilies dwelling on the brutality of +conquest and on all the harsh features of alien rule, whilst they leave +sedulously in the background that aspect of the case which Polybius, +parodying a famous saying of Themistocles, embodied in a phrase which he +attributes to the Greeks after they had been absorbed into the Roman +Empire, "If we had not been quickly ruined, we should not have been +saved." This pessimistic aspect of Imperialism has certainly to some +extent an historical basis. It is founded on the procedure generally +believed to have been adopted in the process by which Rome acquired the +dominion of the world. The careful attention given of late years to the +study of inscriptions, and generally the results obtained by the +co-operation established between historians and those who have more +especially studied other branches of science, such as archaeology, +epigraphy, and numismatics, have, however, now enabled us to approach +the question of Roman expansion with far greater advantages than those +possessed by writers even so late as the days of Mommsen. We are able to +reply with a greater degree of confidence than at any previous period to +the question of how far Roman policy was really associated with those +principles and practices which many are accustomed to designate as +Imperial. The valuable and erudite work which Mr. Reid has now given to +the world comes opportunely to remind us of a very obvious and +commonplace consideration. It is that although Roman expansion not only +began, but was far advanced during the days of the Republic, Roman +Imperialism did not exist before the creation of Roman Emperors, and did +not in any considerable degree develop the vices generally, and +sometimes rightly, attributed to the system until some while after +Republican had given way to Imperial sway. "The residuary impression of +the ancient world," Mr. Reid says in his preface, "left by a classical +education comprises commonly the idea that the Romans ran, so to speak, +a sort of political steam-roller over the ancient world. This has a +semblance of truth for the period of decline, but none for the earlier +days." + +The fundamental idea which ran through the whole of Roman policy during +the earliest, which was also the wisest and most statesmanlike stage of +expansion, was not any desire to ensure the detailed and direct +government of a number of outlying districts from one all-powerful +centre, but rather to adopt every possible means calculated to maintain +local autonomy, and to minimise the interference of the central +authority. Herself originally a city-state, Rome aspired to become the +predominant partner in a federation of municipalities, to which autonomy +was granted even to the extent of waiving that prerogative which has +generally been considered the distinctive mark of sovereignty, viz. the +right of coinage. Broadly speaking, the only conditions imposed were +very similar to those now forming the basis of the relations between the +British Government and the Native States of India. These were (1) that +the various commonwealths should keep the peace between each other; and +(2) that their foreign policy should be dictated by Rome. It is often +tacitly assumed, Mr. Reid says, that "in dealing with conquered peoples, +the Romans were animated from the first by a passion for immediate +domination and for grinding uniformity." This idea is not merely false; +it is the very reverse of the truth. The most distinctive feature of +Roman rule during the early period of expansion was its marvellous +elasticity and pliability. Everywhere local customs were scrupulously +respected. Everywhere the maintenance of whatever autonomous +institutions existed at the time of conquest was secured. Everywhere the +allies were treated with what the Greeks termed [Greek: epimeleia], +which may be rendered into English by the word "consideration." Nowhere +was the fatal mistake made of endeavouring to stamp out by force a local +language or dialect, whilst until the Romans were brought into contact +with the stubborn monotheism of the Jews, the easy-going pantheistic +ideas current in the ancient world readily obviated the occurrence of +any serious difficulties based on religious belief or ritual. + +That this system produced results which were, from a political point of +view, eminently satisfactory cannot for a moment be doubted. Mr. Reid +says--and it were well that those who are interested in the cause of +British Imperial Federation should note the remark--"In history the +lightest bonds have often proved to be the strongest." The loosely +compacted alliance of the Italic states withstood all the efforts of +Hannibal to rend it asunder. The Roman system, in fact, created a double +patriotism, that which attached itself to the locality, and that which +broadened out into devotion to the metropolis. Neither was the one +allegiance destructive of the other. When Ennius made his famous boast +he did not mean that he spurned Rudiae and that he would for the future +look exclusively to Rome as his mother-country, but rather that both the +smaller and the larger patriotism would continue to exist side by side. +"English local life," it has been truly said, "was the source and +safeguard of English liberty."[100] It may be said with equal truth that +the notion of constituting self-governing town communities as the basis +of Empire, which, Mr. Reid tells us, "was deeply ingrained in the Roman +consciousness," stood Rome in good stead during some of the most stormy +periods of her history. The process of voluntary Romanisation was so +speedy that the natives of any province which, to use the Roman +expression, had been but recently "pacated," became in a very short time +loyal and zealous Roman subjects, and rarely if ever took advantage of +distress elsewhere to vindicate their independence by seeking to cast +off the light shackles which had been imposed on them. + +"So long as municipal liberty maintained its vigour, the empire +flourished." This is the fundamental fact to be borne in mind in +dealing with the history of Roman expansion. Mr. Reid then takes us, +step by step and province by province, through the pitiful history of +subsequent deterioration and decay. After the Hannibalic war, Roman +hegemony in Italy began to pass into domination. A policy of unwise +exclusion applied to the federated states and cities, coupled with the +assertion of irritating privileges on behalf of Roman citizens, led to +the cataclysm of the Great Social War, at the close of which burgess +rights were reluctantly conceded to all Italic communities who had not +joined the rebels. Then followed the era of the great Julius, who +probably--though of this we cannot be quite certain--wished to create a +"world-state" with Rome as its head; Augustus, to whose genius and +administrative ability tardy justice is now being done, and who, albeit +he continued the policy of his uncle, possibly leant rather more to the +idea, realised eighteen centuries later by Cavour, of a united Italy; +Adrian, who aimed above all things at the consolidation of the Empire; +and many others. Consolidation in whatsoever form almost necessarily +connoted the insistence on some degree of uniformity, and "when the +Emperors pressed uniformity upon the imperial system, it rapidly went to +pieces." Finally, we get to the stage of Imperial penury and +extravagance, accompanied by centralisation _in extremis_, when "hordes +of official locusts, military and civil," were let loose on the land, +and the tax-gatherers destroyed the main sources of the public revenues, +with the result that the tax-payers were utterly ruined. The municipal +system possessed wonderful vitality, and displayed remarkable aptitude +for offering a passive resistance to the attacks directed against it. It +survived longer than might have been expected. But when it became clear +that the only function which the _curiales_ were expected to perform was +to emulate the Danaides by pouring gold into the bottomless cask of the +Imperial Treasury,[101] they naturally rejected the dubious honours +conferred on them, and fled either to be the companions of the monks in +the desert or elsewhere so as to be safe from the crushing load of +Imperial distinction. Mr. Hodgkin and others have pointed out that the +diversion of local funds to the Imperial Exchequer was one of the +proximate causes which led to the downfall of the empire. Whilst the +municipal system lasted, it produced admirable results. Dealing with +Northern Africa, whose progress was eventually arrested by the withering +hand of Islam, Mr. Reid speaks of "the contrast between the Roman +civilisation and the culture which exists in the same regions to-day; +flourishing cities, villages, and farms abounded in districts which are +now sterile and deserted." + +Apart from the special causes to which Mr. Reid and other historians +have alluded, and apart, moreover, from the intentions--often the very +wise intentions--of individual Emperors, the municipal system, and with +it the principle that local affairs should be dealt with locally, was +almost bound to founder directly the force of circumstances strengthened +the hands of the central authority at Rome. The battle between +centralisation and decentralisation still continues. Every one who has +been engaged in it knows that, whatever be the system adopted, the +spirit in which it is carried out counts for even more than the system +itself. Once place a firm, self-confident man with the centralising +spirit strong within him at the head of affairs, and he will often, +without any apparent change, go far to shatter any system, however +carefully it may have been devised, to encourage decentralisation. Such +a man was Napoleon. Every conceivable subject bearing on the government +of his fellow-men was, as M. Taine says, "classified and docketed" in +his ultra-methodical brain. It is useless to ask a man of this sort to +decentralise. He cannot do so, not always by reason of a deliberate wish +to grasp at absolute power, but because he sees so clearly what he +thinks should be done that he cannot tolerate the local ineptitude, as +he considers it, that leads to the rejection of his views. Thus, whilst +Napoleon said to Count Chaptal, "Ce n'est pas des Tuileries qu'on peut +diriger une arme," at the same time, as a matter of fact, he never +ceased to interfere with the action of his generals employed at a +distance, with results which, especially in Spain, were generally +disastrous to French arms. Another general cause which militates against +decentralisation is the inevitable tendency of any disputant who is +dissatisfied with a decision given locally to seek redress at the hands +of the central authority. St. Paul appealed to Caesar. A discontented +Rajah will appeal to the Secretary of State for India. It is certain +that in these cases, unless the appellate authority acts with the +greatest circumspection, a risk will be incurred of giving a severe blow +to the fundamental principles of decentralisation. It is no very +hazardous conjecture to assume that many of the Roman Emperors were, +like Napoleon, constitutionally disposed to centralise, and that the +greater their ability the more likely was this disposition to dominate +their minds. Thus Tacitus, speaking of Tiberius, says, "He never relaxed +from the cares of government, but derived relief from his +occupations."[102] A man of this temperament is a born centraliser. +However much his reason or his statesmanship may hold him in check, he +will probably sooner or later yield to the temptation of stretching his +own authority to such an extent as materially to weaken that of his +distant and subordinate agents. + +Considerations of space preclude the possibility of dwelling any further +on the many points of interest suggested by Mr. Reid's instructive work. +This much, however, may be said, that whilst British Imperialism is not +exposed to many of the dangers which proved fatal to Imperial Rome, +there is one principle adopted by the early founders of the Roman Empire +which is fraught with enduring political wisdom, and which may be +applied as well now as it was nineteen centuries ago. That principle is +the preference shown to diversity over uniformity of system. Sir Alfred +Lyall, whose receptive intellect was impregnated with modern +applications of ancient precedents, said, "We ought to acknowledge that +we cannot impose a uniform type of civilisation." Let us beware that we +do not violate this very sound principle by too eager a disposition to +transport institutions, whose natural habitat is Westminster, to +Calcutta or Cairo. + +[Footnote 97: _The Municipalities of the Roman Empire_. By J.E. Reid. +Cambridge: At the University Press. 10s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 98: _L'Avnement de Bonaparte_, i. 217.] + +[Footnote 99: _Vide ante_, pp. 317-326.] + +[Footnote 100: _England Under the Stuarts_, p. 107. G. Trevelyan.] + +[Footnote 101: Hor. _Od._ iii. 11. 25.] + +[Footnote 102: _Ann._ iv. 13.] + + + + +XXII + +A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER[103] + +_"The Spectator," August 2, 1913_ + + +Those who are inclined to take a gloomy view of the future on the +subject of the survival of the humanities in this country may derive +some consolation from two considerations. One is that there is not the +smallest sign either of relaxation in the quantity or deterioration in +the quality of the humanistic literature turned out from our seats of +learning. Year by year, indeed, both the interest in classical studies +and the standard of scholarship appear to rise to a higher level. The +other is that the mere fact that humanistic works are supplied shows +that there must be a demand for them, and that there exists amongst the +general public a number of readers outside the ranks of scholars, +properly so called, who are anxious and willing to acquaint themselves +with whatever new lights assiduous research can throw on the sayings and +doings of the ancient world. Archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics are +year by year opening out new fields for inquiry, and affording fresh +material for the reconstruction of history. More especially much light +has of late been thrown on that chaotic period which lies between the +death of the Macedonian conqueror and the final assertion of Roman +domination. Professor Mahaffy has dealt with the Ptolemies, and Mr. +Bevan with the Seleucids. A welcome complement to these instructive +works is now furnished by Mr. Tarn's comprehensive treatment of an +important chapter in the history of the Antigonids. It is surely the +irony of posthumous fame that whereas every schoolboy knows something +about Pyrrhus--how he fought the Romans with elephants, and eventually +met a somewhat ignoble death from the hand of an old Argive woman who +dropped a tile on his head--but few outside the ranks of historical +students probably know anything of his great rival and relative, +Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius the Besieger. Yet there can in +reality be no manner of doubt as to which of these two careers should +more excite the interest of posterity. Pyrrhus made a great stir in the +world whilst he lived. "He thought it," Plutarch says--we quote from +Dryden's translation--"a nauseous course of life not to be doing +mischief to others or receiving some from them." But he was in reality +an unlettered soldier of fortune, probably very much of the same type as +some of Napoleon's rougher marshals, such as Augereau or Massna. His +manners were those of the camp, and his statesmanship that of the +barrack-room. He blundered in everything he undertook except in the +actual management of troops on the field of battle. "Not a common +soldier in his army," Mr. Tarn says, "could have managed things as badly +as the brilliant Pyrrhus." Antigonus was a man of a very different type. +"He was the one monarch before Marcus Aurelius whom philosophy could +definitely claim as her own." But in forming an estimate of his +character it is necessary to bear constantly in mind the many different +constructions which in the course of ages have been placed on the term +"philosophy." Antigonus, albeit a disciple of Zeno, the most unpractical +idealist of his age, was himself eminently practical. He indulged in no +such hallucinations as those which cost the Egyptian Akhnaton his Syrian +kingdom. As a thinker he moved on a distinctly lower plane than Marcus +Aurelius. Perhaps of all the characters of antiquity he most resembles +Julian, whose career as a man of action wrung from the Christian +Prudentius the fine epitaph, "Perfidus ille Deo, quamvis non perfidus +orbi." These early Greek philosophers were, in fact, a strange set of +men. They were not always engaged in the study of philosophy. They +occasionally, whilst pursuing knowledge and wisdom, indulged in +practices of singular unwisdom or of very dubious morality. Thus the +eminent historian Hieronymus endeavoured to establish what we should now +call a "corner" in the bitumen which floated on the surface of the Dead +Sea, and which was largely used for purposes of embalming in Egypt; but +his efforts were completely frustrated by the Arabs who were interested +in the local trade. The philosopher Lycon, besides displaying an +excessive love for the pleasures of the table, was a noted wrestler, +boxer, and tennis-player. Antigonus himself, in spite of his love of +learning, vied with his great predecessors, Philip and Alexander, in his +addiction to the wine-cup. When, by a somewhat unworthy stratagem, he +had tricked the widowed queen Nikaia out of the possession of the +Acrocorinthian citadel, which was, politically speaking, the apple of +his eye, he celebrated the occasion by getting exceedingly drunk, and +went "reeling through Corinth at the head of a drunken rout, a garland +on his head and a wine-cup in his hand." Antigonus was, in fact, not so +much what we should call a philosopher as a man of action with literary +tastes, standing thus in marked contrast to Pyrrhus, who "cared as +little for knowledge or culture as did any baron of the Dark Ages." When +he was engaged in a difficult negotiation with Ptolemy Philadelphus he +allowed himself to be mollified by a quotation from Homer, who, as Plato +said, was "the educator of Hellas." Although not himself an original +thinker, he encouraged thought in others. He surrounded himself with men +of learning, and even received at his court the yellow-robed envoys of +Asoka, the far-distant ruler and religious reformer of India. Moreover, +in spite of his wholly practical turn of mind, Antigonus learnt +something from his philosophic friends; notably, he imbibed somewhat of +the Stoic sense of duty. "Do you not understand," he said to his son, +who had misused some of his subjects, "that _our_ kingship is a noble +servitude?" Nevertheless, throughout his career, the sentiments of the +man of action strongly predominated over those of the man of thought. He +treated all shams with a truly Carlylean hatred and contempt. Moreover, +one trait in his character strongly indicates the pride of the masterful +man of action who scorns all adventitious advantages and claims to stand +or fall by his own merits. Napoleon, whilst the members of his family +were putting forth ignoble claims to noble birth, said that his patent +of nobility dated from the battle of Montenotte. Antigonus, albeit he +came of a royal stock, laid aside all ancestral claims to the throne of +Macedonia. He aspired to be king because of his kingly qualities. He +wished his people to apply to him the words which Tiberius used of a +distinguished Roman of humble birth: "Curtius Rufinus videtur mihi ex se +natus" (_Ann._ xi. 21). He succeeded in his attempt. He won the hearts +of his people, and although he failed in his endeavour to govern the +whole of Greece through the agency of subservient "tyrants," he +accomplished the main object which through good and evil fortune he +pursued with dogged tenacity throughout the whole of his chequered +career. He lived and died King of Macedonia. + +The world-politics of this period are almost as confused as the +relationships which were the outcome of the matrimonial alliances +contracted by the principal actors on the world's stage. How bewildering +these alliances were may be judged from what Mr. Tarn says of +Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus I., who married Demetrius, the son +of Antigonus: "Stratonice was her husband's first cousin and also his +aunt, her mother-in-law's half-sister and also her niece, her +father-in-law's niece, her own mother's granddaughter-in-law, and +perhaps other things which the curious may work out." Mr. Tarn has +unravelled the tangled political web with singular lucidity. Here it +must be sufficient to say that, after the death of Pyrrhus, a conflict +between Macedonia and Egypt, which stood at the head of an +anti-Macedonian coalition of which Athens, Epirus, and Sparta were the +principal members, became inevitable. The rivalry between the two States +led to the Chremonidean war--so called because in 266 the Athenian +Chremonides moved the declaration of war against Antigonus. The result +of the war was that on land Antigonus remained the complete master of +the situation. With true political instinct, however, he recognised the +truth of that maxim which history teaches from the days of Aegospotami +to those of Trafalgar, viz. that the execution of an imperial policy is +impossible without the command of the sea. This command had been secured +by his predecessors, but had fallen to Egypt after the fine fleet +created by Demetrius the Besieger had been shattered in 280 by Ptolemy +Keraunos with the help of the navy which had been created by Lysimachus. +Antigonus decided to regain the power which had been lost. His efforts +were at first frustrated by the wily and wealthy Egyptian monarch, who +knew the power of gold. "Egypt neither moved a man nor launched a ship, +but Antigonus found himself brought up short, his friends gone, his +fleet paralysed." Then death came unexpectedly to his aid and removed +his principal enemies. His great opponent, the masterful Arsino, who +had engineered the Chremonidean war, was already dead, and, in Mr. +Tarn's words, "comfortably deified." Other important deaths now followed +in rapid succession. Alexander of Corinth, Antiochus, and Ptolemy all +passed away. "The imposing edifice reared by Ptolemy's diplomacy +suddenly collapsed like the card-house of a little child." Antigonus was +not the man to neglect the opportunity thus afforded to him. Though now +advanced in years, he reorganised his navy and made an alliance with +Rhodes, with the result that "the sea power of Egypt went down, never to +rise again." Then he triumphantly dedicated his flagship to the Delian +Apollo. The possession of Delos had always been one of the main objects +of his ambition. It did more than symbolise the rule of the seas. It +definitely brought within the sphere of Macedonian influence one of the +greatest centres of Greek religious thought. + +The rest of the story may be read in Mr. Tarn's graphic pages. He +relates how Antigonus incurred the undying enmity of Aratus of Sicyon, +one of those Greek democrats who held "that the very worst democracy was +infinitely better than the very best 'tyranny'--a conventional view +which neglects the uncomfortable fact that the tyranny of a democracy +can be the worst in the world." He lost Corinth, which he never +endeavoured to regain. His system of governing the Peloponnesus through +the agency of subservient "tyrants" utterly collapsed. "It is," Mr. Tarn +says, "a strange case of historical justice. As regards Macedonia, +Antigonus had followed throughout a sound and just idea of government, +and all that he did for Macedonia prospered. But in the Peloponnese, +though he found himself there from necessity rather than from choice, he +had employed an unjustifiable system; he lived long enough to see it +collapse." + +The main interest to the present generation of the career of this +remarkable man consists in the fact that it is illustrative of the +belief that a man of action can also be a man of letters. As it was in +the days of the Antigonids, so it is now. Napier says that there is no +instance on record of a successful general who was not also a well-read +man. General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, on being asked how he came to +adopt a certain tactical combination which proved eminently successful +at Louisbourg, said, "I had it from Xenophon." Havelock "loved Homer and +took pattern by Thucydides," and, according to Mr. Forrest, adopted +tactics at the battle of Cawnpore which he had learnt from a close +study of "Old Frederick's" dispositions at Leuthen. There is no greater +delusion than to suppose that study weakens the arm of the practical +politician, administrator, or soldier. On the contrary it fortifies it. +Lord Wolseley, himself a very distinguished man of action, speaking to +the students of the Royal Military Academy of Sir Frederick Maurice, who +possessed an inherited literary talent, said that he was "a fine example +of the combination of study and practice. He is not only the ablest +student of war we have, but is also the bravest man I have ever seen +under fire"; and on another occasion he wrote: "It is often said that +dull soldiers make the best fighters, because they do not think of +danger. Now, Maurice is one of the very few men I know who, if I told +him to run his head against a stone wall, would do so without question. +His is also the quickest and keenest intellect I have met in my +service." + +[Footnote 103: _Antigonos Gonatas_. By W. Woodthorpe Tarn. Oxford: At +the Clarendon Press. 14s.] + + + + +XXIII + +ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL[104] + +_"The Spectator," August 9, 1913_ + + +Any new work written by Miss Jane Harrison is sure to be eagerly +welcomed by all who take an interest in classical study or in +anthropology. The conclusions at which she arrives are invariably based +on profound study and assiduous research. Her generalisations are always +bold, and at times strikingly original. Moreover, it is impossible for +any lover of the classics, albeit he may move on a somewhat lower plane +of erudition, not to sympathise with the erudite enthusiasm of an author +who expresses "great delight" in discovering that Aristotle traced the +origin of the Greek drama to the Dithyramb--that puzzling and +"ox-driving" Dithyramb, of which Mller said that "it was vain to seek +an etymology," but whose meaning has been very lucidly explained by +Miss Harrison herself--and whose "heart stands still" in noting that "by +a piece of luck" Plutarch gives the Dionysiac hymn which the women of +Elis addressed to the "noble Bull." + +It is probable that the first feeling excited in the mind of an ordinary +reader, when he is asked to accept some of the conclusions at which +modern students of anthropology and comparative religion have arrived, +is one of scepticism. Miss Harrison is evidently alive to the existence +of this feeling, for in dealing with the ritualistic significance of the +Panathenaic frieze she bids her readers not to "suspect they are being +juggled with," or to think that she has any wish to strain an argument +with a view to "bolstering up her own art and ritual theory." It can, +indeed, be no matter for surprise that such suspicions should be +aroused. When, for instance, an educated man hears that the Israelites +worshipped a golden calf, or that the owl and the peacock were +respectively sacred to Juno and Minerva, he can readily understand what +is meant. But when he is told that an Australian Emu man, strutting +about in the feathers of that bird, does not think that he is imitating +an Emu, but that in very fact he is an Emu, it must be admitted that his +intellect, or it may be his imagination, is subjected to a somewhat +severe strain. Similarly, he may at first sight find some difficulty in +believing that any strict relationship can be established between the +Anthesteria and Bouphonia of the cultured Athenians and the idolatrous +veneration paid by the hairy and hyperborean Ainos to a sacred bear, who +is at first pampered and then sacrificed, or the ritualistic tug-of-war +performed by the Esquimaux, in which one side, personifying ducks, +represents Summer, whilst the other, personifying ptarmigans, represents +Winter. Although this scepticism is not only very natural, but even +commendable, it is certain that the science of modern anthropology, in +which we may reflect with legitimate pride that England has taken the +lead, rests on very solid foundations. Indeed, its foundations are in +some respects even better assured than those of some other sciences, +such, for instance, as craniology, whose conclusions would appear at +first sight to be capable of more precise demonstration, but which, in +spite of this fair appearance, has as yet yielded results which are +somewhat disappointing. At the birth of every science it is necessary to +postulate something. The postulates that the anthropologist demands +rival in simplicity those formulated by Euclid. He merely asks us to +accept as facts that the main object of every living creature is to go +on living, that he cannot attain this object without being supplied +with food, and that, in the case of man, his supply of food must +necessarily be obtained from the earth, the forest, the sea, or the +river. On the basis of these elementary facts, the anthropologist then +asks us to accept the conclusion that the main beliefs and acts of +primitive man are intimately, and indeed almost solely, connected with +his food supply; and having first, by a deductive process of reasoning, +established a high degree of probability that this conclusion is +correct, he proceeds to confirm its accuracy by reasoning inductively +and showing that a similarity, too marked to be the result of mere +accident or coincidence, exists in the practices which primitive man has +adopted, throughout the world, and which can only be explained on the +assumption that by methods, differing indeed in detail but substantially +the same in principle, endeavours have been, and still are being, made +to secure an identical object, viz. to obtain food and thus to sustain +life. The various methods adopted both in the past and the present are +invariably associated in one form or another with the invocation of +magical influences. The primitive savage, Miss Harrison says, "is a man +of action." He does not pray. He acts. If he wishes for sun or wind or +rain, "he summons his tribe, and dances a sun dance or a wind dance or a +rain dance." If he wants bear's flesh to eat, he does not pray to his +god for strength to outwit or to master the bear, but he rehearses his +hunt in a bear dance. If he notices that two things occur one after the +other, his untrained intellect at once jumps to the conclusion that one +is the cause and the other the effect. Thus in Australia--a specially +fertile field for anthropological research, which has recently been +explored with great thoroughness and intelligence by Messrs. Spencer and +Gillen--the cry of the plover is frequently heard before rain falls. +Therefore, when the natives wish for rain they sing a rain song in which +the cry of that bird is faithfully imitated. + +Before alluding to the special point which Miss Harrison deals with in +_Ancient Art and Ritual_, it will be as well to glance at the views +which she sets forth in her previous illuminating treatise entitled +_Themis_. The former is in reality a continuation of the latter work. +The view heretofore generally entertained as regards the anthropomorphic +gods of Greece has been that the conception of the deity preceded the +adoption of the ritual. Moreover, one school of anthropologists ably +represented by Professor Ridgeway, has maintained that the phenomena of +vegetation spirits, totemism, etc., rose from primary elements, notably +from the belief in the existence of the soul after the death of the +body. Miss Harrison and those who agree with her hold that this view +involves an anthropological heresy. She deprecates the use of the word +"anthropomorphic," which she describes as clumsy and too narrow. She +prefers the expression [Greek: anthrpophys] used by Herodotus (i. +131), signifying "of human growth." She points out that the +anthropomorphism of the Greeks was preceded by theriomorphism and +phytomorphism, that the ritual was "prior to the God," that so long as +man was engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle for bare existence his sole +care was to obtain food, and that during this stage of his existence his +religious observances took almost exclusively the form of magical +inducements to the earth to renew that fertility which, by the +periodicity of the seasons, was at times temporarily suspended. It was +only at a later period, when the struggle for existence had become less +arduous, that the belief in the efficacy of magical rites decayed, and +that in matters of religion the primitive Greeks "shifted from a +nature-god to a human-nature god." + +In her more recent work Miss Harrison reverts to this theme, and +subsequently carries us one step further. She maintains that the +original conception of the Greek drama was in no way spectacular. The +Athenians went to the theatre as we go to church. They did not attend to +see players act, but to take part in certain ritualistic things done +(_dromena_). The priests of Dionysos Eleuthereus, of Apollo +Daphnephoros, and of other deities attended in solemn state to assist in +the performance of the rites. With that keen sense of humour which +enlivens all her pages, and which made her speak in her _Themis_ of the +august father of gods and men as "an automatically explosive +thunderstorm," Miss Harrison says, "It is as though at His Majesty's the +front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the +Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall." The actual +_dromenon_ performed was of the same nature as that which in more modern +times has induced villagers to make Jacks-in-the-Green and to dance +round maypoles. It was always connected with the recurrence of the +seasons and with the death and resurrection of vegetation. In fact, the +whole ritual clustered round the idea represented at a later period in +the well-known and very beautiful lines of Moschus in the _Lament for +Bion_, which may be freely translated thus: + + Ah me! The mallows, anise, and each flower + That withers at the blast of winter's breath + Await the vernal, renovating hour + And joyously awake from feignd death. + +The idea which impelled these ancient Greeks to perform ritualistic +_dromena_ on their orchestras, which took the place of what we should +call the stage, is not yet dead. Miss Harrison quotes from Mr. Lawson's +work on modern Greek folklore, which is a perfect mine of knowledge on +the subject of the survival of ancient religious customs in modern +Greece, the story of an old woman in Euboea who was asked on Easter Eve +why village society was in a state of gloom and despondency, and who +replied: "Of course, I am anxious; for if Christ does not rise +to-morrow, we shall have no corn this year." + +It was during the fifth century that the _dromenon_ and the Dionysiac +Dithyramb passed to some extent away and were merged into the drama. +"Homer came to Athens, and out of Homeric stories playwrights began to +make their plots." The chief agent in effecting this important change +was the so-called "tyrant" Pisistratus, who was probably a free-thinker +and "cared little for magic and ancestral ghosts," but who for political +reasons wished to transport the Dionysia from the country to the town. +"Now," Miss Harrison says, "to bring Homer to Athens was like opening +the eyes of the blind." Independently of the inevitable growth of +scepticism which was the natural result of increased knowledge and more +acute powers of observation, it is no very hazardous conjecture to +assume that the quick-witted and pleasure-loving Athenians welcomed the +relief afforded to the dreary monotony of the ancient _dromena_ by the +introduction of the more lively episodes drawn from the heroic sagas. +"Without destroying the old, Pisistratus contrived to introduce the new, +to add to the old plot of Summer and Winter the life-stories of heroes, +and thereby arose the drama." + +Having established her case so far, Miss Harrison makes what she herself +terms "a great leap." She passes from the thing _done_, whether +_dromenon_ or drama, to the thing _made_. She holds that as it was the +god who arose from the rite, similarly it was the ritual connected with +the worship of the god which gave birth to his representation in +sculpture. Art, she says, is not, as is commonly supposed, the "handmaid +of religion." "She springs straight out of the rite, and her first +outward leap is the image of the god." Miss Harrison gives two examples +to substantiate her contention. In the first place, she states at some +length arguments of irrefutable validity to show that the Panathenaic +frieze, which originally surrounded the Parthenon, represents a great +ritual procession, and she adds, "Practically the whole of the reliefs +that remain to us from the archaic period, and a very large proportion +of those of later date, when they do not represent heroic mythology, are +ritual reliefs, 'votive' reliefs, as we call them; that is, prayers or +praises translated into stone." + +Miss Harrison's second example is eminently calculated to give a shock +to the conventional ideas generally entertained, for, as she herself +says, if there is a statue in the world which apparently represents "art +for art's sake" it is that of the Apollo Belvedere. Much discussion has +taken place as to what Apollo is supposed to be doing in this famous +statue. "There is only one answer. We do not know." Miss Harrison, +however, thinks that as he is poised on tiptoe he may be in the act of +taking flight from the earth. Eventually, after discussing the matter at +some little length, she appears to come to the audacious conclusion +which, in spite of its hardy irreverence, may very probably be true, +that as Apollo was, after all, only an early Jack-in-the-Green, he has +been artistically represented in marble by some sculptor of genius in +that capacity. + +Finally, before leaving this very interesting and instructive work, it +may be noted that Miss Harrison quotes a remarkable passage from +Athenaeus (xiv. 26), which certainly affords strong confirmation of her +view that in the eyes of ancient authors there was an intimate +connection between art and dancing, and therefore, inasmuch as dancing +was ritualistic, between art and ritual. "The statues of the craftsmen +of old times," Athenaeus says, "are the relics of ancient dancing." + +It is greatly to be hoped that Miss Harrison will continue the study of +this subject, and that she will eventually give to the world the results +of her further inquiries. + +[Footnote 104: _Ancient Art and Ritual._ By Miss Jane Harrison. London: +Williams and Norgate. 1s.] + + + + +XXIV + +PORTUGUESE SLAVERY + +_"The Spectator," August 16, 23, 30, 1913_ + + +It is impossible to read the White Paper recently published on the +subject of slavery in the West African dominions of Portugal without +coming to the conclusion that the discussion has been allowed to +degenerate into a rather unseemly wrangle between the Foreign Office +officials and the Anti-Slavery Society. There is always a considerable +risk that this will happen when enthusiasts and officials are brought +into contact with each other. On the one hand, the enthusiasts in any +great cause are rather prone to let their emotions dominate their +reason, to generalise on somewhat imperfect data, and occasionally to +fall unwittingly into making statements of fact which, if not altogether +incorrect, are exaggerated or partial. On the other hand, there is a +disposition on the part of officials to push to an excess Sir Arthur +Helps's dictum that most of the evils of the world arise from +inaccuracy, and to surround all enthusiasts with one general atmosphere +of profound mistrust. An old official may perhaps be allowed to say, +without giving offence, that, quite apart from the nobility and moral +worth of the issue at stake, it is, from the point of view of mere +worldly wisdom, a very great error to adopt this latter attitude. There +are enthusiasts and enthusiasts. It is probably quite useless for an +anti-suffragist or a supporter of vivisection to endeavour to meet +half-way a militant suffragist or a whole-hearted anti-vivisectionist. +In these cases the line of cleavage is too marked to admit of +compromise, and still less of co-operation. But the case is very +different if the matter under discussion is the suppression of slavery. +Here it may readily be admitted that both the enthusiasts and the +officials, although they may differ in opinion as to the methods which +should be adopted, are honestly striving to attain the same objects. The +Anti-Slavery Society, and those who habitually work with them, have +performed work of which their countrymen are very justly proud. But they +are not infallible. It is quite right that the accuracy of any +statements which they make should be carefully tested by whatever means +exist for testing them. For instance, when the Society of Friends[105] +say that they are in possession of "first-hand information" to show that +"atrocities" are being committed in the Portuguese dominions, the +Foreign Office is obviously justified in asking them to state on what +evidence this formidable accusation is founded, and when it appears that +they cannot produce "exactly the kind of evidence as to 'atrocities' +which would strengthen your (_i.e._ the British Government's) hands in +any protest made by you to the Portuguese Government," it is not +unnatural that the officials should be somewhat hardened in their belief +that humanitarian testimony has to be accepted with caution. It would +obviously be much wiser for the humanitarians to recognise that +incorrect statements, or sweeping generalisations which are incapable of +proof, do their cause more harm than good. + +The fact that erroneous statements are frequently made in controversial +matters, and that the data on which generalisations are based are often +imperfect, should not, however, beget the error of attaching undue +importance to matters of this sort, and thus failing to see the wood by +reason of the trees. What object, for instance, is to be gained by +addressing to the Anti-Slavery Society a remonstrance because they only +quote a portion and not the whole of a conversation between Sir Edward +Grey and the Portuguese Minister (M. de Bocage) when, on reference to +the account of that conversation, it would appear that the passages +omitted were not very material to the point under discussion? Again, +considering that the manner in which the so-called "contracts" with +slaves are concluded is notorious, is it not rather begging the question +and falling back on a legal quibble to say that there would "be no +reason for insisting on the repatriation (of a British subject) if he +were working under a contract which could not be shown to be illegal"? +Can it be expected, moreover, that Sir Eyre Crowe's contention that the +slaves "are now legally free" should carry much conviction when it is +abundantly clear from the testimony of all independent and also official +witnesses that this legal freedom does not constitute freedom in the +sense in which we generally employ the term, but that it has, in fact, +up to the present time been little more than an euphemism for slavery? + +Every allowance should, of course, be made for the embarrassing position +in which the present Government of Portugal, from no fault of its own, +is placed. The fact, however, remains that at this moment the criticisms +of those who are interested in the cause of anti-slavery are not solely +directed against the Portuguese Government. They also demur to the +attitude taken up by the British Government. It is, indeed, impossible +to read the papers presented to Parliament without feeling that the +Archbishop of Canterbury was justified in saying, during a recent debate +in the House of Lords, that the Foreign Office and its subordinates have +shown some excess of zeal in apologising for the Portuguese. After all, +it should not be forgotten that the voice of civilised humanity calls +loudly on the Portuguese Government and nation to purge themselves, and +that speedily, of a very heinous offence against civilisation, namely, +that of placing their black fellow-creatures much on the same footing as +the oxen that plough their fields and the horses which draw their carts, +in order that the white man may acquire wealth. It is only fair to +remember that at no very remote period of their history the Anglo-Saxon +race were also guilty of this offence; but the facts that one branch of +that race purged itself of crime by the expenditure of huge sums of +money, and that the other branch shed its best blood in order to ensure +the black man's freedom, give them a moral right, based on very +substantial title-deeds, to plead the cause of freedom. Neither should +it be forgotten that, whatever mistakes those interested in the +Anti-Slavery cause may make in dealing with points of detail, they are +right on the chief issue--right, that is to say, not merely in +intention, but also on the main fact, viz. that virtual slavery still +exists in the Portuguese dominions. Any one who has had practical +experience of dealing with these matters, and can read between the lines +of the official correspondence, cannot fail to see that if the Foreign +Office authorities, instead of dwelling with somewhat unnecessary +insistence on controversial points and only half-accepting the realities +of the situation, had candidly admitted the main facts and had confined +themselves to a discussion of the means available for arriving at the +object which they, in common with the Anti-Slavery Society, wished to +attain, much useless recrimination might have been avoided and the +interests of the cause would, to a far greater extent, have been served. + +The writer of the present article has had a good deal to do with the +Anti-Slavery and other similar societies, such, for instance, as that +which, until recently, dealt with the affairs of the Congo. He has not +always agreed with their proposals, but, being in thorough sympathy with +the objects which they wished to attain, he was fortunately able to +establish the mutual confidence which that bond of sympathy connoted. He +can, moreover, from his own experience, testify to the fact that, +although there may occasionally be exceptions, the humanitarians +generally, however enthusiastic, are by no means unreasonable. On the +contrary, if once they are thoroughly convinced that the officials are +honestly and energetically striving to do their best to remove the +abuses of which they complain, they are quite prepared to make due +allowance for practical difficulties, and to abstain from causing +unnecessary and hurtful embarrassment. They are not open to the +suspicion which often attaches itself to Parliamentarians who take up +some special cause, viz. that they may be seeking to acquire personal +notoriety or to gain some party advantage. The righteousness and +disinterestedness of their motives cannot be doubted. The question of +the abolition of slavery in the Soudan presented many and great +difficulties, which might easily have formed the subject of acrimonious +correspondence and of agitation in Parliament and in the press. Any such +agitation would very probably have led to the adoption of measures whose +value would have been illusory rather than real, and which might well +have endangered both public security and the economic welfare of the +country. The main reason why no such agitation took place was that a +mutual feeling of confidence was established. Sir Reginald Wingate and +his very able staff of officials were left to deal with the matter after +their own fashion. The result has been that, without the adoption of any +very sensational measures calculated to attract public attention, it may +be said, with truth, that for all practical purposes slavery has quietly +disappeared from the Soudan. But if once this confidence is conspicuous +by its absence, a state of more or less latent warfare between the +humanitarians and the official world, such as that revealed in the +papers recently laid before Parliament, is almost certain to be created, +with the results that the public interests suffer, that rather heated +arguments and counter-arguments are bandied about in the columns of the +newspapers, and that the differences of opinion on minor points between +those who ought to be allies tend to obscure the main issue, and +preclude that co-operation which should be secured, and which in itself +would be no slight earnest of success. + +Stress has been laid on this point because of its practical importance, +and also in the hope that, in connection with this question, it may be +found possible ere long to establish better relations between the +Foreign Office officials and the Anti-Slavery Society than those which +apparently exist at present. There ought to be no great difficulty in +effecting an improvement in those relations, for it cannot for one +moment be doubted that both sides are honestly endeavouring to perform +what they consider to be their duty according to their respective +lights. + +Turning now to the consideration of the question on its own merits, it +is obvious that, before discussing any remedies, it is essential to +arrive at a correct diagnosis of the disease. Is the trade in slaves +still carried on, and does slavery still exist in the Portuguese +dominions? The two points deserve separate treatment, for although +slavery is bad, the slave trade is infinitely worse. + +It is not denied that until very recently the trade in slaves between +the mainland and the Portuguese islands was carried on upon an extensive +scale. The Anti-Slavery Society state that within the last twenty-five +years sixty-three thousand slaves, constituting "a human cargo worth +something over 2,500,000," have been shipped to the islands. Moreover, +it appears that, as was to be expected, this trade was, and perhaps to a +certain extent still is, in the hands of individuals who constitute the +dregs of society, and who, it may confidently be assumed, have not +allowed their operations to be hampered by any kind of moral or humane +scruples. Colonel Freire d'Andrade informed Sir Arthur Hardinge that +"many of the Portuguese slave-traders at Angola had been convicts +sentenced to transportation," who had been allowed to settle in the +colony. "It was from among these old convicts or ex-convict settlers and +their half-caste progeny that the slave-trading element, denounced by +the Belgian Government, was largely recruited; they at least were its +most direct agents." Since the accession to power of the Republican +Government in Portugal the trade in slaves has been absolutely +prohibited. No Government which professes to follow the dictates of +civilisation, and especially of Liberalism, could indeed tolerate for a +day the continuance of such a practice. The question which remains for +consideration is whether the efforts of the Portuguese Government, in +the sincerity of which there can be no doubt, have been successful or +the reverse. Has the cessation of the traffic been real and complete or, +as the Anti-Slavery Society appear disposed to think, only partial and +"nominal"? On this point the evidence is somewhat conflicting. On the +one hand, M. Ramaix, writing on behalf of the Belgian Government on May +1, 1912, says, "It is well known that the slave trade is still carried +on to a certain extent in the neighbourhood of the sources of the +Zambesi and Kasai, in a region which extends over the frontiers of the +Congo, Angola, and North-Western Rhodesia," and on June 8, 1912, Baron +Lalaing, the Belgian Minister in London, said, "At the instigation of +the traders the population living on the two slopes of the watershed, +from Lake Dilolo to the meridian of Kayoyo, are actively engaged in +smuggling, arms traffic, and slave trade." On the other hand, Mr. +Wallace, writing from Livingstone, in Northern Rhodesia, on June 25, +1912, says that "active slave-trading does not now exist along our +borders." On December 6 of the same year he confirmed this statement, +but added, "occasional cases may occur, for the status of slave exists, +but they cannot be many." Looking to all the circumstances of the +case--to the great extent and, in some cases, to the remoteness of the +Portuguese dominions, the ruthless character of the slave-traders, the +pecuniary inducements which exist for engaging in a very lucrative +traffic, the helplessness of the slaves themselves, and the fact that +traffic in slaves is apparently a common inter-tribal practice in +Central Africa, it would be unreasonable to expect that the Portuguese +Government should be able at once to put a complete stop to these +infamous proceedings. It may well be that, in spite of every effort, the +slave trade may still linger on for a while. All that can be reasonably +expected is that the Portuguese authorities should do their utmost to +stop it. That they are doing a good deal cannot be doubted, but it is +somewhat of a shock to read (_Africa_, No. 2 of 1912, p. 59) that Senhor +Vasconcellos rather prided himself on the fact that certain "Europeans +who were found guilty of acts of slave traffic" had merely been +"immediately expelled from the region," and were "not allowed to return +to the colonies." Surely, considering the nature of the offence, a +punishment of this sort errs somewhat on the side of leniency. Had these +men been residing in Egypt or the Soudan they would have been condemned +to penal servitude for a term of years. It is more satisfactory to +learn, on the authority of Colonel Freire d'Andrade, that the convicts +to whom allusion has already been made are "no longer permitted to roam +at large about the colony, but are, save a very few who are allowed to +live outside on giving a security, kept in the forts of Loanda." + +Further, it would appear that until recently the officials who +registered the "serviaes," or native contract labourers, had a direct +pecuniary interest in the matter, and were "thus exposed to the +temptation of not scrutinising too closely the genuineness of the +contracts themselves, or the extent to which they were understood and +accepted by savage or semi-savage contracting parties." In other words, +the Portuguese officials employed in registration, far from having any +inducements offered to them to protect the labourers, were strongly +tempted to engage in what, brushing aside official euphemism, may with +greater accuracy be termed the slave trade pure and simple. It seems +that this practice is now to be altered. The registration fees are no +longer to go into the pockets of the registering officials, but are to +be paid into the Provincial Treasury. The change is unquestionably for +the better. But it is impossible in this connection not to be struck by +the somewhat curious standard of official discipline and morality which +appears to exist in the Portuguese service. Colonel Freire d'Andrade +told Sir Arthur Hardinge that "he knew of one case where 1,000 had been +made over a single contract for 'serviaes' in this way by a local +official who had winked, in this connection, at some dishonest or, at +least, highly doubtful transactions, and who had been censured and +obliged to refund the money." As in the case of the Europeans found +guilty of engaging in the slave trade, the punishment awarded appears to +be somewhat disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. One would +have thought that peculation of this description would have been visited +at least with dismissal, if not with a short sojourn in the Loanda gaol. + +Colonel Freire d'Andrade further states that "the Lisbon Colonial +Office had sent out very stringent orders to the Governor-General of +Angola to put a stop once and for all to these slavery operations. New +military outposts had now been created near the northern and eastern +frontiers of the province." It is to be hoped that these orders will be +obeyed, and that they will prove effectual to attain the object in view. + +On the whole, in spite of some features in the case which would appear +to justify friendly criticism, it would seem that the Portuguese +Government are really endeavouring to suppress the trade in slaves. All +that the British Government can do is to afford them whatever assistance +is possible in British territory, and to encourage them in bold and +strenuous action against the influential opposition whose enmity has +necessarily been evoked. + +Turning now to the question of whether slavery--as distinct from the +slave trade--still exists in Portuguese West Africa, it is to be +observed that it is essential to inquire thoroughly into this question +for the reason already given, viz. that before considering what remedies +should be applied it is very necessary that the true nature of the evil +should be recognised. On this point there is a direct conflict of +opinion. The Anti-Slavery Society maintain that the present system of +contract labourers ('serviaes') is merely another name for slavery, +and as one proof of the wide discrepancy between theory and practice +they point to the fact that whereas there can be no manner of doubt that +undisguised slavery existed until only recently, it was nominally +abolished by law so long ago as 1876. On the other hand, to quote the +words of Mr. Smallbones, the British Consul at Loanda, the Portuguese +Government, whose views on this matter appear to have been received with +a certain amount of qualified acceptance by the British Foreign Office, +"consistently deny" the existence of a state of slavery. + +The whole controversy really hangs on what is meant by the word +"slavery." In this, as in so many cases, it is easier to say what the +thing is not than to embrace in one short sentence an accurate and +sufficiently wide explanation of what it is. _Definitio est negatio._ De +Brunetire said that, after fifty years of discussion, it was impossible +to define romanticism. Half a century or more ago, a talented German +writer (Hacklnder) wrote a book entitled _European Slave-life_, in +which he attempted to show that, without knowing it, we were all slaves +one of another, and, in fact, that the artisan working in a cotton +factory or the sempstress employed in a milliner's shop was as truly in +a state of slavery as the negro who at that time was working in the +fields of Georgia or Carolina. In a sense, of course, it may be said +that every one who works for his living, from a Cabinet Minister to a +crossing-sweeper, is a slave, for he has to conform to certain rules, +and unless he works he will be deprived of many advantages which he +wishes to acquire, and may even be reduced to a state of starvation. But +speculations of this sort may be left to the philosopher and the +sociologist. They have little interest for the practical politician. Sir +Edward Grey endeavoured, for the purposes of the subject now under +discussion, to define slavery. "Voluntary engagement," he said, "is not +slavery, but forcible engagement is slavery." The definition is correct +as far as it goes, but it is incomplete, for it fails to answer the +question on which a great part of this Portuguese controversy hangs, +viz. what do the words "voluntary" and "forcible" mean? The truth is +that it is quite unnecessary, in dealing with this subject, to wander +off into a field strewn with dialectical subtleties. It may not be +possible to define slavery with the same mathematical precision which +Euclid gave to his definitions of a straight line or a point, but every +man of ordinary common sense knows the difference between slavery and +freedom in the usual acceptation of those terms. He knows well enough +that however much want or the force of circumstances may oblige an +Englishman, a Frenchman, or a German to accept hard conditions in +fixing the price at which he is prepared to sell his labour or his +services, none of these individuals is, in reality, a slave; and he has +only to inquire very cursorily into the subject to satisfy himself that +the relations between employer and employed in Portuguese West Africa +differ widely from those which exist in any European country, and are in +fact far more akin to what, in the general acceptance of the word, is +termed slavery. + +Broadly speaking, it may be said that the contention that the present +system of contract labour is merely slavery in disguise rests on three +pleas, viz. (1) that even if, as was often the case, the contract +labourers now actually serving were not forcibly recruited, they were +very frequently wholly unaware of the true nature of the engagements +which they had taken, or of the conditions under which they would be +called upon to serve; (2) that not only are they unable to terminate +their contracts if they find they have been deceived, but that even on +the termination of those contracts they are not free to leave their +employers; and (3) that, even when nominal freedom is conceded, they +cannot take advantage of it, for the reason that the employers or their +Government have virtually by their own acts created a state of things +which only leaves the slaves to choose between the alternative of +continuing in a state of servitude or undergoing extreme suffering, +ending not improbably in death. It is submitted that, if these three +propositions can be proved, it is mere juggling with words to maintain +that no state of slavery exists. + +As regards the first point, it is to be observed that when the superior +intelligence and education of the recruiting agents are contrasted with +the complete savagery and ignorance of the individuals recruited, there +is obviously a strong presumption that in numberless cases the latter +have been cozened into making contracts, the nature of which they did +not in the least understand, and this presumption may almost be said to +harden into certainty when the fact, to which allusion has already been +made, is remembered, that the Portuguese officials engaged in the +registration of contract labourers had until very recently a direct +pecuniary interest in augmenting the number of labourers. Further, Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 26, 1912, alludes to a letter signed +"Carlos de Silva," which appeared in a local paper termed the +_Independente_. M. de Silva says that the "serviaes" engaged in Novo +Redondo "all answered the interpreter's question whether they were +willing to go to San Thom with a decided 'No,' which was translated by +the interpreter as signifying their utmost willingness to be embarked." +If this statement is correct, it is in itself almost sufficient to +satisfy the most severe condemnation of the whole system heretofore +adopted. It is, indeed, impossible to read the evidence adduced in the +White Paper without coming to the conclusion that, whatever may be the +case at present, the system of recruiting in the past has not differed +materially from the slave trade. If this be the case, it is clear that, +in spite of any legal technicalities to the contrary, the great majority +of labourers now serving under contract in the islands should, for all +purposes of repatriation and the acquisition of freedom, be placed on a +precisely similar footing to those whose contracts have expired. There +can be no moral justification whatever for taking advantage of the +engagements into which they may have entered to keep them in what is +practically a condition of servitude. + +Recently, certain improvements appeared to have been made in the system +of recruiting. Mr. Smallbones states his "impression that the present +Governor-General will do all in his power to put the recruiting of +native labour on a sound footing." Moreover, that some change has taken +place, and that the labourers are alive to the fact that they have +certain rights, would appear evident from the fact that Vice-Consul +Fussell, writing from Lobito on September 15, 1912, reports that "the +authorities appear unable to oblige natives to contract themselves." It +is not, however, clear that all the changes are in the right direction. +Formerly, M. Carlos de Silva says, "There was at least a slight +guarantee that 'serviaes' were not shipped against their wishes in the +fact that they had to contract in the presence of a curator in this +(_i.e._ the Angola) colony." Now this guarantee has been removed. The +contracts may be made in San Thom before the local guardian, and Mr. +Smallbones, although he is, without doubt, quite right in thinking that +"the best guarantee against abuses will lie in the choice of the +recruiting officials, and the way in which their operations are +controlled," adds the somewhat ominous remark that the object of the +change has been to "override the refusal of a curator in Angola to +contract certain 'serviaes' should the Governor-General consider that +refusal unreasonable or inexpedient." Sir Edward Grey very naturally +drew attention to this point. "It is obvious," he wrote to Sir Arthur +Hardinge, "that a labourer once in San Thom can be much more easily +coerced into accepting his lot than if the contract is publicly made in +Angola before he leaves the mainland." It cannot be said that the answer +he received from M. Texeira Gomes was altogether complete or +satisfactory. All the latter would say was that Colonel Wyllie, who had +lately returned from San Thom, had never heard of any case of a +labourer signing a contract after he had arrived in the island. + +All, therefore, that can at present be said on this branch of the +question is that the evils of the recruiting system which has been so +far adopted are abundantly clear, that the Portuguese Government is +endeavouring to improve that system, but that it would as yet be +premature to pronounce any opinion on the results which are likely to be +obtained. + +The next point to be considered is the position of the contract labourer +on the expiry of his contract. That position is very strikingly +illustrated by an incident which Mr. Smallbones relates in a despatch +dated September 23, 1912. It appears that towards the end of last August +the Governor-General visited an important plantation on which seven +hundred labourers are employed. The contracts of these men had expired. +They asked to be allowed to leave the plantation. They were not +permitted to do so. "Thirteen soldiers were sent from Loanda to +intimidate them, and they returned to work." They were then forced to +recontract. Mr. Smallbones very rightly pointed out to the +Governor-General the illegality of this proceeding. "His Excellency," +he says, "admitted my contention, but remarked that in the present state +of the labour supply such scrupulous observance of the regulations would +entail the entire stoppage of a large plantation, for which he could not +be responsible." Mr. Smallbones adds the following comment: "I have +ventured to relate this incident, because it shows the difficulties of +the situation. The plantation on which it occurred is very well managed, +and the labourers are very well treated there. Yet it has failed to make +the conditions of labour attractive to the natives. And as long as the +Government are unable to force a supply of labour according to the +regulations, they will have to tolerate or even practise irregularities +in order to safeguard the property and interests of the employers." + +There need be no hesitation in recognising "the difficulties of the +situation." They are unquestionably very real. But how does the incident +related by Mr. Smallbones bear on the contention of the Portuguese +Government that no state of slavery exists? In truth, it shatters to +fragments the whole of their argument. As has been already mentioned, +Sir Edward Grey defined "forcible engagement" as "slavery." Can it be +for one moment contended that the engagement of these seven hundred men +was voluntary and not forcible? Obviously not. Therefore slavery still +exists, or at all events existed so late as August 1912. + +The third point to be considered is whether the liberated slave is +practically able to take advantage of the freedom which has been +conferred on him. Assuredly, he cannot do so. Consider what the position +of these men is. They, or their parents before them, have in numerous +instances been forcibly removed from their homes, which often lie at a +great distance from the spot where they are liberated. They are +apparently asked to contribute out of their wages to a repatriation +fund. Why should they do so? They were, in a great many, probably in a +majority of cases, expatriated either against their will or without +really understanding what they were doing. Why should they pay for +repatriation? The responsibility of the Portuguese does not end when the +men have been paid their wages and are set free. Neither can it be for +one moment admitted that that responsibility is limited, as the +Governor-General would appear to maintain in a Memorandum communicated +to Mr. Smallbones on October 25, 1912, merely to seeing that repatriated +slaves disembarked on the mainland "shall be protected against the +effects of the change of climate, and principally against themselves." +No one will expect the Portuguese Government to perform the impossible, +but it is clear that, unless the institution of slavery itself is +considered justifiable, the slaves have a right to be placed by the +Portuguese Government and nation in precisely the same position as they +would have occupied had they never been led into slavery. Apart from the +impossibility, it may, on several grounds, be undesirable to seek to +attain this ideal, but that is no reason why the validity of the moral +claim should not be recognised. In many cases it is abundantly clear +that to speak of a slave liberated at San Thom being really a free man +in the sense in which that word is generally understood, is merely an +abuse of terms. The only freedom he possesses is that created for him by +his employers. It consists of being able to wander aimlessly about the +African mainland at the imminent risk of starvation, or of being robbed +of whatever miserable pittance may have been served out to him. For +these reasons it is maintained that the starting-point for any further +discussion on this question is that the plea that slavery no longer +exists in the West African dominions of Portugal is altogether +untenable. It still exists, though under another name. There remains the +question of how its existence can be terminated. + +The writer of the present article would be the last to underrate the +enormous practical difficulties to be encountered in dealing +effectively with this question. His own experience in cognate matters +enables him in some degree to recognise the nature of those +difficulties. When the _corve_ system was abolished in Egypt, the +question which really confronted the Government of that country was how +the whole of a very backward population, the vast majority of whom had +for centuries been in reality, though not nominally, slaves, could be +made to understand that, although they would not be flogged if they did +not clear out the mud from the canals on which the irrigation of their +fields depended, they would run an imminent risk of starvation unless +they voluntarily accepted payment for performing that service. The +difficulties were enhanced owing to the facts that the country was in a +state of quasi-bankruptcy, and the political situation was in the +highest degree complicated and bewildering. Nevertheless, after a period +of transition, which, it must be admitted, was somewhat agonising, the +problem was solved, but it was only thoroughly solved after a struggle +which lasted for some years. It is a vivid recollection of the arduous +nature of that struggle that induces the writer of the present article +so far to plead the cause of the Portuguese Government as to urge that, +if once it can be fully established that they are moving steadily but +strenuously in the right direction, no excessive amount of impatience +should be shown if the results obtained do not immediately answer all +the expectations of those who wish to witness the complete abolition of +the hateful system under which the cultivation of cocoa in the West +African Islands has hitherto been conducted. The financial interests +involved are important, and deserve a certain, albeit a limited, amount +of consideration. There need be no hesitation whatever in pressing for +the adoption of measures which may result in diminishing the profits of +the cocoa proprietors and possibly increasing the price paid by the +consumers of cocoa. Indeed, there would be nothing unreasonable in +arguing that the output of cocoa, worth 2,000,000 a year, had much +better be lost to the world altogether rather than that the life of the +present vicious system should be prolonged. But even if it were +desirable--which is probably not the case--it is certainly impossible to +take all the thirty thousand men now employed in the islands and +suddenly transport them elsewhere. It would be Utopian to expect that +the Portuguese Government, in the face of the vehement opposition which +they would certainly have to encounter, would consent to the adoption of +any such heroic measure. As practical men we must, whilst acknowledging +the highly regrettable nature of the facts, accept them as they stand. +Slight importance can, indeed, be attached to the argument put forward +by one of the British Consular authorities, that "the native lives under +far better conditions in San Thom than in his own country." It is +somewhat too much akin to the plea advanced by ardent fox-hunters that +the fox enjoys the sport of being hunted. Neither, although it is +satisfactory to learn that the slaves are now generally well treated, +does this fact in itself constitute any justification for slavery. The +system must disappear, and the main question is to devise some other +less objectionable system to take its place. + +There are two radical solutions of this problem. One is to abandon +cocoa-growing altogether, at all events in the island of Principe, a +part of which is infected with sleeping-sickness, and to start the +industry afresh elsewhere. The other is to substitute free for slave +labour in the islands themselves. Both plans are discussed in +Lieutenant-Colonel Wyllie's very able report addressed to the Foreign +Office on December 8, 1912. This report is, indeed, one of the most +valuable contributions to the literature on this subject which have yet +appeared. Colonel Wyllie has evidently gone thoroughly into the matter, +and, moreover, appears to realise the fact, which all experience +teaches, that slavery is as indefensible from an economic as it is from +a moral point of view. Free labour, when it can be obtained, is far +less expensive than slave labour. + +Colonel Wyllie suggests that the Principe planters should abandon their +present plantations and receive "free grants of land in the fertile and +populous colony of Portuguese Guinea, the soil of which is reported by +all competent authorities to be better suited to cacao-growing than even +that of San Thom itself, and certainly far superior to that of +Principe. Guinea has from time to time supplied labour to these islands, +so that the besetting trouble of the latter is nonexistent there." He +adds: "I am decidedly of opinion that some such scheme as this is the +only cure for the blight that has fallen on the island of Principe." It +would require greater local knowledge than any to which the writer of +the present article can pretend to discuss the merits of this proposal, +but at first sight it would certainly appear to deserve full and careful +consideration. + +But as regards San Thom, which is by far the larger and more important +of the two islands, it would appear that the importation of free labour +is not only the best, but, indeed, the only really possible solution of +the whole problem. It may be suggested that, without by any means +neglecting other points, such as the repatriation of men now serving, +the efforts both of the Portuguese Government and of all others +interested in the question should be mainly centred on this issue. +Something has been already done in this direction, Mr. Harris, writing +in the _Contemporary Review_ of May 1912, said: "Mozambique labour was +tried in 1908, and this experiment is proving, for the time, so +successful, that many planters look to the East rather than West Africa +for their future supply. All available evidence appears to prove that +Cabinda, Cape Verde, and Mozambique labour is, so far as contract labour +goes, fairly recruited and honestly treated as 'free labour.'" It is an +encouraging sign that a Portuguese Company has been formed whose object +is "to recruit free, paid labourers, natives of the provinces of Angola, +Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea." Moreover, the following passage +from Colonel Wyllie's report deserves very special attention: + + "Several San Thom planters," he says, "realising the advantage of + having a more intelligent and industrious labourer than the + Angolan, have signed contracts with an English Company trading in + Liberia for the supply of labour from Cape Palmas and its + hinterland, on terms to which no exception can be taken from any + point of view. Two, if not by now three, batches of Liberians have + arrived at San Thom and have been placed on estates for work. The + Company has posted an English agent there to act as curador to the + men, banking their money, arranging their home remittances, and + mediating in any disputes arising between them and their + employers. The system works wonderfully well, giving satisfaction + both to the masters and to the men, the latter being as pleased + with their treatment as the former are with their physique and + intelligence. There is every prospect of the arrangement being + developed to the extent of enabling Angolan labour to be + permanently dispensed with, and possibly superseding Mozambique + importations as well." + +Colonel Wyllie then goes on to say: "The company and its agents complain +of the many obstacles they have had to overcome in the form of hostility +and intrigue on the part of interested parties. Systematic attempts have +been made in Liberia to intimidate the gangs from going to San Thom by +tales of cruelty practised by the Portuguese in the islands." More +especially it would appear that the "missionaries" have been advising +the Liberians not to accept the offers made to them. It is not +altogether surprising that they should do so, for the Portuguese have +acquired an evil reputation which it will take time to efface. To an +outside observer it would appear that an admirable opportunity is here +afforded for the Portuguese Government and the Anti-Slavery Society, who +are in close relation with many of the missionaries, to co-operate in +the attainment of a common object. Why should not the Portuguese +authorities invite some agents of the Anti-Slavery Society to visit the +islands and place before them evidence which will enable them +conscientiously to guarantee proper treatment to the Liberian labourers, +and why, when they are once convinced, should not those agents, far from +discouraging, encourage Liberians, and perhaps others, to go to San +Thom? If this miracle could be effected--and with real good-will on +both sides it ought to be possible to effect it--a very great step in +advance would have been taken to solve this difficult problem. But in +order to realise such an ideal, mutual confidence would have to be +established. When the affairs of the Congo were under discussion the +Belgian air was thick with rumours that British humanitarianism was a +mere cloak to hide the greed of British merchants. Similar ideas are, it +would appear, now afloat at Lisbon. When men's pockets are touched they +are apt to become extremely suspicious of humanitarian intentions. Mr. +Wingfield, writing on August 17, 1912, said that the Portuguese +Government was not "convinced of the disinterestedness of all those who +criticise them," and he intimated that there were schemes on foot on the +part of British subjects to acquire "roas" in the islands "at very low +prices." It ought not to be difficult to convince the Portuguese +authorities that the agents employed by the Anti-Slavery Society are in +no way connected with any such projects. On the other hand, it would be +necessary that those agents should be very carefully chosen, that +besides being humanitarians they should have some knowledge of business, +and that they should enter upon their inquiry in a spirit of fairness, +and not with any preconceived intention to push to an extreme any +suspicions they may entertain of Portuguese acts and intentions. It is +suggested that the adoption of some such mode of proceeding as is here +indicated is worthy of consideration. The Foreign Office might very +properly act as an intermediary to bring the two parties together. + +Finally, before leaving this branch of the subject, it is to be observed +that the difficulty of obtaining free labour has occurred elsewhere than +in the Portuguese possessions. It has generally admitted, at all events, +of a partial solution if the labourers are well treated and adequately +paid. Portuguese experience points to a similar conclusion. Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 23, 1912, quotes the report of the +manager of the Lobito railway, in which the latter, after stating that +he has had no difficulty in obtaining all the labour he has required, +adds, "I attribute the facility in obtaining so large a supply of +labour, relatively cheaply, to the good food we supply them with, and +chiefly to the regularity with which payments in cash are effected, and +also to the justice with which they are treated." + +The question of repatriation remains to be treated. It must, of course, +be remembered that repatriation is an act of justice to the men already +enslaved, but that, by itself, it does little or nothing towards solving +the main difficulties of the slavery problem. Mr. Wingfield, writing to +Sir Edward Grey on August 24, 1912, relates a conversation he had had +with Senhor Vasconcellos. "His Excellency first observed that they were +generally subjected to severe criticism in England, and said to be +fostering slavery because they did not at once repatriate all natives +who had served the term of their original contracts. Now they were +blamed for the misfortunes which resulted from their endeavour to act as +England was always suggesting that they should act!" His Excellency made +what Parliamentarians would call a good debating point, but the +complaint is obviously more specious than real, for what people in +England expect is not merely that the slaves should, if they wish it, be +repatriated, but that the repatriation should be conducted under +reasonably humane conditions. For the purposes of the present argument +it is needless to inquire whether the ghastly story adopted by the +Anti-Slavery Society on the strength of a statement in a Portuguese +newspaper, but denied by the Portuguese Government, that the corpses of +fifty repatriated men who had died of starvation were at one time to be +seen lying about in the outskirts of Benguella, be true or false. +Independently of this incident, all the evidence goes to show that +Colonel Wyllie is saying no more than the truth when he writes: "To +repatriate, _i.e._ to dump on the African mainland without previous +arrangement for his reception, protection, or safe conduct over his +further route, an Angolan or hinterland 'servial' who has spent years +of his life in San Thom, is not merely to sentence him to death, but to +execute that sentence with the shortest possible delay." It is against +this system that those interested in the subject in England protested. +The Portuguese Government appear now to have recognised the justice of +their protests, for they have recently adopted a plan somewhat similar +to that initiated by the late Lord Salisbury for dealing with immigrant +coolies from India. By an Order in Council dated October 17, 1912, it +has been provided that repatriated "serviaes" should receive a grant of +land and should be set up, free of charge, with agricultural implements +and seeds. This is certainly a step in the right direction. It is as yet +too early to say how far the plan will succeed, but if it is honestly +carried out it ought to go far towards solving the repatriation +question. Mr. Smallbones would appear justified in claiming that it +"should be given a fair trial before more heroic measures are applied." +The repatriation fund, which appears, to say the least, to have been +very badly administered, ought, without difficulty, to be able to meet +the expenses which the adoption of this plan will entail. + +[Footnote 105: Mr. E.W. Brooks subsequently wrote to _The Spectator_ to +explain that "the letter in question was in no sense an official letter +from the Society of Friends. It was the product of one small meeting of +that body, which appears to have been misinformed by one or more of its +members, and was in no sense a letter from the Society of Friends, +which, on the subject of Portuguese Slavery, is officially represented +by its Anti-Slavery Committee, of which he is himself the Honorary +Secretary."] + + + + +XXV + +ENGLAND AND ISLAM + +_"The Spectator," August 23, 1913_ + + +Amidst the many important remarks made by Sir Edward Grey in his recent +Parliamentary statement on the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula, none +deserve greater attention than those which dealt with the duties and +responsibilities of England towards Mohammedans in general. It was, +indeed, high time that some clear and authoritative declaration of +principle on this important subject should be made by a Minister of the +Crown. We are constantly being reminded that King George V. is the +greatest Mohammedan ruler in the world, that some seventy millions of +his subjects in India are Moslems, and that the inhabitants of Egypt are +also, for the most part, followers of the Prophet of Arabia. It is not +infrequently maintained that it is a duty incumbent on Great Britain to +defend the interests and to secure the welfare of Moslems all over the +world because a very large number of their co-religionists are British +subjects and reside in British territory. It is not at all surprising +that this claim should be advanced, but it is manifestly one which +cannot be admitted without very great and important qualifications. +Moreover, it is one which, from a European point of view, represents a +somewhat belated order of ideas. It is true that community of religion +constitutes the main bond of union between Russia and the population of +the Balkan Peninsula, but apart from the fact that no such community of +religious thought exists between Christian England and Moslem or Hindu +India, it is to be noted that, generally speaking, the tie of a common +creed, which played so important a part in European politics and +diplomacy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has now been +greatly weakened, even if it has not disappeared altogether. It has been +supplanted almost everywhere by the bond of nationality. No practical +politician would now argue that, if the Protestants of Holland or Sweden +had any special causes for complaint, a direct responsibility rested on +their co-religionists in Germany or England to see that those grievances +were redressed. No Roman Catholic nation would now advance a claim to +interfere in the affairs of Ireland on the ground that the majority of +the population of that country are Roman Catholics. + +This transformation of political thought and action has not yet taken +place in the East. It may be, as some competent observers are disposed +to think, that the principle of nationality is gaining ground in Eastern +countries, but it has certainly not as yet taken firm root. The bond +which holds Moslem societies together is still religious rather than +patriotic. Its binding strength has been greatly enhanced by two +circumstances. One is that Mecca is to the Moslem far more than +Jerusalem is to the Christian or to the Jew. From Delhi to Zanzibar, +from Constantinople to Java, every devout Moslem turns when he prays to +what Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole aptly calls the "cradle of his creed." The +other circumstance is that, although, as Mr. Hughes has said, "we have +not seen a single work of authority, nor met with a single man of +learning who has ever attempted to prove that the Sultans of Turkey are +rightful Caliphs," at the same time the spiritual authority usurped by +Selim I. is generally recognised throughout Islam, with the result not +only that unity of thought has been engendered amongst Moslems, but also +that religion has to a great extent been incorporated into politics, and +identified with the maintenance of a special form of government in a +portion of the Moslem world. + +The growth of the principle of nationality in those eastern countries +which are under western dominion might not inconceivably raise political +issues of considerable magnitude, but in the discussions which have from +time to time taken place on this subject the inconveniences and even +danger caused by the universality of a non-national bond based on +community of religion have perhaps been somewhat unduly neglected. These +inconveniences have, however, always existed. That the policy which led +to the Crimean War and generally the prolonged tension which existed +between England and Russia were due to the British connection with India +is universally recognised. It would be difficult to differentiate the +causes of that tension, and to say how far it was, on the one hand, due +to purely strategical considerations, or, on the other hand, to a desire +to meet the wishes and satisfy the aspirations of the many millions of +Moslems who are British subjects. Since, however, the general diplomatic +relations between England and Russia have, fortunately for both +countries, been placed on a footing of more assured confidence and +friendship than any which have existed for a long time past, strategical +considerations have greatly diminished in importance. The natural result +has been that the alternative plea for regarding Near Eastern affairs +from the point of view of Indian interests has acquired greater +prominence. Those who have been closely in touch with the affairs of +the Near East, and have watched the gradual decay of Turkey, have for +some while past foreseen that the time was inevitably approaching when +British statesmen and the British nation would be forced by the +necessities of the situation to give a definite answer to the question +how far their diplomatic action in Europe would have to be governed by +the alleged obligation to conciliate Moslem opinion in India. That +question received, to a certain limited extent, a practical answer when +Bulgaria declared war on Turkey and when not a voice was raised in this +country to urge that the policy which dictated the Crimean War should be +rehabilitated. + +The answer, however, is not yet complete. England is now apparently +expected by many Moslems to separate herself from the Concert of Europe, +and not impossibly to imperil the peace of the world, in order that the +Turks should continue in occupation of Adrianople. The secretary of the +Punjab Moslem League has informed us through the medium of the press +that unless this is done the efforts of the extreme Indian Nationalists +to secure the sympathies of Mohammedans in India "will meet with growing +success." + +It was in reality to this challenge that Sir Edward Grey replied. His +answer was decisive, and left no manner of doubt as to the policy which +the British Government intends to pursue. It will almost certainly meet +with well-nigh universal approval in this country. After explaining that +the racial sentiments and religious feelings of Moslem subjects of the +Crown would be respected and have full scope, that British policy would +never be one of intolerance or wanton and unprovoked aggression against +a Mohammedan Power, and that the British Government would never join in +any outrage on Mohammedan feelings and sentiments in any part of the +world, Sir Edward Grey added, "We cannot undertake the duty of +protecting Mohammedan Powers outside the British dominions from the +consequences of their own action.... To suppose that we can undertake +the protection of and are bound to regulate our European policy so as to +side with a Mussulman Power when that Mussulman Power rejects the advice +given to it, that is not a claim we can admit." + +These are wise words, and it is greatly to be hoped that not only the +Moslems of Turkey, but also those inhabiting other countries, will read, +mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. Notably, the Moslems of India +should recognise that, with the collapse of Turkish power in Europe, a +new order of things has arisen, that the change which the attitude of +England towards Turkey has undergone is the necessary consequence of +that collapse, and that it does not in the smallest degree connote +unfriendliness to Islam. In fact, they must now endeavour to separate +Islamism from politics. With the single exception of the occupation of +Cyprus, which, as Lord Goschen very truly said at the time, "prevented +British Ambassadors from showing 'clean hands' to the Sultan in proof of +the unselfishness of British action," the policy of England in the Near +East has been actuated, ever since the close of the Napoleonic wars, by +a sincere and wholly disinterested desire to save Turkish statesmen from +the consequences of their own folly. In this cause no effort has been +spared, even to the shedding of the best blood of England. All has been +in vain. History does not relate a more striking instance of the truth +of the old Latin saying that self-deception is the first step on the +road to ruin. Advice tendered in the best interests of the Ottoman +Empire has been persistently rejected. The Turks, who have always been +strangers in Europe, have shown conspicuous inability to comply with the +elementary requirements of European civilisation, and have at last +failed to maintain that military efficiency which has, from the days +when they crossed the Bosphorus, been the sole mainstay of their power +and position. It is, as Sir Edward Grey pointed out, unreasonable to +expect that we should now save them from the consequences of their own +action. Whether Moslems all over the world will or should still continue +to regard the Sultan of Turkey as their spiritual head is a matter on +which it would be presumptuous for a Christian to offer any opinion, but +however this may be, Indian Moslems would do well to recognise the fact +that circumstances, and not the hostility of Great Britain or of any +other foreign Power, have materially altered the position of the Sultan +in so far as the world of politics and diplomacy is concerned. Whether +the statesman in whose hands the destinies of Turkey now lie at once +abandon Adrianople, or whether they continue to remain there for a time +with the certainty that they will be sowing the seeds of further +bloodshed in the near future, one thing is certain. It is that the days +of Turkey as an European Power are numbered. Asia must henceforth be her +sphere of action. + +That these truths should be unpalatable to Indian Moslems is but +natural; neither is it possible to withhold some sympathy from them in +the distress which they must now feel at the partial wreck of the most +important Moslem State which the world has yet seen. But facts, however +distasteful, have to be faced, and it would be truly deplorable if the +non-recognition of those facts should lead our Moslem fellow-subjects +in India to resent the action of the British Government and to adopt a +line of conduct from which they have nothing to gain and everything to +lose. But whatever that line of conduct may be, the duty of the British +Government and nation is clear. Their European policy, whilst allowing +all due weight to Indian interests and sentiment, must in the main be +guided by general considerations based on the necessities of civilised +progress throughout the world, and on the interests and welfare of the +British Empire as a whole. The idea that that policy should be diverted +from its course in order to subserve the cause of a single Moslem Power +which has rejected British advice is, as Sir Edward Grey very rightly +remarked, wholly inadmissible. + + + + +XXVI + +SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS[106] + +_"The Spectator," August 30, 1913_ + + +In spite of the optimism at times displayed in dealing with Indian +affairs, which may be justified on grounds which are often, to say the +least, plausible, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the general +condition of India gives cause for serious reflection, if not for grave +anxiety. We are told on all sides that the East is rapidly awakening +from its torpid slumbers--even to the extent of forgetting that +characteristically Oriental habit of thought embodied in the Arabic +proverb, "Slowness is from God, hurry from the Devil." If this be so, we +must expect that, year by year, problems of ever-increasing complexity +will arise which will tax to the utmost the statesmanship of those +Western nations who are most brought in contact with Eastern peoples. +In these circumstances, it is specially desirable that the different +points of view from which Indian questions may be regarded should be +laid before the British public by representatives of various schools of +thought. But a short time ago a very able Socialist member of Parliament +(Mr. Ramsay MacDonald) gave to the world the impressions he had derived +whilst he was "careering over the plains of Rajputana," and paying +hurried visits to other parts of India. His views, although manifestly +in some degree the result of preconceived opinions, and somewhat tainted +with the dogmatism which is characteristic of the political school of +thought to which he belongs, exhibit at the same time habits of acute +observation and powers of rapid--sometimes unduly rapid--generalisation. +Neither are they, on the whole, so prejudiced as might have been +expected from the antecedents and political connections of the author. +More recently we have had in a work written by Mr. Mallik, which was +lately reviewed in these columns, a striking specimen of one of those +pernicious by-products which are the natural and unavoidable outcome of +Eastern and Western contact. We have now to deal with a work of a very +different type. Many of the very difficult problems which Mr. Mitra +discusses in his interesting series of _Anglo-Indian Studies_ open up a +wide field for differences of opinion, but whatever views may be +entertained about them, all must recognise not only that no kind of +exception can be taken to the general spirit in which Mr. Mitra +approaches Indian subjects, but also that his observations are the +result of deep reflection, and of an honest endeavour to improve rather +than exacerbate racial relations. His remarks are, therefore, well +worthy of consideration. + +Mr. Mitra shows a perfectly legitimate pride in the past history of his +country. He tells us how Hindu international lawyers anticipated Grotius +by some thirty centuries, how the Mahabharata embodies many of the +principles adopted by the Hague Conference, how India preceded Europe in +her knowledge of all the arts and sciences, even including that of +medicine, and how "Hindu drama was in its heyday before the theatres of +England, France, or Spain could be said to exist." But Mr. Mitra's +ardent patriotism does not blind him to the realities of the present +situation. A very intelligent Frenchman, M. Paul Boell, who visited +India a few years ago, came to the conclusion that the real Indian +question was not whether the English were justified in staying in the +country, but whether they could find any moral justification for +withdrawing from it. Mr. Mitra arrives at much the same conclusion as M. +Boell. "If the English were to withdraw from India to-morrow," he says, +"I fear that, notwithstanding all the peace precepts of our Mahabharata, +and in spite of the stupendous philosophy and so-called fatalism of the +Hindus, our Maharajahs would speedily be at each other's throats, as +they were before the _pax Britannica_ was established there." Moreover, +he asserts a principle of vital importance, which is but too often +ignored by his countrymen, and even at times by those who sympathise +with them in England. "Education and knowledge," he says, "can be pumped +into the student, but there is no royal road for instruction in +'capacity of management.' A Clive, with inferior education, may be a +better manager of men or of an industrial concern than the most learned +student." In other words, character rather than intellect is the +foundation not only of national but also of individual greatness--a +profound truth which is brought home every day to those who are engaged +in the actual management of public affairs, especially in the East. Mr. +Mitra, moreover, makes various praiseworthy efforts to dispel certain +illusions frequently nourished by some of his countrymen, and to +diminish the width of the religious gulf which separates the rulers from +the ruled. He quotes with approval Sir Rajendra Mookerjee's complete, +albeit facile, exposure of the fallacy, dear to the hearts of many +Indian press writers and platform speakers, that Indian interests suffer +by the introduction of British capital into India. "It is wise," Sir +Rajendra said, "to allow British capitalists to interest themselves in +our industries and thus take an active part in their development." He +prefers to dwell on the points of similarity which unite rather than on +the differences which separate Hinduism and Christianity. "The two +religions," he says, "have so much in common when one gets down to +essentials that it seems to me this ought to furnish a great bond of +sympathy between the two peoples," and he urges that "every attempt +should be made to utilise the Hindu University to remove the spirit of +segregation which unquestionably exists between the Christian Government +in India and its Hindu subjects, and thus pave the way to harmonious +co-operation between the Aryan rulers and the ruled in India." + +It will be as well, however, to turn from these points to what Mr. Mitra +considers the shortcomings of the British Government. He is not sparing +in his criticisms. He freely admits that British statesmen have devoted +their energies to improving the conditions of the masses, but he adds, +and it must be sorrowfully admitted that he is justified in adding, +"Material advantages set forth in dry statistics have never made a +nation enthusiastically loyal to the Government." He urges that, +especially in dealing with a population the vast majority of which is +illiterate, "it is the _human element_ that counts most in Imperialism, +far more than the dry bones of political economy." In an interesting +chapter of his book entitled _British Statesmanship and Indian +Psychology_, he asks the very pertinent question, "What does loyalty +mean to the Indian, whether Moslem or Hindu?" The answer which he gives +to this question is that when the idea of loyalty is brought before the +native of India, "it comes in most cases with a jerk, and quickly +disappears." The reason for its disappearance is that no bond of +fellowship has been established between the rulers and the ruled, that +the native of India is not made to feel that "he has any real part in +England's greatness," that the influence and high position of the native +Princes receive inadequate recognition, and that no scope is offered to +the military ambition of the citizens of the Indian Empire. "Under the +Crescent, the Hindu has been Commander of a Brigade; under the Union +Jack, even after a century, he sees no likelihood of rising as high as a +little subaltern." + +There is, of course, nothing very new in all this. It has been pointed +out over and over again by all who have considered Indian or Egyptian +problems seriously that the creation of some sort of rather spurious +patriotism when all the elements out of which patriotism naturally grows +are wanting, is rather like searching for the philosopher's stone. At +the same time, when so sympathetic a critic as Mr. Mitra bids us study +the "psychological traits" of Indian character, it is certainly worth +while to inquire whether all that is possible has been done in the way +of evoking sentiments of loyalty based on considerations which lie +outside the domain of material advantage. The most imaginative British +statesman of recent years has been Lord Beaconsfield. Himself a +quasi-Oriental, he grasped the idea that it would be possible to appeal +to the imagination of other Orientals. The laughter which was to some +extent provoked when, at his suggestion, Queen Victoria assumed the +title of Empress of India has now died away, and it is generally +recognised, even by those who are not on other grounds disposed to +indulge in any exaggerated worship of the primrose, that in this respect +Lord Beaconsfield performed an act dictated by true statesmanship. He +appealed to those personal and monarchical sentiments which, to a far +greater extent than democratic ideas, dominate the minds of Easterns. +The somewhat lavish expenditure incurred in connection with the King's +recent visit to India may be justified on similar grounds. Following +generally the same order of ideas, Mr. Mitra has some further +suggestions to make. The question of opening some field to the very +natural aspirations of the martial races and classes of India presents, +indeed, very great practical difficulties which it would be impossible +to discuss adequately on the present occasion. All that can be said is +that, although the well-intentioned efforts so far made to solve this +thorny problem do not appear to have met with all the success they +deserve, it is one which should earnestly engage the attention of the +Government in the hope that some practical and unobjectionable solution +may eventually be found. Mr. Mitra, however, draws attention to other +cognate points which would certainly appear to merit attention. "The +first thing," he says, "necessary to rouse Indian sentiment is to give +India a flag of her own." He points out that Canada, Australia, South +Africa, and some of the West Indian islands have flags of their own, and +he asks why, without in any way serving as a symbol of separation, India +should not be similarly treated? Then, again, he remarks--and it would +be well if some of our Parliamentarians took careful note of the +observation--that "British statesmen, in their zeal for introducing +their democratic system of government into India, forget that India is +pre-eminently an aristocratic land." This appreciation of the Indian +situation formed the basis of the political system favoured by no less +an authority than Sir Henry Lawrence, and stood in marked contrast to +that advocated by his no less distinguished brother, Lord Lawrence. Mr. +Mitra, therefore, suggests that a certain number of ruling princes or +their heirs-apparent should be allowed to sit in a reformed House of +Lords. "Canada," Lord Meath said some years ago, "is already represented +in the House of Lords," and he pertinently asked, "Why should not India +also have her peers in that assembly?" The particular proposal made by +Mr. Mitra in this connection may possibly be open to some objections, +but the general principle which he advocates, as also the suggestion +that a special flag should be devised for India, would certainly appear +to be well worthy of consideration. + +It is interesting to turn to the view entertained by Mr. Mitra on the +recent transfer of the seat of Government from Calcutta to Delhi. He +manifestly does not regard that transfer with any degree of favour. +Moreover, he thinks that from the point of view of the stability of +British rule, a great mistake has been made. Delhi, he says, has "for +centuries symbolised Moslem-Hindu collective sentiment." He assumes that +it is the object of British statesmanship to prevent any union between +Moslems and Hindus, and that the recent transfer will go far to cement +that union. "In transferring the capital to the old centre of Indian +Imperialism, England has, in a flash, aroused memories to a degree that +thousands of demagogues and agitators would not have done in a century." +He holds, therefore, that the action of British statesmen in this +respect may not improbably "produce the reverse of the result they +intended." The question of whether it was or was not wise to transfer +the seat of Government to Delhi is one on which differences of opinion +may well exist, but Mr. Mitra is in error in supposing that either the +British nation collectively or British statesmen individually have ever +proceeded so far on the _divide et impera_ principle as to endeavour in +their own interests to foster and perpetuate racial and religious +animosities. On the contrary, although they have accepted as a fact that +those animosities exist, and although they have at times been obliged to +interfere with a view to preventing one race or religion infringing the +rights and liberties of others, they have persistently done their best +to allay discord and sectarian strife. In spite of Mr. Mitra's obvious +and honourable attempts to preserve an attitude of judicial +impartiality, it is conceivable that in this instance he may, as a +Hindu, have allowed himself to be unconsciously influenced by fear +that, in transferring the capital to a Moslem centre, the British +Government has, in his own words, "placed itself more within the sway of +Moslem influence than the authorities would care to admit." + +Mr. Mitra alludes to several important points of detail, such, for +instance, as the proposal to establish a port at Cochin, which he fears +"may be allowed to perish in the coils of official routine," and the +suggestion made by Sir Rajendra Mookerjee that by a reduction of railway +freights from the mines in the Central Provinces to the port the trade +in manganese might be encouraged. It is to be hoped that these and some +other similar points will receive due attention from the Indian +authorities. Sufficient has been said to justify the opinion that Mr. +Mitra's thoughtful work is a valuable contribution to Indian literature, +and will well repay perusal by all who are interested in the solution of +existing Indian problems. + +[Footnote 106: _Anglo-Indian Studies_. By S.M. Mitra. London: Longmans +and Co. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XXVII + +THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE[107] + +_"The Spectator" September 13, 1913_ + + +It has happened to most of the great actors on the world's stage that +their posthumous fame has undergone many vicissitudes. _Laudatur ab his, +culpatur ab illis._ They have at times been eulogised or depreciated by +partisan historians who have searched eagerly the records of the past +with a view to eliciting facts and arguments to support the political +views they have severally entertained as regards the present. Even when +no such incentive has existed, the temptation to adopt a novel view of +some celebrated man or woman whose character and career have floated +down the tide of history cast in a conventional mould has occasionally +proved highly attractive from a mere literary point of view. The process +of whitewashing the bad characters of history may almost be said to +have established itself as a fashion. + +A similar fate has attended the historians who have recorded the deeds +of the world's principal actors. A few cases, of which perhaps Ranke is +the most conspicuous, may indeed be cited of historical writers whose +reputations are built on foundations so solid and so impervious to +attack as to defy criticism. But it has more usually happened, as in the +case of Macaulay, that eminent historians have passed through various +phases of repute. The accuracy of their facts, the justice of their +conclusions, their powers of correct generalisation, and the merits or +demerits of their literary style have all been brought into court, with +the result that attention has often been to a great extent diverted from +history to the personality of the historians, and that the verdict +pronounced has varied according to the special qualities the display of +which were for the time being uppermost in the public mind. + +No recent writer of history has experienced these vicissitudes to a +greater extent than the illustrious author of _Les Origines de la France +contemporaine_. That Taine should evoke the enthusiasm of any particular +school of politicians, and still less the partisans of any particular +rgime in France, was from the very outset obviously impossible. When +we read his account of the _ancien rgime_ we think we are listening to +the voice of a calm but convinced republican or constitutionalist. When +we note his scathing exposure of the criminal folly and ineptitude of +the Jacobins we remain momentarily under the impression that we are +being guided by a writer imbued with strong conservative or even +monarchical sympathies. The iconoclast both of the revolutionary and of +the Napoleonic legends chills alike the heart of the worshippers at +either shrine. A writer who announces in the preface of his work that +the only conclusion at which he is able to arrive, after a profound +study of the most interesting and stormy period of modern history, is +that the government of human beings is an extremely difficult task, will +look in vain for sympathy from all who have adopted any special theory +as to the best way in which that task should be accomplished. Yet, in +spite of Taine's political nihilism, it would be a grave error to +suppose that he has no general principle to enounce, or no plan of +government to propound. Such is far from being the case. Though no +politician, he was a profoundly analytical psychologist. M. Le Bon, in +his brilliant treatise on the psychological laws which govern national +development, says, "Dans toutes manifestations de la vie d'une nation, +nous retrouvons toujours l'me immuable de la race tissant son propre +destin." The commonplace method of stating the same proposition is to +say that every nation gets the government it deserves. This, in fact, is +the gospel which Taine had to preach. He thought, in Lady +Blennerhassett's words, that it was "the underlying characteristics of a +people; and not their franchise, which determines their Constitution." + +After having enjoyed for long a high reputation amongst non-partisan +students of revolutionary history, Taine's claim to rank as an historian +of the first order has of late been vigorously assailed by a school of +writers, of whom M. Aulard is probably the best known and the most +distinguished. They impugn his authority, and even go so far as to +maintain that his historical testimony is of little or no value. How far +is this view justified? The question is one of real interest to the +historical student, whatsoever may be his nationality, and it is, +perhaps, for more than one reason, of special interest to Englishmen. In +the first place, Taine's method of writing history is eminently +calculated to commend itself to English readers. His mind was eminently +objective. He avoided those brilliant and often somewhat specious _a +priori_ generalisations in which even the best French authors are at +times prone to indulge. His process of reasoning was strictly +inductive. He only drew conclusions when he had laid an elaborate +foundation of facts on which they could be based. The spirit in which he +wrote was more Teutonic than Latin. Again, in the absence of any really +complete English history of the French Revolution--for Carlyle's +rhapsody, in spite of its unquestionable merits, can scarcely be held to +supply the want--most Englishmen have been accustomed to think that, +with De Tocqueville and Taine as their guides, they would be able to +secure an adequate grasp both of the history of the revolutionary period +and of the main political lessons which that history tends to inculcate. + +In a very interesting essay published in Lady Blennerhassett's recent +work, entitled _Sidelights_, which has been admirably translated into +English by Mrs. Glcher, she deals with the subject now under +discussion. No one could be more fitted to cope with the task. Lady +Blennerhassett's previous contributions to literature, her encyclopaedic +knowledge of historical facts, and her thorough grasp of the main +political, religious, and economic considerations which moved the hearts +and influenced the actions of men during the revolutionary convulsion +give her a claim, which none will dare to dispute, to speak with +authority on this subject. Those who have heretofore looked for +guidance to Taine will, therefore, rejoice to note that she is able to +vindicate his reputation as an historian. "The six volumes of the +_Origines_," she says, "are, like other human works, not free from +errors and exaggerations, but in all essentials their author has proved +himself right, and his singular merit remains." + +As the most suitable illustration of Taine's historical methods Lady +Blennerhassett selects his study of Napoleon. That, she thinks, is "the +severest test of the author's skill." Taine did not, like Fournier and +others, attempt to write a history of Napoleonic facts. The strategical +and tactical genius which enabled Napoleon to sweep across Europe and to +crush Austria and Prussia on the fields of Austerlitz and Jena had no +attraction for him. He wrote a history of ideas. True to his own +psychological habit of thought, he endeavoured to "reconstruct the +figure of Napoleon on psychological and physiological lines." The +justification of this method is to be found in the fact, the truth of +which cannot be gainsaid, that a right estimate of the character of +Napoleon affords one of the principal keys to the true comprehension of +European history for a period of some twenty stirring years. History, +Lord Acton said, "is often made by energetic men steadfastly following +ideas, mostly wrong, that determine events." Napoleon is a case in +point. "The man in Napoleon explains his work." But what were the ideas +of this remarkable man, and were those ideas "mostly wrong"? + +His main idea was certainly to satisfy his personal ambition. "Ma +matresse," he said, "c'est le pouvoir," and in 1811, when, although he +knew it not, his star was about to wane, he said to the Bavarian General +Wrede, "In three years I shall be master of the universe." He was not +deterred by any love of country, for it should never be forgotten that, +as Lady Blennerhassett says, "this French Caesar was not a Frenchman." +Whatever patriotic feelings moved in his breast were not French but +Corsican. He never even thoroughly mastered the French language, and his +mother spoke not only bad French, but bad Italian. Her natural language, +Masson tells us, was the Corsican _patois_. In order to gratify his +ambition, all considerations based on morality were cast to the winds. +"I am not like any other man," he told Madame de Rmusat; "the laws of +morality and decorum do not apply to me." Acting on this principle he +did not hesitate to plunge the world into a series of wars. _Saevit toto +Mars impius orbe._ + +The other fundamental idea which dominated the whole of Napoleon's +conduct was based on Voltaire's cynical dictum, "Quand les hommes +s'attroupent, leurs oreilles s'allongent." He was a total disbeliever in +the wisdom or intelligence of corporate bodies. Therefore, as he told +Sir Henry Keating at St. Helena, "It is necessary always to talk of +liberty, equality, justice, and disinterestedness, and never to grant +any liberty whatever." Low as was his opinion of human intelligence, his +estimate of human honesty was still lower. Mr. Lecky, speaking of +Napoleon's relations with Madame de Stal, says: "A perfectly honest man +was the only kind of man he could never understand. Such a man perplexed +and baffled his calculations, acting on them as the sign of the cross +acts on the machinations of a demon." In his callow youth he had +coquetted with ultra-Liberal ideas. He had even written an essay in +which he expressed warm admiration for Algernon Sidney as an "enemy to +monarchies, princes, and nobles," and added that "there are few kings +who have not deserved to be dethroned." These ideas soon vanished. He +became the incarnation of ruthless but highly intelligent despotism. The +reputation acquired at Marengo gave him the authority which was +necessary as a preliminary to decisive action, and albeit, if all +accounts are true, he lost his head at the most important crisis of his +career and owed success to the firmness of that Sieys whom he +scornfully called an "idologue" and a "faiseur de constitutions," +nevertheless on the 18th Brumaire he was able to make captive a tired +nation which pined for peace, and little recked that it was handing over +its destinies to the most ardent devotee of the god of war that the +world has ever known. + +Once seated firmly in his saddle Napoleon proceeded to centralise the +whole French administration, and to establish a rgime as despotic as +that of any of the hereditary monarchs who had preceded him. But it was +a despotism of a very different type from theirs. Theirs was stupid, and +excited the jealousy and hatred of almost every class. His was +intelligent and appealed both to the imagination and to the material +interests of every individual Frenchman. Theirs was based on privilege; +his on absolute equality. "About Napoleon's throne," Lady Blennerhassett +says, "were gathered Girondists and Jacobins, Royalists and +Thermidorians, Plebeians and the one-time Knights of the Holy Ghost, +Roman Catholics and Voltaireans. Kitchen lads became marshals; Drouet, +the postmaster of Varennes, became Under-Secretary of State; Fouch, the +torturer and wholesale murderer, a duke; the Suabian candidate for the +Lutheran Ministry, Reinhard, was appointed an Imperial Ambassador; +Murat, son of an innkeeper, a king." + +Death, it has been truly said, is the real measure of greatness. What +now remains of the stupendous fabric erected by Napoleon? "Of the work +of the Conqueror," Lady Blennerhassett says, "not one stone remains upon +another." As regards the internal reconstruction of France, the case is +very different. All inquirers are agreed that Napoleon's work endures. +Taine said that "the machinery of the year VIII." still remains. Mr. +Fisher, in his work on _Napoleonic Statesmanship_, says that Napoleon +"created a bureaucracy more competent, active, and enlightened than any +which Europe had seen." Mr. Bodley bears similar testimony. "The whole +centralised administration of France, which, in its stability, has +survived every political crisis, was the creation of Napoleon and the +keystone of his fabric." + +Napoleon's administrative creations may, indeed, be criticised from many +points of view. Notably, it may be said that, if he did not initiate, he +stimulated that excessive "fonctionnarisme" which is often regarded as +the main defect of the French system. But his creations were adapted to +the special character and genius of the nation over which he ruled. His +main title-deed to enduring fame is that, for good or evil, he +constructed an edifice which, in its main features, has lasted to this +day, which shows no signs of decay, and which has exercised a +predominant influence on the administration and judicial systems of +neighbouring countries. Neither the system itself nor the history of its +creation can be thoroughly understood without a correct appreciation of +the character and political creed of its founder. It is this +consideration which affords an ample justification of the special method +adopted by Taine in dealing with the history of the Napoleonic period. + +Nothing illustrates Napoleon's character more clearly than the numerous +_ana_ which may be culled from the pages of Madame de Rmusat, Masson, +Beugnot, Roederer, and others. Of these, some are reproduced by Lady +Blennerhassett. The writer of the present article was informed on good +authority of the following Napoleonic anecdote. It is related that +Napoleon ordered from Brguet, the famous Paris watchmaker, a watch for +his brother Joseph, who was at the time King of Spain. The back was of +blue enamel decorated with the letter J in diamonds. In 1813 Napoleon +was present at a military parade when a messenger arrived bearing a +brief despatch, in which it was stated that the French army had been +completely defeated at Vittoria. It was manifest that Spain was lost. +Always severely practical, all that Napoleon did, after glancing at the +despatch, was to turn to his secretary and say, "Write to Brguet and +tell him that I shall not want that watch." It is believed that the +watch was eventually bought by the Duke of Wellington.[108] + +[Footnote 107: _Sidelights_. By Lady Blennerhassett. Translated by Edith +Glcher. London: Constable & Co. 7s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 108: My informant in this matter was the late General Sir +Arthur Ellis. Since the above was written, the Duke of Wellington has +informed me that there is at Apsley House a watch, not made by Brguet +but by another Paris watchmaker, on which is inscribed, "Ordered by +Napoleon for his brother Joseph." The cover is ornamented not with a +diamond J, but with a map of the Peninsula. Inside is the portrait of a +lady. I do not doubt that this is the watch to which Sir Arthur Ellis +alluded.] + + + + +XXVIII + +SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL + +_"The Spectator," September 13, 1913_ + + +All historians are agreed that contemporary ballads and broadsheets +constitute a priceless storehouse from which to draw a picture of the +society existing at the period whose history they seek to relate. Some +of those which have survived to become generally known to later ages +show such poverty of imagination and such total absence of literary +merit as to evoke the surprise of posterity at the ephemeral success +which they unquestionably achieved. An instance in point is the +celebrated poem "Lillibullero," or, as it is sometimes written, "Lilli +Burlero." Here is the final stanza of the pitiful doggerel with which +Wharton boasted that he had "sung a king out of three kingdoms": + + There was an old prophecy found in a bog: + Ireland shall be ruled by an ass and a dog; + And now this prophecy is come to pass, + For Talbot's the dog, and James is the ass. + Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la. + +Doggerel as this was, it survived the special occasion for which it was +written. When Queen Anne's reign was well advanced balladmongers were +singing: + + So God bless the Queen and the House of Hanover, + And never may Pope or Pretender come over. + Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la. + +If the song is still remembered by other than historical students, it is +probably more because Uncle Toby, when he was hard pressed in argument, +"had accustomed himself, in such attacks, to whistle Lillibullero," than +for any other reason. + +But whether it be doggerel or dignified verse, popular poetry almost +invariably possesses one great merit. When we read the outpourings of +the seventeenth and eighteenth century poets to the innumerable Julias, +Sacharissas, and Celias whom they celebrated in verse, we cannot but +feel that we are often in contact with a display of spurious passion +which is the outcome of the head rather than of the heart. Thus Johnson +tells us that Prior's Chloe "was probably sometimes ideal, but the woman +with whom he cohabited was a despicable drab of the lowest species." The +case of popular and patriotic poetry is very different. It is wholly +devoid of affectation. Whatever be its literary merits or demerits, it +always represents some genuine and usually deep-rooted conviction. It +enables us to gauge the national aspirations of the day, and to +estimate the character of the nation whose yearnings found expression in +song. The following lines--written by Bishop Still, the reputed author +of "Gammer Gurton's Needle"--very faithfully represent the feelings +excited in England at the time of the Spanish Armada: + + We will not change our Credo + For Pope, nor boke, nor bell; + And yf the Devil come himself + We'll hounde him back to hell. + +The fiery Protestant spirit which is breathed forth in these lines found +its counterpart in Germany. Luther, at a somewhat earlier period, wrote: + + Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, + Und steur des Papsts und Trken Mord. + +Take again the case of French Revolutionary poetry. The noble, as also +the ignoble, sides of that vast upheaval were alike represented in the +current popular poetry of the day. Posterity has no difficulty in +understanding why the whole French nation was thrilled by Rouget de +Lisle's famous song, to whose lofty strains the young conscripts rushed +to the frontier in order to hurl back the invaders of their country. On +the other hand, the ferocity of the period found expression in such +lines as: + + Ah! a ira, a ira, a ira! + Les aristocrates la lanterne, + +which was composed by one Ladr, a street singer, or in the savage +"Carmagnole," a name originally applied to a peasant costume worn in the +Piedmontese town of Carmagnola, and afterwards adopted by the Maenads +and Bacchanals, who sang and danced in frenzied joy over the judicial +murder of poor "Monsieur et Madame Vto." + +The light-hearted and characteristically Latin buoyancy of the French +nation, which they have inherited from the days of that fifth-century +Gaulish bishop (Salvianus) who said that the Roman world was laughing +when it died ("moritur et ridet"), and which has stood them in good +stead in many an arduous trial, is also fully represented in their +national poetry. No other people, after such a crushing defeat as that +incurred at Pavia, would have been convulsed with laughter over the +innumerable stanzas which have immortalised their slain commander, M. de +la Palisse: + + Il mourut le vendredi, + Le dernier jour de son ge; + S'il fut mort le samedi, + Il et vcu davantage. + +The inchoate national aspirations, as also the grave and resolute +patriotism of the Germans, found interpreters of genius in the persons +of Arndt and Krner, the latter of whom laid down his life for the +people whom he loved so well. During the Napoleonic period all their +compositions, many of which will live so long as the German language +lasts, strike the same note--the determination of Germans to be free: + + Lasst klingen, was nur klingen kann, + Die Trommeln und die Flten! + Wir wollen heute Mann fr Mann + Mit Blut das Eisen rten. + Mit Henkerblut, Franzsenblut-- + O ssser Tag der Rache! + Das klinget allen Deutschen gut, + Das ist die grosse Sache. + +Some six decades later, when Arndt's famous question "Was ist das +deutsche Vaterland?" was about to receive a practical answer, the German +soldier marched to the frontier to the inspiriting strains of "Die Wacht +am Rhein." + +No more characteristic national poetry was ever written than that evoked +by the civil war which raged in America some fifty years ago. Those who, +like the present writer, were witnesses on the spot of some portion of +that great struggle, are never likely to forget the different +impressions left on their minds by the poetry respectively of the North +and of the South. The pathetic song of the Southerners, "Maryland, my +Maryland," which was composed by Mr. T.R. Randall, appeared, even +whilst the contest was still undecided, to embody the plaintive wail of +a doomed cause, and stood in strong contrast to the aggressive and +almost rollicking vigour of "John Brown's Body" and "The Union for ever, +Hurrah, boys, Hurrah!" + +Even a nation so little distinguished in literature as the Ottoman Turks +is able, under the stress of genuine patriotism, to embody its hopes and +aspirations in stirring verse. The following, which was written during +the last Russo-Turkish war, suffers in translation. Its rhythm and +heroic, albeit savage, vigour may perhaps even be appreciated by those +who are not familiar with the language in which it is written: + + Achalum sanjaklari! + Ghechelim Balkanlari! + Allah! Allah! deyerek, + Dushman kanin' ichelim! + Padishahmiz chok yasha! + Ghazi Osman chok yasha![109] + +Let us now turn to Italy and Greece, the nations from which modern +Europe inherits most of its ideas, and which have furnished the greater +part of the models in which those ideas are expressed, whether in prose +or in verse. + +Although lines from Virgil, who may almost be said to have created Roman +Imperialism, have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, it is +probable that in his day no popular poetry, in the sense in which we +should understand the word, existed. But there is something extremely +pathetic--more especially in the days when the Empire was hastening to +its ruin--in the feeling, little short of adoration, which the Latin +poets showed to the city of Rome, and in the overweening confidence +which they evinced in the stability of Roman rule. This feeling runs +through the whole of Latin literature from the days of Ovid and Virgil +to the fifth-century Rutilius, who was the last of the classic poets. +Virgil speaks of Rome as "the mistress of the world" (maxima rerum +Roma). Claudian deified Rome, "O numen amicum et legum genetrix," and +Rutilius wrote: + + Exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi, + Inter sidereos Roma recepta polos, + Exaudi, genetrix hominum, genetrixque deorum, + Non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus. + +Modern Italians have made ample amends for any lack of purely popular +poetry which may have prevailed in the days of their ancestors. It +would, indeed, have been strange if the enthusiasm for liberty which +arose in the ranks of a highly gifted and emotional nation such as the +Italians had not found expression in song. When the proper time came, +Giusti, Carducci, Mameli, Gordigiani, and scores of others voiced the +patriotic sentiments of their countrymen. They all dwelt on the theme +embodied in the stirring Garibaldian hymn: + + Va fuori d'Italia! + Va fuori, o stranier! + +It will suffice to quote, as an example of the rest, one stanza from an +"Inno di Guerra" chosen at random from a collection of popular poetry +published at Turin in 1863: + + Coraggio ... All' armi, all' armi, + O fanti e cavalieri, + Snudiamo ardenti e fieri, + Snudiam l'invitto acciar! + Dall' Umbria mesto e oppresso + Ci chiama il pio fratello, + Rispondasi all' appello, + Corriamo a guerreggiar! + +The cramping isolation of the city-states of ancient Greece arrested the +growth of Hellenic nationalism, and therefore precluded the birth of any +genuinely nationalist poetry. But it only required the occasion to arise +in order to give birth to patriotic song. Such an occasion was furnished +when, under the pressing danger of Asiatic invasion, some degree of +Hellenic unity and cohesion was temporarily achieved. Then the tuneful +Simonides recorded the raising of an altar to "Zeus, the free man's god, +a fair token of freedom for Hellas." + +In more modern times the long struggle for Greek independence produced a +crop of poets who, if they could not emulate the dignity and linguistic +elegance of their predecessors, were none the less able to express their +national aspirations in rugged but withal very tuneful verse which went +straight to the hearts of their countrymen. The Klephtic ballads played +a very important part in rousing the Greek spirit during the +Graeco-Turkish war at the beginning of the last century. The fine ode of +the Zantiote Solomos has been adopted as the national anthem, whilst the +poetry of another Ionian, Aristotle Valaorites, and of numerous others +glows with genuine and perfervid patriotism. But perhaps the greatest +nationalist poet that modern Greece has produced was Rhigas Pheraios, +who, as proto-martyr in the Greek cause, was executed by the Turks in +1798, with the prophecy on his dying lips that he had "sown a rich seed, +and that the hour was coming when his country would reap its glorious +fruits." His Greek Marseillaise ([Greek: Deute paides tn Hellnn]) is +known to Englishmen through Byron's translation, "Sons of the Greeks, +arise, etc." But the glorious lilt and swing of his _Polemisterion_, +though probably familiar to every child in Greece, is less known in this +country. The lines, + + [Greek: kallitera mias hras eleuther z, + para saranta chronn sklabia kai phylak,] + +recall to the mind Tennyson's + + Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. + +[Footnote 109: + + Let us unfurl the standards! + Let us cross the Balkans! + Shouting "Allah! Allah!" + Let us drink the blood of the foe! + Long live our Padishah! + Long live Ghazi Osman! +] + + + + +XXIX + +SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY + +_"The Spectator," September 20, 1913_ + + +A British Aeschylus, were such a person conceivable, might very fitly +tell his countrymen, in the words addressed to Prometheus some +twenty-three centuries ago, that they would find no friend more staunch +than Oceanus: + + [Greek: ou gar pot' ereis hs keanou + philos esti bebaioteros soi.] + +In truth, the whole national life of England is summed up in the fine +lines of Swinburne: + + All our past comes wailing in the wind, + And all our future thunders in the sea. + +The natural instincts of a maritime nation are brought out in strong +relief throughout the whole of English literature, from its very birth +down to the present day. The author of "The Lay of Beowulf," whoever he +may have been, rivalled Homer in the awe-stricken epithets he applied to +the "immense stream of ocean murmuring with foam" (_Il._ xviii. 402). +"Then," he wrote, "most like a bird, the foamy-necked floater went +wind-driven over the sea-wave; ... the sea-timber thundered; the wind +over the billows did not hinder the wave-floater in her course; the +sea-goer put forth; forth over the flood floated she, foamy-necked, over +the sea-streams, with wreathed prow until they could make out the cliffs +of the Goths." + +Although the claim of Alfred the Great to be the founder of the British +navy is now generally rejected by historians, it is certain that from +the very earliest times the need of dominating the sea was present in +the minds of Englishmen, and that this feeling gained in strength as the +centuries rolled on and the value of sea-power became more and more +apparent. In a poem entitled "The Libel of English Policy," which is +believed to have been written about the year 1436, the following lines +occur: + + Kepe then the see abought in specialle, + Whiche of England is the rounde walle; + As thoughe England were lykened to a cit. + And the walle enviroun were the see. + Kepe then the see, that is the walle of England, + And then is England kepte by Goddes sonde. + +A long succession of poets dwelt on the same theme. Waller--presumably +during a Royalist phase of his chequered career--addressed the King in +lines which forestalled the very modern political idea that a powerful +British navy is not only necessary for the security of England, but also +affords a guarantee for the peace of all the world: + + Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings + Homage to thee, and peace to all, she brings. + +Thomson's "Rule, Britannia," was not composed till 1740, but before that +time the heroism displayed both by the navy collectively and by +individual sailors was frequently celebrated in popular verse. The death +of Admiral Benbow, who continued to give orders after his leg had been +carried off by a chain-shot at the battle of Carthagena in 1702, is +recorded in the lines: + + While the surgeon dressed his wounds + Thus he said, thus he said, + While the surgeon dressed his wounds thus he said: + "Let my cradle now in haste + On the quarter-deck be placed, + That my enemies I may face + Till I'm dead, till I'm dead." + +But it was more especially the long struggle with Napoleon that led to +an outburst of naval poetry. It is to the national feelings current +during this period that we owe such songs as "The Bay of Biscay, O," by +Andrew Cherry; "Hearts of Oak," by David Garrick[110]; "The Saucy +Arethusa," by Prince Hoare; "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea," by Allan +Cunningham; "Ye Mariners of England," by Thomas Campbell, and a host of +others. Amongst this nautical choir, Charles Dibdin, who was born in +1745, stands pre-eminent. Sir Cyprian Bridge, in his introduction to Mr. +Stone's collection of _Sea Songs_, tells us that it is doubtful whether +Dibdin's songs "were ever very popular on the forecastle." The really +popular songs, he thinks, were of a much more simple type, and were +termed "Fore-bitters," from the fact that the man who sang them took his +place on the fore-bitts, "a stout construction of timber near the +foremast, through which many of the principal ropes were led." However +this may be, there cannot be the smallest doubt that Dibdin's songs +exercised a very powerful effect on landsmen, and contributed greatly to +foster national pride in the navy and popular sympathy with sailors. It +was presumably a cordial recognition of this fact that led Pitt to grant +him a pension. It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive poetry more +calculated to make the chord of national sentiment vibrate responsively +than "Tom Bowling" or that well-known song in which Dibdin depicted at +once the high sense of duty and the rough, albeit affectionate, +love-making of "Poor Jack": + + I said to our Poll, for, d'ye see, she would cry, + When last we made anchor for sea, + What argufies sniv'ling and piping your eye? + Why, what a damn'd fool you must be! + . . . . . + As for me in all weathers, all times, tides and ends, + Nought's a trouble from duty that springs, + For my heart is my Poll's, and my rhino my friend's, + And as for my life it's the King's; + Even when my time comes, ne'er believe me so soft + As for grief to be taken aback, + For the same little cherub that sits up aloft + Will look out a good berth for poor Jack! + +Pride in the navy and its commanders is breathed forth in the following +eulogy of Admiral Jervis (Lord St. Vincent): + + You've heard, I s'pose, the people talk + Of Benbow and Boscawen, + Of Anson, Pocock, Vernon, Hawke, + And many more then going; + All pretty lads, and brave, and rum, + That seed much noble service; + But, Lord, their merit's all a hum, + Compared to Admiral Jervis! + +"Tom Tough" is an example of the same spirit: + + I've sailed with gallant Howe, I've sailed with noble Jervis, + And in valiant Duncan's fleet I've sung yo, heave ho! + Yet more ye shall be knowing, + I was cox'n to Boscawen, + And even with brave Hawke have I nobly faced the foe. + +Perfervid patriotism and ardent loyalty find expression in the following +swinging lines: + + Some drank our Queen, and some our land, + Our glorious land of freedom; + Some that our tars might never stand + For heroes brave to lead 'em! + That beauty in distress might find + Such friends as ne'er would fail her; + But the standing toast that pleased the most + Was--the wind that blows, the ship that goes, + And the lass that loves the sailor! + +The whole-hearted Gallophobia which prevailed at the period, but which +did not preclude generous admiration for a gallant foe, finds, of +course, adequate expression in most of the songs of the period. Thus an +unknown author, who, it is believed, lived at the commencement rather +than at the close of the eighteenth century, wrote: + + Stick stout to orders, messmates, + We'll plunder, burn, and sink, + Then, France, have at your first-rates, + For Britons never shrink: + We'll rummage all we fancy, + We'll bring them in by scores, + And Moll and Kate and Nancy + Shall roll in louis-d'ors. + +It was long before this spirit died out. Twenty-two years after the +battle of Waterloo, when, on the occasion of the coronation of Queen +Victoria, Marshal Soult visited England and it was suggested that the +Duke of Wellington should propose the health of the French army at a +public dinner, he replied: "D---- 'em. I'll have nothing to do with them +but beat them." + +Inspiriting songs, such as "When Johnny comes marching home" and "The +British Grenadiers," which, Mr. Stone informs us, "cannot be older than +1678, when the Grenadier Company was formed, and not later than 1714, +when hand-grenades were discontinued," abundantly testify to the fact +that the British soldier has also not lacked poets to vaunt his prowess. +Many of the military songs have served as a distinct stimulus to +recruiting, and possibly some of them were written with that express +object in view. Sir Ian Hamilton, in his preface to Mr. Stone's +collection of _War Songs_, says, "The Royal Fusiliers are the heroes of +a modern but inspiriting song, 'Fighting with the 7th Royal Fusiliers.' +It was composed in the early 'nineties, and produced such an +overwhelming rush of recruits that the authorities could easily, had +they so chosen, have raised several additional battalions." The writer +of the present article remembers in his childhood to have learnt the +following lines from his old nurse, who was the widow of a corporal in +the army employed in the recruiting service: + + 'Twas in the merry month of May, + When bees from flower to flower do hum, + And soldiers through the town march gay, + And villagers flock to the sound of the drum. + Young Roger swore he'd leave his plough, + His team and tillage all begun; + Of country life he'd had enow, + He'd leave it all and follow the drum. + +The British military has perhaps been somewhat less happily inspired +than the naval muse. Nevertheless the army can boast of some good +poetry. "Why, soldiers, why?" the authorship of which is sometimes +erroneously attributed to Wolfe, is a fine song, and the following lines +written by an unknown author after the crushing blow inflicted on Lord +Galway's force at Almanza, in 1707, display that absence of +discouragement after defeat which is perhaps one of the most severe +tests by which the discipline and spirit of an army can be tried: + + Let no brave soldier be dismayed + For losing of a battle; + We have more forces coming on + Will make Jack Frenchman rattle. + +Abundant evidence might be adduced to show that the British soldier is +amenable to poetic influences. Sir Adam Fergusson, writing to Sir Walter +Scott on August 31, 1811, said that the canto of the _Lady of the Lake_ +describing the stag hunt "was the favourite among the rough sons of the +fighting Third Division," and Professor Courthope in his _History of +English Poetry_ quotes the following passage from Lockhart's _Life of +Scott_: + + When the _Lady of the Lake_ first reached Sir Adam Fergusson, he + was posted with his company on a point of ground exposed to the + enemy's artillery; somewhere no doubt on the lines of Torres + Vedras. The men were ordered to lie prostrate on the ground; while + they kept that attitude, the Captain, kneeling at their head, read + aloud the description of the battle in Canto VI., and the listening + soldiers only interrupted him by a joyous huzza whenever the French + shot struck the bank close above them. + +Finally, before leaving this subject, it may be noted that amidst the +verse, sometimes pathetic and sometimes rollicking, which appealed more +especially to the naval and military temperament, there occasionally +cropped up a political allusion which is very indicative of the state of +popular feeling at the time the songs were composed. Thus the following, +from a song entitled "A cruising we will go," shows the unpopularity of +the war waged against the United States in 1812: + + Be Britain to herself but true, + To France defiance hurled; + Give peace, America, with you, + And war with all the world. + +The sixteenth-century Spaniards embodied a somewhat similar maxim of +State policy as applied to England in the following distich, the +principle of which was, however, flagrantly violated by that fervent +Catholic, Philip II.: + + Con todo el mundo guerra + Y paz con Inglaterra. + +[Footnote 110: Since writing the above it has been pointed out to me +that Garrick's song was composed during the Seven Years' War +(1756-63).] + + + + +INDEX + + +Abu'l'Ala, 65 + +Acton, Lord, and the Turks, 80, 223, 266 + +Acton, Lord, on the making of history, 432 + +Adrianople, occupation of, 411 + +Akbar, Emperor, 40 + +Alexandria, society at, 228 + +Alfred the Great, 450 + +Algeria, French in, 250-263 + +Alison, 216 + +Alliteration, 71 + +Almanza, song on defeat at, 456 + +America and Free Trade, 134, 138 + +America, war with, in 1812, unpopularity of, 457 + +Amherst, Lord, occupies Burma, 288 + +Anarchy, 20 + +Ancient Art and Ritual, 361-371 + +Andrade, Colonel Freire d', 380, 383, 384 + +Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, 162, 167 + +Anglo-Saxon individualism, 15 + +Anthology, translations from, 72 + +Anthropology, bases of, 364 + +Antigonus Gonatas, 351 + +Anti-Slavery Society, 373 + +Apollo Belvedere, 370 + +Aratus of Sicyon, 358 + +Army reform, 107-126 + +Arndt, national poetry, 443 + +Arthur, Sir George, 123 + +Asoka, 355 + +Assouan dam, 296 + +Athenaeus, on dancing, 370 + +Attwood, Mr. Charles, 196 + +Aulard, M., on Taine, 430 + +_Aurengzebe_, 73 + +Australia, field of anthropology, 365 + + +Bacchylides, 65 + +Bacon, 31 + +Barre, 299 + +Barth, Dr., on Hinduism, 88 + +Beaconsfield, Lord, and Egypt, 203 + +Beaconsfield, Lord, and Empress of India, 422 + +Bembo, Cardinal, 56 + +Benbow, Admiral, death of, 451 + +Beowulf, on the sea, 450 + +Berthier, Marshal, 279 + +Bismarck, Prince, on statesmanship, 251 + +_Bleak House_, 119 + +Blennerhassett, Lady, 427-438 + +Blcher, Marshal, hallucinations of, 285 + +Blunt, Mr. Wilfrid, 81 + +Bodley, Mr., on French administration, 436 + +Boell, M. Paul, 418 + +Bolingbroke, 182 + +Bossuet, definition of heretic, 307 + +Boufflers, Madame de, 231 + +Brahmanism, Sir A. Lyall on, 89 + +Bright, John, and Disraeli, 183 + +British officials and parliamentary institutions, 27 + +Browning, Mrs., 60 + +Brunnow, Baron, and the Balkan States, 275 + +Bryce, Mr., on the writing of history, 214 + +Budget system, 44 + +Buffon, on style, 184 + +Bugeaud, Marshal, 257 + +Bureaucracy, Continental, 29 + +Burgoyne, Sir John, 281 + +Burke, on fiscal symmetry, 39 + +Burma, 287-297 + +Butcher, Dr. S, on Eastern politics, 26 + + +Cabarrus, La (Madame Tallien), 298-306 + +Cambronne, 298 + +Campbell, Lord, Disraeli on, 186 + +Canada and Free Trade, 131 + +Capitulations in Egypt, 156-174 + +Capo d'Istria, Count, 271 + +Cardwell, Lord, 109, 116, 117, 119 + +Carlyle, 219 + +"Carmagnole," the, 442 + +Cavagnari, Major, murder of, 100 + +Cavour, 269, 272 + +Centralisation, 34 + +Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, 244, 248 + +China, 141-155 + +Chinese labour, 147 + +Chinese War of 1860, 120 + +Chitnavis, Sir Gangadhar, 334, 335 + +Chremonides, 357, 358 + +Christianity, effect on Roman Empire, 7-19, 52, 53 + +Claudian on duration of Roman Empire, 1 + +Clinton, Mr. Fynes, 216 + +Cobden, Mr., 127 + +Cobdenism, abuse of, 328 + +Coleridge, on poetry, 59 + +Coleridge, on prose, 55 + +Collier, Jeremy, on Cranmer's death, 56 + +Commerce and Imperialism, 11 + +Confucianism, 143, 153 + +Constantinople, foundation of, 7 + +Constitutions in the East, 141 + +Cornwallis, Lord, 36 + +_Corve_ in Egypt, 396 + +Cory, Mr. William, 69 + +Cowley's translation of Claudian, 67 + +Creighton, 222 + +Crewe, Marquis of, 330 + +Crimean War and India, 410 + +Crowe, Sir Eyre, 375 + +Curiales, Fiscal Oppression of, 21 + +Curtius Rufinus, 356 + +Curtius, Professor, on the Greek language, 226 + +Curzon, Lord, on army affairs, 243 + +Cyprus, occupation of, 276, 413 + + +Danton, 302, 303 + +Deffand, Madame du, 212 + +Delhi, transfer of Indian Capital to, 424 + +Delos, possession of, 358 + +Demetrius, on style, 227 + +Democracy and Imperialism, 23 + +Democritus, epigram of, 231 + +Demolins, M., on Anglo-Saxons, 15, 28 + +Demosthenes, Professor Bury, on oratory, 57 + +Derby, Lord, the Rupert of debate, 184 + +Dibdin, 452-454 + +Didactic poetry, 61 + +Dietzel, Professor, 137, 337 + +Dino, Duchesse de, 59 + +Disraeli, 177-203 + +Dithyramb, meaning of word, 361 + +Dostoevsky, 205, 210 + +Draga, Queen, 271 + +Dryden, on translation, 55 + +Duckworth, Admiral, 270 + +Dufferin, Lord, and Egypt, 25, 160 + + +East India Company, policy of, 17 + +Education in China, 150 + +Egypt, recent history of, 253 + +Emerson, 54 + +Emerson, on inconsistency, 243 + +Empedocles, translation of, 62 + +Emu Man, 362 + +England and Islam, 407-415 + +English individualism, 30 + +Ennius, 345 + +Epicharmus, 82 + +Esquimaux tug of-war, 363 + +Euhemerism, 89 + +Exarch, Bulgarian, 268 + +Expropriation under Roman law, 41 + + +Famines in India, 146 + +Farrer, Lord, on trade, 12 + +Ferry, M. Jules, and Burma, 290 + +Finance of Roman Empire, 36 + +Fisher, Mr., on _Napoleonic Statesmanship_, 436 + +Flag for India, 423 + +"Fore-bitters," 452 + +Forest Department, Burmese, 294 + +Fouch, 305 + +Free Trade, international aspects of, 127-140 + +Froude, 219 + + +Gardiner, historian of the Stuart period, 221 + +George IV. and Napoleon, 282 + +German word-coining, 70 + +Gibbon and the sciences, 308 + +Gladstone, Mr., translations, 63 + +Gogol, 211 + +Gooch, Mr., 214 + +Gordon, General, and the Mahdi, 101-102 + +Goschen, Lord, and Disraeli, 198 + +Government of Subject Races, 1-53 + +Graham, Sir James, 192 + +Grant, Sir Hope, as a musician, 284 + +Greek adjectives, 70 + +Greek drama, 366 + +Greek joyousness, 212 + +Gregorovius on foreign rule, 84 + +Grenadiers, British, 455 + +Grey, Sir Edward, 168, 411, 412 + +Grey, Sir Edward, definition of slavery, 387, 391, 393 + +Grey, Sir Edward, diplomatic success of, 276 + +Grey, Sir Edward, on the Balkan Peninsula, 407 + +Gribodof, 210 + +Grundy, Dr., translations, 232 + +Guizot, 217 + + +Hacklnder, on European slave life, 386 + +Hamilton, Alexander, 138 + +Hamilton, Lord George, on Sir Alfred Lyall, 92 + +Harrison, Miss, 361-371 + +Havelock's love of Homer, 359 + +Headlam, Dr., 68 + +Heliogabalus, the Emperor, 299 + +Helps, Sir Arthur, on inaccuracy, 373 + +Hermann, Professor, 311 + +Herrick, translation of, 68 + +Hieronymus, 354 + +History, the writing of, 214-225 + +Hodgkin, Dr. Thomas, 1, 7, 20, 36, 347 + +Homer's women, 315 + +Humanitarianism, 378 + +Hunkiar-Iskelesi, Treaty of, 271 + + +Ilbert Bill, 94 + +Imperial schools of thought, 10 + +Imperialism, Mr. Mallik on, 321 + +Imperialist, profession of faith of, 1 + +India Council, 33 + +India, Customs duties in, 329 + +India, Fiscal Question in, 327-339 + +Indian Frontier policy, 47-49 + +Indian Problems, 416-426 + +Indiction, Roman, 36 + +_Ion_, Dr. Verrall on, 314 + +Ireland, Disraeli's opinion on, 193-194 + +Islam, influence of, 347 + +Italian patriotic poetry, 446 + + +Jaray, M., 165 + +Jebb, Professor, on the humanities, 308 + +Jervis, Admiral, 453 + +Judicial reform in Algeria, 258 + +Julian the Apostate, 353 + +Jute, duty on, 336 + + +Keats, on Melancholy, 60 + +Kennedy, Mr., translations, 68 + +Kitchener, Viscount, 114, 169, 174, 255 + +Klephtic ballads, 447 + + +Labour, free, at San Thom, 400 + +Lacretelle and Madame Tallien, 301 + +Lamartine, 218 + +Lamb on sanity of genius, 61 + +Land revenue system in India, 42-45 + +Land tax in Eastern countries, 40 + +Lanfrey, 218 + +Lawrence, Lord, Afghan policy, 100 + +Lawrence, Lord, Central Asian policy, 47 + +Lawrence, Lord, on Indian Taxation, 45 + +Lawson's Greek Folk-Lore, 368 + +Le Bon, M., on national characteristics, 429 + +Lear, Edward, in Italy, 142 + +Lecky, on morals in politics, 19 + +Legislation in India, 39 + +Lermontof, 210 + +Lessing and Greece, 312 + +Lethbridge, Sir Roper, 327-339 + +"Lillibullero," 439 + +List, Friedrich, on Free Trade, 131 + +Livingstone, Dr., on Portuguese, 11 + +Lucian, 56 + +Lucretius, Dryden's translation of, 62 + +Luther, hymn by, 441 + +Lyall, Sir Alfred, 77-103 + +Lyall, Sir Alfred, on uniformity, 350 + +_Lycidas_, Professor Walker on, 60 + +Lycon, the philosopher, 354 + +Lytton, Earl of, 99 + + +Macaulay, partiality of, 221 + +MacDonald, Mr. Ramsay, 417 + +Mahabharata, 419 + +Mahaffy, Professor, 229 + +Mahdi, the, Sir Alfred Lyall on, 101 + +Mahmoud II., 270 + +Maine, Sir Henry, 96 + +Mallik, Mr., 317-326 + +Manchester School, Disraeli on, 194 + +Manipur massacres, 91 + +Marie Antoinette, 242 + +Marquardt, 216 + +"Maryland, my Maryland," 443 + +Massna, Marshal, 279 + +Maurice, Sir Frederick, 360 + +McIlwraith, Sir Malcolm, 360 + +Meath, Earl of, 424 + +Mecca, importance of, 409 + +Melbourne, Lord, 185 + +Militarism, 126 + +Miller, Mr., 264-276 + +Millet, M. Philippe, 259-262 + +Milner, Viscount, and Party, 237-249 + +Mindon, King of Burma, 289 + +Missionaries in China, 147 + +Mitford, 216 + +Mitra, Mr. S.M., 416-426 + +Mommsen, 216 + +Montalembert, 218 + +Mookerjee, Sir Rajendra, 419, 426 + +Moslems in India, 407 + +Motley, 219 + + +Napoleon, a bad shot, 279 + +Napoleon and Corsica, 433 + +Napoleon and Count Chaptal, 349 + +Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire, 264 + +Napoleon and the battle of Vittoria, 437 + +Napoleon, Roederer on, 92-93 + +Napoleon, Taine on, 348, 427-438 + +Napoleon's patent of nobility, 355 + +Napoleon, Joseph, 437 + +Newbolt, Mr., 91 + +Nicholson, Professor Shield, 135 + +Nietzsche, on Greek simplicity, 227 + +Northbrook, Lord, 118 + +Novelists, political influence of, 208 + + +Ottoman Empire, 264-276 + +Ouvrard, the Banker, 306 + + +Pakenham, Miss (Duchess of Wellington), 283 + +Palisse, M de la, 442 + +Palmerston, Lord, and the Eastern question, 274 + +_Paradise Lost_ and Euripides, 66 + +Paris Commune, 20 + +Party system, 240 + +Pauperisation of Roman Proletariat, 19 + +Peacock, T.L., on education, 310 + +Peasant proprietorship, 197 + +Peel, Sir Robert, 185, 190, 192 + +Peel, Sir Robert, on Free Trade, 199-202 + +Peel, Sir Robert, unpopularity, 202 + +Pericles and public works, 296 + +Pericles, metaphor of, 58 + +Philip II., 457 + +Physiocrates, 16 + +Pitt, on British trade, 11 + +Plagiarism, 65 + +Plato, epitaph by, 235 + +Plevna, defence of, 272 + +Poe, Edgar, 60 + +Poetry, Aristotelian canon, 229 + +_Polemisterion_, 448 + +Polish Diet, 173 + +Poole, Mr. Stanley Lane-, 149 + +"Poor Jack," 453 + +"Popkins's plan," 186 + +Portuguese in Africa, 11 + +Portuguese slavery, 372-406 + +Pouchkine, 210 + +Principe, Island of, 398 + +Prot, epitaph on, 236 + +Prudentius, epitaph on Julian, 353 + +Ptolemy Keraunos, 357 + +Pyrrhus, 352 + + +Rangoon, 290 + +Rao, Sir Dinkur, 84 + +Redmond, Mr., 143 + +Red River campaign, 112 + +Reid, Mr., 340 + +Rhigas Pheraios, 447 + +Ridgeway, Professor, 365 + +Ripon, Marquis of, 98, 331 + +Robespierre, 300, 302, 303, 305 + +Roebuck, Mr. Disraeli on, 186 + +Roman Empire, cause of downfall, 7 + +Rome and Municipal Government, 340-350 + +"Rosa Rosarum," 234 + +_Round Table_, article in, 246 + +Rump, Herr, 152 + +Russian Romance, 204-213 + +Rutilius on power of Rome, 445 + + +Sainte-Beuve, 217 + +St. Cyr, Marshal, as a musician, 284 + +St. Ovinus, epitaph on, 58 + +St.-Victor, Paul de, 57 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, 173 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, and immigrant coolies, 405 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, foreign policy, 101, 123 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, and Turkey, 265 + +Sappho, translation of, 67 + +Scott, Sir George, 291, 294, 295, 297 + +Scott, Sir Walter, advice to Shelley, 285 + +Scott, Sir Walter, Carlyle on, 219 + +Scott, Sir Walter, influence of his poetry on soldiers, 456 + +Seeley, Sir Thomas, 223 + +Sharaki lands in Egypt, 42 + +Shelburne, Lord, 182 + +Shelley, on translating, 59 + +Shelley, Lady, 277-286 + +Silva, Carlos de, 389, 391 + +Slavery, 19 + +Smallbones, Mr., 386, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 403, 406 + +Smith, Dr. Adam, 16 + +Smith, Rev. Sydney, 142 + +Songs, Naval and Military, 449-457 + +Songs, Patriotic and National, 439 + +Soudan, campaign of 1896-98, 112 + +Soudan, commercial policy in, 139 + +Soudan, slavery in the, 379 + +Stal, Madame de, and Napoleon, 434 + +Still, Bishop, 441 + +Stratonice, 356 + +Sultans not rightful Caliphs, 409 + +Surgeon, the, and the soldier, 111 + +Swadeshi movement in India, 86 + +Swift, Dean, 208 + +Swinburne, on the sea, 449 + +Symmons, Dr., on blank verse, 62 + +Szechuan Railway Company, 151 + + +Taine, on Napoleon, 427 + +Tallien, 298-306 + +Tariff wars, 137 + +Tell, William, legend of, 217 + +Tenasserim and E.I. Co. directors, 288 + +Tennyson and Euripides, 65, 81 + +Themistocles, saying of, 341 + +Theodosius, 84 + +Thibaw, King of Burma, 289 + +Thiers on French Conservatism, 197 + +Tiberius, 349 + +Tolstoy, 212 + +Toryism, middle-class, 196 + +Tourguenef, 211 + +Translation and Paraphrase, 54-73 + +Turgot on corporate bodies, 18 + +Turkish war-song, 444 + + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_, 208 + +Usury in the East, 43 + +Utilitarianism, 309 + + +Vandal, M., 142 + +Vasconcellos, Senhor, 383, 404 + +Vauvenargues, 65 + +Venezlos, M., 269 + +Verrall, Dr., 312-316 + +Viceroy of India and his Council, 33 + +Vog, M. de, 204 + +Voltaire, 209, 434 + + +Waller, on the British Navy, 451 + +Walpole, Sir Robert, 240 + +War Office, 115 + +Wellington, Duke of, and the Ottoman Empire, 264 + +Wellington, Duke of, as a musician, 284 + +Wellington, Duke of, at Waterloo, 284 + +Wellington, Duke of, hatred of French, 454 + +Wellington, Duke of, on Cambronne, 298 + +Wellington, Duke of, on India, 10 + +Wellingtoniana, 277-286 + +Wensleydale, Lord, translation by, 67 + +Wilson, Sir Fleetwood, 332, 338 + +Wingfield, Mr., 402, 404 + +Wolfe, General, 359 + +Wolseley, Viscount, 107 + +Wolseley, Viscount, and Sir Frederick Maurice, 360 + +Wrede, Generals and Napoleon, 433 + +Wyllie, Colonel, 392, 398, 399, 401, 405 + + +THE END + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, +1908-1913, by Evelyn Baring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 17320-8.txt or 17320-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/2/17320/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/17320-8.zip b/17320-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e58f4cb --- /dev/null +++ b/17320-8.zip diff --git a/17320-h.zip b/17320-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd0116d --- /dev/null +++ b/17320-h.zip diff --git a/17320-h/17320-h.htm b/17320-h/17320-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c74f984 --- /dev/null +++ b/17320-h/17320-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11473 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Political And Literary Essays, 1908-1913, by the Earl of Cromer. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + ul { list-style-type: none; } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + color: gray; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 +by Evelyn Baring + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 + +Author: Evelyn Baring + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + + + + +Character set for HTML: ISO-8859-1 + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<h1>POLITICAL AND LITERARY</h1> + +<h1>ESSAYS</h1> + +<h3>1908-1913</h3> + + +<h4>BY THE</h4> + +<h2>EARL OF CROMER</h2> + +<h4> +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED<br /> +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON<br /> +1913 +</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h5> +MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> +LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MELBOURNE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br /> +TORONTO<br /> +</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>I have to thank the editors of <i>The Edinburgh</i> and <i>Quarterly Reviews</i>, +<i>The Nineteenth Century and After</i>, and <i>The Spectator</i> for allowing the +republication of these essays, all of which appeared originally in their +respective columns.</p> + +<p>No important alterations or additions have been made, but I should like +to observe, as regards the first essay of the series—on "The Government +of Subject Races"—that, although only six years have elapsed since it +was written, events in India have moved rapidly during that short +period. I adhere to the opinions expressed in that essay so far as they +go, but it will be obvious to any one who has paid attention to Indian +affairs that, if the subject had to be treated now, many very important +issues, to which I have not alluded, would have to be imported into the +discussion.</p> + +<p>CROMER.</p> + +<p><i>September 30, 1913.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='right'>PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='center'><b>"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW"</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>I.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Government of Subject Races</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_3'>3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>II.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Translation and Paraphrase</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='center'><b>"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW"</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>III.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sir Alfred Lyall</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='center'><b>"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER"</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>IV.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Army Reform</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>V.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The International Aspects of Free Trade</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_127'>127</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>VI.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">China</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>VII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Capitulations in Egypt</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='center'><b>"THE SPECTATOR"</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>VIII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Disraeli</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_177'>177</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>IX.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Russian Romance</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_204'>204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>X.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Writing of History</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XI.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Greek Anthology</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_226'>226</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lord Milner and Party</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XIII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The French in Algeria</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_250'>250</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XIV.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ottoman Empire</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_264'>264</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XV.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wellingtoniana</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_277'>277</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>XVI.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Burma</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_287'>287</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XVII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Pseudo-Hero of the Revolution</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_298'>298</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XVIII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Future of the Classics</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_307'>307</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XIX.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Indian Idealist</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_317'>317</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XX.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Fiscal Question in India</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_227'>227</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXI.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rome and Municipal Government</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_340'>340</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Royal Philosopher</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_351'>351</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXIII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Ancient Art and Ritual</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_361'>361</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXIV.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Portuguese Slavery</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_372'>372</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXV.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">England and Islam</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_407'>407</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXVI.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Some Indian Problems</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_416'>416</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXVII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Napoleon of Taine</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_427'>427</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXVIII.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Songs, Patriotic and National</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_439'>439</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XXIX.</td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Songs, Naval and Military</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_449'>449</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_459'>459</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW"</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>I</h2> + +<h3>THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Edinburgh Review," January 1908</i></h4> + + +<p>The "courtly Claudian," as Mr. Hodgkin, in his admirable and instructive +work, calls the poet of the Roman decadence, concluded some lines which +have often been quoted as applicable to the British Empire, with the +dogmatic assertion that no limit could be assigned to the duration of +Roman sway. <i>Nec terminus unquam Romanae ditionis erit.</i> At the time +this hazardous prophecy was made, the huge overgrown Roman Empire was +tottering to its fall. Does a similar fate await the British Empire? Are +we so far self-deceived, and are we so incapable of peering into the +future as to be unable to see that many of the steps which now appear +calculated to enhance and to stereotype Anglo-Saxon domina<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>tion, are but +the precursors of a period of national decay and senility?</p> + +<p>A thorough examination of this vital question would necessarily involve +the treatment of a great variety of subjects. The heart of the British +Empire is to be found in Great Britain. It is not proposed in this place +to deal either with the working of British political institutions, or +with the various important social and economic problems which the actual +condition of England presents, but only with the extremities of the body +politic, and more especially with those where the inhabitants of the +countries under British rule are not of Anglo-Saxon origin.</p> + +<p>What should be the profession of faith of a sound but reasonable +Imperialist? He will not be possessed with any secret desire to see the +whole of Africa or of Asia painted red on the maps. He will entertain +not only a moral dislike, but also a political mistrust of that +excessive earth-hunger, which views with jealous eyes the extension of +other and neighbouring European nations. He will have no fear of +competition. He will believe that, in the treatment of subject races, +the methods of government practised by England, though sometimes open to +legitimate criticism, are superior, morally and economically, to those +of any other foreign nation; and that, strong in the possession and +maintenance of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> those methods, we shall be able to hold our own against +all competitors.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, he will have no sympathy with those who, as Lord +Cromer said in a recent speech, "are so fearful of Imperial greatness +that they are unwilling that we should accomplish our manifest destiny, +and who would thus have us sink into political insignificance by +refusing the main title which makes us great."</p> + +<p>An Imperial policy must, of course, be carried out with reasonable +prudence, and the principles of government which guide our relations +with whatsoever races are brought under our control must be politically +and economically sound and morally defensible. This is, in fact, the +keystone of the Imperial arch. The main justification of Imperialism is +to be found in the use which is made of the Imperial power. If we make a +good use of our power, we may face the future without fear that we shall +be overtaken by the Nemesis which attended Roman misrule. If the reverse +is the case, the British Empire will deserve to fall, and of a surety it +will ultimately fall. There is truth in the saying, of which perhaps we +sometimes hear rather too much, that the maintenance of the Empire +depends on the sword; but so little does it depend on the sword alone +that if once we have to draw the sword, not merely to suppress some +local effervescence, but to over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>come a general upheaval of subject +races goaded to action either by deliberate oppression, which is highly +improbable, or by unintentional misgovernment, which is far more +conceivable, the sword will assuredly be powerless to defend us for +long, and the days of our Imperial rule will be numbered.</p> + +<p>To those who believe that when they rest from their earthly labours +their works will follow them, and that they must account to a Higher +Tribunal for the use or misuse of any powers which may have been +entrusted to them in this world, no further defence of the plea that +Imperialism should rest on a moral basis is required. Those who +entertain no such belief may perhaps be convinced by the argument that, +from a national point of view, a policy based on principles of sound +morality is wiser, inasmuch as it is likely to be more successful, than +one which excludes all considerations save those of cynical +self-interest. There was truth in the commonplace remark made by a +subject of ancient Rome, himself a slave and presumably of Oriental +extraction, that bad government will bring the mightiest empire to +ruin.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>Some advantage may perhaps be derived from inquiring, however briefly +and imperfectly, into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> the causes which led to the ruin of that +political edifice, which in point of grandeur and extent, is alone +worthy of comparison with the British Empire. The subject has been +treated by many of the most able writers and thinkers whom the world has +produced—Gibbon, Guizot, Mommsen, Milman, Seeley, and others. For +present purposes the classification given by Mr. Hodgkin of the causes +which led to the downfall of the Western Empire has been adopted. They +were six in number, viz.:</p> + +<p>1. The foundation of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>2. Christianity.</p> + +<p>3. Slavery.</p> + +<p>4. The pauperisation of the Roman proletariat.</p> + +<p>5. The destruction of the middle class by the fiscal oppression of the Curiales.</p> + +<p>6. Barbarous finance.</p> + +<p>1. <i>The Foundation of Constantinople.</i>—It is, for obvious reasons, +unnecessary to discuss this cause. It was one of special application to +the circumstances of the time, notably to the threatening attitude +towards Rome assumed by the now decadent State of Persia.</p> + +<p>2. <i>Christianity.</i>—That the foundation of Christianity exercised a +profoundly disintegrating effect on the Roman Empire is unquestionable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +Gibbon, although he possibly confounds the tenets of the new creed with +the defects of its hierarchy, dwells with characteristic emphasis on +this congenial subject.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Mr. Hodgkin, speaking of the analogy between +the British present and the Roman past, says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Christian religion is with us no explosive force threatening +the disruption of our most cherished institutions. On the contrary, +it has been said, not as a mere figure of speech, that +"Christianity is part of the common law of England." And even the +bitterest enemies of our religion will scarcely deny that, upon the +whole, a nation imbued with the teaching of the New Testament is +more easy to govern than one which derived its notions of divine +morality from the stories of the dwellers on Olympus.</p></div> + +<p>From the special point of view now under consideration, the case for +Christianity admits of being even more strongly stated than this, for no +attempt will be made to deal with the principles which should guide the +government of a people imbued with the teaching of the New Testament, +but rather with the subordinate, but still highly important question of +the treatment which a people, presumed to be already imbued with that +teaching, should accord to subject races who are ignorant or irreceptive +of its precepts. From this point of view it may be said that +Christianity, far from being an explosive force, is not merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> a +powerful ally. It is an ally without whose assistance continued success +is unattainable. Although dictates of worldly prudence and opportunism +are alone sufficient to ensure the rejection of a policy of official +proselytism, it is none the less true that the code of Christian +morality is the only sure foundation on which the whole of our vast +Imperial fabric can be built if it is to be durable. The stability of +our rule depends to a great extent upon whether the forces acting in +favour of applying the Christian code of morality to subject races are +capable of overcoming those moving in a somewhat opposite direction. We +are inclined to think that our Teutonic veracity and gravity, our +national conscientiousness, our British spirit of fair play, to use the +cant phrase of the day, our free institutions, and our press—which, +although it occasionally shows unpleasant symptoms of sinking beneath +the yoke of special and not highly reputable interests, is still greatly +superior in tone to that of any other nation—are sufficient guarantees +against relapse into the morass of political immorality which +characterised the relations between nation and nation, and notably +between the strong and the weak, even so late as the eighteenth +century.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> It is to be hoped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> and believed that, for the time being, +this contention is well founded, but what assurance is there—if the +Book which embodies the code of Christian morality may without +irreverence be quoted—that "that which is done is that which shall be +done"?<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> That is the crucial question.</p> + +<p>There appear to be at present existent in England two different Imperial +schools of thought, which, without being absolutely antagonistic, +represent very opposite principles. One school, which, for want of a +better name, may be styled that of philanthropy, is occasionally tainted +with the zeal which outruns discretion, and with the want of accuracy +which often characterises those whose emotions predominate over their +reason. The violence and want of mental equilibrium at times displayed +by the partisans of this school of thought not infrequently give rise to +misgivings lest the Duke of Wellington should have prophesied truly when +he said, "If you lose India, the House of Commons will lose it for +you."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> These manifest defects should not, however, blind us to the +fact that the philanthropists and sentimentalists are deeply imbued with +the grave national responsibilities which devolve on England, and with +the lofty aspirations which attach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> themselves to her civilising and +moralising mission.</p> + +<p>The other is the commercial school. Pitt once said that "British policy +is British trade." The general correctness of this aphorism cannot be +challenged, but, like most aphorisms, it only conveys a portion of the +truth; for the commercial spirit, though eminently beneficent when under +some degree of moral control, may become not merely hurtful, but even +subversive of Imperial dominion, when it is allowed to run riot. +Livingstone said that in five hundred years the only thing the natives +of Africa had learnt from the Portuguese was to distil bad spirits with +the help of an old gun barrel. This is, without doubt, an extreme +case—so extreme, indeed, that even the hardened conscience of +diplomatic Europe was eventually shamed into taking some half-hearted +action in the direction of preventing a whole continent from being +demoralised in order that the distillers and vendors of cheap spirits +might realise large profits. But it would not be difficult to cite other +analogous, though less striking, instances. Occasions are, indeed, not +infrequent when the interests of commerce apparently clash with those of +good government. The word "apparently" is used with intent; for though +some few individuals may acquire a temporary benefit by sacrificing +moral principle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> on the altar of pecuniary gain, it may confidently be +stated that, in respect to the wider and more lasting benefits of trade, +no real antagonism exists between commercial self-interest and public +morality.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>To be more explicit, what is meant when it is said that the commercial +spirit should be under some control is this—that in dealing with +Indians or Egyptians, or Shilluks, or Zulus, the first question is to +consider what course is most conducive to Indian, Egyptian, Shilluk, or +Zulu interests. We need not always inquire too closely what these +people, who are all, nationally speaking, more or less <i>in statu +pupillari</i>, themselves think is best in their own interests, although +this is a point which deserves serious consideration. But it is +essential that each special issue should be decided mainly with +reference to what,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> by the light of Western knowledge and experience +tempered by local considerations, we conscientiously think is best for +the subject race, without reference to any real or supposed advantage +which may accrue to England as a nation, or—as is more frequently the +case—to the special interests represented by some one or more +influential classes of Englishmen. If the British nation as a whole +persistently bears this principle in mind, and insists sternly on its +application, though we can never create a patriotism akin to that based +on affinity of race or community of language, we may perhaps foster some +sort of cosmopolitan allegiance grounded on the respect always accorded +to superior talents and unselfish conduct, and on the gratitude derived +both from favours conferred and from those to come.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> There may then at +all events be some hope that the Egyptian will hesitate before he throws +in his lot with any future Arabi The Berberine dweller on the banks of +the Nile may, perhaps, cast no wistful glances back to the time when, +albeit he or his progenitors were oppressed, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> oppression came from +the hand of a co-religionist. Even the Central African savage may +eventually learn to chant a hymn in honour of <i>Astraea Redux</i>, as +represented by the British official who denies him gin but gives him +justice. More than this, commerce will gain. It must necessarily follow +in the train of civilisation, and, whilst it will speedily droop if that +civilisation is spurious, it will, on the other hand, increase in volume +in direct proportion to the extent to which the true principles of +Western progress are assimilated by the subjects of the British king and +the customers of the British trader. This latter must be taught patience +at the hands, of the statesman and the moralist. It is a somewhat +difficult lesson to learn. The trader not only wishes to acquire wealth; +he not infrequently wishes that its acquisition should be rapid, even at +the expense of morality and of the permanent interests of his country.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Nam dives qui fieri vult,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et cito vult fieri. Sed quae reverentia legum,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quis metus aut pudor est unquam properantis avari?<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This question demands consideration from another point of view. A clever +Frenchman, keenly alive to what he thought was the decadence of his own +nation, published a remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> book in 1897. He practically admitted +that the Anglophobia so common on the continent of Europe is the outcome +of jealousy.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> He acknowledged the proved superiority of the +Anglo-Saxon over the Latin races, and he set himself to examine the +causes of that superiority. The general conclusion at which he arrived +was that the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race lay in the fact that its +society, its government, and its habits of thought were eminently +"particularist," as opposed to the "communitarian" principles prevalent +on the continent of Europe. He was probably quite right. It has, indeed, +become a commonplace of English political thought that for centuries +past, from the days of Raleigh to those of Rhodes, the position of +England in the world has been due more to the exertions, to the +resources, and occasionally, perhaps, to the absence of scruple found in +the individual Anglo-Saxon, than to any encouragement or help derived +from British Governments, whether of the Elizabethan, Georgian, or +Victorian type.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> The principle of relying largely on individual effort +has, in truth, produced marvellous results. It is singularly suited to +develop some of the best qualities of the vigorous, self-assertive +Anglo-Saxon race. It is to be hoped that self-help may long continue to +be our national watchword.</p> + +<p>It is now somewhat the fashion to regard as benighted the school of +thought which was founded two hundred years ago by Du Quesnay and the +French Physiocrates, which reached its zenith in the person of Adam +Smith, and whose influence rapidly declined in England after the great +battle of Free Trade had been fought and won. But whatever may have been +the faults of that school, and however little its philosophy is capable +of affording an answer to many of the complex questions which modern +government and society present, it laid fast hold of one unquestionably +sound principle. It entertained a deep mistrust of Government +interference in the social and economic relations of life. Moreover, it +saw, long before the fact became apparent to the rest of the world, +that, in spite not only of some outward dissimilarities of methods but +even of an instinctive mutual repulsion, despotic bureaucracy was the +natural ally of those communistic principles which the economists deemed +it their main business in life to combat and condemn. Many regard with +some disquietude the frequent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> concessions which have of late years been +made in England to demands for State interference. Nevertheless, it is +to be hoped that the main principle advocated by the economists still +holds the field, that individualism is not being crushed out of +existence, and that the majority of our countrymen still believe that +State interference—being an evil, although sometimes admittedly a +necessary evil—should be jealously watched and restricted to the +minimum amount absolutely necessary in each special case.</p> + +<p>Attention is drawn to this point in order to show that the observations +which follow are in no degree based on any general desire to exalt the +power of the State at the expense of the individual.</p> + +<p>Our habits of thought, our past history, and our national character all, +therefore, point in the direction of allowing individualism as wide a +scope as possible in the work of national expansion. Hence the career of +the East India Company and the tendency displayed more recently in +Africa to govern through the agency of private companies. On the other +hand, it is greatly to be doubted whether the principles, which a wise +policy would dictate in the treatment of subject races, will receive +their application to so full an extent at the hands of private +individuals as would be the case at the hands of the State. The +guarantee for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> good government is even less solid where power is +entrusted to a corporate body, for, as Turgot once said, "La morale des +corps les plus scrupuleux ne vaut jamais celle des particuliers +honnêtes."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In both cases, public opinion is relatively impotent. In +the case of direct Government action, on the other hand, the views of +those who wish to uphold a high standard of public morality can find +expression in Parliament, and the latter can, if it chooses, oblige the +Government to control its agents and call them to account for unjust, +unwise, or overbearing conduct. More than this, State officials, having +no interests to serve but those of good government, are more likely to +pay regard to the welfare of the subject race than commercial agents, +who must necessarily be hampered in their action by the pecuniary +interests of their employers.</p> + +<p>Our national policy must, of course, be what would be called in statics +the resultant of the various currents of opinion represented in our +national society. Whether Imperialism will continue to rest on a sound +basis depends, therefore, to no small extent, on the degree to which +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> moralising elements in the nation can, without injury to all that +is sound and healthy in individualist action, control those defects +which may not improbably spring out of the egotism of the commercial +spirit, if it be subject to no effective check.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>If this problem can be satisfactorily solved, then Christianity, far +from being a disruptive force, as was the case with Rome, will prove one +of the strongest elements of Imperial cohesion.</p> + +<p>3. <i>Slavery.</i>—It is not necessary to discuss this question, for there +can be no doubt that, in so far as his connexion with subject races is +concerned, the Anglo-Saxon in modern times comes, not to enslave, but to +liberate from slavery. The fact that he does so is, indeed, one of his +best title-deeds to Imperial dominion.</p> + +<p>4. <i>The Pauperisation of the Roman Proletariat.</i>—This is the <i>Panem et +Circenses</i> policy. Mr. Hodgkin appears to think that in this direction +lies the main danger which threatens the British Empire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Of all the forces," he says, "which were at work for the +destruction of the prosperity of the Roman world, none is more +deserving of the careful study of an English statesman than the +grain-largesses to the populace of Rome.... Will the great +Democracies of the twentieth century resist the temptation to use +political power as a means of material self-enrichment?"</p></div> + +<p>Possibly Mr. Hodgkin is right. The manner in which the leaders of the +Paris Commune dealt with the rights of property during their disastrous, +but fortunately very brief, period of office in 1871, serves as a +warning of what, in an extreme case, may be expected of despotic +democracy in its most aggravated form. Moreover, misgovernment, and the +fiscal oppression which is the almost necessary accompaniment of +militarism dominant over a poverty-stricken population, have latterly +developed on the continent of Europe, and more especially in Italy, a +school of action—for anarchism can scarcely be dignified by the name of +a school of thought—which regards human life as scarcely more sacred +than property. It may be that some lower depth has yet to be reached, +although it is almost inconceivable that such should be the case. +Anarchy takes us past the stage of any defined political or social +programme. It would appear, so far as can at present be judged, to +embody the last despairing cry of ultra-democracy "Furens."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is permissible to hope that our national sobriety, coupled with the +inherited traditions derived from centuries of free government, will +save us from such extreme manifestations of democratic tyranny as those +to which allusion has been made above. The special danger in England +would appear rather to arise from the probability of gradual dry rot, +due to prolonged offence against the infallible and relentless laws of +economic science. Both British employers of labour and British workmen +are insular in their habits of thought, and insular in the range of +their acquired knowledge. They do not appear as yet to be thoroughly +alive to the new position created for British trade by foreign +competition. It is greatly to be hoped that they will awake to the +realities of the situation before any permanent harm is done to British +trade, for the loss of trade involves as its ultimate result the +pauperisation of the proletariat, the adoption of reckless expedients +based on the <i>Panem et Circenses</i> policy to fill the mouths and quell +the voices of the multitude, and finally the suicide of that Empire +which is the offspring of trade, and which can only continue to exist so +long as its parent continues to thrive and to flourish.</p> + +<p>5. <i>The Destruction of the Middle Class by the Fiscal Oppression of the +Curiales.</i>—Leaving aside points of detail, which were only of special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +application to the circumstances of the time, this cause of Roman decay +may, for all purposes of comparison and instruction, be stated in the +following terms: funds, which should have been spent by the +municipalities on local objects, were, from about the close of the third +century, diverted to the Imperial Exchequer, by which they were not +infrequently squandered in such a manner as to confer no benefit of any +kind on the taxpayers, whether local or Imperial. Thus, the system of +local self-government, which, Mr. Hodgkin says, was, during the early +centuries of the Empire, "both in name and fact Republican," was +shattered.</p> + +<p>It does not appear probable that an attempt will ever be made to divert +the public revenues of the outlying dependencies of Great Britain to the +Imperial Exchequer. The lesson taught by the loss of the American +Colonies has sunk deeply into the public mind. Moreover, the example of +Spain stands as a warning to all the world. The principle that local +revenues should be expended locally has become part of the political +creed of Englishmen; neither is it at all likely to be infringed, even +in respect to those dependencies whose rights and privileges are not +safeguarded by self-governing institutions.</p> + +<p>There may, however, be some little danger ahead in a sense exactly +opposite to that which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> was incurred by Rome—the danger, that is to +say, that, under the pressure of Imperialism, backed by influential +class and personal interests, too large an amount of the Imperial +revenue may be diverted to the outlying dependencies. If this were done, +two evils might not improbably ensue.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the British democracy might become restive under +taxation imposed for objects the utility of which would not perhaps be +fully appreciated, and might therefore be disposed to cast off too +hastily the mantle of Imperialism. It is but a short time ago that an +influential school of politicians persistently dwelt on the theme that +the colonies were a burthen to the Mother Country. Although, for the +time being, views of this sort are out of fashion, no assurance can be +felt that the swing of the pendulum may not bring round another +anti-Imperialist phase of public opinion.</p> + +<p>In the second place, if financial aid to any considerable extent were +afforded by the British Treasury to the outlying dependencies, a serious +risk would be run that this concession would be followed at no distant +period by a plea in favour of financial control from England. The +establishment of this latter principle would strike a blow at one of the +main props on which our Imperial fabric is based. It would tend to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +substitute a centralised, in the place of our present decentralised +system. Those who are immediately responsible for the administration of +our outlying dependencies will, therefore, act wisely if they abstain +from asking too readily for Imperial pecuniary aid in order to solve +local difficulties.</p> + +<p>These considerations naturally lead to some reflections on the +principles of government adopted in those dependencies of the Empire, +the inhabitants of which are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. Colonies whose +inhabitants are mainly of British origin stand, of course, on a wholly +different footing. They carry their Anglo-Saxon institutions and habits +of thought with them to their distant homes.</p> + +<p>Englishmen are less imitative than most Europeans in this sense—that +they are less disposed to apply the administrative and political systems +of their own country to the government of backward populations; but in +spite of their relatively high degree of political elasticity, they +cannot shake themselves altogether free from political +conventionalities. Moreover, the experienced minority is constantly +being pressed by the inexperienced majority in the direction of +imitation. Knowing the somewhat excessive degree of adulation which some +sections of the British public are disposed to pay to their special +idol, Lord Dufferin, in 1883, was almost apologetic to his countrymen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +for abstaining from an act of political folly. He pleaded strenuously +for delay in the introduction of parliamentary institutions into Egypt, +on the ground that our attempts "to mitigate predominant absolutism" in +India had been slow, hesitating, and tentative. He brought poetic +metaphor to his aid. He deprecated paying too much attention to the +"murmuring leaves," in other words, imagining that the establishment of +a Chamber of Notables implied constitutional freedom, and he exhorted +his countrymen "to seek for the roots," that is to say, to allow each +Egyptian village to elect its own mayor (Sheikh).</p> + +<p>It cannot be too clearly understood that whether we deal with the roots, +or the trunk, or the branches, or the leaves, free institutions in the +full sense of the term must for generations to come be wholly unsuitable +to countries such as India and Egypt. If the use of a metaphor, though +of a less polished type, be allowed, it may be said that it will +probably never be possible to make a Western silk purse out of an +Eastern sow's ear; at all events, if the impossibility of the task be +called in question, it should be recognised that the process of +manufacture will be extremely lengthy and tedious.</p> + +<p>But it is often urged that, although no rational person would wish to +advocate the premature creation of ultra-liberal institutions in +backward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> countries, at the same time that for several reasons it is +desirable to move gradually in this direction. The adoption of this +method is, it is said, the only way to remedy the evils attendant on a +system of personal government in an extreme form; it enables us to learn +the views of the natives of the country, even although we may not accord +to the latter full power of deciding whether or not those views should +be put in practice; lastly, it constitutes a means of political +education, through the agency of which the subject race will gradually +acquire the qualities necessary to autonomy.</p> + +<p>The force of these arguments cannot be denied, but there should be no +delusion as to the weight which should be attached to them. It has been +very truly remarked by a writer, who has dealt with the idiosyncrasies +of a singularly versatile nation, whose genius presented in every +respect a marked contrast to that of Eastern races, that from the dawn +of history Eastern politics have been "stricken with a fatal +simplicity."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Do not let us for one moment imagine that the fatally +simple idea of despotic rule will readily give way to the far more +complex conception of ordered liberty. The transformation, if it ever +takes place at all, will probably be the work, not of generations, but +of centuries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>So limited is the stock of political ideas in the world that some +modified copy of parliamentary institutions is, without doubt, the only +method which has yet been invented for mitigating the evils attendant on +the personal system of government. But it is a method which is +thoroughly uncongenial to Oriental habits of thought. It may be doubted +whether, by the adoption of this exotic system, we gain any real insight +into native aspirations and opinions. As to the educational process, the +experience of India is not very encouraging. The good government of most +Indian towns depends to this day mainly, not on the Municipal +Commissioners, who are generally natives, but on the influence of the +President, who is usually an Englishman.</p> + +<p>A further consideration in connection with this point is also of some +importance. It is that British officials in Eastern countries should be +encouraged by all possible means to learn the views and the requirements +of the native population. The establishment of mock parliaments tends +rather in the opposite direction, for the official on the spot sees +through the mockery and is not infrequently disposed to abandon any +attempt to ascertain real native opinion, through disgust at the +unreality, crudity, or folly of the views set forth by the putative +representatives of native society.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>For these reasons it is important that, in our well-intentioned +endeavours to impregnate the Oriental mind with our insular habits of +thought, we should proceed with the utmost caution, and that we should +remember that our primary duty is, not to introduce a system which, +under the specious cloak of free institutions, will enable a small +minority of natives to misgovern their countrymen, but to establish one +which will enable the mass of the population to be governed according to +the code of Christian morality. A freely elected Egyptian Parliament, +supposing such a thing to be possible, would not improbably legislate +for the protection of the slave-owner, if not the slave-dealer, and no +assurance can be felt that the electors of Rajputana, if they had their +own way, would not re-establish suttee. Good government has the merit of +presenting a more or less attainable ideal. Before Orientals can attain +anything approaching to the British ideal of self-government they will +have to undergo very numerous transmigrations of political thought.</p> + +<p>The question of local self-government may be considered from another, +and almost equally important point of view.</p> + +<p>When writers such as M. Demolins speak of the "particularist" system of +England and of the "communitarian" system prevalent on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> continent of +Europe, they generally mean to contrast the British plan of acting +through the agency of private individuals with the Continental practice +of relying almost entirely on the action of the State. This is the +primary and perhaps the most important signification of the two phrases, +but the principles which these phrases are intended to represent admit +of another application.</p> + +<p>It is difficult for those Englishmen who have not been brought into +business relations with Continental officials to realise the extreme +centralisation of their administrative and diplomatic procedures. The +tendency of every French central authority is to allow no discretionary +power whatever to his subordinate. He wishes, often from a distance, to +control every detail of the administration. The tendency of the +subordinate, on the other hand, is to lean in everything on superior +authority. He does not dare to take any personal responsibility; indeed, +it is possible to go further and say that the corroding action of +bureaucracy renders those who live under its baneful shadow almost +incapable of assuming responsibility. By force of habit and training it +has become irksome to them. They fly for refuge to a superior official, +who, in his turn, if the case at all admits of the adoption of such a +course, hastens to merge his individuality in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> voluminous pages of a +code or a Government circular.</p> + +<p>The British official, on the other hand, whether in England or abroad, +is an Englishman first and an official afterwards. He possesses his full +share of national characteristics. He is by inheritance an +individualist. He lives in a society which, so far from being, as is the +case on the Continent, saturated with respect for officialism, is +somewhat prone to regard officialism and incompetency as synonymous +terms. By such association, any bureaucratic tendency which may exist on +the part of the British official is kept in check, whilst his +individualism is subjected to a sustained and healthy course of tonic +treatment.</p> + +<p>Thus, the British system breeds a race of officials who relatively to +those holding analogous posts on the Continent, are disposed to exercise +their central authority in a manner sympathetic to individualism; who, +if they are inclined to err in the sense of over-centralisation, are +often held in check by statesmen imbued with the decentralising spirit; +and who, under these influences, are inclined to accord to local agents +a far wider latitude than those trained in the Continental school of +bureaucracy would consider either safe or desirable.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, looking to the position and attributes of the local +agents themselves, it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> singular to observe how the habit of assuming +responsibility, coupled with national predispositions acting in the same +direction, generates and fosters a capacity for the beneficial exercise +of power. This feature is not merely noticeable in comparing British +with Continental officials, but also in contrasting various classes of +Englishmen <i>inter se</i>. The most highly centralised of all our English +offices is the War Office. For this reason, and also because a military +life necessarily and rightly engenders a habit of implicit obedience to +orders, soldiers are generally less disposed than civilians to assume +personal responsibility and to act on their own initiative. +Nevertheless, whether in military or civil life, it may be said that the +spirit of decentralisation pervades the whole British administrative +system, and that it has given birth to a class of officials who have +both the desire and the capacity to govern, who constitute what Bacon +called<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> the <i>Participes curarum</i>, namely, "those upon whom Princes +doe discharge the greatest weight of their affaires," and who are +instruments of incomparable value in the execution of a policy of +Imperialism.</p> + +<p>The method of exercising the central control under the British system +calls for some further remarks. It varies greatly in different +localities.</p> + +<p>Under the Indian system a council of experts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> is attached to the +Secretary of State in England. A good authority on this subject says<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +that there can be no question of the advantage of this system.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>No man, however experienced and laborious, could properly direct +and control the various interests of so vast an Empire, unless he +were aided by men with knowledge of different parts of the country, +and possessing an intimate acquaintance with the different and +complicated subjects involved in the government and welfare of so +many incongruous races.</p></div> + +<p>On the assumption that India is to be governed from London, there can be +no doubt of the validity of this argument. But, as has been frequently +pointed out,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> this system tends inevitably towards +over-centralisation, and if the British Government is to continue to +exercise a sort of πανκρατορία to use an expressive Greek +phrase, over a number of outlying dependencies of very various types, +over-centralisation is a danger which should be carefully shunned. It is +wiser to obtain local knowledge from those on the spot, rather than from +those whose local experience must necessarily diminish in value in +direct proportion to the length of the period<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> during which they have +been absent from the special locality, and who, moreover, are under a +strong temptation, after they leave the dependency, to exercise a +detailed control over their successors. It is greatly to be doubted, +therefore, whether, should the occasion arise, this portion of the +Indian system is deserving of reproduction.</p> + +<p>There is, however, another portion of that system which is in every +respect admirable, and the creation of which bears the impress of that +keen political insight which, according to many Continental authorities, +is the birthright of the Anglo-Saxon race. India is governed locally by +a council composed mainly of officials who have passed their adult lives +in the country; but the Viceroy, and occasionally the legal and +financial members of Council, are sent from England and are usually +chosen by reason of their general qualifications, rather than on account +of any special knowledge of Indian affairs. This system avoids the +dangers consequent on over-centralisation, whilst at the same time it +associates with the administration of the country some individuals who +are personally imbued with the general principles of government which +are favoured by the central authority. Its tendency is to correct the +defect from which the officials employed in the outlying portions of the +Empire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> are most likely to suffer, namely, that of magnifying the +importance of some local event or consideration, and of unduly +neglecting arguments based on considerations of wider Imperial import. +It enhances the idea of proportion, which is one of the main qualities +necessary to any politician or governing body. Long attention to one +subject, or group of subjects, is apt to narrow the vision of +specialists. The adjunct of an element, which is not Anglo-Indian, to +the Indian Government acts as a corrective to this evil. The members of +the Government who are sent from England, if they have no local +experience, are at all events exempt from local prejudices. They bring +to bear on the questions which come before them a wide general knowledge +and, in many cases, the liberal spirit and vigorous common sense which +are acquired in the course of an English parliamentary career.</p> + +<p>It may be added, as a matter of important detail, that it would be +desirable, in order to give continuity to Indian policy, to select young +men to fill the place of Viceroy, and to extend the period of office +from five to seven, or even to ten years.</p> + +<p>Although over-centralisation is to be avoided, a certain amount of +control from a central authority is not only unavoidable; if properly +exercised, it is most beneficial. One danger to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> which the local agent +is exposed is that, being ill-informed of circumstances lying outside +his range of political vision, he may lose sight of the general +principles which guide the policy of the Empire; he may treat subjects +of local interest in a manner calculated to damage, or even to +jeopardise, Imperial interests. The central authority is in a position +to obviate any danger arising from this cause. To ensure the harmonious +working of the different parts of the machine, the central authority +should endeavour, so far as is possible, to realise the circumstances +attendant on the government of the dependency; whilst the local agent +should be constantly on the watch lest he should overrate the importance +of some local issue, or fail to appreciate fully the difficulties which +beset the action of the central authority.</p> + +<p>To sum up all that there is to be said on this branch of the subject, it +may be hoped that the fate which befell Rome, in so far as it was due to +the special causes of decay now under consideration, may be averted by +close adherence to two important principles. The first of these +principles is that local revenues should be expended locally. The second +is that over-centralisation should above all things be avoided. This may +be done either by the creation of self-governing institutions in those +dependencies whose civilisation is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> sufficiently advanced to justify the +adoption of this course; or by decentralising the executive Government +in cases where self-government, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, +is impossible or undesirable.</p> + +<p>6. <i>Barbarous Finance.</i>—Mr. Hodgkin says that the system of Imperial +taxation under the Roman Empire was "wasteful, oppressive, and in a +word, barbarous." He gives, as an instance in point, the Roman +Indiction. This was the name given to the system under which the taxable +value of the land throughout the Empire was reassessed every fifteen +years. At each reassessment, Mr. Hodgkin says, "the few who had +prospered found themselves assessed on the higher value which their +lands had acquired, while the many who were sinking down into poverty +obtained, it is to be feared, but little relief from taxation on account +of the higher rate which was charged to all."</p> + +<p>It is somewhat unpleasant to reflect that the system which Mr. Hodgkin +so strongly condemns, and which he even regards as one of the causes of +the downfall of the Roman Empire, is—save in respect to the intervals +of periodical reassessment—very similar to that which exists everywhere +in India, except in the province of Bengal, where the rights conferred +on the zemindars under Lord Cornwallis's Permanent Settlement are still +re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>spected in spite of occasional unwise suggestions that time and the +fall in the value of the rupee have obliterated any moral obligations to +maintain them. Nor are the results obtained in India altogether +dissimilar from those observable under Roman rule. The knowledge that +reassessment was imminent has, it is believed, often discouraged the +outlay of private capital on improving the land. More than this, it is +notorious that, at one time, some provinces suffered greatly from the +mistakes made by the settlement officers. These latter were animated +with the best intentions, but, in spite of their marked ability—for +they were all specially selected men—they often found the task +entrusted to them impossible of execution. Unfortunately political or +administrative errors cannot be condoned by reason of good intentions. +Like the Greeks of old, the natives of India suffer from the mistakes of +their rulers.</p> + +<p>The intentions of the British, as compared with the Roman Government +are, however, noteworthy from one point of view, inasmuch as from a +correct appreciation of those intentions it is possible to evolve a +principle perhaps in some degree calculated to avert the consequences +which befell Rome, partly by reason of fiscal errors.</p> + +<p>In spite of some high-sounding commonplaces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> which were at times +enunciated by Roman lawgivers and statesmen, and in which a ring of +utilitarian philosophy is to be recognised,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> and of the further fact +that, as in the case of Verres, a check was sometimes applied to the +excesses of local Governors, it is almost certainly true that the rulers +of Rome did not habitually act on the recognition of any very strong +moral obligation binding on the Imperial Government in its treatment of +subject races. The merits of any fiscal system were probably judged +mainly from the point of view of the amount of funds which it poured +into the Treasury. The fiscal principles on which the Emperors of Rome +acted survived long after the fall of the Roman Empire. They deserve the +epithet of "barbarous" which Mr. Hodgkin has bestowed upon them.</p> + +<p>The point of departure of the British Government is altogether +different. Its intentions are admirable. Every farthing which has been +spent—and, it may be feared, often wasted—on the numerous military +expeditions in which the Government of India has been engaged during the +last century would, in the eyes of many, certainly be considered as +expenditure incurred on objects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> which were of paramount interest to the +Indian taxpayers. Moreover, a whole category of British legislation +connected with fiscal matters has been undertaken, not so much with a +view to increase the revenue as with the object of distributing the +burthen of taxation equally amongst the different classes of society. +Much of this legislation has been perfectly justifiable and even +beneficial. Nevertheless, it should never be forgotten that it is +generally based on the purely Western principle that abstract justice is +in itself a desirable thing to attain, and that a fiscal or +administrative system stands condemned if it is wanting in symmetry. It +was against any extreme application of this principle that Burke +directed some of his most forcible diatribes.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> It has been already +pointed out that the commendable want of intellectual symmetry which is +the inherited possession of the Englishman gives him a very great +advantage as an Imperialist agent over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> those trained in the rigid and +bureaucratic school of Continental Europe. But the Englishman is a +Western, albeit an Anglo-Saxon Western, and, from the point of view of +all processes of reasoning, the gulf which separates any one member of +the European family from another is infinitely less wide than that which +divides all Westerns from all Orientals. Even the Englishman, therefore, +is constrained—sometimes much against his will—to bow down in that +temple of Logic, the existence of which the Oriental is disposed +altogether to ignore. Indeed, sometimes the choice lies between the +enforcement on the reluctant Oriental of principles based on +logic—occasionally on the very simple science of arithmetic—or +abandoning the work of civilisation altogether. From this point of view, +the dangers to which the British Empire is exposed by reason of fiscal +measures are due not, as was the case with Rome, to barbarous, but +rather to ultra-scientific finance. The following is a case in point.</p> + +<p>The land-tax has always been the principal source from which Oriental +potentates have derived their revenues. For all practical purposes it +may be said that the system which they have adopted has generally been +to take as much from the cultivators as they could get. Reformers, such +as the Emperor Akbar, have at times endeavoured to introduce more +enlightened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> methods of taxation, and to carry into practice the +theories upon which the fiscal system in all Moslem countries is based. +Those theories are by no means so objectionable as is often supposed. +But the reforms which some few capable rulers attempted to introduce +have almost always crumbled away under the régime of their +successors.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> In practice, the only limit to the demands of the ruler +of an Oriental State has been the ability of the taxpayers to satisfy +them.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> The only defence of the taxpayers has lain in the concealment +of their incomes at the risk of being tortured till they divulged their +amount.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, even under such a system as this, the wind is tempered to +the shorn lamb by the fact that Oriental rulers recognise that they +cannot get money from a man who possesses none. If, from drought or +other causes, the cultivator raises no crop, he is not required to pay +any land-tax. The idea of expropriation for the non-payment of taxes is +purely Western and modern. Under Roman law, it was the rule in contracts +for rent that a tenant was not bound to pay if any <i>vis major</i> prevented +him from reaping.</p> + +<p>The European system is very different. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> far less heavy demand is made +on the cultivator, but he is, at all events in principle and sometimes +in practice, called upon to meet it in good and bad years alike. He is +expected to save in years of plenty in order to make good the deficit in +lean years. If he is unable to pay, he is liable to be expropriated, and +he often is expropriated. This plan is just, logical, and very Western. +It may be questioned whether Oriental cultivators do not sometimes +rather prefer the oppression and elasticity of the Eastern to the +justice and rigidity of the Western system.</p> + +<p>Various palliatives have been adopted in India with a view to giving +some elasticity to the working of the Land Revenue system. In Egypt, +where the administration is much less Anglicised than in India, and +where, for various reasons, the treatment of this subject presents +relatively fewer difficulties, it is the practice now, as was the case +under purely native rule, to remit the taxes on what is known as +<i>Sharaki</i> lands, that is to say, land which, owing to a low Nile, has +not been irrigated. It is not, however, necessary to dwell on the +details of this subject. It will be sufficient to draw attention to the +different points of view from which the Eastern and the Western approach +the subject of fiscal administration. The latter urges with unanswerable +logic that financial equilibrium must be maintained, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> that he cannot +frame a trustworthy Budget unless he knows the amount he may count on +receiving from direct taxes, especially from the land-tax. The Eastern +replies that he knows nothing of either financial equilibrium or of +budgets, that it has, indeed, from time immemorial been the custom to +leave him nought but a bare pittance when he had money, but to refrain +from any endeavours to extort money from him when he had none.</p> + +<p>Another instance drawn, not from the practices of fiscal administration, +but from legislation on a cognate subject, may be cited.</p> + +<p>Directly Western civilisation comes in contact with a backward Oriental +Society, the relations between debtor and creditor are entirely changed. +A social revolution is effected. The Western applies his code with stern +and ruthless logic. The child-like Eastern, on the other hand, cannot be +made to understand that his house should be sold over his head because +he affixed his seal to a document, which, very probably, he had never +read, or, at all events, had never fully understood, and which was +presented to him by a man at one time apparently animated with +benevolent intentions, inasmuch as he wished to lend him money, but who +subsequently showed his malevolence by asking to be repaid his loan with +interest at an exorbitant rate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here, again, many palliatives have been suggested and some have been +applied, but many of them sin against the economic law, which provides +that legislation intended to protect a man against the consequences of +his own folly or improvidence is generally unproductive of result.</p> + +<p>In truth, no thoroughly effective remedy can be applied in cases such as +those mentioned above, without abandoning all real attempt at progress. +Civilisation must, unfortunately, have its victims, amongst whom are to +some extent inevitably numbered those who do not recognise the paramount +necessities of the Budget system, and those who contract debts with an +inadequate appreciation of the <i>caveat emptor</i> principle. Nevertheless, +the Western financier will act wisely if, casting aside some portion of +his Western habit of thought, he recognises the facts with which he has +to deal, and if, fully appreciating the intimate connection between +finance and politics in an Eastern country, he endeavours, so far as is +possible, to temper the clean-cut science of his fiscal measures in such +a manner as to suit the customs and intellectual standard of the subject +race with which he has to deal.</p> + +<p>The question of the amount of taxation levied stands apart from the +method of its imposition. It may be laid down as a principle of +universal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> application that high taxation is incompatible with assured +stability of Imperial rule.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>The financier and the hydraulic engineer, who is a powerful ally of the +financier, have probably a greater potentiality of creating an +artificial and self-interested loyalty than even the judge. The reasons +are obvious. In the first place, the number of criminals, or even of +civil litigants, in any society is limited; whereas practically the +whole population consists of taxpayers. In the second place, the +arbitrary methods of administering justice practised by Oriental rulers +do not shock their subjects nearly so much as Europeans are often +disposed to think. Custom has made it in them a property of easiness. +They often, indeed, fail to appreciate the intentions, and are disposed +to resent the methods, of those whose object it is to establish justice +in the law-courts. On the other hand, the most ignorant Egyptian fellah +or Indian ryot can understand the difference between a Government which +takes nine-tenths of his crop in the shape of land-tax, and one which +only takes one-third or one-fourth. He can realise that he is better off +if the water is allowed to flow periodically on to his fields, than he +was when the influential landowner, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> possessed a property up-stream +on the canal, made a dam and prevented him from getting any water at +all.</p> + +<p>These principles would probably meet with general acceptance from all +who have considered the question of Imperial rule. They are, indeed, +almost commonplace. Unfortunately, in practice the necessity of +conforming to them is often forgotten. India is the great instance in +point. Englishmen are often so convinced that the natives of India ought +to be loyal, they hear so much said of their loyalty, they appreciate so +little the causes which are at work to produce disloyalty, and, in spite +of occasional mistakes due to errors of judgment, they are in reality so +earnestly desirous of doing what they consider, sometimes perhaps +erroneously, their duty towards the native population, that they are apt +to lose sight of the fact that the self-interest of the subject race is +the principal basis of the whole Imperial fabric. They forget, whilst +they are adding to the upper story of the house, that the foundations +may give way.</p> + +<p>This is not the place to enter into any lengthy discussion upon Indian +affairs. It may be said, however, that the Indian history of the last +few years certainly gives cause for some anxiety. Attention was at one +time too exclusively paid to frontier policy, which constitutes only +one, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> that not the most important, element of the complex Indian +problem.</p> + +<p>That the policy of "masterly inactivity," to use the phrase +epigrammatically, but perhaps somewhat incorrectly, applied to the line +of action advocated by Lord Lawrence in 1869, required some +modifications as the onward movement of Russia in Asia developed, will +scarcely be contested by the most devoted of Lawrentian partisans and +followers. That those modifications were wisely introduced is a +proposition the truth of which it is difficult to admit. The portion of +Lord Lawrence's programme which was necessarily temporary, inasmuch as +it depended on the circumstances of the time, was rejected without +taking sufficient account of the further and far more important portion +which was of permanent application. This latter portion was defined in +an historic and oft-quoted despatch which he indited on the eve of his +departure from India, and which may be regarded as his political +testament. In this despatch, Lord Lawrence, speaking with all the +authority due to a lifelong acquaintance with Indian affairs, laid down +the broad general principle that the strongest security of our rule lay +"in the contentment, if not in the attachment, of the masses."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> The +truth of this general principle was at one time too much neglected. +Under the influence of a predominant militarism acting on too pliant +politicians, vast military expenditure was incurred. Territory lying +outside the natural geographical frontier of India was occupied, the +acquisition of which was condemned not merely by sound policy, but also +by sound strategy. Taxation was increased, and, generally, the material +interests of the natives of India were sacrificed and British Imperial +rule exposed to subsequent danger, in order to satisfy the exigencies of +a school of soldier-politicians who only saw one, and that the most +technical, aspect of a very wide and complex question.</p> + +<p>Neither, unfortunately, is there any sure guarantee that the mistakes, +which it is now almost universally admitted were made, will not recur. +Where, indeed, are we to look for any effective check? The rulers of +India, whether they sit in Calcutta or London, may again be carried away +by the partial views of an influential class, or of a few masterful +individuals. It is absurd to speak of creating free institutions in +India to control the Indian Government. Experience has shown that +parliamentary action in England not infrequently degenerates into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +acrimonious discussion and recrimination dictated by party passion; in +any case, it is generally too late to change the course of events. Still +less reliance can be placed on the action of the British Press, which +falls a ready victim to the specious arguments advanced by some +strategical pseudo-Imperialist in high position, or by some fervent +acolyte who has learnt at the feet of his master the fatal and facile +lesson of how an Empire, built up by statesmen, may be wrecked by the +well-intentioned but mistaken measures recommended by specialists to +ensure Imperial salvation. The managers of the London newspapers afford, +indeed, be it said to their credit, every facility for the publication +of views adverse to those which they themselves advocate. But it is none +the less true that, during the years when the unwise frontier policy of +a few years ago was being planned and executed, the voices of the +opposition, although they were those of Indian statesmen and officials +who could speak with the highest authority, failed to obtain an adequate +hearing until the evil was irremediable. On the other hand, the views of +the strategical specialists went abroad over the land, with the result +that ill-informed and careless public opinion followed their advice +without having any very precise idea of whither it was being led.</p> + +<p>It would appear, therefore, that there is need<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> for great care and +watchfulness in the management of Indian affairs. That same +inconsistency of character and absence of definite aim, which are such +notable Anglo-Saxon qualities and which adapt themselves so admirably to +the requirements of Imperial rule, may in some respects constitute an +additional danger. If we are not to adopt a policy based on securing the +contentment of the subject race by ministering to their material +interests, we must of necessity make a distinct approach to the +counter-policy of governing by the sword alone. In that case, it would +be as well not to allow a free native Press, or to encourage high +education. Any repressive or retrograde measures in either of these +directions would, without doubt, meet with strong and, to a great +extent, reasonable opposition in England. A large section of the public, +forgetful of the fact that they had stood passively by whilst measures, +such as the imposition of increased taxes, which the natives of India +really resent, were adopted, would protest loudly against the adoption +of other measures which are, indeed, open to objection, but which +nevertheless touch Oriental in a far less degree than they affect +Western public feeling. The result of this inconsistency is that our +present system rather tends to turn out demagogues from our colleges, to +give them every facility for sowing their subversive views broad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>cast +over the land, and at the same time to prepare the ground for the +reception of the seed which they sow. Now this is the very reverse of a +sound Imperial policy. We cannot, it is true, effectually prevent the +manufacture of demagogues without adopting measures which would render +us false to our acknowledged principles of government and to our +civilising mission. But we may govern in such a manner as to give the +demagogue no fulcrum with which to move his credulous and ill-informed +countrymen and co-religionists. The leading principle of a government of +this nature should be that low taxation is the most potent instrument +with which to conjure discontent. This is the policy which will tend +more than any other to the stability of Imperial rule. If it is to be +adopted, two elements of British society will have to be kept in check +at the hands of the statesman acting in concert with the moralist. These +are Militarism and Commercial Egotism. The Empire depends in a great +degree on the strength and efficiency of its army. It thrives on its +commerce. But if the soldier and the trader are not kept under some +degree of statesmanlike control, they are capable of becoming the most +formidable, though unconscious, enemies of the British Empire.</p> + +<p>It will be seen, therefore, that though there are some disquieting +circumstances attendant on our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Imperial rule, the general result of an +examination into the causes which led to the collapse of Roman power, +and a comparison of those causes with the principles on which the +British Empire is governed, are, on the whole, encouraging. To every +danger which threatens there is a safeguard. To every portion of the +body politic in which symptoms of disease may occur, it is possible to +apply a remedy.</p> + +<p>Christianity is our most powerful ally. We are the sworn enemies of the +slave-dealer and the slave-owner. The dangers arising from the possible +pauperisation of the proletariat may, it is to be hoped, be averted by +our national character and by the natural play of our time-honoured +institutions. If we adhere steadily to the principle that local revenues +are to be expended locally, and if, at the same time, we give all +reasonable encouragement to local self-government and shun any tendency +towards over-centralisation, we shall steer clear of one of the rocks on +which the Roman ship of state was wrecked. Unskilful or unwise finance +is our greatest danger, but here again the remedy lies ready to hand if +we are wise enough to avail ourselves of it. It consists in adapting our +fiscal methods to the requirements of our subject races, and still more +in the steadfast rejection of any proposals which, by rendering high +taxation in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>evitable, will infringe the cardinal principle on which a +sound Imperial policy should be based. That principle is that, whilst +the sword should be always ready for use, it should be kept in reserve +for great emergencies, and that we should endeavour to find, in the +contentment of the subject race, a more worthy and, it may be hoped, a +stronger bond of union between the rulers and the ruled.</p> + +<p>If any more sweeping generalisation than this is required, it may be +said that the whole, or nearly the whole, of the essential points of a +sound Imperial policy admit of being embodied in this one statement, +that, whilst steadily avoiding any movement in the direction of official +proselytism, our relations with the various races who are subjects of +the King of England should be founded on the granite rock of the +Christian moral code.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Humanity, as it passes through phase after phase of the historical +movement, may advance indefinitely in excellence; but its advance +will be an indefinite approximation to the Christian type. A +divergence from that type, to whatever extent it may take place, +will not be progress, but debasement and corruption. In a moral +point of view, in short, the world may abandon Christianity, but +can never advance beyond it. This is not a matter of authority, or +even of revelation. If it is true, it is a matter of reason as much +as anything in the world.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> +<h2>II</h2> + +<h3>TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Edinburgh Review," July 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>When Emerson said "We like everything to do its office, whether it be a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake," he assumed, perhaps somewhat too hastily in +the latter case, that all the world understands the functions which a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake is called upon to perform. No one can doubt +that the office of a translator is to translate, but a wide difference +of opinion may exist, and, in fact, has always existed, as to the +latitude which he may allow himself in translating. Is he to adhere +rigidly to a literal rendering of the original text, or is paraphrase +permissible, and, if permissible, within what limits may it be adopted? +In deciding which of these courses to pursue, the translator stands +between Scylla and Charybdis. If he departs too widely from the precise +words of the text, he incurs the blame of the purist, who will accuse +him of foisting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> language on the original author which the latter never +employed, with the possible result that even the ideas or sentiments +which it had been intended to convey have been disfigured. If, on the +other hand, he renders word for word, he will often find, more +especially if his translation be in verse, that in a cacophonous attempt +to force the genius of one language into an unnatural channel, the whole +of the beauty and even, possibly, some of the real meaning of the +original have been allowed to evaporate. Dr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, in an +instructive article on Translation contributed to the <i>Encyclopaedia +Britannica</i> quotes the high authority of Dryden as to the course which +should be followed in the execution of an ideal translation.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A translator (Dryden writes) that would write with any force or +spirit of an original must never dwell on the words of his author. +He ought to possess himself entirely, and perfectly comprehend the +genius and sense of his author, the nature of the subject, and the +terms of the art or subject treated of; and then he will express +himself as justly, and with as much life, as if he wrote an +original; whereas he who copies word for word loses all the spirit +in the tedious transfusion.</p></div> + +<p>In the application of Dryden's canon a distinction has to be made +between prose and verse. The composition of good prose, which Coleridge +described as "words in the right order," is,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> indeed, of the utmost +importance for all the purposes of the historian, the writer on +philosophy, or the orator. An example of the manner in which fine prose +can bring to the mind a vivid conception of a striking event is Jeremy +Collier's description of Cranmer's death, which excited the enthusiastic +admiration of Mr. Gladstone.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> He seemed [Collier wrote] "to repel the +force of the fire and to overlook the torture, by strength of thought." +Nevertheless, the main object of the prose writer, and still more of the +orator, should be to state his facts or to prove his case. Cato laid +down the very sound principle "rem tene, verba sequentur," and +Quintilian held that "no speaker, when important interests are involved, +should be very solicitous about his words." It is true that this +principle is one that has been more often honoured in the breach than +the observance. Lucian, in his <i>Lexiphanes</i>,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> directs the shafts of +his keen satire against the meticulous attention to phraseology +practised by his contemporaries. Cardinal Bembo sacrificed substance to +form to the extent of advising young men not to read St. Paul for fear +that their style should be injured, and Professor Saintsbury<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +mentions the case of a French author,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Paul de Saint-Victor, who "used, +when sitting down to write, to put words that had struck his fancy at +intervals over the sheet, and write his matter in and up to them." These +are instances of that word-worship run mad which has not infrequently +led to dire results, inasmuch as it has tended to engender the belief +that statesmanship is synonymous with fine writing or perfervid oratory. +The oratory in which Demosthenes excelled, Professor Bury says,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> "was +one of the curses of Greek politics."</p> + +<p>The attention paid by the ancients to what may be termed tricks of style +has probably in some degree enhanced the difficulties of prose +translation. It may not always be easy in a foreign language to +reproduce the subtle linguistic shades of Demosthenic oratory—the +Anaphora (repetition of the same word at the beginning of co-ordinate +sentences following one another), the Anastrophe (the final word of a +sentence repeated at the beginning of one immediately following), the +Polysyndeton (the same conjunction repeated), or the Epidiorthosis (the +correction of an expression). Nevertheless, in dealing with a prose +composition, the weight of the arguments, the lucidity with which the +facts are set forth, and the force with which the conclusions are driven +home, rank, or should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> rank, in the mind of the reader higher than any +feelings which are derived from the music of the words or the skilful +order in which they are arranged. Moreover, in prose more frequently +than in verse, it is the beauty of the idea expressed which attracts +rather than the language in which it is clothed. Thus, for instance, +there can be no difficulty in translating the celebrated metaphor of +Pericles<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> that "the loss of the youth of the city was as if the +spring was taken out of the year," because the beauty of the idea can in +no way suffer by presenting it in English, French, or German rather than +in the original Greek. Again, to quote another instance from Latin, the +fine epitaph to St. Ovinus in Ely Cathedral: "Lucem tuam Ovino da, Deus, +et requiem," loses nothing of its terse pathos by being rendered into +English. Occasionally, indeed, the truth is forced upon us that even in +prose "a thing may be well said once but cannot be well said twice" +(τὸ καλῶς εἰπεῖν ἅπαξ περιγίγνεται, δὶς δὲ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται), but +this is generally because the genius of one language lends itself with +special ease to some singularly felicitous and often epigrammatic form +of expression which is almost or sometimes even quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> untranslatable. +Who, for instance, would dare to translate into English the following +description which the Duchesse de Dino<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> gave of a lady of her +acquaintance: "Elle n'a jamais été jolie, mais elle était blanche et +fraîche, <i>avec quelques jolis détails"</i>? On the whole, however, it may +be said that if the prose translator is thoroughly well acquainted with +both of the languages which he has to handle, he ought to be able to pay +adequate homage to the genius of the one without offering undue violence +to that of the other.</p> + +<p>The case of the translator of poetry, which Coleridge defined as "the +best words in the best order," is manifestly very different. A phrase +which is harmonious or pregnant with fire in one language may become +discordant, flat, and vapid when translated into another. Shelley spoke +of "the vanity of translation." "It were as wise (he said) to cast a +violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of +its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into +another the creations of a poet."</p> + +<p>Longinus has told us<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> that "beautiful words are the very light of +thought" (φῶς γὰρ τῷ ὄντι ἴδιον τοῦ νοῦ τὰ καλὰ ὀνόματα), but +it will often happen, in reading a fine passage, that on analysing the +sentiments evoked, it is difficult to decide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> whether they are due to +the thought or to the beauty of the words. A mere word, as in the case +of Edgar Poe's "Nevermore," has at times inspired a poet. When Keats, +speaking of Melancholy, says:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She lives with Beauty—Beauty that must die—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Joy, whose hand is ever on his lips,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bidding adieu,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>or when Mrs. Browning writes:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">... Young<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As Eve with Nature's daybreak on her face,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the pleasure, both of sense and sentiment, is in each case derived alike +from the music of the language and the beauty of the ideas. But in such +lines as</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Arethusa arose from her couch of snows, etc.,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>or Coleridge's description of the river Alph running</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Through caverns measureless to man<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Down to a sunless sea,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>it is the language rather than the idea which fascinates. Professor +Walker, speaking of the most exquisitely harmonious lyric ever written +in English, or perhaps in any other language,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> says with great truth: +"The reader of <i>Lycidas</i> rises from it ready to grasp the 'two-handed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +engine' and smite; though he may be doubtful what the engine is, and +what is to be smitten."</p> + +<p>It may be observed, moreover, that one of the main difficulties to be +encountered in translating some of the masterpieces of ancient +literature arises from their exquisite simplicity. Although the +indulgence in glaring improprieties of language in the pursuit of +novelty of thought was not altogether unknown to the ancients, and was, +indeed, stigmatised by Longinus with the epithet of "corybantising,"<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +the full development of this pernicious practice has been reserved for +the modern world. Dryden made himself indirectly responsible for a good +deal of bad poetry when he said that great wits were allied to madness. +The late Professor Butcher,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> as also Lamb in his essay on "The Sanity +of True Genius," have both pointed out that genius and high ability are +eminently sane.</p> + +<p>In some respects it may be said that didactic poetry affords special +facilities to the translator, inasmuch as it bears a more close relation +to prose than verse of other descriptions. Didactic poets, such as +Lucretius and Pope, are almost forced by the inexorable necessities of +their subjects to think in prose. However much we may admire their +verse, it is impossible not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> to perceive that, in dealing with subjects +that require great precision of thought, they have felt themselves +hampered by the necessities of metre and rhythm. They may, indeed, +resort to blank verse, which is a sort of half-way house between prose +and rhyme, as was done by Mr. Leonard in his excellent translation of +Empedocles, of which the following specimen may be given:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">οὐκ ἔστιν πελάσασθαι ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἐφεκτὸν<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ἡμετέροις ἢ χερσὶ λαβεῖν, ᾗπερ τε μεγίστη<br /></span> +<span class="i0">πειθοῦς ἀνθρώποισιν ἁμαξιτὸς εἰς φρένα πίπτει.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We may not bring It near us with our eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We may not grasp It with our human hands.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With neither hands nor eyes, those highways twain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereby Belief drops into the minds of men.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But Dr. Symmons, one of the numerous translators of Virgil, said, with +some truth, that the adoption of blank verse only involves "a laborious +and doubtful struggle to escape from the fangs of prose."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>A good example of what can be done in this branch of literature is +furnished by Dryden. Lucretius<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Tu vero dubitabis et indignabere obire?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mortua cui vita est prope iam vivo atque videnti,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Qui somno partem maiorem conteris aevi,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et vigilans stertis nec somnia cernere cessas<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Sollicitamque geris cassa formidine mentem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nec reperire potes tibi quid sit saepe mali, cum<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ebrius urgeris multis miser undique curis,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Atque animi incerto fluitans errore vagaris.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Dryden's translation departs but slightly from the original text and at +the same time presents the ideas of Lucretius in rhythmical and +melodious English:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And thou, dost thou disdain to yield thy breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose very life is little more than death?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More than one-half by lazy sleep possest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when awake, thy soul but nods at best,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Day-dreams and sickly thoughts revolving in thy breast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eternal troubles haunt thy anxious mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose cause and case thou never hopest to find,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But still uncertain, with thyself at strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou wanderest in the labyrinth of life.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Descriptive poetry also lends itself with comparative ease to +translation. Nothing can be better than the translation made by Mr. +Gladstone<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> of <i>Iliad</i> iv. 422-32. The original Greek runs thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">ὡς δ' ὅτ' ἐν αἰγιαλῷ πολυηχέι· κῦμα θαλάσσης<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ὄρνυτ' ἐπασσύτερον Ζεφύρου ὕπο κινήσαντος·<br /></span> +<span class="i0">πόντῳ μέν τε πρῶτα κορύσσεται, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα<br /></span> +<span class="i0">χέρσῳ ῥηγνύμενον μεγάλα βρέμει, ἀμφὶ δέ τ' ἄκρας<br /></span> +<span class="i0">κυρτὸν ἐὸν κορυφοῦται, ἀποπτύει δ' ἁλὸς ἄχνην·<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ὧς τότ' ἐπασσύτεραι Δαναῶν κίνυντο φάλαγγες<br /></span> +<span class="i0">νωλεμέως πόλεμόνδε. κέλευε δὲ οἷσιν ἕκαστος<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ἡγεμόνων· οἱ δ' ἄλλοι ἀκὴν ἴσαν, οὐδέ κε φαίης<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +<span class="i0">τόσσον λαὸν ἕπεσθαι ἔχοντ' ἐν στήθεσιν αὐδήν,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">σιγῇ, δειδιότες σημάντορας· ἀμφὶ δὲ πᾶσι<br /></span> +<span class="i0">τεύχεα ποικίλ' ἔλαμπε, τὰ εἱμένοι ἐστιχόωντο.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone, who evidently drew his inspiration from the author of +"Marmion" and "The Lady of the Lake," translated as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As when the billow gathers fast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With slow and sullen roar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the keen north-western blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Against the sounding shore.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">First far at sea it rears its crest,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then bursts upon the beach;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or with proud arch and swelling breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where headlands outward reach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It smites their strength, and bellowing flings<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Its silver foam afar—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So stern and thick the Danaan kings<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And soldiers marched to war.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each leader gave his men the word,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each warrior deep in silence heard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So mute they marched, them couldst not ken<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They were a mass of speaking men;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as they strode in martial might<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their flickering arms shot back the light.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is, however, in dealing with poetry which is neither didactic nor +descriptive that the difficulty—indeed often the impossibility—of +reconciling the genius of the two languages becomes most apparent. It +may be said with truth that the best way of ascertaining how a fine or +luminous idea can be presented in any particular language is to set +aside altogether the idea of translation, and to inquire how some master +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> the particular language has presented the case without reference to +the utterances of his predecessors in other languages. A good example of +this process may be found in comparing the language in which others have +treated Vauvenargues' well-known saying: "Pour exécuter de grandes +choses, il faut vivre comme si on ne devait jamais mourir." +Bacchylides<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> put the same idea in the following words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">θνατὸν εὖντα χρὴ διδύμους ἀέξειν<br /></span> +<span class="i0">γνώμας, ὅτι τ' αὔριον ὄψεαι<br /></span> +<span class="i0">μοῦνον ἁλίου φάος,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">χὥτι πεντήκοντ' ἔτεα<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ζωὰν βαθύπλουτον τελεῖς.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And the great Arab poet Abu'l'Ala, whose verse has been admirably +translated by Mr. Baerlein, wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If you will do some deed before you die,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Remember not this caravan of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But have belief that every little breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will stay with you for an eternity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Another instance of the same kind, which may be cited without in any way +wishing to advance what Professor Courthope<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> very justly calls "the +mean charge of plagiarism," is Tennyson's line,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> "His honour rooted in +dishonour stood." Euripides<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> expressed the same idea in the following +words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">ἐκ τῶν γὰρ αἰσχρῶν ἐσθλὰ μηχανώμεθα.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To cite another case, the following lines of <i>Paradise Lost</i> may be +compared with the treatment accorded by Euripides to the same subject:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Oh, why did God,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With spirits masculine, create at last<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This novelty on Earth, this fair defect<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Nature, and not fill the World at once<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With men as Angels, without feminine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or find some other way to generate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mankind?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Euripides wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">ὦ Ζεῦ, τί δὴ κίβδηλον ἀνθρώποις κακόν,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">γυναῖκας ἐς φῶς ἡλίου κατῴκισας;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">εἰ γὰρ βρότειον ἤθελες σπεῖραι γένος,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">οὐκ ἐκ γυναικῶν χρῆν παρασχέσθαι τόδε.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Apart, however, from the process to which allusion is made above, very +many instances may, of course, be cited, of translations properly so +called which have reproduced not merely the exact sense but the vigour +of the original idea in a foreign language with little or no resort to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +paraphrase. What can be better than Cowley's translation of Claudian's +lines?—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aequaevumque videt consenuisse nemus.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A neighbouring wood born with himself he sees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And loves his old contemporary trees,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>thus, as Gibbon says,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> improving on the original, inasmuch as, being +a good botanist, Cowley "concealed the oaks under a more general +expression."</p> + +<p>Take also the case of the well-known Latin epigram:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It has frequently been translated, but never more felicitously or +accurately than by the late Lord Wensleydale:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be epigrams like bees; let them have stings;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Honey too, and let them be small things.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>On the other hand, the attempt to adhere too closely to the text of the +original and to reject paraphrase sometimes leads to results which can +scarcely be described as other than the reverse of felicitous. An +instance in point is Sappho's lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ', ἄλλα δώσει,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει<br /></span> +<span class="i8">κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>So great a master of verse as Mr. Headlam translated thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The pursued shall soon be the pursuer!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gifts, though now refusing, yet shall bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love the lover yet, and woo the wooer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Though heart it wring!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Many of Mr. Headlam's translations are, however, excellent, more +especially those from English into Greek. He says in his preface: +"Greek, in my experience, is easier to write than English." He has +admirably reproduced the pathetic simplicity of Herrick's lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here a pretty baby lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sung to sleep with Lullabies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pray be silent and not stir<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The easy earth that covers her.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">μήτηρ βαυκαλόωσά μ' ἐκοίμισεν· ἀτρέμα βαῖνε<br /></span> +<span class="i2">μὴ 'γείρῃς κούφην γῆν μ' ἐπιεσσόμενον.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Many singularly happy attempts to render English into Latin or Greek +verse are given in Mr. Kennedy's fascinating little volume <i>Between +Whiles</i>, of which the following example may be quoted:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Few the words that I have spoken;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">True love's words are ever few;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet by many a speechless token<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hath my heart discoursed to you.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">οἶδα παῦρ' ἔπη λαλήσας· παῦρ' ἔρως λαλεῖν φιλεῖ·<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ξυμβόλοις δ' ὅμως ἀναύδοις σοὶ τὸ πᾶν ᾐνιξάμην.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>The extent to which it is necessary to resort to paraphrase will, of +course, vary greatly, and will largely depend upon whether the language +into which the translation is made happens to furnish epithets and +expressions which are rhythmical and at the same time correspond +accurately to those of the original. Take, for instance, a case such as +the following fragment of Euripides:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">τὰ μὲν διδακτὰ μανθάνω, τὰ δ' εὑρετὰ<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ζητῶ, τὰ δ' εὐκτὰ παρὰ θεῶν ᾐτησάμην.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There is but little difficulty in turning this into English verse with +but slight resort to paraphrase:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I learn what may be taught;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I seek what may be sought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My other wants I dare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To ask from Heaven in prayer,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But in a large majority of cases paraphrase is almost imposed on the +translator by the necessities of the case. Mr. William Cory's rendering +of the famous verses of Callimachus on his friend Heraclitus, which is +too well known to need quotation, has been justly admired as one of the +best and most poetic translations ever made from Greek, but it can +scarcely be called a translation in the sense in which that term is +employed by purists. It is a paraphrase.</p> + +<p>It is needless to dwell on the difficulty of finding any suitable words +capable of being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> adapted to the necessities of English metre and rhythm +for the numerous and highly poetic adjectives in which the Greek +language abounds. It would tax the ingenuity of any translator to weave +into his verse expressions corresponding to the ἁλιερκέες +ὄχθαι (sea-constraining cliffs) or the Μναμοσύνας +λιπαράμπυκος (Mnemosyne of the shining fillet) of Pindar. Neither is +the difficulty wholly confined to poetry. A good many epithets have from +time to time been applied to the Nile, but none so graphic or so +perfectly accurate as that employed by Herodotus,<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> who uses the +phrase ὑπὸ τοσούτου τε ποταμοῦ καὶ οὕτω ἐργατικοῦ. The English +translation "that vast river, so constantly at work" is a poor +equivalent for the original Greek. German possesses to a greater degree +than any other modern language the word-coining power which was such a +marked characteristic of Greek, with the result that it offers special +difficulties to the translator of verse. Mr. Brandes<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> quotes the +following lines of the German poet Bücher:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Welche Heldenfreudigkeit der Liebe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Welche Stärke muthigen Entsagens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Welche himmlisch erdentschwungene Triebe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Welche Gottbegeistrung des Ertragens!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Welche Sich-Erhebung, Sich-Erwiedrung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sich-Entäussrung, völl'ge Hin-sich-gebung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seelenaustausch, Ineinanderlebung!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>It is probable that these lines have never been translated into English +verse, and it is obvious that no translation, which did not largely +consist of paraphrase, would be possible.</p> + +<p>Alliteration, which is a powerful literary instrument in the hands of a +skilful writer, but which may easily be allowed to degenerate into a +mere jingle, is of less common occurrence in Greek than in English, +notably early English, literature. It was, however, occasionally +employed by both poets and dramatists. Euripides, for instance, in the +<i>Cyclops</i> (l. 120) makes use of the following expression, which would +serve as a good motto for an Anarchist club, ἀκούει δ' οὐδὲν +οὐδεὶς οὐδενός. Clytemnestra, also, in speaking of the murder of her +husband (<i>Ag.</i> 1551-52) says:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">πρὸς ἡμῶν<br /></span> +<span class="i0">κάππεσε, κάτθανε, καὶ καταθάψομεν.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>That Greek alliteration is capable of imitation is shown by Pope's +translation of the well-known line<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">πολλὰ δ' ἄναντα κάταντα πάραντά τε δόχμιὰ τ' ἦλθον·<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks, they go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Pope at times brought alliteration to his aid in cases where no such +device had been adopted by Homer, as when, in describing the labours of +Sisyphus,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> he wrote:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With many a weary step, and many a groan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>On the whole, although a good deal more than is contained in this +article may be said on either side, it would appear that, broadly +speaking, Dryden's principle holds good for prose translations, and that +experience has shown, in respect to translations in verse, that, save in +rare instances, a resort to paraphrase is necessary.</p> + +<p>The writer ventures, in conclusion, to give two instances, in one of +which there has been comparatively but slight departure from the text of +the original Greek, whilst in the other there has been greater +indulgence in paraphrase. Both are taken from the Anthology. The first +is an epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor by an unknown author:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ναυτίλε, μὴ πεύθου τίνος ἐνθάδε τύμβος ὅδ' εἰμί,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">ἀλλ' αὐτὸς πόντου τύγχανε χρηστοτέρου.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No matter who I was; but may the sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To you prove kindlier than it was to me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The other is by Macedonius:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Αὔριον ἀθρήσω σε· τὸ δ' οὔ ποτε γίνεται ἡμῖν<br /></span> +<span class="i2">ἠθάδος ἀμβολίης αἰὲν ἀεξομένης·<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ταῦτά μοι ἱμείροντι χαρίζεαι, ἄλλα δ' ἐς ἄλλους<br /></span> +<span class="i2">δῶρα φέρεις, ἐμεθέν πίστιν ἀπειπαμένη.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ὄψομαι ἑσπερίη σε. τί δ' ἕσπερός έστι γυναικῶν;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">γῆρας ἀμετρήτῳ πληθόμενον ῥυτίδι.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ever "To-morrow" thou dost say;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When will to-morrow's sun arise?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus custom ratifies delay;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My faithfulness thou dost despise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Others are welcomed, whilst to me<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"At even come," thou say'st, "not now."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What will life's evening bring to thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Old age—a many-wrinkled brow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Dryden's well-known lines in <i>Aurengzebe</i> embody the idea of Macedonius +in epigrammatic and felicitous verse:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow's falser than the former day.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW"</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> +<h2>III</h2> + +<h3>SIR ALFRED LYALL</h3> + +<h4><i>"Quarterly Review," July 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>After reading and admiring Sir Mortimer Durand's life of Alfred Lyall, I +am tempted to exclaim in the words of Shenstone's exquisite inscription, +which has always seemed to me about the best thing that Shenstone ever +wrote, "Heu quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!" +He was one of my oldest and best of friends. More than this, although +our characters differed widely, and although I should never for a moment +think of rating my intellectual attainments on a par with his, at the +same time I may say that in the course of a long life I do not think +that I have ever been brought in contact with any one with whom I found +myself in more thorough community of opinion and sentiment upon the +sundry and manifold questions which excited our common interest. He was +a strong Unionist, a strong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> Free Trader, and a strong anti-suffragist. +I am, for good or evil, all these things. He was a sincere Liberal in +the non-party sense of that very elastic word. So was I. That is to say, +there was a time when we both thought ourselves good mid-Victorian +Liberals—a school of politicians whose ideas have now been swept into +the limbo of forgotten things, the only surviving principles of that age +being apparently those associated with a faint and somewhat fantastic +cult of the primrose. In 1866 he wrote to his sister—and I cannot but +smile on reading the letter—"I am more and more Radical every year"; +and he expressed regret that circumstances did not permit of his setting +up as "a fierce demagogue" in England. I could have conscientiously +written in much the same spirit at the same period, but it has not taken +me nearly half a century to discover that two persons more unfitted by +nature and temperament to be "fierce demagogues" than Alfred Lyall and +myself were probably never born. In respect to the Indian political +questions which were current during his day—such as the controversy +between the Lawrentian and "Forward" schools of frontier policy, the +Curzon-Kitchener episode, and the adaptation of Western reforms to meet +the growing requirements to which education has given birth—his views, +although perhaps rather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> in my opinion unduly pessimistic and +desponding, were generally identical with my own.</p> + +<p>Albeit he was an earnest reformer, he was a warm advocate of strong and +capable government, and, in writing to our common friend, Lord Morley, +in 1882, he anathematised what he considered the weakness shown by the +Gladstone Government in dealing with disorder in Ireland. Himself not +only the kindest, but also the most just and judicially-minded of men, +he feared that a maudlin and misplaced sentimentalism would destroy the +more virile elements in the national character. "I should like," he +said, in words which must not, of course, be taken too literally, "a +little more fierceness and honest brutality in the national +temperament." His heart went out, in a manner which is only possible to +those who have watched them closely at work, to those Englishmen, +whether soldiers or civilians, who, but little known and even at times +depreciated by their own countrymen, are carrying the fame, the glory, +the justice and humanity of England to the four quarters of the globe.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The roving Englishman (he said) is the salt of English land.... +Only those who go out of this civilised country, to see the rough +work on the frontiers and in the far lands, properly understand +what our men are like and can do.... They cannot manage a +steam-engine, but they can drive restive and ill-trained horses +over rough roads.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>He felt—and as one who has humbly dabbled in literature at the close of +an active political life, I can fully sympathise with him—that "when +one has once taken a hand in the world's affairs, literature is like +rowing in a picturesque reach of the Thames after a bout in the open +sea." Yet, in the case of Lyall, literature was not a matter of mere +academic interest. "His incessant study was history." He thought, with +Lord Acton, that an historical student should be "a politician with his +face turned backwards." His mind was eminently objective. He was for +ever seeking to know the causes of things; and though far too observant +to push to extreme lengths analogies between the past and the present, +he nevertheless sought, notably in the history of Imperial Rome, for any +facts or commentaries gleaned from ancient times which might be of +service to the modern empire of which he was so justly proud, and in the +foundation of which the splendid service of which he was an illustrious +member had played so conspicuous a part. "I wonder," he wrote in 1901, +"how far the Roman Empire profited by high education."</p> + +<p>Lyall was by nature a poet. Sir Mortimer Durand says, truly enough, that +his volume of verses, "if not great poetry, as some hold, was yet true +poetry." Poetic expressions, in fact, bubbled up in his mind almost +unconsciously in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> dealing with every incident of his life. Lord Tennyson +tells us in his <i>Memoir</i> that one evening, when his father and mother +were rowing across the Solent, they saw a heron. His father described +this incident in the following language: "One dark heron flew over the +sea, backed by a daffodil sky." Similarly, Lyall, writing with the +enthusiasm of a young father for his firstborn, said: "The child has +eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon, with wondrous depth of intelligent +gaze." But, though a poet, it would be a great error to suppose that +Lyall was an idealist, if by that term is meant one who, after a +platonic fashion, indulges in ideas which are wholly visionary and +unpractical. He had, indeed, ideals. No man of his imagination and +mental calibre could be without them. But they were ideals based on a +solid foundation of facts. It was here that, in spite of some sympathy +based on common literary tastes, he altogether parted company from a +brother poet, Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, who has invariably left his facts to +take care of themselves. Though eminently meditative and reflective, +Lyall's mind, his biographer says, "seemed always hungry for facts." +"Though he had an unusual degree of imagination, he never allowed +himself to be tempted too far from the region of the known or the +knowable." The reason why he at times appeared to vacillate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> was that he +did not consider he sufficiently understood all the facts to justify his +forming an opinion capable of satisfying his somewhat hypercritical +judgment. He was, in fact, very difficult to convince of the truth of an +opinion, not because of his prejudices, for he had none, but by reason +of his constitutional scepticism. He acted throughout life on the +principle laid down by the Greek philosopher Epicharmus: "Be sober, and +remember to disbelieve. These are the sinews of the mind." I have been +informed on unimpeachable authority that when he was a member of the +Treasury Committee which sat on the question of providing facilities for +the study of Oriental languages in this country, he constantly asked the +witnesses whom he examined leading questions from which it might rather +be inferred that he held opinions diametrically opposed to those which +in reality he entertained. His sole object was to arrive at a sound +conclusion. He wished to elicit all possible objections to any views to +which he was personally inclined. It is very probable that his Oriental +experience led him to adopt this procedure; for, as any one who has +lived much in the East will recognise, it is the only possible safeguard +against the illusions which may arise from the common Oriental habit of +endeavouring to say what is pleasant to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> interrogator, especially if +he occupies some position of authority.</p> + +<p>Only half-reconciled, in the first instance, to Indian exile, and, when +once he had taken the final step of departure, constantly brooding over +the intellectual attractions rather than the material comforts of +European life, Lyall speedily came to the conclusion that, if he was to +bear a hand in governing India, the first thing he had to do was to +understand Indians. He therefore brought his acutely analytical +intellect to the task of comprehending the Indian habit of thought. In +the course of his researches he displayed that thoroughness and +passionate love of truth which was the distinguishing feature of his +character throughout life. That he succeeded in a manner which has been +surpassed by none, and only faintly rivalled by a very few, is now +generally recognised both by his own countrymen and also—which is far +more remarkable—by the inhabitants of the country which formed the +subject of his study. So far as it is possible for any Western to +achieve that very difficult task, he may be said to have got to the back +of the Oriental mind. He embodied the results of his long experience at +times in sweeping and profound generalisations, which covered the whole +field of Oriental thought and action, and at others in pithy +epigrammatic sayings in which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> racy humour, sometimes tinged with a +shade of cynical irony, never obscured the deep feeling of sympathy he +entertained for everything that was worthy of respect and admiration.</p> + +<p>Lyall had read history to some purpose. He knew, in the words which +Gregorovius applied to the rule of Theodosius in Italy, that "not even +the wisest and most humane of princes, if he be an alien in race, in +customs and religion, can ever win the hearts of the people." He had +read De Tocqueville, and from the pages of an author whose habit of +thought must have been most congenial to him, he drew the conclusion +that "it was the increased prosperity and enlightenment of the French +people which produced the grand crash." He therefore thought that "the +wildest, as well as the shallowest notion of all is that universally +prevalent belief that education, civilisation and increased material +prosperity will reconcile the people of India eventually to our rule." +Hence he was prepared to accept—perhaps rather more entirely than it +deserved to be accepted—the statement of that very astute Brahmin, Sir +Dinkur Rao, himself the minister of an important native State, that "the +natives prefer a bad native Government to our best patent institutions." +These, and similar oracular statements, have now become the commonplaces +of all who deal with questions affecting India.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> That there is much +truth in them cannot be gainsaid, but they are still often too much +ignored by one section of the British public, who, carried away by +home-made sentiment, forget that of all national virtues gratitude for +favours received is the most rare, while by another section they are +applied to the advocacy of a degree of autonomous rule which would be +disastrous to the interests, not only of India itself, but also to the +cause of all real civilised progress.</p> + +<p>The point, however, on which in conversation Lyall was wont to insist +most strongly was that the West was almost incomprehensible to the East, +and, <i>vice versa</i>, that the Western could never thoroughly understand +the Oriental. In point of fact, when we talk of progress, it is +necessary to fix some standard by which progress may be measured. We +know our Western standard; we endeavour to enforce it; and we are so +convinced that it gives an accurate measure of human moral and material +advancement that we experience a shock on hearing that there are large +numbers of even highly educated human beings who hold that the standard +is altogether false. Yet that, Lyall would argue, is generally the +Oriental frame of mind. Fatalism, natural conservatism and ignorance +lead the uneducated to reject our ideas, while the highly educated often +hold that our standard of progress is too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> material to be a true +measure, and that consequently, far from advancing, we are standing +still or even retrograding. Lyall, personifying a Brahmin, said, +"Politics I cannot help regarding as the superficial aspect of deeper +problems; and for progress, the latest incarnation of European +materialism, I have an incurable distrust." These subtle intellectuals, +in fact, as Surendranath Banerjee, one of the leaders of the Swadeshi +movement, told Dr. Wegener,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> hold that the English are "stupid and +ignorant," and, therefore, wholly unfit to govern India.</p> + +<p>I remember Lyall, who, as Sir Mortimer Durand says, had a very keen +sense of humour, telling me an anecdote which is what Bacon would have +called "luciferous," as an illustration of the views held by the +uneducated classes in India on the subject of Western reforms. The +officer in charge of a district either in Bengal or the North-West +Provinces got up a cattle-show, with a view to improving the breed of +cattle. Shortly afterwards, an Englishman, whilst out shooting, entered +into conversation with a peasant who happened to be passing by. He asked +the man what he thought of the cattle-show, and added that he supposed +it had done a great deal of good. "Yes," the native, who was probably a +Moslem, replied after some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> reflection, "last year there was cholera. +This year there was Cattle Show. We have to bear these afflictions with +what patience we may. Are they not all sent by God?"</p> + +<p>But it was naturally the opinions entertained by the intellectual +classes which most interested Lyall, and which he endeavoured to +interpret to his countrymen. The East is asymmetrical in all things. I +remember Lyall saying to me, "Accuracy is abhorrent to the Oriental +mind." The West, on the other hand, delights beyond all things in +symmetry and accuracy. Moreover, it would almost seem as if in the most +trivial incidents in life some unseen influence generally impels the +Eastern to do the exact opposite to the Western—a point, I may observe, +which Lyall was never tired of illustrating by all kinds of quaint +examples. A shepherd in Perthshire will walk behind his sheep and drive +them. In the Deccan he will walk in front of his flock. A European will +generally place his umbrella point downwards against the wall. An +Oriental will, with far greater reason, do exactly the reverse.</p> + +<p>But, in respect to the main question of mutual comprehension, there are, +at all events in so far as the European is concerned, degrees of +difficulty—degrees which depend very largely on religious differences, +for in the theocratic East religion covers the whole social and +political field<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> to a far greater extent than in the West. Now, the +religion of the Moslem is, comparatively speaking, very easy to +understand. There are, indeed, a few ritualistic and other minor points +as to which a Western may at times have some difficulty in grasping the +Oriental point of view. But the foundations of monotheistic Islam are +simplicity itself; indeed, it may be said that they are far more simple +than those of Christianity. The case of the Hindu religion is very +different. Dr. Barth in his <i>Religions of India</i> says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Already in the Veda, Hindu thought is profoundly tainted with the +malady, of which it will never be able to get rid, of affecting a +greater air of mystery the less there is to conceal, of making a +parade of symbols which at bottom signify nothing, and of playing +with enigmas which are not worth the trouble of trying to +unriddle.... At the present time it is next to impossible to say +exactly what Hinduism is, where it begins, and where it ends.</p></div> + +<p>I cannot profess to express any valuable opinion on a subject on which I +am very imperfectly informed, and which, save as a matter of political +necessity, fails to interest me—for, personally, I think that a book of +the <i>Iliad</i> or a play of Aristophanes is far more valuable than all the +lucubrations that have ever been spun by the subtle minds of learned +Hindu Pundits—but, so far as I am able to judge, Dr. Barth's +description<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> is quite accurate. None the less, the importance to the +Indian politician of gaining some insight into the inner recesses of the +Hindu mind cannot for a moment be doubted. Lyall said, "I fancy that the +Hindu philosophy, which teaches that everything we see or feel is a vast +cosmic illusion, projected into space by that which is the manifestation +of the infinite and unconscious spirit, has an unsettling effect on +their political beliefs." Lyall, therefore, rendered a very great +political service to his countrymen when he took in hand the duty of +expounding to them the true nature of Hindu religious belief. He did the +work very thoroughly. Passing lightly by the "windy moralities" of +Brahmo Somaj teachers of the type of Keshub Chunder Sen, whom he left to +"drifting Deans such as Stanley and Alford," he grasped the full +significance of true orthodox Brahmanism, and under the pseudonym of +Vamadeo Shastri wrote an essay which has "become a classic for the +student of comparative religion, and for all who desire to know, in +particular, the religious mind of the Hindu." In the course of his +enquiries Lyall incidentally performed the useful historical service of +showing that Euhemerism is, or very recently was, a living force in +India,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and that the solar myth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> theory supported by Max Müller and +others had, to say the least, been pushed much too far.</p> + +<p>I turn to another point. All who were brought in contact with Lyall +speedily recognised his social charm and high intellectual gifts, but +was he a man of action? Did he possess the qualifications necessary to +those who take part in the government of the outlying dominions of the +Empire? I have often been asked that question. It is one to which Sir +Mortimer Durand frequently reverts, his general conclusion being that +Lyall was "a man of action with literary tastes." I will endeavour +briefly to express my own opinion on this subject.</p> + +<p>There have been many cases of notable men of action who were also +students. Napier said that no example can be shown in history of a great +general who was not also a well-read man. But Lyall was more than a mere +student. He was a thinker, and a very deep thinker, not merely on +political but also on social and religious subjects. There may be some +parallel in the history of our own or of other countries to the peculiar +combination of thought and action which characterised Lyall's career, +but for the moment none which meets all the necessary requirements +occurs to me. The case is, I think, almost if not quite unique. That +Lyall had a warm admiration for men of action is abundantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> clear. His +enthusiasm on their behalf comes out in every stanza of his poetry, and, +when any suitable occasion offered, in every line of his prose. He +eulogised the strong man who ruled and acted, and he reserved a very +special note of sympathy for those who sacrificed their lives for their +country. Shortly before his own death he spoke in terms of warm +admiration of Mr. Newbolt's fine lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Qui procul hinc—the legend's writ,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The frontier grave is far away—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Qui ante diem periit<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sed miles, sed pro patriâ.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But he shared these views with many thinkers who, like Carlyle, have +formed their opinions in their studies. The fact that he entertained +them does not help us to answer the question whether he can or cannot be +himself classed in the category of men of action.</p> + +<p>As a young man he took a distinguished part in the suppression of the +Mutiny, and showed courage and decision of character in all his acts. He +was a good, though not perhaps an exceptionally good administrator. His +horror of disorder in any form led him to approve without hesitation the +adoption of strong measures for its suppression. On the occasion of the +punishment administered to those guilty of the Manipur massacres in +1891, he wrote to Sir Mortimer Durand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> "I do most heartily admire the +justice and firmness of purpose displayed in executing the Senapati. I +hope there will be no interference, in my absence, from the India +Office." On the whole, the verdict passed by Lord George Hamilton is, I +believe, eminently correct, and is entirely in accordance with my own +experience. Lord George, who had excellent opportunities for forming a +sound opinion on the subject, wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Great as were Lyall's literary attributes and powers of initiation +and construction, his critical faculties were even more fully +developed. This made him at times somewhat difficult to deal with, +for he was very critical and cautious in the tendering of advice as +regards any new policy or any suggested change. When once he could +see his way through difficulties, or came to the conclusion that +those difficulties must be faced, then his caution and critical +instincts disappeared, and he was prepared to be as bold in the +prosecution of what he advocated as he had previously been +reluctant to start.</p></div> + +<p>The mental attitude which Lord George Hamilton thus describes is by no +means uncommon in the case of very conscientious and brilliantly +intellectual men, such, for instance, as the late Lord Goschen, who +possessed many characteristics in common with Lyall. They can cite, in +justification of their procedure, the authority of one who was probably +the greatest man of action that the world has ever produced. Roederer +relates in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> his journal that on one occasion Napoleon said to him:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Il n'y a pas un homme plus pusillanime que moi quand je fais un +plan militaire; je me grossis tous les dangers et tous les maux +possibles dans les circonstances; je suis dans une agitation tout à +fait pénible; je suis comme une fille qui accouche. Et quand ma +résolution est prise, tout est oublié, hors ce qui peut la faire +réussir.</p></div> + +<p>Within reasonable limits, caution is, indeed, altogether commendable. On +the other hand, it cannot be doubted that, carried to excess, it is at +times apt to paralyse all effective and timely action, to disqualify +those who exercise it from being pilots possessed of sufficient daring +to steer the ship of state in troublous times, and to exclude them from +the category of men of action in the sense in which that term is +generally used. In spite of my great affection for Alfred Lyall, I am +forced to admit that, in his case, caution was, I think, at times +carried to excess. He never appeared to me to realise sufficiently that +the conduct of public affairs, notably in this democratic age, is at +best a very rough unscientific process; that it is occasionally +necessary to make a choice of evils or to act on imperfect evidence; and +that at times, to quote the words which I remember Lord Northbrook once +used to me, it is even better to have a wrong opinion than to have no +definite opinion at all. So early<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> as 1868, he wrote to his mother, +"There are many topics on which I have not definitely discovered what I +do think"; and to the day of his death he very generally maintained in +respect to current politics the frame of mind set forth in this very +characteristic utterance. Every general has to risk the loss of a +battle, and every active politician has at times to run the risk of +making a wrong forecast. Before running that risk, Lyall was generally +inclined to exhaust the chances of error to an extent which was often +impossible, or at all events hurtful.</p> + +<p>Sir Mortimer Durand refers to the history of the Ilbert Bill, a measure +under which Lord Ripon's Government proposed to give native magistrates +jurisdiction over Europeans in certain circumstances. I was at the time +(1882-83) Financial Member of the Viceroy's Council. After a lapse of +thirty years, there can, I think, be no objection to my stating my +recollections of what occurred in connexion with this subject. I should, +in the first instance, mention that the association of Mr. (now Sir +Courtenay) Ilbert's name with this measure was purely accidental. He had +nothing to do with its initiation. The proposals, which were eventually +embodied in the Bill, originated with Sir Ashley Eden, who was +Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and who certainly could not be accused of +any wish to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> neglect European opinion, or of any desire to push forward +extreme liberal measures conceived in native interests. The measure had +been under the consideration of the Legislative Department in the time +of Mr. Ilbert's predecessor in the office of Legal Member of Council, +and it was only the accident that he vacated his office before it was +introduced into the Legislative Council that associated Mr. Ilbert's +name with the Bill.</p> + +<p>As was customary in such cases, all the local Governments had been +consulted; and they again consulted the Commissioners, +Deputy-Commissioners, Collectors, etc., within their respective +provinces. The result was that Lord Ripon had before him the opinions of +practically the whole Civil Service of India. Divers views were held as +to the actual extent to which the law should be altered, but, in the +words of a despatch addressed by the Government of India to the +Secretary of State on September 9, 1882, the local reports showed "an +overwhelming consensus of opinion that the time had come for modifying +the existing law and removing the present absolute bar upon the +investment of native magistrates in the interior with powers over +European British subjects." Not one single official gave anything +approaching an indication of the storm of opposition that this ill-fated +measure was about to raise. I do not think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> that this is very +surprising, for the opposition came almost exclusively from the +unofficial Europeans, who for the most part congregate in a few large +commercial centres, with the result that the majority of the civilians, +who are scattered throughout the country, are not much brought in +contact with them. Nevertheless, the fact that so great a miscalculation +of the state of public opinion could be made left a deep impression on +my mind. The main lesson which I carried away from the Ilbert Bill +controversy was, indeed, that in spite of their great merits, which no +one recognises more fully than myself, it is possible at times for the +whole body of Indian civilians, taken collectively, to be somewhat +unsafe guides in matters of state policy. Curiously enough, the only +danger-signal which was raised was hoisted by Sir Henry Maine, who had +been in India as Legal Member of Council, but who did not belong to the +Indian Civil Service. He was at the time a member of the India Council. +When the despatch of the Government of India on the subject reached +London, Sir Henry Maine was travelling on the Continent. The papers were +sent to him. He called to mind the bitter controversy which arose over +what was known as "the Black Act" in Lord William Bentinck's time, and +wrote privately a few words of warning to Lord Hartington, who was at +the time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> Secretary of State for India. Lord Hartington put the letter +in his great-coat pocket, went to Newmarket, and forgot all about it, +with the result that Sir Henry Maine's warning never reached Lord Ripon.</p> + +<p>I well remember being present when Mr. Ilbert introduced the measure +into the Legislative Council. It attracted but little attention and led +to only a very brief discussion, in which I took no part. The papers had +been circulated to all Members of Council, including myself. When I +received them I saw at a glance that the subject was not one that +concerned my own department, or one as to which my opinion could be of +any value. I, therefore, merely endorsed the papers with my initials and +sent them on, without having given the subject much attention. In common +with all my colleagues, I was soon to learn the gravity of the step +which had been taken. A furious storm of opposition, which profoundly +shook the prestige and authority of the Government of India, and notably +of the Viceroy, arose. It was clear that a mistake had been made. The +measure was in itself not very important. It was obviously undesirable, +as Lyall remarked, to "set fire to an important wing of the house in +order to roast a healthy but small pig." The best plan, had it been +possible, would have been to admit the mistake and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> withdraw the +measure; and this would certainly have been done had it not been for the +unseemly and extravagant violence of the European unofficial community, +notably that of Calcutta. It should, however, in fairness be stated that +they were irritated and alarmed, not so much at the acts of Lord Ripon's +Government, but at some rather indiscreet language which had at times +been used, and which led them, quite erroneously, to suspect that +extreme measures were in contemplation, of a nature calculated to shake +the foundations of British supremacy in India. This violent attitude +naturally led to reprisals and bitter recriminations from the native +press, with the result that the total withdrawal of the measure would +have been construed as a decisive defeat to the adoption of even the +most moderate measures of liberal reform in India. The project of total +withdrawal could not, therefore, be entertained.</p> + +<p>In these circumstances, the duty of a practical rough-and-ready +politician was very clearly indicated. However little he might care for +the measure on its own merits, political instinct pointed unmistakably +to the absolute necessity of affording strong support to the Viceroy. +Lyall failed to realise this fully. He admired Lord Ripon's courage. "We +must," he said, "all do our best to pull the Viceroy through."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> But +withal it is clear, by his own admission, that he only gave the Viceroy +"rather lukewarm support." "I have intrenched myself," he wrote in a +characteristic letter, "behind cautious proposals, and am quoted on both +sides." This attitude was not due to any want of moral courage, for a +more courageous man, both physically and morally, than Lyall never +lived. It was simply the result of what Lord Lytton called "the Lyall +habit of seeing both sides of a question," and not being able to decide +betimes which side to support. That a man of Lyall's philosophical and +reflective turn of mind should see both sides of a question is not only +natural but commendable, but this frame of mind is not one that can be +adopted without hazard by a man of action at the head of affairs at a +time of acute crisis.</p> + +<p>There is, however, a reverse side to this picture. The same mental +attributes which rendered Lyall somewhat unfit, in my opinion, to deal +with an incident such as the Ilbert Bill episode, enabled him to come +with credit and distinction out of a situation of extreme difficulty in +which the reputation of many another man would have foundered. I have no +wish or intention to stir up again the embers of past Afghan +controversies. It will be sufficient for my purpose to say that Lord +Lytton, immensely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> to his credit, recognised Lyall's abilities and +appointed him Foreign Secretary, in spite of the fact that he was +associated with the execution of a policy to which Lord Lytton himself +was strongly opposed, and which he had decided to reverse. Lyall did not +conceal his opinions, but, as always, he was open to conviction, and saw +both sides of a difficult question. In 1878, he was "quite in favour of +vigorous action to counteract the Russians"; but two years later, in +1880, after the Cavagnari murder, he records in a characteristic letter +that he "was mentally edging back towards old John Lawrence's counsel +never to embark on the shoreless sea of Afghan politics." On the whole, +it may be said that Lyall passed through this supreme test in a manner +which would not have been possible to any man unless endowed not merely +with great abilities, but with the highest degree of moral courage and +honesty of purpose. He preserved his own self-esteem, and by his +unswerving honesty and loyalty gained that of the partisans on both +sides of the controversy.</p> + +<p>It is pleasant to turn from these episodes to other features in Lyall's +career and character, in respect to which unstinted eulogy, without the +qualification of a shade of criticism, may be recorded. It was more +especially in dealing with the larger and more general aspects of +Eastern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> affairs that Lyall's genius shone most brightly. He had what +the French call a <i>flair</i> in dealing with the main issues of Oriental +politics such as, so far as my experience goes, is possessed by few. It +was very similar to the qualities displayed by the late Lord Salisbury +in dealing with foreign affairs generally. I give an instance in point.</p> + +<p>In 1884, almost every newspaper in England was declaiming loudly about +the dangers to be apprehended if the rebellion excited by the Mahdi in +the Soudan was not promptly crushed. It was thought that this rebellion +was but the precursor of a general and formidable offensive movement +throughout the Islamic world. "What," General Gordon, whose opinion at +the time carried great weight, had asked, "is to prevent the Mahdi's +adherents gaining Mecca? Once at Mecca we may look out for squalls in +Turkey," etc. He, as also Lord Wolseley, insisted on the absolute +necessity of "smashing the Mahdi." We now know that these fears were +exaggerated, and that the Mahdist movement was of purely local +importance. Lyall had no special acquaintance with Egyptian or Soudanese +affairs, but his general knowledge of the East and of Easterns enabled +him at once to gauge correctly the true nature of the danger. +Undisturbed by the clamour which prevailed around him, he wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> March 21, 1884: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest +India. The talk in some of the papers about the necessity of smashing +him, in order to avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is +futile and imaginative."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>I need say no more. I am glad, for the sake of Lyall's own reputation, +that the offer of the Viceroyalty was never made to him. Apart from the +question of his age, which, in 1894, was somewhat too advanced to admit +of his undertaking such onerous duties, I doubt if he possessed +sufficient experience of English public life—a qualification which is +yearly becoming of greater importance—to enable him to fill the post in +a satisfactory manner. In spite, moreover, of his splendid intellectual +gifts and moral elevation of thought, it is very questionable whether on +the whole he would have been the right man in the right place.</p> + +<p>Lyall's name will not, like those of some other Indian notabilities, go +down to posterity as having been specially connected with any one +episode or event of supreme historical importance; but, when those of +the present generation who regarded him with esteem and affection have +passed away, he will still deserve an important niche in the Temple of +Fame as a thinker who thoroughly understood the East, and who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> probably +did more than any of his contemporaries or predecessors to make his +countrymen understand and sympathise with the views held by the many +millions in India whose destinies are committed to their charge. His +experience and special mental equipment eminently fitted him to perform +the task he took in hand. England, albeit a prolific mother of great men +in every department of thought and action, has not produced many Lyalls.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER"</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> +<h2>IV</h2> + +<h3>ARMY REFORM</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Nineteenth Century and After," February 1904</i></h4> + + +<p>The autobiography<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> of my old and highly esteemed friend, Lord +Wolseley, constitutes an honourable record of a well-spent life. Lord +Wolseley may justifiably be proud of the services which he has rendered +to his country. The British nation, and its principal executive +officials in the past, may also be proud of having quickly discovered +Lord Wolseley's talents and merits, and of having advanced him to high +position.</p> + +<p>Obviously, certain conclusions of public interest may be drawn from the +career of this very distinguished soldier. Sir George Arthur, in the +December number of the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, has stated what are the +special lessons which, in his opinion, are to be derived from a +consideration of that career.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>Those lessons are, indeed, sufficiently numerous. I propose, however, to +deal with only two of them. They are those which, apparently, Lord +Wolseley himself wishes to be inculcated. Both involve questions of +principle of no little importance.</p> + +<p>In the first place, Lord Wolseley, if I understand rightly, considers +that the army has suffered greatly from civilian interference. He +appears to think that it should be more exclusively than heretofore +under military control.</p> + +<p>In the second place, he thinks that, in certain cases, the political and +diplomatic negotiations, which generally follow on a war, should be +conducted, not by a diplomatist or politician, but by the officer who +has conducted the previous military operations.</p> + +<p>As regards the first point, I am not now dealing with Lord Wolseley's +remarks in connection with our general unpreparedness for war, nor with +those on the various defects, past or present, of our military +organisation. In a great deal that he has said on these subjects, Lord +Wolseley carries me heartily with him. I confine myself strictly to the +issue as I have defined it above.</p> + +<p>Possibly, I have mistaken the significance of Lord Wolseley's words. If +so, my error is shared by Sir George Arthur, who, in dealing with the +War Office, dwells with emphasis on the occasions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> when "this great war +expert was thwarted in respect of his best considered plans by the +civilian element in that citadel of inefficiency,"<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> and speaks with +approval of Lord Wolseley's "severe strictures on blundering civilian +interference with the army," as also of the "censure reserved for the +criminal negligence and miserable cowardice of successive Cabinets."</p> + +<p>It seems to me that Lord Wolseley is rather hard on civilians in +general—those "iconoclastic civilian officials who meddle and muddle in +army matters"<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a>—on politicians in particular, who, I cannot but +think, are not quite so black as he has painted them; and most of all on +Secretaries of State, with the single exception of Lord Cardwell, to +whom generous and very well deserved praise is accorded.</p> + +<p>It is not quite clear, from a perusal of these volumes, what is the +precise nature of the change which Lord Wolseley wishes to advocate, +although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> in one passage a specific proposal is made. It is that "a +certificate should be annually laid before Parliament by the +non-political Commander-in-Chief, that the whole of the military forces +of the Empire can be completely and effectively equipped for war in a +fortnight." The general tendency of the reform which commends itself to +Lord Wolseley may, however, readily be inferred. He complains that the +soldiers, "though in office, are never in power." Nevertheless, as he +explains with military frankness, "the cunning politician," when +anything goes wrong, is able "to turn the wrath of a deceived people +upon the military authorities, and those who are exclusively to blame +are too often allowed to sneak off unhurt in the turmoil of execration +they have raised against the soldiers." I may remark incidentally that +exception might perhaps reasonably be taken to the use of the word +"exclusively" in this passage; but the main point to which I wish to +draw attention is that clearly, in Lord Wolseley's opinion, the +soldiers, under the existing system, have not sufficient power, and that +it would be advisable that they should, under a reformed system, be +invested with more ample power. I dare say Lord Wolseley is quite right, +at all events to this extent, that it is desirable that the power, as +also the responsibility, of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> highest military authorities should be +as clearly defined as is possible under our peculiar system of +government. But it is essential to ascertain more accurately in what +manner Lord Wolseley, speaking with all the high authority which +deservedly attaches itself to his name, thinks that effect should be +given to the principle which he advocates. In order to obtain this +information, I turn to vol. i. p. 92, where I find the following +passage: "A man who is not a soldier, and who is entirely ignorant of +war, is selected solely for political reasons to be Secretary of State +for War. I might with quite as great propriety be selected to be the +chief surgeon in a hospital."</p> + +<p>I would here digress for a moment to deal with the argument advanced in +the latter part of this sentence. It is very plausible, and, at first +sight, appears convincing. It is also very commonly used. Over and over +again, I have heard the presumed analogy between the surgeon and the +soldier advanced as a proof of the absurdity of the English system. I +believe that no such analogy exists. Surgery is an exact science. To +perform even the most trifling surgical operation requires careful +technical training and experience. It is far otherwise with the case of +the soldier. I do not suppose that any civilian in his senses would +presume, on a purely technical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> matter, to weigh his own opinion against +that of a trained soldier, like Lord Wolseley, who is thoroughly versed +in the theory of his profession, and who has been through the school of +actual war. But a large number of the most important questions affecting +military organisation and the conduct of military affairs, require for +their solution little or no technical knowledge. Any man of ordinary +common sense can form an opinion on them, and any man of good business +habits may readily become a capable agent for giving effect to the +opinions which he, or which others have formed.</p> + +<p>I may here perhaps give a page from my own personal experience bearing +on the point under discussion.</p> + +<p>The Soudan campaign of 1896-98 was, in official circles, dubbed a +"Foreign Office war." For a variety of reasons, to which it is +unnecessary to allude in detail, the Sirdar was, from the commencement +of the operations, placed exclusively under my orders in all matters. +The War Office assumed no responsibility, and issued no orders.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> A +corresponding position was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> occupied by the Headquarters Staff of the +Army of Occupation in Cairo. The result was that I found myself in the +somewhat singular position of a civilian, who had had some little +military training in his youth, but who had had no experience of +war,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> whose proper functions were diplomacy and administration, but +who, under the stress of circumstances in the Land of Paradox, had to be +ultimately responsible for the maintenance, and even, to some extent, +for the movements of an army of some 25,000 men in the field.</p> + +<p>That good results were obtained under this system cannot be doubted. It +will not, therefore, be devoid of interest to explain how it worked in +practice, and what were the main reasons which contributed towards +success.</p> + +<p>I have no wish to disparage the strategical and tactical ability which +were displayed in the conduct of the campaign. It is, however, a fact +that no occasion arose for the display of any great skill in these +branches of military knowledge. When once the British and Egyptian +troops were brought face to face with the enemy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> there could—unless +the conditions under which they fought were altogether extraordinary—be +little doubt of the result. The speedy and successful issue of the +campaign depended, in fact, almost entirely upon the methods adopted for +overcoming the very exceptional difficulties connected with the supply +and transport of the troops. The main quality required to meet these +difficulties was a good head for business. By one of those fortunate +accidents which have been frequent in the history of Anglo-Saxon +enterprise, a man was found equal to the occasion. Lord Kitchener of +Khartoum won his well-deserved peerage because he was a good man of +business; he looked carefully after all important detail, and he +enforced economy.</p> + +<p>My own merits, such as they were, were of a purely negative character. +They may be summed up in a single phrase. I abstained from mischievous +activity, and I acted as a check on the interference of others. I had +full confidence in the abilities of the commander, whom I had +practically myself chosen, and, except when he asked for my assistance, +I left him entirely alone. I encouraged him to pay no attention to those +vexatious bureaucratic formalities with which, under the slang phrase of +"red tape" our military system is overburdened. I exercised some little +control over the demands for stores<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> which were sent to the London War +Office; and the mere fact that these demands passed through my hands, +and that I declined to forward any request unless, besides being in +accordance with existing regulations—a point to which I attached but +slight importance—it had been authorised by the Sirdar, probably tended +to check wastefulness in that quarter where it was most to be feared. +Beyond this I did nothing, and I found—somewhat to my own +astonishment—that, with my ordinary staff of four diplomatic +secretaries, the general direction of a war of no inconsiderable +dimensions added but little to my ordinary labours.</p> + +<p>I do not say that this system would always work as successfully as was +the case during the Khartoum campaign. The facts, as I have already +said, were peculiar. The commander, on whom everything practically +depended, was a man of marked military and administrative ability. +Nevertheless, I feel certain that Lord Kitchener would bear me out in +saying that here was a case in which general civilian control, far from +exercising any detrimental effect, was on the whole beneficial.</p> + +<p>To return to the main thread of my argument. The passage which I have +quoted from Lord Wolseley's book would certainly appear to point to the +conclusion that, in his opinion, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Secretary of State for War should +be a soldier unconnected with politics. Even although Lord Wolseley does +not state this conclusion in so many words, it is notorious to any one +who is familiar with the views current in army circles that the adoption +of this plan is considered by many to be the best, if it be not the +only, solution of all our military difficulties.</p> + +<p>I am not concerned with the constitutional objections which may be urged +against the change of system now under discussion. Neither need I dwell +on the difficulty of making it harmonise with our system of party +government, for which it is quite possible to entertain a certain +feeling of respect and admiration without being in any degree a +political partisan. I approach the question exclusively from the point +of view of its effects on the army. From that point of view, I venture +to think that the change is to be deprecated.</p> + +<p>In dealing with Lord Cardwell's attitude in respect to army reform, Lord +Wolseley says: "Never was Minister in my time more generally hated by +the army." He points out how this hatred was extended to all who +supported Lord Cardwell's views. His own conduct was "looked upon as a +species of high treason." I was at the time employed in a subordinate +position at the War Office. I can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> testify that this language is by no +means exaggerated. Nevertheless, after events showed clearly enough +that, in resisting the abolition of purchase, the formation of a +reserve, and the other admirable reforms with which Lord Cardwell's +name, equally with that of Lord Wolseley, is now honourably associated, +the bulk of army opinion was wholly in the wrong. I believe such army +opinion as now objects to a civilian being Secretary of State for War to +be equally in the wrong.</p> + +<p>There would appear, indeed, to be some inconsistency between Lord +Wolseley's unstinted praise of Lord Cardwell—that "greatest" of War +Ministers, who, "though absolutely ignorant of our army and of war," +responded so "readily to the demands made on him by his military +advisers," and "gave new life to our old army"—and his depreciation of +the system which gave official birth to Lord Cardwell. There would be no +contradiction in the two positions if the civilian Minister, in 1871, +had been obliged to use his position in Parliament and his influence on +public opinion to force on an unwilling nation reforms which were +generally advocated by the army. But the very contrary of this was the +case. What Lord Cardwell had principally to encounter was "the fierce +hatred" of the old school of soldiers, and Lord Wolseley<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> tells us +clearly enough what would have happened to the small band of army +reformers within the army, if they had been unable to rely on civilian +support.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Had it not been," he says, "for Mr. Cardwell's and Lord +Northbrook's constant support and encouragement, those of us who +were bold enough to advocate a thorough reorganisation of our +military system, would have been 'provided for' in distant quarters +of the British world, 'where no mention of us more should be +heard.'"</p></div> + +<p>There can be no such thing as finality in army reform. There will be +reformers in the future, as there have been in the past. There will, +without doubt, be vested interests and conservative instincts to be +overcome in the future, as there were at the time when Lord Wolseley so +gallantly fought the battle of army reform. What guarantee can Lord +Wolseley afford that a soldier at the head of the army will always be a +reformer, and that he will not "provide for" those of his subordinates +who have the courage to raise their voices in favour of reform, even as +Lord Wolseley thinks he would himself have been "provided for" had it +not been for the sturdy support he received from his civilian superiors? +I greatly doubt the possibility of giving any such guarantee.</p> + +<p>But I go further than this. It is now more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> than thirty years since I +served under the War Office. I am, therefore, less intimately acquainted +with the present than with the past. But, during those thirty years, I +have been constantly brought in contact with the War Office, and I have +seen no reason whatever to change the opinion I formed in Lord +Cardwell's time, namely, that it will be an evil day for the army when +it is laid down, as a system, that no civilian should be Secretary of +State for War. My belief is that, if ever the history of our military +administration of recent years comes to be impartially written, it will +be found that most of the large reforms, which have beneficially +affected the army, have been warmly supported, and sometimes initiated, +by the superior civilian element in the War Office. Who, indeed, ever +heard of a profession being reformed from within? One of the greatest +law reformers of the last century was the author of <i>Bleak House</i>.</p> + +<p>It may, indeed, be urged—perhaps Lord Wolseley would himself urge—that +it is no defence of a bad system to say that under one man (Lord +Cardwell), whom Lord Wolseley describes as "a clear-headed, +logical-minded lawyer," it worked very well. To this I reply that I +cannot believe that the race of clear-headed, logical-minded individuals +of Cabinet rank, belonging to either great party of the State, is +extinct.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have been induced to make these remarks because, in past years, I was +a good deal associated with army reform, and because, since then, I have +continued to take an interest in the matter. Also because I am convinced +that those officers in the army who, with the best intentions, advocate +the particular change now under discussion, are making a mistake in army +interests. They may depend upon it that the cause they have at heart +will best be furthered by maintaining at the head of the army a civilian +of intelligence and of good business habits, who, although, equally with +a soldier, he may sometimes make mistakes, will give an impartial +hearing to army reformers, and will probably be more alive than any one +belonging to their own profession to all that is best in the outside and +parliamentary pressure to which he is exposed.</p> + +<p>I turn to the second point to which allusion was made at the +commencement of this article.</p> + +<p>Speaking of the Chinese war in 1860, Lord Wolseley says: "In treating +with barbarian nations during a war ... the general to command the army +and the ambassador to make peace should be one and the same man. To +separate the two functions is, according to my experience, folly gone +mad." Lord Wolseley reverts to this subject in describing the Ashantee +war of 1873-74. I gather from his allusions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> to Sir John Moore's +campaign in Spain, and to the fact that evil results ensued from +allowing Dutch deputies to accompany Marlborough's army, that he is in +favour of extending the principle which he advocates to wars other than +those waged against "barbarian nations."</p> + +<p>The objections to anything in the nature of a division of +responsibility, at all events so long as military operations are in +actual progress, are, indeed, obvious, and are now very generally +recognised. Those who are familiar with the history of the revolutionary +war will remember the baneful influence exercised by the Aulic Council +over the actions of the Austrian commanders.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> There can, in fact, be +little doubt that circumstances may occur when the principle advocated +by Lord Wolseley may most advantageously be adopted; but it is, I +venture to think, one which has to be applied with much caution, +especially when the question is not whether there should be a temporary +cessation of hostilities—a point on which the view of the officer in +command of the troops would naturally carry the greatest weight—but +also involves the larger issue of the terms on which peace should +finally be concluded. I am not at all sure that, in deciding on the +issues which, under the latter contingency, must necessarily come under +con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>sideration, the employment of a soldier, in preference to a +politician or diplomatist, is always a wise proceeding. Soldiers, +equally with civilians, are liable to make erroneous forecasts of the +future, and to mistake the general situation with which they have to +deal. I can give a case in point.</p> + +<p>When, in January 1885, Khartoum fell, the question whether the British +army should be withdrawn, or should advance and reconquer the Soudan, +had to be decided. Gordon, whose influence on public opinion, great +before, had been enhanced by his tragic death, had strongly recommended +the policy of "smashing the Mahdi." Lord Wolseley adopted Gordon's +opinion. "No frontier force," he said, "can keep Mahdiism out of Egypt, +and the Mahdi sooner or later must be smashed, or he will smash you." +These views were shared by Lord Kitchener, Sir Redvers Buller, Sir +Charles Wilson, and by the military authorities generally.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> Further, +the alleged necessity of "smashing the Mahdi," on the ground that his +success in the Soudan would be productive of serious results elsewhere, +exercised a powerful influence on British public opinion at this period, +although the best authorities on Eastern politics were at the time aware +that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> fears so generally entertained in this connection were either +groundless or, at all events, greatly exaggerated.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Under these +circumstances, it was decided to "smash the Mahdi," and accordingly a +proclamation, giving effect to the declared policy of the British +Government, was issued. Shortly afterwards, the Penjdeh incident +occurred. Public opinion in England somewhat calmed down, having found +its natural safety-valve in an acrimonious parliamentary debate, in +which the Government narrowly escaped defeat. The voices of politicians +and diplomatists, which had been to some degree hushed by the din of +arms, began to be heard. The proclamation was cancelled. The project of +reconquering the Soudan was postponed to a more convenient period. It +was, in fact, accomplished thirteen years later, under circumstances +which differed very materially from those which prevailed in 1885. In +June 1885, the Government of Lord Salisbury succeeded to that of Mr. +Gladstone, and, though strongly urged to undertake the reconquest of the +Soudan, confirmed the decision of its predecessors.</p> + +<p>Sir George Arthur, writing in the <i>Fortnightly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> Review</i>, strongly +condemns this "cynical disavowal" of Lord Wolseley's proclamation. I +have nothing to say in favour of the issue of that proclamation. I am +very clearly of opinion that, as it was issued, it was wise that it +should be cancelled. For, in truth, subsequent events showed that the +forecast made by Lord Wolseley and by Gordon was erroneous, in that it +credited the Mahdi with a power of offence which he was far from +possessing. No serious difficulty arose in defending the frontier of +Egypt from Dervish attack. The overthrow of the Mahdi's power, though +eminently desirable, was very far from constituting an imperious +necessity such as was commonly supposed to exist in 1885. In this +instance, therefore, it appears to me that the diplomatists and +politicians gauged the true nature of the situation somewhat more +accurately than the soldiers.</p> + +<p>More than this, I conceive that, in all civilised countries, the theory +of government is that a question of peace or war is one to be decided by +politicians. The functions of the soldier are supposed to be confined, +in the first place, to advising on the purely military aspects of the +issue involved; and, in the second place, to giving effect to any +decisions at which the Government may arrive. The practice in this +matter not infrequently differs somewhat from the theory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> The soldier, +who is generally prone to advocate vigorous action, is inclined to +encroach on the sphere which should properly be reserved for the +politician. The former is often masterful, and the latter may be dazzled +by the glitter of arms, or too readily lured onwards by the persuasive +voice of some strategist to acquire an almost endless succession of +what, in technical language, are called "keys" to some position, or—to +employ a metaphor of which the late Lord Salisbury once made use in +writing to me—"to try and annex the moon in order to prevent its being +appropriated by the planet Mars." When this happens, a risk is run that +the soldier, who is himself unconsciously influenced by a very laudable +desire to obtain personal distinction, may practically dictate the +policy of the nation without taking a sufficiently comprehensive view of +national interests. Considerations of this nature have more especially +been, from time to time, advanced in connection with the numerous +frontier wars which have occurred in India. That they contain a certain +element of truth can scarcely be doubted.</p> + +<p>For these reasons, it appears to me that the application of the +principle advocated by Lord Wolseley requires much care and +watchfulness. Probably, the wisest plan will be that each case should be +decided on its own merits with reference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> to the special circumstances +of the situation, which may sometimes demand the fusion, and sometimes +the separation, of military and political functions.</p> + +<p>I was talking, a short time ago, to a very intelligent, and also +Anglophile, French friend of mine. He knew England well, but, until +quite recently, had not visited the country for a few years. He told me +that what struck him most was the profound change which had come over +British opinion since the occasion of his last visit. We had been +invaded, he said, by <i>le militarisme continental</i>. In common with the +vast majority of my countrymen, I am earnestly desirous of seeing our +military organisation and military establishments placed on a thoroughly +sound footing, but I have no wish whatever to see any portion of our +institutions overwhelmed by a wave of <i>militarisme continental</i>. It is +because I think that the views advocated by Lord Wolseley +tend—although, I do not doubt, unconsciously to their distinguished +author—in the direction of a somewhat too pronounced <i>militarisme</i>, +that I venture in some degree to differ from one for whom I have for +many years entertained the highest admiration and the most cordial +personal esteem.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> +<h2>V</h2> + +<h3>THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Paper read at the International Free Trade Congress at Antwerp</span>, +<i>August 9-21, 1910</i><a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></h4> + + +<p>I have been asked to state my opinion on the effect of Free Trade upon +the political relations between States. The subject is a very wide one. +I am fully aware that the brief remarks which I am about to make fail to +do justice to it.</p> + +<p>A taunt very frequently levelled at modern Free Traders is that the +anticipations of their predecessors in respect to the influence which +Free Trade would be likely to exercise on international relations have +not been realised. A single extract from Mr. Cobden's writings will +suffice to show the nature of those anticipations. In 1842, he described +Free Trade "as the best human means for securing universal and permanent +peace."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> Inasmuch as numerous wars have occurred since this opinion +was expressed, it is often held that events have falsified Mr. Cobden's +prediction.</p> + +<p>In dealing with this argument, I have, in the first place, to remark +that modern Free Traders are under no sort of obligation to be +"Cobdenite" to the extent of adopting or defending the whole of the +teaching of the so-called Manchester School. It may readily be admitted +that the programme of that school is, in many respects, inadequate to +deal with modern problems.</p> + +<p>In the second place, I wish to point out that Mr. Cobden and his +associates, whilst rightly holding that trade was to some extent the +natural foe to war, appear to me to have pushed the consequences to be +derived from that argument much too far. They allowed too little for +other causes which tend to subvert peace, such as racial and religious +differences, dynastic considerations, the wish to acquire national +unity, which tends to the agglomeration of small States, and the +ambition which excites the desire of hegemony.</p> + +<p>In the third place, I have to observe that the world has not as yet had +any adequate opportunity for judging of the accuracy or inaccuracy of +Mr. Cobden's prediction, for only one great commercial nation has, up to +the present time, adopted a policy of Free Trade. It was, indeed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> here +more than in any other direction that some of the early British Free +Traders erred on the side of excessive optimism.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> They thought, and +rightly thought, that Free Trade would confer enormous benefits on their +own country; and they held that the object-lesson thus afforded might +very probably induce other nations speedily to follow the example of +England. They forgot that the special conditions which existed at the +time their noble aspirations were conceived were liable to change; that +the extraordinary advantages which Free Trade for a time secured were +largely due to the fact that seventy years ago England possessed a far +larger supply of mechanical aptitude than any other country; that her +marked commercial supremacy, which was then practically undisputed, +could not be fully maintained in the face of the advance likely to be +made by other nations; that if those nations persisted in adhering to +Protection, their progress—which has really been achieved, not by +reason of, but in spite of Protection—would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> almost inevitably be +mainly attributed to their fiscal policy to the exclusion of other +contributory causes, such as education; and that thus a revived demand +for protective measures would not improbably arise, even in England +itself. These are, in fact, the results which have accrued. Without +doubt, it was difficult to foresee them, but it is worthy of note that, +in spite of all adverse and possibly ephemeral appearances, symptoms are +not wanting which encourage the belief that the prescience of the early +Free Traders may, in the end, be tardily vindicated. It is the irony of +current politics that at a time when England is meditating a return to +Protection—but is as yet, I am glad to say, very far from being +persuaded that the adoption of such a policy would be wise—the most +advanced thinkers in some Protectionist states are beginning to turn +their eyes towards the possibility and desirability of casting aside +those swaddling-clothes which were originally assumed in order to foster +their budding industries. Many of the most competent German economists, +whilst advocating Protection as a temporary measure, have for many years +fully recognised that, when once a country has firmly established its +industrial and commercial status in the markets of the world, it can +best maintain and extend its acquired position by permitting the freest +possible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> trade. Even Friedrich List, though an ardent Protectionist, +"always had before him universal Free Trade as the goal of his +endeavours."<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> Before long, Germany will have well-nigh completed the +transition from agriculture to manufactures in which she has been +engaged for the last thirty or forty years; and when that transition is +fully accomplished, it may be predicted with some degree of confidence +that a nation so highly educated, and endowed with so keen a perception +of cause and effect, will begin to move in the direction of Free Trade. +Similarly, in the United States of America, the campaign which has +recently been waged against the huge Trusts, which are the offspring of +Protection, as well as the rising complaints of the dearness of living, +are so many indications that arguments, which must eventually lead to +the consideration—and probably to the ultimate adoption—if not of Free +Trade, at all events of Freer Trade than now prevails, are gradually +gaining ground. Much the same may be said of Canada. A Canadian +gentleman, who can speak with authority on the subject, recently wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The feeling in favour of Free Trade is growing fast in Western +Canada, and I believe I am right in adding the United States.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>We have our strong and rapidly growing farmers' organisations, such +as the United Farmers of Alberta, and of each Western province, so +that farmers are now making themselves heard and felt in politics, +and farmers realise that they are being exploited for the benefit +of the manufacturer. Excellent articles appear almost weekly in the +<i>Grain Growers' Guide</i>, published in Winnipeg, showing the curse of +Protection.</p> + +<p>A Canadian Free Trade Union, affiliated with the International Free +Trade League, has just been formed in Winnipeg, and many prominent +business and professional men are connected with it.</p> + +<p>It ought to be better known among the electors of Great Britain how +Free Trade is growing in Canada, that they may be less inclined to +commit the fatal mistake of changing England's policy. Canada is +often quoted in English politics now, and the real facts should be +known.</p></div> + +<p>No experience has, therefore, as yet been acquired which would enable a +matured judgment to be formed as to the extent to which Free Trade may +be regarded as a preventive to war. The question remains substantially +much in the same condition as it was seventy years ago. In forming an +opinion upon it, we have still to rely largely on conjecture and on +academic considerations. All that has been proved is that numerous wars +have taken place during a period of history when Protection was the +rule, and Free Trade the exception; though the <i>post hoc ergo propter +hoc</i> fallacy would, of course, be involved, if on that account it were +inferred that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> protection of national industries has necessarily +been the chief cause of war.</p> + +<p>Without indulging in any utopian dreams as to the possibility of +inaugurating an era of universal peace, it may, I think, be held that, +in spite of the wars which have occurred during the last half century, +not merely an ardent desire for peace, but also a dislike—I may almost +say a genuine horror—of war has grown apace amongst the civilised +nations of the world. The destructiveness of modern weapons of offence, +the fearful personal responsibility devolving on the individuals who +order the first shot to be fired, the complete uncertainty which +prevails as to the naval, military, and political results which will +ensue if the huge armaments of modern States are brought into collision, +the growth of a benevolent, if at times somewhat eccentric +humanitarianism, possibly also the advance of democracy—though it is at +times somewhat too readily assumed that democracies must of necessity be +peaceful—have all contributed to create a public opinion which holds +that to engage in an avoidable war is the worst of political crimes. +This feeling has found expression in the more ready recourse which, as +compared to former times, is now made to arbitration in order to settle +international disputes. Nevertheless, so long as human nature remains +unchanged, and more especially so long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> as the huge armaments at present +existing are maintained, it is the imperative duty of every +self-respecting nation to provide adequately for its own defence. That +duty is more especially imposed on those nations who, for one reason or +another, have been driven into adopting that policy of expansion, which +is now almost universal. Within the last few years, the United States of +America have abandoned what has been aptly termed their former system of +"industrial monasticism,"<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> whilst in the Far East a new world-power +has suddenly sprung into existence. Speaking as one unit belonging to a +country whose dominions are more extensive and more widely dispersed +than those of any other nation, I entertain a strong opinion that if +Great Britain continues to maintain her present policy of Free Trade—as +I trust will be the case—her means of defence should, within the limits +of human foresight, be such as to render her empire impregnable; and, +further, that should that policy unfortunately be reversed, it will be a +wise precaution that those means of defence should, if possible, be +still further strengthened. But I also entertain an equally strong +opinion that an imperial nation should seek to fortify its position and +to provide guarantees for the durability of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> its empire, not merely by +rendering itself, so far as is possible, impregnable, but also by using +its vast world-power in such a manner as to secure in some degree the +moral acquiescence of other nations in its <i>imperium</i>, and thus provide +an antidote—albeit it may only be a partial antidote—against the +jealousy and emulation which its extensive dominions are calculated to +incite.</p> + +<p>I am aware that an argument of this sort is singularly liable to +misrepresentation. Militant patriotism rejects it with scorn. It is said +to involve an ignoble degree of truckling to foreign nations. It +involves nothing of the kind. I should certainly be the last to +recommend anything approaching to pusillanimity in the conduct of the +foreign affairs of my country. If I thought that the introduction of a +policy of Protection was really demanded in the interests of the +inhabitants of the United Kingdom, I should warmly advocate it, whatever +might be the effect produced on the public opinion of other countries. +British Free Traders do not advocate the cause which they have at heart +in order to benefit the countries which send their goods to Great +Britain, but because they think it advantageous to their own country to +procure certain foreign products without any artificial enhancement of +price.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> If they are right in coming to this conclusion, it is surely +an incidental advantage of much importance that a policy of Free Trade, +besides being advantageous to the United Kingdom, tends to give an +additional element of stability to the British Empire and to preserve +the peace of the world.</p> + +<p>From the dawn of history, uncontrolled commercialism has been one of the +principal causes of misgovernment, and more especially of the +misgovernment of subject races. The early history of the Spaniards in +South and Central America, as well as the more recent history of other +States, testify to the truth of this generalisation. Similarly, +Trade—that is to say exclusive trade—far from tending to promote +peace, has not infrequently been accompanied by aggression, and has +rather tended to promote war. Tariff wars, which are the natural outcome +of the protective system, have been of frequent occurrence, and, +although I am not at all prepared to admit that under no circumstances +is a policy of retaliation justifiable, it is certain that that policy, +carried to excess, has at times endangered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> European peace. There is +ample proof that the Tariff war between Russia and Germany in 1893, "was +regarded by both responsible parties as likely to lead to a state of +things dangerous to the peace of Europe."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Professor Dietzel, in his +very remarkable and exhaustive work on <i>Retaliatory Duties</i>, shows very +clearly that the example of Tariff wars is highly contagious. Speaking +of the events which occurred in 1902 and subsequent years, he says: +"Germany set the bad example.... Russia, Austria-Hungary, Roumania, +Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Servia, followed suit.... An +international arming epidemic broke out. Everywhere, indeed, it was +said: We are not at all desirous of a Tariff war. We are acting only on +the maxim so often proclaimed among us, <i>Si vis pacem, para bellum</i>."</p> + +<p>Can it be doubted that there is a distinct connection between these +Tariff wars and the huge armaments which are now maintained by every +European state? The connection is, in fact, very close. Tariff wars +engender the belief that wars carried on by shot and shell may not +improbably follow. They thus encourage, and even necessitate, the costly +preparations for war which weigh so heavily, not only on the +industries,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> but also on the moral and intellectual progress of the +world.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver, in his interesting biography of Alexander Hamilton, gives a +very remarkable instance of the menace to peace arising, even amongst a +wholly homogeneous community, from the creation of hostile tariffs. The +first step which the thirteen States of America took after they had +acquired their independence was "to indulge themselves in the costly +luxury of an internecine tariff war.... Pennsylvania attacked Delaware. +Connecticut was oppressed by Rhode Island and New York.... It was a +dangerous game, ruinous in itself, and, behind the Custom-House +officers, men were beginning to furbish up the locks of their +muskets.... At one time war between Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York +seemed all but inevitable."</p> + +<p>To sum up all I have to say on this subject—I do not for a moment +suppose that Universal Free Trade—even if the adoption of such a policy +were conceivable—would inaugurate an era of universal and permanent +peace. Whatever fiscal policy be adopted by the great commercial nations +of the world, it is wholly illusory to suppose that the risk of war can +be altogether avoided in the future, any more than has been the case in +the past. But I am equally certain that, whereas exclusive trade tends +to exacerbate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> international relations, Free Trade, by mutually +enlisting a number of influential material interests in the cause of +peace, tends to ameliorate those relations and thus, <i>pro tanto</i>, to +diminish the probability of war. No nation has, of course, the least +right to dictate the fiscal policy of its neighbours, neither has it any +legitimate cause to complain when its neighbours exercise their +unquestionable right to make whatever fiscal arrangements they consider +conducive to their own interests. But the real and ostensible causes of +war are not always identical. When once irritation begins to rankle, and +rival interests clash to an excessive degree, the guns are apt to go off +by themselves, and an adroit diplomacy may confidently be trusted to +discover some plausible pretext for their explosion.</p> + +<p>In a speech which I made in London some three years ago, I gave an +example, gathered from facts with which I was intimately acquainted, of +the pacifying influence exerted by adopting a policy of Free Trade in +the execution of a policy of expansion. I may as well repeat it now. +Some twelve years ago the British flag was hoisted in the Soudan side by +side with the Egyptian. Europe tacitly acquiesced. Why did it do so? It +was because a clause was introduced into the Anglo-Egyptian Convention +of 1899, under which no trade preference was to be accorded to any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +nation. All were placed on a footing of perfect equality. Indeed, the +whole fiscal policy adopted in Egypt since the British occupation in +1883 has been based on distinctly Free Trade principles. Indirect taxes +have been, in some instances, reduced. Those that remain in force are +imposed, not for protective, but for revenue purposes, whilst in one +important instance—that of cotton goods—an excise duty has been +imposed, in order to avoid the risk of customs duties acting +protectively.</p> + +<p>Free Trade mitigates, though it is powerless to remove, international +animosities. Exclusive trade stimulates and aggravates those +animosities. I do not by any means maintain that this argument is by +itself conclusive against the adoption of a policy of Protection, if, on +other grounds, the adoption of such a policy is deemed desirable; but it +is one aspect of the question which, when the whole issue is under +consideration, should not be left out of account.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<h2>VI</h2> + +<h3>CHINA</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Nineteenth Century and After," May 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Mr. Bland's book, entitled <i>Recent Events and Present Policies in China</i> +(1912), is full of instruction not only for those who are specially +concerned in the affairs of China, but also for all who are interested +in watching the new developments which are constantly arising from the +ever-increasing contact between the East and the West.</p> + +<p>The Eastern world is at present strewn with the <i>débris</i> of paper +constitutions, which are, or are probably about to become, derelict. The +case of Egypt is somewhat special, and would require separate treatment. +But in Turkey, in Persia, and in China, the epidemic, which is of an +exotic character, appears to be following its normal course.</p> + +<p>Constitutions when first promulgated are received with wild enthusiasm. +In Italy, during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> the most frenzied period of Garibaldian worship, my +old friend, Lear the artist, asked a patriotic inn-keeper, who was in a +wild state of excitement, to give him breakfast, to which the man +replied: "Colazione! Che colazione! Tutto è amore e libertà!" In the +Albanian village in which Miss Durham was residing when the Young Turks +proclaimed their constitution, the Moslem inhabitants expressed great +delight at the news, and forthwith asked when the massacre of the +Giaours—without which a constitution would wholly miss its mark—was to +begin.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Similarly, Mr. Bland says that throughout China, although +"the word 'Republic' meant no more to the people at large than the +blessed word 'Mesopotamia,' men embraced each other publicly and wept +for joy at the coming of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity."</p> + +<p>These ebullitions provoke laughter.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sed facilis cuivis rigidi censura cachinni.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We Europeans have ourselves passed through much the same phases. Vandal +and others have told us of the Utopia which was created in the minds of +the French when the old régime crashed to the ground. Sydney Smith +caricatured the delusive hopes excited by the passing of the Reform Bill +of 1832, when he said that all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> unmarried young women thought that +they would at once get husbands, and that all the schoolboys expected a +heavy fall in the price of jam tarts. A process of disillusionment may +confidently be anticipated in Ireland if the Home Rule Bill becomes law, +and the fairy prospects held out to the Irish people by Mr. Redmond and +the other stage managers of the piece are chilled by the cold shade of +reality.</p> + +<p>We English are largely responsible for creating the frame of mind which +is even now luring Young Turks, Chinamen, and other Easterns into the +political wilderness by the display of false signals. We have, indeed, +our Blands in China, our Milners in Egypt, our Miss Durhams in the +Balkan Peninsula, and our Miss Bells in Mesopotamia, who wander far +afield, gleaning valuable facts and laying before their countrymen and +countrywomen conclusions based on acquired knowledge and wide +experience. But their efforts are only partially successful. They are +often shivered on the solid rock of preconceived prejudices, and genuine +but ill-informed sentimentalism. A large section of the English public +are, in fact, singularly wanting in political imagination. Although they +would not, in so many words, admit the truth of the statement, they none +the less act and speak as if sound national development in whatsoever +quarter of the world must of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> necessity proceed along their own +conventional, insular, and time-honoured lines, and along those lines +alone. There is a whole class of newspaper readers, and also of +newspaper writers, who resemble that eminent but now deceased Member of +Parliament, who told me that during the four hours' railway journey from +Port Said to Cairo he had come to the definite conclusion that Egypt +could not be prosperous because he had observed that there were no +stacks of corn standing in the fields; neither was this conclusion in +any way shaken when it was explained to him that the Egyptians were not +in the habit of erecting corn stacks after the English model. All these +classes readily lend an ear to quack, though often very well-intentioned +politicians, who go about the world preaching that countries can be +regenerated by shibboleths, and that the characters of nations can be +changed by Acts of Parliament. This frame of mind appeals with +irresistible force to the untrained Eastern habit of thought. T'ang—a +leading Chinese Republican—Mr. Bland says, "like all educated Chinese, +believes in the magic virtue of words and forms of government in making +a nation wise and strong by Acts of Parliament." And what poor, +self-deluded T'ang is saying and thinking in Canton is said and thought +daily by countless Ahmeds, Ibrahims, and Rizas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> in the bazaars of +Constantinople, Cairo, and Teheran.</p> + +<p>What has Mr. Bland to tell us of all the welter of loan-mongering, +rococo constitution-tinkering, Confucianism, and genuine if at times +misdirected philanthropy, which is now seething in the Chinese +melting-pot?</p> + +<p>In the first place, he has to say that the main obstacle to all real +progress in China is one that cannot be removed by any change in the +form of government, whether the ruling spirit be a full-fledged +Republican of the Sun Yat-Sen type, aided by a number of "imitation +foreigners," as they are termed by their countrymen, or a savage, albeit +statesmanlike "Old Buddha," who, at the close of a life stained by all +manner of blood-guiltiness, at last turned her weary face towards +Western reform as the only hope of saving her country and her dynasty. +The main disease is not political, and is incapable of being cured by +the most approved constitutional formulae. It is economic. Polygamy, +aided by excessive philo-progenitiveness, the result of +ancestor-worship, has produced a highly congested population. Vast +masses of people are living in normal times on the verge of starvation. +Hence come famines and savage revolts of the hungry. "Amidst all the +specifics of political leaders," Mr. Bland says, "there has been as yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +hardly a voice raised against marriages of minors or polygamy, and +reckless over-breeding, which are the basic causes of China's chronic +unrest."</p> + +<p>The same difficulty, though perhaps in a less acute form, exists in +India. Not only cannot it be remedied by mere philanthropy, but it is +absolutely certain—cruel and paradoxical though it may appear to say +so—that philanthropy enhances the evil. In the days of Akhbar or Shah +Jehan, cholera, famine, and internal strife kept down the population. +Only the fittest survived. Now, internal strife is forbidden, and +philanthropy steps in and says that no single life shall be sacrificed +if science and Western energy or skill can save it. Hence the growth of +a highly congested population, vast numbers of whom are living on a bare +margin of subsistence. I need hardly say that I am not condemning +philanthropy. On the contrary, I hold strongly that an +anti-philanthropic basis of government is not merely degrading and +inhuman, but also fortunately nowadays impracticable. None the less, the +fact that one of the greatest difficulties of governing the teeming +masses in the East is caused by good and humane government should be +recognised. It is too often ignored.</p> + +<p>A partial remedy to the state of things now existing in China would be +to encourage emigration; but a resort to this expedient is impossible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +for Europeans and Americans alike, being scared by the prospect of +competing with Chinese cheap labour, which is the only real Yellow +Peril,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> as also by the demoralisation consequent on a large influx of +Chinamen into their dominions, close their ports to the emigrants. That +Young China should feel this as a gross injustice can be no matter for +surprise. The Chinaman may, with inexorable logic, state his case thus: +"You, Europeans and Americans, insist on my receiving and protecting +your missionaries. I do not want them. I have, in Confucianism, a system +of philosophy, which, whatever you may think of it, suits all my +spiritual requirements, and which has been sufficient to hold Chinese +society together for long centuries past. Nevertheless, I bow to your +wishes. But then surely you ought in justice to allow free entry into +your dominions to my carpenters and bricklayers, of whom I have a large +surplus, of which I should be glad to be rid. Is not your boasted +philanthropy somewhat vicarious, and does not your public morality +savour in some degree of mere opportunist cant?"</p> + +<p>To all of which, Europeans and Americans can only reply that the +instinct of self-preservation, which is strong within them, points +clearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> to the absolute necessity of excluding the Chinese carpenters +and bricklayers; and, further, as regards the missionaries, that there +can be but one answer, and that in a Christian sense, to the question +asked by jesting Pilate. In effect they say that circumstances alter +cases, and that might is right—a plea which may perhaps suffice to +salve the conscience of an opportunist politician, but ought to appeal +less forcibly to a stern moralist.</p> + +<p>Foreign emigration, even if it were possible, would, however, be a mere +palliative. A more thorough and effective remedy would be to facilitate +the dispersion of the population in the congested districts over those +wide tracts of China itself which are suffering in a less degree from +congestion. I conceive that the execution of a policy of this nature +would not be altogether impossible. It could be carried into effect by +improving the means of locomotion, possibly by the construction of +irrigation works on a large scale, and by developing the resources of +the country, which are admittedly very great. But there is one condition +which is essential to the execution of this programme, and that is that +the financial administration of the country should be sufficiently +honest to inspire the confidence of those European investors who alone +can provide the necessary capital. Now, according to Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> Bland, this +fundamental quality of honesty is not to be found throughout the length +and breadth of China, whether in the ranks of the old Mandarins or in +those of the young Republicans.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The essential virtue of personal integrity [he says], the capacity +to handle public funds with common honesty, has been conspicuously +lacking in Young China. The leopard has not changed his spots; the +sons and brothers of the classical Mandarin remain, in spite of +Western learning, Mandarins by instinct and in practice.</p></div> + +<p>A very close observer of Eastern affairs—Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole—has +said that the East has an extraordinary facility for assimilating all +the worst features of any new civilisation with which it is brought in +contact. This is what has happened in India, in Turkey, in Egypt, and in +Persia. Even in Japan it has yet to be seen whether the old national +virtues will survive prolonged contact with the West. Hear now what Mr. +Bland has to say of China:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Where Young China has cast off the ethical restraints and patriotic +morality of Confucianism, it has failed to assimilate, or even to +understand, the moral foundations of Europe's civilisation. It has +exchanged its old lamp for a new, but it has not found the oil, +which the new vessel needs, to lighten the darkness withal.</p></div> + +<p>In the opinion of so highly qualified an authority as Prince Ito, "the +sentiments of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> foreign educated Young China are hopelessly out of touch +with the masses." But while there has been alienation from the ideals of +the East, there has been no real approach to the ideals of the West.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Education at Harvard or Oxford may imbue the Chinese student with +ideas and social tendencies, apparently antagonistic to those of +the patriarchal system of his native land; but they do not, and +cannot, create in him (as some would have us believe) the +Anglo-Saxon outlook on life, the standards of conduct and the +beliefs which are the results of centuries of our process of +civilisation and structural character. Under his top dressing of +Western learning, the Chinese remains true to type, instinctively +detached from the practical and scientific attitude, +contemplatively philosophical, with the fatalistic philosophy of +the prophet Job, concerned rather with the causes than the results +of things. Your barrister at Lincoln's Inn, after ten years of +cosmopolitan experience in London or Washington, will revert in six +months to the ancestral type of morals and manners; the spectacle +is so common, even in the case of exceptionally assimilative men +like Wu Ting-fang, or the late Marquis Tseng, that it evokes little +or no comment amongst Europeans in China.</p></div> + +<p>Notably from the point of view of financial honesty, which, as I have +already mentioned, is of cardinal importance if the regeneration of the +country is to be undertaken by other means than by mock constitutions, +the results of Western education are most disappointing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>The opinion [Mr. Bland says] is widely held amongst European +residents and traders that the section of Young China which has +received its education in Foreign Mission schools displays no more +honesty than the rest.</p></div> + +<p>What is the conclusion to be drawn from these facts? It is that not only +in order to obtain adequate security for the bond-holders—in whom I am +not in any way personally interested, for I shall certainly not be one +of them—but also in the interests of the Chinese people, it is +essential, before any loan is contracted, to insist on a strict +supervision of the expenditure of the loan funds. That Young China, +partly on genuine patriotic grounds and also possibly in some cases on +grounds which are less worthy of respect and sympathy, should resent the +exercise of this supervision, is natural enough, but it can scarcely be +doubted that unless it be exercised a large portion of the money +advanced by European capitalists will be wasted, and that no really +effective step forward will be taken in the solution of the economic +problem which constitutes the main Chinese difficulty. The very +rudimentary ideas entertained by the Chinese themselves in the matter of +applying funds to productive works is sufficiently illustrated by the +episode mentioned by Mr. Bland, where he tells us that "the Szechuan +Railway Company directors made provision for the building of their line +by the appointment of station-masters"; while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> fact that but a short +time ago 1400 German machine guns, costing £500 apiece, which had never +been used or paid for, were lying at Shanghai, indicates the manner in +which it is not only possible but highly probable that the loan funds +under exclusively Chinese supervision would be frittered away on +unproductive objects.</p> + +<p>Those, indeed, who have had some practical experience of financial +administration in Eastern countries may well entertain some doubts as to +whether supervision which only embraces the expenditure, and does not +apply to the revenue, will be sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the case. The results so far attained by the more limited scheme of +supervision do not appear to have been satisfactory. Herr Rump was +appointed auditor to the German section of the Tientsin-P'ukou Railway, +but Mr. Bland tells us that "the auditorship on this railway has proved +worse than useless as a preventive of official peculation." On the other +hand, the system of collecting the revenue is in the highest degree +defective. It violates flagrantly a principle which, from the days of +Adam Smith downwards, has always been regarded as the corner-stone of +any sound financial administration. "For every tael officially accounted +for by the provincial authorities," Mr. Bland says, in words which +recall to my mind the Egyptian fiscal system<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> under the régime of Ismail +Pasha, "at least five are actually collected from the taxpayers."</p> + +<p>It is, therefore, earnestly to be hoped that the diplomatists and +capitalists of Europe will—both in the interests of the investing +public and in those of the Chinese people—stand firm and insist on +adequate financial control as a preliminary and essential condition to +the advance of funds.</p> + +<p>As to whether the recently established Republic is destined to last or +whether it will prove a mere ephemeral episode in the life-history of +China, there seems to be much divergence of opinion among those +authorities who are most qualified to speak on the subject. Mr. Bland's +views on this point are, however, quite clear. He thinks that +Confucianism, and all the political and social habits of thought which +are the outcome of Confucianism, have "become ingrained in every fibre +of the national life," and that they constitute the "fundamental cause +of the longevity of China's social structure and of the innate strength +of her civilisation." He refuses to believe that Young China, which is +imbued with "a doctrinaire spirit of political speculation," though it +may tinker with the superstructure, will be able seriously to shake the +foundations of this hoary edifice. He has watched the opinions and +activities in every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> province from the beginning of the present +revolution, and he "is compelled to the conviction that salvation from +this quarter is impossible." He thinks that although in Canton and the +Kuang Provinces, which are the most intellectually advanced portions of +China, a system of popular representation may be introduced with some +hope of beneficial results,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... as regards the rest of China, as every educated Chinese knows +(unless, like Sun Yat-Sen, he has been brought up abroad), the idea +of rapidly transforming the masses of the population into an +intelligent electorate, and of making a Chinese Parliament the +expression of their collective political vitality, is a vain dream, +possible only for those who ignore the inherent character of the +Chinese people.</p></div> + +<p>There is, however, one consideration set forth by Mr. Bland, which may +possibly prove, at all events for a time, the salvation, while it +assuredly connotes the condemnation of the present system of government, +and that is that the Chinese Republic may continue to exist by +abrogating all republican principles. According to Mr. Bland this "gran +rifiuto" has already been made. "The actual government of China," he +says, "contains none of the elements of genuine Republicanism, but is +merely the old despotism, the old Mandarinate, under new names." "The +inauguration of the Republican<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> idea of constitutional Government in +China," he says in another passage, "can only mean, in the present state +of the people, continual transference of an illegal despotism from one +group of political adventurers to another, the pretence of popular +representation serving merely to increase and perpetuate instability."</p> + +<p>It would require a far greater knowledge of Chinese affairs than any to +which I can pretend to express either unqualified adherence to or +dissent from Mr. Bland's views. But it is clear that his diagnosis of +the past is based on a very thorough acquaintance with the facts, while, +on <i>a priori</i> grounds, his prognosis of the future is calculated to +commend itself to those of general experience who have studied Oriental +character and are acquainted with Oriental history.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> +<h2>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Nineteenth Century and After," July 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>During the six years which have elapsed since I left Cairo I have, for +various reasons on which it is unnecessary to dwell, carefully abstained +from taking any part in whatever discussions have arisen on current +Egyptian affairs. If I now depart from the reticence which I have +hitherto observed it is because there appears at all events some slight +prospect that the main reform which is required to render the government +and administration of Egypt efficient will be seriously considered. As +so frequently happens in political affairs, a casual incident has +directed public attention to the need of reform. A short time ago a +Russian subject was, at the request of the Consular authorities, +arrested by the Egyptian police and handed over to them for deportation +to Russia. I am not familiar with the details of the case, neither, for +the purposes of my present<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> argument, is any knowledge of those details +required. The nature of the offence of which this man, Adamovitch by +name, was accused, as also the question of whether he was guilty or +innocent of that offence, are altogether beside the point. The legal +obligation of the Egyptian Government to comply with the request that +the man should be handed over to the Russian Consular authorities would +have been precisely the same if he had been accused of no offence at +all. The result, however, has been to touch one of the most tender +points in the English political conscience. It has become clear that a +country which is not, indeed, British territory, but which is held by a +British garrison, and in which British influence is predominant, affords +no safe asylum for a political refugee. Without in any way wishing to +underrate the importance of this consideration, I think it necessary to +point out that this is only one out of the many anomalies which might be +indicated in the working of that most perplexing political creation +entitled the Egyptian Government and administration. Many instances +might, in fact, be cited which, albeit they are less calculated to +attract public attention in this country, afford even stronger ground +for holding that the time has come for reforming the system hitherto +known as that of the Capitulations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before attempting to deal with this question I may perhaps be pardoned +if, at the risk of appearing egotistical, I indulge in a very short +chapter of autobiography. My own action in Egypt has formed the subject +of frequent comment in this country; neither, assuredly, in spite of +occasional blame, have I any reason to complain of the measure of +praise—often, I fear, somewhat unmerited praise—which has been +accorded to me. But I may perhaps be allowed to say what, in my own +opinion, are the main objects achieved during my twenty-four-years' +tenure of office. Those achievements are four in number, and let me add +that they were not the results of a hand-to-mouth conduct of affairs in +which the direction afforded to political events was constantly shifted, +but of a deliberate plan persistently pursued with only such temporary +deviations and delays as the circumstances of the time rendered +inevitable.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the tension with the French Government, which lasted +for twenty-one years and which might at any moment have become very +serious, was never allowed to go beyond a certain point. In spite of a +good deal of provocation, a policy of conciliation was persistently +adopted, with the result that the conclusion of the Anglo-French +Agreement of 1904 became eventually possible. It is on this particular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +feature of my Egyptian career that personally I look back with far +greater pride and pleasure than any other, all the more so because, +although it has, comparatively speaking, attracted little public +attention, it was, in reality, by far the most difficult and responsible +part of my task.</p> + +<p>In the second place, bankruptcy was averted and the finances of the +country placed on a sound footing.</p> + +<p>In the third place, by the relief of taxation and other reforms which +remedied any really substantial grievances, the ground was cut away from +under the feet of the demagogues whom it was easy to foresee would +spring into existence as education advanced.</p> + +<p>In the fourth place, the Soudan, which had to be abandoned in 1884-85, +was eventually recovered.</p> + +<p>These, I say, are the things which were done. Let me now state what was +not done. Although, of course, the number of Egyptians employed in the +service of the Government was largely increased, and although the +charges which have occasionally been made that education was unduly +neglected admit of easy refutation, it is none the less true that +little, if any, progress was made in the direction of conferring +autonomy on Egypt. The reasons why so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> little progress was made in this +direction were twofold.</p> + +<p>In the first place, it would have been premature even to think of the +question until the long struggle against bankruptcy had been fought and +won, and also until, by the conclusion of the Anglo-French Agreement in +1904, the acute international tension which heretofore existed had been +relaxed.</p> + +<p>In the second place, the idea of what constituted autonomy entertained +by those Egyptians who were most in a position to make their voices +heard, as also by some of their English sympathisers, differed widely +from that entertained by myself and others who were well acquainted with +the circumstances of the country, and on whom the responsibility of +devising and executing any plan for granting autonomy would naturally +devolve. We were, in fact, the poles asunder. The Egyptian idea was that +the native Egyptians should rule Egypt. They therefore urged that +greatly increased powers should be given to the Legislative Council and +Assembly originally instituted by Lord Dufferin. The counter-idea was +not based on any alleged incapacity of the Egyptians to govern +themselves—a point which, for the purposes of my present argument, it +is unnecessary to discuss. Neither was it based on any disinclination +gradually to extend the powers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> of Egyptians in dealing with purely +native Egyptian questions.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> I, and others who shared my views, +considered that those who cried "Egypt for the Egyptians" on the +house-tops had gone off on an entirely wrong scent because, even had +they attained their ends, nothing approaching to Egyptian autonomy would +have been realised. The Capitulations would still have barred the way to +all important legislation and to the removal of those defects in the +administration of which the Egyptians most complained. When the +prominent part played by resident Europeans in the political and social +life of Egypt is considered, it is indeed little short of ridiculous to +speak of Egyptian autonomy if at the same time a system is preserved +under which no important law can be made applicable to an Englishman, a +Frenchman, or a German, without its detailed provisions having received +the consent, not only of the King of England, the President of the +French Republic, and the German Emperor, but also that of the President +of the United States, the King of Denmark, and every other ruling +Potentate in Europe. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> therefore held that the only possible method by +which the evils of extreme personal government could be averted, and by +which the country could be provided with a workable legislative machine, +was to include in the term "Egyptians" all the dwellers in Egypt, and to +devise some plan by which the European and Egyptian elements of society +would be fused together to such an extent at all events as to render +them capable of cooperating in legislative effort. It may perhaps be +hoped that by taking a first step in this direction some more thorough +fusion may possibly follow in the future.</p> + +<p>As I have already mentioned, it would have been premature to deal with +this question prior to 1904, for any serious modification of the régime +of the Capitulations could not be considered as within the domain of +practical politics so long as all the Powers, and more especially France +and England, were pulling different ways. But directly that agreement +was signed I resolved to take the question up, all the more so because +what was then known as the Secret Agreement, but which has since that +time been published, contained the following very important clause:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the event of their (His Britannic Majesty's Government) +considering it desirable to introduce in Egypt reforms tending to +assimilate the Egyptian legislative system to that in force in +other civilised countries,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> the Government of the French Republic +will not refuse to entertain any such proposals, on the +understanding that His Britannic Majesty's Government will agree to +entertain the suggestions that the Government of the French +Republic may have to make to them with a view of introducing +similar reforms in Morocco.</p></div> + +<p>I was under no delusion as to the formidable nature of the obstacles +which stood in the way of reform. Moreover, I held very strongly that +even if it had been possible, by diplomatic negotiations with the other +Powers, to come to some arrangement which would be binding on the +Europeans resident in Egypt, and to force it on them without their +consent being obtained, it was most undesirable to adopt anything +approaching to this procedure. The European colonists in Egypt, although +of course numerically far inferior to the native population, represent a +large portion of the wealth, and a still larger portion of the +intelligence and energy in the country. Moreover, although the word +"privilege" always rather grates on the ear in this democratic age, it +is none the less true that in the past the misgovernment of Egypt has +afforded excellent reasons why even those Europeans who are most +favourably disposed towards native aspirations should demur to any +sacrifice of their capitulary rights. My view, therefore, was that the +Europeans should not be coerced but per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>suaded. It had to be proved to +them that, under the changed condition of affairs, the Capitulations +were not only unnecessary but absolutely detrimental to their own +interests. Personally, I was very fully convinced of the truth of this +statement, neither was it difficult to convince those who, being behind +the scenes of government, were in a position to judge of the extent to +which the Capitulations clogged progress in many very important +directions. But it was more difficult to convince the general public, +many of whom entertained very erroneous ideas as to the extent and +nature of the proposed reforms, and could see nothing but the fact that +it was intended to deprive them of certain privileges which they then +possessed. It cannot be too distinctly understood that there never +was—neither do I suppose there is now—the smallest intention of +"abolishing the Capitulations," if by that term is meant a complete +abrogation of all those safeguards against arbitrary proceedings on the +part of the Government which the Capitulations are intended to prevent. +Capitulations or no Capitulations, the European charged with a criminal +offence must be tried either by European judges or an European jury. All +matters connected with the personal status of any European must be +judged by the laws in force in his own country. Adequate safeguards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +must be contrived to guard against any abuse of power on the part of the +police. Whatever reforms are introduced into the Mixed Tribunals must be +confined to comparatively minor points, and must not touch fundamental +principles. In fact, the Capitulations have not to be abolished, but to +be modified. An eminent French jurist, M. Gabriel Louis Jaray, in +discussing the Egyptian situation a few years ago, wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>On peut considérer comme admis qu'une simple occupation ou un +protectorat de fait, reconnu par les Puissances Européennes, suffit +pour mettre à néant les Capitulations, quand la réorganisation du +pays est suffisante pour donner aux Européens pleine garantie de +bonne juridiction.</p></div> + +<p>I contend that the reorganisation of Egypt is now sufficiently advanced +to admit of the guarantees for the good administration of justice, which +M. Jaray very rightly claimed, being afforded to all Europeans without +having recourse to the clumsy methods of the Capitulations in their +present form.</p> + +<p>In the last two reports which I wrote before I left Egypt I developed +these and some cognate arguments at considerable length. But from the +first moment of taking up the question I never thought that it would +fall to my lot to bring the campaign against the Capitulations to a +conclusion. The question was eminently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> one as to which it was +undesirable to force the pace. Time was required in order to let public +opinion mature. I therefore contented myself with indicating the defects +of the present system and the general direction which reform should +take, leaving it to those younger than myself to carry on the work when +advancing years obliged me to retire. I may add that the manner in which +my proposals were received and discussed by the European public in Egypt +afforded good reason for supposing that the obstacles to be overcome +before any serious reforms could be effected, though formidable, were by +no means insuperable. After my departure in 1907, events occurred which +rendered it impossible that the subject should at once come under the +consideration of the Government, but in 1911 Lord Kitchener was able to +report that the legislative powers of the Court of Appeal sitting at +Alexandria had been somewhat increased. Sir Malcolm M'Ilwraith, the +Judicial Adviser of the Egyptian Government, in commenting on this +change, says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The new scheme, while assuredly a progressive step, and in notable +advance of the previous state of affairs ... can hardly be +regarded, in its ensemble, as more than a temporary makeshift, and +a more or less satisfactory palliative of the legislative impotence +under which the Government has suffered for so long.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is most earnestly to be hoped that the question will now be taken up +seriously with a view to more drastic reform than any which has as yet +been effected.</p> + +<p>There is one, and only one, method by which the evils of the existing +system can be made to disappear. The British Government should request +the other Powers of Europe to vest in them the legislative power which +each now exercises separately. Simultaneously with this request, a +legislative Chamber should be created in Egypt for enacting laws to +which Europeans will be amenable.</p> + +<p>There is, of course, one essential preliminary to the execution of this +programme. It is that the Powers of Europe, as also the European +residents in Egypt, should have thorough confidence in the intentions of +the British Government, by which I mean confidence in the duration of +the occupation, and also confidence in the manner in which the affairs +of the country will be administered.</p> + +<p>As regards the first point, there is certainly no cause for doubt. Under +the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 the French Government specifically +declared that "they will not obstruct the action of government in Egypt +by asking that a limit of time be fixed for the British occupation, or +in any other manner." Moreover,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> one of the last acts that I performed +before I left Egypt in 1907 was to communicate to the British Chamber of +Commerce at Alexandria a letter from Sir Edward Grey in which I was +authorised to state that His Majesty's Government "recognise that the +maintenance and development of such reforms as have hitherto been +effected in Egypt depend upon the British occupation. This consideration +will apply with equal strength to any changes effected in the régime of +the Capitulations. His Majesty's Government, therefore, wish it to be +understood that there is no reason for allowing the prospect of any +modifications in that régime to be prejudiced by the existence of any +doubt as to the continuance of the British occupation of the country." +It is, of course, conceivable that in some remote future the British +garrison may be withdrawn from Egypt. If any fear is entertained on this +ground it may easily be calmed by an arrangement with the Powers that in +the event of the British Government wishing to withdraw their troops, +they would previously enter into communications with the various Powers +of Europe with a view to re-establishing whatever safeguards they might +think necessary in the interests of their countrymen.</p> + +<p>As regards the second point, that is to say, confidence in the manner in +which the admini<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>stration of the country is conducted, I need only say +that, so far as I am able to judge, Lord Kitchener's administration, +although one of his measures—the Five Feddan law—has, not unnaturally, +been subjected to a good deal of hostile criticism, has inspired the +fullest confidence in the minds of the whole of the population of Egypt, +whether European or native. I cannot doubt that, when the time arrives +for Lord Kitchener, in his turn, to retire, no brusque or radical change +will be allowed to take place in the general principles under which he +is now administering the country.</p> + +<p>The rights and duties of any such Chamber as that which I propose, its +composition, its mode of election or nomination, the degree of control +to be exercised over it by the Egyptian or British Governments, are, of +course, all points which require very careful consideration, and which +admit of solution in a great variety of ways. In my report for the year +1906 I put forward certain suggestions in connection with each of these +subjects, but I do not doubt that, as the result of further +consideration and discussion, my proposals admit of improvement. I need +not now dwell on these details, important though they be. I wish, +however, to allude to one point which involves a question of principle. +I trust that no endeavour will for the present be made to create<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> one +Chamber, composed of both Europeans and Egyptians, with power to +legislate for all the inhabitants of Egypt. I am strongly convinced +that, under the present condition of society in Egypt, any such attempt +must end in complete failure. It is, I believe, quite impossible to +devise any plan for an united Chamber which would satisfy the very +natural aspirations of the Egyptians, and at the same time provide for +the Europeans adequate guarantees that their own legitimate rights would +be properly safeguarded. I am fully aware of the theoretical objections +which may be urged against trying the novel experiment of creating two +Chambers in the same country, each of which would deal with separate +classes of the community, but I submit that, in the special +circumstances of the case, those objections must be set aside, and that +one more anomaly should, for the time being at all events, be added to +the many strange institutions which exist in the "Land of Paradox." +Whether at some probably remote future period it will be possible to +create a Chamber in which Europeans and Egyptians will sit side by side +will depend very largely on the conduct of the Egyptians themselves. If +they follow the advice of those who do not flatter them, but who, +however little they may recognise the fact, are in reality their best +friends—if, in a word, they act in such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> manner as to inspire the +European residents of Egypt with confidence in their judgment and +absence of class or religious prejudice, it may be that this +consummation will eventually be reached. If, on the other hand, they +allow themselves to be guided by the class of men who have of late years +occasionally posed as their representatives, the prospect of any +complete legislative amalgamation will become not merely gloomy but +practically hopeless. The true Egyptian patriot is not the man who by +his conduct and language stimulates racial animosity in the pursuit of +an ideal which can never be realised, but rather one who recognises the +true facts of the political situation. Now, the dominating fact of that +situation is that Egypt can never become autonomous in the sense in +which that word is understood by the Egyptian nationalists. It is, and +will always remain, a cosmopolitan country. The real future of Egypt, +therefore, lies not in the direction of a narrow nationalism, which will +only embrace native Egyptians, nor in that of any endeavour to convert +Egypt into a British possession on the model of India or Ceylon, but +rather in that of an enlarged cosmopolitanism, which, whilst discarding +all the obstructive fetters of the cumbersome old international system, +will tend to amalgamate all the inhabitants of the Nile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> Valley and +enable them all alike to share in the government of their native or +adopted country.</p> + +<p>For the rest, the various points of detail to which I have alluded above +present difficulties which are by no means insuperable, if—as I trust +may be the case—the various parties concerned approach the subject with +a real desire to arrive at some practical solutions. The same may be +said as regards almost all the points to which Europeans resident in +Egypt attach special importance, such, for instance, as the composition +of criminal courts for trying Europeans, the regulation of domiciliary +visits by the police, and cognate issues. In all these cases it is by no +means difficult to devise methods for preserving all that is really +worth keeping in the present system, and at the same time discarding +those portions which seriously hinder the progress of the country. There +is, however, one important point of detail which, I must admit, presents +considerable practical difficulties. It is certain that the services of +some of the European judges of the Mixed Tribunals might be utilised in +constituting the new Chamber. Their presence would be of great use, and +it is highly probable that they will in practice become the real working +men of any Chamber which may be created. But apart from the objection in +principle to confiding the making as also the administration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> of the law +wholly to the same individuals, it is to be observed that, in order to +create a really representative body, it would be essential that other +Europeans—merchants, bankers, landowners, and professional men—should +be seated in the Chamber. Almost all the Europeans resident in Europe +are busy men, and the question will arise whether those whose assistance +would, on general grounds, be of special value, are prepared to +sacrifice the time required for paying adequate attention to their +legislative duties. I can only say that I hope that sufficient public +spirit is to be found amongst the many highly qualified European +residents in Egypt of divers nationalities to enable this question to be +answered in the affirmative.</p> + +<p>It is, of course, impossible within the space allotted to me to deal +fully on the present occasion with all the aspects of this very +difficult and complicated question. I can only attempt to direct +attention to the main issue, and that issue, I repeat, is how to devise +some plan which shall take the place of the present Egyptian system of +legislation by diplomacy. The late Lord Salisbury once epigrammatically +described that system to me by saying that it was like the <i>liberum +veto</i> of the old Polish Diet, "without being able to have recourse to +the alternative of striking off the head of any recalcitrant voter."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> It +is high time that such a system should be swept away and some other +adopted which will be more in harmony with the actual facts of the +Egyptian situation. If, as I trust may be the case, Lord Kitchener is +able to devise and to carry into execution some plan which will rescue +Egypt from its present legislative Slough of Despond, he will have +deserved well, not only of his country, but also of all those Egyptian +interests, whether native or European, which are committed to his +charge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>"THE SPECTATOR"</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> +<h2>VIII</h2> + +<h3>DISRAELI</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," November 1912</i></h4> + + +<p>No one who has lived much in the East can, in reading Mr. Monypenny's +volumes, fail to be struck with the fact that Disraeli was a thorough +Oriental. The taste for tawdry finery, the habit of enveloping in +mystery matters as to which there was nothing to conceal, the love of +intrigue, the tenacity of purpose—though this is perhaps more a Jewish +than an invariably Oriental characteristic—the luxuriance of the +imaginative faculties, the strong addiction to plausible generalities +set forth in florid language, the passionate outbursts of grief +expressed at times in words so artificial as to leave a doubt in the +Anglo-Saxon mind as to whether the sentiments can be genuine, the +spasmodic eruption of real kindness of heart into a character steeped in +cynicism, the excess of flattery accorded at one time to Peel for purely +personal objects contrasted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> with the excess of vituperation poured +forth on O'Connell for purposes of advertisement, and the total absence +of any moral principle as a guide of life—all these features, in a +character which is perhaps not quite so complex as is often supposed, +hail from the East. What is not Eastern is his unconventionality, his +undaunted moral courage, and his ready conception of novel political +ideas—often specious ideas, resting on no very solid foundation, but +always attractive, and always capable of being defended by glittering +plausibilities. He was certainly a man of genius, and he used that +genius to found a political school based on extreme self-seeking +opportunism. In this respect he cannot be acquitted of the charge of +having contributed towards the degradation of English political life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Monypenny's first volume deals with Disraeli's immature youth. In +the second, the story of the period (1837-46) during which Disraeli rose +to power is admirably told, and a most interesting story it is.</p> + +<p>Whatever views one may adopt of Disraeli's character and career, it is +impossible not to be fascinated in watching the moral and intellectual +development of this very remarkable man, whose conduct throughout life, +far from being wayward and erratic, as has at times been somewhat +super<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>ficially supposed, was in reality in the highest degree +methodical, being directed with unflagging persistency to one end, the +gratification of his own ambition—an ambition, it should always be +remembered, which, albeit it was honourable, inasmuch as it was directed +to no ignoble ends, was wholly personal. If ever there was a man to whom +Milton's well-known lines could fitly be applied it was Disraeli. He +scorned delights. He lived laborious days. In his youth he eschewed +pleasures which generally attract others whose ambition only soars to a +lower plane. In the most intimate relations of life he subordinated all +private inclinations to the main object he had in view. He avowedly +married, in the first instance, for money, although at a later stage his +wife was able to afford herself the consolation, and to pay him the +graceful compliment of obliterating the sordid reproach by declaring +that "if he had the chance again he would marry her for love"—a +statement confirmed by his passionate, albeit somewhat histrionic +love-letters. The desire of fame, which may easily degenerate into a +mere craving for notoriety, was unquestionably the spur which in his +case raised his "clear spirit." So early as 1833, on being asked upon +what principles he was going to stand at a forthcoming election, he +replied, "On my head." He cared, in fact,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> little for principles of any +kind, provided the goal of his ambition could be reached. Throughout his +career his main object was to rule his countrymen, and that object he +attained by the adoption of methods which, whether they be regarded as +tortuous or straightforward, morally justifiable or worthy of +condemnation, were of a surety eminently successful.</p> + +<p>The interest in Mr. Monypenny's work is enormously enhanced by the +personality of his hero. In dealing with the careers of other English +statesmen—for instance, with Cromwell, Chatham, or Gladstone—we do, +indeed, glance—and more than glance—at the personality of the man, but +our mature judgment is, or at all events should be, formed mainly on his +measures. We inquire what was their ultimate result, and what effect +they produced? We ask ourselves what degree of foresight the statesman +displayed. Did he rightly gauge the true nature of the political, +economic, or social forces with which he had to deal, or did he mistake +the signs of the times and allow himself to be lured away by some +ephemeral will-o'-the-wisp in the pursuit of objects of secondary or +even fallacious importance? It is necessary to ask these questions in +dealing with the career of Disraeli, but this mental process is, in his +case, obscured to a very high degree by the absorbing personality of the +man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> The individual fills the whole canvas almost to the extent of +excluding all other objects from view.</p> + +<p>No tale of fiction is, indeed, more strange than that which tells how +this nimble-witted alien adventurer, with his poetic temperament, his +weird Eastern imagination and excessive Western cynicism, his elastic +mind which he himself described as "revolutionary," and his apparently +wayward but in reality carefully regulated unconventionality, succeeded, +in spite of every initial disadvantage of race, birth, manners, and +habits of thought, in dominating a proud aristocracy and using its +members as so many pawns on the chess-board which he had arranged to +suit his own purposes. Thrust into a society which was steeped in +conventionality, he enforced attention to his will by a studied neglect +of everything that was conventional. Dealing with a class who honoured +tradition, he startled the members of that class by shattering all the +traditions which they had been taught to revere, and by endeavouring, +with the help of specious arguments which many of them only half +understood, to substitute others of an entirely novel character in their +place. Following much on the lines of those religious reformers who have +at times sought to revive the early discipline and practices of the +Church, he endeavoured to destroy the Toryism of his day by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> invoking +the shade of a semi-mythical Toryism of the past. Bolingbroke was the +model to be followed, Shelburne was the tutelary genius of Pitt, and +Charles I. was made to pose as "a virtuous and able monarch," who was +"the holocaust of direct taxation." Never, he declared, "did man lay +down his heroic life for so great a cause, the cause of the Church and +the cause of the Poor."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Aspiring to rise to power through the agency +of Conservatives, whose narrow-minded conventional conservatism he +despised, and to whose defects he was keenly alive, he wisely judged +that it was a necessity, if his programme were to be executed, that the +association of political power with landed possessions should be the +sheet-anchor of his system; and, strong in the support afforded by that +material bond of sympathy, he did not hesitate to ridicule the foibles +of those "patricians"—to use his own somewhat stilted expression—who, +whilst they sneered at his apparent eccentricities, despised their own +chosen mouthpiece, and occasionally writhed under his yoke, were none +the less so fascinated by the powerful will and keen intellect which +held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> them captive that they blindly followed his lead, even to the +verge of being duped.</p> + +<p>From earliest youth to green old age his confidence in his own powers +was never shaken. He persistently acted up to the sentiment—slightly +paraphrased from Terence—which he had characteristically adopted as his +family motto, <i>Forti nihil difficile</i>; neither could there be any +question as to the genuine nature either of his strength or his courage, +albeit hostile critics might seek to confound the latter quality with +sheer impudence.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> He abhorred the commonplace, and it is notably this +abhorrence which gives a vivid, albeit somewhat meretricious sparkle to +his personality. For although truth is generally dull, and although +probably most of the reforms and changes which have really benefited +mankind partake largely of the commonplace, the attraction of +unconventionality and sensationalism cannot be denied. Disraeli made +English politics interesting, just as Ismail Pasha gave at one time a +spurious interest to the politics of Egypt. No one could tell what would +be the next step taken by the juggler in Cairo or by that meteoric +statesman in London whom John Bright once called "the great wizard of +Bucking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>hamshire." When Disraeli disappeared from the stage, the +atmosphere may have become clearer, and possibly more healthy for the +body politic in the aggregate, but the level of interest fell, whilst +the barometer of dulness rose.</p> + +<p>If the saying generally attributed to Buffon<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> that "the style is the +man," is correct, an examination of Disraeli's style ought to give a +true insight into his character. There can be no question of the +readiness of his wit or of his superabundant power of sarcasm. Besides +the classic instances which have almost passed into proverbs, others, +less well known, are recorded in these pages. The statement that "from +the Chancellor of the Exchequer to an Undersecretary of State is a +descent from the sublime to the ridiculous" is very witty. The +well-known description of Lord Derby as "the Rupert of debate" is both +witty and felicitous, whilst the sarcasm in the context, which is less +well known, is both witty and biting. The noble lord, Disraeli said, was +like Prince Rupert, because "his charge was resistless, but when he +returned from the pursuit he always found his camp in the possession of +the enemy."</p> + +<p>A favourite subject of Disraeli's sarcasm in his campaign against Peel +was that the latter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> habitually borrowed the ideas of others. "His +(Peel's) life," he said, "has been a great appropriation clause. He is a +burglar of others' intellect.... From the days of the Conqueror to the +termination of the last reign there is no statesman who has committed +political petty larceny on so great a scale."</p> + +<p>In a happy and inimitable metaphor he likened Sir Robert Peel's action +in throwing over Protection to that of the Sultan's admiral who, during +the campaign against Mehemet Ali, after preparing a vast armament which +left the Dardanelles hallowed by the blessings of "all the muftis of the +Empire," discovered when he got to sea that he had "an objection to +war," steered at once into the enemy's port, and then explained that +"the only reason he had for accepting the command was that he might +terminate the contest by betraying his master."</p> + +<p>Other utterances of a similar nature abound, as, for instance, when he +spoke of Lord Melbourne as "sauntering over the destinies of a nation, +and lounging away the glories of an Empire," or when he likened those +Tories who followed Sir Robert Peel to the Saxons converted by +Charlemagne. "The old chronicler informs us they were converted in +battalions and baptized in platoons."</p> + +<p>Warned by the fiasco of his first speech in the House of Commons, +Disraeli for some while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> afterwards exercised a wise parsimony in the +display of his wit. He discovered that "the House will not allow a man +to be a wit and an orator unless they have the credit of finding it +out." But when he had once established his position and gained the ear +of the House, he gave a free rein to his prodigious powers of satire, +which he used to the full in his attacks on Peel. In point of fact, +vituperation and sarcasm were his chief weapons of offence. He spoke of +Mr. Roebuck as a "meagre-minded rebel," and called Campbell, who was +afterwards Lord Chancellor, "a shrewd, coarse, manœuvring Pict," a +"base-born Scotchman," and a "booing, fawning, jobbing progeny of haggis +and cockaleekie." When he ceased to be witty, sarcastic, or +vituperative, he became turgid. Nothing could be more witty than when, +in allusion to Peel's borrowing the ideas of others, he spoke of his +fiscal project as "Popkins's Plan," but when, having once made this hit, +which naturally elicited "peals of laughter from all parts of the +House," he proceeded further, he at once lapsed into cheap rhetoric.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Is England," he said, "to be governed, and is England to be +convulsed, by Popkins's plan? Will he go to the country with it? +Will he go with it to that ancient and famous England that once was +governed by statesmen—by Burleighs and by Walsinghams; by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +Bolingbrokes and by Walpoles; by a Chatham and a Canning—will he +go to it with this fantastic scheming of some presumptuous pedant? +I won't believe it. I have that confidence in the common sense, I +will say the common spirit of our countrymen, that I believe they +will not long endure this huckstering tyranny of the Treasury +Bench—these political pedlars that bought their party in the +cheapest market and sold us in the dearest."</p></div> + +<p>So also on one occasion when in a characteristically fanciful flight he +said that Canning ruled the House of Commons "as a man rules a high-bred +steed, as Alexander ruled Bucephalus," and when some member of the House +indulged in a very legitimate laugh, he turned on him at once and said, +"I thank that honourable gentleman for his laugh. The pulse of the +national heart does not beat as high as once it did. I know the temper +of this House is not as spirited and brave as it was, nor am I +surprised, when the vulture rules where once the eagle reigned." From +the days of Horace downwards it has been permitted to actors and orators +to pass rapidly from the comic to the tumid strain.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> But in this case +the language was so bombastic and so utterly out of proportion to the +occasion which called it forth that a critic of style will hardly acquit +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> orator of the charge of turgidity. Mr. Monypenny recognises that +"in spite of Disraeli's strong grasp of fact, his keen sense of the +ridiculous, and his intolerance of cant, he never could quite +distinguish between the genuine and the counterfeit either in language +or sentiment."</p> + +<p>Much has at times been said and written of the solecisms for which +Disraeli was famous. They came naturally to him. In his early youth he +told his sister that the Danube was an "uncouth stream," because "its +bed is far too considerable for its volume." At the same time there can +be little doubt that his practice of indulging in carefully prepared +solecisms, which became more daring as he advanced in power, was part of +a deliberate and perfectly legitimate plan, conceived with the object of +arresting the attention and stimulating the interest of his audience.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I have so far only dealt with Disraeli's main object in life, and with +the methods by which he endeavoured to attain that object. The important +question remains to be considered of whether, as many supposed and still +suppose, Disraeli was a mere political charlatan, or whether, as others +hold, he was a far-seeing statesman and profound thinker, who read the +signs of the times more clearly than his contemporaries, and who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +the early apostle of a political creed which his countrymen will do well +to adopt and develop.</p> + +<p>It is necessary here to say a word or two about Disraeli's biographer. +The charm of Mr. Monypenny's style, the lucidity of his narrative, the +thorough grasp which he manifestly secured of the forces in movement +during the period which his history embraces, and the deep regret that +all must feel that his promising career was prematurely cut short by the +hand of death, should not blind us to the fact that, in spite of a +manifest attempt to write judicially, he must be regarded as an +apologist for Disraeli. In respect, indeed, to one point—which, +however, is, in my opinion, one of great importance—he threw up the +case for his client. The facts of this case are very clear.</p> + +<p>When Peel formed his Ministry in 1841, no place was offered to Disraeli. +It can be no matter for surprise that he was deeply mortified. His +exclusion does not appear to have been due to any personal feeling of +animosity entertained by Peel. On the contrary, Peel's relations with +Disraeli had up to that time been of a very friendly character. Possibly +something may be attributed to that lack of imagination which, at a much +later period, Disraeli thought was the main defect of Sir Robert Peel's +character, and which may have rendered him incapable of conceiving that +a young man, differing so totally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> not only from himself but from all +other contemporaneous politicians in deportment and demeanour, could +ever aspire to be a political factor of supreme importance. The +explanation given by Peel himself that, as is usual with Prime Ministers +similarly situated, he was wholly unable to meet all the just claims +made upon him, was unquestionably true, but it is more than probable +that the episode related by Mr. Monypenny had something to do with +Disraeli's exclusion. Peel, it appears, was inclined to consider +Disraeli eligible for office, but Stanley (subsequently Lord Derby), who +was a typical representative of that "patrician" class whom Disraeli +courted and eventually dominated, stated "in his usual vehement way" +that "if that scoundrel were taken in, he would not remain himself." +However that may be, two facts are abundantly clear. One is that, in the +agony of disappointment, Disraeli threw himself at Peel's feet and +implored, in terms which were almost abject, that some official place +should be found for him. "I appeal," he said, in a letter dated +September 5, 1841, "to that justice and that magnanimity which I feel +are your characteristics, to save me from an intolerable humiliation." +The other fact is that, speaking to his constituents in 1844, he said: +"I never asked Sir Robert Peel for a place," and further that, speaking +in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> House of Commons in 1846, he repeated this statement even more +categorically. He assured the House that "nothing of the kind ever +occurred," and he added that "it was totally foreign to his nature to +make an application for any place." He was evidently not believed. "The +impression in the House," Mr. Monypenny says, "was that Disraeli had +better have remained silent."</p> + +<p>Mr. Monypenny admits the facts, and does not attempt to defend +Disraeli's conduct, but he passes over this very singular episode, which +is highly illustrative of the character of the man, somewhat lightly, +merely remarking that though Disraeli "must pay the full penalty," at +the same time "it is for the politician who is without sin in the matter +of veracity to cast the first stone."</p> + +<p>I hardly think that this consolatory Biblical reflection disposes of the +matter. Politicians, as also diplomatists, are often obliged to give +evasive answers to inconvenient questions, but it is not possible for +any man, when dealing with a point of primary importance, deliberately +to make and to repeat a statement so absolutely untrue as that made by +Disraeli on the occasion in question without undermining any confidence +which might otherwise be entertained in his general sincerity and +rectitude of purpose. A man convicted of deliberate falsehood cannot +expect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> to be believed when he pleads that his public conduct is wholly +dictated by public motives. Now all the circumstantial evidence goes to +show that from 1841 onwards Disraeli's conduct, culminating in his +violent attacks on Peel in 1845-46, was the result of personal +resentment due to his exclusion from office in 1841, and that these +attacks would never have been made had he been able to climb the ladder +of advancement by other means. His proved want of veracity confirms the +impression derived from this evidence.</p> + +<p>Peel's own opinion on the subject may be gathered from a letter which he +wrote to Sir James Graham on December 22, 1843.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Disraeli had the +assurance to solicit a place for his brother from Sir James Graham. The +request met with a flat refusal. Peel's comment on the incident was: "He +(Disraeli) asked me for office himself, and I was not surprised that, +being refused, he became independent and a patriot."</p> + +<p>So far, therefore, as the individual is concerned, the episode on which +I have dwelt above appears to me to be a very important factor in +estimating not merely Disraeli's moral worth, but also the degree of +value to be attached to his opinions. The question of whether Disraeli +was or was not a political charlatan remains, however, to be +considered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<p>That Disraeli was a political adventurer is abundantly clear. So was +Napoleon, between whose mentality and that of Disraeli a somewhat close +analogy exists. Both subordinated their public conduct to the +furtherance of their personal aims. It is quite permissible to argue +that, as a political adventurer, Disraeli did an incalculable amount of +harm in so far as he tainted the sincerity of public life both in his +own person and, posthumously, by becoming the progenitor of a school of +adventurers who adopted his methods. But it is quite possible to be a +self-seeking adventurer without being a charlatan. A careful +consideration of Disraeli's opinions and actions leads me to the +conclusion that only on a very superficial view of his career can the +latter epithet be applied to him. It must, I think, be admitted that his +ideas, even although we may disagree with them, were not those of a +charlatan, but of a statesman. They cannot be brushed aside as trivial. +They deserve serious consideration. Moreover, he had a very remarkable +power of penetrating to the core of any question which he treated, +coupled with an aptitude for wide generalisation which is rare amongst +Englishmen, and which he probably derived from his foreign ancestors. An +instance in point is his epigrammatic statement that "In England, where +society was strong, they tolerated a weak Government, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> in Ireland, +where society was weak, the policy should be to have the Government +strong." Mr. Monypenny is quite justified in saying: "The significance +of the Irish question cannot be exhausted in a formula, but in that +single sentence there is more of wisdom and enlightenment than in many +thousands of the dreary pages of Irish debate that are buried in the +volumes of Hansard."</p> + +<p>More than this. In one very important respect he was half a century in +advance of his contemporaries. With true political instinct he fell upon +what was unquestionably the weakest point in the armour of the so-called +Manchester School of politicians. He saw that whilst material +civilisation in England was advancing with rapid strides, there was "no +proportionate advance in our moral civilisation." "In the hurry-skurry +of money-making, men-making, and machine-making," the moral side of +national life was being unduly neglected. He was able with justifiable +pride to say: "Long before what is called the 'condition of the people +question' was discussed in the House of Commons, I had employed my pen +on the subject. I had long been aware that there was something rotten in +the core of our social system. I had seen that while immense fortunes +were accumulating, while wealth was increasing to a superabundance, and +while Great Britain was cited throughout Europe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> as the most prosperous +nation in the world, the working classes, the creators of wealth, were +steeped in the most abject poverty and gradually sinking into the +deepest degradation." The generation of 1912 cannot dub as a charlatan +the man who could speak thus in 1844. For in truth, more especially +during the last five years, we have been suffering from a failure to +recognise betimes the truth of this foreseeing statesman's admonition. +Having for years neglected social reform, we have recently tried to make +up for lost time by the hurried adoption of a number of measures, often +faulty in principle and ill-considered in detail, which seek to obtain +by frenzied haste those advantages which can only be secured by the +strenuous and persistent application of sound principles embodied in +deliberate and well-conceived legislative enactments.</p> + +<p>Disraeli, therefore, saw the rock ahead, but how did he endeavour to +steer the ship clear of the rock? It is in dealing with this aspect of +the case that the view of the statesman dwindles away and is supplanted +by that of the self-seeking party manager. His fundamental idea was that +"we had altogether outgrown, not the spirit, but the organisation of our +institutions." The manner in which he proposed to reorganise our +institutions was practically to render the middle classes politically +powerless. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> scheme, constituting the germ which, at a later period, +blossomed into the Tory democracy, was developed as early as 1840 in a +letter addressed to Mr. Charles Attwood, who was at that time a popular +leader. "I entirely agree with you," he said, "that an union between the +Conservative Party and the Radical masses offers the only means by which +we can preserve the Empire. Their interests are identical; united they +form the nation; and their division has only permitted a miserable +minority, under the specious name of the People, to assail all right of +property and person."</p> + +<p>Mr. Monypenny, if I understand rightly, is generally in sympathy with +Disraeli's project, and appears to think that it might have been +practicable to carry it into effect. He condemns Peel's counter-idea of +substituting a middle-class Toryism for that which then existed as +"almost a contradiction in terms." I am unable to concur in this view. I +see no contradiction, either real or apparent, in Peel's +counter-project, and I hold that events have proved that the premises on +which Disraeli based his conclusion were entirely false, for his +political descendants, while still pursuing his main aim, viz. to ensure +a closer association of the Conservative Party and the masses, have been +forced by circumstances into an endeavour to effect that union by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> means +not merely different from but antagonistic to those which Disraeli +himself contemplated.</p> + +<p>It all depends on what Disraeli meant when he spoke of "Conservatism," +and on what Mr. Monypenny meant when he spoke of "Toryism." It may +readily be conceded that a "middle-class Toryism," in the sense in which +Disraeli would have understood the expression, was "a contradiction in +terms," for the bed-rock on which his Toryism was based was that it +should find its main strength in the possessors of land. The creation of +such a Toryism is a conceivable political programme. In France it was +created by the division of property consequent on the Revolution. Thiers +said truly enough that in the cottage of every French peasant owning an +acre of land would be found a musket ready to be used in the defence of +property. In fact, the five million peasant proprietors now existing in +France represent an eminently conservative class. But, so far as I know, +there is not a trace to be found in any of Disraeli's utterances that he +wished to widen the basis of agricultural conservatism by creating a +peasant proprietary class. He wished, above all things, to maintain the +territorial magnates in the full possession of their properties. When he +spoke of a "union between the Conservative Party and the Radical masses" +he meant a union between the "patri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>cians" and the working men, and the +answer to this somewhat fantastic project is that given by Juvenal 1800 +years ago:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Quis enim iam non intelligat artes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Patricias?<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Who in our days is not up to the dodges of the patricians?"</p> + +<p>The programme was foredoomed to failure, and the failure has been +complete. Modern Conservatives can appeal to the middle classes, who—in +spite of what Mr. Monypenny says—are their natural allies. They can +also appeal to the working classes by educating them and by showing them +that Socialism is diametrically contrary to their own interests. But, +although they may gain some barren and ephemeral electoral advantages, +they cannot hope to advance the cause of rational conservative progress +either by alienating the one class or by sailing under false colours +before the other. They cannot advantageously masquerade in Radical +clothes. There was a profound truth in Lord Goschen's view upon the +conduct of Disraeli when, in strict accordance with the principles he +enunciated in the 'forties, he forced his reluctant followers to pass a +Reform Bill far more Radical than that proposed by the Whigs. "That +measure," Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> Goschen said,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> "might have increased the number of +Conservatives, but it had, nevertheless, in his belief, weakened real +Conservatism." Many of Disraeli's political descendants seem to care +little for Conservatism, but they are prepared to advocate Socialist or +quasi-Socialist doctrines in order to increase the number of nominal +Conservatives. This, therefore, has been the ultimate result of the +gospel of which Disraeli was the chief apostle. It does no credit to his +political foresight. He altogether failed to see the consequences which +would result from the adoption of his political principles. He hoped +that the Radical masses, whom he sought to conciliate, would look to the +"patricians" as their guides. They have done nothing of the sort, but a +very distinct tendency has been created amongst the "patricians" to +allow themselves to be guided by the Radical masses.</p> + +<p>I cannot terminate these remarks without saying a word or two about +Disraeli's great antagonist, Peel. It appears to me that Mr. Monypenny +scarcely does justice to that very eminent man. His main accusation +against Peel is that he committed his country "apparently past recall" +to an industrial line of growth, and that he sacrificed rural England +"to a one-sided and exaggerated industrial development which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> has done +so much to change the English character and the English outlook."</p> + +<p>I think that this charge admits of being answered, but I will not now +attempt to answer it fully. This much, however, I may say. Mr. +Monypenny, if I understand rightly, admits that the transition from +agriculture to manufactures was, if not desirable, at all events +inevitable, but he holds that this transition should have been gradual. +This is practically the same view as that held by the earlier German and +American economists, who—whilst condemning Protection in +theory—advocated it as a temporary measure which would eventually lead +up to Free Trade. The answer is that, in those countries which adopted +this policy, the Protection has, in the face of vested interests, been +permanent, whilst, although the movement in favour of Free Trade has +never entirely died out, and may, indeed, be said recently to have shown +signs of increasing vigour, the obstacles to the realisation of the +ideas entertained by economists of the type of List have not yet been +removed, and are still very formidable. That the plunge made by Sir +Robert Peel has been accompanied by some disadvantages may be admitted, +but Free Traders may be pardoned for thinking that, if he had not had +the courage to make that plunge, the enormous counter-advantages which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +have resulted from his policy would never have accrued.</p> + +<p>As regards Peel's character, it was twice sketched by Disraeli himself. +The first occasion was in 1839. The picture he drew at that time was +highly complimentary, but as Disraeli was then a loyal supporter of Peel +it may perhaps be discarded on the plea advanced by Voltaire that "we +can confidently believe only the evil which a party writer tells of his +own side and the good which he recognises in his opponents." The second +occasion was after Peel's death. It is given by Mr. Monypenny in ii. +306-308, and is too long to quote. Disraeli on this occasion made some +few—probably sound—minor criticisms on Peel's style, manner, and +disposition. But he manifestly wrote with a strong desire to do justice +to his old antagonist's fine qualities. He concluded with a remark +which, in the mouth of a Parliamentarian, may probably be considered the +highest praise, namely, that Peel was "the greatest Member of Parliament +that ever lived." I cannot but think that even those who reject Peel's +economic principles may accord to him higher praise than this. They may +admit that Peel attained a very high degree of moral elevation when, at +the dictate of duty, he separated himself from all—or the greater +part—of his former friends, and had the courage, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> honestly +convinced by Cobden's arguments, to act upon his convictions. Peel's +final utterance on this subject was not only one of the most pathetic, +but also one of the finest—because one of the most deeply +sincere—speeches ever made in Parliament.</p> + +<p>I may conclude these remarks by some recollections of a personal +character. My father, who died in 1848, was a Peelite and an intimate +friend of Sir Robert Peel, who was frequently his guest at Cromer. I +used, therefore, in my childhood to hear a good deal of the subjects +treated in Mr. Monypenny's brilliant volumes. I well remember—I think +it must have been in 1847—being present on one occasion when a relative +of my own, who was a broad-acred Nottinghamshire squire, thumped the +table and declared his opinion that "Sir Robert Peel ought to be hanged +on the highest tree in England." Since that time I have heard a good +many statesmen accused of ruining their country, but, so far as my +recollection serves me, the denunciations launched against John Bright, +Gladstone, and even the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, may be +considered as sweetly reasonable by comparison with the language +employed about Sir Robert Peel by those who were opposed to his policy.</p> + +<p>I was only once brought into personal com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>munication with Disraeli. +Happening to call on my old friend, Lord Rowton, in the summer of 1879, +when I was about to return to Egypt as Controller-General, he expressed +a wish that I should see Lord Beaconsfield, as he then was. The +interview was very short; neither has anything Lord Beaconsfield said +about Egyptian affairs remained in my memory. But I remember that he +appeared much interested to learn whether "there were many pelicans on +the banks of the Nile."</p> + +<p>The late Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff was a repository of numerous very +amusing <i>Beaconsfieldiana</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> +<h2>IX</h2> + +<h3>RUSSIAN ROMANCE</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," March 15, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>De Vogüé's well-known book, <i>Le Roman Russe</i>, was published so long ago +as 1886. It is still well worth reading. In the first place, the +literary style is altogether admirable. It is the perfection of French +prose, and to read the best French prose is always an intellectual +treat. In the second place, the author displays in a marked degree that +power of wide generalisation which distinguishes the best French +writers. Then, again, M. de Vogüé writes with a very thorough knowledge +of his subject. He resided for long in Russia. He spoke Russian, and had +an intimate acquaintance with Russian literature. He endeavoured to +identify himself with Russian aspirations, and, being himself a man of +poetic and imaginative temperament, he was able to sympathise with the +highly emotional side of the Slav character, whilst, at the same time, +he never lost sight of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> the fact that he was the representative of a +civilisation which is superior to that of Russia. He admires the +eruptions of that volcanic genius Dostoïevsky, but, with true European +instinct, charges him with a want of "mesure"—the Greek +Sophrosyne—which he defines as "l'art d'assujettir ses pensées." +Moreover, he at times brings a dose of vivacious French wit to temper +the gloom of Russian realism. Thus, when he speaks of the Russian +writers of romance, who, from 1830 to 1840, "eurent le privilège de +faire pleurer les jeunes filles russes," he observes in thorough +man-of-the-world fashion, "il faut toujours que quelqu'un fasse pleurer +les jeunes filles, mais le génie n'y est pas nécessaire."</p> + +<p>When Taine had finished his great history of the Revolution, he sent it +forth to the world with the remark that the only general conclusion at +which a profound study of the facts had enabled him to arrive was that +the true comprehension, and therefore, <i>a fortiori</i>, the government of +human beings, and especially of Frenchmen, was an extremely difficult +matter. Those who have lived longest in the East are the first to +testify to the fact that, to the Western mind, the Oriental habit of +thought is well-nigh incomprehensible. The European may do his best to +understand, but he cannot cast off his love of symmetry any more than he +can change his skin, and unless he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> can become asymmetrical he can never +hope to attune his reason in perfect accordance to the Oriental key. +Similarly, it is impossible to rise from a perusal of De Vogüé's book +without a strong feeling of the incomprehensibility of the Russians.</p> + +<p>What, in fact, are these puzzling Russians? They are certainly not +Europeans. They possess none of the mental equipoise of the Teutons, +neither do they appear to possess that logical faculty which, in spite +of many wayward outbursts of passion, generally enables the Latin races +in the end to cast off idealism when it tends to lapse altogether from +sanity; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that, having by +association acquired some portion of that Western faculty, the Russians +misapply it. They seem to be impelled by a variety of causes—such as +climatic and economic influences, a long course of misgovernment, +Byzantinism in religion, and an inherited leaning to Oriental +mysticism—to distort their reasoning powers, and far from using them, +as was the case with the pre-eminently sane Greek genius, to temper the +excesses of the imagination, to employ them rather as an oestrus to lash +the imaginative faculties to a state verging on madness.</p> + +<p>If the Russians are not Europeans, neither are they thorough Asiatics. +It may well be, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> De Vogüé says, that they have preserved the idiom +and even the features of their original Aryan ancestors to a greater +extent than has been the case with other Aryan nations who finally +settled farther West, and that this is a fact of which many Russians +boast. But, for all that, they have been inoculated with far too strong +a dose of Western culture, religion, and habits of thought to display +the apathy or submit to the fatalism which characterises the conduct of +the true Eastern.</p> + +<p>If, therefore, the Russians are neither Europeans nor Asiatics, what are +they? Manifestly their geographical position and other attendant +circumstances have, from an ethnological point of view, rendered them a +hybrid race, whose national development will display the most startling +anomalies and contradictions, in which the theory and practice derived +from the original Oriental stock will be constantly struggling for +mastery with an Occidental aftergrowth. From the earliest days there +have been two types of Russian reformers, viz. on the one hand, those +who wished that the country should be developed on Eastern lines, and, +on the other, those who looked to Western civilisation for guidance. De +Vogüé says that from the accession of Peter the Great to the death of +the Emperor Nicolas—that is to say, for a period of a hundred and +fifty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> years—the government of Russia may be likened to a ship, of +which the captain and the principal officers were persistently +endeavouring to steer towards the West, while at the same time the whole +of the crew were trimming the sails in order to catch any breeze which +would bear the vessel Eastward. It can be no matter for surprise that +this strange medley should have produced results which are bewildering +even to Russians themselves and well-nigh incomprehensible to +foreigners. One of their poets has said:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On ne comprend pas la Russie avec la raison,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On ne peut que croire à la Russie.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One of the most singular incidents of Russian development on which De +Vogüé has fastened, and which induced him to write this book, has been +the predominant influence exercised on Russian thought and action by +novels. Writers of romance have indeed at times exercised no +inconsiderable amount of influence elsewhere than in Russia. Mrs. +Beecher Stowe's epoch-making novel, <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, certainly +contributed towards the abolition of slavery in the United States. +Dickens gave a powerful impetus to the reform of our law-courts and our +Poor Law. Moreover, even in free England, political writers have at +times resorted to allegory in order to promulgate their ideas. Swift's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +Brobdingnagians and Lilliputians furnish a case in point. In France, +Voltaire called fictitious Chinamen, Bulgarians, and Avars into +existence in order to satirise the proceedings of his own countrymen. +But the effect produced by these writings may be classed as trivial +compared to that exercised by the great writers of Russian romance. In +the works of men like Tourguenef and Dostoïevsky the Russian people +appear to have recognised, for the first time, that their real condition +was truthfully depicted, and that their inchoate aspirations had found +sympathetic expression. "Dans le roman, et là seulement," De Vogüé says, +"on trouvera l'histoire de Russie depuis un demi-siècle."</p> + +<p>Such being the case, it becomes of interest to form a correct judgment +on the character and careers of the men whom the Russians have very +generally regarded as the true interpreters of their domestic facts, and +whom large numbers of them have accepted as their political pilots.</p> + +<p>The first point to be noted about them is that they are all, for the +most part, ultra-realists; but apparently we may search their writings +in vain for the cheerfulness which at times illumines the pages of their +English, or the light-hearted vivacity which sparkles in the pages of +their French counterparts. In Dostoïevsky's power<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>fully written <i>Crime +and Punishment</i> all is gloom and horror; the hero of the tale is a +madman and a murderer. To a foreigner these authors seem to present the +picture of a society oppressed with an all-pervading sense of the misery +of existence, and with the impossibility of finding any means by which +that misery can be alleviated. In many instances, their lives—and still +more their deaths—were as sad and depressing as their thoughts. Several +of their most noted authors died violent deaths. At thirty-seven years +of age the poet Pouchkine was killed in a duel, Lermontof met the same +fate at the age of twenty-six. Griboïédof was assassinated at the age of +thirty-four. But the most tragic history is that of Dostoïevsky, albeit +he lived to a green old age, and eventually died a natural death. In +1849, he was connected with some political society, but he does not +appear, even at that time, to have been a violent politician. +Nevertheless, he and his companions, after being kept for several months +in close confinement, were condemned to death. They were brought to the +place of execution, but at the last moment, when the soldiers were about +to fire, their sentences were commuted to exile. Dostoïevsky remained +for some years in Siberia, but was eventually allowed to return to +Russia. The inhuman cruelty to which he had been subject naturally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +dominated his mind and inspired his pen for the remainder of his days.</p> + +<p>De Vogüé deals almost exclusively with the writings of Pouchkine, Gogol, +Dostoïevsky, Tourguenef, who was the inventor of the word Nihilism, and +the mystic Tolstoy, who was the principal apostle of the doctrine. All +these, with the possible exception of Tourguenef, had one characteristic +in common. Their intellects were in a state of unstable equilibrium. As +poets, they could excite the enthusiasm of the masses, but as political +guides they were mere Jack-o'-Lanterns, leading to the deadly swamp of +despair. Dostoïevsky was in some respects the most interesting and also +the most typical of the group. De Vogüé met him in his old age, and the +account he gives of his appearance is most graphic. His history could be +read in his face.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>On y lisait mieux que dans le livre, les souvenirs de la maison des +morts, les longues habitudes d'effroi, de méfiance et de martyre. +Les paupières, les lèvres, toutes les fibres de cette face +tremblaient de tics nerveux. Quand il s'animait de colère sur une +idée, on eût juré qu'on avait déjà vu cette tête sur les banes +d'une cour criminelle, ou parmi les vagabonds qui mendient aux +portes des prisons. A d'autres moments, elle avait la mansuétude +triste des vieux saints sur les images slavonnes.</p></div> + +<p>And here is what De Vogüé says of the writings of this semi-lunatic man +of genius:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Psychologue incomparable, dès qu'il étudie des âmes noires ou +blessées, dramaturge habile, mais borné aux scènes d'effroi et de +pitié.... Selon qu'on est plus touché par tel ou tel excès de son +talent, on peut l'appeler avec justice un philosophe, un apôtre, un +aliéné, le consolateur des affligés ou le bourreau des esprits +tranquilles, le Jérémie de bagne ou le Shakespeare de la maison des +fous; toutes ces appellations seront méritées; prise isolément, +aucune ne sera suffisante.</p></div> + +<p>There is manifestly much which is deeply interesting, and also much +which is really lovable in the Russian national character. It must, +however, be singularly mournful and unpleasant to pass through life +burdened with the reflection that it would have been better not to have +been born, albeit such sentiments are not altogether inconsistent with +the power of deriving a certain amount of enjoyment from living. It was +that pleasure-loving old cynic, Madame du Deffand, who said: "Il n'y a +qu'un seul malheur, celui d'être né." Nevertheless, the avowed +joyousness bred by the laughing tides and purple skies of Greece is +certainly more conducive to human happiness, though at times even +Greeks, such as Theognis and Palladas, lapsed into a morbid pessimism +comparable to that of Tolstoy. Metrodorus, however, more fully +represented the true Greek spirit when he sang, "All things are good in +life" (πάντα γὰρ ἐσθλὰ βίῳ). The Roman pagan, Juvenal, gave a +fairly satisfactory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> answer to the question, "Nil ergo optabunt +homines?" whilst the Christian holds out hopes of that compensation in +the next world for the afflictions of the present, which the sombre and +despondent Russian philosopher, determined that we shall not find +enjoyment in either world, denies to his morose and grief-stricken +followers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> +<h2>X</h2> + +<h3>THE WRITING OF HISTORY<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," April 26, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>What are the purposes of history, and in what spirit should it be +written? Such, in effect, are the questions which Mr. Gooch propounds in +this very interesting volume. He wisely abstains from giving any +dogmatic answers to these questions, but in a work which shows manifest +signs of great erudition and far-reaching research he ranges over the +whole field of European and American literature, and gives us a very +complete summary both of how, as a matter of fact, history has been +written, and of the spirit in which the leading historians of the +nineteenth century have approached their task.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bryce, himself one of the most eminent of modern historians, +recently laid down the main principle which, in his opinion, should +guide his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> fellow-craftsmen. "Truth," he said, "and truth only is our +aim." The maxim is one which would probably be unreservedly accepted in +theory by the most ardent propagandist who has ever used history as a +vehicle for the dissemination of his own views on political, economic, +or social questions. For so fallible is human nature that the +proclivities of the individual can rarely be entirely submerged by the +judicial impartiality of the historian. It is impossible to peruse Mr. +Gooch's work without being struck by the fact that, amongst the greatest +writers of history, bias—often unconscious bias—has been the rule, and +the total absence of preconceived opinions the exception. Generally +speaking, the subjective spirit has prevailed amongst historians in all +ages. The danger of following the scent of analogies—not infrequently +somewhat strained analogies—between the present and the past is +comparatively less imminent in cases where some huge upheaval, such as +the French Revolution, has inaugurated an entirely new epoch, +accompanied by the introduction of fresh ideals and habits of thought. +It is, as Macaulay has somewhere observed, a more serious +stumbling-block in the path of a writer who deals with the history of a +country like England, which has through long centuries preserved its +historical continuity. Hallam and Macaulay viewed history through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> Whig, +and Alison through Tory spectacles. Neither has the remoteness of the +events described proved any adequate safeguard against the introduction +of bias born of contemporary circumstances. Mitford, who composed his +history of Greece during the stormy times of the French Revolution, +thought it compatible with his duty as an historian to strike a blow at +Whigs and Jacobins. Grote's sympathy with the democracy of Athens was +unquestionably to some extent the outcome of the views which he +entertained of events passing under his own eyes at Westminster. +Mommsen, by inaugurating the publication of the Corpus of Latin +Inscriptions, has earned the eternal gratitude of scholarly posterity, +but Mr. Gooch very truly remarks that his historical work is tainted +with the "strident partisanship" of a keen politician and journalist. +Truth, as the old Greek adage says, is indeed the fellow-citizen of the +gods; but if the standard of historical truth be rated too high, and if +the authority of all who have not strictly complied with that standard +is to be discarded on the ground that they stand convicted of +partiality, we should be left with little to instruct subsequent ages +beyond the dry records of men such as the laborious, the useful, though +somewhat over-credulous Clinton, or the learned but arid Marquardt, +whose "massive scholarship"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Mr. Gooch dismisses somewhat summarily in a +single line. Such writers are not historians, but rather compilers of +records, upon the foundations of which others can build history.</p> + +<p>Under the process we have assumed, Droysen, Sybel, and Treitschke would +have to be cast down from their pedestals. They were the political +schoolmasters of Germany during a period of profound national +discouragement. They used history in order to stir their countrymen to +action, but "if the supreme aim of history is to discover truth and to +interpret the movement of humanity, they have no claim to a place in the +first class." Patriotism, as the Portuguese historian, Herculano da +Carvalho, said, is "a bad counsellor for historians"; albeit, few have +had the courage to discard patriotic considerations altogether, as was +the case with the Swiss Kopp, who wrote a history of his country "from +which Gessler and Tell disappeared," and in which "the familiar +anecdotes of Austrian tyranny and cruelty were dismissed as legends."</p> + +<p>Philosophic historians, who have endeavoured to bend facts into +conformity with some special theory of their own, would fare little +better than those who have been ardent politicians. Sainte-Beuve, after +reading Guizot's sweeping and lofty generalisations, declared that they +were far too logical to be true, and forthwith "took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> down from his +shelves a volume of De Retz to remind him how history was really made." +Second-or third-rate historians, such as Lamartine, who, according to +Dumas, "raised history to the level of the novel," or the vitriolic +Lanfrey, who was a mere pamphleteer, would, of course, be consigned—and +very rightly consigned—to utter oblivion. The notorious inaccuracy of +Thiers and the avowed hero-worship of Masson alike preclude their +admissibility into the select circle of trustworthy and veracious +historians. It is even questionable whether one of the most objectively +minded of French writers, the illustrious Taine, would gain admission. +His work, he himself declared, "was nothing but pure or applied +psychology," and psychology is apt to clash with the facts of history. +Scherer described Taine, somewhat unjustly, as "a pessimist in a +passion," whilst the critical and conscientious Aulard declared that his +work was "virtually useless for the purposes of history." Mr. Gooch +classes Sorel's work as "incomparably higher" than that of Taine. +Montalembert is an extreme case of a French historian who adopted +thoroughly unsound historical methods. Clearly, as Mr. Gooch says, "the +author of the famous battle-cry, 'We are the sons of the Crusades, and +we will never yield to the sons of Voltaire,' was not the man for +objective study."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>The fate of some of the most distinguished American and British +historians would be even more calamitous than that of their Continental +brethren. If the touchstone of impartiality were applied, Prescott might +perhaps pass unscathed through the trial. But few will deny that Motley +wrote his very attractive histories at a white heat of Republican and +anti-Catholic fervour. He, as also Bancroft, are classed by Mr. Gooch +amongst those who "made their histories the vehicles of political and +religious propaganda." Washington Irving's claim to rank in the first +class of historians may be dismissed on other grounds. "He had no taste +for research," and merely presented to the world "a poet's appreciation" +of historical events.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the two greatest sinners against the code of frigid +impartiality were Froude and Carlyle. Both were intensely convinced of +the truth of the gospel which they preached, and both were careless of +detail if they could strain the facts of history to support their +doctrines. The apotheosis of the strong man formed no part of Carlyle's +original philosophy. In 1830, he wrote: "Which was the greatest +benefactor, he who gained the battles of Cannae and Trasimene or the +nameless poor who first hammered out for himself an iron spade?" He +condemned Scott's historical writings: "Strange," he said, "that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> a man +should think he was writing the history of a nation while he is +describing the amours of a wanton young woman and a sulky booby blown up +with gunpowder." After having slighted biography in this +characteristically Carlylese utterance, he straightway set to work, with +splendid inconsistency, to base his philosophy of history mainly on the +biographies of men of the type of Cromwell and Frederic.</p> + +<p>The invective levelled against Froude by Freeman is now generally +recognised as exaggerated and unjust, but it would certainly appear, as +Mr. Gooch says, that Froude "never realised that the main duty of the +historian is neither eulogy nor criticism, but interpretation of the +complex processes and conflicting ideals which have built up the +chequered life of humanity."</p> + +<p>Yet when all is said that can be said on the necessity of insisting on +historical veracity, it has to be borne in mind that inaccuracy is not +the only pitfall which lies in the path of the expounder of truth. +History is not written merely for students and scholars. It ought to +instruct and enlighten the statesman. It should quicken the intelligence +of the masses. Whilst any tendency to distort facts, or to sway public +opinion by sensational writing of questionable veracity, cannot be too +strongly condemned, it is none the less true that it requires not merely +a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> touch of literary genius, but also a lively and receptive imagination +to tell a perfectly truthful tale in such a manner as to arrest the +attention, to excite the wayward imagination and to guide the thoughts +of the vast majority of those who will scan the finished work of the +historian. It is here that some of the best writers of history have +failed, Gardiner has written what is probably the best, and is certainly +the most dispassionate and impartial history of the Stuart period. "With +one exception," Mr. Gooch says, "Gardiner possessed all the tools of his +craft—an accurate mind, perfect impartiality, insight into character, +sympathy with ideas different from his own and from one another. The +exception was style. Had he possessed this talisman his noble work would +have been a popular classic. His pages are wholly lacking in grace and +distinction." The result is that Gardiner's really fine work has proved +an ineffectual instrument for historical education. The majority of +readers will continue to turn to the brilliant if relatively partial +pages of Macaulay.</p> + +<p>The case of Freeman, though different from that of Gardiner, for his +style, though lacking in grace and flexibility was vigorous, may serve +as another illustration of the same thesis. Freeman was a keen +politician, but he would never have for a moment entertained the thought +of departing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> by one iota from strict historical truth in order to +further any political cause in which he was interested. Mr. Gooch says, +"He regarded history as not only primarily, but almost exclusively, a +record of political events. Past politics, he used to say, were present +history." Why is it, therefore, that his works are little read, and that +they have exercised but slight influence on the opinions of the mass of +his countrymen? The answer is supplied by Mr. Gooch. Freeman ignored +organic evolution. "The world of ideas had no existence for him.... No +less philosophic historian has ever lived." For one man who, with +effort, has toiled through Freeman's ponderous but severely accurate +Norman and Sicilian histories, there are probably a hundred whose +imagination has been fired by Carlyle's rhapsody on the French +Revolution, or who have pored with interested delight over Froude's +account of the death of Cranmer.</p> + +<p>Much the same may be said of Creighton's intrinsically valuable but +somewhat colourless work. "He had no theories," Mr. Gooch says, "no +philosophy of history, no wish to prove or disprove anything." He took +historical facts as they came, and recorded them. "When events are +tedious," he wrote, "we must be tedious."</p> + +<p>The most meritorious, as also the most popular historians are probably +those of the didactic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> school. Of these, Seeley and Acton are notable +instances. Seeley always endeavoured to establish some principle which +would capture the attention of the student and might be of interest to +the statesman. He held that "history faded into mere literature when it +lost sight of its relation to practical politics." Acton, who brought +his encyclopaedic learning to bear on the defence of liberty in all its +forms, "believed that historical study was not merely the basis of all +real insight into the present, but a school of virtue and a guide to +life."</p> + +<p>Limitations of space preclude any adequate treatment of the illuminating +work done by Ranke, whom Mr. Gooch regards as the nearest approximation +the world has yet known to the "ideal historian"; by Lecky, who was +driven by the Home Rule conflict from the ranks of historians into those +of politicians; by Milman, whose style, in the opinion of Macaulay, was +wanting in grace and colour, but who was distinguished for his +"soundness of judgment and inexorable love of truth"; by Otfried Müller, +Bérard, Gilbert Murray, and numerous other classical scholars of divers +nationalities; by Fustel de Coulanges, the greatest of +nineteenth-century mediaevalists; by Mahan, whose writings have +exercised a marked influence on current politics, and who is thus an +instance of "an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> historian who has helped to make history as well as to +record it," and by a host of others.</p> + +<p>At the close of his book Mr. Gooch very truly points out that "the scope +of history has gradually widened till it has come to include every +aspect of the life of humanity." Many of the social and economic +subjects of which the historian has now to treat are of an extremely +controversial character. However high may be the ideal of truth, which +will be entertained, it would appear that the various forms in which the +facts of history may be stated, as also the conclusions to be drawn from +these facts, will tend to divergence rather than to uniformity of +treatment. It is not, therefore, probable that the partisan +historian—or, at all events, the historian who will be accused of +partisanship—will altogether disappear from literature. Neither, on the +whole, is his disappearance to be desired, for it would almost certainly +connote the composition of somewhat vapid and colourless histories.</p> + +<p>The verdicts which Mr. Gooch passes on the historians whose writings he +briefly summarises are eminently judicious, though it cannot be expected +that in all cases they will command universal assent. In a work which +ranges over so wide a field it is scarcely possible that some slips +should not have occurred. We may indicate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> one of these, which it would +be as well to correct in the event of any future editions being +published. On p. 435 the authorship of <i>Fieramosca</i> and <i>Nicolo dei +Lapi</i>, which were written by Azeglio, is erroneously attributed to +Cesare Balbo.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> +<h2>XI</h2> + +<h3>THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," May 10, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Shelley, himself a translator of one of the best known of the epigrams +of the Anthology, has borne emphatic testimony to the difficulties of +translation. "It were as wise," he said, "to cast a violet into a +crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and +odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations +of a poet."</p> + +<p>The task of rendering Greek into English verse is in some respects +specially difficult. In the first place, the translator has to deal with +a language remarkable for its unity and fluency, qualities which, +according to Curtius (<i>History of Greece</i>, i. 18), are the result of the +"delicately conceived law, according to which all Greek words must end +in vowels, or such consonants as give rise to no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> harshness when +followed by others, viz. <i>n</i>, <i>r</i>, and <i>s</i>." Then, again, the translator +must struggle with the difficulties arising from the fact that the +Greeks regarded condensation in speech as a fine art. Demetrius, or +whoever was the author of <i>De Elocutione</i>, said: "The first grace of +style is that which results from compression." The use of an inflected +language of course enabled the Greeks to carry this art to a far higher +degree of perfection than can be attained by any modern Europeans. Jebb, +for instance, takes twelve words—"Well hath he spoken for one who +giveth heed not to fall"—to express a sentiment which Sophocles +(<i>Œd. Tyr.</i> 616) is able to compress into four—καλῶς ἔλεξεν +εὐλαβουμένῳ πεσεῖν. Moreover, albeit under the stress of metrical and +linguistic necessity the translator must generally indulge in +paraphrase, let him beware lest in doing so he sacrifices that quality +in which the Greeks excelled, to wit, simplicity. Nietzsche said, with +great truth, "Die Griechen sind, wie das Genie, einfach; deshalb sind +sie die unsterblichen Lehrer." Further, the translator has at times so +to manipulate his material as to incorporate into his verse epithets and +figures of speech of surpassing grace and expressiveness, which do not +readily admit of transfiguration into any modern language; such, for +instance, as the "much-wooed white-armed Maiden Muse"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +(πολυμνήστη λευκώλενε παρθένε Μοῦσα) of Empedocles; the "long countless +Time" (μακρὸς κἀναρίθμητος Χρόνος), or "babbling Echo" +(ἀθυρόστομος Ἀχώ) of Sophocles; the "son, the subject of many +prayers" (πολυεύχετος υἱός) and countless other expressions of +the Homeric Hymns; the "blooming Love with his pinions of gold" +(ὁ δ' ἀμφιθαλής Ἔρος χρυσόπτερος ἡνίας) of Aristophanes; "the +eagle, messenger of wide-ruling Zeus, the lord of Thunder" +(αἰετός, εὐρυάνακτος ἄγγελος Ζηνὸς ἐρισφαράγου) of Bacchylides; or +mighty Pindar's "snowy Etna nursing the whole year's length her frozen +snow" (νιφόεσς' Αἴτνα πανετες χιόνος ὀξείας τιθήνα).</p> + +<p>In no branch of Greek literature are these difficulties more conspicuous +than in the Anthology, yet it is the Anthology that has from time +immemorial notably attracted the attention of translators. It is indeed +true that the compositions of Agathias, Palladas, Paulus Silentiarius, +and the rest of the poetic tribe who "like the dun nightingale" were +"insatiate of song" (οἷά τις ξουθὰ ἀκόρεστος βοᾶς ... ἀηδών), +must, comparatively speaking, rank low amongst the priceless legacies +which Greece bequeathed to a grateful posterity. A considerable number +of the writers whose works are comprised in the Anthology lived during +the Alexandrian age. The artificiality of French society before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +French Revolution developed a taste for shallow versifying. Somewhat +similar symptoms characterised the decadent society of Alexandria, +albeit there were occasions when a nobler note was struck, as in the +splendid hymn of Cleanthes, written in the early part of the second +century B.C. Generally speaking, however, Professor Mahaffy's criticism +of the literature of this period (<i>Greek Life and Thought</i>, p. 264) +holds good. "We feel in most of these poems that it is no real lover +languishing for his mistress, but a pedant posing before a critical +public. If ever poet was consoled by his muse, it was he; he was far +prouder if Alexandria applauded the grace of his epigram than if it +whispered the success of his suit." How have these manifest defects been +condoned? Why is it that, in spite of much that is artificial and +commonplace, the poetry of the Anthology still exercises, and will +continue to exercise, an undying charm alike over the student, the +moralist, and the man of the world? The reasons are not far to seek. In +the first place, no productions of the Greek genius conform more wholly +to the Aristotelian canon that poetry should be an imitation of the +universal. Few of the poems in the Anthology depict any ephemeral phase +or fashion of opinion, like the Euphuism of the sixteenth century. All +appeal to emotions which endure for all time, and which,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> it has been +aptly said, are the true raw material of poetry. The patriot can still +feel his blood stirred by the ringing verse of Simonides. The moralist +can ponder over the vanity of human wishes, which is portrayed in +endless varieties of form, and which, even when the writer most exults +in the worship of youth (πολυήρατος ἥβη) or extols the +philosophy of Epicurus, is always tinged with a shade of profound +melancholy, inasmuch as every poet bids us bear in mind, to use the +beautiful metaphor of Keats, that the hand of Joy is "ever on his lips +bidding adieu," and that the "wave of death"—the κοινὸν κῦμ' +Αΐδα of Pindar—persistently dogs the steps of all mankind. The curious +in literature will find in the Anthology much apparent confirmation of +the saying of Terence that nothing is ever said that has not been said +before. He will note that not only did the gloomy Palladas say that he +came naked into the world, and that naked he will depart, but that he +forestalled Shakespeare in describing the world as a stage +(σκηνὴ πᾶς ὁ βίος καὶ παίγνιον), whilst Philostratus, Meleager, and +Agathias implored their respective mistresses to drink to them only with +their eyes and to leave a kiss within the cup. The man of the world will +give Agathias credit for keen powers of observation when he notes that +the Greek poet said that gambling was a test of character (κύβος +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> ἀγγέλλει βένθος ἐχεφροσύης<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>), whilst if for a moment he +would step outside the immediate choir of the recognised Anthologists, +he may smile when he reads that Menander thought it all very well to +"know oneself," but that it was in practice far more useful to know +other people (χρησιμώτερον γὰρ ἦν τὸ γνῶθι τοὺς ἄλλουσ).</p> + +<p>Then, again, the pungent brevity of such of the poetry of the Anthology +as is epigrammatic is highly attractive. Much has at times been said as +to what constitutes an epigram, but the case for brevity has probably +never been better stated than by a witty Frenchwoman of the eighteenth +century. Madame de Boufflers wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Il faut dire en deux mots<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ce qu'on veut dire;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Les longs propos<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sont sots.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In this respect, indeed, French can probably compete more successfully +than any other modern language with Greek. Democritus (410 B.C.) wrote, +ὁ κόσμος σκηνή, ὁ βίος πάραδος· ἦλθες, εἶδες, ἀπῆλθες. The +French version of the same idea is in no way inferior to the Greek:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On entre, on crie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et c'est la vie!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On crie, on sort,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et c'est la mort!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Lastly, although much of the sentiment expressed in the Anthology is +artificial, and although the language is at times offensive to modern +ears, the writers almost invariably exhibit that leading quality of the +Greek genius on which the late Professor Butcher was wont to insist so +strongly—its virile sanity.</p> + +<p>For these reasons the literary world may cordially welcome a further +addition to the abundant literature which already exists on the subject +of the Anthology. The principle adopted by Dr. Grundy is unquestionably +sound. He recognises that great Homer sometimes nods, that even men of +real poetic genius are not always at their best, and that mere +versifiers can at times, by a happy inspiration, embody an idea in +language superior to the general level of their poetic compositions. +English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries abounds +in cases in point. Lovelace, Montrose, and even, it may almost be said, +Wither and Herrick, live mainly in public estimation owing to the +composition of a small number of exquisitely felicitous verses which +have raised them for ever to thrones amongst the immortals. Dr. Grundy, +therefore, has very wisely ranged over the whole wide field of Anthology +translators, and has culled a flower here and a flower there. His method +in making his selections is as unimpeachable as his prin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>ciple. He has +discarded all predilections based on the authority of names or on other +considerations, and has simply chosen those translations which he +himself likes best.</p> + +<p>Dr. Grundy, in his preface, expresses a hope that he will be pardoned +for "the human weakness" of having in many cases preferred his own +translations to those of others. That pardon will be readily extended to +him, for although in a brief review of this nature it is impossible to +quote his compositions at any length, it is certainly true that some at +least of his translations are probably better than any that have yet +been attempted. Dr. Grundy says in his preface that he "has abided in +most instances as closely as possible to the literal translations of the +originals." That is the principle on which all, or nearly all, +translators have proceeded, but the qualifying phrase—"as closely as +possible"—has admitted of wide divergence in their practice. In some +cases, indeed, it is possible to combine strict adherence to the +original text with graceful language and harmonious metre in the +translation, but in a large number of instances the translator has to +sacrifice one language or the other. He has to choose between being +blamed by the purist who will not admit of any expansion in the ideas of +the original writer, or being accused of turning the King's English to +base uses by the employment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> of doubtful rhythm or cacophonous +expressions. Is it necessary to decide between these two rival schools +and to condemn one of them? Assuredly not. Both have their merits. An +instance in point is the exquisite "Rosa Rosarum" of Dionysius, which +runs thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ἡ τὰ ῥόδα, ῥοδόεσσαν ἔχεις χάριν· ἀλλὰ τί πωλεῖς,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">σαυτήν, ἢ τὰ ῥόδα, ἠέ συναμφόθερα;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Pott, in his <i>Greek Love Songs and Epigrams</i>, adopted the triolet +metre, which is singularly suitable to the subject, in dealing with this +epigram, and gracefully translated thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Which roses do you offer me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those on your cheeks, or those beside you?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since both are passing fair to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which roses do you offer me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To give me both would you agree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or must I choose, and so divide you?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which roses do you offer me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those on your cheeks or those beside you?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Here the two lines of the original are expanded into eight lines in the +translation, and some fresh matter is introduced. Dr. Grundy imposes +more severe limitations on his muse. His translation, which is more +literal, but at the same time singularly felicitous, is as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hail, thou who hast the roses, thou hast the rose's grace!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But sellest thou the roses, or e'en thine own fair face?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Any one of literary taste will find it difficult to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> decide which of +these versions to prefer, and will impartially welcome both.</p> + +<p>It cannot, however, be doubted that strict adherence to Dr. Grundy's +principle occasionally leads to results which are open to criticism from +the point of view of English style. A case in point is his translation +of Plato's epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ναυηγοῦ τάφος εἰμί· ὁ δ' ἀντίον ἐστὶ γεωργοῦ·<br /></span> +<span class="i2">ὡς ἁλὶ καὶ γαίῃ ξυνὸς ὕπεστ' Ἀίδης.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Dr. Grundy's translation, which is as follows, adheres closely to the +original text, but somewhat grates on the English ear:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A sailor's tomb am I; o'er there a yokel's tomb there be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Hades lies below the earth as well as 'neath the sea.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Another instance is the translation of the epigram of Nicarchus on The +Lifeboat, in which the inexorable necessities of finding a rhyme to +"e'en Almighty Zeus" has compelled the translator to resort to the +colloquial and somewhat graceless phrase "in fact, the very deuce."</p> + +<p>But criticisms such as these may be levelled against well-nigh all +translators. They merely constitute a reason for holding that Shelley +was not far wrong in the opinion quoted above. Few translators have, +indeed, been able to work up to the standard of William Cory's +well-known version of Callimachus's epitaph on Heraclitus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> which Dr. +Grundy rightly remarks is "one of the most beautiful in our language," +or to Dr. Symonds's translation of the epitaph on Proté, which "is +perhaps the finest extant version in English of any of the verses from +the Anthology." But many have contributed in a minor degree to render +these exquisite products of the Greek genius available to English +readers, and amongst them Dr. Grundy may fairly claim to occupy a +distinguished place. He says in his preface, with great truth, that the +poets of the Anthology are never wearisome. Neither is Dr. Grundy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> +<h2>XII</h2> + +<h3>LORD MILNER AND PARTY</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," May 24, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>The preface which Lord Milner has written to his volume of speeches +constitutes not merely a general statement of his political views, but +is also in reality a chapter of autobiography extending over the past +sixteen years. If, as is to be feared, it does not help much towards the +immediate solution of the various problems which are treated, it is, +none the less, a very interesting record of the mental processes +undergone by an eminent politician, who combines in a high degree the +qualities of a man of action and those of a political thinker. We are +presented with the picture of a man of high intellectual gifts, great +moral courage, and unquestionable honesty of purpose, who has a gospel +to preach to his fellow countrymen—the gospel of Imperialism, or, in +other words, the methods which should be adopted to consolidate and to +maintain the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> integrity of the British Empire. In his missionary efforts +on behalf of his special creed Lord Milner has found that he has been +well-nigh throttled by the ligatures of the party system—a system which +he spurns and loathes, but from which he has found by experience that he +could by no means free himself. As a practical politician he had to +recognise that, in order to gain the ear of the public on the subjects +for which he cares, he was obliged to do some "vigorous swashbuckling in +the field of party politics" in connection with other subjects in which +he is relatively less interested. He resigned himself, albeit +reluctantly, to his fate, holding apparently not only that the end +justified the means, but also that without the adoption of those means +there could not be the smallest prospect of the end being attained. The +difficulty in which Lord Milner has found himself is probably felt more +keenly by those who, like himself, have been behind the scenes of +government, and have thus been able fully to realise the difficulties of +dealing with public questions on their own merits to the exclusion of +all considerations based on party advantages or disadvantages, than by +others who have had no such experience. Nevertheless, the dilemma must +in one form or another have presented itself to every thinking man who +is not wholly carried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> away by prejudice. Most thinking men, however, +unless they are prepared to pass their political lives in a state of +dreamy idealism, come rapidly to the conclusion that to seek for any +thoroughly satisfactory practical solution of this dilemma is as +fruitless as to search for the philosopher's stone. They see that the +party system is the natural outcome of the system of representative +government, that it of necessity connotes a certain amount of party +discipline, and that if that discipline be altogether shattered, +political chaos would ensue. They, therefore, join that party with +which, on the whole, they are most in agreement, and they do so knowing +full well that they will almost certainly at times be associated with +measures which do not fully command their sympathies. What is it that +makes such men, for instance, as Lord Morley and Mr. Arthur Balfour not +merely strong political partisans, but also stern party disciplinarians? +It would be absurd to suppose that they consider a monopoly of political +wisdom to be possessed by the party to which each belongs, or that they +fail to see that every public question presents at least two sides. The +inference is that, recognising the necessity of association with others, +they are prepared to waive all minor objections in order to advance the +main lines of the policy to which each respectively adheres.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>The plan which has always commended itself to those who see clearly the +evils of the party system, but fail to realise the even greater evils to +which its non-existence would open the door, has been to combine in one +administration a number of men possessed of sufficient patriotism and +disinterestedness to work together for the common good, in spite of the +fact that they differ widely, if not on the objects to be attained, at +all events on the methods of attaining them. Experience has shown that +this plan is wholly impracticable. It does not take sufficient account +of the fact that, as the immortal Mr. Squeers or some other of Dickens's +characters said, there is a great deal of human nature in man,<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> and +that one of man's most cherished characteristics—notably if he is an +Englishman—is combativeness. In the early days of the party system even +so hardened and positive a parliamentarian as Walpole thought that +effect might be given to some such project, but when it came to the +actual formation of a hybrid Ministry, Mr. Grant Robertson, the +historian of the Hanoverian period, says that it "vanished into thin +air," and that, as Pulteney remarked about the celebrated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> Sinking Fund +plan, the "proposal to make England patriotic, pure and independent of +Crown and Ministerial corruption, ended in some little thing for curing +the itch." Neither have somewhat similar attempts which have been made +since Walpole's time succeeded in abating the rancour of party strife. +Moreover, it cannot be said that the attempt to treat female suffrage as +a non-party question has so far yielded any very satisfactory or +encouraging results.</p> + +<p>Lord Milner, however, does not live in Utopia. He does not look forward +to the possibility of abolishing the party system. "It is not," he says, +"a new party that is wanted." But he thinks—and he is unquestionably +right in thinking—"that the number of men profoundly interested in +public affairs, and anxious to discharge their full duty of citizens who +are in revolt against the rigidity and insincerity of our present party +system, is very considerable and steadily increasing." He wishes people +in this category to be organised with a view to encouraging a national +as opposed to a party spirit, and he holds that "with a little +organisation they could play the umpire between the two parties and make +the unscrupulous pursuit of mere party advantage an unprofitable game."</p> + +<p>The idea is not novel, but it is certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> statesmanlike. The general +principle which Lord Milner advocates will probably commend itself to +thousands of his countrymen, and most of all to those whose education +and experience are a warrant for the value of their political opinions. +But how far is the scheme practicable? The answer to this question is +that there is one essential preliminary condition necessary to bring it +within the domain of practical politics; that condition is that a +sufficient number of leading politicians should be thoroughly imbued +with the virtue of compromise. They must erase the word "thorough" from +their political vocabulary. Each must recognise that whilst, to use Lord +Milner's expression, he himself holds firmly to a "creed" on some +special question, he will have to co-operate with others who hold with +equally sincere conviction to a more or less antagonistic creed, and +that this co-operation cannot be secured by mere assertion and still +less by vituperation, but only by calm discussion and mutual +concessions. Marie Antoinette, who was very courageous and very unwise, +said during the most acute crisis of the Revolution, "Better to die than +allow ourselves to be saved by Lafayette and the Constitutionalists." +That is an example of the party spirit <i>in extremis</i>, and when it is +adopted it is that spirit which causes the shipwreck of many a scheme +which might, with more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> moderation and conciliation, be brought safely +into port. In order to carry out Lord Milner's plan any such spirit must +be wholly cast aside. Politicians—and none more than many of those with +whom Lord Milner is associated—must act on the principle which +Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Henry V.:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is some soul of goodness in things evil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would men observingly distil it out.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They must be prepared to recognise that, whatever be their personal +convictions, there may be some "soul of goodness" in views diametrically +opposed to their own, and, moreover, they must not be scared by what +Emerson called that "hobgoblin of little minds"—the charge of +inconsistency.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said that just at present the omens are very favourable in +the direction of indicating any widespread prevalence amongst active +politicians of the spirit of compromise. The reception given to Lord +Curzon's very reasonable proposal that army affairs should be treated as +a non-party question is apparently scouted by Radical politicians. +Neither does there appear to be the least disposition to accept the +statesmanlike suggestion that in order to avoid the risk of civil war in +Ulster, with its almost inevitable consequence, viz. that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> loyalty +of the army will be strained to the utmost, the Home Rule Bill should +not be submitted to the King for his assent until after another general +election. On the other hand, the "Die-hard" spirit, which led to the +disastrous rejection of the Budget of 1909, and was with difficulty +prevented from rejecting the Parliament Bill, is still prevalent amongst +many Unionists, whilst although a somewhat greater latitudinarian spirit +prevails than heretofore, the influence of extreme Unionist politicians +is still sufficiently powerful to prevent full acceptance of the fact +that the only sound and wise Conservative principle is to neglect minor +differences of opinion and to rally together all who are generally +favourable to the Conservative cause.</p> + +<p>Moreover, it must be admitted that Lord Milner is asking a great deal of +party politicians. He points out, in connection with his special +"creed," that the object of Mr. Chamberlain's original proposal was +"undoubtedly laudable. It was prompted by motives of Imperial +patriotism." There are probably few people who would be inclined to +challenge the accuracy of this statement. He alludes to the +unquestionable fact that it is well for every community from time to +time to review the traditional foundations of its policy, and he holds +that, if the controversy which Mr. Chamberlain evoked "had been +con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>ducted on anything like rational lines, the result, whether +favourable or unfavourable to the proposals themselves, might have been +of great public advantage." All these fair hopes, Lord Milner thinks, +were wrecked by the spirit of party. "The new issue raised by Mr. +Chamberlain was sucked into the vortex of our local party struggle." +Lord Milner, therefore, wishes to lift Imperialism out of the party bog +and to treat the subject on broad national lines.</p> + +<p>Here, again, the proposal is undoubtedly statesmanlike, but is it +practicable? There can, it is to be feared, be but one answer to that +question. For the time being, at all events, Lord Milner's proposal is +quite impracticable. Whatever be the merits or demerits of the proposals +initiated by Mr. Chamberlain, one thing appears tolerably certain, and +that is that so long as Tariff Reform and Imperial policy are intimately +connected together there is not, so far as can at present be judged, the +most remote chance of Imperialism emerging from the arena of party +strife. It is true, and is, moreover, a subject for national +congratulation, that there has been of late years a steady growth of +Imperialist ideas. The day is probably past for ever when Ministers, +whether Liberal or Conservative, could speak of the colonies as a +burden, and look forward with equanimity, if not with actual pleasure, +to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> complete severance from the Mother country. Few, if any, +pronounced anti-Imperialists exist, but a wide difference of opinion +prevails as to the method for giving effect to an Imperial policy. These +differences do not depend solely, as is often erroneously supposed, on a +rigid adherence by Free Traders to what are now called Cobdenite +principles. There are many Free Traders who would be disposed to make a +considerable sacrifice of their opinions on economic principles, if they +thought that the policy proposed by Mr. Chamberlain would really achieve +the object he unquestionably had in view, viz. that of tightening the +bonds between the Mother country and the colonies. But that is what they +deny. They rely mainly on a common ancestry, common traditions, a common +language, and a common religion to cement those bonds; and, moreover, +they hold, to quote the words of an able article published two years ago +in the <i>Round Table</i>: "The chief reason for the sentiment of Imperial +unity is the conscious or unconscious belief of the people of the Empire +in their own political system.... There is in the British Empire a unity +which it is often difficult to discern amid the conflict of racial +nationalities, provincial politics, and geographical differences. It is +a unity which is based upon the conviction amongst the British +self-governing communities that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> political system of the Empire is +indispensable to their own progress, and that to allow it to collapse +would be fatal alike to their happiness and their self-respect." They +therefore demur to granting special economic concessions which—unless, +indeed, a policy of perfect Free Trade throughout the Empire could be +adopted—they think, whatever might be the immediate result, would +eventually cause endless friction and tend to weaken rather than +strengthen the Imperial connection.</p> + +<p>Further, it is to be observed that whatever exacerbation has been caused +by party exaggeration and misrepresentation, it is more than doubtful +whether Lord Milner's special accusation against the party system can be +made good, for it must be remembered that Mr. Chamberlain's original +programme was strongly opposed by many who, on mere party grounds, were +earnestly desirous to accord it a hearty welcome. Rather would it be +true to say that, looking back on past events, it is amazing that any +one of political experience could have imagined for one moment that a +proposal which touched the opinions and interests of almost every +individual in the United Kingdom, and which was wholly at variance with +the views heretofore held by Mr. Chamberlain himself, could have been +kept outside the whirlpool of party politics. "A great statesman,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> it +has been truly said, "must have two qualities; the first is prudence, +the second imprudence." Cavour has often been held up as the example of +an eminent man who combined, in his own person, these apparently +paradoxical qualities. Accepting the aphorism as true, it has to be +applied with the corollary that the main point is to know when to allow +imprudence to predominate over prudence. It is difficult to resist the +conclusion that when Mr. Chamberlain launched his programme, which Lord +Milner admits "burst like a bombshell in the camp of his friends," he +overweighted the balance on the imprudent side. The heat with which the +controversy has been conducted, and which Lord Milner very rightly +deplores, must be attributed mainly to this cause rather than to any +inherent and, to a great extent, unavoidable defects in the party +system.</p> + +<p>But in spite of all these difficulties and objections, Lord Milner and +those who hold with him may take heart of grace in so far as their +campaign against the extravagances of the party system is concerned. It +may well be that no special organisation will enable the non-party +partisans to occupy the position of umpires, but the steady pressure of +public opinion and the stern exposure of the abuses of the party system +will probably in time mitigate existing evils, and will possibly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> in +some degree purge other issues, besides those connected with foreign +affairs, from the rancour of the party spirit. As a contribution to this +end Lord Milner's utterances are to be heartily welcomed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> +<h2>XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," May 31, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>In the very interesting account which Mrs. Devereux Roy has given of the +present condition of Algeria, she says that France "is now about to +embark upon a radical change of policy in regard to her African +colonies." If it be thought presumptuous for a foreigner who has no +local knowledge of Algerian affairs to make certain suggestions as to +the direction which those changes might profitably assume, an apology +must be found in Mrs. Roy's very true remark that England "can no more +afford to be indifferent to the relations of France with her Moslem +subjects than she can disregard the trend of our policy in Egypt and +India." It is, indeed, manifest that somewhat drastic reforms of a +liberal character will have to be undertaken in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> Algeria. The French +Government have adopted the only policy which is worthy of a civilised +nation. They have educated the Algerians, albeit Mrs. Roy tells us that +grants for educational purposes have been doled out "with a very sparing +hand." They must bear the consequences of the generous policy which they +have pursued. They must recognise, as Macaulay said years ago, that it +is impossible to impart knowledge without stimulating ambition. Reforms +are, therefore, imposed by the necessities of the situation.</p> + +<p>These reforms may be classified under three heads, namely, fiscal, +judicial, and political. The order in which changes under each head +should be undertaken would appear to be a matter of vital importance. If +responsible French statesmen make a mistake in this matter—if, to use +the language of proverbial philosophy, they put the cart before the +horse—they may not improbably lay the seeds of very great trouble for +their countrymen in the future. Prince Bismarck once said: "Mistakes +committed in statesmanship are not always punished at once, but they +always do harm in the end. The logic of history is a more exact and a +more exacting accountant than is the strictest national auditing +department."</p> + +<p>It should never be forgotten that, however much local circumstances may +differ, there are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> certain broad features which always exist wherever +the European—be he French, English, German, or of any other +nationality—is brought in contact with the Oriental—be he Algerian, +Indian, or Egyptian. When the former once steps outside the influence +acquired by the power of the sword, and seeks for any common ground of +understanding with the subject race, he finds that he is, by the +elementary facts of the case, debarred from using all those moral +influences which, in more homogeneous countries, bind society together. +These are a common religion, a common language, common traditions, +and—save in very rare instances—intermarriage and really intimate +social relations. What therefore remains? Practically nothing but the +bond of material interest, tempered by as much sympathy as it is +possible in the difficult circumstances of the case to bring into play. +But on this poor material—for it must be admitted that it is poor +material—experience has shown that a wise statesmanship can build a +political edifice, not indeed on such assured foundations as prevail in +more homogeneous societies, but nevertheless of a character which will +give some solid guarantees of stability, and which will, in any case, +minimise the risk that the sword, which the European would fain leave in +the scabbard, shall be constantly flaunted before the eyes both of the +subject and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> governing races, the latter of whom, on grounds alike +of policy and humanity, deprecate its use save in cases of extreme +necessity.</p> + +<p>In the long course of our history many mistakes have been made in +dealing with subject races, and the line of conduct pursued at various +times has often been very erratic. Nevertheless, it would be true to say +that, broadly speaking, British policy has been persistently directed +towards an endeavour to strengthen political bonds through the medium of +attention to material interests. The recent history of Egypt is a case +in point.</p> + +<p>No one who was well acquainted with the facts could at any time have +thought that it would be possible to create in the minds of the +Egyptians a feeling of devotion towards England which might in some +degree take the place of patriotism. Neither, in spite of the relatively +higher degree of social elasticity possessed by the French, is it at all +probable that any such feeling towards France will be created in +Algeria. But it was thought that by careful attention to the material +interests of the people it might eventually be possible to bring into +existence a conservative class who, albeit animated by no great love for +their foreign rulers, would be sufficiently contented to prevent their +becoming easily the prey either of the Nationalist dema<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>gogue, who was +sure sooner or later to spring into existence, or that of some barbarous +religious fanatic, such as the Mahdi, or, finally, that of some wily +politician, such as the Sultan Abdul Hamid who would, for his own +purposes, fan the flame of religious and racial hatred. For many years +after the British occupation of Egypt began, the efforts of the British +administrators in that country were unceasingly directed towards the +attainment of that object. The methods adopted, which it should be +observed were in the main carried out before any large sums were spent +on education, were the relief of taxation, the abolition of fiscal +inequality and of the <i>corvée</i>, the improvement of irrigation, and last, +but not least, a variety of measures having for their object the +maintenance of a peasant proprietary class. The results which have been +attained fully justify the adoption of this policy, which has probably +never been fully understood on the Continent of Europe, even if—which +is very doubtful—it has been understood in England. What, in fact, has +happened in Egypt? Nationalists have enjoyed an excess of licence in a +free press. The Sultan has preached pan-Islamism. The usual Oriental +intrigue has been rife. British politicians and a section of the British +press, being very imperfectly informed as to the situation, have +occasionally dealt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> with Egyptian affairs in a manner which, to say the +least, was indiscreet. But all has been of no avail. In spite of some +outward appearances to the contrary, the whole Nationalist movement in +Egypt has been a mere splutter on the surface. It never extended deep +down in the social ranks. More than this. When a very well-intentioned +but rather rash attempt was made to advance too rapidly in a liberal +direction, the inevitable reaction, which was to have been foreseen, +took place. Not merely Europeans but also Egyptians cried out loudly for +a halt, and, with the appointment of Lord Kitchener, they got what they +wanted. The case would have been very different if the Nationalist, the +religious fanatic, or the scheming politician, in dealing with some +controversial point or incident of ephemeral interest, had been able to +appeal to a mass of deep-seated discontent due to general causes and to +the existence of substantial grievances. In that case the Nationalist +movement would have been less artificial. It would have extended not +merely to the surface but to the core of society. It would have +possessed a real rather than, as has been shown to be the case, a +spurious vitality. The recent history of Egypt, therefore, is merely an +illustration of the general lesson taught by universal history. That +lesson is that the best, and indeed the only, way to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> combat +successfully the proceedings of the demagogue or the agitator is to +limit his field of action by the removal of any real grievances which, +if still existent, he would be able to use as a lever to awaken the +blind wrath of Demos.</p> + +<p>How far can principles somewhat analogous to these be applied in +Algeria?</p> + +<p>In the first place, it is abundantly clear that, from many points of +view, the French Government have successfully carried out the policy of +ministering to the material wants of the native population. Public works +of great utility have been constructed. Means of locomotion have been +improved. Modern agricultural methods have been introduced. Famine has +been rendered impossible. Mutual benefit societies have been +established. The creation of economic habits has been encouraged. In all +these matters the French have certainly nothing to learn from us. +Possibly, indeed, we may have something to learn from them. +Nevertheless, when it is asked whether the French Government is likely +to reap the political fruits which it might have been hoped would be the +result of their efforts, whether they are in a fair way towards creating +a conservative spirit which would be adverse to any radical change, and +whether, in reliance on that spirit, they are in a position to move +boldly forward in the direction of that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> liberal reform, the demand for +which has naturally sprung into existence from their educational policy, +it is at once clear that they are heavily weighted by the policy +originated some seventy years ago by Marshal Bugeaud, under which the +interests of the native population were made subservient to those of the +colonists, numbering about three-quarters of a million, of whom, Mrs. +Roy tells us, less than one-half are of French origin. It may have been +wise and necessary to initiate that policy. It may be wise and necessary +to continue it with certain modifications. But it is obvious that the +adoption of Marshal Bugeaud's plan has necessarily led to the creation +of substantial grievances, which are important alike from the point of +view of sentiment and from that of material interests. It appears now +that there is some probability that this policy will be modified in at +least one very important respect, namely, by the removal of the fiscal +inequality which at present exists between the natives and the +colonists. The former are at present heavily taxed; the latter pay +relatively very little. It may be suggested that it would be worth the +while of the French Government to consider whether this change should +not occupy the first place in the programme of reform. The present +system is obviously indefensible on general grounds, whilst its +continuance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> until its abolition results from the strong native +pressure which will certainly ensue after the adoption of any drastic +measure of political reform, would appear to be undesirable. It would +probably be wise and statesmanlike not to await this pressure, but to +let the concession be the spontaneous act of the French Government and +nation rather than give the appearance of its having been wrung +reluctantly from France by the insistence of the native population and +its representatives.</p> + +<p>Next, there is the question of judicial reform. Mrs. Roy tells us that, +under what is called the <i>Code de l'Indigénat</i>, "a native can be +arrested and imprisoned practically without trial at the will of the +<i>administrateur</i> for his district." It would require full local +knowledge to treat this question adequately, but it would obviously be +desirable that the French Government should go as far as possible in the +direction of providing that all judicial matters should be settled by +judicial officers who would be independent of the executive and, for the +most part, irremovable. Some local friction between the executive and +the judicial authorities is probably to be expected. That cannot be +helped. It might perhaps be mitigated by a very careful choice of the +officials in each case.</p> + +<p>In the third place, there is the question of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> political reform. M. +Philippe Millet, who has published an interesting article on this +subject in the April number of <i>The Nineteenth Century</i>, is of course +quite right in saying that political reform is the "key to every other +change." Once give the natives of Algeria effective political strength, +and the reforms will be forced upon the Government. But, as has been +already stated, it would perhaps be wiser and more statesmanlike that +these changes should be conceded spontaneously by the French Government, +and that then, after a reasonable interval, the bulk of the political +reforms should follow.</p> + +<p>A distinction, however, has to be made between the various +representative institutions which already exist. The <i>Conseil Supérieur</i> +and the <i>Délégations Financières</i> have very extensive powers, including +that of rejecting or modifying the Budget. At present these bodies may +be said, for all practical purposes, to be merely representative of the +colonists. It would certainly appear wise eventually to allow the +natives both a larger numerical strength on the <i>Conseil</i> and on the +<i>Délégations</i>, and also, by rearranging the franchise, to endeavour to +secure a more real representation of native interests. It must, however, +be borne in mind that the difficulties of securing any real +representation of the best interests in the country will almost +certainly be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> very great, if not altogether insuperable. In all +probability the loquacious, semi-educated native, who has in him the +makings of an agitator, will, under any system, naturally float to the +top, whilst the really representative man will sink to the bottom. It +would perhaps, therefore, be as well not to move in too great a hurry in +this matter, and, when any move is made, that the advance should be of a +very cautious and tentative nature.</p> + +<p>The <i>Conseils Généraux</i>, which are provincial and municipal bodies, +stand on a very different footing. Here it may be safe to move forward +in the path of reform with greater boldness and with less delay. But +whatever is done it will probably be found that real progress in the +direction of self-government will depend more on the attitude of the +French officials who are associated with the Councils than on any system +which can be devised on paper. It may be assumed that the French +officials in Algeria present the usual characteristics of their class, +that is to say, that they are courageous, intelligent, zealous, and +thoroughly honest. Also it may probably be assumed that they are +somewhat inelastic, somewhat unduly wedded to bureaucratic ideas, and +more especially that they are possessed with the very natural idea that +the main end and object of their lives is to secure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> the efficiency of +the administration. Now if self-government is to be a success, they will +have to modify to some extent their ideas as to the supreme necessity of +efficiency. That is to say, they will have to recognise that it is +politically wiser to put up with an imperfect reform carried with native +consent, rather than to insist on some more perfect measure executed in +the teeth of strong—albeit often unreasonable—native opposition. +English experience has shown that this is a very hard lesson for +officials to learn. Nevertheless, the task of inculcating general +principles of this nature is not altogether impossible. It depends +mainly on the impulse which is given from above. To entrust the +execution of a policy of reform in Algeria to a man of +ultra-bureaucratic tendencies, who is hostile to reform of any kind, +would, of course, be to court failure. On the other hand, to select an +extreme radical visionary, who will probably not recognise the +difference between East and West, would be scarcely less disastrous. +What, in fact, is required is a man of somewhat exceptional qualities. +He must be strong—that is to say, he must impress the natives with the +conviction that, albeit an advocate of liberal ideas, he is firmly +resolved to consent to nothing which is likely to be detrimental to the +true interests of France. He must also be sufficiently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> strong to keep +his own officials in hand and to make them conform to his policy, whilst +at the same time he must be sufficiently tactful to win their confidence +and to prevent their being banded together against him. The latter is a +point of very special importance, for in a country like Algeria no +government, however powerful, will be able to carry out a really +beneficial programme of reform if the organised strength of the +bureaucracy—backed up, as would probably be the case, by the whole of +the European unofficial community—is thrown into bitter and +irreconcilable opposition. The task, it may be repeated, is a difficult +one. Nevertheless, amongst the many men of very high ability in the +French service there must assuredly be some who would be able to +undertake it with a fair chance of success.</p> + +<p>One further remark on this very interesting subject may be made. M. +Millet, in the article to which allusion has already been made, says, +"The Algerian natives will look more and more to France as their natural +protector against the colonists." It will, it is to be hoped, not be +thought over-presumptuous to sound a note of warning against trusting +too much to this argument. That for the present the natives should look +to France rather than to the colonists is natural enough. It is +manifestly their interest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> to do so. But it may be doubted whether they +will be "more and more" inspired by such sentiments as time goes on. +There is an Arabic proverb to the effect that "all Christians are of one +tribe." That is the spirit which in reality inspires the whole Moslem +world. It is illustrated by the author of that very remarkable work, +<i>Turkey in Europe</i>, in an amusing apologue. Let once some +semi-religious, semi-patriotic leader arise, who will play skilfully on +the passions of the masses, and it will be somewhat surprising if the +distinction which now exists will long survive. All Frenchmen, those in +France equally with those in Algeria, will then, it may confidently be +expected, be speedily confounded in one general anathema.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> +<h2>XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," June 14, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Although proverbial philosophy warns us never to prophesy unless we +know, experience has shown that political prophets have often made +singularly correct forecasts of the future. Lord Chesterfield, and at a +much earlier period Marshal Vauban, foretold the French Revolution, +whilst the impending ruin of the Ottoman Empire has formed the theme of +numerous prophecies made by close observers of contemporaneous events +from the days of Horace Walpole downwards. "It is of no use," Napoleon +wrote to the Directory, "to try to maintain the Turkish Empire; we shall +witness its fall in our time." During the War of Greek Independence the +Duke of Wellington believed that the end of Turkey was at hand. Where +the prophets have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> for the most part failed is not so much in making a +mistaken estimate of the effects likely to be produced by the causes +which they saw were acting on the body politic, as in not allowing +sufficient time for the operation of those causes. Political evolution +in its early stages is generally very slow. It is only after long +internal travail that it moves with vertiginous rapidity. De Tocqueville +cast a remarkably accurate horoscope of the course which would be run by +the Second Empire, but it took some seventeen years to bring about +results which he thought would be accomplished in a much shorter period. +It has been reserved for the present generation to witness the +fulfilment of prophecy in the case of European Turkey. The blindness +displayed by Turkish statesmen to the lessons taught by history, their +complete sterility in the domain of political thought, and their +inability to adapt themselves and the institutions of their country to +the growing requirements of the age, might almost lead an historical +student to suppose that they were bent on committing political suicide. +The combined diplomatists of Europe, Lord Salisbury sorrowfully remarked +in 1877, "all tried to save Turkey," but she scorned salvation and +persisted in a course of action which could lead to but one result. That +result has now been attained. The dismember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>ment of European Turkey, +begun so long ago as the Peace of Karlovitz in 1699, is now almost +complete. "Modern history," Lord Acton said, "begins under the stress of +the Ottoman conquest." Whatever troubles the future may have in store, +Europe has at last thrown off the Ottoman incubus. A new chapter in +modern history has thus been opened. Henceforth, if Ottoman power is to +survive at all, it must be in Asia, albeit the conflicting jealousies of +the European Powers allow for the time being the maintenance of an +Asiatic outpost on European soil.</p> + +<p>It is as yet too early to expect any complete or philosophic account of +this stupendous occurrence, which the future historian will rank with +the unification first of Italy and later of Germany, as one of the most +epoch-making events of the later nineteenth and early twentieth +centuries. Notably, there are two subjects which require much further +elucidation before the final verdict of contemporaries or posterity can +be passed upon them. In the first place, the causes which have led to +the military humiliation of a race which, whatever may be its defects, +has been noted in history for its martial virility, require to be +differentiated. Was the collapse of the Turkish army due merely to +incapacity and mismanagement on the part of the commanders,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> aided by +the corruption which has eaten like a canker into the whole Ottoman +system of government and administration? Or must the causes be sought +deeper, and, if so, was it the palsy of an unbridled and malevolent +despotism which in itself produced the result, or did the sudden +downfall of the despot, by the removal of a time-honoured, if unworthy, +symbol of government, abstract the corner-stone from the tottering +political edifice, and thus, by disarranging the whole administrative +gear of the Empire at a critical moment, render the catastrophe +inevitable? Further information is required before a matured opinion on +this point, which possesses more than a mere academic importance, can be +formed.</p> + +<p>There is yet another subject which, if only from a biographical point of +view, is of great interest. Two untoward circumstances have caused +Turkish domination in Europe to survive, and to resist the pressure of +the civilisation by which it was surrounded, but which seemed at one +time doomed to thunder ineffectually at its gates. One was excessive +jealousy—in Solomon's words, "as cruel as the grave"—amongst European +States, which would not permit of any political advantage being gained +by a rival nation. The other, and, as subsequent events proved, more +potent consideration, was the fratricidal jealousy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> which the +populations of the Balkan Peninsula mutually entertained towards each +other. The maintenance and encouragement of mutual suspicions was, in +either case, sedulously fostered by Turkish Sultans, the last of whom, +more especially, acted throughout his inglorious career in the firm +belief that mere mediaeval diplomatic trickery could be made to take the +place of statesmanship. He must have chuckled when he joyously put his +hand to the firman creating a Bulgarian Exarch, who was forthwith +excommunicated by the Greek Patriarch, with the result, as Mr. Miller +tells us, that "peasants killed each other in the name of contending +ecclesiastical establishments."</p> + +<p>In the early days of the last century the poet Rhigas, who was to Greece +what Arndt was to Germany and Rouget de Lisle to Revolutionary France, +appealed to all Balkan Christians to rise on behalf of the liberties of +Greece. But the hour had not yet come for any such unity to be cemented. +At that time, and for many years afterwards, Europe was scarcely +conscious of the fact that there existed "a long-forgotten, silent +nationality" which, after a lapse of nearly five centuries, would again +spring into existence and bear a leading part in the liberation of the +Balkan populations. But the rise of Bulgaria, far from bringing unity in +its wake, appeared at first only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> to exacerbate not merely the mercurial +Greek, proud of the intellectual and political primacy which he had +heretofore enjoyed, but also the brother Slav, with whom differences +arose which necessitated an appeal to the arbitrament of arms.</p> + +<p>Although the thunder of the guns of Kirk Kilisse and Lüle Burgas +proclaimed to Europe, in the words of the English Prime Minister, that +"the map of Eastern Europe had to be recast," it is none the less true +that the cause of the Turk was doomed from the moment when Balkan +discord ceased, and when the Greek, the Bulgarian, the Serb, and the +Montenegrin agreed to sink their differences and to act together against +the common enemy. Who was it who accomplished this miracle? Mr. Miller +says, "the authorship of this marvellous work, hitherto the despair of +statesmen, is uncertain, but it has been ascribed chiefly to M. +Venezélos." All, therefore, that can now be said is that it was the +brain, or possibly brains, of some master-workers which gave liberty to +the Balkan populations as surely as it was the brain of Cavour which +united Italy.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>Although these and possibly other points will, without doubt, eventually +receive more ample<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> treatment at the hands of some future historian, Mr. +Miller has performed a most useful service in affording a guide by the +aid of which the historical student can find his way through the +labyrinthine maze of Balkan politics. He begins his story about the time +when Napoleon had appeared like a comet in the political firmament, and +by his erratic movements had caused all the statesmen of Europe to +diverge temporarily from their normal and conventional orbits, one +result being that the British Admiral Duckworth wandered in a somewhat +aimless fashion through the Dardanelles to Constantinople, and had very +little idea of what to do when he got there. Mr. Miller reminds us of +events of great importance in their day, but now almost wholly +forgotten: of how the ancient Republic of Ragusa, which had existed for +eleven centuries and which had earned the title of the "South Slavonic +Athens," was crushed out of existence under the iron heel of Marmont, +who forthwith proceeded to make some good roads and to vaccinate the +Dalmatians; of how Napoleon tried to partition the Balkans, but found, +with all his political and administrative genius, that he was face to +face with an "insoluble problem"; of how that rough man of genius, +Mahmoud II., hanged the Greek Patriarch from the gate of his palace, but +between the interludes of massacres and executions, brought his "energy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +and indomitable force of will" to bear on the introduction of reforms; +of how the Venetian Count Capo d'Istria, who was eventually +assassinated, produced a local revolt by a well-intentioned attempt to +amend the primitive ethics of the Mainote Greeks—a tale which is not +without its warning if ever the time comes for dealing with a cognate +question amongst the wild tribes of Albania; and of how, amidst the +ever-shifting vicissitudes of Eastern politics, the Tsar of Russia, who +had heretofore posed as the "protector" of Roumans and Serbs against +their sovereign, sent his fleet to the Bosphorus in 1833 in order to +"protect" the sovereign against his rebellious vassal, Mehemet Ali, and +exacted a reward for his services in the shape of the leonine +arrangement signed at Hunkiar-Iskelesi. And so Mr. Miller carries us on +from massacre to massacre, from murder to murder, and from one +bewildering treaty to another, all of which, however, present this +feature of uniformity, that the Turk, signing of his own free will, but +with an unwilling mind—ἑκὼν ἀέκοντί γε θυμῷ—made on each +occasion either some new concession to the ever-rising tide of Christian +demand, or ratified the loss of a province which had been forcibly torn +from his flank. Finally, we get to the period when the tragedy connected +with the name of Queen Draga acted like an electric shock<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> on Europe, +and when the accession of King Peter, "who had translated Mill <i>On +Liberty</i>," to the blood-stained Servian throne, revealed to an +astonished world that the processes of Byzantinism survived to the +present day. Five years later followed the assumption by Prince +Ferdinand of the title of "Tsar of the Bulgarians," and it then only +required the occurrence of some opportunity and the appearance on the +scene of some Balkan Cavour to bring the struggle of centuries to the +final issue of a death-grapple between the followers of aggressive +Christianity and those of stagnant Islamism.</p> + +<p>The whole tale is at once dramatic and dreary, dramatic because it is +occasionally illumined by acts of real heroism, such as the gallant +defence of Plevna by Ghazi Osman, a graphic account of which was written +by an adventurous young Englishman (Mr. W.V. Herbert) who served in the +Turkish army, or again as the conduct of the Cretan Abbot Máneses who, +in 1866, rather than surrender to the Turks, "put a match to the +powder-magazine, thus uniting defenders and assailants in one common +hecatomb." It is dreary because the mind turns with horror and disgust +from the endless record of government by massacre, in which, it is to be +observed, the crime of bloodguiltiness can by no means be laid +exclusively at the door of the dominant race,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> whilst Mr. Miller's +sombre but perfectly true remark that "assassination or abdication, +execution or exile, has been the normal fate of Balkan rulers," throws a +lurid light on the whole state of Balkan society.</p> + +<p>But how does the work of diplomacy, and especially of British diplomacy, +stand revealed by the light of the history of the past century? The +point is one of importance, all the more so because there is a tendency +on the part of some British politicians to mistrust diplomatists, to +think that, either from incapacity or design, they serve as agents to +stimulate war rather than as peace-makers, and to hold that a more +minute interference by the House of Commons in the details of diplomatic +negotiations would be useful and beneficial. It would be impossible +within the limits of an ordinary newspaper article to deal adequately +with this question. This much, however, may be said—that, even taking +the most unfavourable view of the results achieved by diplomacy, there +is nothing whatever in Mr. Miller's history to engender the belief that +better results would have been obtained by shifting the responsibility +to a greater degree from the shoulders of the executive to those of +Parliament. The evidence indeed rather points to an opposite conclusion. +For instance, Mr. Miller informs us that inopportune action taken in +England<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> was one of the causes which contributed to the outbreak of +hostilities between Greece and Turkey in 1897. "An address from a +hundred British members of Parliament encouraged the masses, ignorant of +the true condition of British politics, to count upon the help of Great +Britain."</p> + +<p>It is, however, quite true that a moralist, if he were so minded, might +in Mr. Miller's pages find abundant material for a series of homilies on +the vanity of human wishes, and especially of diplomatic human wishes. +But would he on that account be right in pronouncing a wholesale +condemnation of diplomacy? Assuredly not. Rather, the conclusion to be +drawn from a review of past history is that a small number of very +well-informed and experienced diplomatists showed remarkable foresight +in perceiving the future drift of events. So early as 1837 Lord +Palmerston supported Milosh Obrenovitch II., the ruler of Servia, +against Turkey, as he had "come to the conclusion that to strengthen the +small Christian States of the Near East was the true policy of both +Turkey and Great Britain." Similar views were held at a later period by +Sir William White, and were eventually adopted by the Government of Lord +Beaconsfield. An equal amount of foresight was displayed by some Russian +diplomatists. In Lord Morley's <i>Life of Gladstone</i> (vol. i. p. 479) a +very remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> letter is given, which was addressed to the Emperor +Nicholas by Baron Brunnow, just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, +in which he advocated peace on the ground that "war would not turn to +Russian advantage.... The Ottoman Empire may be transformed into +independent States, which for us will only become either burdensome +clients or hostile neighbours." It may be that, as is now very generally +thought, the Crimean War was a mistake, and that, in the classic words +of Lord Salisbury, we "put our money on the wrong horse." But it is none +the less true that had it not been for the Crimean War and the policy +subsequently adopted by Lord Beaconsfield's government, the independence +of the Balkan States would never have been achieved, and the Russians +would now be in possession of Constantinople. It is quite permissible to +argue that, had they been left unopposed, British interests would not +have suffered; but even supposing this very debatable proposition to be +true, it must be regarded, from an historical point of view, as at best +an <i>ex post facto</i> argument. British diplomacy has to represent British +public opinion, and during almost the whole period of which Mr. Miller's +history treats, a cardinal article of British political faith was that, +in the interests of Great Britain, Constantinople should not be allowed +to fall into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> Russian hands. The occupation of Egypt in 1882 without +doubt introduced a new and very important element into the discussion. +The most serious as also the least excusable mistake in British +Near-Eastern policy of recent years has been the occupation of Cyprus, +which burthened us with a perfectly useless possession, and inflicted a +serious blow on our prestige. Sir Edward Grey's recent diplomatic +success is in a large measure due to the fact that all the Powers +concerned were convinced of British disinterestedness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> +<h2>XV</h2> + +<h3>WELLINGTONIANA<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," June 21, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>In dealing with Lady Shelley's sprightly and discursive comments upon +the current events of her day, we have to transport ourselves back into +a society which, though not very remote in point of time, has now so +completely passed away that it is difficult fully to realise its +feelings, opinions, and aspirations. It was a time when a learned +divine, writing in the <i>Church and State Gazette</i>, had proved entirely +to his own satisfaction, and apparently also to that of Lady Shelley, +that a "remarkable fulfilment of that hitherto incomprehensible prophecy +in the Revelations" had taken place, inasmuch as Napoleon Bonaparte was +most assuredly "the seventh head of the Beast." It was a time when +Londoners rode in the Green Park instead of Rotten Row, and when,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> in +spite of the admiration expressed for the talents of that rising young +politician, Mr. Robert Peel, it was impossible to deny that "his birth +ran strongly against him"—a consideration which elicited from Lady +Shelley the profound remark that it is "strange to search into the +recesses of the human mind."</p> + +<p>Lady Shelley herself seems to have been rather a <i>femme incomprise</i>. She +had lived much on the Continent, and appreciated the greater deference +paid to a charming and accomplished woman in Viennese and Parisian +society, compared with the boorishness of Englishmen who would not +"waste their time" in paying pretty compliments to ladies which "could +be repaid by a smile." She records her impressions in French, a language +in which she was thoroughly proficient. "Je sais," she says, "qu'en +Angleterre il ne faut pas s'attendre à cultiver son esprit; qu'il faut, +pour être contente à Londres, se résoudre à se plaire avec la +médiocrité; à entendre tous les jours répéter les mêmes banalités et à +s'abaisser autant qu'on le peut au niveau des femmelettes avec +lesquelles l'on vit, et qui, pour plaire, affectent plus de frivolité +qu'elles n'ont réellement. Le plaisir de causer nous est défendu." +Nevertheless, however much she may have mentally appreciated the +solitude of a crowd, she determined to adapt herself to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> social +surroundings. "C'est un sacrifice," she says, "que je fais à mon Dieu et +à mon devoir comme Anglaise." Impelled, therefore, alike by piety and +patriotism, she cast aside all ideas of leading an eremitic life, +plunged into the vortex of the social world, and mixed with all the +great men and women of the day. Of these the most notable was the Duke +of Wellington.</p> + +<p>Lady Shelley certainly possessed one quality which eminently fitted her +to play the part of Boswell to the Duke. The worship of her hero was +without the least mixture of alloy. She had a pheasant, which the Duke +had killed, stuffed, and "added to other souvenirs which ornamented her +dressing-room"; and she records, with manifest pride, that "amongst her +other treasures" was a chair on which he sat upon the first occasion of +his dining with her husband and herself in 1814. It was well to have +that pheasant stuffed, for apparently the Duke, like his great +antagonist, did not shoot many pheasants. He was not only "a very wild +shot," but also a very bad shot. Napoleon, Mr. Oman tells us,<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> on one +occasion "lodged some pellets in Masséna's left eye while letting fly at +a pheasant," and then without the least hesitation accused "the faithful +Berthier" of having fired the shot, an accusation which was at once +confirmed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> the mendacious but courtierlike victim of the accident. +Wellington also, Lady Shelley records, "after wounding a retriever early +in the day and later on peppering the keeper's gaiters, inadvertently +sprinkled the bare arms of an old woman who chanced to be washing +clothes at her cottage window." Lady Shelley, who "was attracted by her +screams," promptly told the widow that "it ought to be the proudest +moment of her life. She had had the distinction of being shot by the +great Duke of Wellington," but the eminently practical instinct of the +great Duke at once whispered to him that something more than the moral +satisfaction to be derived from this reflection was required, so he very +wisely "slipped a golden coin into her trembling hand."</p> + +<p>For many years Lady Shelley lived on very friendly and intimate terms +with the Duke, who appears to have confided to her many things about +which he would perhaps have acted more wisely if he had held his tongue. +When he went on an important diplomatic mission to Paris in 1822, she +requested him to buy her a blouse—a commission which he faithfully +executed. All went well until 1848. Then a terrific explosion occurred. +It is no longer "My dearest Lady! Mind you bring the blouse! Ever yours +most affectionately, Wellington," but "My dear Lady Shelley," who is +addressed by "Her Lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>ship's most obedient humble servant, Wellington," +and soundly rated for her conduct. The reason for this abrupt and +volcanic change was that owing to an indiscretion on the part of Lady +Shelley a very important letter about the defenceless state of the +country, which the Duke had addressed to Sir John Burgoyne, then the +head of the Engineer Department at the Horse Guards, got into the +newspapers. The Duke's wrath boiled over, and was expressed in terms +which, albeit the reproaches were just, showed but little chivalrous +consideration towards a peccant but very contrite woman. He told her +that he "had much to do besides defending himself from the consequences +of the meddling gossip of the ladies of modern times," and he asked +indignantly, "What do Sir John Burgoyne and his family and your Ladyship +and others—talking of old friendship—say to the share which each of +you have had in this transaction, which, in my opinion, is disgraceful +to the times in which we live?" What Sir John Burgoyne and his family +might very reasonably have said in answer to this formidable +interrogatory is that, although no one can defend the conduct of +Delilah, it was certainly most unwise of Samson to trust her with his +secret. It is consolatory to know that, under the influence of Sir John +Shelley's tact and good-humour, a treaty of peace was eventually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +concluded. Sir John happened to meet the Duke at a party. +"'Good-evening, Duke,' said Sir John, in his most winning manner. 'Do +you know, it has been said, by some one who must have been present, that +the cackling of geese once saved Rome. I have been thinking that perhaps +the cackling of my old Goose may yet save England!' This wholly +unexpected sally proved too much for the Duke, who burst out into a +hearty laugh. 'By G——d, Shelley!' said he, 'you are right: give me +your honest hand.'" The Duke then returned to Apsley House and "penned a +playful letter to Lady Shelley."</p> + +<p>It is not to be expected that much of real historical interest can be +extracted from a Diary of this sort. It may, however, be noted that when +the <i>Bellerophon</i> reached the English coast "it was only by coercion +that the Ministers prevented George IV. from receiving Bonaparte. The +King wanted to hold him as a captive." Moreover, Brougham, who was in a +position to know, said, "There can be little doubt that if Bonaparte had +got to London, the Whig Opposition were ready to use him as their trump +card to overturn the Government."</p> + +<p>The main interest in the book, however, lies in the light which it +throws on the Duke's inner life and in the characteristic <i>obiter dicta</i> +which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> he occasionally let fall. Of these, none is more characteristic +than the remark he made on meeting his former love, Miss Catherine +Pakenham, after an absence of eight years in India. He wrote to her, +making a proposal of marriage, but Miss Pakenham told him "that before +any engagement was made he must see her again; as she had grown old, had +lost all her good looks, and was a very different person to the girl he +had loved in former years." The story, which has been frequently +repeated, that Miss Pakenham was marked with the smallpox, is +untrue,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> but, without doubt, during the Duke's absence, she had a +good deal changed. The Duke himself certainly thought so, for, on first +meeting her again, he whispered to his brother, "She has grown d——d +ugly, by Jove!" Nevertheless he married her, being moved to do so, not +apparently from any very deep feelings of affection, but because his +leading passion was a profound regard for truth and loyalty which led +him to admire and appreciate the straightforwardness of Miss Pakenham's +conduct. Lady Shelley exultingly exclaims, "Well might she be proud and +happy, and glory in such a husband." That the Duchess was proud of her +husband is certain. Whether she was altogether happy is more doubtful.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + +<p>One of the stock anecdotes about the Duke of Wellington is that when on +one occasion some one asked him whether he was surprised at Waterloo, he +replied, "No. I was not surprised then, but I am now." We are indebted +to Lady Shelley for letting us know what the Duke really thought on this +much-debated question. In a letter written to her on March 22, 1820, he +stated, with his usual downright common sense, all that there is to be +said on this subject. "Supposing I <i>was</i> surprised; I won the battle; +and what could you have had more, even if I had not been surprised?"</p> + +<p>It is known on the authority of his niece, Lady Burghersh, that the Duke +"never read poetry," but his "real love of music," to which Lady Shelley +alludes, will perhaps come as a surprise to many. Mr. Fortescue, +however,<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> has told us that in his youth the Duke learnt to play the +violin, and that he only abandoned it, when he was about thirty years +old, "because he judged it unseemly or perhaps ill-sounding for a +General to be a fiddler." The Duke is not the only great soldier who has +been a musical performer. Marshal St. Cyr used to play the violin "in +the quiet moments of a campaign," and Sir Hope Grant was a very fair +performer on the violoncello.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was characteristic of the Duke to keep the fact of his being about to +fight a duel with Lord Winchelsea carefully concealed from all his +friends. When it was over, he walked into Lady Shelley's room while she +was at breakfast and said, "Well, what do you think of a gentleman who +has been fighting a duel?"</p> + +<p>It appears that during the last years of his life the Duke's great +companion-in-arms, Blücher, was subject to some strange hallucinations. +The following affords a fitting counterpart to those "fears of the +brave" which Pope attributed to the dying Marlborough. On March 17, +1819, Lady Shelley made the following entry in her diary:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>We laughed at poor Blücher's strange hallucination, which, though +ludicrous, is very sad. He fancies himself with child by a +Frenchman; and deplores that such an event should have happened to +him in his old age! He does not so much mind being with child, but +cannot reconcile himself to the thought that he—of all people in +the world—should be destined to give birth to a <i>Frenchman</i>! On +every other subject Blücher is said to be quite rational. This +peculiar form of madness shows the bent of his mind; so that while +we laugh our hearts reproach us. The Duke of Wellington assures me +that he knows this to be a fact.</p></div> + +<p>Finally, attention may be drawn to a singular and interesting letter +from Sir Walter Scott to Shelley, giving some advice which it may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +presumed the young poet did not take to heart. He was "cautioned against +enthusiasm, which, while it argued an excellent disposition and a +feeling heart, requires to be watched and restrained, though not +repressed."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> +<h2>XVI</h2> + +<h3>BURMA<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," June 28, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>The early history of the British connection with Burma presents all the +features uniformly to be found in the growth of British Imperialism. +These are, first, reluctance to move, coupled with fear of the results +of expansion, ending finally with a cession to the irresistible tendency +to expand; secondly, vagueness of purpose as to what should be done with +a new and somewhat unwelcome acquisition; thirdly, a tardy recognition +of its value, with the result that what was first an inclination to make +the best of a bad job only gradually transforms itself into a feeling of +satisfaction and congratulation that, after all, the unconscious +founders of the British Empire, here as elsewhere, blundered more or +less unawares into the adoption of a sound and far-seeing Imperial +policy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1825, Lord Amherst, in one of those "fits of absence" which the +dictum of Sir John Seeley has rendered famous, took possession of some +of the maritime provinces of Burma, and in doing so lost three thousand +one hundred and fifteen men, of whom only a hundred and fifty were +killed in action. Then the customary fit of doubt and despondency +supervened. It was not until four years after the conclusion of peace +that a British Resident was sent to the Court of Ava in the vain hope +that he would be able to negotiate the retrocession of the province of +Tenasserim, as "the Directors of the East India Company looked upon this +territory as of no value to them." For a quarter of a century peace was +preserved, for there ruled at Ava a prince "who was too clear-sighted to +attempt again to measure arms with the British troops." Anon he was +succeeded by a new king—the Pagàn Prince—"who cared for nothing but +mains of cocks, games, and other infantile amusements," and who, after +the manner of Oriental despots, inaugurated his reign by putting to +death his two brothers and all their households. "There were several +hundreds of them." It is not surprising that under a ruler addicted to +such practices the British sailors who frequented the Burmese ports +should have been subjected to maltreatment. Their complaints reached the +ears of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> the iron-fisted and acquisitive Lord Dalhousie, who himself +went to Rangoon in 1852, and forthwith "decided on the immediate attack +of Prome and Pegu." M. Dautremer speaks in flattering terms of "the +tenacity and persistence of purpose which make the strength and glory of +British policy." He might truthfully have added another characteristic +feature which that policy at times displays, to wit, sluggishness. It +was not until sixteen years after Lord Dalhousie's annexation of Lower +Burma that the English bethought themselves of improving their newly +acquired province by the construction of a railway, and it was not till +1877 that the first line from Rangoon to Prome—a distance of only one +hundred and sixty-one miles—was opened. During all this time King +Mindon ruled in native Burma. He "gave abundant alms to monks," and, +moreover, which was perhaps more to the purpose, he was wise enough to +maintain relations with Great Britain which were "quite cordial." +Eventually the Nemesis which appears to attend on all semi-civilised and +moribund States when they are brought in contact with a vigorous and +aggressive civilisation appeared in the person of the "Sapaya-lat," the +"middle princess," who induced her feeble husband, King Thibaw, to carry +out massacres on a scale which, even in Burma, had been heretofore +unprecedented.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> Then the British on the other side of the frontier began +to murmur and "to consider whether it was possible to endure a neighbour +who was so cruel and so unpopular." All doubts as to whether the limits +of endurance had or had not been reached were removed when the +impecunious and spendthrift king not only imposed a very unjust fine of +some £150,000 on the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, but also had the +extreme folly to "throw himself into the arms of France"—a scheme which +was at once communicated by M. Jules Ferry to Lord Lyons, the British +Ambassador in Paris. Then war with Burma was declared, and after some +tedious operations, which involved the sacrifice of many valuable lives, +and which extended over three years, the country was "completely +pacified" by 1889, and Lord Dufferin added the title of "Ava" to the +Marquisate which was conferred on him.</p> + +<p>In 1852, when Lord Dalhousie annexed Lower Burma, Rangoon was "merely a +fishing village." It is now a flourishing commercial town of some +300,000 inhabitants. In 1910-11 the imports into Burmese ports, +including coast trade, amounted to £13,600,000. The exports, in spite of +a duty on rice which is of a nature rather to shock orthodox economists, +were nearly £23,000,000 in value. The revenue in 1910 was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> about +£7,391,000, of which about £2,590,000 was on Imperial and the balance on +local account. Burma is in the happy position of being in a normal state +of surplus, and is thus able to contribute annually a sum of about +£2,500,000 to the Indian exchequer, a sum which those who are specially +interested in Burmese prosperity regard as excessive, whilst it is +apparently regarded as inadequate by some of those who look only to the +interests of the Indian taxpayers.</p> + +<p>The account which M. Dautremer, who was for long French Consul at +Rangoon, has given of the present condition of Burma is preceded by an +introduction from the pen of Sir George Scott, who can speak with +unquestionable authority on Burmese affairs. It is clear that neither +author has allowed himself in any way to be biassed by national +proclivities, for whilst the Frenchman compares British and French +administrative methods in a manner which is very much to the detriment +of the latter, the Englishman, on the other hand, launches the most +fiery denunciations against those of his countrymen who are responsible +for Indian policy. Their want of enterprise is characterised by the +appalling polysyllabic adjective "hebetudinous," which it is perhaps as +well to explain means obtuse or dull, and they are told that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> they "are +infected with the Babu spirit, and cannot see beyond their immediate +horizon."</p> + +<p>M. Dautremer thinks that it is somewhat narrow-minded of the Englishman +to inflict on himself the torture of wearing cloth or flannel clothes in +order that he may not be taken for a <i>chi-chi</i> or half-caste, who very +wisely dresses in white. He expostulates against the social tyranny +which obliges him to pay visits between twelve and two "in such a +climate and with such a temperature," and he gently satirises the +isolation of the different layers of English society—civilian, +military, and subordinate services—in words which call to mind the +striking account given by the immortal Mr. Jingle of the dockyard +society of Chatham and Rochester. It is, however, consolatory to learn +that all classes combined in giving a hearty welcome to the genial and +sympathetic Frenchman who was living in their midst. Save on these minor +points, M. Dautremer has, for the most part, nothing but praise to +accord. He thinks that "all the British administrative officers in Burma +are well-educated and capable men, who know the country of which they +are put in charge, and are fluent in the language." He writhes under the +highly centralised and bureaucratic system adopted by his own +countrymen. He commends the English practice under which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> "the Home +Government never interferes in the management of internal affairs," and +it is earnestly to be hoped that the commendation is deserved, albeit of +late years there have occasionally been some ominous signs of a tendency +to govern India rather too much in detail from London. Speaking of the +rapid development of Burmese trade, M. Dautremer says, in words which +are manifestly intended to convey a criticism of his own Government, +"This is an example of the use of colonies to a nation which knows how +to put a proper value on them and to profit by them."</p> + +<p>The warm appreciation which M. Dautremer displays of the best parts of +the English administrative system enhances his claims for respectful +attention whenever he indulges in criticism. He finds two rather weak +points in the administration. In the first place, he attributes the +large falling-off in the export of teak, <i>inter alia</i>, to "the increase +in Government duties and the much more rigid rules for extraction," and +he adds that the Government, which is itself a large dealer in timber, +has "by its action created a monopoly which has raised prices to the +highest possible limit." The subject is one which would appear to +require attention. The primary business of any Government is not to +trade but to administer, and, as invariably happens, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> violation of a +sound economic principle of this sort is certain sooner or later to +carry its own punishment with it. In the second place, the Forest +Department, which is of very special importance in Burma, is a good deal +crippled by the "want of energy and want of industry which are +unfortunately common in the subordinate grades. The reason for this +state of things is to be found in the fact that the pay and prospects +are not good enough to attract really capable men." In many quarters, +notably in Central Africa, British Treasury officials have yet to learn +that, from every point of view, it is quite as great a mistake to employ +underpaid administrative agents as it would be for an employer of labour +to proceed on the principle that low wages necessarily connote cheap +production.</p> + +<p>Sir George Scott in his introduction strikes a very different note from +that sounded by M. Dautremer. He alleges that the wealthy province of +Burma, which M. Dautremer tells us is not unseldom called "the milch-cow +of India," is starved, that its financial policy has been directed by +"cautious, nothing-venture, mole-horizon people," who have hid their +talent in a napkin; that "everything seems expressly designed to drive +out the capital" of which the country stands so much in need; that not +nearly enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> has been done in the way of expenditure on public works, +notably on roads and railways, and that when these latter have been +constructed, they have sometimes been in the wrong directions. He cavils +at M. Dautremer's description of Burma as "a model possession," and +holds that "as a matter of bitter fact, the administrative view is that +of the parish beadle, and the enterprise that of the country-carrier +with a light cart instead of a motor-van."</p> + +<p>It would require greater local knowledge than any possessed by the +writer of the present article either to endorse or to reject these +formidable accusations, although it may be said that the violence of Sir +George Scott's invective is not very convincing, but rather raises a +strong suspicion that he has overstated his case. Nothing is more +difficult, either for a private individual or for a State financier, +than to decide the question of when to be bold and when cautious in the +matter of capital outlay. It is quite possible to push to an extreme the +commonplace, albeit attractive, argument that large expenditure will be +amply remunerative, or even if not directly remunerative, highly +beneficial "in the long run." Although this plea is often—indeed, +perhaps generally—valid, it is none the less true that the run which is +foreshadowed is at times so long as to make the taxpayer, who has to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +bear the present cost, gasp for breath before the promised goal is +reached. Pericles, by laying out huge sums on the public buildings of +Athens, earned the undying gratitude of artistic posterity. Whether his +action was in the true interests of his Athenian contemporaries is +perhaps rather more doubtful. The recent history of Argentina is an +instance of a country in which, as subsequent events have proved, the +plea for lavish capital expenditure was perfectly justifiable, but in +which, nevertheless, the over-haste shown in incurring heavy liabilities +led to much temporary inconvenience and even disaster. But on the whole +it may be said that where all the general conditions are favourable, and +point conclusively to the possibility and probability of fairly rapid +economic development, a bold financial policy may and should be adopted, +even although it may not be easy to prove beforehand by very exact +calculations that any special project under consideration will be +directly remunerative. Egyptian finance is a case in point. At a time +when the country was in the throes of bankruptcy, a fresh loan of +£1,000,000 was, to the dismay of the conventional financiers, +contracted, the proceeds of which were spent on irrigation works. So +also the construction of the Assouan dam, which cost nearly double the +sum originally estimated, was taken in hand at a moment when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> a +liability of a wholly unknown amount on account of the war in the Soudan +was hanging over the head of the Egyptian Treasury. In both of these +cases subsequent events amply justified the financial audacity which had +been shown. In the case of Burma there appears to be no doubt as to the +wealth of the province or its capacity for further development. In view +of all the circumstances of the case the amount of twelve millions, +which is apparently all that has been spent on railway construction +since 1869, would certainly appear to be rather a niggardly sum. In +spite, therefore, of the very unnecessary warmth with which Sir George +Scott has urged his views, it is to be hoped that his plea for the +adoption of a somewhat bolder financial policy in the direction of +expenditure on railways, and still more on feeder roads, will receive +from the India Office, with whom the matter really rests, the attention +which it would certainly appear to deserve. The case of public +buildings, of which Burma apparently stands much in need, is different. +They cannot, strictly speaking, be said to be remunerative, and should +almost, if not quite, invariably be paid for out of revenue.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> +<h2>XVII</h2> + +<h3>A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," July 5, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>If it be a fact, as Carlyle said, that "History is the essence of +innumerable biographies," it is very necessary that the biographies from +which that essence is extracted should be true. It was probably a +profound want of confidence in the accuracy of biographical writing that +led Horace Walpole to beg for "anything but history, for history must be +false." Modern industry and research, ferreting in the less frequented +bypaths of history, have exposed many fictions, and have often led to +some strikingly paradoxical conclusions. They have substituted for +Cambronne's apocryphal saying at Waterloo the blunt sarcasm of the Duke +of Wellington that there were a number of ladies at Brussels who were +termed "la vieille garde," and of whom it was said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> "elles ne meurent +pas et se rendent toujours." They have led one eminent historian to +apologise for the polygamous tendencies of Henry VIII.; another to +advance the startling proposition that the "amazing" but, as the world +has heretofore held, infamous Emperor Heliogabalus was a great religious +reformer, who was in advance of his times; a third to present Lucrezia +Borgia to the world as a much-maligned and very virtuous woman; and a +fourth to tell us that the "ever pusillanimous" Barère, as he is called +by M. Louis Madelin, was "persistently vilified and deliberately +misunderstood." Biographical research has, moreover, destroyed many +picturesque legends, with some of which posterity cannot part without a +pang of regret. We are reluctant to believe that William Tell was a +mythological marksman and Gessler a wholly impossible bailiff. +Nevertheless the inexorable laws of evidence demand that this sacrifice +should be made on the altar of historical truth. M. Gastine has now +ruthlessly quashed out another picturesque legend. Tallien—the +"bristly, fox-haired" Tallien of Carlyle's historical rhapsody—and La +Cabarrus—the fair Spanish Proserpine whom, "Pluto-like, he gathered at +Bordeaux"—have so far floated down the tide of history as individuals +who, like Byron's Corsair, were</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Linked with one virtue and a thousand crimes.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Of the crimes there could, indeed, never have been any doubt, but +posterity took but little heed of them, for they were amply condoned by +the single virtue. That virtue was, indeed, of a transcendent character, +for it was nothing less than the delivery of the French nation from the +Dahomey-like rule of that Robespierre who deluged France in blood, and +who, albeit in Fouché's words he was "terribly sincere," at the same +time "never in his life cared for any one but himself and never forgave +an offence." Moreover, the act of delivery was associated with an +episode eminently calculated to appeal to human sentiment and sympathy. +It was thought that the love of a fair woman whose life was endangered +had nerved the lover and the patriot to perform an heroic act at the +imminent risk of his own life. Hence the hero became "Le Lion Amoureux," +and the heroine was canonised as "Notre Dame de Thermidor."</p> + +<p>M. Gastine has now torn this legend to shreds. Under his pitiless +analysis of the facts, nothing is left but the story of a contemptible +adventurer, who was "a robber, a murderer, and a poltroon," mated to a +grasping, heartless courtesan. Both were alike infamous. The ignoble +careers of both from the cradle to the grave do not, in reality, present +a single redeeming feature.</p> + +<p>Madame Tallien was the daughter of François<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> Cabarrus, a wealthy +Spaniard who was the banker of the Spanish Court. The great influence +which she unquestionably exerted over her contemporaries was wholly due +to her astounding physical beauty. Her intellectual equipment was meagre +in the extreme. At one period of her life she courted the society of +Madame de Staël and other intellectuals, but Princess Hélène Ligne said +of her that she "had more jargon than wit." As regards her physical +attractions, however, no dissentient voice has ever been raised. "Her +beauty," the Duchess d'Abrantès says in her memoirs, "of which the +sculptors of antiquity give us but an incomplete idea, had a charm not +met with in the types of Greece and Rome." Every man who approached her +appears to have become her victim. Lacretelle, who himself worshipped at +her shrine, says, "She appeared to most of us as the Spirit of Clemency +incarnate in the loveliest of human forms." At a very early age she +married a young French nobleman, the Marquis de Fontenay, from whom she +was speedily divorced. It is not known for what offence she was arrested +and imprisoned. Probably the mere fact that she was a marquise was +sufficient to entangle her in the meshes of the revolutionary net. It is +certain, however, that whilst lying under sentence of death in the +prison at Bordeaux she attracted the attention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> of Tallien, the son of +the Marquis of Bercy's butler and <i>ci-devant</i> lawyer's clerk, who had +blossomed into "a Terrorist of the first water." He obtained her release +and she became his mistress. She took advantage of the equivocal but +influential position which she had attained to engage in a vile traffic. +She and her paramour amassed a huge fortune by accepting money from the +unfortunate prisoners who were threatened with the fate which she had so +narrowly escaped, and to which she was again to be exposed. The venal +lenity shown by Tallien to aristocrats rendered him an object of +suspicion, whilst the marked tendency displayed by Robespierre to +mistrust and, finally, to immolate his coadjutors was an ominous +indication of the probable course of future events. Robespierre had +already destroyed Vergniaud by means of Hébert, Hébert by means of +Danton, and Danton by means of Billaud. As a preliminary step to the +destruction of Tallien, he caused his mistress to be arrested, probably +with a view to seeing what evidence against her paramour could be +extracted before she was herself guillotined.</p> + +<p>From this point in the narrative history is merged into legend. The +legend would have us believe that on the 7th Thermidor the "Citoyenne +Fontenay" sent a dagger to the "Citoyen Tallien," accompanied by a +letter in which she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> said that she had dreamt that Robespierre was no +more, and that the gates of her prison had been flung open. "Alas!" she +added, "thanks to your signal cowardice there will soon be no one left +in France capable of bringing such a dream to pass." Tallien besought +Robespierre to show mercy, but "the Incorruptible was inflexible." Then +the "Lion Amoureux" roared, being, as the legend relates, stricken to +the heart at the appalling danger to which his beloved mistress was +exposed or, as his detractors put the case, being in deadly fear that +the untoward revelations of the Citoyenne might cost him his own head. +The next act in this Aeschylean drama is described by the believers in +the legend in the following words: "Tallien drew Theresia's dagger from +his breast and flashed it in the sunlight as though to nerve himself for +the desperate business that confronted him. 'This,' he cried +passionately, 'will be my final argument,' and looking about him to make +sure he was alone he raised the blade to his lips and kissed it."</p> + +<p>The result, it is alleged, was that Tallien provoked the episode of the +9th Thermidor (July 22, 1794). The few faltering sentences which +Robespierre wished to utter were never spoken. He was "choked by the +blood of Danton," and hurried off to the guillotine which awaited him on +the morrow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<p>History, which in this instance is not legendary, relates that on the +death of the tyrant a wild shout of exultation was raised by the joyous +people who had for so long wandered in the Valley of the Shadow of +Death. To whom, they asked, did they owe their liberty? What was more +natural than to assume that it was to the brave Tallien and to the +loving woman who armed him to strike a blow for the freedom of France? +Tallien and his mistress became, therefore, the idols of the French +people. The Chancellor Pasquier relates their appearance at a theatre:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The enthusiasm and the applause were indescribable. The occupants +of the boxes, the people in the pit, men and women alike, stood up +on their chairs to look at him. It seemed as though they would +never weary of gazing at him. He was young, rather good-looking, +and his manner was calm and serene. Madame Tallien was at his side +and shared his triumph. In her case also everything had been +forgiven and forgotten. Similar scenes were enacted all through the +autumn of that year. Never was any service, however great, rewarded +by gratitude so lively and so touching.</p></div> + +<p>It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to +summarise the arguments by which M. Gastine seeks to destroy this myth. +Allusion may, however, be made to two points of special importance. The +first is that neither Tallien nor the lovely Spaniard languishing in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +the dungeon of La Force had much to do with the episode of the 9th +Thermidor. "Tallien was a mere super, a mere puppet that had to be +galvanised into action up to the very last." The man who really +organised the movement and persuaded his coadjutors that they were +engaged in a life and death struggle with Robespierre was he who, as +every reader of revolutionary history knows, was busily engaged in +pulling the strings behind the scenes during the whole of this chaotic +period. It was the man whose iron nerve and subtle brain enabled him, in +spite of a secular course of betrayals, to keep his head on his +shoulders, and finally to escape the clutches of Napoleon, who, as Lord +Rosebery tells us,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> always deeply regretted that he had not had him +"hanged or shot." It was Fouché.</p> + +<p>In the second place, there is conclusive evidence to show that, to use +the ordinary slang expression of the present day, the celebrated dagger +letter was "faked." When Robespierre fell, Tallien never gave a thought +to his mistress. He still trembled for his own life. "His sole aim was +to make away with Robespierre's papers." It was only on the 12th +Thermidor—that is to say, two days after Robespierre's mangled head had +been sheared off by the guillotine—that, noting the trend of public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +opinion, and appreciating the capital which might be made out of the +current myth, he hurried off to La Force and there concocted with his +mistress the famous letter which he, of course, antedated.</p> + +<p>The subsequent careers of Tallien and his wife—for he married La +Cabarrus in December 1794—are merely characterised by a number of +unedifying details. The hero of this sordid tale passed through many +vicissitudes. He went with Napoleon to Egypt. He was, on his return +voyage, taken prisoner by an English cruiser. On his arrival in London +he was well received by Fox and the Whigs—a fact which cannot be said +to redound much to the credit either of the Whig party or its leader. He +gambled on the Stock Exchange, and at one time "blossomed out as a +dealer in soap, candles, and cotton bonnets." After passing through an +unhonoured old age, he died in great poverty in 1820. The heroine became +intimate with Josephine during Napoleon's absence in Egypt, was +subsequently divorced from Tallien, and later, after passing through a +phase when she was the mistress of the banker Ouvrard, married the +Prince of Caraman-Chimay. Her conduct during the latter years of her +life appears to have been irreproachable. She died in 1835.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p> +<h2>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," July 5, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>There was a time, not so very long ago, when the humanists enjoyed a +practical monopoly in the domain of English education, and, by doing so, +exercised a considerable, perhaps even a predominant, influence not only +over the social life but also over the policy, both external and +internal, adopted by their countrymen. Like most monopolists, they +showed a marked tendency to abuse the advantages of their position. +Science was relegated to a position of humiliating inferiority, and had +to content itself with picking up whatever crumbs were, with a lordly +and at times almost contemptuous tolerance, allowed to fall from the +humanistic table. Bossuet once defined a heretic as "celui qui a une +opinion" (αἵρεσις). A somewhat similar attitude was at one time +adopted to those who were inclined to doubt whether a knowledge of Latin +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> Greek could be considered the Alpha and Omega of a sound education. +The calm judgment of that great humanist, Professor Jebb, led him to the +conclusion that the claims of the humanities have been at times defended +by pleas which were exaggerated and paradoxical—using this latter term +in the sense of arguments which contain an element of truth, but of +truth which has been distorted—and that in an age remarkable beyond all +previous ages for scientific research and discoveries, that nation must +necessarily lag behind which, in the well-known words uttered by Gibbon +at a time when science was still in swaddling-clothes, fears that the +"finer feelings" are destroyed if the mind becomes "hardened by the +habit of rigid demonstration." All this has now been changed. Professor +Huxley did not live in vain. His mantle fell on the shoulders of many +other doughty champions who shared his views. Science no longer slinks +modestly in educational bypaths, but occupies the high road, and, to say +the least, marches abreast of her humanistic sister. Yet the scientists +are not yet content. Their souls are athirst for further victories. A +high authority on education, himself a classical scholar,<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> has +recently told us that, although the English boy "as he emerges from the +crucible of the public school laboratory"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> may be a fairly good agent +for dealing with the "lower or more submissive races in the wilds of +Africa or in the plains of India," elsewhere—notably in Canada—he is +"a conspicuous failure"; that one of the principal reasons why he is a +failure is that "the influence of the humanists still reigns over us"; +and that "the future destiny of the Empire is wrapt up in the immediate +reform of England's educational system." In the course of that reform, +which it is proposed should be of a very drastic character, some +half-hearted efforts may conceivably be made to effect the salvage of +whatever will remain of the humanistic wreck, but the real motto of the +reformers will almost certainly be Utilitarianism, writ large. The +humanists, therefore, are placed on their defence. It may be that the +walls of their entrenchment, which have already been a good deal +battered, will fall down altogether, and that the garrison will be asked +to submit to a capitulation which will be almost unconditional.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the din of battle which may already be heard, and which +will probably ere long become louder, it seems very desirable that the +voices of those who are neither profound scholars nor accomplished +scientists nor educational experts should be heard. These—and there are +many such—ask, What is the end which we should seek to attain? Can +science<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> alone be trusted to prevent education becoming, in the words of +that sturdy old pagan, Thomas Love Peacock, a "means for giving a fixed +direction to stupidity"? The answer they, or many of them, give to these +questions is that the main end of education is to teach people to think, +and that they are not prepared to play false to their own intellects to +such an extent as to believe that the national power of thinking will +not be impaired if it is deprived of the teaching of the most thoughtful +nation which the world has ever known. That nation is Greece. These +classes, therefore, lift up their hands in supplication to scientists, +educational experts, and parliamentarians—yea, even to soulless +wire-pullers who would perhaps willingly cast Homer and Sophocles to the +dogs in order to win a contested election—and with one voice cry: We +recognise the need of reform; we wish to march with the times; we are no +enemies to science; but in the midst of your utilitarian ideas, we +implore you, in the name both of learning and common sense, to devise +some scheme which will still enable the humanities to act as some check +on the growing materialism of the age; otherwise the last stage of the +educated youth of this country will be worse than the first; remember +what Lucretius—on the bold assumption that wire-pullers ever read +Lucretius—said, "Hic Acherusia stultorum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> denique vita"; above all +things, let there be no panic legislation—and panic is a danger to +which democracies and even, Pindar has told us, "the sons of the +gods,"<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> are greatly exposed; in taking any new departure let us, +therefore, very carefully and deliberately consider how we can best +preserve all that is good in our existing system.</p> + +<p>Whatever temporary effect appeals of this sort may produce, it is +certain that the ultimate result must depend very greatly on the extent +to which a real interest in classical literature can be kept alive in +the minds of the rising and of future generations. How can this object +best be achieved? The question is one of vital importance.</p> + +<p>The writer of the present article would be the last to attempt to raise +a cheap laugh at the expense of that laborious and, as it may appear to +some, almost useless erudition which, for instance, led Professor +Hermann to write four books on the particle ἄν and to indite a +learned dissertation on αὐτός. The combination of industry and +enthusiasm displayed in efforts such as these has not been wasted. The +spirit which inspired them has materially contributed to the real stock +of valuable knowledge which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> world possesses. None the less it must +be admitted that something more than mere erudition is required to +conjure away the perils which the humanities now have to face. It is +necessary to quicken the interest of the rising generation, to show them +that it is not only historically true to say, with Lessing, that "with +Greece the morning broke," but that it is equally true to maintain that +in what may, relatively speaking, be called the midday splendour of +learning, we cannot dispense with the guiding light of the early morn; +that Greek literature, in Professor Gilbert Murray's words,<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> is "an +embodiment of the progressive spirit, an expression of the struggle of +the human soul towards freedom and ennoblement"; and that our young men +and women will be, both morally and intellectually, the poorer if they +listen to the insidious and deceptive voice of an exaggerated +materialism which whispers that amidst the hum of modern machinery and +the heated wrangles incident to the perplexing problems which arise as +the world grows older, the knowledge of a language and a literature +which have survived two thousand eight hundred storm-tossed years is "of +no practical use."</p> + +<p>It is this interest which the works of a man like the late Dr. Verrall +serve to stimulate. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> was eminently fitted for the task. On the +principle which Dr. Johnson mocked by saying that "who drives fat oxen +should himself be fat," it may be said that an advocate of humanistic +learning should himself be human in the true and Terentian meaning of +that somewhat ambiguous word. This is what Verrall was. All who knew him +speak of his lovable character, and others who were in this respect less +favoured can judge of the genuineness of his human sympathies by +applying two well-nigh infallible tests. He loved children, and he was +imbued with what Professor Mackail very appropriately calls in his +commemorative address "a delightful love of nonsense." His kindly and +genial humour sparkles, indeed, in every line he wrote. Moreover, +whether he was right or wrong in the highly unconventional views which +he at times expressed, his scorn for literary orthodoxy was in itself +very attractive. Whenever he found what he called a "boggle"—that is to +say an incident or a phrase in respect to which, he was dissatisfied +with the conventional explanation—"he could not rest until he had made +an effort to get to the bottom of it." He treated old subjects with an +originality which rejuvenated them, and decked them again with the charm +of novelty. He bade us, with a copy of Martial in our hands, accompany +him to the Coliseum and be, in imagination,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> one of the sixty thousand +spectators who thronged to behold the strange Africans, Sarmatians, and +others who are gathered together from the four quarters of the Roman +world to take part in the Saturnalia. He asked us to watch with +Propertius whilst the slumbers of his Cynthia were disturbed by dreams +that she was flying from one of her all too numerous lovers. Under his +treatment, Mr. Cornford says, the most commonplace passages in classical +literature "began to glow with passion and to flash with wit." His main +literary achievement is thus recorded on the tablet erected to his +memory at Trinity College: "Euripidis famam vindicavit." He threw +himself with ardour into the discussion on the merits and demerits of +the Greek tragedian which has been going on ever since it was originally +started by Aristophanes, and he may at least be said to have shown that +what French Boileau said of his own poetry applies with equal force to +the Greek—"Mon vers, bien ou mal, dit toujours quelque chose." In the +process of rehabilitating Euripides, Verrall threw out brilliantly +original ideas in every direction. Take, for instance, his treatment of +the <i>Ion</i>. Every one who has dabbled in Greek literature knows that +Euripides was a free-thinker, albeit in his old age he did lip-service +to the current theology of the day, and told the Athenians that they +should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> not "apply sophistry," or, in other words rationalise, about the +gods.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Every one also has rather marvelled at the somewhat lame and +impotent conclusion of the play when Athene—herself in reality one of +the most infamous of the Olympian deities—is brought on the stage to +save the prestige of the oracle at Delphi and to explain away the +altogether disreputable behaviour of the no less infamous Apollo. But no +one before Verrall had thought of coupling together the free-thinking +and the episode in the play. This is what Verrall did. Ion sees that the +oracle can lie, and, therefore, "Delphi is plainly discredited as a +fountain of truth." The explanation is, of course, somewhat conjectural. +Homer, who was certainly not a free-thinker, made his deities +sufficiently ridiculous, and, at times, altogether odious. Mr. Lang says +with truth: "When Homer touches on the less lovable humours of women—on +the nagging shrew, the light o' love, the rather bitter virgin—he +selects his examples from the divine society of the gods."<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> But +whether the very plausible conjectures made by Verrall as to the real +purpose of Euripides in his treatment of the oracle in <i>Ion</i>, or, to +quote another instance, his explanation of the phantom in <i>Helen</i>, be +right or wrong, no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> one can deny that what he wrote is alive with +interest. On this point, the testimony of his pupils, albeit in some +respects contradictory, is conclusive. One of them (Mr. Marsh) says: "I +was usually convinced by everything," whilst another (Mr. J.R.M. Butler) +says: "I don't think we believed very much what he said; he always said +he was as likely to be wrong as right. But he made all classics so +gloriously new and living. He made us criticise by standards of common +sense, and presume that the tragedians were not fools and that they did +mean something. They were not to be taken as antiques privileged to use +conventions that would be nonsense in any one else."</p> + +<p>Classical learning will not be kept alive for long by forcing young men +with perhaps a taste for science or the integral calculus to apply +themselves to the study of Aristotle or Sophocles. The real hope for the +humanities in the future lies in the teaching of such men as Butcher, +Verrall, Gilbert Murray, Dill, Bevan, Livingstone, Zimmern, and, it may +fortunately be said, many others, who can make the literature of the +ancient world and the personalities of its inhabitants live in the eyes +of the present generation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p> +<h2>XIX</h2> + +<h3>AN INDIAN IDEALIST<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," July 12, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Amidst the jumble of political shibboleths, mainly drawn from the +vocabulary of extreme Radical sentimentalists, which Mr. Mallik supplies +to his readers in rich abundance, two may be selected which give the +keynote to his opinions. The first, which is inscribed on the +title-page, is St. Paul's statement to the Athenians that all nations of +men are of one blood. The second, which occurs towards the close of his +work, is that "sane Imperialism is political Idealism." Both statements +are paradoxical. Both contain a germ of truth. In both cases an extreme +application of the principle involved would lead to dire consequences. +The first aphorism leads us to the unquestionably sound conclusion that +Newton, equally with a pygmy from the forests<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> of Central Africa, was a +human being. It does not take us much further. The second aphorism bids +us remember that the statesman who is incapable of conceiving and +attempting to realise an ideal is a mere empiricist, but it omits to +mention that if this same statesman, in pursuit of his ideal, neglects +all his facts and allows himself to become an inhabitant of a political +Cloud Cuckoo-land, he will certainly ruin his own reputation, and may +not improbably inflict very great injury upon the country and people +which form the subject of his crude experiments. On the whole, if we are +to apply that proverbial philosophy which is so dear to the mind of all +Europeanised Easterns to the solution of political problems, it will +perhaps be as well to bear constantly in mind the excellent Sanskrit +maxim which, amidst a collection of wise saws, Mr. Mallik quotes in his +final chapter, "A wise man thinks of both <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>."</p> + +<p>Starting with a basis of somewhat extreme idealism, it is not surprising +that Mr. Mallik has developed not only into an ardent Indian +nationalist, but also into an advanced Indian Radical. As to the latter +characteristic, he manifestly does not like the upper classes of his own +country. They are, in fact, as bad or even worse than English peers. +They are "like the 'idle rich' elsewhere; they squander annually in +luxuries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> and frivolities huge sums of money, besides hoarding up +jewels, gold and silver of immense value." Occasionally, they pose as +"upholders of the Government." "Even so they do not conceal their fangs. +When small measures of conciliation have in recent times been proposed, +the 'Peers' in India have not been slow to proclaim through their organs +that the Government were rousing their suspicion."</p> + +<p>Turning, however, to the relations between Europe and Asia, Mr. Mallik +says that it is often asserted that the two continents "cannot +understand each other—that Asia is a mystery to Europe, and must always +remain so." Most people who have considered this subject have so far +thought that the main reason why Europeans find it difficult to +understand Asia is because, in some matters, Asia is difficult to +understand. They have, therefore, been deeply grateful to men like the +late Sir Alfred Lyall, who have endeavoured with marked ability and +sympathy to explain the mystery to them. But Mr. Mallik now explains to +us that no such gratitude is due, for the reason why Asia is so often +misunderstood is not on account of any difficulties attendant on +comprehension, but because those who have paid special attention to the +subject are "persons whose nature or training or self-interest leads +them not to wish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> the understanding to take place." Whether Mr. Mallik +has done much to lighten the prevailing darkness and to explain the East +to the West is perhaps somewhat doubtful, but it is quite certain that +he has done his utmost to explain to those of his countrymen who are +conversant with the English language the attitude which, in his opinion, +they should adopt towards Westerns and Western civilisation. In one of +the sweeping generalities in which his work abounds, Mr. Mallik says +with great truth, that "however manners may differ ... nothing is gained +by nursing a feeling of animosity." It is to be regretted that Mr. +Mallik has not himself acted on the wise principle which he here +enunciates. He has, however, not done so. Under the familiar garb of a +friend who indulges in an excess of candour he has made a number of +observations which, whether true or false, are eminently calculated to +inflame that racial animosity which it is the duty of every well-wisher +of India to endeavour by every means in his power to allay. He makes a +lengthy and elaborate comparison between East and West, in which every +plague-spot in European civilisation is carefully catalogued. Every +ulcer in Western life is probed. Every possible sore in the connection +between the European and Asiatic is made to rankle. On the other hand, +with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> cries of the Christians massacred at Adana still ringing in +our ears, Mr. Mallik, forgetful apparently of the fact that the Turk is +an Asian, tells us that "Asia, typical of the East, looks upon all races +and creeds with absolute impartiality," and, further, that "gentleness +and consideration are the peculiar characteristics of the East, as +overbearing and rudeness, miscalled independence, and not unfrequently +deserving to be called insolence, are products of the West."</p> + +<p>But it is the word Imperialism which more especially excites Mr. +Mallik's wrath. In the first place, he altogether denies the existence +of an "imperial race," being convinced of its non-existence by the +strangely inconclusive argument that "if a race is made by nature +imperial, every member of that race must be imperial too and equally +able to rule." In the second place, he points out that the results which +flow from the Imperial idea are in all respects deplorable. The East had +"always believed that mankind could be made saints and philosophers," +but the West, represented by Imperialism, stepped in and "shattered its +belief." The West, as shown by the deference now paid to Japan, "values +the bloodthirsty propensities much more than humane activities." "The +expressed desire of the Imperialist is to let darkness flourish in order +that he may person<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>ally benefit by it.... Empire and Imperialism mean +the triumph of retrograde notions and the infliction of insult and +suffering on three hundred millions of human beings." It is this +Imperial policy which has led to the most gross injustice being +inflicted on every class of the community in India. As regards the civil +services, "the policy of fat pay, ease, perquisites, and praise are the +share of the European officers, and hard work and blame that of the +Indian rank and file." It is the same in the army. "In frontier wars the +Indian troops have had to bear the brunt of the fighting, the European +portion being 'held in reserve' and coming up at the end to receive all +the glory of victory and the consequent rewards." It is sometimes said +that the masses in India trust Englishmen more than their own +countrymen. That this statement is erroneous is clearly proved by "the +absence of interest of the rulers themselves in the moral and material +advancement of the poorer classes." Not content with uttering this +prodigious falsehood, Mr. Mallik adds a further and fouler calumny. He +alludes to the rudeness at times displayed by Englishmen towards the +natives of India—a feature in Indian social life which every +right-thinking Englishman will be prepared to condemn as strongly as Mr. +Mallik. But, not content with indicating the evil, Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> Mallik alleges +that any special act of insolence perpetrated by an Indian official +meets with the warm approval of the Government. Promotion, he says, is +"usual in such cases." Again, Mr. Mallik's dislike and distrust of +Moslems crops up whenever he alludes to them. Nevertheless, he does not +hesitate to denounce that Government whose presence alone prevents an +outbreak of sectarian strife for "sedulously fomenting" religious +animosities with a view to arresting the Nationalist movement. +Similarly, the constitution of the Universities has been changed with a +view to rendering the youth of India "stupid and servile" instead of +"clever and patriotic."</p> + +<p>Moreover, whilst India, under the sway of Imperialism, is "drifting to +its doom," Mr. Mallik seems to fear that a somewhat similar fate awaits +England. He observes many symptoms of decay to which, for the most part, +Englishmen are blind. He greatly fears that "the liberties of the people +are not safe when the Tory Party continues in power for a long period." +Neither is the prospect of Liberal ascendancy much less gloomy. Liberals +are becoming "Easternised." They are getting "more and more leavened by +reaction imported from India." It really looks as if "English Liberalism +might soon sink to a pious tradition."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> In the meanwhile, Mr. Mallik, +with true Eastern proclivities, warmly admires that portion of the +English system which Englishmen generally tolerate as a necessary evil, +but of which they are by no means proud. Most thinking men in this +country resent the idea of Indian interests being made a shuttlecock in +the strife of party. Not so Mr. Mallik. He shudders at the idea of +Indian affairs being considered exclusively on their own merits. "If it +is no party's duty to champion the cause of any part of the Empire, that +part must be made over to Satan, or retained, like a convict settlement, +for the breeding of 'Imperial' ideas." He is himself quite prepared to +adopt an ultra-partisan attitude. In spite of his evident dislike to the +nomination of any Englishman to take part in the administration of +India, he warmly applauds the appointment of "a young and able official" +to the Viceroy's Council, because he was "associated with a great +Liberal Minister of the Crown."</p> + +<p>It is not quite clear what, beyond a manifestation of that sympathy +which his own writings are so well calculated to alienate, Mr. Mallik +really wants. He thinks that there is "perhaps some truth" in the +assertion that the "Aryans of India are not yet fit for +self-government," and he says that "wise Indians do not claim at once +the political institutions that Europeans<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> have gained by a long course +of struggle and training, the value of which in advancing happiness is +not yet always perceptible in Europe." On the other hand, he appears to +be of opinion that the somewhat sweeping reforms recently inaugurated by +Lord Morley and Lord Minto do not go far enough. The only practical +proposals he makes are, first, that the old <i>punchayet</i> system in every +village should be revived, and that a consultative assembly should be +created, whose functions "should be wholly social and religious, +political topics being out of its jurisdiction." He adds—and there need +be no hesitation in cordially accepting his view on this point—that the +"plan would have to be carefully thought out" before it is adopted.</p> + +<p>The problem of how to govern India is very difficult, and is +unquestionably becoming more and more so every year. Although many of +the slanders uttered by Mr. Mallik are very contemptible, it is useless +to ignore the fact that they are believed not only by a large number of +the educated youth of India, of which he may perhaps to some extent be +considered a type, but also by many of their English sympathisers. +Moreover, in spite of much culpable misstatement and exaggeration, Mr. +Mallik may have occasionally blundered unawares into making some +observations which are deserving of some slight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> consideration on their +own merits. The only wise course for English statesmen to adopt is to +possess their souls in patience, to continue to govern India in the best +interests of its inhabitants, and to avoid on the one hand the extreme +of repressive measures, and on the other hand the equally dangerous +extreme of premature and drastic reform in the fundamental institutions +of the country. In the meanwhile, it may be noted that literature such +as Mr. Mallik's book can do no good, and may do much harm.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> +<h2>XX</h2> + +<h3>THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," July 19, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Sir Roper Lethbridge says that his object in writing the book which he +has recently published (<i>The Indian Offer of Imperial Preference</i>) is to +provoke discussion, but "not to lay down any dogma." It is related that +a certain clergyman, after he had preached a sermon, said to Lord +Melbourne, who had been one of his congregation, "I tried not to be +tedious," to which Lord Melbourne replied, "You were." Sir Roper +Lethbridge may have tried not to dogmatise, but his efforts in this +direction have certainly not been crowned with success. On the contrary, +although dealing with a subject which bristles with points of a highly +controversial nature, he states his conclusions with an assurance which +is little short of oracular. Heedless of the woful fate which has +attended many of the fiscal seers who have preceded him, he does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +hesitate to pronounce the most confident prophecies upon a subject as to +which experience has proved that prophecy is eminently hazardous, viz. +the economic effect likely to be produced by drastic changes in the +fiscal system. Moreover, his pages are disfigured by a good deal of +commonplace invective about "the shibboleths of an obsolete Cobdenism," +the "worship of the fetish of Cobdenism," and "the bigotry of the Cobden +Club," as to whom the stale fallacy is repeated that they "consider the +well-being of the 'poor foreigner'" rather than "our own commercial +interests." Language of this sort can only serve to irritate. It cannot +convince. Sir Roper Lethbridge appears to forget that, apart from those +who, on general party grounds, are little inclined to listen to the +gospel which he has to preach, there are a large number of Unionists who +are to a greater extent open to conviction, and who, if their conversion +can be effected, are, in the interests of the cause which he advocates, +well worth convincing. These blemishes—for blemishes they +unquestionably are—should not, however, blind us to the fact that Sir +Roper Lethbridge deals with a subject of very great importance and also +of very great difficulty. It is most desirable that it should be +discussed. Sir Fleetwood Wilson, in the very statesmanlike speech +delivered in the Indian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> Legislative Council last March, indicated the +spirit in which the discussion should take place. "The subject," he +said, "is one which in the public interest calls for consideration, not +recrimination." It would be Utopian to suppose that it can be kept +altogether outside the arena of party strife, but those who are not +uncompromising partisans, and who also strongly deprecate Indian +questions being made the shuttlecock of party interests, can at all +events endeavour to approach the question with an open mind and to treat +it dispassionately and exclusively on its own merits.</p> + +<p>The main issue involved may be broadly stated in the following terms. Up +to the present time the fiscal policy of the Indian Government has been +based on Free Trade principles. Customs duties are collected for revenue +purposes. A general 5 per cent <i>ad valorem</i> duty is imposed on imports. +Cotton goods pay a duty of 3½ per cent. An excise duty of a similar +amount is imposed on cotton woven at Indian mills. A duty of three annas +a maund is paid on exported rice. Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who +concur with him now propose that this system should undergo a radical +change. The main features of their proposal, if the writer of the +present article understands them correctly, seem to be that the duty on +cotton goods imported from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> the United Kingdom, as also the +corresponding excise duty levied in India, should be altogether +abolished; that the duties raised on goods—apparently of all +descriptions—imported into India from non-British ports should be +raised; that a preference should be accorded in British ports to Indian +tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, etc.; and that an export duty should be +levied at Indian ports on certain products, notably on jute and lac. +This new duty would not, however, be levied on goods sent to the United +Kingdom.</p> + +<p>There does not appear to be any absolute necessity for dealing with this +question at once, but Sir Roper Lethbridge is quite justified in calling +attention to it, for it is not only conceivable, but even probable, that +at no very remote period the Government of India will have to deal with +a problem which, it may readily be admitted, will tax their +statesmanship to the very utmost. It is no exaggeration to say that +since the Crown took over the direct management of Indian affairs no +issue of greater magnitude has been raised. Moreover, although Lord +Crewe had an easy task in showing that in some respects the difficulties +attendant on any solution would be enhanced rather than diminished if +the fiscal policy of the British Government in the United Kingdom +underwent a radical change, it is none the less true that those +difficulties will remain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> of a very formidable character even if no such +change is effected.</p> + +<p>It is essential to bear in mind that the difficulties which beset this +question are not solely fiscal, but also political. This feature is +almost invariably characteristic of Oriental finance, and nowhere is it +more prominent than in India. The writer of the present article can +speak with some special knowledge of the circumstances attendant on the +great Free Trade measures introduced in India under the auspices of Lord +Ripon. He can state very confidently that, although Lord Ripon and all +the leading members of his Government were convinced Free Traders, it +was the political to a far greater extent than the fiscal arguments +which led them to the conclusion that the Indian Customs barriers should +be abolished. They foresaw that the rival commercial interests of India +and Lancashire would cause a rankling and persistent sore which might do +infinite political harm. They wished, therefore, to apply a timely +remedy, and it cannot be doubted that, so long as it lasted, the remedy +was effective. In most respects the fiscal policy adopted then and that +now advocated by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his coadjutors are the poles +asunder. Nevertheless, in one respect they coincide. Sir Roper +Lethbridge places in the forefront of his proposals the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> abolition both +of the import duty on cotton goods and the corresponding excise duty +levied in India. He is unquestionably right. That is an ideal which both +Free Traders and Protectionists may very reasonably seek to attain. It +is, in fact, the only really satisfactory solution of the main point at +issue. The difficulty is to realise this ideal without doing more than +an equivalent amount of injury to Indian interests in other directions.</p> + +<p>The chief arguments by which Sir Roper Lethbridge defends the special +proposals which he advances are three in number. They are (1) that the +nascent industries of India require protection; (2) that it is necessary +to raise more revenue, and that the suggestions now made afford an +unobjectionable method for achieving this object; and (3) that the +economic facts connected with India afford special facilities for the +adoption of a policy of retaliation.</p> + +<p>From a purely economic point of view the first of these three pleas is +singularly inconclusive.</p> + +<p>It was refuted by Sir Fleetwood Wilson, whom both Mr. Austen +Chamberlain, in the introduction which he has written to Sir Roper +Lethbridge's book, and Sir Roper Lethbridge himself seem to regard, on +grounds which are apparently somewhat insufficient, as a partial convert +to their views. It may be said without exaggeration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> that if any country +in the world is likely to benefit by the adoption of Free Trade +principles that country is India. Industries cannot, as Sir Fleetwood +Wilson very truly said, be "encouraged" by means of a protective tariff +without raising home prices. Without going over all the well-trodden +ground on this subject, which must be familiar to all who have taken +part in the fiscal controversy, and without, moreover, denying that +nascent industries have in some countries been successfully encouraged +by the adoption of a protective system, it will be sufficient to say +that, looking at all the economic facts existent in India, the period of +partial transition from agriculture to industries, during which the +process of encouragement will have to be maintained, will almost +certainly last much longer than even in America or Germany, and that +during the whole of that lengthy period the mass of the population, who +are very poor and who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, will not +benefit from the protection, although they will at the same time suffer +grievously from the rise in prices.</p> + +<p>The main importance of this argument, however, is not to be derived from +its economic value, but rather from the important political fact that it +is one which finds favour with a large and influential body of Indian +opinion. Sir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> Roper Lethbridge claims that the leaders of Indian thought +are almost to a man Protectionists, and in his work he gives, as an +example of their views, the very able speech delivered by Sir Gangadhar +Chitnavis in the Calcutta Legislative Council last March.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> He is +probably right; neither is anything to be gained by ignoring the gravity +of the situation which is thus created. Whether the Indian +Protectionists be right or wrong as to the fiscal policy which is best +adapted to Indian interests, there is no denying the fact that with +Protection flourishing in the self-governing colonies, with the recent +enlargement of the scope and functions of representative institutions in +India, and with the grievance created by the sacrifice of the opium +revenue on the altar of British vicarious philanthropy, it is a serious +matter for the British Government to assert their own views if those +views run diametrically counter to the wishes expressed by the only +representatives of Indian opinion who are in a position to make their +voices heard. Nevertheless, there are two limitations on the extent to +which concessions can or ought to be made to Indian opinion. The first +is based on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> the necessities of English internal politics. It cannot be +doubted that although Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis and those who agree with +him may perhaps be willing, as a <i>pis aller</i>, to accept Sir Roper +Lethbridge's preferential plan, what they really want is not Preference +but Protection against England, and this they cannot have, because, in +Sir Roper Lethbridge's words, "no British Government that offered India +Protection against Lancashire would live for a week." The second +limitation is based on less egotistical and, therefore, nobler grounds. +In spite of recent concessions, India is still, politically speaking, +<i>in statu pupillari</i>, neither do the concessions recently made in the +direction of granting self-governing institutions dispense the British +Government from the duty of looking to the interests of the masses, who +are at present very inadequately represented. It must be remembered that +in India, perhaps even more than elsewhere, the voice of the consumer is +hushed, whilst that of the producer is loud and strident.</p> + +<p>The second of Sir Roper Lethbridge's arguments is based on the alleged +necessity of raising more revenue. He, as also Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis, +take it for granted that this necessity has already arisen. It would be +essential, before taking any practical steps to give effect to the +proposals now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> under discussion, to ascertain beyond any manner of doubt +whether this statement is correct, and also, if correct, what +alternatives exist to the plan proposed by Sir Roper Lethbridge. Sir +Fleetwood Wilson carefully abstained from pledging himself to the +accuracy of Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's view on this point. "There is," he +said, "much room for the development of India's other resources, and it +has yet to be shown that there is no room for further economies in our +administration." In the meanwhile, it would tend to the elucidation of +the subject if Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who agree with him would +lay before the world a carefully prepared and detailed estimate of the +financial results which they consider would accrue from the adoption of +their proposals. We are told, for instance, that raw jute to the value +of £13,000,000 is exported annually from Bengal, of which only +£3,000,000 worth is worked up in Great Britain, and that "a moderate +duty" on this article would produce two millions a year. The prospect of +obtaining a revenue of £2,000,000 in the manner proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge appears at first sight somewhat illusory. In the first place, +the tax would, on the basis of Sir Roper Lethbridge's figures, amount to +20 per cent, which can scarcely be called "moderate." In the second +place, unless an equivalent export duty were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> imposed at British ports +it would appear probable that the process of re-export for the benefit +of "the lucky artisans of foreign protected nations" would not merely +continue unchecked, but would even be encouraged, for those artisans +would certainly not be supplied direct from India with the duty-laden +raw material, but would draw their supplies from the jute sent to the +ports of the United Kingdom, which would have paid no duty. Is it, +moreover, quite certain that a duty such as that proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge would be insufficient, as he alleges, "to bring in any +competing fibres in the world"? These and other cognate points +manifestly require further elucidation.</p> + +<p>The third argument adduced by Sir Roper Lethbridge is based on the +allegation that India is in a specially favourable position to adopt a +policy of retaliation. It is unnecessary to go into the general +arguments for and against retaliatory duties. They have been exhausted +in the very remarkable and frigidly impartial book written on this +subject by Professor Dietzel. It will be sufficient to say that here Sir +Roper Lethbridge is on stronger ground. The main argument against +retaliation in the United Kingdom is that foreign nations, by stopping +our supplies of raw material, could check our manufactures. We are, +therefore, in a singularly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> unfavourable position for engaging in a +tariff war. The case of India is wholly different. Foreign nations +cannot, it is alleged, dispense with the raw material which India +supplies. There is, therefore, a good <i>prima facie</i> case for supposing +that India has relatively little to fear from retaliation on their part.</p> + +<p>It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to deal +fully with all the aspects of this vitally important question. Attention +may, however, be drawn to the very weighty remarks of Sir Fleetwood +Wilson when he speaks of "the great alteration which a tariff war in +India would effect in the balance of our trade, in the arrangements that +now exist for the payment of our external debt, and in the whole of our +exchange policy. This aspect of the question is one of extraordinary +complexity, as well as of no small speculation." On the whole, although +the proposals made by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his associates deserve +full and fair consideration, it is most earnestly to be hoped that party +leaders in this country will insist on their elaboration in full detail, +and will then study every aspect of the question with the utmost care +before giving even a qualified pledge to afford them support. The +situation is already sufficiently difficult and complicated. It is not +improbable that the difficulties and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> complications, far from being +mitigated, would be increased by the pursuit into the economic +wilderness of the <i>ignis fatuus</i> involved in the idea that it is +possible for a nation to impose a tax on itself and then make the +inhabitants of other countries pay the whole or the greater part of it.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXI</h2> + +<h3>ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," July 19, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>In spite of the obvious danger of establishing doubtful analogies and of +making insufficient allowance for differences, the history of Imperial +Rome can never cease to be of more than academic interest to the +statesmen and politicians of Imperial England. Rome bequeathed to us +much that is of inestimable value, both in the way of precept and +example. She also bequeathed to us a word of ill omen—the word +"Imperialism." The attempt to embody the broad outlines of a policy in a +single word or phrase has at times exercised great influence in deciding +the fate of nations. M. Vandal<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> says with truth, "Nul ne comprendra +la Révolution s'il ne tient compte de l'extraordinaire empire exercé à +cette époque par les mots et les formules."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> Imperialism, though +infinitely preferable to its quasi-synonym Caesarism, is, in fact, a +term which, although not absolutely incorrect, is at the same time, by +reason of its historical associations, misleading when applied to the +mild and beneficent hegemony exercised by the rulers and people of +England over their scattered transmarine dominions. It affords a +convenient peg on which hostile critics, such as Mr. Mallik, whose work +was reviewed last week in these columns,<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> as also those +ultra-cosmopolitan Englishmen who are the friends of every country but +their own, may hang partisan homilies dwelling on the brutality of +conquest and on all the harsh features of alien rule, whilst they leave +sedulously in the background that aspect of the case which Polybius, +parodying a famous saying of Themistocles, embodied in a phrase which he +attributes to the Greeks after they had been absorbed into the Roman +Empire, "If we had not been quickly ruined, we should not have been +saved." This pessimistic aspect of Imperialism has certainly to some +extent an historical basis. It is founded on the procedure generally +believed to have been adopted in the process by which Rome acquired the +dominion of the world. The careful attention given of late years to the +study of inscriptions, and generally the results obtained by the +co-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>operation established between historians and those who have more +especially studied other branches of science, such as archaeology, +epigraphy, and numismatics, have, however, now enabled us to approach +the question of Roman expansion with far greater advantages than those +possessed by writers even so late as the days of Mommsen. We are able to +reply with a greater degree of confidence than at any previous period to +the question of how far Roman policy was really associated with those +principles and practices which many are accustomed to designate as +Imperial. The valuable and erudite work which Mr. Reid has now given to +the world comes opportunely to remind us of a very obvious and +commonplace consideration. It is that although Roman expansion not only +began, but was far advanced during the days of the Republic, Roman +Imperialism did not exist before the creation of Roman Emperors, and did +not in any considerable degree develop the vices generally, and +sometimes rightly, attributed to the system until some while after +Republican had given way to Imperial sway. "The residuary impression of +the ancient world," Mr. Reid says in his preface, "left by a classical +education comprises commonly the idea that the Romans ran, so to speak, +a sort of political steam-roller over the ancient world. This has a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +semblance of truth for the period of decline, but none for the earlier +days."</p> + +<p>The fundamental idea which ran through the whole of Roman policy during +the earliest, which was also the wisest and most statesmanlike stage of +expansion, was not any desire to ensure the detailed and direct +government of a number of outlying districts from one all-powerful +centre, but rather to adopt every possible means calculated to maintain +local autonomy, and to minimise the interference of the central +authority. Herself originally a city-state, Rome aspired to become the +predominant partner in a federation of municipalities, to which autonomy +was granted even to the extent of waiving that prerogative which has +generally been considered the distinctive mark of sovereignty, viz. the +right of coinage. Broadly speaking, the only conditions imposed were +very similar to those now forming the basis of the relations between the +British Government and the Native States of India. These were (1) that +the various commonwealths should keep the peace between each other; and +(2) that their foreign policy should be dictated by Rome. It is often +tacitly assumed, Mr. Reid says, that "in dealing with conquered peoples, +the Romans were animated from the first by a passion for immediate +domination and for grinding uniformity." This idea is not merely false;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +it is the very reverse of the truth. The most distinctive feature of +Roman rule during the early period of expansion was its marvellous +elasticity and pliability. Everywhere local customs were scrupulously +respected. Everywhere the maintenance of whatever autonomous +institutions existed at the time of conquest was secured. Everywhere the +allies were treated with what the Greeks termed ἐπιμέλεια, +which may be rendered into English by the word "consideration." Nowhere +was the fatal mistake made of endeavouring to stamp out by force a local +language or dialect, whilst until the Romans were brought into contact +with the stubborn monotheism of the Jews, the easy-going pantheistic +ideas current in the ancient world readily obviated the occurrence of +any serious difficulties based on religious belief or ritual.</p> + +<p>That this system produced results which were, from a political point of +view, eminently satisfactory cannot for a moment be doubted. Mr. Reid +says—and it were well that those who are interested in the cause of +British Imperial Federation should note the remark—"In history the +lightest bonds have often proved to be the strongest." The loosely +compacted alliance of the Italic states withstood all the efforts of +Hannibal to rend it asunder. The Roman system, in fact, created a double +patriotism, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> which attached itself to the locality, and that which +broadened out into devotion to the metropolis. Neither was the one +allegiance destructive of the other. When Ennius made his famous boast +he did not mean that he spurned Rudiae and that he would for the future +look exclusively to Rome as his mother-country, but rather that both the +smaller and the larger patriotism would continue to exist side by side. +"English local life," it has been truly said, "was the source and +safeguard of English liberty."<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> It may be said with equal truth that +the notion of constituting self-governing town communities as the basis +of Empire, which, Mr. Reid tells us, "was deeply ingrained in the Roman +consciousness," stood Rome in good stead during some of the most stormy +periods of her history. The process of voluntary Romanisation was so +speedy that the natives of any province which, to use the Roman +expression, had been but recently "pacated," became in a very short time +loyal and zealous Roman subjects, and rarely if ever took advantage of +distress elsewhere to vindicate their independence by seeking to cast +off the light shackles which had been imposed on them.</p> + +<p>"So long as municipal liberty maintained its vigour, the empire +flourished." This is the fundamental fact to be borne in mind in +dealing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> with the history of Roman expansion. Mr. Reid then takes us, +step by step and province by province, through the pitiful history of +subsequent deterioration and decay. After the Hannibalic war, Roman +hegemony in Italy began to pass into domination. A policy of unwise +exclusion applied to the federated states and cities, coupled with the +assertion of irritating privileges on behalf of Roman citizens, led to +the cataclysm of the Great Social War, at the close of which burgess +rights were reluctantly conceded to all Italic communities who had not +joined the rebels. Then followed the era of the great Julius, who +probably—though of this we cannot be quite certain—wished to create a +"world-state" with Rome as its head; Augustus, to whose genius and +administrative ability tardy justice is now being done, and who, albeit +he continued the policy of his uncle, possibly leant rather more to the +idea, realised eighteen centuries later by Cavour, of a united Italy; +Adrian, who aimed above all things at the consolidation of the Empire; +and many others. Consolidation in whatsoever form almost necessarily +connoted the insistence on some degree of uniformity, and "when the +Emperors pressed uniformity upon the imperial system, it rapidly went to +pieces." Finally, we get to the stage of Imperial penury and +extravagance, accompanied by centralisation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> <i>in extremis</i>, when "hordes +of official locusts, military and civil," were let loose on the land, +and the tax-gatherers destroyed the main sources of the public revenues, +with the result that the tax-payers were utterly ruined. The municipal +system possessed wonderful vitality, and displayed remarkable aptitude +for offering a passive resistance to the attacks directed against it. It +survived longer than might have been expected. But when it became clear +that the only function which the <i>curiales</i> were expected to perform was +to emulate the Danaides by pouring gold into the bottomless cask of the +Imperial Treasury,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> they naturally rejected the dubious honours +conferred on them, and fled either to be the companions of the monks in +the desert or elsewhere so as to be safe from the crushing load of +Imperial distinction. Mr. Hodgkin and others have pointed out that the +diversion of local funds to the Imperial Exchequer was one of the +proximate causes which led to the downfall of the empire. Whilst the +municipal system lasted, it produced admirable results. Dealing with +Northern Africa, whose progress was eventually arrested by the withering +hand of Islam, Mr. Reid speaks of "the contrast between the Roman +civilisation and the culture which exists in the same regions to-day; +flourishing cities, villages,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> and farms abounded in districts which are +now sterile and deserted."</p> + +<p>Apart from the special causes to which Mr. Reid and other historians +have alluded, and apart, moreover, from the intentions—often the very +wise intentions—of individual Emperors, the municipal system, and with +it the principle that local affairs should be dealt with locally, was +almost bound to founder directly the force of circumstances strengthened +the hands of the central authority at Rome. The battle between +centralisation and decentralisation still continues. Every one who has +been engaged in it knows that, whatever be the system adopted, the +spirit in which it is carried out counts for even more than the system +itself. Once place a firm, self-confident man with the centralising +spirit strong within him at the head of affairs, and he will often, +without any apparent change, go far to shatter any system, however +carefully it may have been devised, to encourage decentralisation. Such +a man was Napoleon. Every conceivable subject bearing on the government +of his fellow-men was, as M. Taine says, "classified and docketed" in +his ultra-methodical brain. It is useless to ask a man of this sort to +decentralise. He cannot do so, not always by reason of a deliberate wish +to grasp at absolute power, but because he sees so clearly what he +thinks should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> be done that he cannot tolerate the local ineptitude, as +he considers it, that leads to the rejection of his views. Thus, whilst +Napoleon said to Count Chaptal, "Ce n'est pas des Tuileries qu'on peut +diriger une armée," at the same time, as a matter of fact, he never +ceased to interfere with the action of his generals employed at a +distance, with results which, especially in Spain, were generally +disastrous to French arms. Another general cause which militates against +decentralisation is the inevitable tendency of any disputant who is +dissatisfied with a decision given locally to seek redress at the hands +of the central authority. St. Paul appealed to Caesar. A discontented +Rajah will appeal to the Secretary of State for India. It is certain +that in these cases, unless the appellate authority acts with the +greatest circumspection, a risk will be incurred of giving a severe blow +to the fundamental principles of decentralisation. It is no very +hazardous conjecture to assume that many of the Roman Emperors were, +like Napoleon, constitutionally disposed to centralise, and that the +greater their ability the more likely was this disposition to dominate +their minds. Thus Tacitus, speaking of Tiberius, says, "He never relaxed +from the cares of government, but derived relief from his +occupations."<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> A man of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> temperament is a born centraliser. +However much his reason or his statesmanship may hold him in check, he +will probably sooner or later yield to the temptation of stretching his +own authority to such an extent as materially to weaken that of his +distant and subordinate agents.</p> + +<p>Considerations of space preclude the possibility of dwelling any further +on the many points of interest suggested by Mr. Reid's instructive work. +This much, however, may be said, that whilst British Imperialism is not +exposed to many of the dangers which proved fatal to Imperial Rome, +there is one principle adopted by the early founders of the Roman Empire +which is fraught with enduring political wisdom, and which may be +applied as well now as it was nineteen centuries ago. That principle is +the preference shown to diversity over uniformity of system. Sir Alfred +Lyall, whose receptive intellect was impregnated with modern +applications of ancient precedents, said, "We ought to acknowledge that +we cannot impose a uniform type of civilisation." Let us beware that we +do not violate this very sound principle by too eager a disposition to +transport institutions, whose natural habitat is Westminster, to +Calcutta or Cairo.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXII</h2> + +<h3>A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," August 2, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Those who are inclined to take a gloomy view of the future on the +subject of the survival of the humanities in this country may derive +some consolation from two considerations. One is that there is not the +smallest sign either of relaxation in the quantity or deterioration in +the quality of the humanistic literature turned out from our seats of +learning. Year by year, indeed, both the interest in classical studies +and the standard of scholarship appear to rise to a higher level. The +other is that the mere fact that humanistic works are supplied shows +that there must be a demand for them, and that there exists amongst the +general public a number of readers outside the ranks of scholars, +properly so called, who are anxious and willing to acquaint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> themselves +with whatever new lights assiduous research can throw on the sayings and +doings of the ancient world. Archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics are +year by year opening out new fields for inquiry, and affording fresh +material for the reconstruction of history. More especially much light +has of late been thrown on that chaotic period which lies between the +death of the Macedonian conqueror and the final assertion of Roman +domination. Professor Mahaffy has dealt with the Ptolemies, and Mr. +Bevan with the Seleucids. A welcome complement to these instructive +works is now furnished by Mr. Tarn's comprehensive treatment of an +important chapter in the history of the Antigonids. It is surely the +irony of posthumous fame that whereas every schoolboy knows something +about Pyrrhus—how he fought the Romans with elephants, and eventually +met a somewhat ignoble death from the hand of an old Argive woman who +dropped a tile on his head—but few outside the ranks of historical +students probably know anything of his great rival and relative, +Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius the Besieger. Yet there can in +reality be no manner of doubt as to which of these two careers should +more excite the interest of posterity. Pyrrhus made a great stir in the +world whilst he lived. "He thought it," Plutarch says—we quote from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +Dryden's translation—"a nauseous course of life not to be doing +mischief to others or receiving some from them." But he was in reality +an unlettered soldier of fortune, probably very much of the same type as +some of Napoleon's rougher marshals, such as Augereau or Masséna. His +manners were those of the camp, and his statesmanship that of the +barrack-room. He blundered in everything he undertook except in the +actual management of troops on the field of battle. "Not a common +soldier in his army," Mr. Tarn says, "could have managed things as badly +as the brilliant Pyrrhus." Antigonus was a man of a very different type. +"He was the one monarch before Marcus Aurelius whom philosophy could +definitely claim as her own." But in forming an estimate of his +character it is necessary to bear constantly in mind the many different +constructions which in the course of ages have been placed on the term +"philosophy." Antigonus, albeit a disciple of Zeno, the most unpractical +idealist of his age, was himself eminently practical. He indulged in no +such hallucinations as those which cost the Egyptian Akhnaton his Syrian +kingdom. As a thinker he moved on a distinctly lower plane than Marcus +Aurelius. Perhaps of all the characters of antiquity he most resembles +Julian, whose career as a man of action wrung from the Christian +Prudentius the fine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> epitaph, "Perfidus ille Deo, quamvis non perfidus +orbi." These early Greek philosophers were, in fact, a strange set of +men. They were not always engaged in the study of philosophy. They +occasionally, whilst pursuing knowledge and wisdom, indulged in +practices of singular unwisdom or of very dubious morality. Thus the +eminent historian Hieronymus endeavoured to establish what we should now +call a "corner" in the bitumen which floated on the surface of the Dead +Sea, and which was largely used for purposes of embalming in Egypt; but +his efforts were completely frustrated by the Arabs who were interested +in the local trade. The philosopher Lycon, besides displaying an +excessive love for the pleasures of the table, was a noted wrestler, +boxer, and tennis-player. Antigonus himself, in spite of his love of +learning, vied with his great predecessors, Philip and Alexander, in his +addiction to the wine-cup. When, by a somewhat unworthy stratagem, he +had tricked the widowed queen Nikaia out of the possession of the +Acrocorinthian citadel, which was, politically speaking, the apple of +his eye, he celebrated the occasion by getting exceedingly drunk, and +went "reeling through Corinth at the head of a drunken rout, a garland +on his head and a wine-cup in his hand." Antigonus was, in fact, not so +much what we should call a philosopher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> as a man of action with literary +tastes, standing thus in marked contrast to Pyrrhus, who "cared as +little for knowledge or culture as did any baron of the Dark Ages." When +he was engaged in a difficult negotiation with Ptolemy Philadelphus he +allowed himself to be mollified by a quotation from Homer, who, as Plato +said, was "the educator of Hellas." Although not himself an original +thinker, he encouraged thought in others. He surrounded himself with men +of learning, and even received at his court the yellow-robed envoys of +Asoka, the far-distant ruler and religious reformer of India. Moreover, +in spite of his wholly practical turn of mind, Antigonus learnt +something from his philosophic friends; notably, he imbibed somewhat of +the Stoic sense of duty. "Do you not understand," he said to his son, +who had misused some of his subjects, "that <i>our</i> kingship is a noble +servitude?" Nevertheless, throughout his career, the sentiments of the +man of action strongly predominated over those of the man of thought. He +treated all shams with a truly Carlylean hatred and contempt. Moreover, +one trait in his character strongly indicates the pride of the masterful +man of action who scorns all adventitious advantages and claims to stand +or fall by his own merits. Napoleon, whilst the members of his family +were putting forth ignoble claims to noble birth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> said that his patent +of nobility dated from the battle of Montenotte. Antigonus, albeit he +came of a royal stock, laid aside all ancestral claims to the throne of +Macedonia. He aspired to be king because of his kingly qualities. He +wished his people to apply to him the words which Tiberius used of a +distinguished Roman of humble birth: "Curtius Rufinus videtur mihi ex se +natus" (<i>Ann.</i> xi. 21). He succeeded in his attempt. He won the hearts +of his people, and although he failed in his endeavour to govern the +whole of Greece through the agency of subservient "tyrants," he +accomplished the main object which through good and evil fortune he +pursued with dogged tenacity throughout the whole of his chequered +career. He lived and died King of Macedonia.</p> + +<p>The world-politics of this period are almost as confused as the +relationships which were the outcome of the matrimonial alliances +contracted by the principal actors on the world's stage. How bewildering +these alliances were may be judged from what Mr. Tarn says of +Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus I., who married Demetrius, the son +of Antigonus: "Stratonice was her husband's first cousin and also his +aunt, her mother-in-law's half-sister and also her niece, her +father-in-law's niece, her own mother's granddaughter-in-law, and +perhaps other things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> which the curious may work out." Mr. Tarn has +unravelled the tangled political web with singular lucidity. Here it +must be sufficient to say that, after the death of Pyrrhus, a conflict +between Macedonia and Egypt, which stood at the head of an +anti-Macedonian coalition of which Athens, Epirus, and Sparta were the +principal members, became inevitable. The rivalry between the two States +led to the Chremonidean war—so called because in 266 the Athenian +Chremonides moved the declaration of war against Antigonus. The result +of the war was that on land Antigonus remained the complete master of +the situation. With true political instinct, however, he recognised the +truth of that maxim which history teaches from the days of Aegospotami +to those of Trafalgar, viz. that the execution of an imperial policy is +impossible without the command of the sea. This command had been secured +by his predecessors, but had fallen to Egypt after the fine fleet +created by Demetrius the Besieger had been shattered in 280 by Ptolemy +Keraunos with the help of the navy which had been created by Lysimachus. +Antigonus decided to regain the power which had been lost. His efforts +were at first frustrated by the wily and wealthy Egyptian monarch, who +knew the power of gold. "Egypt neither moved a man nor launched a ship, +but Antigonus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> found himself brought up short, his friends gone, his +fleet paralysed." Then death came unexpectedly to his aid and removed +his principal enemies. His great opponent, the masterful Arsinoë, who +had engineered the Chremonidean war, was already dead, and, in Mr. +Tarn's words, "comfortably deified." Other important deaths now followed +in rapid succession. Alexander of Corinth, Antiochus, and Ptolemy all +passed away. "The imposing edifice reared by Ptolemy's diplomacy +suddenly collapsed like the card-house of a little child." Antigonus was +not the man to neglect the opportunity thus afforded to him. Though now +advanced in years, he reorganised his navy and made an alliance with +Rhodes, with the result that "the sea power of Egypt went down, never to +rise again." Then he triumphantly dedicated his flagship to the Delian +Apollo. The possession of Delos had always been one of the main objects +of his ambition. It did more than symbolise the rule of the seas. It +definitely brought within the sphere of Macedonian influence one of the +greatest centres of Greek religious thought.</p> + +<p>The rest of the story may be read in Mr. Tarn's graphic pages. He +relates how Antigonus incurred the undying enmity of Aratus of Sicyon, +one of those Greek democrats who held "that the very worst democracy was +infinitely better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> than the very best 'tyranny'—a conventional view +which neglects the uncomfortable fact that the tyranny of a democracy +can be the worst in the world." He lost Corinth, which he never +endeavoured to regain. His system of governing the Peloponnesus through +the agency of subservient "tyrants" utterly collapsed. "It is," Mr. Tarn +says, "a strange case of historical justice. As regards Macedonia, +Antigonus had followed throughout a sound and just idea of government, +and all that he did for Macedonia prospered. But in the Peloponnese, +though he found himself there from necessity rather than from choice, he +had employed an unjustifiable system; he lived long enough to see it +collapse."</p> + +<p>The main interest to the present generation of the career of this +remarkable man consists in the fact that it is illustrative of the +belief that a man of action can also be a man of letters. As it was in +the days of the Antigonids, so it is now. Napier says that there is no +instance on record of a successful general who was not also a well-read +man. General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, on being asked how he came to +adopt a certain tactical combination which proved eminently successful +at Louisbourg, said, "I had it from Xenophon." Havelock "loved Homer and +took pattern by Thucydides," and, according to Mr. Forrest, adopted +tactics at the battle of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> Cawnpore which he had learnt from a close +study of "Old Frederick's" dispositions at Leuthen. There is no greater +delusion than to suppose that study weakens the arm of the practical +politician, administrator, or soldier. On the contrary it fortifies it. +Lord Wolseley, himself a very distinguished man of action, speaking to +the students of the Royal Military Academy of Sir Frederick Maurice, who +possessed an inherited literary talent, said that he was "a fine example +of the combination of study and practice. He is not only the ablest +student of war we have, but is also the bravest man I have ever seen +under fire"; and on another occasion he wrote: "It is often said that +dull soldiers make the best fighters, because they do not think of +danger. Now, Maurice is one of the very few men I know who, if I told +him to run his head against a stone wall, would do so without question. +His is also the quickest and keenest intellect I have met in my +service."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXIII</h2> + +<h3>ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," August 9, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Any new work written by Miss Jane Harrison is sure to be eagerly +welcomed by all who take an interest in classical study or in +anthropology. The conclusions at which she arrives are invariably based +on profound study and assiduous research. Her generalisations are always +bold, and at times strikingly original. Moreover, it is impossible for +any lover of the classics, albeit he may move on a somewhat lower plane +of erudition, not to sympathise with the erudite enthusiasm of an author +who expresses "great delight" in discovering that Aristotle traced the +origin of the Greek drama to the Dithyramb—that puzzling and +"ox-driving" Dithyramb, of which Müller said that "it was vain to seek +an etymology," but whose meaning has been very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> lucidly explained by +Miss Harrison herself—and whose "heart stands still" in noting that "by +a piece of luck" Plutarch gives the Dionysiac hymn which the women of +Elis addressed to the "noble Bull."</p> + +<p>It is probable that the first feeling excited in the mind of an ordinary +reader, when he is asked to accept some of the conclusions at which +modern students of anthropology and comparative religion have arrived, +is one of scepticism. Miss Harrison is evidently alive to the existence +of this feeling, for in dealing with the ritualistic significance of the +Panathenaic frieze she bids her readers not to "suspect they are being +juggled with," or to think that she has any wish to strain an argument +with a view to "bolstering up her own art and ritual theory." It can, +indeed, be no matter for surprise that such suspicions should be +aroused. When, for instance, an educated man hears that the Israelites +worshipped a golden calf, or that the owl and the peacock were +respectively sacred to Juno and Minerva, he can readily understand what +is meant. But when he is told that an Australian Emu man, strutting +about in the feathers of that bird, does not think that he is imitating +an Emu, but that in very fact he is an Emu, it must be admitted that his +intellect, or it may be his imagination, is subjected to a somewhat +severe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> strain. Similarly, he may at first sight find some difficulty in +believing that any strict relationship can be established between the +Anthesteria and Bouphonia of the cultured Athenians and the idolatrous +veneration paid by the hairy and hyperborean Ainos to a sacred bear, who +is at first pampered and then sacrificed, or the ritualistic tug-of-war +performed by the Esquimaux, in which one side, personifying ducks, +represents Summer, whilst the other, personifying ptarmigans, represents +Winter. Although this scepticism is not only very natural, but even +commendable, it is certain that the science of modern anthropology, in +which we may reflect with legitimate pride that England has taken the +lead, rests on very solid foundations. Indeed, its foundations are in +some respects even better assured than those of some other sciences, +such, for instance, as craniology, whose conclusions would appear at +first sight to be capable of more precise demonstration, but which, in +spite of this fair appearance, has as yet yielded results which are +somewhat disappointing. At the birth of every science it is necessary to +postulate something. The postulates that the anthropologist demands +rival in simplicity those formulated by Euclid. He merely asks us to +accept as facts that the main object of every living creature is to go +on living, that he cannot attain this object<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> without being supplied +with food, and that, in the case of man, his supply of food must +necessarily be obtained from the earth, the forest, the sea, or the +river. On the basis of these elementary facts, the anthropologist then +asks us to accept the conclusion that the main beliefs and acts of +primitive man are intimately, and indeed almost solely, connected with +his food supply; and having first, by a deductive process of reasoning, +established a high degree of probability that this conclusion is +correct, he proceeds to confirm its accuracy by reasoning inductively +and showing that a similarity, too marked to be the result of mere +accident or coincidence, exists in the practices which primitive man has +adopted, throughout the world, and which can only be explained on the +assumption that by methods, differing indeed in detail but substantially +the same in principle, endeavours have been, and still are being, made +to secure an identical object, viz. to obtain food and thus to sustain +life. The various methods adopted both in the past and the present are +invariably associated in one form or another with the invocation of +magical influences. The primitive savage, Miss Harrison says, "is a man +of action." He does not pray. He acts. If he wishes for sun or wind or +rain, "he summons his tribe, and dances a sun dance or a wind dance or a +rain dance." If he wants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> bear's flesh to eat, he does not pray to his +god for strength to outwit or to master the bear, but he rehearses his +hunt in a bear dance. If he notices that two things occur one after the +other, his untrained intellect at once jumps to the conclusion that one +is the cause and the other the effect. Thus in Australia—a specially +fertile field for anthropological research, which has recently been +explored with great thoroughness and intelligence by Messrs. Spencer and +Gillen—the cry of the plover is frequently heard before rain falls. +Therefore, when the natives wish for rain they sing a rain song in which +the cry of that bird is faithfully imitated.</p> + +<p>Before alluding to the special point which Miss Harrison deals with in +<i>Ancient Art and Ritual</i>, it will be as well to glance at the views +which she sets forth in her previous illuminating treatise entitled +<i>Themis</i>. The former is in reality a continuation of the latter work. +The view heretofore generally entertained as regards the anthropomorphic +gods of Greece has been that the conception of the deity preceded the +adoption of the ritual. Moreover, one school of anthropologists ably +represented by Professor Ridgeway, has maintained that the phenomena of +vegetation spirits, totemism, etc., rose from primary elements, notably +from the belief in the existence of the soul after the death of the +body.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> Miss Harrison and those who agree with her hold that this view +involves an anthropological heresy. She deprecates the use of the word +"anthropomorphic," which she describes as clumsy and too narrow. She +prefers the expression ἀνθρωποφυής used by Herodotus (i. +131), signifying "of human growth." She points out that the +anthropomorphism of the Greeks was preceded by theriomorphism and +phytomorphism, that the ritual was "prior to the God," that so long as +man was engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle for bare existence his sole +care was to obtain food, and that during this stage of his existence his +religious observances took almost exclusively the form of magical +inducements to the earth to renew that fertility which, by the +periodicity of the seasons, was at times temporarily suspended. It was +only at a later period, when the struggle for existence had become less +arduous, that the belief in the efficacy of magical rites decayed, and +that in matters of religion the primitive Greeks "shifted from a +nature-god to a human-nature god."</p> + +<p>In her more recent work Miss Harrison reverts to this theme, and +subsequently carries us one step further. She maintains that the +original conception of the Greek drama was in no way spectacular. The +Athenians went to the theatre as we go to church. They did not attend to +see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> players act, but to take part in certain ritualistic things done +(<i>dromena</i>). The priests of Dionysos Eleuthereus, of Apollo +Daphnephoros, and of other deities attended in solemn state to assist in +the performance of the rites. With that keen sense of humour which +enlivens all her pages, and which made her speak in her <i>Themis</i> of the +august father of gods and men as "an automatically explosive +thunderstorm," Miss Harrison says, "It is as though at His Majesty's the +front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the +Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall." The actual +<i>dromenon</i> performed was of the same nature as that which in more modern +times has induced villagers to make Jacks-in-the-Green and to dance +round maypoles. It was always connected with the recurrence of the +seasons and with the death and resurrection of vegetation. In fact, the +whole ritual clustered round the idea represented at a later period in +the well-known and very beautiful lines of Moschus in the <i>Lament for +Bion</i>, which may be freely translated thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah me! The mallows, anise, and each flower<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That withers at the blast of winter's breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Await the vernal, renovating hour<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And joyously awake from feignèd death.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The idea which impelled these ancient Greeks to perform ritualistic +<i>dromena</i> on their orchestras,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> which took the place of what we should +call the stage, is not yet dead. Miss Harrison quotes from Mr. Lawson's +work on modern Greek folklore, which is a perfect mine of knowledge on +the subject of the survival of ancient religious customs in modern +Greece, the story of an old woman in Euboea who was asked on Easter Eve +why village society was in a state of gloom and despondency, and who +replied: "Of course, I am anxious; for if Christ does not rise +to-morrow, we shall have no corn this year."</p> + +<p>It was during the fifth century that the <i>dromenon</i> and the Dionysiac +Dithyramb passed to some extent away and were merged into the drama. +"Homer came to Athens, and out of Homeric stories playwrights began to +make their plots." The chief agent in effecting this important change +was the so-called "tyrant" Pisistratus, who was probably a free-thinker +and "cared little for magic and ancestral ghosts," but who for political +reasons wished to transport the Dionysia from the country to the town. +"Now," Miss Harrison says, "to bring Homer to Athens was like opening +the eyes of the blind." Independently of the inevitable growth of +scepticism which was the natural result of increased knowledge and more +acute powers of observation, it is no very hazardous conjecture to +assume that the quick-witted and pleasure-loving Athenians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> welcomed the +relief afforded to the dreary monotony of the ancient <i>dromena</i> by the +introduction of the more lively episodes drawn from the heroic sagas. +"Without destroying the old, Pisistratus contrived to introduce the new, +to add to the old plot of Summer and Winter the life-stories of heroes, +and thereby arose the drama."</p> + +<p>Having established her case so far, Miss Harrison makes what she herself +terms "a great leap." She passes from the thing <i>done</i>, whether +<i>dromenon</i> or drama, to the thing <i>made</i>. She holds that as it was the +god who arose from the rite, similarly it was the ritual connected with +the worship of the god which gave birth to his representation in +sculpture. Art, she says, is not, as is commonly supposed, the "handmaid +of religion." "She springs straight out of the rite, and her first +outward leap is the image of the god." Miss Harrison gives two examples +to substantiate her contention. In the first place, she states at some +length arguments of irrefutable validity to show that the Panathenaic +frieze, which originally surrounded the Parthenon, represents a great +ritual procession, and she adds, "Practically the whole of the reliefs +that remain to us from the archaic period, and a very large proportion +of those of later date, when they do not represent heroic mythology, are +ritual reliefs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> 'votive' reliefs, as we call them; that is, prayers or +praises translated into stone."</p> + +<p>Miss Harrison's second example is eminently calculated to give a shock +to the conventional ideas generally entertained, for, as she herself +says, if there is a statue in the world which apparently represents "art +for art's sake" it is that of the Apollo Belvedere. Much discussion has +taken place as to what Apollo is supposed to be doing in this famous +statue. "There is only one answer. We do not know." Miss Harrison, +however, thinks that as he is poised on tiptoe he may be in the act of +taking flight from the earth. Eventually, after discussing the matter at +some little length, she appears to come to the audacious conclusion +which, in spite of its hardy irreverence, may very probably be true, +that as Apollo was, after all, only an early Jack-in-the-Green, he has +been artistically represented in marble by some sculptor of genius in +that capacity.</p> + +<p>Finally, before leaving this very interesting and instructive work, it +may be noted that Miss Harrison quotes a remarkable passage from +Athenaeus (xiv. 26), which certainly affords strong confirmation of her +view that in the eyes of ancient authors there was an intimate +connection between art and dancing, and therefore, inasmuch as dancing +was ritualistic, between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> art and ritual. "The statues of the craftsmen +of old times," Athenaeus says, "are the relics of ancient dancing."</p> + +<p>It is greatly to be hoped that Miss Harrison will continue the study of +this subject, and that she will eventually give to the world the results +of her further inquiries.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXIV</h2> + +<h3>PORTUGUESE SLAVERY</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," August 16, 23, 30, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>It is impossible to read the White Paper recently published on the +subject of slavery in the West African dominions of Portugal without +coming to the conclusion that the discussion has been allowed to +degenerate into a rather unseemly wrangle between the Foreign Office +officials and the Anti-Slavery Society. There is always a considerable +risk that this will happen when enthusiasts and officials are brought +into contact with each other. On the one hand, the enthusiasts in any +great cause are rather prone to let their emotions dominate their +reason, to generalise on somewhat imperfect data, and occasionally to +fall unwittingly into making statements of fact which, if not altogether +incorrect, are exaggerated or partial. On the other hand, there is a +disposition on the part of officials to push to an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> excess Sir Arthur +Helps's dictum that most of the evils of the world arise from +inaccuracy, and to surround all enthusiasts with one general atmosphere +of profound mistrust. An old official may perhaps be allowed to say, +without giving offence, that, quite apart from the nobility and moral +worth of the issue at stake, it is, from the point of view of mere +worldly wisdom, a very great error to adopt this latter attitude. There +are enthusiasts and enthusiasts. It is probably quite useless for an +anti-suffragist or a supporter of vivisection to endeavour to meet +half-way a militant suffragist or a whole-hearted anti-vivisectionist. +In these cases the line of cleavage is too marked to admit of +compromise, and still less of co-operation. But the case is very +different if the matter under discussion is the suppression of slavery. +Here it may readily be admitted that both the enthusiasts and the +officials, although they may differ in opinion as to the methods which +should be adopted, are honestly striving to attain the same objects. The +Anti-Slavery Society, and those who habitually work with them, have +performed work of which their countrymen are very justly proud. But they +are not infallible. It is quite right that the accuracy of any +statements which they make should be carefully tested by whatever means +exist for testing them. For instance, when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> Society of Friends<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> +say that they are in possession of "first-hand information" to show that +"atrocities" are being committed in the Portuguese dominions, the +Foreign Office is obviously justified in asking them to state on what +evidence this formidable accusation is founded, and when it appears that +they cannot produce "exactly the kind of evidence as to 'atrocities' +which would strengthen your (<i>i.e.</i> the British Government's) hands in +any protest made by you to the Portuguese Government," it is not +unnatural that the officials should be somewhat hardened in their belief +that humanitarian testimony has to be accepted with caution. It would +obviously be much wiser for the humanitarians to recognise that +incorrect statements, or sweeping generalisations which are incapable of +proof, do their cause more harm than good.</p> + +<p>The fact that erroneous statements are frequently made in controversial +matters, and that the data on which generalisations are based are often +imperfect, should not, however, beget the error of attaching undue +importance to matters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> of this sort, and thus failing to see the wood by +reason of the trees. What object, for instance, is to be gained by +addressing to the Anti-Slavery Society a remonstrance because they only +quote a portion and not the whole of a conversation between Sir Edward +Grey and the Portuguese Minister (M. de Bocage) when, on reference to +the account of that conversation, it would appear that the passages +omitted were not very material to the point under discussion? Again, +considering that the manner in which the so-called "contracts" with +slaves are concluded is notorious, is it not rather begging the question +and falling back on a legal quibble to say that there would "be no +reason for insisting on the repatriation (of a British subject) if he +were working under a contract which could not be shown to be illegal"? +Can it be expected, moreover, that Sir Eyre Crowe's contention that the +slaves "are now legally free" should carry much conviction when it is +abundantly clear from the testimony of all independent and also official +witnesses that this legal freedom does not constitute freedom in the +sense in which we generally employ the term, but that it has, in fact, +up to the present time been little more than an euphemism for slavery?</p> + +<p>Every allowance should, of course, be made for the embarrassing position +in which the present Government of Portugal, from no fault of its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> own, +is placed. The fact, however, remains that at this moment the criticisms +of those who are interested in the cause of anti-slavery are not solely +directed against the Portuguese Government. They also demur to the +attitude taken up by the British Government. It is, indeed, impossible +to read the papers presented to Parliament without feeling that the +Archbishop of Canterbury was justified in saying, during a recent debate +in the House of Lords, that the Foreign Office and its subordinates have +shown some excess of zeal in apologising for the Portuguese. After all, +it should not be forgotten that the voice of civilised humanity calls +loudly on the Portuguese Government and nation to purge themselves, and +that speedily, of a very heinous offence against civilisation, namely, +that of placing their black fellow-creatures much on the same footing as +the oxen that plough their fields and the horses which draw their carts, +in order that the white man may acquire wealth. It is only fair to +remember that at no very remote period of their history the Anglo-Saxon +race were also guilty of this offence; but the facts that one branch of +that race purged itself of crime by the expenditure of huge sums of +money, and that the other branch shed its best blood in order to ensure +the black man's freedom, give them a moral right, based on very +substantial title-deeds, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> plead the cause of freedom. Neither should +it be forgotten that, whatever mistakes those interested in the +Anti-Slavery cause may make in dealing with points of detail, they are +right on the chief issue—right, that is to say, not merely in +intention, but also on the main fact, viz. that virtual slavery still +exists in the Portuguese dominions. Any one who has had practical +experience of dealing with these matters, and can read between the lines +of the official correspondence, cannot fail to see that if the Foreign +Office authorities, instead of dwelling with somewhat unnecessary +insistence on controversial points and only half-accepting the realities +of the situation, had candidly admitted the main facts and had confined +themselves to a discussion of the means available for arriving at the +object which they, in common with the Anti-Slavery Society, wished to +attain, much useless recrimination might have been avoided and the +interests of the cause would, to a far greater extent, have been served.</p> + +<p>The writer of the present article has had a good deal to do with the +Anti-Slavery and other similar societies, such, for instance, as that +which, until recently, dealt with the affairs of the Congo. He has not +always agreed with their proposals, but, being in thorough sympathy with +the objects which they wished to attain, he was fortunately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> able to +establish the mutual confidence which that bond of sympathy connoted. He +can, moreover, from his own experience, testify to the fact that, +although there may occasionally be exceptions, the humanitarians +generally, however enthusiastic, are by no means unreasonable. On the +contrary, if once they are thoroughly convinced that the officials are +honestly and energetically striving to do their best to remove the +abuses of which they complain, they are quite prepared to make due +allowance for practical difficulties, and to abstain from causing +unnecessary and hurtful embarrassment. They are not open to the +suspicion which often attaches itself to Parliamentarians who take up +some special cause, viz. that they may be seeking to acquire personal +notoriety or to gain some party advantage. The righteousness and +disinterestedness of their motives cannot be doubted. The question of +the abolition of slavery in the Soudan presented many and great +difficulties, which might easily have formed the subject of acrimonious +correspondence and of agitation in Parliament and in the press. Any such +agitation would very probably have led to the adoption of measures whose +value would have been illusory rather than real, and which might well +have endangered both public security and the economic welfare of the +country. The main reason why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> no such agitation took place was that a +mutual feeling of confidence was established. Sir Reginald Wingate and +his very able staff of officials were left to deal with the matter after +their own fashion. The result has been that, without the adoption of any +very sensational measures calculated to attract public attention, it may +be said, with truth, that for all practical purposes slavery has quietly +disappeared from the Soudan. But if once this confidence is conspicuous +by its absence, a state of more or less latent warfare between the +humanitarians and the official world, such as that revealed in the +papers recently laid before Parliament, is almost certain to be created, +with the results that the public interests suffer, that rather heated +arguments and counter-arguments are bandied about in the columns of the +newspapers, and that the differences of opinion on minor points between +those who ought to be allies tend to obscure the main issue, and +preclude that co-operation which should be secured, and which in itself +would be no slight earnest of success.</p> + +<p>Stress has been laid on this point because of its practical importance, +and also in the hope that, in connection with this question, it may be +found possible ere long to establish better relations between the +Foreign Office officials and the Anti-Slavery Society than those which +apparently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> exist at present. There ought to be no great difficulty in +effecting an improvement in those relations, for it cannot for one +moment be doubted that both sides are honestly endeavouring to perform +what they consider to be their duty according to their respective +lights.</p> + +<p>Turning now to the consideration of the question on its own merits, it +is obvious that, before discussing any remedies, it is essential to +arrive at a correct diagnosis of the disease. Is the trade in slaves +still carried on, and does slavery still exist in the Portuguese +dominions? The two points deserve separate treatment, for although +slavery is bad, the slave trade is infinitely worse.</p> + +<p>It is not denied that until very recently the trade in slaves between +the mainland and the Portuguese islands was carried on upon an extensive +scale. The Anti-Slavery Society state that within the last twenty-five +years sixty-three thousand slaves, constituting "a human cargo worth +something over £2,500,000," have been shipped to the islands. Moreover, +it appears that, as was to be expected, this trade was, and perhaps to a +certain extent still is, in the hands of individuals who constitute the +dregs of society, and who, it may confidently be assumed, have not +allowed their operations to be hampered by any kind of moral or humane +scruples. Colonel Freire d'Andrade informed Sir Arthur Hardinge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> that +"many of the Portuguese slave-traders at Angola had been convicts +sentenced to transportation," who had been allowed to settle in the +colony. "It was from among these old convicts or ex-convict settlers and +their half-caste progeny that the slave-trading element, denounced by +the Belgian Government, was largely recruited; they at least were its +most direct agents." Since the accession to power of the Republican +Government in Portugal the trade in slaves has been absolutely +prohibited. No Government which professes to follow the dictates of +civilisation, and especially of Liberalism, could indeed tolerate for a +day the continuance of such a practice. The question which remains for +consideration is whether the efforts of the Portuguese Government, in +the sincerity of which there can be no doubt, have been successful or +the reverse. Has the cessation of the traffic been real and complete or, +as the Anti-Slavery Society appear disposed to think, only partial and +"nominal"? On this point the evidence is somewhat conflicting. On the +one hand, M. Ramaix, writing on behalf of the Belgian Government on May +1, 1912, says, "It is well known that the slave trade is still carried +on to a certain extent in the neighbourhood of the sources of the +Zambesi and Kasai, in a region which extends over the frontiers of the +Congo, Angola, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> North-Western Rhodesia," and on June 8, 1912, Baron +Lalaing, the Belgian Minister in London, said, "At the instigation of +the traders the population living on the two slopes of the watershed, +from Lake Dilolo to the meridian of Kayoyo, are actively engaged in +smuggling, arms traffic, and slave trade." On the other hand, Mr. +Wallace, writing from Livingstone, in Northern Rhodesia, on June 25, +1912, says that "active slave-trading does not now exist along our +borders." On December 6 of the same year he confirmed this statement, +but added, "occasional cases may occur, for the status of slave exists, +but they cannot be many." Looking to all the circumstances of the +case—to the great extent and, in some cases, to the remoteness of the +Portuguese dominions, the ruthless character of the slave-traders, the +pecuniary inducements which exist for engaging in a very lucrative +traffic, the helplessness of the slaves themselves, and the fact that +traffic in slaves is apparently a common inter-tribal practice in +Central Africa, it would be unreasonable to expect that the Portuguese +Government should be able at once to put a complete stop to these +infamous proceedings. It may well be that, in spite of every effort, the +slave trade may still linger on for a while. All that can be reasonably +expected is that the Portuguese authorities should do their utmost to +stop it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> That they are doing a good deal cannot be doubted, but it is +somewhat of a shock to read (<i>Africa</i>, No. 2 of 1912, p. 59) that Senhor +Vasconcellos rather prided himself on the fact that certain "Europeans +who were found guilty of acts of slave traffic" had merely been +"immediately expelled from the region," and were "not allowed to return +to the colonies." Surely, considering the nature of the offence, a +punishment of this sort errs somewhat on the side of leniency. Had these +men been residing in Egypt or the Soudan they would have been condemned +to penal servitude for a term of years. It is more satisfactory to +learn, on the authority of Colonel Freire d'Andrade, that the convicts +to whom allusion has already been made are "no longer permitted to roam +at large about the colony, but are, save a very few who are allowed to +live outside on giving a security, kept in the forts of Loanda."</p> + +<p>Further, it would appear that until recently the officials who +registered the "serviçaes," or native contract labourers, had a direct +pecuniary interest in the matter, and were "thus exposed to the +temptation of not scrutinising too closely the genuineness of the +contracts themselves, or the extent to which they were understood and +accepted by savage or semi-savage contracting parties." In other words, +the Portuguese<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> officials employed in registration, far from having any +inducements offered to them to protect the labourers, were strongly +tempted to engage in what, brushing aside official euphemism, may with +greater accuracy be termed the slave trade pure and simple. It seems +that this practice is now to be altered. The registration fees are no +longer to go into the pockets of the registering officials, but are to +be paid into the Provincial Treasury. The change is unquestionably for +the better. But it is impossible in this connection not to be struck by +the somewhat curious standard of official discipline and morality which +appears to exist in the Portuguese service. Colonel Freire d'Andrade +told Sir Arthur Hardinge that "he knew of one case where £1,000 had been +made over a single contract for 'serviçaes' in this way by a local +official who had winked, in this connection, at some dishonest or, at +least, highly doubtful transactions, and who had been censured and +obliged to refund the money." As in the case of the Europeans found +guilty of engaging in the slave trade, the punishment awarded appears to +be somewhat disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. One would +have thought that peculation of this description would have been visited +at least with dismissal, if not with a short sojourn in the Loanda gaol.</p> + +<p>Colonel Freire d'Andrade further states that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> "the Lisbon Colonial +Office had sent out very stringent orders to the Governor-General of +Angola to put a stop once and for all to these slavery operations. New +military outposts had now been created near the northern and eastern +frontiers of the province." It is to be hoped that these orders will be +obeyed, and that they will prove effectual to attain the object in view.</p> + +<p>On the whole, in spite of some features in the case which would appear +to justify friendly criticism, it would seem that the Portuguese +Government are really endeavouring to suppress the trade in slaves. All +that the British Government can do is to afford them whatever assistance +is possible in British territory, and to encourage them in bold and +strenuous action against the influential opposition whose enmity has +necessarily been evoked.</p> + +<p>Turning now to the question of whether slavery—as distinct from the +slave trade—still exists in Portuguese West Africa, it is to be +observed that it is essential to inquire thoroughly into this question +for the reason already given, viz. that before considering what remedies +should be applied it is very necessary that the true nature of the evil +should be recognised. On this point there is a direct conflict of +opinion. The Anti-Slavery Society maintain that the present system of +contract labourers ('serviçaes') is merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> another name for slavery, +and as one proof of the wide discrepancy between theory and practice +they point to the fact that whereas there can be no manner of doubt that +undisguised slavery existed until only recently, it was nominally +abolished by law so long ago as 1876. On the other hand, to quote the +words of Mr. Smallbones, the British Consul at Loanda, the Portuguese +Government, whose views on this matter appear to have been received with +a certain amount of qualified acceptance by the British Foreign Office, +"consistently deny" the existence of a state of slavery.</p> + +<p>The whole controversy really hangs on what is meant by the word +"slavery." In this, as in so many cases, it is easier to say what the +thing is not than to embrace in one short sentence an accurate and +sufficiently wide explanation of what it is. <i>Definitio est negatio.</i> De +Brunetière said that, after fifty years of discussion, it was impossible +to define romanticism. Half a century or more ago, a talented German +writer (Hackländer) wrote a book entitled <i>European Slave-life</i>, in +which he attempted to show that, without knowing it, we were all slaves +one of another, and, in fact, that the artisan working in a cotton +factory or the sempstress employed in a milliner's shop was as truly in +a state of slavery as the negro who at that time was working in the +fields of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> Georgia or Carolina. In a sense, of course, it may be said +that every one who works for his living, from a Cabinet Minister to a +crossing-sweeper, is a slave, for he has to conform to certain rules, +and unless he works he will be deprived of many advantages which he +wishes to acquire, and may even be reduced to a state of starvation. But +speculations of this sort may be left to the philosopher and the +sociologist. They have little interest for the practical politician. Sir +Edward Grey endeavoured, for the purposes of the subject now under +discussion, to define slavery. "Voluntary engagement," he said, "is not +slavery, but forcible engagement is slavery." The definition is correct +as far as it goes, but it is incomplete, for it fails to answer the +question on which a great part of this Portuguese controversy hangs, +viz. what do the words "voluntary" and "forcible" mean? The truth is +that it is quite unnecessary, in dealing with this subject, to wander +off into a field strewn with dialectical subtleties. It may not be +possible to define slavery with the same mathematical precision which +Euclid gave to his definitions of a straight line or a point, but every +man of ordinary common sense knows the difference between slavery and +freedom in the usual acceptation of those terms. He knows well enough +that however much want or the force of circumstances may oblige an +Englishman, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> Frenchman, or a German to accept hard conditions in +fixing the price at which he is prepared to sell his labour or his +services, none of these individuals is, in reality, a slave; and he has +only to inquire very cursorily into the subject to satisfy himself that +the relations between employer and employed in Portuguese West Africa +differ widely from those which exist in any European country, and are in +fact far more akin to what, in the general acceptance of the word, is +termed slavery.</p> + +<p>Broadly speaking, it may be said that the contention that the present +system of contract labour is merely slavery in disguise rests on three +pleas, viz. (1) that even if, as was often the case, the contract +labourers now actually serving were not forcibly recruited, they were +very frequently wholly unaware of the true nature of the engagements +which they had taken, or of the conditions under which they would be +called upon to serve; (2) that not only are they unable to terminate +their contracts if they find they have been deceived, but that even on +the termination of those contracts they are not free to leave their +employers; and (3) that, even when nominal freedom is conceded, they +cannot take advantage of it, for the reason that the employers or their +Government have virtually by their own acts created a state of things +which only leaves the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> slaves to choose between the alternative of +continuing in a state of servitude or undergoing extreme suffering, +ending not improbably in death. It is submitted that, if these three +propositions can be proved, it is mere juggling with words to maintain +that no state of slavery exists.</p> + +<p>As regards the first point, it is to be observed that when the superior +intelligence and education of the recruiting agents are contrasted with +the complete savagery and ignorance of the individuals recruited, there +is obviously a strong presumption that in numberless cases the latter +have been cozened into making contracts, the nature of which they did +not in the least understand, and this presumption may almost be said to +harden into certainty when the fact, to which allusion has already been +made, is remembered, that the Portuguese officials engaged in the +registration of contract labourers had until very recently a direct +pecuniary interest in augmenting the number of labourers. Further, Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 26, 1912, alludes to a letter signed +"Carlos de Silva," which appeared in a local paper termed the +<i>Independente</i>. M. de Silva says that the "serviçaes" engaged in Novo +Redondo "all answered the interpreter's question whether they were +willing to go to San Thomé with a decided 'No,' which was translated by +the interpreter as signifying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> their utmost willingness to be embarked." +If this statement is correct, it is in itself almost sufficient to +satisfy the most severe condemnation of the whole system heretofore +adopted. It is, indeed, impossible to read the evidence adduced in the +White Paper without coming to the conclusion that, whatever may be the +case at present, the system of recruiting in the past has not differed +materially from the slave trade. If this be the case, it is clear that, +in spite of any legal technicalities to the contrary, the great majority +of labourers now serving under contract in the islands should, for all +purposes of repatriation and the acquisition of freedom, be placed on a +precisely similar footing to those whose contracts have expired. There +can be no moral justification whatever for taking advantage of the +engagements into which they may have entered to keep them in what is +practically a condition of servitude.</p> + +<p>Recently, certain improvements appeared to have been made in the system +of recruiting. Mr. Smallbones states his "impression that the present +Governor-General will do all in his power to put the recruiting of +native labour on a sound footing." Moreover, that some change has taken +place, and that the labourers are alive to the fact that they have +certain rights, would appear evident from the fact that Vice-Consul +Fussell,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> writing from Lobito on September 15, 1912, reports that "the +authorities appear unable to oblige natives to contract themselves." It +is not, however, clear that all the changes are in the right direction. +Formerly, M. Carlos de Silva says, "There was at least a slight +guarantee that 'serviçaes' were not shipped against their wishes in the +fact that they had to contract in the presence of a curator in this +(<i>i.e.</i> the Angola) colony." Now this guarantee has been removed. The +contracts may be made in San Thomé before the local guardian, and Mr. +Smallbones, although he is, without doubt, quite right in thinking that +"the best guarantee against abuses will lie in the choice of the +recruiting officials, and the way in which their operations are +controlled," adds the somewhat ominous remark that the object of the +change has been to "override the refusal of a curator in Angola to +contract certain 'serviçaes' should the Governor-General consider that +refusal unreasonable or inexpedient." Sir Edward Grey very naturally +drew attention to this point. "It is obvious," he wrote to Sir Arthur +Hardinge, "that a labourer once in San Thomé can be much more easily +coerced into accepting his lot than if the contract is publicly made in +Angola before he leaves the mainland." It cannot be said that the answer +he received from M. Texeira Gomes was altogether complete<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> or +satisfactory. All the latter would say was that Colonel Wyllie, who had +lately returned from San Thomé, had never heard of any case of a +labourer signing a contract after he had arrived in the island.</p> + +<p>All, therefore, that can at present be said on this branch of the +question is that the evils of the recruiting system which has been so +far adopted are abundantly clear, that the Portuguese Government is +endeavouring to improve that system, but that it would as yet be +premature to pronounce any opinion on the results which are likely to be +obtained.</p> + +<p>The next point to be considered is the position of the contract labourer +on the expiry of his contract. That position is very strikingly +illustrated by an incident which Mr. Smallbones relates in a despatch +dated September 23, 1912. It appears that towards the end of last August +the Governor-General visited an important plantation on which seven +hundred labourers are employed. The contracts of these men had expired. +They asked to be allowed to leave the plantation. They were not +permitted to do so. "Thirteen soldiers were sent from Loanda to +intimidate them, and they returned to work." They were then forced to +recontract. Mr. Smallbones very rightly pointed out to the +Governor-General the illegality of this proceeding. "His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> Excellency," +he says, "admitted my contention, but remarked that in the present state +of the labour supply such scrupulous observance of the regulations would +entail the entire stoppage of a large plantation, for which he could not +be responsible." Mr. Smallbones adds the following comment: "I have +ventured to relate this incident, because it shows the difficulties of +the situation. The plantation on which it occurred is very well managed, +and the labourers are very well treated there. Yet it has failed to make +the conditions of labour attractive to the natives. And as long as the +Government are unable to force a supply of labour according to the +regulations, they will have to tolerate or even practise irregularities +in order to safeguard the property and interests of the employers."</p> + +<p>There need be no hesitation in recognising "the difficulties of the +situation." They are unquestionably very real. But how does the incident +related by Mr. Smallbones bear on the contention of the Portuguese +Government that no state of slavery exists? In truth, it shatters to +fragments the whole of their argument. As has been already mentioned, +Sir Edward Grey defined "forcible engagement" as "slavery." Can it be +for one moment contended that the engagement of these seven hundred men +was voluntary and not forcible? Obviously not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> Therefore slavery still +exists, or at all events existed so late as August 1912.</p> + +<p>The third point to be considered is whether the liberated slave is +practically able to take advantage of the freedom which has been +conferred on him. Assuredly, he cannot do so. Consider what the position +of these men is. They, or their parents before them, have in numerous +instances been forcibly removed from their homes, which often lie at a +great distance from the spot where they are liberated. They are +apparently asked to contribute out of their wages to a repatriation +fund. Why should they do so? They were, in a great many, probably in a +majority of cases, expatriated either against their will or without +really understanding what they were doing. Why should they pay for +repatriation? The responsibility of the Portuguese does not end when the +men have been paid their wages and are set free. Neither can it be for +one moment admitted that that responsibility is limited, as the +Governor-General would appear to maintain in a Memorandum communicated +to Mr. Smallbones on October 25, 1912, merely to seeing that repatriated +slaves disembarked on the mainland "shall be protected against the +effects of the change of climate, and principally against themselves." +No one will expect the Portuguese Government to perform the impossible, +but it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> is clear that, unless the institution of slavery itself is +considered justifiable, the slaves have a right to be placed by the +Portuguese Government and nation in precisely the same position as they +would have occupied had they never been led into slavery. Apart from the +impossibility, it may, on several grounds, be undesirable to seek to +attain this ideal, but that is no reason why the validity of the moral +claim should not be recognised. In many cases it is abundantly clear +that to speak of a slave liberated at San Thomé being really a free man +in the sense in which that word is generally understood, is merely an +abuse of terms. The only freedom he possesses is that created for him by +his employers. It consists of being able to wander aimlessly about the +African mainland at the imminent risk of starvation, or of being robbed +of whatever miserable pittance may have been served out to him. For +these reasons it is maintained that the starting-point for any further +discussion on this question is that the plea that slavery no longer +exists in the West African dominions of Portugal is altogether +untenable. It still exists, though under another name. There remains the +question of how its existence can be terminated.</p> + +<p>The writer of the present article would be the last to underrate the +enormous practical difficulties to be encountered in dealing +effectively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> with this question. His own experience in cognate matters +enables him in some degree to recognise the nature of those +difficulties. When the <i>corvée</i> system was abolished in Egypt, the +question which really confronted the Government of that country was how +the whole of a very backward population, the vast majority of whom had +for centuries been in reality, though not nominally, slaves, could be +made to understand that, although they would not be flogged if they did +not clear out the mud from the canals on which the irrigation of their +fields depended, they would run an imminent risk of starvation unless +they voluntarily accepted payment for performing that service. The +difficulties were enhanced owing to the facts that the country was in a +state of quasi-bankruptcy, and the political situation was in the +highest degree complicated and bewildering. Nevertheless, after a period +of transition, which, it must be admitted, was somewhat agonising, the +problem was solved, but it was only thoroughly solved after a struggle +which lasted for some years. It is a vivid recollection of the arduous +nature of that struggle that induces the writer of the present article +so far to plead the cause of the Portuguese Government as to urge that, +if once it can be fully established that they are moving steadily but +strenuously in the right direction, no excessive amount of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> impatience +should be shown if the results obtained do not immediately answer all +the expectations of those who wish to witness the complete abolition of +the hateful system under which the cultivation of cocoa in the West +African Islands has hitherto been conducted. The financial interests +involved are important, and deserve a certain, albeit a limited, amount +of consideration. There need be no hesitation whatever in pressing for +the adoption of measures which may result in diminishing the profits of +the cocoa proprietors and possibly increasing the price paid by the +consumers of cocoa. Indeed, there would be nothing unreasonable in +arguing that the output of cocoa, worth £2,000,000 a year, had much +better be lost to the world altogether rather than that the life of the +present vicious system should be prolonged. But even if it were +desirable—which is probably not the case—it is certainly impossible to +take all the thirty thousand men now employed in the islands and +suddenly transport them elsewhere. It would be Utopian to expect that +the Portuguese Government, in the face of the vehement opposition which +they would certainly have to encounter, would consent to the adoption of +any such heroic measure. As practical men we must, whilst acknowledging +the highly regrettable nature of the facts, accept them as they stand. +Slight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> importance can, indeed, be attached to the argument put forward +by one of the British Consular authorities, that "the native lives under +far better conditions in San Thomé than in his own country." It is +somewhat too much akin to the plea advanced by ardent fox-hunters that +the fox enjoys the sport of being hunted. Neither, although it is +satisfactory to learn that the slaves are now generally well treated, +does this fact in itself constitute any justification for slavery. The +system must disappear, and the main question is to devise some other +less objectionable system to take its place.</p> + +<p>There are two radical solutions of this problem. One is to abandon +cocoa-growing altogether, at all events in the island of Principe, a +part of which is infected with sleeping-sickness, and to start the +industry afresh elsewhere. The other is to substitute free for slave +labour in the islands themselves. Both plans are discussed in +Lieutenant-Colonel Wyllie's very able report addressed to the Foreign +Office on December 8, 1912. This report is, indeed, one of the most +valuable contributions to the literature on this subject which have yet +appeared. Colonel Wyllie has evidently gone thoroughly into the matter, +and, moreover, appears to realise the fact, which all experience +teaches, that slavery is as indefensible from an economic as it is from +a moral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> point of view. Free labour, when it can be obtained, is far +less expensive than slave labour.</p> + +<p>Colonel Wyllie suggests that the Principe planters should abandon their +present plantations and receive "free grants of land in the fertile and +populous colony of Portuguese Guinea, the soil of which is reported by +all competent authorities to be better suited to cacao-growing than even +that of San Thomé itself, and certainly far superior to that of +Principe. Guinea has from time to time supplied labour to these islands, +so that the besetting trouble of the latter is nonexistent there." He +adds: "I am decidedly of opinion that some such scheme as this is the +only cure for the blight that has fallen on the island of Principe." It +would require greater local knowledge than any to which the writer of +the present article can pretend to discuss the merits of this proposal, +but at first sight it would certainly appear to deserve full and careful +consideration.</p> + +<p>But as regards San Thomé, which is by far the larger and more important +of the two islands, it would appear that the importation of free labour +is not only the best, but, indeed, the only really possible solution of +the whole problem. It may be suggested that, without by any means +neglecting other points, such as the repatriation of men now serving, +the efforts both of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> Portuguese Government and of all others +interested in the question should be mainly centred on this issue. +Something has been already done in this direction, Mr. Harris, writing +in the <i>Contemporary Review</i> of May 1912, said: "Mozambique labour was +tried in 1908, and this experiment is proving, for the time, so +successful, that many planters look to the East rather than West Africa +for their future supply. All available evidence appears to prove that +Cabinda, Cape Verde, and Mozambique labour is, so far as contract labour +goes, fairly recruited and honestly treated as 'free labour.'" It is an +encouraging sign that a Portuguese Company has been formed whose object +is "to recruit free, paid labourers, natives of the provinces of Angola, +Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea." Moreover, the following passage +from Colonel Wyllie's report deserves very special attention:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Several San Thomé planters," he says, "realising the advantage of +having a more intelligent and industrious labourer than the +Angolan, have signed contracts with an English Company trading in +Liberia for the supply of labour from Cape Palmas and its +hinterland, on terms to which no exception can be taken from any +point of view. Two, if not by now three, batches of Liberians have +arrived at San Thomé and have been placed on estates for work. The +Company has posted an English agent there to act as curador to the +men, banking their money, arranging their home remittances, and +mediating in any disputes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> arising between them and their +employers. The system works wonderfully well, giving satisfaction +both to the masters and to the men, the latter being as pleased +with their treatment as the former are with their physique and +intelligence. There is every prospect of the arrangement being +developed to the extent of enabling Angolan labour to be +permanently dispensed with, and possibly superseding Mozambique +importations as well."</p></div> + +<p>Colonel Wyllie then goes on to say: "The company and its agents complain +of the many obstacles they have had to overcome in the form of hostility +and intrigue on the part of interested parties. Systematic attempts have +been made in Liberia to intimidate the gangs from going to San Thomé by +tales of cruelty practised by the Portuguese in the islands." More +especially it would appear that the "missionaries" have been advising +the Liberians not to accept the offers made to them. It is not +altogether surprising that they should do so, for the Portuguese have +acquired an evil reputation which it will take time to efface. To an +outside observer it would appear that an admirable opportunity is here +afforded for the Portuguese Government and the Anti-Slavery Society, who +are in close relation with many of the missionaries, to co-operate in +the attainment of a common object. Why should not the Portuguese +authorities invite some agents of the Anti-Slavery Society to visit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> the +islands and place before them evidence which will enable them +conscientiously to guarantee proper treatment to the Liberian labourers, +and why, when they are once convinced, should not those agents, far from +discouraging, encourage Liberians, and perhaps others, to go to San +Thomé? If this miracle could be effected—and with real good-will on +both sides it ought to be possible to effect it—a very great step in +advance would have been taken to solve this difficult problem. But in +order to realise such an ideal, mutual confidence would have to be +established. When the affairs of the Congo were under discussion the +Belgian air was thick with rumours that British humanitarianism was a +mere cloak to hide the greed of British merchants. Similar ideas are, it +would appear, now afloat at Lisbon. When men's pockets are touched they +are apt to become extremely suspicious of humanitarian intentions. Mr. +Wingfield, writing on August 17, 1912, said that the Portuguese +Government was not "convinced of the disinterestedness of all those who +criticise them," and he intimated that there were schemes on foot on the +part of British subjects to acquire "roças" in the islands "at very low +prices." It ought not to be difficult to convince the Portuguese +authorities that the agents employed by the Anti-Slavery Society are in +no way connected with any such projects.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> On the other hand, it would be +necessary that those agents should be very carefully chosen, that +besides being humanitarians they should have some knowledge of business, +and that they should enter upon their inquiry in a spirit of fairness, +and not with any preconceived intention to push to an extreme any +suspicions they may entertain of Portuguese acts and intentions. It is +suggested that the adoption of some such mode of proceeding as is here +indicated is worthy of consideration. The Foreign Office might very +properly act as an intermediary to bring the two parties together.</p> + +<p>Finally, before leaving this branch of the subject, it is to be observed +that the difficulty of obtaining free labour has occurred elsewhere than +in the Portuguese possessions. It has generally admitted, at all events, +of a partial solution if the labourers are well treated and adequately +paid. Portuguese experience points to a similar conclusion. Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 23, 1912, quotes the report of the +manager of the Lobito railway, in which the latter, after stating that +he has had no difficulty in obtaining all the labour he has required, +adds, "I attribute the facility in obtaining so large a supply of +labour, relatively cheaply, to the good food we supply them with, and +chiefly to the regularity with which payments in cash are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> effected, and +also to the justice with which they are treated."</p> + +<p>The question of repatriation remains to be treated. It must, of course, +be remembered that repatriation is an act of justice to the men already +enslaved, but that, by itself, it does little or nothing towards solving +the main difficulties of the slavery problem. Mr. Wingfield, writing to +Sir Edward Grey on August 24, 1912, relates a conversation he had had +with Senhor Vasconcellos. "His Excellency first observed that they were +generally subjected to severe criticism in England, and said to be +fostering slavery because they did not at once repatriate all natives +who had served the term of their original contracts. Now they were +blamed for the misfortunes which resulted from their endeavour to act as +England was always suggesting that they should act!" His Excellency made +what Parliamentarians would call a good debating point, but the +complaint is obviously more specious than real, for what people in +England expect is not merely that the slaves should, if they wish it, be +repatriated, but that the repatriation should be conducted under +reasonably humane conditions. For the purposes of the present argument +it is needless to inquire whether the ghastly story adopted by the +Anti-Slavery Society on the strength of a statement in a Portuguese +news<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>paper, but denied by the Portuguese Government, that the corpses of +fifty repatriated men who had died of starvation were at one time to be +seen lying about in the outskirts of Benguella, be true or false. +Independently of this incident, all the evidence goes to show that +Colonel Wyllie is saying no more than the truth when he writes: "To +repatriate, <i>i.e.</i> to dump on the African mainland without previous +arrangement for his reception, protection, or safe conduct over his +further route, an Angolan or hinterland 'serviçal' who has spent years +of his life in San Thomé, is not merely to sentence him to death, but to +execute that sentence with the shortest possible delay." It is against +this system that those interested in the subject in England protested. +The Portuguese Government appear now to have recognised the justice of +their protests, for they have recently adopted a plan somewhat similar +to that initiated by the late Lord Salisbury for dealing with immigrant +coolies from India. By an Order in Council dated October 17, 1912, it +has been provided that repatriated "serviçaes" should receive a grant of +land and should be set up, free of charge, with agricultural implements +and seeds. This is certainly a step in the right direction. It is as yet +too early to say how far the plan will succeed, but if it is honestly +carried out it ought to go far towards solving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> the repatriation +question. Mr. Smallbones would appear justified in claiming that it +"should be given a fair trial before more heroic measures are applied." +The repatriation fund, which appears, to say the least, to have been +very badly administered, ought, without difficulty, to be able to meet +the expenses which the adoption of this plan will entail.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXV</h2> + +<h3>ENGLAND AND ISLAM</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," August 23, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>Amidst the many important remarks made by Sir Edward Grey in his recent +Parliamentary statement on the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula, none +deserve greater attention than those which dealt with the duties and +responsibilities of England towards Mohammedans in general. It was, +indeed, high time that some clear and authoritative declaration of +principle on this important subject should be made by a Minister of the +Crown. We are constantly being reminded that King George V. is the +greatest Mohammedan ruler in the world, that some seventy millions of +his subjects in India are Moslems, and that the inhabitants of Egypt are +also, for the most part, followers of the Prophet of Arabia. It is not +infrequently maintained that it is a duty incumbent on Great Britain to +defend the interests and to secure the welfare of Moslems all over the +world because a very large number of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> co-religionists are British +subjects and reside in British territory. It is not at all surprising +that this claim should be advanced, but it is manifestly one which +cannot be admitted without very great and important qualifications. +Moreover, it is one which, from a European point of view, represents a +somewhat belated order of ideas. It is true that community of religion +constitutes the main bond of union between Russia and the population of +the Balkan Peninsula, but apart from the fact that no such community of +religious thought exists between Christian England and Moslem or Hindu +India, it is to be noted that, generally speaking, the tie of a common +creed, which played so important a part in European politics and +diplomacy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has now been +greatly weakened, even if it has not disappeared altogether. It has been +supplanted almost everywhere by the bond of nationality. No practical +politician would now argue that, if the Protestants of Holland or Sweden +had any special causes for complaint, a direct responsibility rested on +their co-religionists in Germany or England to see that those grievances +were redressed. No Roman Catholic nation would now advance a claim to +interfere in the affairs of Ireland on the ground that the majority of +the population of that country are Roman Catholics.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span></p> + +<p>This transformation of political thought and action has not yet taken +place in the East. It may be, as some competent observers are disposed +to think, that the principle of nationality is gaining ground in Eastern +countries, but it has certainly not as yet taken firm root. The bond +which holds Moslem societies together is still religious rather than +patriotic. Its binding strength has been greatly enhanced by two +circumstances. One is that Mecca is to the Moslem far more than +Jerusalem is to the Christian or to the Jew. From Delhi to Zanzibar, +from Constantinople to Java, every devout Moslem turns when he prays to +what Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole aptly calls the "cradle of his creed." The +other circumstance is that, although, as Mr. Hughes has said, "we have +not seen a single work of authority, nor met with a single man of +learning who has ever attempted to prove that the Sultans of Turkey are +rightful Caliphs," at the same time the spiritual authority usurped by +Selim I. is generally recognised throughout Islam, with the result not +only that unity of thought has been engendered amongst Moslems, but also +that religion has to a great extent been incorporated into politics, and +identified with the maintenance of a special form of government in a +portion of the Moslem world.</p> + +<p>The growth of the principle of nationality in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> those eastern countries +which are under western dominion might not inconceivably raise political +issues of considerable magnitude, but in the discussions which have from +time to time taken place on this subject the inconveniences and even +danger caused by the universality of a non-national bond based on +community of religion have perhaps been somewhat unduly neglected. These +inconveniences have, however, always existed. That the policy which led +to the Crimean War and generally the prolonged tension which existed +between England and Russia were due to the British connection with India +is universally recognised. It would be difficult to differentiate the +causes of that tension, and to say how far it was, on the one hand, due +to purely strategical considerations, or, on the other hand, to a desire +to meet the wishes and satisfy the aspirations of the many millions of +Moslems who are British subjects. Since, however, the general diplomatic +relations between England and Russia have, fortunately for both +countries, been placed on a footing of more assured confidence and +friendship than any which have existed for a long time past, strategical +considerations have greatly diminished in importance. The natural result +has been that the alternative plea for regarding Near Eastern affairs +from the point of view of Indian interests has acquired greater +prominence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> Those who have been closely in touch with the affairs of +the Near East, and have watched the gradual decay of Turkey, have for +some while past foreseen that the time was inevitably approaching when +British statesmen and the British nation would be forced by the +necessities of the situation to give a definite answer to the question +how far their diplomatic action in Europe would have to be governed by +the alleged obligation to conciliate Moslem opinion in India. That +question received, to a certain limited extent, a practical answer when +Bulgaria declared war on Turkey and when not a voice was raised in this +country to urge that the policy which dictated the Crimean War should be +rehabilitated.</p> + +<p>The answer, however, is not yet complete. England is now apparently +expected by many Moslems to separate herself from the Concert of Europe, +and not impossibly to imperil the peace of the world, in order that the +Turks should continue in occupation of Adrianople. The secretary of the +Punjab Moslem League has informed us through the medium of the press +that unless this is done the efforts of the extreme Indian Nationalists +to secure the sympathies of Mohammedans in India "will meet with growing +success."</p> + +<p>It was in reality to this challenge that Sir Edward Grey replied. His +answer was decisive,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> and left no manner of doubt as to the policy which +the British Government intends to pursue. It will almost certainly meet +with well-nigh universal approval in this country. After explaining that +the racial sentiments and religious feelings of Moslem subjects of the +Crown would be respected and have full scope, that British policy would +never be one of intolerance or wanton and unprovoked aggression against +a Mohammedan Power, and that the British Government would never join in +any outrage on Mohammedan feelings and sentiments in any part of the +world, Sir Edward Grey added, "We cannot undertake the duty of +protecting Mohammedan Powers outside the British dominions from the +consequences of their own action.... To suppose that we can undertake +the protection of and are bound to regulate our European policy so as to +side with a Mussulman Power when that Mussulman Power rejects the advice +given to it, that is not a claim we can admit."</p> + +<p>These are wise words, and it is greatly to be hoped that not only the +Moslems of Turkey, but also those inhabiting other countries, will read, +mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. Notably, the Moslems of India +should recognise that, with the collapse of Turkish power in Europe, a +new order of things has arisen, that the change which the attitude of +England towards Turkey has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> undergone is the necessary consequence of +that collapse, and that it does not in the smallest degree connote +unfriendliness to Islam. In fact, they must now endeavour to separate +Islamism from politics. With the single exception of the occupation of +Cyprus, which, as Lord Goschen very truly said at the time, "prevented +British Ambassadors from showing 'clean hands' to the Sultan in proof of +the unselfishness of British action," the policy of England in the Near +East has been actuated, ever since the close of the Napoleonic wars, by +a sincere and wholly disinterested desire to save Turkish statesmen from +the consequences of their own folly. In this cause no effort has been +spared, even to the shedding of the best blood of England. All has been +in vain. History does not relate a more striking instance of the truth +of the old Latin saying that self-deception is the first step on the +road to ruin. Advice tendered in the best interests of the Ottoman +Empire has been persistently rejected. The Turks, who have always been +strangers in Europe, have shown conspicuous inability to comply with the +elementary requirements of European civilisation, and have at last +failed to maintain that military efficiency which has, from the days +when they crossed the Bosphorus, been the sole mainstay of their power +and position. It is, as Sir Edward Grey pointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> out, unreasonable to +expect that we should now save them from the consequences of their own +action. Whether Moslems all over the world will or should still continue +to regard the Sultan of Turkey as their spiritual head is a matter on +which it would be presumptuous for a Christian to offer any opinion, but +however this may be, Indian Moslems would do well to recognise the fact +that circumstances, and not the hostility of Great Britain or of any +other foreign Power, have materially altered the position of the Sultan +in so far as the world of politics and diplomacy is concerned. Whether +the statesman in whose hands the destinies of Turkey now lie at once +abandon Adrianople, or whether they continue to remain there for a time +with the certainty that they will be sowing the seeds of further +bloodshed in the near future, one thing is certain. It is that the days +of Turkey as an European Power are numbered. Asia must henceforth be her +sphere of action.</p> + +<p>That these truths should be unpalatable to Indian Moslems is but +natural; neither is it possible to withhold some sympathy from them in +the distress which they must now feel at the partial wreck of the most +important Moslem State which the world has yet seen. But facts, however +distasteful, have to be faced, and it would be truly deplorable if the +non-recognition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> of those facts should lead our Moslem fellow-subjects +in India to resent the action of the British Government and to adopt a +line of conduct from which they have nothing to gain and everything to +lose. But whatever that line of conduct may be, the duty of the British +Government and nation is clear. Their European policy, whilst allowing +all due weight to Indian interests and sentiment, must in the main be +guided by general considerations based on the necessities of civilised +progress throughout the world, and on the interests and welfare of the +British Empire as a whole. The idea that that policy should be diverted +from its course in order to subserve the cause of a single Moslem Power +which has rejected British advice is, as Sir Edward Grey very rightly +remarked, wholly inadmissible.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXVI</h2> + +<h3>SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," August 30, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>In spite of the optimism at times displayed in dealing with Indian +affairs, which may be justified on grounds which are often, to say the +least, plausible, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the general +condition of India gives cause for serious reflection, if not for grave +anxiety. We are told on all sides that the East is rapidly awakening +from its torpid slumbers—even to the extent of forgetting that +characteristically Oriental habit of thought embodied in the Arabic +proverb, "Slowness is from God, hurry from the Devil." If this be so, we +must expect that, year by year, problems of ever-increasing complexity +will arise which will tax to the utmost the statesmanship of those +Western nations who are most brought in contact with Eastern peoples.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> +In these circumstances, it is specially desirable that the different +points of view from which Indian questions may be regarded should be +laid before the British public by representatives of various schools of +thought. But a short time ago a very able Socialist member of Parliament +(Mr. Ramsay MacDonald) gave to the world the impressions he had derived +whilst he was "careering over the plains of Rajputana," and paying +hurried visits to other parts of India. His views, although manifestly +in some degree the result of preconceived opinions, and somewhat tainted +with the dogmatism which is characteristic of the political school of +thought to which he belongs, exhibit at the same time habits of acute +observation and powers of rapid—sometimes unduly rapid—generalisation. +Neither are they, on the whole, so prejudiced as might have been +expected from the antecedents and political connections of the author. +More recently we have had in a work written by Mr. Mallik, which was +lately reviewed in these columns, a striking specimen of one of those +pernicious by-products which are the natural and unavoidable outcome of +Eastern and Western contact. We have now to deal with a work of a very +different type. Many of the very difficult problems which Mr. Mitra +discusses in his interesting series of <i>Anglo-Indian Studies</i> open up a +wide field for differences<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> of opinion, but whatever views may be +entertained about them, all must recognise not only that no kind of +exception can be taken to the general spirit in which Mr. Mitra +approaches Indian subjects, but also that his observations are the +result of deep reflection, and of an honest endeavour to improve rather +than exacerbate racial relations. His remarks are, therefore, well +worthy of consideration.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mitra shows a perfectly legitimate pride in the past history of his +country. He tells us how Hindu international lawyers anticipated Grotius +by some thirty centuries, how the Mahabharata embodies many of the +principles adopted by the Hague Conference, how India preceded Europe in +her knowledge of all the arts and sciences, even including that of +medicine, and how "Hindu drama was in its heyday before the theatres of +England, France, or Spain could be said to exist." But Mr. Mitra's +ardent patriotism does not blind him to the realities of the present +situation. A very intelligent Frenchman, M. Paul Boell, who visited +India a few years ago, came to the conclusion that the real Indian +question was not whether the English were justified in staying in the +country, but whether they could find any moral justification for +withdrawing from it. Mr. Mitra arrives at much the same conclusion as M. +Boell. "If the English were to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> withdraw from India to-morrow," he says, +"I fear that, notwithstanding all the peace precepts of our Mahabharata, +and in spite of the stupendous philosophy and so-called fatalism of the +Hindus, our Maharajahs would speedily be at each other's throats, as +they were before the <i>pax Britannica</i> was established there." Moreover, +he asserts a principle of vital importance, which is but too often +ignored by his countrymen, and even at times by those who sympathise +with them in England. "Education and knowledge," he says, "can be pumped +into the student, but there is no royal road for instruction in +'capacity of management.' A Clive, with inferior education, may be a +better manager of men or of an industrial concern than the most learned +student." In other words, character rather than intellect is the +foundation not only of national but also of individual greatness—a +profound truth which is brought home every day to those who are engaged +in the actual management of public affairs, especially in the East. Mr. +Mitra, moreover, makes various praiseworthy efforts to dispel certain +illusions frequently nourished by some of his countrymen, and to +diminish the width of the religious gulf which separates the rulers from +the ruled. He quotes with approval Sir Rajendra Mookerjee's complete, +albeit facile, exposure of the fallacy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> dear to the hearts of many +Indian press writers and platform speakers, that Indian interests suffer +by the introduction of British capital into India. "It is wise," Sir +Rajendra said, "to allow British capitalists to interest themselves in +our industries and thus take an active part in their development." He +prefers to dwell on the points of similarity which unite rather than on +the differences which separate Hinduism and Christianity. "The two +religions," he says, "have so much in common when one gets down to +essentials that it seems to me this ought to furnish a great bond of +sympathy between the two peoples," and he urges that "every attempt +should be made to utilise the Hindu University to remove the spirit of +segregation which unquestionably exists between the Christian Government +in India and its Hindu subjects, and thus pave the way to harmonious +co-operation between the Aryan rulers and the ruled in India."</p> + +<p>It will be as well, however, to turn from these points to what Mr. Mitra +considers the shortcomings of the British Government. He is not sparing +in his criticisms. He freely admits that British statesmen have devoted +their energies to improving the conditions of the masses, but he adds, +and it must be sorrowfully admitted that he is justified in adding, +"Material advantages set forth in dry statistics have never made a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +nation enthusiastically loyal to the Government." He urges that, +especially in dealing with a population the vast majority of which is +illiterate, "it is the <i>human element</i> that counts most in Imperialism, +far more than the dry bones of political economy." In an interesting +chapter of his book entitled <i>British Statesmanship and Indian +Psychology</i>, he asks the very pertinent question, "What does loyalty +mean to the Indian, whether Moslem or Hindu?" The answer which he gives +to this question is that when the idea of loyalty is brought before the +native of India, "it comes in most cases with a jerk, and quickly +disappears." The reason for its disappearance is that no bond of +fellowship has been established between the rulers and the ruled, that +the native of India is not made to feel that "he has any real part in +England's greatness," that the influence and high position of the native +Princes receive inadequate recognition, and that no scope is offered to +the military ambition of the citizens of the Indian Empire. "Under the +Crescent, the Hindu has been Commander of a Brigade; under the Union +Jack, even after a century, he sees no likelihood of rising as high as a +little subaltern."</p> + +<p>There is, of course, nothing very new in all this. It has been pointed +out over and over again by all who have considered Indian or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> Egyptian +problems seriously that the creation of some sort of rather spurious +patriotism when all the elements out of which patriotism naturally grows +are wanting, is rather like searching for the philosopher's stone. At +the same time, when so sympathetic a critic as Mr. Mitra bids us study +the "psychological traits" of Indian character, it is certainly worth +while to inquire whether all that is possible has been done in the way +of evoking sentiments of loyalty based on considerations which lie +outside the domain of material advantage. The most imaginative British +statesman of recent years has been Lord Beaconsfield. Himself a +quasi-Oriental, he grasped the idea that it would be possible to appeal +to the imagination of other Orientals. The laughter which was to some +extent provoked when, at his suggestion, Queen Victoria assumed the +title of Empress of India has now died away, and it is generally +recognised, even by those who are not on other grounds disposed to +indulge in any exaggerated worship of the primrose, that in this respect +Lord Beaconsfield performed an act dictated by true statesmanship. He +appealed to those personal and monarchical sentiments which, to a far +greater extent than democratic ideas, dominate the minds of Easterns. +The somewhat lavish expenditure incurred in connection with the King's +recent visit to India may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> justified on similar grounds. Following +generally the same order of ideas, Mr. Mitra has some further +suggestions to make. The question of opening some field to the very +natural aspirations of the martial races and classes of India presents, +indeed, very great practical difficulties which it would be impossible +to discuss adequately on the present occasion. All that can be said is +that, although the well-intentioned efforts so far made to solve this +thorny problem do not appear to have met with all the success they +deserve, it is one which should earnestly engage the attention of the +Government in the hope that some practical and unobjectionable solution +may eventually be found. Mr. Mitra, however, draws attention to other +cognate points which would certainly appear to merit attention. "The +first thing," he says, "necessary to rouse Indian sentiment is to give +India a flag of her own." He points out that Canada, Australia, South +Africa, and some of the West Indian islands have flags of their own, and +he asks why, without in any way serving as a symbol of separation, India +should not be similarly treated? Then, again, he remarks—and it would +be well if some of our Parliamentarians took careful note of the +observation—that "British statesmen, in their zeal for introducing +their democratic system of government into India, forget that India is +pre-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>eminently an aristocratic land." This appreciation of the Indian +situation formed the basis of the political system favoured by no less +an authority than Sir Henry Lawrence, and stood in marked contrast to +that advocated by his no less distinguished brother, Lord Lawrence. Mr. +Mitra, therefore, suggests that a certain number of ruling princes or +their heirs-apparent should be allowed to sit in a reformed House of +Lords. "Canada," Lord Meath said some years ago, "is already represented +in the House of Lords," and he pertinently asked, "Why should not India +also have her peers in that assembly?" The particular proposal made by +Mr. Mitra in this connection may possibly be open to some objections, +but the general principle which he advocates, as also the suggestion +that a special flag should be devised for India, would certainly appear +to be well worthy of consideration.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to turn to the view entertained by Mr. Mitra on the +recent transfer of the seat of Government from Calcutta to Delhi. He +manifestly does not regard that transfer with any degree of favour. +Moreover, he thinks that from the point of view of the stability of +British rule, a great mistake has been made. Delhi, he says, has "for +centuries symbolised Moslem-Hindu collective sentiment." He assumes that +it is the object of British statesmanship to prevent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> any union between +Moslems and Hindus, and that the recent transfer will go far to cement +that union. "In transferring the capital to the old centre of Indian +Imperialism, England has, in a flash, aroused memories to a degree that +thousands of demagogues and agitators would not have done in a century." +He holds, therefore, that the action of British statesmen in this +respect may not improbably "produce the reverse of the result they +intended." The question of whether it was or was not wise to transfer +the seat of Government to Delhi is one on which differences of opinion +may well exist, but Mr. Mitra is in error in supposing that either the +British nation collectively or British statesmen individually have ever +proceeded so far on the <i>divide et impera</i> principle as to endeavour in +their own interests to foster and perpetuate racial and religious +animosities. On the contrary, although they have accepted as a fact that +those animosities exist, and although they have at times been obliged to +interfere with a view to preventing one race or religion infringing the +rights and liberties of others, they have persistently done their best +to allay discord and sectarian strife. In spite of Mr. Mitra's obvious +and honourable attempts to preserve an attitude of judicial +impartiality, it is conceivable that in this instance he may, as a +Hindu, have allowed himself to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> unconsciously influenced by fear +that, in transferring the capital to a Moslem centre, the British +Government has, in his own words, "placed itself more within the sway of +Moslem influence than the authorities would care to admit."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mitra alludes to several important points of detail, such, for +instance, as the proposal to establish a port at Cochin, which he fears +"may be allowed to perish in the coils of official routine," and the +suggestion made by Sir Rajendra Mookerjee that by a reduction of railway +freights from the mines in the Central Provinces to the port the trade +in manganese might be encouraged. It is to be hoped that these and some +other similar points will receive due attention from the Indian +authorities. Sufficient has been said to justify the opinion that Mr. +Mitra's thoughtful work is a valuable contribution to Indian literature, +and will well repay perusal by all who are interested in the solution of +existing Indian problems.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator" September 13, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>It has happened to most of the great actors on the world's stage that +their posthumous fame has undergone many vicissitudes. <i>Laudatur ab his, +culpatur ab illis.</i> They have at times been eulogised or depreciated by +partisan historians who have searched eagerly the records of the past +with a view to eliciting facts and arguments to support the political +views they have severally entertained as regards the present. Even when +no such incentive has existed, the temptation to adopt a novel view of +some celebrated man or woman whose character and career have floated +down the tide of history cast in a conventional mould has occasionally +proved highly attractive from a mere literary point of view. The process +of whitewashing the bad characters of history<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> may almost be said to +have established itself as a fashion.</p> + +<p>A similar fate has attended the historians who have recorded the deeds +of the world's principal actors. A few cases, of which perhaps Ranke is +the most conspicuous, may indeed be cited of historical writers whose +reputations are built on foundations so solid and so impervious to +attack as to defy criticism. But it has more usually happened, as in the +case of Macaulay, that eminent historians have passed through various +phases of repute. The accuracy of their facts, the justice of their +conclusions, their powers of correct generalisation, and the merits or +demerits of their literary style have all been brought into court, with +the result that attention has often been to a great extent diverted from +history to the personality of the historians, and that the verdict +pronounced has varied according to the special qualities the display of +which were for the time being uppermost in the public mind.</p> + +<p>No recent writer of history has experienced these vicissitudes to a +greater extent than the illustrious author of <i>Les Origines de la France +contemporaine</i>. That Taine should evoke the enthusiasm of any particular +school of politicians, and still less the partisans of any particular +régime in France, was from the very outset<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> obviously impossible. When +we read his account of the <i>ancien régime</i> we think we are listening to +the voice of a calm but convinced republican or constitutionalist. When +we note his scathing exposure of the criminal folly and ineptitude of +the Jacobins we remain momentarily under the impression that we are +being guided by a writer imbued with strong conservative or even +monarchical sympathies. The iconoclast both of the revolutionary and of +the Napoleonic legends chills alike the heart of the worshippers at +either shrine. A writer who announces in the preface of his work that +the only conclusion at which he is able to arrive, after a profound +study of the most interesting and stormy period of modern history, is +that the government of human beings is an extremely difficult task, will +look in vain for sympathy from all who have adopted any special theory +as to the best way in which that task should be accomplished. Yet, in +spite of Taine's political nihilism, it would be a grave error to +suppose that he has no general principle to enounce, or no plan of +government to propound. Such is far from being the case. Though no +politician, he was a profoundly analytical psychologist. M. Le Bon, in +his brilliant treatise on the psychological laws which govern national +development, says, "Dans toutes manifestations de la vie d'une nation, +nous retrouvons toujours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> l'âme immuable de la race tissant son propre +destin." The commonplace method of stating the same proposition is to +say that every nation gets the government it deserves. This, in fact, is +the gospel which Taine had to preach. He thought, in Lady +Blennerhassett's words, that it was "the underlying characteristics of a +people; and not their franchise, which determines their Constitution."</p> + +<p>After having enjoyed for long a high reputation amongst non-partisan +students of revolutionary history, Taine's claim to rank as an historian +of the first order has of late been vigorously assailed by a school of +writers, of whom M. Aulard is probably the best known and the most +distinguished. They impugn his authority, and even go so far as to +maintain that his historical testimony is of little or no value. How far +is this view justified? The question is one of real interest to the +historical student, whatsoever may be his nationality, and it is, +perhaps, for more than one reason, of special interest to Englishmen. In +the first place, Taine's method of writing history is eminently +calculated to commend itself to English readers. His mind was eminently +objective. He avoided those brilliant and often somewhat specious <i>a +priori</i> generalisations in which even the best French authors are at +times prone to indulge. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> process of reasoning was strictly +inductive. He only drew conclusions when he had laid an elaborate +foundation of facts on which they could be based. The spirit in which he +wrote was more Teutonic than Latin. Again, in the absence of any really +complete English history of the French Revolution—for Carlyle's +rhapsody, in spite of its unquestionable merits, can scarcely be held to +supply the want—most Englishmen have been accustomed to think that, +with De Tocqueville and Taine as their guides, they would be able to +secure an adequate grasp both of the history of the revolutionary period +and of the main political lessons which that history tends to inculcate.</p> + +<p>In a very interesting essay published in Lady Blennerhassett's recent +work, entitled <i>Sidelights</i>, which has been admirably translated into +English by Mrs. Gülcher, she deals with the subject now under +discussion. No one could be more fitted to cope with the task. Lady +Blennerhassett's previous contributions to literature, her encyclopaedic +knowledge of historical facts, and her thorough grasp of the main +political, religious, and economic considerations which moved the hearts +and influenced the actions of men during the revolutionary convulsion +give her a claim, which none will dare to dispute, to speak with +authority on this subject. Those who have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> heretofore looked for +guidance to Taine will, therefore, rejoice to note that she is able to +vindicate his reputation as an historian. "The six volumes of the +<i>Origines</i>," she says, "are, like other human works, not free from +errors and exaggerations, but in all essentials their author has proved +himself right, and his singular merit remains."</p> + +<p>As the most suitable illustration of Taine's historical methods Lady +Blennerhassett selects his study of Napoleon. That, she thinks, is "the +severest test of the author's skill." Taine did not, like Fournier and +others, attempt to write a history of Napoleonic facts. The strategical +and tactical genius which enabled Napoleon to sweep across Europe and to +crush Austria and Prussia on the fields of Austerlitz and Jena had no +attraction for him. He wrote a history of ideas. True to his own +psychological habit of thought, he endeavoured to "reconstruct the +figure of Napoleon on psychological and physiological lines." The +justification of this method is to be found in the fact, the truth of +which cannot be gainsaid, that a right estimate of the character of +Napoleon affords one of the principal keys to the true comprehension of +European history for a period of some twenty stirring years. History, +Lord Acton said, "is often made by energetic men steadfastly following +ideas, mostly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> wrong, that determine events." Napoleon is a case in +point. "The man in Napoleon explains his work." But what were the ideas +of this remarkable man, and were those ideas "mostly wrong"?</p> + +<p>His main idea was certainly to satisfy his personal ambition. "Ma +maîtresse," he said, "c'est le pouvoir," and in 1811, when, although he +knew it not, his star was about to wane, he said to the Bavarian General +Wrede, "In three years I shall be master of the universe." He was not +deterred by any love of country, for it should never be forgotten that, +as Lady Blennerhassett says, "this French Caesar was not a Frenchman." +Whatever patriotic feelings moved in his breast were not French but +Corsican. He never even thoroughly mastered the French language, and his +mother spoke not only bad French, but bad Italian. Her natural language, +Masson tells us, was the Corsican <i>patois</i>. In order to gratify his +ambition, all considerations based on morality were cast to the winds. +"I am not like any other man," he told Madame de Rémusat; "the laws of +morality and decorum do not apply to me." Acting on this principle he +did not hesitate to plunge the world into a series of wars. <i>Saevit toto +Mars impius orbe.</i></p> + +<p>The other fundamental idea which dominated the whole of Napoleon's +conduct was based on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> Voltaire's cynical dictum, "Quand les hommes +s'attroupent, leurs oreilles s'allongent." He was a total disbeliever in +the wisdom or intelligence of corporate bodies. Therefore, as he told +Sir Henry Keating at St. Helena, "It is necessary always to talk of +liberty, equality, justice, and disinterestedness, and never to grant +any liberty whatever." Low as was his opinion of human intelligence, his +estimate of human honesty was still lower. Mr. Lecky, speaking of +Napoleon's relations with Madame de Staël, says: "A perfectly honest man +was the only kind of man he could never understand. Such a man perplexed +and baffled his calculations, acting on them as the sign of the cross +acts on the machinations of a demon." In his callow youth he had +coquetted with ultra-Liberal ideas. He had even written an essay in +which he expressed warm admiration for Algernon Sidney as an "enemy to +monarchies, princes, and nobles," and added that "there are few kings +who have not deserved to be dethroned." These ideas soon vanished. He +became the incarnation of ruthless but highly intelligent despotism. The +reputation acquired at Marengo gave him the authority which was +necessary as a preliminary to decisive action, and albeit, if all +accounts are true, he lost his head at the most important crisis of his +career and owed success to the firmness of that Sieyès whom he +scornfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> called an "idéologue" and a "faiseur de constitutions," +nevertheless on the 18th Brumaire he was able to make captive a tired +nation which pined for peace, and little recked that it was handing over +its destinies to the most ardent devotee of the god of war that the +world has ever known.</p> + +<p>Once seated firmly in his saddle Napoleon proceeded to centralise the +whole French administration, and to establish a régime as despotic as +that of any of the hereditary monarchs who had preceded him. But it was +a despotism of a very different type from theirs. Theirs was stupid, and +excited the jealousy and hatred of almost every class. His was +intelligent and appealed both to the imagination and to the material +interests of every individual Frenchman. Theirs was based on privilege; +his on absolute equality. "About Napoleon's throne," Lady Blennerhassett +says, "were gathered Girondists and Jacobins, Royalists and +Thermidorians, Plebeians and the one-time Knights of the Holy Ghost, +Roman Catholics and Voltaireans. Kitchen lads became marshals; Drouet, +the postmaster of Varennes, became Under-Secretary of State; Fouché, the +torturer and wholesale murderer, a duke; the Suabian candidate for the +Lutheran Ministry, Reinhard, was appointed an Imperial Ambassador; +Murat, son of an innkeeper, a king."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span></p> + +<p>Death, it has been truly said, is the real measure of greatness. What +now remains of the stupendous fabric erected by Napoleon? "Of the work +of the Conqueror," Lady Blennerhassett says, "not one stone remains upon +another." As regards the internal reconstruction of France, the case is +very different. All inquirers are agreed that Napoleon's work endures. +Taine said that "the machinery of the year VIII." still remains. Mr. +Fisher, in his work on <i>Napoleonic Statesmanship</i>, says that Napoleon +"created a bureaucracy more competent, active, and enlightened than any +which Europe had seen." Mr. Bodley bears similar testimony. "The whole +centralised administration of France, which, in its stability, has +survived every political crisis, was the creation of Napoleon and the +keystone of his fabric."</p> + +<p>Napoleon's administrative creations may, indeed, be criticised from many +points of view. Notably, it may be said that, if he did not initiate, he +stimulated that excessive "fonctionnarisme" which is often regarded as +the main defect of the French system. But his creations were adapted to +the special character and genius of the nation over which he ruled. His +main title-deed to enduring fame is that, for good or evil, he +constructed an edifice which, in its main features, has lasted to this +day, which shows no signs of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> decay, and which has exercised a +predominant influence on the administration and judicial systems of +neighbouring countries. Neither the system itself nor the history of its +creation can be thoroughly understood without a correct appreciation of +the character and political creed of its founder. It is this +consideration which affords an ample justification of the special method +adopted by Taine in dealing with the history of the Napoleonic period.</p> + +<p>Nothing illustrates Napoleon's character more clearly than the numerous +<i>ana</i> which may be culled from the pages of Madame de Rémusat, Masson, +Beugnot, Rœderer, and others. Of these, some are reproduced by Lady +Blennerhassett. The writer of the present article was informed on good +authority of the following Napoleonic anecdote. It is related that +Napoleon ordered from Bréguet, the famous Paris watchmaker, a watch for +his brother Joseph, who was at the time King of Spain. The back was of +blue enamel decorated with the letter J in diamonds. In 1813 Napoleon +was present at a military parade when a messenger arrived bearing a +brief despatch, in which it was stated that the French army had been +completely defeated at Vittoria. It was manifest that Spain was lost. +Always severely practical, all that Napoleon did, after glancing at the +despatch, was to turn to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> secretary and say, "Write to Bréguet and +tell him that I shall not want that watch." It is believed that the +watch was eventually bought by the Duke of Wellington.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," September 13, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>All historians are agreed that contemporary ballads and broadsheets +constitute a priceless storehouse from which to draw a picture of the +society existing at the period whose history they seek to relate. Some +of those which have survived to become generally known to later ages +show such poverty of imagination and such total absence of literary +merit as to evoke the surprise of posterity at the ephemeral success +which they unquestionably achieved. An instance in point is the +celebrated poem "Lillibullero," or, as it is sometimes written, "Lilli +Burlero." Here is the final stanza of the pitiful doggerel with which +Wharton boasted that he had "sung a king out of three kingdoms":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There was an old prophecy found in a bog:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ireland shall be ruled by an ass and a dog;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now this prophecy is come to pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Talbot's the dog, and James is the ass.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Doggerel as this was, it survived the special occasion for which it was +written. When Queen Anne's reign was well advanced balladmongers were +singing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So God bless the Queen and the House of Hanover,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never may Pope or Pretender come over.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If the song is still remembered by other than historical students, it is +probably more because Uncle Toby, when he was hard pressed in argument, +"had accustomed himself, in such attacks, to whistle Lillibullero," than +for any other reason.</p> + +<p>But whether it be doggerel or dignified verse, popular poetry almost +invariably possesses one great merit. When we read the outpourings of +the seventeenth and eighteenth century poets to the innumerable Julias, +Sacharissas, and Celias whom they celebrated in verse, we cannot but +feel that we are often in contact with a display of spurious passion +which is the outcome of the head rather than of the heart. Thus Johnson +tells us that Prior's Chloe "was probably sometimes ideal, but the woman +with whom he cohabited was a despicable drab of the lowest species." The +case of popular and patriotic poetry is very different. It is wholly +devoid of affectation. Whatever be its literary merits or demerits, it +always represents some genuine and usually deep-rooted conviction. It +enables us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> to gauge the national aspirations of the day, and to +estimate the character of the nation whose yearnings found expression in +song. The following lines—written by Bishop Still, the reputed author +of "Gammer Gurton's Needle"—very faithfully represent the feelings +excited in England at the time of the Spanish Armada:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We will not change our Credo<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For Pope, nor boke, nor bell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And yf the Devil come himself<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We'll hounde him back to hell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The fiery Protestant spirit which is breathed forth in these lines found +its counterpart in Germany. Luther, at a somewhat earlier period, wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Und steur des Papsts und Türken Mord.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Take again the case of French Revolutionary poetry. The noble, as also +the ignoble, sides of that vast upheaval were alike represented in the +current popular poetry of the day. Posterity has no difficulty in +understanding why the whole French nation was thrilled by Rouget de +Lisle's famous song, to whose lofty strains the young conscripts rushed +to the frontier in order to hurl back the invaders of their country. On +the other hand, the ferocity of the period found expression in such +lines as:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Les aristocrates à la lanterne,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>which was composed by one Ladré, a street singer, or in the savage +"Carmagnole," a name originally applied to a peasant costume worn in the +Piedmontese town of Carmagnola, and afterwards adopted by the Maenads +and Bacchanals, who sang and danced in frenzied joy over the judicial +murder of poor "Monsieur et Madame Véto."</p> + +<p>The light-hearted and characteristically Latin buoyancy of the French +nation, which they have inherited from the days of that fifth-century +Gaulish bishop (Salvianus) who said that the Roman world was laughing +when it died ("moritur et ridet"), and which has stood them in good +stead in many an arduous trial, is also fully represented in their +national poetry. No other people, after such a crushing defeat as that +incurred at Pavia, would have been convulsed with laughter over the +innumerable stanzas which have immortalised their slain commander, M. de +la Palisse:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Il mourut le vendredi,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Le dernier jour de son âge;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">S'il fut mort le samedi,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Il eût vécu davantage.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inchoate national aspirations, as also the grave and resolute +patriotism of the Germans, found interpreters of genius in the persons +of Arndt and Körner, the latter of whom laid down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> his life for the +people whom he loved so well. During the Napoleonic period all their +compositions, many of which will live so long as the German language +lasts, strike the same note—the determination of Germans to be free:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Lasst klingen, was nur klingen kann,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Trommeln und die Flöten!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wir wollen heute Mann für Mann<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mit Blut das Eisen röten.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mit Henkerblut, Französenblut—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O süsser Tag der Rache!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Das klinget allen Deutschen gut,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das ist die grosse Sache.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Some six decades later, when Arndt's famous question "Was ist das +deutsche Vaterland?" was about to receive a practical answer, the German +soldier marched to the frontier to the inspiriting strains of "Die Wacht +am Rhein."</p> + +<p>No more characteristic national poetry was ever written than that evoked +by the civil war which raged in America some fifty years ago. Those who, +like the present writer, were witnesses on the spot of some portion of +that great struggle, are never likely to forget the different +impressions left on their minds by the poetry respectively of the North +and of the South. The pathetic song of the Southerners, "Maryland, my +Maryland," which was composed by Mr. T.R. Randall,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> appeared, even +whilst the contest was still undecided, to embody the plaintive wail of +a doomed cause, and stood in strong contrast to the aggressive and +almost rollicking vigour of "John Brown's Body" and "The Union for ever, +Hurrah, boys, Hurrah!"</p> + +<p>Even a nation so little distinguished in literature as the Ottoman Turks +is able, under the stress of genuine patriotism, to embody its hopes and +aspirations in stirring verse. The following, which was written during +the last Russo-Turkish war, suffers in translation. Its rhythm and +heroic, albeit savage, vigour may perhaps even be appreciated by those +who are not familiar with the language in which it is written:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Achalum sanjaklari!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ghechelim Balkanlari!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allah! Allah! deyerek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dushman kanin' ichelim!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Padishahmiz chok yasha!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ghazi Osman chok yasha!<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Let us now turn to Italy and Greece, the nations from which modern +Europe inherits most of its ideas, and which have furnished the greater +part of the models in which those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span> ideas are expressed, whether in prose +or in verse.</p> + +<p>Although lines from Virgil, who may almost be said to have created Roman +Imperialism, have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, it is +probable that in his day no popular poetry, in the sense in which we +should understand the word, existed. But there is something extremely +pathetic—more especially in the days when the Empire was hastening to +its ruin—in the feeling, little short of adoration, which the Latin +poets showed to the city of Rome, and in the overweening confidence +which they evinced in the stability of Roman rule. This feeling runs +through the whole of Latin literature from the days of Ovid and Virgil +to the fifth-century Rutilius, who was the last of the classic poets. +Virgil speaks of Rome as "the mistress of the world" (maxima rerum +Roma). Claudian deified Rome, "O numen amicum et legum genetrix," and +Rutilius wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Inter sidereos Roma recepta polos,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exaudi, genetrix hominum, genetrixque deorum,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Modern Italians have made ample amends for any lack of purely popular +poetry which may have prevailed in the days of their ancestors. It +would, indeed, have been strange if the enthusiasm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> for liberty which +arose in the ranks of a highly gifted and emotional nation such as the +Italians had not found expression in song. When the proper time came, +Giusti, Carducci, Mameli, Gordigiani, and scores of others voiced the +patriotic sentiments of their countrymen. They all dwelt on the theme +embodied in the stirring Garibaldian hymn:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Va fuori d'Italia!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Va fuori, o stranier!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It will suffice to quote, as an example of the rest, one stanza from an +"Inno di Guerra" chosen at random from a collection of popular poetry +published at Turin in 1863:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Coraggio ... All' armi, all' armi,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O fanti e cavalieri,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Snudiamo ardenti e fieri,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Snudiam l'invitto acciar!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Dall' Umbria mesto e oppresso<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ci chiama il pio fratello,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Rispondasi all' appello,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Corriamo a guerreggiar!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The cramping isolation of the city-states of ancient Greece arrested the +growth of Hellenic nationalism, and therefore precluded the birth of any +genuinely nationalist poetry. But it only required the occasion to arise +in order to give birth to patriotic song. Such an occasion was furnished +when, under the pressing danger of Asiatic invasion, some degree of +Hellenic unity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span> and cohesion was temporarily achieved. Then the tuneful +Simonides recorded the raising of an altar to "Zeus, the free man's god, +a fair token of freedom for Hellas."</p> + +<p>In more modern times the long struggle for Greek independence produced a +crop of poets who, if they could not emulate the dignity and linguistic +elegance of their predecessors, were none the less able to express their +national aspirations in rugged but withal very tuneful verse which went +straight to the hearts of their countrymen. The Klephtic ballads played +a very important part in rousing the Greek spirit during the +Graeco-Turkish war at the beginning of the last century. The fine ode of +the Zantiote Solomos has been adopted as the national anthem, whilst the +poetry of another Ionian, Aristotle Valaorites, and of numerous others +glows with genuine and perfervid patriotism. But perhaps the greatest +nationalist poet that modern Greece has produced was Rhigas Pheraios, +who, as proto-martyr in the Greek cause, was executed by the Turks in +1798, with the prophecy on his dying lips that he had "sown a rich seed, +and that the hour was coming when his country would reap its glorious +fruits." His Greek Marseillaise (Δεύτε παῖδες τῶν Ἑλλήνων) is +known to Englishmen through Byron's translation, "Sons of the Greeks, +arise, etc." But the glorious lilt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> and swing of his <i>Polemisterion</i>, +though probably familiar to every child in Greece, is less known in this +country. The lines,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">καλλίτερα μιᾶς ὥρας ἐλευθέρη ζωή,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">παρὰ σαράντα χρόνων σκλαβιὰ καὶ φυλακή,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>recall to the mind Tennyson's</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span></p> +<h2>XXIX</h2> + +<h3>SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY</h3> + +<h4><i>"The Spectator," September 20, 1913</i></h4> + + +<p>A British Aeschylus, were such a person conceivable, might very fitly +tell his countrymen, in the words addressed to Prometheus some +twenty-three centuries ago, that they would find no friend more staunch +than Oceanus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">οὐ γὰρ ποτ' ἐρεῖς ὡς Ὠκεανοῦ<br /></span> +<span class="i2">φίλος ἐστὶ βεβαιότερός σοι.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In truth, the whole national life of England is summed up in the fine +lines of Swinburne:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All our past comes wailing in the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all our future thunders in the sea.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The natural instincts of a maritime nation are brought out in strong +relief throughout the whole of English literature, from its very birth +down to the present day. The author of "The Lay of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> Beowulf," whoever he +may have been, rivalled Homer in the awe-stricken epithets he applied to +the "immense stream of ocean murmuring with foam" (<i>Il.</i> xviii. 402). +"Then," he wrote, "most like a bird, the foamy-necked floater went +wind-driven over the sea-wave; ... the sea-timber thundered; the wind +over the billows did not hinder the wave-floater in her course; the +sea-goer put forth; forth over the flood floated she, foamy-necked, over +the sea-streams, with wreathed prow until they could make out the cliffs +of the Goths."</p> + +<p>Although the claim of Alfred the Great to be the founder of the British +navy is now generally rejected by historians, it is certain that from +the very earliest times the need of dominating the sea was present in +the minds of Englishmen, and that this feeling gained in strength as the +centuries rolled on and the value of sea-power became more and more +apparent. In a poem entitled "The Libel of English Policy," which is +believed to have been written about the year 1436, the following lines +occur:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Kepe then the see abought in specialle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whiche of England is the rounde walle;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As thoughe England were lykened to a cité.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the walle enviroun were the see.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kepe then the see, that is the walle of England,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then is England kepte by Goddes sonde.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A long succession of poets dwelt on the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> theme. Waller—presumably +during a Royalist phase of his chequered career—addressed the King in +lines which forestalled the very modern political idea that a powerful +British navy is not only necessary for the security of England, but also +affords a guarantee for the peace of all the world:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Homage to thee, and peace to all, she brings.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Thomson's "Rule, Britannia," was not composed till 1740, but before that +time the heroism displayed both by the navy collectively and by +individual sailors was frequently celebrated in popular verse. The death +of Admiral Benbow, who continued to give orders after his leg had been +carried off by a chain-shot at the battle of Carthagena in 1702, is +recorded in the lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While the surgeon dressed his wounds<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thus he said, thus he said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the surgeon dressed his wounds thus he said:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Let my cradle now in haste<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On the quarter-deck be placed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That my enemies I may face<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till I'm dead, till I'm dead."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But it was more especially the long struggle with Napoleon that led to +an outburst of naval poetry. It is to the national feelings current +during this period that we owe such songs as "The Bay of Biscay, O," by +Andrew Cherry; "Hearts of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> Oak," by David Garrick<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a>; "The Saucy +Arethusa," by Prince Hoare; "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea," by Allan +Cunningham; "Ye Mariners of England," by Thomas Campbell, and a host of +others. Amongst this nautical choir, Charles Dibdin, who was born in +1745, stands pre-eminent. Sir Cyprian Bridge, in his introduction to Mr. +Stone's collection of <i>Sea Songs</i>, tells us that it is doubtful whether +Dibdin's songs "were ever very popular on the forecastle." The really +popular songs, he thinks, were of a much more simple type, and were +termed "Fore-bitters," from the fact that the man who sang them took his +place on the fore-bitts, "a stout construction of timber near the +foremast, through which many of the principal ropes were led." However +this may be, there cannot be the smallest doubt that Dibdin's songs +exercised a very powerful effect on landsmen, and contributed greatly to +foster national pride in the navy and popular sympathy with sailors. It +was presumably a cordial recognition of this fact that led Pitt to grant +him a pension. It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive poetry more +calculated to make the chord of national sentiment vibrate responsively +than "Tom Bowling" or that well-known song in which Dibdin depicted at +once the high sense of duty and the rough, albeit affectionate, +love-making of "Poor Jack":<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I said to our Poll, for, d'ye see, she would cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When last we made anchor for sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What argufies sniv'ling and piping your eye?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Why, what a damn'd fool you must be!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> . . . . .<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As for me in all weathers, all times, tides and ends,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nought's a trouble from duty that springs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For my heart is my Poll's, and my rhino my friend's,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And as for my life it's the King's;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even when my time comes, ne'er believe me so soft<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As for grief to be taken aback,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the same little cherub that sits up aloft<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will look out a good berth for poor Jack!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Pride in the navy and its commanders is breathed forth in the following +eulogy of Admiral Jervis (Lord St. Vincent):</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You've heard, I s'pose, the people talk<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of Benbow and Boscawen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Anson, Pocock, Vernon, Hawke,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And many more then going;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All pretty lads, and brave, and rum,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That seed much noble service;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, Lord, their merit's all a hum,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Compared to Admiral Jervis!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Tom Tough" is an example of the same spirit:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I've sailed with gallant Howe, I've sailed with noble Jervis,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And in valiant Duncan's fleet I've sung yo, heave ho!<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Yet more ye shall be knowing,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">I was cox'n to Boscawen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And even with brave Hawke have I nobly faced the foe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Perfervid patriotism and ardent loyalty find expression in the following +swinging lines:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some drank our Queen, and some our land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our glorious land of freedom;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some that our tars might never stand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For heroes brave to lead 'em!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That beauty in distress might find<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Such friends as ne'er would fail her;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the standing toast that pleased the most<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was—the wind that blows, the ship that goes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the lass that loves the sailor!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The whole-hearted Gallophobia which prevailed at the period, but which +did not preclude generous admiration for a gallant foe, finds, of +course, adequate expression in most of the songs of the period. Thus an +unknown author, who, it is believed, lived at the commencement rather +than at the close of the eighteenth century, wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Stick stout to orders, messmates,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We'll plunder, burn, and sink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, France, have at your first-rates,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For Britons never shrink:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We'll rummage all we fancy,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We'll bring them in by scores,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Moll and Kate and Nancy<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall roll in louis-d'ors.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was long before this spirit died out. Twenty-two years after the +battle of Waterloo, when, on the occasion of the coronation of Queen +Victoria, Marshal Soult visited England and it was suggested that the +Duke of Wellington should propose the health of the French army at a +public dinner, he replied: "D—— 'em. I'll have nothing to do with them +but beat them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span></p> + +<p>Inspiriting songs, such as "When Johnny comes marching home" and "The +British Grenadiers," which, Mr. Stone informs us, "cannot be older than +1678, when the Grenadier Company was formed, and not later than 1714, +when hand-grenades were discontinued," abundantly testify to the fact +that the British soldier has also not lacked poets to vaunt his prowess. +Many of the military songs have served as a distinct stimulus to +recruiting, and possibly some of them were written with that express +object in view. Sir Ian Hamilton, in his preface to Mr. Stone's +collection of <i>War Songs</i>, says, "The Royal Fusiliers are the heroes of +a modern but inspiriting song, 'Fighting with the 7th Royal Fusiliers.' +It was composed in the early 'nineties, and produced such an +overwhelming rush of recruits that the authorities could easily, had +they so chosen, have raised several additional battalions." The writer +of the present article remembers in his childhood to have learnt the +following lines from his old nurse, who was the widow of a corporal in +the army employed in the recruiting service:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Twas in the merry month of May,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When bees from flower to flower do hum,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And soldiers through the town march gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And villagers flock to the sound of the drum.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Young Roger swore he'd leave his plough,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His team and tillage all begun;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of country life he'd had enow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He'd leave it all and follow the drum.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>The British military has perhaps been somewhat less happily inspired +than the naval muse. Nevertheless the army can boast of some good +poetry. "Why, soldiers, why?" the authorship of which is sometimes +erroneously attributed to Wolfe, is a fine song, and the following lines +written by an unknown author after the crushing blow inflicted on Lord +Galway's force at Almanza, in 1707, display that absence of +discouragement after defeat which is perhaps one of the most severe +tests by which the discipline and spirit of an army can be tried:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let no brave soldier be dismayed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For losing of a battle;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We have more forces coming on<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will make Jack Frenchman rattle.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Abundant evidence might be adduced to show that the British soldier is +amenable to poetic influences. Sir Adam Fergusson, writing to Sir Walter +Scott on August 31, 1811, said that the canto of the <i>Lady of the Lake</i> +describing the stag hunt "was the favourite among the rough sons of the +fighting Third Division," and Professor Courthope in his <i>History of +English Poetry</i> quotes the following passage from Lockhart's <i>Life of +Scott</i>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>When the <i>Lady of the Lake</i> first reached Sir Adam Fergusson, he +was posted with his company on a point of ground exposed to the +enemy's artillery; somewhere no doubt on the lines of Torres +Vedras. The men were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> ordered to lie prostrate on the ground; while +they kept that attitude, the Captain, kneeling at their head, read +aloud the description of the battle in Canto VI., and the listening +soldiers only interrupted him by a joyous huzza whenever the French +shot struck the bank close above them.</p></div> + +<p>Finally, before leaving this subject, it may be noted that amidst the +verse, sometimes pathetic and sometimes rollicking, which appealed more +especially to the naval and military temperament, there occasionally +cropped up a political allusion which is very indicative of the state of +popular feeling at the time the songs were composed. Thus the following, +from a song entitled "A cruising we will go," shows the unpopularity of +the war waged against the United States in 1812:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be Britain to herself but true,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To France defiance hurled;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give peace, America, with you,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And war with all the world.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sixteenth-century Spaniards embodied a somewhat similar maxim of +State policy as applied to England in the following distich, the +principle of which was, however, flagrantly violated by that fervent +Catholic, Philip II.:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Con todo el mundo guerra<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Y paz con Inglaterra.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span></p> +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<ul> +<li>Abu'l'Ala, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + +<li>Acton, Lord, and the Turks, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li> + +<li>Acton, Lord, on the making of history, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a></li> + +<li>Adrianople, occupation of, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li> + +<li>Akbar, Emperor, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li> + +<li>Alexandria, society at, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li> + +<li>Alfred the Great, <a href='#Page_450'>450</a></li> + +<li>Algeria, French in, <a href='#Page_250'>250-263</a></li> + +<li>Alison, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + +<li>Alliteration, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></li> + +<li>Almanza, song on defeat at, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a></li> + +<li>America and Free Trade, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> + +<li>America, war with, in 1812, unpopularity of, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a></li> + +<li>Amherst, Lord, occupies Burma, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li> + +<li>Anarchy, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> + +<li>Ancient Art and Ritual, <a href='#Page_361'>361-371</a></li> + +<li>Andrade, Colonel Freire d', <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li> + +<li>Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li> + +<li>Anglo-Saxon individualism, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li> + +<li>Anthology, translations from, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li> + +<li>Anthropology, bases of, <a href='#Page_364'>364</a></li> + +<li>Antigonus Gonatas, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> + +<li>Anti-Slavery Society, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> + +<li>Apollo Belvedere, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a></li> + +<li>Aratus of Sicyon, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a></li> + +<li>Army reform, <a href='#Page_107'>107-126</a></li> + +<li>Arndt, national poetry, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a></li> + +<li>Arthur, Sir George, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> + +<li>Asoka, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li> + +<li>Assouan dam, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a></li> + +<li>Athenaeus, on dancing, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a></li> + +<li>Attwood, Mr. Charles, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> + +<li>Aulard, M., on Taine, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a></li> + +<li><i>Aurengzebe</i>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></li> + +<li>Australia, field of anthropology, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Bacchylides, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + +<li>Bacon, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></li> + +<li>Barère, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> + +<li>Barth, Dr., on Hinduism, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li> + +<li>Beaconsfield, Lord, and Egypt, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a></li> + +<li>Beaconsfield, Lord, and Empress of India, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a></li> + +<li>Bembo, Cardinal, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li> + +<li>Benbow, Admiral, death of, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a></li> + +<li>Beowulf, on the sea, <a href='#Page_450'>450</a></li> + +<li>Berthier, Marshal, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li> + +<li>Bismarck, Prince, on statesmanship, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a></li> + +<li><i>Bleak House</i>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li> + +<li>Blennerhassett, Lady, <a href='#Page_427'>427-438</a></li> + +<li>Blücher, Marshal, hallucinations of, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li> + +<li>Blunt, Mr. Wilfrid, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></li> + +<li>Bodley, Mr., on French administration, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a></li> + +<li>Boell, M. Paul, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li> + +<li>Bolingbroke, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a></li> + +<li>Bossuet, definition of heretic, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> + +<li>Boufflers, Madame de, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li> + +<li>Brahmanism, Sir A. Lyall on, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li> + +<li>Bright, John, and Disraeli, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></li> + +<li>British officials and parliamentary institutions, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> + +<li>Browning, Mrs., <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + +<li>Brunnow, Baron, and the Balkan States, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a></li> + +<li>Bryce, Mr., on the writing of history, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a></li> + +<li>Budget system, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + +<li>Buffon, on style, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> + +<li>Bugeaud, Marshal, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li> + +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span>Bureaucracy, Continental, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> + +<li>Burgoyne, Sir John, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a></li> + +<li>Burke, on fiscal symmetry, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> + +<li>Burma, <a href='#Page_287'>287-297</a></li> + +<li>Butcher, Dr. S, on Eastern politics, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Cabarrus, La (Madame Tallien), <a href='#Page_298'>298-306</a></li> + +<li>Cambronne, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a></li> + +<li>Campbell, Lord, Disraeli on, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> + +<li>Canada and Free Trade, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li> + +<li>Capitulations in Egypt, <a href='#Page_156'>156-174</a></li> + +<li>Capo d'Istria, Count, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> + +<li>Cardwell, Lord, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li> + +<li>Carlyle, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> + +<li>"Carmagnole," the, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a></li> + +<li>Cavagnari, Major, murder of, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> + +<li>Cavour, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a></li> + +<li>Centralisation, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li> + +<li>Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li> + +<li>China, <a href='#Page_141'>141-155</a></li> + +<li>Chinese labour, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li> + +<li>Chinese War of 1860, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> + +<li>Chitnavis, Sir Gangadhar, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a></li> + +<li>Chremonides, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a></li> + +<li>Christianity, effect on Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_7'>7-19</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li> + +<li>Claudian on duration of Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_3'>1</a></li> + +<li>Clinton, Mr. Fynes, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + +<li>Cobden, Mr., <a href='#Page_127'>127</a></li> + +<li>Cobdenism, abuse of, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li> + +<li>Coleridge, on poetry, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> + +<li>Coleridge, on prose, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></li> + +<li>Collier, Jeremy, on Cranmer's death, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li> + +<li>Commerce and Imperialism, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li> + +<li>Confucianism, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></li> + +<li>Constantinople, foundation of, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li> + +<li>Constitutions in the East, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a></li> + +<li>Cornwallis, Lord, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> + +<li><i>Corvée</i> in Egypt, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a></li> + +<li>Cory, Mr. William, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li> + +<li>Cowley's translation of Claudian, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></li> + +<li>Creighton, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a></li> + +<li>Crewe, Marquis of, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a></li> + +<li>Crimean War and India, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a></li> + +<li>Crowe, Sir Eyre, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a></li> + +<li>Curiales, Fiscal Oppression of, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li> + +<li>Curtius Rufinus, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> + +<li>Curtius, Professor, on the Greek language, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></li> + +<li>Curzon, Lord, on army affairs, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> + +<li>Cyprus, occupation of, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Danton, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li> + +<li>Deffand, Madame du, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + +<li>Delhi, transfer of Indian Capital to, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a></li> + +<li>Delos, possession of, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a></li> + +<li>Demetrius, on style, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li> + +<li>Democracy and Imperialism, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li> + +<li>Democritus, epigram of, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li> + +<li>Demolins, M., on Anglo-Saxons, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li> + +<li>Demosthenes, Professor Bury, on oratory, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + +<li>Derby, Lord, the Rupert of debate, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> + +<li>Dibdin, <a href='#Page_452'>452-454</a></li> + +<li>Didactic poetry, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li> + +<li>Dietzel, Professor, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li> + +<li>Dino, Duchesse de, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> + +<li>Disraeli, <a href='#Page_177'>177-203</a></li> + +<li>Dithyramb, meaning of word, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li> + +<li>Dostoïevsky, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li> + +<li>Draga, Queen, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> + +<li>Dryden, on translation, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></li> + +<li>Duckworth, Admiral, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> + +<li>Dufferin, Lord, and Egypt, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>East India Company, policy of, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li> + +<li>Education in China, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a></li> + +<li>Egypt, recent history of, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></li> + +<li>Emerson, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li> + +<li>Emerson, on inconsistency, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> + +<li>Empedocles, translation of, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></li> + +<li>Emu Man, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a></li> + +<li>England and Islam, <a href='#Page_407'>407-415</a></li> + +<li>English individualism, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> + +<li>Ennius, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a></li> + +<li>Epicharmus, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li> + +<li>Esquimaux tug of-war, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> + +<li>Euhemerism, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li> + +<li>Exarch, Bulgarian, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> + +<li>Expropriation under Roman law, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Famines in India, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a></li> + +<li>Farrer, Lord, on trade, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li> + +<li>Ferry, M. Jules, and Burma, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a></li> + +<li>Finance of Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> + +<li>Fisher, Mr., on <i>Napoleonic Statesmanship</i>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a></li> + +<li>Flag for India, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li> + +<li>"Fore-bitters," <a href='#Page_452'>452</a></li> + +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span>Forest Department, Burmese, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a></li> + +<li>Fouché, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a></li> + +<li>Free Trade, international aspects of, <a href='#Page_127'>127-140</a></li> + +<li>Froude, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Gardiner, historian of the Stuart period, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a></li> + +<li>George IV. and Napoleon, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li> + +<li>German word-coining, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li> + +<li>Gibbon and the sciences, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a></li> + +<li>Gladstone, Mr., translations, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a></li> + +<li>Gogol, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> + +<li>Gooch, Mr., <a href='#Page_214'>214</a></li> + +<li>Gordon, General, and the Mahdi, <a href='#Page_101'>101-102</a></li> + +<li>Goschen, Lord, and Disraeli, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> + +<li>Government of Subject Races, <a href='#Page_3'>1-53</a></li> + +<li>Graham, Sir James, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li> + +<li>Grant, Sir Hope, as a musician, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a></li> + +<li>Greek adjectives, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li> + +<li>Greek drama, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a></li> + +<li>Greek joyousness, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + +<li>Gregorovius on foreign rule, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + +<li>Grenadiers, British, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a></li> + +<li>Grey, Sir Edward, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a></li> + +<li>Grey, Sir Edward, definition of slavery, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a></li> + +<li>Grey, Sir Edward, diplomatic success of, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a></li> + +<li>Grey, Sir Edward, on the Balkan Peninsula, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a></li> + +<li>Griboïédof, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li> + +<li>Grundy, Dr., translations, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a></li> + +<li>Guizot, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Hackländer, on European slave life, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a></li> + +<li>Hamilton, Alexander, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> + +<li>Hamilton, Lord George, on Sir Alfred Lyall, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></li> + +<li>Harrison, Miss, <a href='#Page_361'>361-371</a></li> + +<li>Havelock's love of Homer, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li> + +<li>Headlam, Dr., <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li> + +<li>Heliogabalus, the Emperor, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> + +<li>Helps, Sir Arthur, on inaccuracy, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> + +<li>Hermann, Professor, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li> + +<li>Herrick, translation of, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li> + +<li>Hieronymus, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> + +<li>History, the writing of, <a href='#Page_214'>214-225</a></li> + +<li>Hodgkin, Dr. Thomas, <a href='#Page_3'>1</a>, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a></li> + +<li>Homer's women, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a></li> + +<li>Humanitarianism, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a></li> + +<li>Hunkiar-Iskelesi, Treaty of, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Ilbert Bill, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li> + +<li>Imperial schools of thought, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></li> + +<li>Imperialism, Mr. Mallik on, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li> + +<li>Imperialist, profession of faith of, <a href='#Page_3'>1</a></li> + +<li>India Council, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></li> + +<li>India, Customs duties in, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a></li> + +<li>India, Fiscal Question in, <a href='#Page_327'>327-339</a></li> + +<li>Indian Frontier policy, <a href='#Page_47'>47-49</a></li> + +<li>Indian Problems, <a href='#Page_416'>416-426</a></li> + +<li>Indiction, Roman, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> + +<li><i>Ion</i>, Dr. Verrall on, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a></li> + +<li>Ireland, Disraeli's opinion on, <a href='#Page_193'>193-194</a></li> + +<li>Islam, influence of, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a></li> + +<li>Italian patriotic poetry, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Jaray, M., <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li> + +<li>Jebb, Professor, on the humanities, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a></li> + +<li>Jervis, Admiral, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a></li> + +<li>Judicial reform in Algeria, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li> + +<li>Julian the Apostate, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li> + +<li>Jute, duty on, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Keats, on Melancholy, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + +<li>Kennedy, Mr., translations, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li> + +<li>Kitchener, Viscount, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> + +<li>Klephtic ballads, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Labour, free, at San Thomé, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li> + +<li>Lacretelle and Madame Tallien, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a></li> + +<li>Lamartine, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + +<li>Lamb on sanity of genius, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li> + +<li>Land revenue system in India, <a href='#Page_42'>42-45</a></li> + +<li>Land tax in Eastern countries, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li> + +<li>Lanfrey, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + +<li>Lawrence, Lord, Afghan policy, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li> + +<li>Lawrence, Lord, Central Asian policy, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + +<li>Lawrence, Lord, on Indian Taxation, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + +<li>Lawson's Greek Folk-Lore, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a></li> + +<li>Le Bon, M., on national characteristics, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a></li> + +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span>Lear, Edward, in Italy, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li> + +<li>Lecky, on morals in politics, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> + +<li>Legislation in India, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> + +<li>Lermontof, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li> + +<li>Lessing and Greece, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li> + +<li>Lethbridge, Sir Roper, <a href='#Page_327'>327-339</a></li> + +<li>"Lillibullero," <a href='#Page_439'>439</a></li> + +<li>List, Friedrich, on Free Trade, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li> + +<li>Livingstone, Dr., on Portuguese, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li> + +<li>Lucian, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li> + +<li>Lucretius, Dryden's translation of, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></li> + +<li>Luther, hymn by, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a></li> + +<li>Lyall, Sir Alfred, <a href='#Page_77'>77-103</a></li> + +<li>Lyall, Sir Alfred, on uniformity, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a></li> + +<li><i>Lycidas</i>, Professor Walker on, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + +<li>Lycon, the philosopher, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> + +<li>Lytton, Earl of, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Macaulay, partiality of, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a></li> + +<li>MacDonald, Mr. Ramsay, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a></li> + +<li>Mahabharata, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li> + +<li>Mahaffy, Professor, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li> + +<li>Mahdi, the, Sir Alfred Lyall on, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></li> + +<li>Mahmoud II., <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> + +<li>Maine, Sir Henry, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a></li> + +<li>Mallik, Mr., <a href='#Page_317'>317-326</a></li> + +<li>Manchester School, Disraeli on, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> + +<li>Manipur massacres, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li> + +<li>Marie Antoinette, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> + +<li>Marquardt, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + +<li>"Maryland, my Maryland," <a href='#Page_443'>443</a></li> + +<li>Masséna, Marshal, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li> + +<li>Maurice, Sir Frederick, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li> + +<li>McIlwraith, Sir Malcolm, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li> + +<li>Meath, Earl of, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a></li> + +<li>Mecca, importance of, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li> + +<li>Melbourne, Lord, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> + +<li>Militarism, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></li> + +<li>Miller, Mr., <a href='#Page_264'>264-276</a></li> + +<li>Millet, M. Philippe, <a href='#Page_259'>259-262</a></li> + +<li>Milner, Viscount, and Party, <a href='#Page_237'>237-249</a></li> + +<li>Mindon, King of Burma, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + +<li>Missionaries in China, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li> + +<li>Mitford, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + +<li>Mitra, Mr. S.M., <a href='#Page_416'>416-426</a></li> + +<li>Mommsen, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + +<li>Montalembert, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + +<li>Mookerjee, Sir Rajendra, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a></li> + +<li>Moslems in India, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a></li> + +<li>Motley, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Napoleon, a bad shot, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon and Corsica, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon and Count Chaptal, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon and the battle of Vittoria, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon, Roederer on, <a href='#Page_92'>92-93</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon, Taine on, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427-438</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon's patent of nobility, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon, Joseph, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li> + +<li>Newbolt, Mr., <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li> + +<li>Nicholson, Professor Shield, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li> + +<li>Nietzsche, on Greek simplicity, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li> + +<li>Northbrook, Lord, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li> + +<li>Novelists, political influence of, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Ottoman Empire, <a href='#Page_264'>264-276</a></li> + +<li>Ouvrard, the Banker, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Pakenham, Miss (Duchess of Wellington), <a href='#Page_283'>283</a></li> + +<li>Palisse, M de la, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a></li> + +<li>Palmerston, Lord, and the Eastern question, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> + +<li><i>Paradise Lost</i> and Euripides, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a></li> + +<li>Paris Commune, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> + +<li>Party system, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a></li> + +<li>Pauperisation of Roman Proletariat, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> + +<li>Peacock, T.L., on education, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> + +<li>Peasant proprietorship, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li> + +<li>Peel, Sir Robert, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li> + +<li>Peel, Sir Robert, on Free Trade, <a href='#Page_199'>199-202</a></li> + +<li>Peel, Sir Robert, unpopularity, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a></li> + +<li>Pericles and public works, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a></li> + +<li>Pericles, metaphor of, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + +<li>Philip II., <a href='#Page_457'>457</a></li> + +<li>Physiocrates, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li> + +<li>Pitt, on British trade, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li> + +<li>Plagiarism, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + +<li>Plato, epitaph by, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a></li> + +<li>Plevna, defence of, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a></li> + +<li>Poe, Edgar, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + +<li>Poetry, Aristotelian canon, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li> + +<li><i>Polemisterion</i>, <a href='#Page_448'>448</a></li> + +<li>Polish Diet, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li> + +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span>Poole, Mr. Stanley Lane-, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a></li> + +<li>"Poor Jack," <a href='#Page_453'>453</a></li> + +<li>"Popkins's plan," <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> + +<li>Portuguese in Africa, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li> + +<li>Portuguese slavery, <a href='#Page_372'>372-406</a></li> + +<li>Pouchkine, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li> + +<li>Principe, Island of, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a></li> + +<li>Proté, epitaph on, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a></li> + +<li>Prudentius, epitaph on Julian, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li> + +<li>Ptolemy Keraunos, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a></li> + +<li>Pyrrhus, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Rangoon, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a></li> + +<li>Rao, Sir Dinkur, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + +<li>Redmond, Mr., <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> + +<li>Red River campaign, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li> + +<li>Reid, Mr., <a href='#Page_340'>340</a></li> + +<li>Rhigas Pheraios, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a></li> + +<li>Ridgeway, Professor, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a></li> + +<li>Ripon, Marquis of, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a></li> + +<li>Robespierre, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a></li> + +<li>Roebuck, Mr. Disraeli on, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> + +<li>Roman Empire, cause of downfall, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li> + +<li>Rome and Municipal Government, <a href='#Page_340'>340-350</a></li> + +<li>"Rosa Rosarum," <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li> + +<li><i>Round Table</i>, article in, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li> + +<li>Rump, Herr, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></li> + +<li>Russian Romance, <a href='#Page_204'>204-213</a></li> + +<li>Rutilius on power of Rome, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Sainte-Beuve, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li> + +<li>St. Cyr, Marshal, as a musician, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a></li> + +<li>St. Ovinus, epitaph on, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + +<li>St.-Victor, Paul de, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, Marquis of, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, Marquis of, and immigrant coolies, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, Marquis of, foreign policy, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, Marquis of, and Turkey, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> + +<li>Sappho, translation of, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></li> + +<li>Scott, Sir George, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li> + +<li>Scott, Sir Walter, advice to Shelley, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li> + +<li>Scott, Sir Walter, Carlyle on, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> + +<li>Scott, Sir Walter, influence of his poetry on soldiers, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a></li> + +<li>Seeley, Sir Thomas, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> + +<li>Sharaki lands in Egypt, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> + +<li>Shelburne, Lord, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a></li> + +<li>Shelley, on translating, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> + +<li>Shelley, Lady, <a href='#Page_277'>277-286</a></li> + +<li>Silva, Carlos de, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a></li> + +<li>Slavery, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> + +<li>Smallbones, Mr., <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>, <a href='#Page_390'>390</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li> + +<li>Smith, Dr. Adam, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li> + +<li>Smith, Rev. Sydney, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li> + +<li>Songs, Naval and Military, <a href='#Page_449'>449-457</a></li> + +<li>Songs, Patriotic and National, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a></li> + +<li>Soudan, campaign of 1896-98, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li> + +<li>Soudan, commercial policy in, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a></li> + +<li>Soudan, slavery in the, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li> + +<li>Staël, Madame de, and Napoleon, <a href='#Page_434'>434</a></li> + +<li>Still, Bishop, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a></li> + +<li>Stratonice, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> + +<li>Sultans not rightful Caliphs, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li> + +<li>Surgeon, the, and the soldier, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a></li> + +<li>Swadeshi movement in India, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li> + +<li>Swift, Dean, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> + +<li>Swinburne, on the sea, <a href='#Page_449'>449</a></li> + +<li>Symmons, Dr., on blank verse, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></li> + +<li>Szechuan Railway Company, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Taine, on Napoleon, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a></li> + +<li>Tallien, <a href='#Page_298'>298-306</a></li> + +<li>Tariff wars, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></li> + +<li>Tell, William, legend of, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li> + +<li>Tenasserim and E.I. Co. directors, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li> + +<li>Tennyson and Euripides, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></li> + +<li>Themistocles, saying of, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li> + +<li>Theodosius, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + +<li>Thibaw, King of Burma, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + +<li>Thiers on French Conservatism, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li> + +<li>Tiberius, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li> + +<li>Tolstoy, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + +<li>Toryism, middle-class, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> + +<li>Tourguenef, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> + +<li>Translation and Paraphrase, <a href='#Page_54'>54-73</a></li> + +<li>Turgot on corporate bodies, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li> + +<li>Turkish war-song, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> + +<li>Usury in the East, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> + +<li>Utilitarianism, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Vandal, M., <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li> + +<li>Vasconcellos, Senhor, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a></li> + +<li>Vauvenargues, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + +<li>Venezélos, M., <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> + +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span>Verrall, Dr., <a href='#Page_312'>312-316</a></li> + +<li>Viceroy of India and his Council, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></li> + +<li>Vogüé, M. de, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li> + +<li>Voltaire, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>, <a href='#Page_434'>434</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li>Waller, on the British Navy, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a></li> + +<li>Walpole, Sir Robert, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a></li> + +<li>War Office, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, and the Ottoman Empire, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, as a musician, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a></li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, at Waterloo, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a></li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, hatred of French, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a></li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, on Cambronne, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a></li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, on India, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></li> + +<li>Wellingtoniana, <a href='#Page_277'>277-286</a></li> + +<li>Wensleydale, Lord, translation by, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></li> + +<li>Wilson, Sir Fleetwood, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li> + +<li>Wingfield, Mr., <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a></li> + +<li>Wolfe, General, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li> + +<li>Wolseley, Viscount, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></li> + +<li>Wolseley, Viscount, and Sir Frederick Maurice, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li> + +<li>Wrede, Generals and Napoleon, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a></li> + +<li>Wyllie, Colonel, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Italy and Her Invaders</i>. Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L. Oxford: +Clarendon Press, 1892.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Male imperando summum imperium amittitur.—<span class="smcap">Publius +Syrus</span>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Decline and Fall</i>, chap. xx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Any one who wishes to gain an insight into the fundamental +principles which governed those relations cannot do better than read the +opening chapters of Sorel's <i>L'Europe et la Révolution Française</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Ecclesiastes i. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Life and Letters of Sir James Graham</i>, vol. ii. p. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Lord Farrer says: "It is the privilege of honourable trade +that, like mercy, it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and +him that takes; each of its dealings is of necessity a benefit to both +parties. But traders and speculators are not always the most scrupulous +of mankind. Their dealings with savage and half-civilised nations too +often betray sharp practice, sometimes violence and wrong. The persons +who carry on our trade on the outskirts of civilisation are not +distinguished by a special appreciation of the rights of others, nor are +the speculators, who are attracted by the enormous profits to be made by +precarious investments in half-civilised countries, people in whose +hands we should desire to place the fortunes or reputation of our +country. When a difficulty arises between ourselves and one of the +weaker nations, these are the persons whose voice is most loudly raised +for acts of violence, of aggression, or of revenge."—<i>The State in its +Relation to Trade</i>, p. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> It should never be forgotten that, in Oriental countries, +whatever good is done to the masses is necessarily purchased at the +expense of incurring the resentment of the ruling classes, who abused +the power they formerly possessed. Seeley (<i>Expansion of England</i>, p. +320) says with great truth: "It would be very rash to assume that any +gratitude, which may have been aroused here and there by our +administration, can be more than sufficient to counterbalance the +discontent which we have excited among those whom we have ousted from +authority and influence."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Juvenal, xiv. 176-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "La supériorité des Anglo-Saxons! Si on ne la proclame +pas, on la subit et on la redoute; les craintes, les méfiances et +parfois les haines que soulève l'Anglais l'attestent assez haut.... +</p><p> +"Nous ne pouvons faire un pas à travers le monde, sans rencontrer +l'Anglais. Nous ne pouvons jeter les yeux sur nos anciennes possessions, +sans y voir flotter le pavilion anglais." <i>A Quoi tient la Supériorité +des Anglo-Saxons?</i>—Demolins. This work, as well as another on much the +same subject (<i>L'Europa giovane</i>, by Guglielmo Ferrero), were reviewed +in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> for January 1898.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Vie de Turgot</i>, i. 47. In the debate on the India Act in +1858, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, whose views were generally +distinguished for their moderation, said: "I do most confidently +maintain that no civilised Government ever existed on the face of this +earth which was more corrupt, more perfidious, and more capricious than +the East India Company was from 1758 to 1784, when it was placed under +Parliamentary control."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "It still remains true that there is a large body of +public opinion in England which carries into all politics a sound moral +sense, and which places a just and righteous policy higher than any mere +party interest. It is on the power and pressure of this opinion that the +high character of English government must ultimately depend."—<i>Map of +Life</i>, Lecky, p. 184. It will be a matter for surprise if the +ultra-bureaucratic spirit, coupled with a somewhat pronounced degree of +commercial egotism, do not prove the two rocks on which German colonial +enterprise will be eventually shipwrecked.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Butcher, <i>Some Aspects of the Greek Genius</i>, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Essays</i>. "Of Honour and Reputation."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Sir Charles Wood's Administration of Indian Affairs, +1859-66.</i> West. 1867. Sir Algernon West was Private Secretary to Sir +Charles Wood, afterwards Lord Halifax, who was the first Secretary of +State for India appointed after the passing of the India Act of 1858, +and, therefore, inaugurated the new system.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> See, <i>inter alia</i>, Chesney's <i>Indian Polity</i>, p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Perhaps the best-known example is "Salus populi suprema +lex esto," a maxim which, as Selden has pointed out (<i>Table Talk</i>, +ciii.), is very frequently misapplied. See also the advice given by the +Emperor Claudius to the Parthian Mithridates (Tacitus, <i>Ann.</i> xii. 11).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> "The idea of forcing everything to an artificial equality +has something, at first view, very captivating in it. It has all the +appearance imaginable of justice and good order; and very many persons, +without any sort of partial purposes, have been led to adopt such +schemes, and to pursue them with great earnestness and warmth. Though I +have no doubt that the minute, laborious, and very expensive <i>cadastre</i>, +which was made by the King of Sardinia, has done no sort of good, and +that after all his pains a few years will restore all things to their +first inequality, yet it has been the admiration of half the reforming +financiers of Europe; I mean the official financiers, as well as the +speculative."—<i>Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis</i>, ii. 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Mill, <i>History of British India</i>, vi. 433.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Elphinstone, <i>History of India</i>, p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Lord Lawrence said: "Light taxation is, in my mind, the +panacea for foreign rule in India." Bosworth Smith, <i>Life of Lord +Lawrence</i>, vol. ii. p. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The essential portions of this despatch, in so far as the +purposes of the present argument are concerned, are given in Sir Richard +Temple's work (p. 185), and in Bosworth Smith's <i>Life of Lord Lawrence</i>, +vol. ii. p. 186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Goldwin Smith, <i>Lectures on the Study of History</i>, p. +154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Morley's <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. p. 467.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Weise, 1841, vol. ii. p. 303.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Loci Critici</i>, p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>History of Greece</i>, vol. ii. p. 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The use by Pericles of this metaphor rests on the +authority of Aristotle (<i>Rhet.</i> i. 7. 34). Herodotus (vii. 162) ascribes +almost the identical words to Gelo, and a similar idea is given by +Euripides in <i>Supp.</i> 447-49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>On the Sublime</i>, xxx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Literature of the Victorian Era</i>, p. 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>On the Sublime</i>, c. v.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Aristotle's <i>Theory of Poetry and Fine Art</i>, p. 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Miscellaneous Writings</i>, Conington, vol. i. p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> iii. 1045 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Mr. Gladstone's merits as a translator were great. His +Latin translation of Toplady's hymn "Rock of Ages," beginning "Jesus, +pro me perforatus," is altogether admirable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Od.</i> iii. 78-82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> "As a mortal, thou must nourish each of two +forebodings—that to-morrow's sunlight will be the last that thou shalt +see: and that for fifty years thou wilt live out thy life in ample +wealth."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>History of English Poetry</i>, iii., 394.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Hipp.</i> 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> "Great Zeus, why didst thou, to man's sorrow, put woman, +evil counterfeit, to dwell where shines the sun? If thou wert minded +that the human race should multiply, it was not from women they should +have drawn their stock."—<i>Hipp.</i> 616-19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Decline and Fall</i>, v. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Book ii. c. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Eighteenth Century Literature</i>, vol. vi. p. 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> "By us he fell, he died, and we will bury him."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Il.</i> xxiii. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Od.</i> xi. 733.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, May 1913, p. 972.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> When I was at Delhi in 1881, a Nikolsaini, <i>i.e.</i> a +worshipper of John Nicholson, came to see me. He showed me a miniature +of Nicholson with his head surrounded by an aureole.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of Henry Reeve</i>, ii. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>The Story of a Soldier's Life</i>. Field-Marshal Viscount +Wolseley. Constable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> After carefully reading the book, I am in doubt as to the +specific occasions to which allusion is here made.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> This expression is used with reference to a warning to +civilians that they should "keep their hands off the regiment." I do not +know if any recent instances have occurred when civilians have wished to +touch the essential portions of what is known as the "regimental +system," but I have a very distinct recollection of the fact that this +accusation was very freely, and very unjustly, brought against the army +reformers in Lord Cardwell's time. Of these, Lord Wolseley was certainly +the most distinguished. I think he will bear me out in the assertion +that it was only by civilian support that, in the special instances to +which I allude, the opposition was overcome.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Much the same proceeding appears to have been adopted in +the Red River expedition, which was conducted with such eminent success +by Lord Wolseley in 1870. But there was a difference. Lord Wolseley, in +describing that expedition, says: "The Cabinet and parliamentary element +in the War Office, that has marred so many a good military scheme, had, +I may say, little or nothing to do with it from first to last. When will +civilian Secretaries of State for War cease from troubling in war +affairs?" In the case of the Soudan campaigns, on the other hand, Lord +Kitchener and I had to rely—and our reliance was not misplaced—on the +Cabinet and on the parliamentary elements of the Government, to prevent +excessive interference from the London offices.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> I was present for a few weeks, as a spectator, with +Grant's army at the siege of Petersburg in 1864, but the experience was +too short to be of much value.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Art of War</i>, Jomini, p. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> I think I am correct in saying that Sir Evelyn Wood was of +a contrary opinion, but I have been unable to verify this statement by +reference to any contemporaneous document.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> On the 21st of March 1884 Sir Alfred Lyall wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest India. The talk in +some of the papers about the necessity of smashing him, in order to +avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is futile and +imaginative."—<i>Memoirs of Henry Reeve</i>, vol. ii. p. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Subsequently published in <i>The Nineteenth Century and +After</i> for September 1910.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Life of Cobden</i>, Morley, vol. i. p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Sir Robert Peel, as is well known, did not fall into this +error, and even Mr. Cobden appears to have recognised so early as 1849 +that his original forecasts on this point were too optimistic. Speaking +on January 10, 1849, he said: "At the last stage of the Anti-Corn Law +Agitation, our opponents were driven to this position: 'Free Trade is a +very good thing, but you cannot have it until other countries adopt it +too.' And I used to say: 'If Free Trade be a good thing for us, we will +have it; let others take it if it be a good thing for them; if not, let +them do without it.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Hirst, <i>Life of Friedrich List</i>, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Essay on the Influence of Commerce on International +Conflicts; F. Greenwood, <i>Ency. Brit.</i> (Tenth Edition).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> In connection with this branch of the question, I wish to +draw attention to the fact that Professor Shield Nicholson, in his +recent brilliant work, <i>A Project of Empire</i>, has conclusively shown +that it is a misapprehension to suppose that Adam Smith, in advocating +Free Trade, looked merely to the interests of the consumer, and +neglected altogether those of the producer. Mr. Gladstone's statement on +this subject, made in 1860, is well known.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Reports on the Tariff wars between certain European +States, Parliamentary paper, Commercial, No. 1 (1904), p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>High Albania</i>, p. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> See on this subject the final remarks in Mr. Bland's very +instructive chapter xiv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> It is believed that a proposal to reform the constitution +of the Egyptian Legislative Council and to extend somewhat its powers is +now under consideration. Any reasonable proposals of this nature should +be welcomed, but they will do little or nothing towards granting +autonomy to Egypt in the sense in which I understand that word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> This passage occurs in <i>Coningsby</i>, and Mr. Monypenny +warns us that "his version of the quarrel between Charles I. and the +Parliament is too fanciful to be quite serious; we may believe that he +was here consciously paying tribute to the historical caprices of +Manners and Smythe."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Mr. Monypenny says in a note that a hostile newspaper gave +the following translation of Disraeli's motto: "The impudence of some +men sticks at nothing."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> What Buffon really wrote was: "Le style est l'homme +même."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Telephus et Peleus.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +<i>Ars Poetica</i>, 94-96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Sir Robert Peel</i>. Charles Stuart Parker. Vol. iii. 425.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>Sat.</i> iv, 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>Life of Lord Goschen</i>, Arthur D. Elliot, p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> <i>History and Historians of the Nineteenth Century</i>. By +G.P. Gooch. London: Longmans and Co. 10s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>Ancient Gems in Modern Settings.</i> By G.B. Grundy. Oxford: +Blackwell, 5s</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Βένθος ἐχεφροσύνης—the depth of a man's +common sense.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> This statement is incorrect. The saying quoted above +occurs in Mr. J.R. Lowell's address at the memorial meeting to Dean +Stanley, Dec. 13, 1881. He introduces it as "a proverbial phrase which +we have in America and which, I believe, we carried from England."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>Aspects of Algeria</i>. By Mrs. Devereux Roy. London: Dent +and Son. 10s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> <i>The Ottoman Empire</i>, 1801-1913. By W. Miller. Cambridge: +At the University Press. 7s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> This article was, of course, written before the war which +subsequently broke out between the Bulgarians and their former allies, +the Greeks and the Servians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>The Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley</i> (1818-1873). London: +John Murray. 10s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>History of the Peninsular War</i>, vol. iii. p. 209.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Maxwell's <i>Life of Wellington</i>, vol. i. p. 78</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>British Statesmen of the Great War</i>, p. 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> <i>Burma under British Rule</i>. By Joseph Dautremer. London: +T. Fisher Unwin. 15s.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>The Life of Madame Tallien.</i> By L. Gastine. Translated +from the French by J. Lewis May. London: John Lane. 12s. 6d. net.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> <i>The Last Phase</i>, p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> <i>The Public Schools and the Empire</i>. By D.H.B. Gray.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Ἐν γὰρ δαιμονίοισι φόβοις φεύγοντι καὶ παῖδες +θεῶν—<i>Nem.</i> ix. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> <i>Rise of the Greek Epic</i>, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Οὐδὲν σοφιζόμεσθα τοῖσιδαίμοσι.—<i>Bacchae</i>, +200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> <i>The World of Homer</i>, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>Orient and Occident</i>. By Manmath C. Mallik. London: T. +Fisher Unwin. 10s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> It may be noted that Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's idea of +Preference differs widely from that entertained by Sir Roper Lethbridge. +The former apparently wishes to abolish the excise duty on Indian cotton +goods, but to maintain that levied on similar goods imported from the +United Kingdom, whilst levying a still higher duty on goods from other +countries.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>The Municipalities of the Roman Empire</i>. By J.E. Reid. +Cambridge: At the University Press. 10s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> <i>L'Avènement de Bonaparte</i>, i. 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> <i>Vide ante</i>, pp. 317-326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>England Under the Stuarts</i>, p. 107. G. Trevelyan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Hor. <i>Od.</i> iii. 11. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>Ann.</i> iv. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> <i>Antigonos Gonatas</i>. By W. Woodthorpe Tarn. Oxford: At +the Clarendon Press. 14s.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> <i>Ancient Art and Ritual.</i> By Miss Jane Harrison. London: +Williams and Norgate. 1s.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Mr. E.W. Brooks subsequently wrote to <i>The Spectator</i> to +explain that "the letter in question was in no sense an official letter +from the Society of Friends. It was the product of one small meeting of +that body, which appears to have been misinformed by one or more of its +members, and was in no sense a letter from the Society of Friends, +which, on the subject of Portuguese Slavery, is officially represented +by its Anti-Slavery Committee, of which he is himself the Honorary +Secretary."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> <i>Anglo-Indian Studies</i>. By S.M. Mitra. London: Longmans +and Co. 10s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> <i>Sidelights</i>. By Lady Blennerhassett. Translated by Edith +Gülcher. London: Constable & Co. 7s. 6d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> My informant in this matter was the late General Sir +Arthur Ellis. Since the above was written, the Duke of Wellington has +informed me that there is at Apsley House a watch, not made by Bréguet +but by another Paris watchmaker, on which is inscribed, "Ordered by +Napoleon for his brother Joseph." The cover is ornamented not with a +diamond J, but with a map of the Peninsula. Inside is the portrait of a +lady. I do not doubt that this is the watch to which Sir Arthur Ellis +alluded.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us unfurl the standards!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us cross the Balkans!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shouting "Allah! Allah!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us drink the blood of the foe!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Long live our Padishah!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Long live Ghazi Osman!<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Since writing the above it has been pointed out to me +that Garrick's song was composed during the Seven Years' War +(1756-63).</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, +1908-1913, by Evelyn Baring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 17320-h.htm or 17320-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/2/17320/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17320.txt b/17320.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38a5142 --- /dev/null +++ b/17320.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11060 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 +by Evelyn Baring + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 + +Author: Evelyn Baring + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + + + + + +POLITICAL AND LITERARY + +ESSAYS + +1908-1913 + + +BY THE + +EARL OF CROMER + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1913 + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA . MELBOURNE + + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO . DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO + + +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. +TORONTO + + + + +PREFACE + + +I have to thank the editors of _The Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly Reviews_, +_The Nineteenth Century and After_, and _The Spectator_ for allowing the +republication of these essays, all of which appeared originally in their +respective columns. + +No important alterations or additions have been made, but I should like +to observe, as regards the first essay of the series--on "The Government +of Subject Races"--that, although only six years have elapsed since it +was written, events in India have moved rapidly during that short +period. I adhere to the opinions expressed in that essay so far as they +go, but it will be obvious to any one who has paid attention to Indian +affairs that, if the subject had to be treated now, many very important +issues, to which I have not alluded, would have to be imported into the +discussion. + +CROMER. + +_September 30, 1913._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW" + +I. THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES 3 +II. TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE 54 + + +"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW" + +III. SIR ALFRED LYALL 77 + + +"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER" + +IV. ARMY REFORM 107 +V. THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE 127 +VI. CHINA 141 +VII. THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT 156 + + +"THE SPECTATOR" + +VIII. DISRAELI 177 +IX. RUSSIAN ROMANCE 204 +X. THE WRITING OF HISTORY 214 +XI. THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY 226 +XII. LORD MILNER AND PARTY 237 +XIII. THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA 250 +XIV. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 264 +XV. WELLINGTONIANA 277 +XVI. BURMA 287 +XVII. A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION 298 +XVIII. THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS 307 +XIX. AN INDIAN IDEALIST 317 +XX. THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA 227 +XXI. ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 340 +XXII. A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER 351 +XXIII. ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL 361 +XXIV. PORTUGUESE SLAVERY 372 +XXV. ENGLAND AND ISLAM 407 +XXVI. SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS 416 +XXVII. THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE 427 +XXVIII. SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL 439 +XXIX. SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY 449 + + INDEX 459 + + + + +"THE EDINBURGH REVIEW" + + + + +I + +THE GOVERNMENT OF SUBJECT RACES[1] + +_"The Edinburgh Review," January 1908_ + + +The "courtly Claudian," as Mr. Hodgkin, in his admirable and instructive +work, calls the poet of the Roman decadence, concluded some lines which +have often been quoted as applicable to the British Empire, with the +dogmatic assertion that no limit could be assigned to the duration of +Roman sway. _Nec terminus unquam Romanae ditionis erit._ At the time +this hazardous prophecy was made, the huge overgrown Roman Empire was +tottering to its fall. Does a similar fate await the British Empire? Are +we so far self-deceived, and are we so incapable of peering into the +future as to be unable to see that many of the steps which now appear +calculated to enhance and to stereotype Anglo-Saxon domination, are but +the precursors of a period of national decay and senility? + +A thorough examination of this vital question would necessarily involve +the treatment of a great variety of subjects. The heart of the British +Empire is to be found in Great Britain. It is not proposed in this place +to deal either with the working of British political institutions, or +with the various important social and economic problems which the actual +condition of England presents, but only with the extremities of the body +politic, and more especially with those where the inhabitants of the +countries under British rule are not of Anglo-Saxon origin. + +What should be the profession of faith of a sound but reasonable +Imperialist? He will not be possessed with any secret desire to see the +whole of Africa or of Asia painted red on the maps. He will entertain +not only a moral dislike, but also a political mistrust of that +excessive earth-hunger, which views with jealous eyes the extension of +other and neighbouring European nations. He will have no fear of +competition. He will believe that, in the treatment of subject races, +the methods of government practised by England, though sometimes open to +legitimate criticism, are superior, morally and economically, to those +of any other foreign nation; and that, strong in the possession and +maintenance of those methods, we shall be able to hold our own against +all competitors. + +On the other hand, he will have no sympathy with those who, as Lord +Cromer said in a recent speech, "are so fearful of Imperial greatness +that they are unwilling that we should accomplish our manifest destiny, +and who would thus have us sink into political insignificance by +refusing the main title which makes us great." + +An Imperial policy must, of course, be carried out with reasonable +prudence, and the principles of government which guide our relations +with whatsoever races are brought under our control must be politically +and economically sound and morally defensible. This is, in fact, the +keystone of the Imperial arch. The main justification of Imperialism is +to be found in the use which is made of the Imperial power. If we make a +good use of our power, we may face the future without fear that we shall +be overtaken by the Nemesis which attended Roman misrule. If the reverse +is the case, the British Empire will deserve to fall, and of a surety it +will ultimately fall. There is truth in the saying, of which perhaps we +sometimes hear rather too much, that the maintenance of the Empire +depends on the sword; but so little does it depend on the sword alone +that if once we have to draw the sword, not merely to suppress some +local effervescence, but to overcome a general upheaval of subject +races goaded to action either by deliberate oppression, which is highly +improbable, or by unintentional misgovernment, which is far more +conceivable, the sword will assuredly be powerless to defend us for +long, and the days of our Imperial rule will be numbered. + +To those who believe that when they rest from their earthly labours +their works will follow them, and that they must account to a Higher +Tribunal for the use or misuse of any powers which may have been +entrusted to them in this world, no further defence of the plea that +Imperialism should rest on a moral basis is required. Those who +entertain no such belief may perhaps be convinced by the argument that, +from a national point of view, a policy based on principles of sound +morality is wiser, inasmuch as it is likely to be more successful, than +one which excludes all considerations save those of cynical +self-interest. There was truth in the commonplace remark made by a +subject of ancient Rome, himself a slave and presumably of Oriental +extraction, that bad government will bring the mightiest empire to +ruin.[2] + +Some advantage may perhaps be derived from inquiring, however briefly +and imperfectly, into the causes which led to the ruin of that +political edifice, which in point of grandeur and extent, is alone +worthy of comparison with the British Empire. The subject has been +treated by many of the most able writers and thinkers whom the world has +produced--Gibbon, Guizot, Mommsen, Milman, Seeley, and others. For +present purposes the classification given by Mr. Hodgkin of the causes +which led to the downfall of the Western Empire has been adopted. They +were six in number, viz.: + +1. The foundation of Constantinople. + +2. Christianity. + +3. Slavery. + +4. The pauperisation of the Roman proletariat. + +5. The destruction of the middle class by the fiscal oppression of the + Curiales. + +6. Barbarous finance. + +1. _The Foundation of Constantinople._--It is, for obvious reasons, +unnecessary to discuss this cause. It was one of special application to +the circumstances of the time, notably to the threatening attitude +towards Rome assumed by the now decadent State of Persia. + +2. _Christianity._--That the foundation of Christianity exercised a +profoundly disintegrating effect on the Roman Empire is unquestionable. +Gibbon, although he possibly confounds the tenets of the new creed with +the defects of its hierarchy, dwells with characteristic emphasis on +this congenial subject.[3] Mr. Hodgkin, speaking of the analogy between +the British present and the Roman past, says: + + The Christian religion is with us no explosive force threatening + the disruption of our most cherished institutions. On the contrary, + it has been said, not as a mere figure of speech, that + "Christianity is part of the common law of England." And even the + bitterest enemies of our religion will scarcely deny that, upon the + whole, a nation imbued with the teaching of the New Testament is + more easy to govern than one which derived its notions of divine + morality from the stories of the dwellers on Olympus. + +From the special point of view now under consideration, the case for +Christianity admits of being even more strongly stated than this, for no +attempt will be made to deal with the principles which should guide the +government of a people imbued with the teaching of the New Testament, +but rather with the subordinate, but still highly important question of +the treatment which a people, presumed to be already imbued with that +teaching, should accord to subject races who are ignorant or irreceptive +of its precepts. From this point of view it may be said that +Christianity, far from being an explosive force, is not merely a +powerful ally. It is an ally without whose assistance continued success +is unattainable. Although dictates of worldly prudence and opportunism +are alone sufficient to ensure the rejection of a policy of official +proselytism, it is none the less true that the code of Christian +morality is the only sure foundation on which the whole of our vast +Imperial fabric can be built if it is to be durable. The stability of +our rule depends to a great extent upon whether the forces acting in +favour of applying the Christian code of morality to subject races are +capable of overcoming those moving in a somewhat opposite direction. We +are inclined to think that our Teutonic veracity and gravity, our +national conscientiousness, our British spirit of fair play, to use the +cant phrase of the day, our free institutions, and our press--which, +although it occasionally shows unpleasant symptoms of sinking beneath +the yoke of special and not highly reputable interests, is still greatly +superior in tone to that of any other nation--are sufficient guarantees +against relapse into the morass of political immorality which +characterised the relations between nation and nation, and notably +between the strong and the weak, even so late as the eighteenth +century.[4] It is to be hoped and believed that, for the time being, +this contention is well founded, but what assurance is there--if the +Book which embodies the code of Christian morality may without +irreverence be quoted--that "that which is done is that which shall be +done"?[5] That is the crucial question. + +There appear to be at present existent in England two different Imperial +schools of thought, which, without being absolutely antagonistic, +represent very opposite principles. One school, which, for want of a +better name, may be styled that of philanthropy, is occasionally tainted +with the zeal which outruns discretion, and with the want of accuracy +which often characterises those whose emotions predominate over their +reason. The violence and want of mental equilibrium at times displayed +by the partisans of this school of thought not infrequently give rise to +misgivings lest the Duke of Wellington should have prophesied truly when +he said, "If you lose India, the House of Commons will lose it for +you."[6] These manifest defects should not, however, blind us to the +fact that the philanthropists and sentimentalists are deeply imbued with +the grave national responsibilities which devolve on England, and with +the lofty aspirations which attach themselves to her civilising and +moralising mission. + +The other is the commercial school. Pitt once said that "British policy +is British trade." The general correctness of this aphorism cannot be +challenged, but, like most aphorisms, it only conveys a portion of the +truth; for the commercial spirit, though eminently beneficent when under +some degree of moral control, may become not merely hurtful, but even +subversive of Imperial dominion, when it is allowed to run riot. +Livingstone said that in five hundred years the only thing the natives +of Africa had learnt from the Portuguese was to distil bad spirits with +the help of an old gun barrel. This is, without doubt, an extreme +case--so extreme, indeed, that even the hardened conscience of +diplomatic Europe was eventually shamed into taking some half-hearted +action in the direction of preventing a whole continent from being +demoralised in order that the distillers and vendors of cheap spirits +might realise large profits. But it would not be difficult to cite other +analogous, though less striking, instances. Occasions are, indeed, not +infrequent when the interests of commerce apparently clash with those of +good government. The word "apparently" is used with intent; for though +some few individuals may acquire a temporary benefit by sacrificing +moral principle on the altar of pecuniary gain, it may confidently be +stated that, in respect to the wider and more lasting benefits of trade, +no real antagonism exists between commercial self-interest and public +morality.[7] + +To be more explicit, what is meant when it is said that the commercial +spirit should be under some control is this--that in dealing with +Indians or Egyptians, or Shilluks, or Zulus, the first question is to +consider what course is most conducive to Indian, Egyptian, Shilluk, or +Zulu interests. We need not always inquire too closely what these +people, who are all, nationally speaking, more or less _in statu +pupillari_, themselves think is best in their own interests, although +this is a point which deserves serious consideration. But it is +essential that each special issue should be decided mainly with +reference to what, by the light of Western knowledge and experience +tempered by local considerations, we conscientiously think is best for +the subject race, without reference to any real or supposed advantage +which may accrue to England as a nation, or--as is more frequently the +case--to the special interests represented by some one or more +influential classes of Englishmen. If the British nation as a whole +persistently bears this principle in mind, and insists sternly on its +application, though we can never create a patriotism akin to that based +on affinity of race or community of language, we may perhaps foster some +sort of cosmopolitan allegiance grounded on the respect always accorded +to superior talents and unselfish conduct, and on the gratitude derived +both from favours conferred and from those to come.[8] There may then at +all events be some hope that the Egyptian will hesitate before he throws +in his lot with any future Arabi The Berberine dweller on the banks of +the Nile may, perhaps, cast no wistful glances back to the time when, +albeit he or his progenitors were oppressed, the oppression came from +the hand of a co-religionist. Even the Central African savage may +eventually learn to chant a hymn in honour of _Astraea Redux_, as +represented by the British official who denies him gin but gives him +justice. More than this, commerce will gain. It must necessarily follow +in the train of civilisation, and, whilst it will speedily droop if that +civilisation is spurious, it will, on the other hand, increase in volume +in direct proportion to the extent to which the true principles of +Western progress are assimilated by the subjects of the British king and +the customers of the British trader. This latter must be taught patience +at the hands, of the statesman and the moralist. It is a somewhat +difficult lesson to learn. The trader not only wishes to acquire wealth; +he not infrequently wishes that its acquisition should be rapid, even at +the expense of morality and of the permanent interests of his country. + + Nam dives qui fieri vult, + Et cito vult fieri. Sed quae reverentia legum, + Quis metus aut pudor est unquam properantis avari?[9] + +This question demands consideration from another point of view. A clever +Frenchman, keenly alive to what he thought was the decadence of his own +nation, published a remarkable book in 1897. He practically admitted +that the Anglophobia so common on the continent of Europe is the outcome +of jealousy.[10] He acknowledged the proved superiority of the +Anglo-Saxon over the Latin races, and he set himself to examine the +causes of that superiority. The general conclusion at which he arrived +was that the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race lay in the fact that its +society, its government, and its habits of thought were eminently +"particularist," as opposed to the "communitarian" principles prevalent +on the continent of Europe. He was probably quite right. It has, indeed, +become a commonplace of English political thought that for centuries +past, from the days of Raleigh to those of Rhodes, the position of +England in the world has been due more to the exertions, to the +resources, and occasionally, perhaps, to the absence of scruple found in +the individual Anglo-Saxon, than to any encouragement or help derived +from British Governments, whether of the Elizabethan, Georgian, or +Victorian type. The principle of relying largely on individual effort +has, in truth, produced marvellous results. It is singularly suited to +develop some of the best qualities of the vigorous, self-assertive +Anglo-Saxon race. It is to be hoped that self-help may long continue to +be our national watchword. + +It is now somewhat the fashion to regard as benighted the school of +thought which was founded two hundred years ago by Du Quesnay and the +French Physiocrates, which reached its zenith in the person of Adam +Smith, and whose influence rapidly declined in England after the great +battle of Free Trade had been fought and won. But whatever may have been +the faults of that school, and however little its philosophy is capable +of affording an answer to many of the complex questions which modern +government and society present, it laid fast hold of one unquestionably +sound principle. It entertained a deep mistrust of Government +interference in the social and economic relations of life. Moreover, it +saw, long before the fact became apparent to the rest of the world, +that, in spite not only of some outward dissimilarities of methods but +even of an instinctive mutual repulsion, despotic bureaucracy was the +natural ally of those communistic principles which the economists deemed +it their main business in life to combat and condemn. Many regard with +some disquietude the frequent concessions which have of late years been +made in England to demands for State interference. Nevertheless, it is +to be hoped that the main principle advocated by the economists still +holds the field, that individualism is not being crushed out of +existence, and that the majority of our countrymen still believe that +State interference--being an evil, although sometimes admittedly a +necessary evil--should be jealously watched and restricted to the +minimum amount absolutely necessary in each special case. + +Attention is drawn to this point in order to show that the observations +which follow are in no degree based on any general desire to exalt the +power of the State at the expense of the individual. + +Our habits of thought, our past history, and our national character all, +therefore, point in the direction of allowing individualism as wide a +scope as possible in the work of national expansion. Hence the career of +the East India Company and the tendency displayed more recently in +Africa to govern through the agency of private companies. On the other +hand, it is greatly to be doubted whether the principles, which a wise +policy would dictate in the treatment of subject races, will receive +their application to so full an extent at the hands of private +individuals as would be the case at the hands of the State. The +guarantee for good government is even less solid where power is +entrusted to a corporate body, for, as Turgot once said, "La morale des +corps les plus scrupuleux ne vaut jamais celle des particuliers +honnetes."[11] In both cases, public opinion is relatively impotent. In +the case of direct Government action, on the other hand, the views of +those who wish to uphold a high standard of public morality can find +expression in Parliament, and the latter can, if it chooses, oblige the +Government to control its agents and call them to account for unjust, +unwise, or overbearing conduct. More than this, State officials, having +no interests to serve but those of good government, are more likely to +pay regard to the welfare of the subject race than commercial agents, +who must necessarily be hampered in their action by the pecuniary +interests of their employers. + +Our national policy must, of course, be what would be called in statics +the resultant of the various currents of opinion represented in our +national society. Whether Imperialism will continue to rest on a sound +basis depends, therefore, to no small extent, on the degree to which +the moralising elements in the nation can, without injury to all that +is sound and healthy in individualist action, control those defects +which may not improbably spring out of the egotism of the commercial +spirit, if it be subject to no effective check.[12] + +If this problem can be satisfactorily solved, then Christianity, far +from being a disruptive force, as was the case with Rome, will prove one +of the strongest elements of Imperial cohesion. + +3. _Slavery._--It is not necessary to discuss this question, for there +can be no doubt that, in so far as his connexion with subject races is +concerned, the Anglo-Saxon in modern times comes, not to enslave, but to +liberate from slavery. The fact that he does so is, indeed, one of his +best title-deeds to Imperial dominion. + +4. _The Pauperisation of the Roman Proletariat._--This is the _Panem et +Circenses_ policy. Mr. Hodgkin appears to think that in this direction +lies the main danger which threatens the British Empire. + + "Of all the forces," he says, "which were at work for the + destruction of the prosperity of the Roman world, none is more + deserving of the careful study of an English statesman than the + grain-largesses to the populace of Rome.... Will the great + Democracies of the twentieth century resist the temptation to use + political power as a means of material self-enrichment?" + +Possibly Mr. Hodgkin is right. The manner in which the leaders of the +Paris Commune dealt with the rights of property during their disastrous, +but fortunately very brief, period of office in 1871, serves as a +warning of what, in an extreme case, may be expected of despotic +democracy in its most aggravated form. Moreover, misgovernment, and the +fiscal oppression which is the almost necessary accompaniment of +militarism dominant over a poverty-stricken population, have latterly +developed on the continent of Europe, and more especially in Italy, a +school of action--for anarchism can scarcely be dignified by the name of +a school of thought--which regards human life as scarcely more sacred +than property. It may be that some lower depth has yet to be reached, +although it is almost inconceivable that such should be the case. +Anarchy takes us past the stage of any defined political or social +programme. It would appear, so far as can at present be judged, to +embody the last despairing cry of ultra-democracy "Furens." + +It is permissible to hope that our national sobriety, coupled with the +inherited traditions derived from centuries of free government, will +save us from such extreme manifestations of democratic tyranny as those +to which allusion has been made above. The special danger in England +would appear rather to arise from the probability of gradual dry rot, +due to prolonged offence against the infallible and relentless laws of +economic science. Both British employers of labour and British workmen +are insular in their habits of thought, and insular in the range of +their acquired knowledge. They do not appear as yet to be thoroughly +alive to the new position created for British trade by foreign +competition. It is greatly to be hoped that they will awake to the +realities of the situation before any permanent harm is done to British +trade, for the loss of trade involves as its ultimate result the +pauperisation of the proletariat, the adoption of reckless expedients +based on the _Panem et Circenses_ policy to fill the mouths and quell +the voices of the multitude, and finally the suicide of that Empire +which is the offspring of trade, and which can only continue to exist so +long as its parent continues to thrive and to flourish. + +5. _The Destruction of the Middle Class by the Fiscal Oppression of the +Curiales._--Leaving aside points of detail, which were only of special +application to the circumstances of the time, this cause of Roman decay +may, for all purposes of comparison and instruction, be stated in the +following terms: funds, which should have been spent by the +municipalities on local objects, were, from about the close of the third +century, diverted to the Imperial Exchequer, by which they were not +infrequently squandered in such a manner as to confer no benefit of any +kind on the taxpayers, whether local or Imperial. Thus, the system of +local self-government, which, Mr. Hodgkin says, was, during the early +centuries of the Empire, "both in name and fact Republican," was +shattered. + +It does not appear probable that an attempt will ever be made to divert +the public revenues of the outlying dependencies of Great Britain to the +Imperial Exchequer. The lesson taught by the loss of the American +Colonies has sunk deeply into the public mind. Moreover, the example of +Spain stands as a warning to all the world. The principle that local +revenues should be expended locally has become part of the political +creed of Englishmen; neither is it at all likely to be infringed, even +in respect to those dependencies whose rights and privileges are not +safeguarded by self-governing institutions. + +There may, however, be some little danger ahead in a sense exactly +opposite to that which was incurred by Rome--the danger, that is to +say, that, under the pressure of Imperialism, backed by influential +class and personal interests, too large an amount of the Imperial +revenue may be diverted to the outlying dependencies. If this were done, +two evils might not improbably ensue. + +In the first place, the British democracy might become restive under +taxation imposed for objects the utility of which would not perhaps be +fully appreciated, and might therefore be disposed to cast off too +hastily the mantle of Imperialism. It is but a short time ago that an +influential school of politicians persistently dwelt on the theme that +the colonies were a burthen to the Mother Country. Although, for the +time being, views of this sort are out of fashion, no assurance can be +felt that the swing of the pendulum may not bring round another +anti-Imperialist phase of public opinion. + +In the second place, if financial aid to any considerable extent were +afforded by the British Treasury to the outlying dependencies, a serious +risk would be run that this concession would be followed at no distant +period by a plea in favour of financial control from England. The +establishment of this latter principle would strike a blow at one of the +main props on which our Imperial fabric is based. It would tend to +substitute a centralised, in the place of our present decentralised +system. Those who are immediately responsible for the administration of +our outlying dependencies will, therefore, act wisely if they abstain +from asking too readily for Imperial pecuniary aid in order to solve +local difficulties. + +These considerations naturally lead to some reflections on the +principles of government adopted in those dependencies of the Empire, +the inhabitants of which are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. Colonies whose +inhabitants are mainly of British origin stand, of course, on a wholly +different footing. They carry their Anglo-Saxon institutions and habits +of thought with them to their distant homes. + +Englishmen are less imitative than most Europeans in this sense--that +they are less disposed to apply the administrative and political systems +of their own country to the government of backward populations; but in +spite of their relatively high degree of political elasticity, they +cannot shake themselves altogether free from political +conventionalities. Moreover, the experienced minority is constantly +being pressed by the inexperienced majority in the direction of +imitation. Knowing the somewhat excessive degree of adulation which some +sections of the British public are disposed to pay to their special +idol, Lord Dufferin, in 1883, was almost apologetic to his countrymen +for abstaining from an act of political folly. He pleaded strenuously +for delay in the introduction of parliamentary institutions into Egypt, +on the ground that our attempts "to mitigate predominant absolutism" in +India had been slow, hesitating, and tentative. He brought poetic +metaphor to his aid. He deprecated paying too much attention to the +"murmuring leaves," in other words, imagining that the establishment of +a Chamber of Notables implied constitutional freedom, and he exhorted +his countrymen "to seek for the roots," that is to say, to allow each +Egyptian village to elect its own mayor (Sheikh). + +It cannot be too clearly understood that whether we deal with the roots, +or the trunk, or the branches, or the leaves, free institutions in the +full sense of the term must for generations to come be wholly unsuitable +to countries such as India and Egypt. If the use of a metaphor, though +of a less polished type, be allowed, it may be said that it will +probably never be possible to make a Western silk purse out of an +Eastern sow's ear; at all events, if the impossibility of the task be +called in question, it should be recognised that the process of +manufacture will be extremely lengthy and tedious. + +But it is often urged that, although no rational person would wish to +advocate the premature creation of ultra-liberal institutions in +backward countries, at the same time that for several reasons it is +desirable to move gradually in this direction. The adoption of this +method is, it is said, the only way to remedy the evils attendant on a +system of personal government in an extreme form; it enables us to learn +the views of the natives of the country, even although we may not accord +to the latter full power of deciding whether or not those views should +be put in practice; lastly, it constitutes a means of political +education, through the agency of which the subject race will gradually +acquire the qualities necessary to autonomy. + +The force of these arguments cannot be denied, but there should be no +delusion as to the weight which should be attached to them. It has been +very truly remarked by a writer, who has dealt with the idiosyncrasies +of a singularly versatile nation, whose genius presented in every +respect a marked contrast to that of Eastern races, that from the dawn +of history Eastern politics have been "stricken with a fatal +simplicity."[13] Do not let us for one moment imagine that the fatally +simple idea of despotic rule will readily give way to the far more +complex conception of ordered liberty. The transformation, if it ever +takes place at all, will probably be the work, not of generations, but +of centuries. + +So limited is the stock of political ideas in the world that some +modified copy of parliamentary institutions is, without doubt, the only +method which has yet been invented for mitigating the evils attendant on +the personal system of government. But it is a method which is +thoroughly uncongenial to Oriental habits of thought. It may be doubted +whether, by the adoption of this exotic system, we gain any real insight +into native aspirations and opinions. As to the educational process, the +experience of India is not very encouraging. The good government of most +Indian towns depends to this day mainly, not on the Municipal +Commissioners, who are generally natives, but on the influence of the +President, who is usually an Englishman. + +A further consideration in connection with this point is also of some +importance. It is that British officials in Eastern countries should be +encouraged by all possible means to learn the views and the requirements +of the native population. The establishment of mock parliaments tends +rather in the opposite direction, for the official on the spot sees +through the mockery and is not infrequently disposed to abandon any +attempt to ascertain real native opinion, through disgust at the +unreality, crudity, or folly of the views set forth by the putative +representatives of native society. + +For these reasons it is important that, in our well-intentioned +endeavours to impregnate the Oriental mind with our insular habits of +thought, we should proceed with the utmost caution, and that we should +remember that our primary duty is, not to introduce a system which, +under the specious cloak of free institutions, will enable a small +minority of natives to misgovern their countrymen, but to establish one +which will enable the mass of the population to be governed according to +the code of Christian morality. A freely elected Egyptian Parliament, +supposing such a thing to be possible, would not improbably legislate +for the protection of the slave-owner, if not the slave-dealer, and no +assurance can be felt that the electors of Rajputana, if they had their +own way, would not re-establish suttee. Good government has the merit of +presenting a more or less attainable ideal. Before Orientals can attain +anything approaching to the British ideal of self-government they will +have to undergo very numerous transmigrations of political thought. + +The question of local self-government may be considered from another, +and almost equally important point of view. + +When writers such as M. Demolins speak of the "particularist" system of +England and of the "communitarian" system prevalent on the continent of +Europe, they generally mean to contrast the British plan of acting +through the agency of private individuals with the Continental practice +of relying almost entirely on the action of the State. This is the +primary and perhaps the most important signification of the two phrases, +but the principles which these phrases are intended to represent admit +of another application. + +It is difficult for those Englishmen who have not been brought into +business relations with Continental officials to realise the extreme +centralisation of their administrative and diplomatic procedures. The +tendency of every French central authority is to allow no discretionary +power whatever to his subordinate. He wishes, often from a distance, to +control every detail of the administration. The tendency of the +subordinate, on the other hand, is to lean in everything on superior +authority. He does not dare to take any personal responsibility; indeed, +it is possible to go further and say that the corroding action of +bureaucracy renders those who live under its baneful shadow almost +incapable of assuming responsibility. By force of habit and training it +has become irksome to them. They fly for refuge to a superior official, +who, in his turn, if the case at all admits of the adoption of such a +course, hastens to merge his individuality in the voluminous pages of a +code or a Government circular. + +The British official, on the other hand, whether in England or abroad, +is an Englishman first and an official afterwards. He possesses his full +share of national characteristics. He is by inheritance an +individualist. He lives in a society which, so far from being, as is the +case on the Continent, saturated with respect for officialism, is +somewhat prone to regard officialism and incompetency as synonymous +terms. By such association, any bureaucratic tendency which may exist on +the part of the British official is kept in check, whilst his +individualism is subjected to a sustained and healthy course of tonic +treatment. + +Thus, the British system breeds a race of officials who relatively to +those holding analogous posts on the Continent, are disposed to exercise +their central authority in a manner sympathetic to individualism; who, +if they are inclined to err in the sense of over-centralisation, are +often held in check by statesmen imbued with the decentralising spirit; +and who, under these influences, are inclined to accord to local agents +a far wider latitude than those trained in the Continental school of +bureaucracy would consider either safe or desirable. + +On the other hand, looking to the position and attributes of the local +agents themselves, it is singular to observe how the habit of assuming +responsibility, coupled with national predispositions acting in the same +direction, generates and fosters a capacity for the beneficial exercise +of power. This feature is not merely noticeable in comparing British +with Continental officials, but also in contrasting various classes of +Englishmen _inter se_. The most highly centralised of all our English +offices is the War Office. For this reason, and also because a military +life necessarily and rightly engenders a habit of implicit obedience to +orders, soldiers are generally less disposed than civilians to assume +personal responsibility and to act on their own initiative. +Nevertheless, whether in military or civil life, it may be said that the +spirit of decentralisation pervades the whole British administrative +system, and that it has given birth to a class of officials who have +both the desire and the capacity to govern, who constitute what Bacon +called[14] the _Participes curarum_, namely, "those upon whom Princes +doe discharge the greatest weight of their affaires," and who are +instruments of incomparable value in the execution of a policy of +Imperialism. + +The method of exercising the central control under the British system +calls for some further remarks. It varies greatly in different +localities. + +Under the Indian system a council of experts is attached to the +Secretary of State in England. A good authority on this subject says[15] +that there can be no question of the advantage of this system. + + No man, however experienced and laborious, could properly direct + and control the various interests of so vast an Empire, unless he + were aided by men with knowledge of different parts of the country, + and possessing an intimate acquaintance with the different and + complicated subjects involved in the government and welfare of so + many incongruous races. + +On the assumption that India is to be governed from London, there can be +no doubt of the validity of this argument. But, as has been frequently +pointed out,[16] this system tends inevitably towards +over-centralisation, and if the British Government is to continue to +exercise a sort of [Greek: pantokratoria] to use an expressive Greek +phrase, over a number of outlying dependencies of very various types, +over-centralisation is a danger which should be carefully shunned. It is +wiser to obtain local knowledge from those on the spot, rather than from +those whose local experience must necessarily diminish in value in +direct proportion to the length of the period during which they have +been absent from the special locality, and who, moreover, are under a +strong temptation, after they leave the dependency, to exercise a +detailed control over their successors. It is greatly to be doubted, +therefore, whether, should the occasion arise, this portion of the +Indian system is deserving of reproduction. + +There is, however, another portion of that system which is in every +respect admirable, and the creation of which bears the impress of that +keen political insight which, according to many Continental authorities, +is the birthright of the Anglo-Saxon race. India is governed locally by +a council composed mainly of officials who have passed their adult lives +in the country; but the Viceroy, and occasionally the legal and +financial members of Council, are sent from England and are usually +chosen by reason of their general qualifications, rather than on account +of any special knowledge of Indian affairs. This system avoids the +dangers consequent on over-centralisation, whilst at the same time it +associates with the administration of the country some individuals who +are personally imbued with the general principles of government which +are favoured by the central authority. Its tendency is to correct the +defect from which the officials employed in the outlying portions of the +Empire are most likely to suffer, namely, that of magnifying the +importance of some local event or consideration, and of unduly +neglecting arguments based on considerations of wider Imperial import. +It enhances the idea of proportion, which is one of the main qualities +necessary to any politician or governing body. Long attention to one +subject, or group of subjects, is apt to narrow the vision of +specialists. The adjunct of an element, which is not Anglo-Indian, to +the Indian Government acts as a corrective to this evil. The members of +the Government who are sent from England, if they have no local +experience, are at all events exempt from local prejudices. They bring +to bear on the questions which come before them a wide general knowledge +and, in many cases, the liberal spirit and vigorous common sense which +are acquired in the course of an English parliamentary career. + +It may be added, as a matter of important detail, that it would be +desirable, in order to give continuity to Indian policy, to select young +men to fill the place of Viceroy, and to extend the period of office +from five to seven, or even to ten years. + +Although over-centralisation is to be avoided, a certain amount of +control from a central authority is not only unavoidable; if properly +exercised, it is most beneficial. One danger to which the local agent +is exposed is that, being ill-informed of circumstances lying outside +his range of political vision, he may lose sight of the general +principles which guide the policy of the Empire; he may treat subjects +of local interest in a manner calculated to damage, or even to +jeopardise, Imperial interests. The central authority is in a position +to obviate any danger arising from this cause. To ensure the harmonious +working of the different parts of the machine, the central authority +should endeavour, so far as is possible, to realise the circumstances +attendant on the government of the dependency; whilst the local agent +should be constantly on the watch lest he should overrate the importance +of some local issue, or fail to appreciate fully the difficulties which +beset the action of the central authority. + +To sum up all that there is to be said on this branch of the subject, it +may be hoped that the fate which befell Rome, in so far as it was due to +the special causes of decay now under consideration, may be averted by +close adherence to two important principles. The first of these +principles is that local revenues should be expended locally. The second +is that over-centralisation should above all things be avoided. This may +be done either by the creation of self-governing institutions in those +dependencies whose civilisation is sufficiently advanced to justify the +adoption of this course; or by decentralising the executive Government +in cases where self-government, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, +is impossible or undesirable. + +6. _Barbarous Finance._--Mr. Hodgkin says that the system of Imperial +taxation under the Roman Empire was "wasteful, oppressive, and in a +word, barbarous." He gives, as an instance in point, the Roman +Indiction. This was the name given to the system under which the taxable +value of the land throughout the Empire was reassessed every fifteen +years. At each reassessment, Mr. Hodgkin says, "the few who had +prospered found themselves assessed on the higher value which their +lands had acquired, while the many who were sinking down into poverty +obtained, it is to be feared, but little relief from taxation on account +of the higher rate which was charged to all." + +It is somewhat unpleasant to reflect that the system which Mr. Hodgkin +so strongly condemns, and which he even regards as one of the causes of +the downfall of the Roman Empire, is--save in respect to the intervals +of periodical reassessment--very similar to that which exists everywhere +in India, except in the province of Bengal, where the rights conferred +on the zemindars under Lord Cornwallis's Permanent Settlement are still +respected in spite of occasional unwise suggestions that time and the +fall in the value of the rupee have obliterated any moral obligations to +maintain them. Nor are the results obtained in India altogether +dissimilar from those observable under Roman rule. The knowledge that +reassessment was imminent has, it is believed, often discouraged the +outlay of private capital on improving the land. More than this, it is +notorious that, at one time, some provinces suffered greatly from the +mistakes made by the settlement officers. These latter were animated +with the best intentions, but, in spite of their marked ability--for +they were all specially selected men--they often found the task +entrusted to them impossible of execution. Unfortunately political or +administrative errors cannot be condoned by reason of good intentions. +Like the Greeks of old, the natives of India suffer from the mistakes of +their rulers. + +The intentions of the British, as compared with the Roman Government +are, however, noteworthy from one point of view, inasmuch as from a +correct appreciation of those intentions it is possible to evolve a +principle perhaps in some degree calculated to avert the consequences +which befell Rome, partly by reason of fiscal errors. + +In spite of some high-sounding commonplaces which were at times +enunciated by Roman lawgivers and statesmen, and in which a ring of +utilitarian philosophy is to be recognised,[17] and of the further fact +that, as in the case of Verres, a check was sometimes applied to the +excesses of local Governors, it is almost certainly true that the rulers +of Rome did not habitually act on the recognition of any very strong +moral obligation binding on the Imperial Government in its treatment of +subject races. The merits of any fiscal system were probably judged +mainly from the point of view of the amount of funds which it poured +into the Treasury. The fiscal principles on which the Emperors of Rome +acted survived long after the fall of the Roman Empire. They deserve the +epithet of "barbarous" which Mr. Hodgkin has bestowed upon them. + +The point of departure of the British Government is altogether +different. Its intentions are admirable. Every farthing which has been +spent--and, it may be feared, often wasted--on the numerous military +expeditions in which the Government of India has been engaged during the +last century would, in the eyes of many, certainly be considered as +expenditure incurred on objects which were of paramount interest to the +Indian taxpayers. Moreover, a whole category of British legislation +connected with fiscal matters has been undertaken, not so much with a +view to increase the revenue as with the object of distributing the +burthen of taxation equally amongst the different classes of society. +Much of this legislation has been perfectly justifiable and even +beneficial. Nevertheless, it should never be forgotten that it is +generally based on the purely Western principle that abstract justice is +in itself a desirable thing to attain, and that a fiscal or +administrative system stands condemned if it is wanting in symmetry. It +was against any extreme application of this principle that Burke +directed some of his most forcible diatribes.[18] It has been already +pointed out that the commendable want of intellectual symmetry which is +the inherited possession of the Englishman gives him a very great +advantage as an Imperialist agent over those trained in the rigid and +bureaucratic school of Continental Europe. But the Englishman is a +Western, albeit an Anglo-Saxon Western, and, from the point of view of +all processes of reasoning, the gulf which separates any one member of +the European family from another is infinitely less wide than that which +divides all Westerns from all Orientals. Even the Englishman, therefore, +is constrained--sometimes much against his will--to bow down in that +temple of Logic, the existence of which the Oriental is disposed +altogether to ignore. Indeed, sometimes the choice lies between the +enforcement on the reluctant Oriental of principles based on +logic--occasionally on the very simple science of arithmetic--or +abandoning the work of civilisation altogether. From this point of view, +the dangers to which the British Empire is exposed by reason of fiscal +measures are due not, as was the case with Rome, to barbarous, but +rather to ultra-scientific finance. The following is a case in point. + +The land-tax has always been the principal source from which Oriental +potentates have derived their revenues. For all practical purposes it +may be said that the system which they have adopted has generally been +to take as much from the cultivators as they could get. Reformers, such +as the Emperor Akbar, have at times endeavoured to introduce more +enlightened methods of taxation, and to carry into practice the +theories upon which the fiscal system in all Moslem countries is based. +Those theories are by no means so objectionable as is often supposed. +But the reforms which some few capable rulers attempted to introduce +have almost always crumbled away under the regime of their +successors.[19] In practice, the only limit to the demands of the ruler +of an Oriental State has been the ability of the taxpayers to satisfy +them.[20] The only defence of the taxpayers has lain in the concealment +of their incomes at the risk of being tortured till they divulged their +amount. + +Nevertheless, even under such a system as this, the wind is tempered to +the shorn lamb by the fact that Oriental rulers recognise that they +cannot get money from a man who possesses none. If, from drought or +other causes, the cultivator raises no crop, he is not required to pay +any land-tax. The idea of expropriation for the non-payment of taxes is +purely Western and modern. Under Roman law, it was the rule in contracts +for rent that a tenant was not bound to pay if any _vis major_ prevented +him from reaping. + +The European system is very different. A far less heavy demand is made +on the cultivator, but he is, at all events in principle and sometimes +in practice, called upon to meet it in good and bad years alike. He is +expected to save in years of plenty in order to make good the deficit in +lean years. If he is unable to pay, he is liable to be expropriated, and +he often is expropriated. This plan is just, logical, and very Western. +It may be questioned whether Oriental cultivators do not sometimes +rather prefer the oppression and elasticity of the Eastern to the +justice and rigidity of the Western system. + +Various palliatives have been adopted in India with a view to giving +some elasticity to the working of the Land Revenue system. In Egypt, +where the administration is much less Anglicised than in India, and +where, for various reasons, the treatment of this subject presents +relatively fewer difficulties, it is the practice now, as was the case +under purely native rule, to remit the taxes on what is known as +_Sharaki_ lands, that is to say, land which, owing to a low Nile, has +not been irrigated. It is not, however, necessary to dwell on the +details of this subject. It will be sufficient to draw attention to the +different points of view from which the Eastern and the Western approach +the subject of fiscal administration. The latter urges with unanswerable +logic that financial equilibrium must be maintained, and that he cannot +frame a trustworthy Budget unless he knows the amount he may count on +receiving from direct taxes, especially from the land-tax. The Eastern +replies that he knows nothing of either financial equilibrium or of +budgets, that it has, indeed, from time immemorial been the custom to +leave him nought but a bare pittance when he had money, but to refrain +from any endeavours to extort money from him when he had none. + +Another instance drawn, not from the practices of fiscal administration, +but from legislation on a cognate subject, may be cited. + +Directly Western civilisation comes in contact with a backward Oriental +Society, the relations between debtor and creditor are entirely changed. +A social revolution is effected. The Western applies his code with stern +and ruthless logic. The child-like Eastern, on the other hand, cannot be +made to understand that his house should be sold over his head because +he affixed his seal to a document, which, very probably, he had never +read, or, at all events, had never fully understood, and which was +presented to him by a man at one time apparently animated with +benevolent intentions, inasmuch as he wished to lend him money, but who +subsequently showed his malevolence by asking to be repaid his loan with +interest at an exorbitant rate. + +Here, again, many palliatives have been suggested and some have been +applied, but many of them sin against the economic law, which provides +that legislation intended to protect a man against the consequences of +his own folly or improvidence is generally unproductive of result. + +In truth, no thoroughly effective remedy can be applied in cases such as +those mentioned above, without abandoning all real attempt at progress. +Civilisation must, unfortunately, have its victims, amongst whom are to +some extent inevitably numbered those who do not recognise the paramount +necessities of the Budget system, and those who contract debts with an +inadequate appreciation of the _caveat emptor_ principle. Nevertheless, +the Western financier will act wisely if, casting aside some portion of +his Western habit of thought, he recognises the facts with which he has +to deal, and if, fully appreciating the intimate connection between +finance and politics in an Eastern country, he endeavours, so far as is +possible, to temper the clean-cut science of his fiscal measures in such +a manner as to suit the customs and intellectual standard of the subject +race with which he has to deal. + +The question of the amount of taxation levied stands apart from the +method of its imposition. It may be laid down as a principle of +universal application that high taxation is incompatible with assured +stability of Imperial rule.[21] + +The financier and the hydraulic engineer, who is a powerful ally of the +financier, have probably a greater potentiality of creating an +artificial and self-interested loyalty than even the judge. The reasons +are obvious. In the first place, the number of criminals, or even of +civil litigants, in any society is limited; whereas practically the +whole population consists of taxpayers. In the second place, the +arbitrary methods of administering justice practised by Oriental rulers +do not shock their subjects nearly so much as Europeans are often +disposed to think. Custom has made it in them a property of easiness. +They often, indeed, fail to appreciate the intentions, and are disposed +to resent the methods, of those whose object it is to establish justice +in the law-courts. On the other hand, the most ignorant Egyptian fellah +or Indian ryot can understand the difference between a Government which +takes nine-tenths of his crop in the shape of land-tax, and one which +only takes one-third or one-fourth. He can realise that he is better off +if the water is allowed to flow periodically on to his fields, than he +was when the influential landowner, who possessed a property up-stream +on the canal, made a dam and prevented him from getting any water at +all. + +These principles would probably meet with general acceptance from all +who have considered the question of Imperial rule. They are, indeed, +almost commonplace. Unfortunately, in practice the necessity of +conforming to them is often forgotten. India is the great instance in +point. Englishmen are often so convinced that the natives of India ought +to be loyal, they hear so much said of their loyalty, they appreciate so +little the causes which are at work to produce disloyalty, and, in spite +of occasional mistakes due to errors of judgment, they are in reality so +earnestly desirous of doing what they consider, sometimes perhaps +erroneously, their duty towards the native population, that they are apt +to lose sight of the fact that the self-interest of the subject race is +the principal basis of the whole Imperial fabric. They forget, whilst +they are adding to the upper story of the house, that the foundations +may give way. + +This is not the place to enter into any lengthy discussion upon Indian +affairs. It may be said, however, that the Indian history of the last +few years certainly gives cause for some anxiety. Attention was at one +time too exclusively paid to frontier policy, which constitutes only +one, and that not the most important, element of the complex Indian +problem. + +That the policy of "masterly inactivity," to use the phrase +epigrammatically, but perhaps somewhat incorrectly, applied to the line +of action advocated by Lord Lawrence in 1869, required some +modifications as the onward movement of Russia in Asia developed, will +scarcely be contested by the most devoted of Lawrentian partisans and +followers. That those modifications were wisely introduced is a +proposition the truth of which it is difficult to admit. The portion of +Lord Lawrence's programme which was necessarily temporary, inasmuch as +it depended on the circumstances of the time, was rejected without +taking sufficient account of the further and far more important portion +which was of permanent application. This latter portion was defined in +an historic and oft-quoted despatch which he indited on the eve of his +departure from India, and which may be regarded as his political +testament. In this despatch, Lord Lawrence, speaking with all the +authority due to a lifelong acquaintance with Indian affairs, laid down +the broad general principle that the strongest security of our rule lay +"in the contentment, if not in the attachment, of the masses."[22] The +truth of this general principle was at one time too much neglected. +Under the influence of a predominant militarism acting on too pliant +politicians, vast military expenditure was incurred. Territory lying +outside the natural geographical frontier of India was occupied, the +acquisition of which was condemned not merely by sound policy, but also +by sound strategy. Taxation was increased, and, generally, the material +interests of the natives of India were sacrificed and British Imperial +rule exposed to subsequent danger, in order to satisfy the exigencies of +a school of soldier-politicians who only saw one, and that the most +technical, aspect of a very wide and complex question. + +Neither, unfortunately, is there any sure guarantee that the mistakes, +which it is now almost universally admitted were made, will not recur. +Where, indeed, are we to look for any effective check? The rulers of +India, whether they sit in Calcutta or London, may again be carried away +by the partial views of an influential class, or of a few masterful +individuals. It is absurd to speak of creating free institutions in +India to control the Indian Government. Experience has shown that +parliamentary action in England not infrequently degenerates into +acrimonious discussion and recrimination dictated by party passion; in +any case, it is generally too late to change the course of events. Still +less reliance can be placed on the action of the British Press, which +falls a ready victim to the specious arguments advanced by some +strategical pseudo-Imperialist in high position, or by some fervent +acolyte who has learnt at the feet of his master the fatal and facile +lesson of how an Empire, built up by statesmen, may be wrecked by the +well-intentioned but mistaken measures recommended by specialists to +ensure Imperial salvation. The managers of the London newspapers afford, +indeed, be it said to their credit, every facility for the publication +of views adverse to those which they themselves advocate. But it is none +the less true that, during the years when the unwise frontier policy of +a few years ago was being planned and executed, the voices of the +opposition, although they were those of Indian statesmen and officials +who could speak with the highest authority, failed to obtain an adequate +hearing until the evil was irremediable. On the other hand, the views of +the strategical specialists went abroad over the land, with the result +that ill-informed and careless public opinion followed their advice +without having any very precise idea of whither it was being led. + +It would appear, therefore, that there is need for great care and +watchfulness in the management of Indian affairs. That same +inconsistency of character and absence of definite aim, which are such +notable Anglo-Saxon qualities and which adapt themselves so admirably to +the requirements of Imperial rule, may in some respects constitute an +additional danger. If we are not to adopt a policy based on securing the +contentment of the subject race by ministering to their material +interests, we must of necessity make a distinct approach to the +counter-policy of governing by the sword alone. In that case, it would +be as well not to allow a free native Press, or to encourage high +education. Any repressive or retrograde measures in either of these +directions would, without doubt, meet with strong and, to a great +extent, reasonable opposition in England. A large section of the public, +forgetful of the fact that they had stood passively by whilst measures, +such as the imposition of increased taxes, which the natives of India +really resent, were adopted, would protest loudly against the adoption +of other measures which are, indeed, open to objection, but which +nevertheless touch Oriental in a far less degree than they affect +Western public feeling. The result of this inconsistency is that our +present system rather tends to turn out demagogues from our colleges, to +give them every facility for sowing their subversive views broadcast +over the land, and at the same time to prepare the ground for the +reception of the seed which they sow. Now this is the very reverse of a +sound Imperial policy. We cannot, it is true, effectually prevent the +manufacture of demagogues without adopting measures which would render +us false to our acknowledged principles of government and to our +civilising mission. But we may govern in such a manner as to give the +demagogue no fulcrum with which to move his credulous and ill-informed +countrymen and co-religionists. The leading principle of a government of +this nature should be that low taxation is the most potent instrument +with which to conjure discontent. This is the policy which will tend +more than any other to the stability of Imperial rule. If it is to be +adopted, two elements of British society will have to be kept in check +at the hands of the statesman acting in concert with the moralist. These +are Militarism and Commercial Egotism. The Empire depends in a great +degree on the strength and efficiency of its army. It thrives on its +commerce. But if the soldier and the trader are not kept under some +degree of statesmanlike control, they are capable of becoming the most +formidable, though unconscious, enemies of the British Empire. + +It will be seen, therefore, that though there are some disquieting +circumstances attendant on our Imperial rule, the general result of an +examination into the causes which led to the collapse of Roman power, +and a comparison of those causes with the principles on which the +British Empire is governed, are, on the whole, encouraging. To every +danger which threatens there is a safeguard. To every portion of the +body politic in which symptoms of disease may occur, it is possible to +apply a remedy. + +Christianity is our most powerful ally. We are the sworn enemies of the +slave-dealer and the slave-owner. The dangers arising from the possible +pauperisation of the proletariat may, it is to be hoped, be averted by +our national character and by the natural play of our time-honoured +institutions. If we adhere steadily to the principle that local revenues +are to be expended locally, and if, at the same time, we give all +reasonable encouragement to local self-government and shun any tendency +towards over-centralisation, we shall steer clear of one of the rocks on +which the Roman ship of state was wrecked. Unskilful or unwise finance +is our greatest danger, but here again the remedy lies ready to hand if +we are wise enough to avail ourselves of it. It consists in adapting our +fiscal methods to the requirements of our subject races, and still more +in the steadfast rejection of any proposals which, by rendering high +taxation inevitable, will infringe the cardinal principle on which a +sound Imperial policy should be based. That principle is that, whilst +the sword should be always ready for use, it should be kept in reserve +for great emergencies, and that we should endeavour to find, in the +contentment of the subject race, a more worthy and, it may be hoped, a +stronger bond of union between the rulers and the ruled. + +If any more sweeping generalisation than this is required, it may be +said that the whole, or nearly the whole, of the essential points of a +sound Imperial policy admit of being embodied in this one statement, +that, whilst steadily avoiding any movement in the direction of official +proselytism, our relations with the various races who are subjects of +the King of England should be founded on the granite rock of the +Christian moral code. + + Humanity, as it passes through phase after phase of the historical + movement, may advance indefinitely in excellence; but its advance + will be an indefinite approximation to the Christian type. A + divergence from that type, to whatever extent it may take place, + will not be progress, but debasement and corruption. In a moral + point of view, in short, the world may abandon Christianity, but + can never advance beyond it. This is not a matter of authority, or + even of revelation. If it is true, it is a matter of reason as much + as anything in the world.[23] + +[Footnote 1: _Italy and Her Invaders_. Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L. Oxford: +Clarendon Press, 1892.] + +[Footnote 2: Male imperando summum imperium amittitur.--PUBLIUS +SYRUS.] + +[Footnote 3: _Decline and Fall_, chap. xx.] + +[Footnote 4: Any one who wishes to gain an insight into the fundamental +principles which governed those relations cannot do better than read the +opening chapters of Sorel's _L'Europe et la Revolution Francaise_.] + +[Footnote 5: Ecclesiastes i. 9.] + +[Footnote 6: _Life and Letters of Sir James Graham_, vol. ii. p. 328.] + +[Footnote 7: Lord Farrer says: "It is the privilege of honourable trade +that, like mercy, it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and +him that takes; each of its dealings is of necessity a benefit to both +parties. But traders and speculators are not always the most scrupulous +of mankind. Their dealings with savage and half-civilised nations too +often betray sharp practice, sometimes violence and wrong. The persons +who carry on our trade on the outskirts of civilisation are not +distinguished by a special appreciation of the rights of others, nor are +the speculators, who are attracted by the enormous profits to be made by +precarious investments in half-civilised countries, people in whose +hands we should desire to place the fortunes or reputation of our +country. When a difficulty arises between ourselves and one of the +weaker nations, these are the persons whose voice is most loudly raised +for acts of violence, of aggression, or of revenge."--_The State in its +Relation to Trade_, p. 177.] + +[Footnote 8: It should never be forgotten that, in Oriental countries, +whatever good is done to the masses is necessarily purchased at the +expense of incurring the resentment of the ruling classes, who abused +the power they formerly possessed. Seeley (_Expansion of England_, p. +320) says with great truth: "It would be very rash to assume that any +gratitude, which may have been aroused here and there by our +administration, can be more than sufficient to counterbalance the +discontent which we have excited among those whom we have ousted from +authority and influence."] + +[Footnote 9: Juvenal, xiv. 176-8.] + +[Footnote 10: "La superiorite des Anglo-Saxons! Si on ne la proclame +pas, on la subit et on la redoute; les craintes, les mefiances et +parfois les haines que souleve l'Anglais l'attestent assez haut.... + +"Nous ne pouvons faire un pas a travers le monde, sans rencontrer +l'Anglais. Nous ne pouvons jeter les yeux sur nos anciennes possessions, +sans y voir flotter le pavilion anglais." _A Quoi tient la Superiorite +des Anglo-Saxons?_--Demolins. This work, as well as another on much the +same subject (_L'Europa giovane_, by Guglielmo Ferrero), were reviewed +in the _Edinburgh Review_ for January 1898.] + +[Footnote 11: _Vie de Turgot_, i. 47. In the debate on the India Act in +1858, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, whose views were generally +distinguished for their moderation, said: "I do most confidently +maintain that no civilised Government ever existed on the face of this +earth which was more corrupt, more perfidious, and more capricious than +the East India Company was from 1758 to 1784, when it was placed under +Parliamentary control."] + +[Footnote 12: "It still remains true that there is a large body of +public opinion in England which carries into all politics a sound moral +sense, and which places a just and righteous policy higher than any mere +party interest. It is on the power and pressure of this opinion that the +high character of English government must ultimately depend."--_Map of +Life_, Lecky, p. 184. It will be a matter for surprise if the +ultra-bureaucratic spirit, coupled with a somewhat pronounced degree of +commercial egotism, do not prove the two rocks on which German colonial +enterprise will be eventually shipwrecked.] + +[Footnote 13: Butcher, _Some Aspects of the Greek Genius_, p. 27.] + +[Footnote 14: _Essays_. "Of Honour and Reputation."] + +[Footnote 15: _Sir Charles Wood's Administration of Indian Affairs, +1859-66._ West. 1867. Sir Algernon West was Private Secretary to Sir +Charles Wood, afterwards Lord Halifax, who was the first Secretary of +State for India appointed after the passing of the India Act of 1858, +and, therefore, inaugurated the new system.] + +[Footnote 16: See, _inter alia_, Chesney's _Indian Polity_, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 17: Perhaps the best-known example is "Salus populi suprema +lex esto," a maxim which, as Selden has pointed out (_Table Talk_, +ciii.), is very frequently misapplied. See also the advice given by the +Emperor Claudius to the Parthian Mithridates (Tacitus, _Ann._ xii. 11).] + +[Footnote 18: "The idea of forcing everything to an artificial equality +has something, at first view, very captivating in it. It has all the +appearance imaginable of justice and good order; and very many persons, +without any sort of partial purposes, have been led to adopt such +schemes, and to pursue them with great earnestness and warmth. Though I +have no doubt that the minute, laborious, and very expensive _cadastre_, +which was made by the King of Sardinia, has done no sort of good, and +that after all his pains a few years will restore all things to their +first inequality, yet it has been the admiration of half the reforming +financiers of Europe; I mean the official financiers, as well as the +speculative."--_Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis_, ii. 126.] + +[Footnote 19: Mill, _History of British India_, vi. 433.] + +[Footnote 20: Elphinstone, _History of India_, p. 77.] + +[Footnote 21: Lord Lawrence said: "Light taxation is, in my mind, the +panacea for foreign rule in India." Bosworth Smith, _Life of Lord +Lawrence_, vol. ii. p. 497.] + +[Footnote 22: The essential portions of this despatch, in so far as the +purposes of the present argument are concerned, are given in Sir Richard +Temple's work (p. 185), and in Bosworth Smith's _Life of Lord Lawrence_, +vol. ii. p. 186.] + +[Footnote 23: Goldwin Smith, _Lectures on the Study of History_, p. +154.] + + + + +II + +TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE + +_"The Edinburgh Review," July 1913_ + + +When Emerson said "We like everything to do its office, whether it be a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake," he assumed, perhaps somewhat too hastily in +the latter case, that all the world understands the functions which a +milch-cow or a rattlesnake is called upon to perform. No one can doubt +that the office of a translator is to translate, but a wide difference +of opinion may exist, and, in fact, has always existed, as to the +latitude which he may allow himself in translating. Is he to adhere +rigidly to a literal rendering of the original text, or is paraphrase +permissible, and, if permissible, within what limits may it be adopted? +In deciding which of these courses to pursue, the translator stands +between Scylla and Charybdis. If he departs too widely from the precise +words of the text, he incurs the blame of the purist, who will accuse +him of foisting language on the original author which the latter never +employed, with the possible result that even the ideas or sentiments +which it had been intended to convey have been disfigured. If, on the +other hand, he renders word for word, he will often find, more +especially if his translation be in verse, that in a cacophonous attempt +to force the genius of one language into an unnatural channel, the whole +of the beauty and even, possibly, some of the real meaning of the +original have been allowed to evaporate. Dr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, in an +instructive article on Translation contributed to the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_ quotes the high authority of Dryden as to the course which +should be followed in the execution of an ideal translation. + + A translator (Dryden writes) that would write with any force or + spirit of an original must never dwell on the words of his author. + He ought to possess himself entirely, and perfectly comprehend the + genius and sense of his author, the nature of the subject, and the + terms of the art or subject treated of; and then he will express + himself as justly, and with as much life, as if he wrote an + original; whereas he who copies word for word loses all the spirit + in the tedious transfusion. + +In the application of Dryden's canon a distinction has to be made +between prose and verse. The composition of good prose, which Coleridge +described as "words in the right order," is, indeed, of the utmost +importance for all the purposes of the historian, the writer on +philosophy, or the orator. An example of the manner in which fine prose +can bring to the mind a vivid conception of a striking event is Jeremy +Collier's description of Cranmer's death, which excited the enthusiastic +admiration of Mr. Gladstone.[24] He seemed [Collier wrote] "to repel the +force of the fire and to overlook the torture, by strength of thought." +Nevertheless, the main object of the prose writer, and still more of the +orator, should be to state his facts or to prove his case. Cato laid +down the very sound principle "rem tene, verba sequentur," and +Quintilian held that "no speaker, when important interests are involved, +should be very solicitous about his words." It is true that this +principle is one that has been more often honoured in the breach than +the observance. Lucian, in his _Lexiphanes_,[25] directs the shafts of +his keen satire against the meticulous attention to phraseology +practised by his contemporaries. Cardinal Bembo sacrificed substance to +form to the extent of advising young men not to read St. Paul for fear +that their style should be injured, and Professor Saintsbury[26] +mentions the case of a French author, Paul de Saint-Victor, who "used, +when sitting down to write, to put words that had struck his fancy at +intervals over the sheet, and write his matter in and up to them." These +are instances of that word-worship run mad which has not infrequently +led to dire results, inasmuch as it has tended to engender the belief +that statesmanship is synonymous with fine writing or perfervid oratory. +The oratory in which Demosthenes excelled, Professor Bury says,[27] "was +one of the curses of Greek politics." + +The attention paid by the ancients to what may be termed tricks of style +has probably in some degree enhanced the difficulties of prose +translation. It may not always be easy in a foreign language to +reproduce the subtle linguistic shades of Demosthenic oratory--the +Anaphora (repetition of the same word at the beginning of co-ordinate +sentences following one another), the Anastrophe (the final word of a +sentence repeated at the beginning of one immediately following), the +Polysyndeton (the same conjunction repeated), or the Epidiorthosis (the +correction of an expression). Nevertheless, in dealing with a prose +composition, the weight of the arguments, the lucidity with which the +facts are set forth, and the force with which the conclusions are driven +home, rank, or should rank, in the mind of the reader higher than any +feelings which are derived from the music of the words or the skilful +order in which they are arranged. Moreover, in prose more frequently +than in verse, it is the beauty of the idea expressed which attracts +rather than the language in which it is clothed. Thus, for instance, +there can be no difficulty in translating the celebrated metaphor of +Pericles[28] that "the loss of the youth of the city was as if the +spring was taken out of the year," because the beauty of the idea can in +no way suffer by presenting it in English, French, or German rather than +in the original Greek. Again, to quote another instance from Latin, the +fine epitaph to St. Ovinus in Ely Cathedral: "Lucem tuam Ovino da, Deus, +et requiem," loses nothing of its terse pathos by being rendered into +English. Occasionally, indeed, the truth is forced upon us that even in +prose "a thing may be well said once but cannot be well said twice" +([Greek: to kalos eipein hapax perigignetai, dis de ouk endechetai]), +but this is generally because the genius of one language lends itself +with special ease to some singularly felicitous and often epigrammatic +form of expression which is almost or sometimes even quite +untranslatable. Who, for instance, would dare to translate into English +the following description which the Duchesse de Dino[29] gave of a lady +of her acquaintance: "Elle n'a jamais ete jolie, mais elle etait blanche +et fraiche, _avec quelques jolis details"_? On the whole, however, it +may be said that if the prose translator is thoroughly well acquainted +with both of the languages which he has to handle, he ought to be able +to pay adequate homage to the genius of the one without offering undue +violence to that of the other. + +The case of the translator of poetry, which Coleridge defined as "the +best words in the best order," is manifestly very different. A phrase +which is harmonious or pregnant with fire in one language may become +discordant, flat, and vapid when translated into another. Shelley spoke +of "the vanity of translation." "It were as wise (he said) to cast a +violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of +its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into +another the creations of a poet." + +Longinus has told us[30] that "beautiful words are the very light of +thought" ([Greek: phos gar to onti idion tou nou ta kala onomata]), but +it will often happen, in reading a fine passage, that on analysing the +sentiments evoked, it is difficult to decide whether they are due to +the thought or to the beauty of the words. A mere word, as in the case +of Edgar Poe's "Nevermore," has at times inspired a poet. When Keats, +speaking of Melancholy, says: + + She lives with Beauty--Beauty that must die-- + And Joy, whose hand is ever on his lips, + Bidding adieu, + +or when Mrs. Browning writes: + + ... Young + As Eve with Nature's daybreak on her face, + +the pleasure, both of sense and sentiment, is in each case derived alike +from the music of the language and the beauty of the ideas. But in such +lines as + + Arethusa arose from her couch of snows, etc., + +or Coleridge's description of the river Alph running + + Through caverns measureless to man + Down to a sunless sea, + +it is the language rather than the idea which fascinates. Professor +Walker, speaking of the most exquisitely harmonious lyric ever written +in English, or perhaps in any other language,[31] says with great truth: +"The reader of _Lycidas_ rises from it ready to grasp the 'two-handed +engine' and smite; though he may be doubtful what the engine is, and +what is to be smitten." + +It may be observed, moreover, that one of the main difficulties to be +encountered in translating some of the masterpieces of ancient +literature arises from their exquisite simplicity. Although the +indulgence in glaring improprieties of language in the pursuit of +novelty of thought was not altogether unknown to the ancients, and was, +indeed, stigmatised by Longinus with the epithet of "corybantising,"[32] +the full development of this pernicious practice has been reserved for +the modern world. Dryden made himself indirectly responsible for a good +deal of bad poetry when he said that great wits were allied to madness. +The late Professor Butcher,[33] as also Lamb in his essay on "The Sanity +of True Genius," have both pointed out that genius and high ability are +eminently sane. + +In some respects it may be said that didactic poetry affords special +facilities to the translator, inasmuch as it bears a more close relation +to prose than verse of other descriptions. Didactic poets, such as +Lucretius and Pope, are almost forced by the inexorable necessities of +their subjects to think in prose. However much we may admire their +verse, it is impossible not to perceive that, in dealing with subjects +that require great precision of thought, they have felt themselves +hampered by the necessities of metre and rhythm. They may, indeed, +resort to blank verse, which is a sort of half-way house between prose +and rhyme, as was done by Mr. Leonard in his excellent translation of +Empedocles, of which the following specimen may be given: + + [Greek: ouk estin pelasasthai en ophthalmoisin ephekton + hemeterois e chersi labein, heper te megiste + peithous anthropoisin hamaxitos eis phrena piptei.] + + We may not bring It near us with our eyes, + We may not grasp It with our human hands. + With neither hands nor eyes, those highways twain, + Whereby Belief drops into the minds of men. + +But Dr. Symmons, one of the numerous translators of Virgil, said, with +some truth, that the adoption of blank verse only involves "a laborious +and doubtful struggle to escape from the fangs of prose."[34] + +A good example of what can be done in this branch of literature is +furnished by Dryden. Lucretius[35] wrote: + + Tu vero dubitabis et indignabere obire? + Mortua cui vita est prope iam vivo atque videnti, + Qui somno partem maiorem conteris aevi, + Et vigilans stertis nec somnia cernere cessas + Sollicitamque geris cassa formidine mentem + Nec reperire potes tibi quid sit saepe mali, cum + Ebrius urgeris multis miser undique curis, + Atque animi incerto fluitans errore vagaris. + +Dryden's translation departs but slightly from the original text and at +the same time presents the ideas of Lucretius in rhythmical and +melodious English: + + And thou, dost thou disdain to yield thy breath, + Whose very life is little more than death? + More than one-half by lazy sleep possest, + And when awake, thy soul but nods at best, + Day-dreams and sickly thoughts revolving in thy breast. + Eternal troubles haunt thy anxious mind, + Whose cause and case thou never hopest to find, + But still uncertain, with thyself at strife, + Thou wanderest in the labyrinth of life. + +Descriptive poetry also lends itself with comparative ease to +translation. Nothing can be better than the translation made by Mr. +Gladstone[36] of _Iliad_ iv. 422-32. The original Greek runs thus: + + [Greek: hos d' hot' en aigialo polyechei; kyma thalasses + ornyt' epassyteron Zephyrou hypo kinesantos; + ponto men te prota koryssetai, autar epeita + cherso rhegnymenon megala bremei, amphi de t' akras + kyrton eon koryphoutai, apoptyei d' halos achnen; + hos tot' epassyterai Danaon kinynto phalanges + nolemeos polemonde. keleue de oisin hekastos + hegemonon; oi d' alloi aken isan, oude ke phaies + tosson laon hepesthai echont' en stethesin auden, + sige, deidiotes semantoras; amphi de pasi + teuchea poikil' elampe, ta eimenoi estichoonto.] + +Mr. Gladstone, who evidently drew his inspiration from the author of +"Marmion" and "The Lady of the Lake," translated as follows: + + As when the billow gathers fast + With slow and sullen roar, + Beneath the keen north-western blast, + Against the sounding shore. + First far at sea it rears its crest, + Then bursts upon the beach; + Or with proud arch and swelling breast, + Where headlands outward reach, + It smites their strength, and bellowing flings + Its silver foam afar-- + So stern and thick the Danaan kings + And soldiers marched to war. + Each leader gave his men the word, + Each warrior deep in silence heard, + So mute they marched, them couldst not ken + They were a mass of speaking men; + And as they strode in martial might + Their flickering arms shot back the light. + +It is, however, in dealing with poetry which is neither didactic nor +descriptive that the difficulty--indeed often the impossibility--of +reconciling the genius of the two languages becomes most apparent. It +may be said with truth that the best way of ascertaining how a fine or +luminous idea can be presented in any particular language is to set +aside altogether the idea of translation, and to inquire how some master +in the particular language has presented the case without reference to +the utterances of his predecessors in other languages. A good example of +this process may be found in comparing the language in which others have +treated Vauvenargues' well-known saying: "Pour executer de grandes +choses, il faut vivre comme si on ne devait jamais mourir." +Bacchylides[37] put the same idea in the following words: + + [Greek: thnaton eunta chre didymous aexein + gnomas, hoti t' aurion opseai + mounon haliou phaos, + choti pentekont' etea + zoan bathyplouton teleis.][38] + +And the great Arab poet Abu'l'Ala, whose verse has been admirably +translated by Mr. Baerlein, wrote: + + If you will do some deed before you die, + Remember not this caravan of death, + But have belief that every little breath + Will stay with you for an eternity. + +Another instance of the same kind, which may be cited without in any way +wishing to advance what Professor Courthope[39] very justly calls "the +mean charge of plagiarism," is Tennyson's line, "His honour rooted in +dishonour stood." Euripides[40] expressed the same idea in the following +words: + + [Greek: ek ton gar aischron esthla mechanometha.] + +To cite another case, the following lines of _Paradise Lost_ may be +compared with the treatment accorded by Euripides to the same subject: + + Oh, why did God, + Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven + With spirits masculine, create at last + This novelty on Earth, this fair defect + Of Nature, and not fill the World at once + With men as Angels, without feminine; + Or find some other way to generate + Mankind? + +Euripides wrote: + + [Greek: o Zeu, ti de kibdelon anthropois kakon, + gynaikas es phos heliou katokisas? + ei gar broteion etheles speirai genos, + ouk ek gynaikon chren paraschesthai tode.][41] + +Apart, however, from the process to which allusion is made above, very +many instances may, of course, be cited, of translations properly so +called which have reproduced not merely the exact sense but the vigour +of the original idea in a foreign language with little or no resort to +paraphrase. What can be better than Cowley's translation of Claudian's +lines?-- + + Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum + Aequaevumque videt consenuisse nemus. + + A neighbouring wood born with himself he sees, + And loves his old contemporary trees, + +thus, as Gibbon says,[42] improving on the original, inasmuch as, being +a good botanist, Cowley "concealed the oaks under a more general +expression." + +Take also the case of the well-known Latin epigram: + + Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi; + Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui. + +It has frequently been translated, but never more felicitously or +accurately than by the late Lord Wensleydale: + + Be epigrams like bees; let them have stings; + And Honey too, and let them be small things. + +On the other hand, the attempt to adhere too closely to the text of the +original and to reject paraphrase sometimes leads to results which can +scarcely be described as other than the reverse of felicitous. An +instance in point is Sappho's lines: + + [Greek: kai gar ai pheugei, tacheos dioxei, + ai de dora me deket', alla dosei, + ai de me philei, tacheos philesei + kouk etheloisa.] + +So great a master of verse as Mr. Headlam translated thus: + + The pursued shall soon be the pursuer! + Gifts, though now refusing, yet shall bring + Love the lover yet, and woo the wooer, + Though heart it wring! + +Many of Mr. Headlam's translations are, however, excellent, more +especially those from English into Greek. He says in his preface: +"Greek, in my experience, is easier to write than English." He has +admirably reproduced the pathetic simplicity of Herrick's lines: + + Here a pretty baby lies, + Sung to sleep with Lullabies; + Pray be silent and not stir + The easy earth that covers her. + + [Greek: meter baukaloosa m' ekoimisen; atrema baine + me 'geires kouphen gen m' epiessomenon.] + +Many singularly happy attempts to render English into Latin or Greek +verse are given in Mr. Kennedy's fascinating little volume _Between +Whiles_, of which the following example may be quoted: + + Few the words that I have spoken; + True love's words are ever few; + Yet by many a speechless token + Hath my heart discoursed to you. + + [Greek: oida paur' epe lalesas; paur' eros lalein philei; + xymbolois d' homos anaudois soi to pan enixamen.] + +The extent to which it is necessary to resort to paraphrase will, of +course, vary greatly, and will largely depend upon whether the language +into which the translation is made happens to furnish epithets and +expressions which are rhythmical and at the same time correspond +accurately to those of the original. Take, for instance, a case such as +the following fragment of Euripides: + + [Greek: ta men didakta manthano, ta d' eureta + zeto, ta d' eukta para theon etesamen.] + +There is but little difficulty in turning this into English verse with +but slight resort to paraphrase: + + I learn what may be taught; + I seek what may be sought; + My other wants I dare + To ask from Heaven in prayer, + +But in a large majority of cases paraphrase is almost imposed on the +translator by the necessities of the case. Mr. William Cory's rendering +of the famous verses of Callimachus on his friend Heraclitus, which is +too well known to need quotation, has been justly admired as one of the +best and most poetic translations ever made from Greek, but it can +scarcely be called a translation in the sense in which that term is +employed by purists. It is a paraphrase. + +It is needless to dwell on the difficulty of finding any suitable words +capable of being adapted to the necessities of English metre and rhythm +for the numerous and highly poetic adjectives in which the Greek +language abounds. It would tax the ingenuity of any translator to weave +into his verse expressions corresponding to the [Greek: halierkees +ochthai] (sea-constraining cliffs) or the [Greek: Mnamosynas +liparampykos] (Mnemosyne of the shining fillet) of Pindar. Neither is +the difficulty wholly confined to poetry. A good many epithets have from +time to time been applied to the Nile, but none so graphic or so +perfectly accurate as that employed by Herodotus,[43] who uses the +phrase [Greek: hupo tosoutou te potamou kai outo ergatikou]. The English +translation "that vast river, so constantly at work" is a poor +equivalent for the original Greek. German possesses to a greater degree +than any other modern language the word-coining power which was such a +marked characteristic of Greek, with the result that it offers special +difficulties to the translator of verse. Mr. Brandes[44] quotes the +following lines of the German poet Buecher: + + Welche Heldenfreudigkeit der Liebe, + Welche Staerke muthigen Entsagens, + Welche himmlisch erdentschwungene Triebe, + Welche Gottbegeistrung des Ertragens! + Welche Sich-Erhebung, Sich-Erwiedrung, + Sich-Entaeussrung, voell'ge Hin-sich-gebung, + Seelenaustausch, Ineinanderlebung! + +It is probable that these lines have never been translated into English +verse, and it is obvious that no translation, which did not largely +consist of paraphrase, would be possible. + +Alliteration, which is a powerful literary instrument in the hands of a +skilful writer, but which may easily be allowed to degenerate into a +mere jingle, is of less common occurrence in Greek than in English, +notably early English, literature. It was, however, occasionally +employed by both poets and dramatists. Euripides, for instance, in the +_Cyclops_ (l. 120) makes use of the following expression, which would +serve as a good motto for an Anarchist club, [Greek: akouei d' ouden +oudeis oudenos]. Clytemnestra, also, in speaking of the murder of her +husband (_Ag._ 1551-52) says: + + [Greek: pros hemon + kappese, katthane, kai katathapsomen.][45] + +That Greek alliteration is capable of imitation is shown by Pope's +translation of the well-known line[46]: + + [Greek: polla d' ananta katanta paranta te dochmia t' elthon;] + + O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks, they go. + +Pope at times brought alliteration to his aid in cases where no such +device had been adopted by Homer, as when, in describing the labours of +Sisyphus,[47] he wrote: + + With many a weary step, and many a groan, + Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone. + +On the whole, although a good deal more than is contained in this +article may be said on either side, it would appear that, broadly +speaking, Dryden's principle holds good for prose translations, and that +experience has shown, in respect to translations in verse, that, save in +rare instances, a resort to paraphrase is necessary. + +The writer ventures, in conclusion, to give two instances, in one of +which there has been comparatively but slight departure from the text of +the original Greek, whilst in the other there has been greater +indulgence in paraphrase. Both are taken from the Anthology. The first +is an epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor by an unknown author: + + [Greek: Nautile, me peuthou tinos enthade tumbos hod' eimi, + all' autos pontou tunchane chrestoterou.] + + No matter who I was; but may the sea + To you prove kindlier than it was to me. + +The other is by Macedonius: + + [Greek: Aurion athreso se; to d' ou pote ginetai hemin + ethados ambolies aien aexomenes; + tauta moi himeironti charizeai, alla d' es allous + dora phereis, emethen pistin apeipamene. + opsomai hesperie se. ti d' hesperos esti gynaikon? + geras ametreto plethomenon rhytidi.] + + Ever "To-morrow" thou dost say; + When will to-morrow's sun arise? + Thus custom ratifies delay; + My faithfulness thou dost despise. + Others are welcomed, whilst to me + "At even come," thou say'st, "not now." + What will life's evening bring to thee? + Old age--a many-wrinkled brow. + +Dryden's well-known lines in _Aurengzebe_ embody the idea of Macedonius +in epigrammatic and felicitous verse: + + Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay, + To-morrow's falser than the former day. + +[Footnote 24: Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 467.] + +[Footnote 25: Weise, 1841, vol. ii. p. 303.] + +[Footnote 26: _Loci Critici_, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 27: _History of Greece_, vol. ii. p. 326.] + +[Footnote 28: The use by Pericles of this metaphor rests on the +authority of Aristotle (_Rhet._ i. 7. 34). Herodotus (vii. 162) ascribes +almost the identical words to Gelo, and a similar idea is given by +Euripides in _Supp._ 447-49.] + +[Footnote 29: _Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 328.] + +[Footnote 30: _On the Sublime_, xxx.] + +[Footnote 31: _Literature of the Victorian Era_, p. 382.] + +[Footnote 32: _On the Sublime_, c. v.] + +[Footnote 33: Aristotle's _Theory of Poetry and Fine Art_, p. 398.] + +[Footnote 34: _Miscellaneous Writings_, Conington, vol. i. p. 162.] + +[Footnote 35: iii. 1045 ff.] + +[Footnote 36: Mr. Gladstone's merits as a translator were great. His +Latin translation of Toplady's hymn "Rock of Ages," beginning "Jesus, +pro me perforatus," is altogether admirable.] + +[Footnote 37: _Od._ iii. 78-82.] + +[Footnote 38: "As a mortal, thou must nourish each of two +forebodings--that to-morrow's sunlight will be the last that thou shalt +see: and that for fifty years thou wilt live out thy life in ample +wealth."] + +[Footnote 39: _History of English Poetry_, iii., 394.] + +[Footnote 40: _Hipp._ 331.] + +[Footnote 41: "Great Zeus, why didst thou, to man's sorrow, put woman, +evil counterfeit, to dwell where shines the sun? If thou wert minded +that the human race should multiply, it was not from women they should +have drawn their stock."--_Hipp._ 616-19.] + +[Footnote 42: _Decline and Fall_, v. 185.] + +[Footnote 43: Book ii. c. 11.] + +[Footnote 44: _Eighteenth Century Literature_, vol. vi. p. 331.] + +[Footnote 45: "By us he fell, he died, and we will bury him."] + +[Footnote 46: _Il._ xxiii. 116.] + +[Footnote 47: _Od._ xi. 733.] + + + + +"THE QUARTERLY REVIEW" + + + + +III + +SIR ALFRED LYALL + +_"Quarterly Review," July 1913_ + + +After reading and admiring Sir Mortimer Durand's life of Alfred Lyall, I +am tempted to exclaim in the words of Shenstone's exquisite inscription, +which has always seemed to me about the best thing that Shenstone ever +wrote, "Heu quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!" +He was one of my oldest and best of friends. More than this, although +our characters differed widely, and although I should never for a moment +think of rating my intellectual attainments on a par with his, at the +same time I may say that in the course of a long life I do not think +that I have ever been brought in contact with any one with whom I found +myself in more thorough community of opinion and sentiment upon the +sundry and manifold questions which excited our common interest. He was +a strong Unionist, a strong Free Trader, and a strong anti-suffragist. +I am, for good or evil, all these things. He was a sincere Liberal in +the non-party sense of that very elastic word. So was I. That is to say, +there was a time when we both thought ourselves good mid-Victorian +Liberals--a school of politicians whose ideas have now been swept into +the limbo of forgotten things, the only surviving principles of that age +being apparently those associated with a faint and somewhat fantastic +cult of the primrose. In 1866 he wrote to his sister--and I cannot but +smile on reading the letter--"I am more and more Radical every year"; +and he expressed regret that circumstances did not permit of his setting +up as "a fierce demagogue" in England. I could have conscientiously +written in much the same spirit at the same period, but it has not taken +me nearly half a century to discover that two persons more unfitted by +nature and temperament to be "fierce demagogues" than Alfred Lyall and +myself were probably never born. In respect to the Indian political +questions which were current during his day--such as the controversy +between the Lawrentian and "Forward" schools of frontier policy, the +Curzon-Kitchener episode, and the adaptation of Western reforms to meet +the growing requirements to which education has given birth--his views, +although perhaps rather in my opinion unduly pessimistic and +desponding, were generally identical with my own. + +Albeit he was an earnest reformer, he was a warm advocate of strong and +capable government, and, in writing to our common friend, Lord Morley, +in 1882, he anathematised what he considered the weakness shown by the +Gladstone Government in dealing with disorder in Ireland. Himself not +only the kindest, but also the most just and judicially-minded of men, +he feared that a maudlin and misplaced sentimentalism would destroy the +more virile elements in the national character. "I should like," he +said, in words which must not, of course, be taken too literally, "a +little more fierceness and honest brutality in the national +temperament." His heart went out, in a manner which is only possible to +those who have watched them closely at work, to those Englishmen, +whether soldiers or civilians, who, but little known and even at times +depreciated by their own countrymen, are carrying the fame, the glory, +the justice and humanity of England to the four quarters of the globe. + + The roving Englishman (he said) is the salt of English land.... + Only those who go out of this civilised country, to see the rough + work on the frontiers and in the far lands, properly understand + what our men are like and can do.... They cannot manage a + steam-engine, but they can drive restive and ill-trained horses + over rough roads. + +He felt--and as one who has humbly dabbled in literature at the close of +an active political life, I can fully sympathise with him--that "when +one has once taken a hand in the world's affairs, literature is like +rowing in a picturesque reach of the Thames after a bout in the open +sea." Yet, in the case of Lyall, literature was not a matter of mere +academic interest. "His incessant study was history." He thought, with +Lord Acton, that an historical student should be "a politician with his +face turned backwards." His mind was eminently objective. He was for +ever seeking to know the causes of things; and though far too observant +to push to extreme lengths analogies between the past and the present, +he nevertheless sought, notably in the history of Imperial Rome, for any +facts or commentaries gleaned from ancient times which might be of +service to the modern empire of which he was so justly proud, and in the +foundation of which the splendid service of which he was an illustrious +member had played so conspicuous a part. "I wonder," he wrote in 1901, +"how far the Roman Empire profited by high education." + +Lyall was by nature a poet. Sir Mortimer Durand says, truly enough, that +his volume of verses, "if not great poetry, as some hold, was yet true +poetry." Poetic expressions, in fact, bubbled up in his mind almost +unconsciously in dealing with every incident of his life. Lord Tennyson +tells us in his _Memoir_ that one evening, when his father and mother +were rowing across the Solent, they saw a heron. His father described +this incident in the following language: "One dark heron flew over the +sea, backed by a daffodil sky." Similarly, Lyall, writing with the +enthusiasm of a young father for his firstborn, said: "The child has +eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon, with wondrous depth of intelligent +gaze." But, though a poet, it would be a great error to suppose that +Lyall was an idealist, if by that term is meant one who, after a +platonic fashion, indulges in ideas which are wholly visionary and +unpractical. He had, indeed, ideals. No man of his imagination and +mental calibre could be without them. But they were ideals based on a +solid foundation of facts. It was here that, in spite of some sympathy +based on common literary tastes, he altogether parted company from a +brother poet, Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, who has invariably left his facts to +take care of themselves. Though eminently meditative and reflective, +Lyall's mind, his biographer says, "seemed always hungry for facts." +"Though he had an unusual degree of imagination, he never allowed +himself to be tempted too far from the region of the known or the +knowable." The reason why he at times appeared to vacillate was that he +did not consider he sufficiently understood all the facts to justify his +forming an opinion capable of satisfying his somewhat hypercritical +judgment. He was, in fact, very difficult to convince of the truth of an +opinion, not because of his prejudices, for he had none, but by reason +of his constitutional scepticism. He acted throughout life on the +principle laid down by the Greek philosopher Epicharmus: "Be sober, and +remember to disbelieve. These are the sinews of the mind." I have been +informed on unimpeachable authority that when he was a member of the +Treasury Committee which sat on the question of providing facilities for +the study of Oriental languages in this country, he constantly asked the +witnesses whom he examined leading questions from which it might rather +be inferred that he held opinions diametrically opposed to those which +in reality he entertained. His sole object was to arrive at a sound +conclusion. He wished to elicit all possible objections to any views to +which he was personally inclined. It is very probable that his Oriental +experience led him to adopt this procedure; for, as any one who has +lived much in the East will recognise, it is the only possible safeguard +against the illusions which may arise from the common Oriental habit of +endeavouring to say what is pleasant to the interrogator, especially if +he occupies some position of authority. + +Only half-reconciled, in the first instance, to Indian exile, and, when +once he had taken the final step of departure, constantly brooding over +the intellectual attractions rather than the material comforts of +European life, Lyall speedily came to the conclusion that, if he was to +bear a hand in governing India, the first thing he had to do was to +understand Indians. He therefore brought his acutely analytical +intellect to the task of comprehending the Indian habit of thought. In +the course of his researches he displayed that thoroughness and +passionate love of truth which was the distinguishing feature of his +character throughout life. That he succeeded in a manner which has been +surpassed by none, and only faintly rivalled by a very few, is now +generally recognised both by his own countrymen and also--which is far +more remarkable--by the inhabitants of the country which formed the +subject of his study. So far as it is possible for any Western to +achieve that very difficult task, he may be said to have got to the back +of the Oriental mind. He embodied the results of his long experience at +times in sweeping and profound generalisations, which covered the whole +field of Oriental thought and action, and at others in pithy +epigrammatic sayings in which the racy humour, sometimes tinged with a +shade of cynical irony, never obscured the deep feeling of sympathy he +entertained for everything that was worthy of respect and admiration. + +Lyall had read history to some purpose. He knew, in the words which +Gregorovius applied to the rule of Theodosius in Italy, that "not even +the wisest and most humane of princes, if he be an alien in race, in +customs and religion, can ever win the hearts of the people." He had +read De Tocqueville, and from the pages of an author whose habit of +thought must have been most congenial to him, he drew the conclusion +that "it was the increased prosperity and enlightenment of the French +people which produced the grand crash." He therefore thought that "the +wildest, as well as the shallowest notion of all is that universally +prevalent belief that education, civilisation and increased material +prosperity will reconcile the people of India eventually to our rule." +Hence he was prepared to accept--perhaps rather more entirely than it +deserved to be accepted--the statement of that very astute Brahmin, Sir +Dinkur Rao, himself the minister of an important native State, that "the +natives prefer a bad native Government to our best patent institutions." +These, and similar oracular statements, have now become the commonplaces +of all who deal with questions affecting India. That there is much +truth in them cannot be gainsaid, but they are still often too much +ignored by one section of the British public, who, carried away by +home-made sentiment, forget that of all national virtues gratitude for +favours received is the most rare, while by another section they are +applied to the advocacy of a degree of autonomous rule which would be +disastrous to the interests, not only of India itself, but also to the +cause of all real civilised progress. + +The point, however, on which in conversation Lyall was wont to insist +most strongly was that the West was almost incomprehensible to the East, +and, _vice versa_, that the Western could never thoroughly understand +the Oriental. In point of fact, when we talk of progress, it is +necessary to fix some standard by which progress may be measured. We +know our Western standard; we endeavour to enforce it; and we are so +convinced that it gives an accurate measure of human moral and material +advancement that we experience a shock on hearing that there are large +numbers of even highly educated human beings who hold that the standard +is altogether false. Yet that, Lyall would argue, is generally the +Oriental frame of mind. Fatalism, natural conservatism and ignorance +lead the uneducated to reject our ideas, while the highly educated often +hold that our standard of progress is too material to be a true +measure, and that consequently, far from advancing, we are standing +still or even retrograding. Lyall, personifying a Brahmin, said, +"Politics I cannot help regarding as the superficial aspect of deeper +problems; and for progress, the latest incarnation of European +materialism, I have an incurable distrust." These subtle intellectuals, +in fact, as Surendranath Banerjee, one of the leaders of the Swadeshi +movement, told Dr. Wegener,[48] hold that the English are "stupid and +ignorant," and, therefore, wholly unfit to govern India. + +I remember Lyall, who, as Sir Mortimer Durand says, had a very keen +sense of humour, telling me an anecdote which is what Bacon would have +called "luciferous," as an illustration of the views held by the +uneducated classes in India on the subject of Western reforms. The +officer in charge of a district either in Bengal or the North-West +Provinces got up a cattle-show, with a view to improving the breed of +cattle. Shortly afterwards, an Englishman, whilst out shooting, entered +into conversation with a peasant who happened to be passing by. He asked +the man what he thought of the cattle-show, and added that he supposed +it had done a great deal of good. "Yes," the native, who was probably a +Moslem, replied after some reflection, "last year there was cholera. +This year there was Cattle Show. We have to bear these afflictions with +what patience we may. Are they not all sent by God?" + +But it was naturally the opinions entertained by the intellectual +classes which most interested Lyall, and which he endeavoured to +interpret to his countrymen. The East is asymmetrical in all things. I +remember Lyall saying to me, "Accuracy is abhorrent to the Oriental +mind." The West, on the other hand, delights beyond all things in +symmetry and accuracy. Moreover, it would almost seem as if in the most +trivial incidents in life some unseen influence generally impels the +Eastern to do the exact opposite to the Western--a point, I may observe, +which Lyall was never tired of illustrating by all kinds of quaint +examples. A shepherd in Perthshire will walk behind his sheep and drive +them. In the Deccan he will walk in front of his flock. A European will +generally place his umbrella point downwards against the wall. An +Oriental will, with far greater reason, do exactly the reverse. + +But, in respect to the main question of mutual comprehension, there are, +at all events in so far as the European is concerned, degrees of +difficulty--degrees which depend very largely on religious differences, +for in the theocratic East religion covers the whole social and +political field to a far greater extent than in the West. Now, the +religion of the Moslem is, comparatively speaking, very easy to +understand. There are, indeed, a few ritualistic and other minor points +as to which a Western may at times have some difficulty in grasping the +Oriental point of view. But the foundations of monotheistic Islam are +simplicity itself; indeed, it may be said that they are far more simple +than those of Christianity. The case of the Hindu religion is very +different. Dr. Barth in his _Religions of India_ says: + + Already in the Veda, Hindu thought is profoundly tainted with the + malady, of which it will never be able to get rid, of affecting a + greater air of mystery the less there is to conceal, of making a + parade of symbols which at bottom signify nothing, and of playing + with enigmas which are not worth the trouble of trying to + unriddle.... At the present time it is next to impossible to say + exactly what Hinduism is, where it begins, and where it ends. + +I cannot profess to express any valuable opinion on a subject on which I +am very imperfectly informed, and which, save as a matter of political +necessity, fails to interest me--for, personally, I think that a book of +the _Iliad_ or a play of Aristophanes is far more valuable than all the +lucubrations that have ever been spun by the subtle minds of learned +Hindu Pundits--but, so far as I am able to judge, Dr. Barth's +description is quite accurate. None the less, the importance to the +Indian politician of gaining some insight into the inner recesses of the +Hindu mind cannot for a moment be doubted. Lyall said, "I fancy that the +Hindu philosophy, which teaches that everything we see or feel is a vast +cosmic illusion, projected into space by that which is the manifestation +of the infinite and unconscious spirit, has an unsettling effect on +their political beliefs." Lyall, therefore, rendered a very great +political service to his countrymen when he took in hand the duty of +expounding to them the true nature of Hindu religious belief. He did the +work very thoroughly. Passing lightly by the "windy moralities" of +Brahmo Somaj teachers of the type of Keshub Chunder Sen, whom he left to +"drifting Deans such as Stanley and Alford," he grasped the full +significance of true orthodox Brahmanism, and under the pseudonym of +Vamadeo Shastri wrote an essay which has "become a classic for the +student of comparative religion, and for all who desire to know, in +particular, the religious mind of the Hindu." In the course of his +enquiries Lyall incidentally performed the useful historical service of +showing that Euhemerism is, or very recently was, a living force in +India,[49] and that the solar myth theory supported by Max Mueller and +others had, to say the least, been pushed much too far. + +I turn to another point. All who were brought in contact with Lyall +speedily recognised his social charm and high intellectual gifts, but +was he a man of action? Did he possess the qualifications necessary to +those who take part in the government of the outlying dominions of the +Empire? I have often been asked that question. It is one to which Sir +Mortimer Durand frequently reverts, his general conclusion being that +Lyall was "a man of action with literary tastes." I will endeavour +briefly to express my own opinion on this subject. + +There have been many cases of notable men of action who were also +students. Napier said that no example can be shown in history of a great +general who was not also a well-read man. But Lyall was more than a mere +student. He was a thinker, and a very deep thinker, not merely on +political but also on social and religious subjects. There may be some +parallel in the history of our own or of other countries to the peculiar +combination of thought and action which characterised Lyall's career, +but for the moment none which meets all the necessary requirements +occurs to me. The case is, I think, almost if not quite unique. That +Lyall had a warm admiration for men of action is abundantly clear. His +enthusiasm on their behalf comes out in every stanza of his poetry, and, +when any suitable occasion offered, in every line of his prose. He +eulogised the strong man who ruled and acted, and he reserved a very +special note of sympathy for those who sacrificed their lives for their +country. Shortly before his own death he spoke in terms of warm +admiration of Mr. Newbolt's fine lines: + + Qui procul hinc--the legend's writ, + The frontier grave is far away-- + Qui ante diem periit + Sed miles, sed pro patria. + +But he shared these views with many thinkers who, like Carlyle, have +formed their opinions in their studies. The fact that he entertained +them does not help us to answer the question whether he can or cannot be +himself classed in the category of men of action. + +As a young man he took a distinguished part in the suppression of the +Mutiny, and showed courage and decision of character in all his acts. He +was a good, though not perhaps an exceptionally good administrator. His +horror of disorder in any form led him to approve without hesitation the +adoption of strong measures for its suppression. On the occasion of the +punishment administered to those guilty of the Manipur massacres in +1891, he wrote to Sir Mortimer Durand, "I do most heartily admire the +justice and firmness of purpose displayed in executing the Senapati. I +hope there will be no interference, in my absence, from the India +Office." On the whole, the verdict passed by Lord George Hamilton is, I +believe, eminently correct, and is entirely in accordance with my own +experience. Lord George, who had excellent opportunities for forming a +sound opinion on the subject, wrote: + + Great as were Lyall's literary attributes and powers of initiation + and construction, his critical faculties were even more fully + developed. This made him at times somewhat difficult to deal with, + for he was very critical and cautious in the tendering of advice as + regards any new policy or any suggested change. When once he could + see his way through difficulties, or came to the conclusion that + those difficulties must be faced, then his caution and critical + instincts disappeared, and he was prepared to be as bold in the + prosecution of what he advocated as he had previously been + reluctant to start. + +The mental attitude which Lord George Hamilton thus describes is by no +means uncommon in the case of very conscientious and brilliantly +intellectual men, such, for instance, as the late Lord Goschen, who +possessed many characteristics in common with Lyall. They can cite, in +justification of their procedure, the authority of one who was probably +the greatest man of action that the world has ever produced. Roederer +relates in his journal that on one occasion Napoleon said to him: + + Il n'y a pas un homme plus pusillanime que moi quand je fais un + plan militaire; je me grossis tous les dangers et tous les maux + possibles dans les circonstances; je suis dans une agitation tout a + fait penible; je suis comme une fille qui accouche. Et quand ma + resolution est prise, tout est oublie, hors ce qui peut la faire + reussir. + +Within reasonable limits, caution is, indeed, altogether commendable. On +the other hand, it cannot be doubted that, carried to excess, it is at +times apt to paralyse all effective and timely action, to disqualify +those who exercise it from being pilots possessed of sufficient daring +to steer the ship of state in troublous times, and to exclude them from +the category of men of action in the sense in which that term is +generally used. In spite of my great affection for Alfred Lyall, I am +forced to admit that, in his case, caution was, I think, at times +carried to excess. He never appeared to me to realise sufficiently that +the conduct of public affairs, notably in this democratic age, is at +best a very rough unscientific process; that it is occasionally +necessary to make a choice of evils or to act on imperfect evidence; and +that at times, to quote the words which I remember Lord Northbrook once +used to me, it is even better to have a wrong opinion than to have no +definite opinion at all. So early as 1868, he wrote to his mother, +"There are many topics on which I have not definitely discovered what I +do think"; and to the day of his death he very generally maintained in +respect to current politics the frame of mind set forth in this very +characteristic utterance. Every general has to risk the loss of a +battle, and every active politician has at times to run the risk of +making a wrong forecast. Before running that risk, Lyall was generally +inclined to exhaust the chances of error to an extent which was often +impossible, or at all events hurtful. + +Sir Mortimer Durand refers to the history of the Ilbert Bill, a measure +under which Lord Ripon's Government proposed to give native magistrates +jurisdiction over Europeans in certain circumstances. I was at the time +(1882-83) Financial Member of the Viceroy's Council. After a lapse of +thirty years, there can, I think, be no objection to my stating my +recollections of what occurred in connexion with this subject. I should, +in the first instance, mention that the association of Mr. (now Sir +Courtenay) Ilbert's name with this measure was purely accidental. He had +nothing to do with its initiation. The proposals, which were eventually +embodied in the Bill, originated with Sir Ashley Eden, who was +Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and who certainly could not be accused of +any wish to neglect European opinion, or of any desire to push forward +extreme liberal measures conceived in native interests. The measure had +been under the consideration of the Legislative Department in the time +of Mr. Ilbert's predecessor in the office of Legal Member of Council, +and it was only the accident that he vacated his office before it was +introduced into the Legislative Council that associated Mr. Ilbert's +name with the Bill. + +As was customary in such cases, all the local Governments had been +consulted; and they again consulted the Commissioners, +Deputy-Commissioners, Collectors, etc., within their respective +provinces. The result was that Lord Ripon had before him the opinions of +practically the whole Civil Service of India. Divers views were held as +to the actual extent to which the law should be altered, but, in the +words of a despatch addressed by the Government of India to the +Secretary of State on September 9, 1882, the local reports showed "an +overwhelming consensus of opinion that the time had come for modifying +the existing law and removing the present absolute bar upon the +investment of native magistrates in the interior with powers over +European British subjects." Not one single official gave anything +approaching an indication of the storm of opposition that this ill-fated +measure was about to raise. I do not think that this is very +surprising, for the opposition came almost exclusively from the +unofficial Europeans, who for the most part congregate in a few large +commercial centres, with the result that the majority of the civilians, +who are scattered throughout the country, are not much brought in +contact with them. Nevertheless, the fact that so great a miscalculation +of the state of public opinion could be made left a deep impression on +my mind. The main lesson which I carried away from the Ilbert Bill +controversy was, indeed, that in spite of their great merits, which no +one recognises more fully than myself, it is possible at times for the +whole body of Indian civilians, taken collectively, to be somewhat +unsafe guides in matters of state policy. Curiously enough, the only +danger-signal which was raised was hoisted by Sir Henry Maine, who had +been in India as Legal Member of Council, but who did not belong to the +Indian Civil Service. He was at the time a member of the India Council. +When the despatch of the Government of India on the subject reached +London, Sir Henry Maine was travelling on the Continent. The papers were +sent to him. He called to mind the bitter controversy which arose over +what was known as "the Black Act" in Lord William Bentinck's time, and +wrote privately a few words of warning to Lord Hartington, who was at +the time Secretary of State for India. Lord Hartington put the letter +in his great-coat pocket, went to Newmarket, and forgot all about it, +with the result that Sir Henry Maine's warning never reached Lord Ripon. + +I well remember being present when Mr. Ilbert introduced the measure +into the Legislative Council. It attracted but little attention and led +to only a very brief discussion, in which I took no part. The papers had +been circulated to all Members of Council, including myself. When I +received them I saw at a glance that the subject was not one that +concerned my own department, or one as to which my opinion could be of +any value. I, therefore, merely endorsed the papers with my initials and +sent them on, without having given the subject much attention. In common +with all my colleagues, I was soon to learn the gravity of the step +which had been taken. A furious storm of opposition, which profoundly +shook the prestige and authority of the Government of India, and notably +of the Viceroy, arose. It was clear that a mistake had been made. The +measure was in itself not very important. It was obviously undesirable, +as Lyall remarked, to "set fire to an important wing of the house in +order to roast a healthy but small pig." The best plan, had it been +possible, would have been to admit the mistake and to withdraw the +measure; and this would certainly have been done had it not been for the +unseemly and extravagant violence of the European unofficial community, +notably that of Calcutta. It should, however, in fairness be stated that +they were irritated and alarmed, not so much at the acts of Lord Ripon's +Government, but at some rather indiscreet language which had at times +been used, and which led them, quite erroneously, to suspect that +extreme measures were in contemplation, of a nature calculated to shake +the foundations of British supremacy in India. This violent attitude +naturally led to reprisals and bitter recriminations from the native +press, with the result that the total withdrawal of the measure would +have been construed as a decisive defeat to the adoption of even the +most moderate measures of liberal reform in India. The project of total +withdrawal could not, therefore, be entertained. + +In these circumstances, the duty of a practical rough-and-ready +politician was very clearly indicated. However little he might care for +the measure on its own merits, political instinct pointed unmistakably +to the absolute necessity of affording strong support to the Viceroy. +Lyall failed to realise this fully. He admired Lord Ripon's courage. "We +must," he said, "all do our best to pull the Viceroy through." But +withal it is clear, by his own admission, that he only gave the Viceroy +"rather lukewarm support." "I have intrenched myself," he wrote in a +characteristic letter, "behind cautious proposals, and am quoted on both +sides." This attitude was not due to any want of moral courage, for a +more courageous man, both physically and morally, than Lyall never +lived. It was simply the result of what Lord Lytton called "the Lyall +habit of seeing both sides of a question," and not being able to decide +betimes which side to support. That a man of Lyall's philosophical and +reflective turn of mind should see both sides of a question is not only +natural but commendable, but this frame of mind is not one that can be +adopted without hazard by a man of action at the head of affairs at a +time of acute crisis. + +There is, however, a reverse side to this picture. The same mental +attributes which rendered Lyall somewhat unfit, in my opinion, to deal +with an incident such as the Ilbert Bill episode, enabled him to come +with credit and distinction out of a situation of extreme difficulty in +which the reputation of many another man would have foundered. I have no +wish or intention to stir up again the embers of past Afghan +controversies. It will be sufficient for my purpose to say that Lord +Lytton, immensely to his credit, recognised Lyall's abilities and +appointed him Foreign Secretary, in spite of the fact that he was +associated with the execution of a policy to which Lord Lytton himself +was strongly opposed, and which he had decided to reverse. Lyall did not +conceal his opinions, but, as always, he was open to conviction, and saw +both sides of a difficult question. In 1878, he was "quite in favour of +vigorous action to counteract the Russians"; but two years later, in +1880, after the Cavagnari murder, he records in a characteristic letter +that he "was mentally edging back towards old John Lawrence's counsel +never to embark on the shoreless sea of Afghan politics." On the whole, +it may be said that Lyall passed through this supreme test in a manner +which would not have been possible to any man unless endowed not merely +with great abilities, but with the highest degree of moral courage and +honesty of purpose. He preserved his own self-esteem, and by his +unswerving honesty and loyalty gained that of the partisans on both +sides of the controversy. + +It is pleasant to turn from these episodes to other features in Lyall's +career and character, in respect to which unstinted eulogy, without the +qualification of a shade of criticism, may be recorded. It was more +especially in dealing with the larger and more general aspects of +Eastern affairs that Lyall's genius shone most brightly. He had what +the French call a _flair_ in dealing with the main issues of Oriental +politics such as, so far as my experience goes, is possessed by few. It +was very similar to the qualities displayed by the late Lord Salisbury +in dealing with foreign affairs generally. I give an instance in point. + +In 1884, almost every newspaper in England was declaiming loudly about +the dangers to be apprehended if the rebellion excited by the Mahdi in +the Soudan was not promptly crushed. It was thought that this rebellion +was but the precursor of a general and formidable offensive movement +throughout the Islamic world. "What," General Gordon, whose opinion at +the time carried great weight, had asked, "is to prevent the Mahdi's +adherents gaining Mecca? Once at Mecca we may look out for squalls in +Turkey," etc. He, as also Lord Wolseley, insisted on the absolute +necessity of "smashing the Mahdi." We now know that these fears were +exaggerated, and that the Mahdist movement was of purely local +importance. Lyall had no special acquaintance with Egyptian or Soudanese +affairs, but his general knowledge of the East and of Easterns enabled +him at once to gauge correctly the true nature of the danger. +Undisturbed by the clamour which prevailed around him, he wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve on March 21, 1884: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest +India. The talk in some of the papers about the necessity of smashing +him, in order to avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is +futile and imaginative."[50] + +I need say no more. I am glad, for the sake of Lyall's own reputation, +that the offer of the Viceroyalty was never made to him. Apart from the +question of his age, which, in 1894, was somewhat too advanced to admit +of his undertaking such onerous duties, I doubt if he possessed +sufficient experience of English public life--a qualification which is +yearly becoming of greater importance--to enable him to fill the post in +a satisfactory manner. In spite, moreover, of his splendid intellectual +gifts and moral elevation of thought, it is very questionable whether on +the whole he would have been the right man in the right place. + +Lyall's name will not, like those of some other Indian notabilities, go +down to posterity as having been specially connected with any one +episode or event of supreme historical importance; but, when those of +the present generation who regarded him with esteem and affection have +passed away, he will still deserve an important niche in the Temple of +Fame as a thinker who thoroughly understood the East, and who probably +did more than any of his contemporaries or predecessors to make his +countrymen understand and sympathise with the views held by the many +millions in India whose destinies are committed to their charge. His +experience and special mental equipment eminently fitted him to perform +the task he took in hand. England, albeit a prolific mother of great men +in every department of thought and action, has not produced many Lyalls. + +[Footnote 48: _Nineteenth Century_, May 1913, p. 972.] + +[Footnote 49: When I was at Delhi in 1881, a Nikolsaini, _i.e._ a +worshipper of John Nicholson, came to see me. He showed me a miniature +of Nicholson with his head surrounded by an aureole.] + +[Footnote 50: _Memoirs of Henry Reeve_, ii. 329.] + + + + +"THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER" + + + + +IV + +ARMY REFORM + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," February 1904_ + + +The autobiography[51] of my old and highly esteemed friend, Lord +Wolseley, constitutes an honourable record of a well-spent life. Lord +Wolseley may justifiably be proud of the services which he has rendered +to his country. The British nation, and its principal executive +officials in the past, may also be proud of having quickly discovered +Lord Wolseley's talents and merits, and of having advanced him to high +position. + +Obviously, certain conclusions of public interest may be drawn from the +career of this very distinguished soldier. Sir George Arthur, in the +December number of the _Fortnightly Review_, has stated what are the +special lessons which, in his opinion, are to be derived from a +consideration of that career. + +Those lessons are, indeed, sufficiently numerous. I propose, however, to +deal with only two of them. They are those which, apparently, Lord +Wolseley himself wishes to be inculcated. Both involve questions of +principle of no little importance. + +In the first place, Lord Wolseley, if I understand rightly, considers +that the army has suffered greatly from civilian interference. He +appears to think that it should be more exclusively than heretofore +under military control. + +In the second place, he thinks that, in certain cases, the political and +diplomatic negotiations, which generally follow on a war, should be +conducted, not by a diplomatist or politician, but by the officer who +has conducted the previous military operations. + +As regards the first point, I am not now dealing with Lord Wolseley's +remarks in connection with our general unpreparedness for war, nor with +those on the various defects, past or present, of our military +organisation. In a great deal that he has said on these subjects, Lord +Wolseley carries me heartily with him. I confine myself strictly to the +issue as I have defined it above. + +Possibly, I have mistaken the significance of Lord Wolseley's words. If +so, my error is shared by Sir George Arthur, who, in dealing with the +War Office, dwells with emphasis on the occasions when "this great war +expert was thwarted in respect of his best considered plans by the +civilian element in that citadel of inefficiency,"[52] and speaks with +approval of Lord Wolseley's "severe strictures on blundering civilian +interference with the army," as also of the "censure reserved for the +criminal negligence and miserable cowardice of successive Cabinets." + +It seems to me that Lord Wolseley is rather hard on civilians in +general--those "iconoclastic civilian officials who meddle and muddle in +army matters"[53]--on politicians in particular, who, I cannot but +think, are not quite so black as he has painted them; and most of all on +Secretaries of State, with the single exception of Lord Cardwell, to +whom generous and very well deserved praise is accorded. + +It is not quite clear, from a perusal of these volumes, what is the +precise nature of the change which Lord Wolseley wishes to advocate, +although in one passage a specific proposal is made. It is that "a +certificate should be annually laid before Parliament by the +non-political Commander-in-Chief, that the whole of the military forces +of the Empire can be completely and effectively equipped for war in a +fortnight." The general tendency of the reform which commends itself to +Lord Wolseley may, however, readily be inferred. He complains that the +soldiers, "though in office, are never in power." Nevertheless, as he +explains with military frankness, "the cunning politician," when +anything goes wrong, is able "to turn the wrath of a deceived people +upon the military authorities, and those who are exclusively to blame +are too often allowed to sneak off unhurt in the turmoil of execration +they have raised against the soldiers." I may remark incidentally that +exception might perhaps reasonably be taken to the use of the word +"exclusively" in this passage; but the main point to which I wish to +draw attention is that clearly, in Lord Wolseley's opinion, the +soldiers, under the existing system, have not sufficient power, and that +it would be advisable that they should, under a reformed system, be +invested with more ample power. I dare say Lord Wolseley is quite right, +at all events to this extent, that it is desirable that the power, as +also the responsibility, of the highest military authorities should be +as clearly defined as is possible under our peculiar system of +government. But it is essential to ascertain more accurately in what +manner Lord Wolseley, speaking with all the high authority which +deservedly attaches itself to his name, thinks that effect should be +given to the principle which he advocates. In order to obtain this +information, I turn to vol. i. p. 92, where I find the following +passage: "A man who is not a soldier, and who is entirely ignorant of +war, is selected solely for political reasons to be Secretary of State +for War. I might with quite as great propriety be selected to be the +chief surgeon in a hospital." + +I would here digress for a moment to deal with the argument advanced in +the latter part of this sentence. It is very plausible, and, at first +sight, appears convincing. It is also very commonly used. Over and over +again, I have heard the presumed analogy between the surgeon and the +soldier advanced as a proof of the absurdity of the English system. I +believe that no such analogy exists. Surgery is an exact science. To +perform even the most trifling surgical operation requires careful +technical training and experience. It is far otherwise with the case of +the soldier. I do not suppose that any civilian in his senses would +presume, on a purely technical matter, to weigh his own opinion against +that of a trained soldier, like Lord Wolseley, who is thoroughly versed +in the theory of his profession, and who has been through the school of +actual war. But a large number of the most important questions affecting +military organisation and the conduct of military affairs, require for +their solution little or no technical knowledge. Any man of ordinary +common sense can form an opinion on them, and any man of good business +habits may readily become a capable agent for giving effect to the +opinions which he, or which others have formed. + +I may here perhaps give a page from my own personal experience bearing +on the point under discussion. + +The Soudan campaign of 1896-98 was, in official circles, dubbed a +"Foreign Office war." For a variety of reasons, to which it is +unnecessary to allude in detail, the Sirdar was, from the commencement +of the operations, placed exclusively under my orders in all matters. +The War Office assumed no responsibility, and issued no orders.[54] A +corresponding position was occupied by the Headquarters Staff of the +Army of Occupation in Cairo. The result was that I found myself in the +somewhat singular position of a civilian, who had had some little +military training in his youth, but who had had no experience of +war,[55] whose proper functions were diplomacy and administration, but +who, under the stress of circumstances in the Land of Paradox, had to be +ultimately responsible for the maintenance, and even, to some extent, +for the movements of an army of some 25,000 men in the field. + +That good results were obtained under this system cannot be doubted. It +will not, therefore, be devoid of interest to explain how it worked in +practice, and what were the main reasons which contributed towards +success. + +I have no wish to disparage the strategical and tactical ability which +were displayed in the conduct of the campaign. It is, however, a fact +that no occasion arose for the display of any great skill in these +branches of military knowledge. When once the British and Egyptian +troops were brought face to face with the enemy, there could--unless +the conditions under which they fought were altogether extraordinary--be +little doubt of the result. The speedy and successful issue of the +campaign depended, in fact, almost entirely upon the methods adopted for +overcoming the very exceptional difficulties connected with the supply +and transport of the troops. The main quality required to meet these +difficulties was a good head for business. By one of those fortunate +accidents which have been frequent in the history of Anglo-Saxon +enterprise, a man was found equal to the occasion. Lord Kitchener of +Khartoum won his well-deserved peerage because he was a good man of +business; he looked carefully after all important detail, and he +enforced economy. + +My own merits, such as they were, were of a purely negative character. +They may be summed up in a single phrase. I abstained from mischievous +activity, and I acted as a check on the interference of others. I had +full confidence in the abilities of the commander, whom I had +practically myself chosen, and, except when he asked for my assistance, +I left him entirely alone. I encouraged him to pay no attention to those +vexatious bureaucratic formalities with which, under the slang phrase of +"red tape" our military system is overburdened. I exercised some little +control over the demands for stores which were sent to the London War +Office; and the mere fact that these demands passed through my hands, +and that I declined to forward any request unless, besides being in +accordance with existing regulations--a point to which I attached but +slight importance--it had been authorised by the Sirdar, probably tended +to check wastefulness in that quarter where it was most to be feared. +Beyond this I did nothing, and I found--somewhat to my own +astonishment--that, with my ordinary staff of four diplomatic +secretaries, the general direction of a war of no inconsiderable +dimensions added but little to my ordinary labours. + +I do not say that this system would always work as successfully as was +the case during the Khartoum campaign. The facts, as I have already +said, were peculiar. The commander, on whom everything practically +depended, was a man of marked military and administrative ability. +Nevertheless, I feel certain that Lord Kitchener would bear me out in +saying that here was a case in which general civilian control, far from +exercising any detrimental effect, was on the whole beneficial. + +To return to the main thread of my argument. The passage which I have +quoted from Lord Wolseley's book would certainly appear to point to the +conclusion that, in his opinion, the Secretary of State for War should +be a soldier unconnected with politics. Even although Lord Wolseley does +not state this conclusion in so many words, it is notorious to any one +who is familiar with the views current in army circles that the adoption +of this plan is considered by many to be the best, if it be not the +only, solution of all our military difficulties. + +I am not concerned with the constitutional objections which may be urged +against the change of system now under discussion. Neither need I dwell +on the difficulty of making it harmonise with our system of party +government, for which it is quite possible to entertain a certain +feeling of respect and admiration without being in any degree a +political partisan. I approach the question exclusively from the point +of view of its effects on the army. From that point of view, I venture +to think that the change is to be deprecated. + +In dealing with Lord Cardwell's attitude in respect to army reform, Lord +Wolseley says: "Never was Minister in my time more generally hated by +the army." He points out how this hatred was extended to all who +supported Lord Cardwell's views. His own conduct was "looked upon as a +species of high treason." I was at the time employed in a subordinate +position at the War Office. I can testify that this language is by no +means exaggerated. Nevertheless, after events showed clearly enough +that, in resisting the abolition of purchase, the formation of a +reserve, and the other admirable reforms with which Lord Cardwell's +name, equally with that of Lord Wolseley, is now honourably associated, +the bulk of army opinion was wholly in the wrong. I believe such army +opinion as now objects to a civilian being Secretary of State for War to +be equally in the wrong. + +There would appear, indeed, to be some inconsistency between Lord +Wolseley's unstinted praise of Lord Cardwell--that "greatest" of War +Ministers, who, "though absolutely ignorant of our army and of war," +responded so "readily to the demands made on him by his military +advisers," and "gave new life to our old army"--and his depreciation of +the system which gave official birth to Lord Cardwell. There would be no +contradiction in the two positions if the civilian Minister, in 1871, +had been obliged to use his position in Parliament and his influence on +public opinion to force on an unwilling nation reforms which were +generally advocated by the army. But the very contrary of this was the +case. What Lord Cardwell had principally to encounter was "the fierce +hatred" of the old school of soldiers, and Lord Wolseley tells us +clearly enough what would have happened to the small band of army +reformers within the army, if they had been unable to rely on civilian +support. + + "Had it not been," he says, "for Mr. Cardwell's and Lord + Northbrook's constant support and encouragement, those of us who + were bold enough to advocate a thorough reorganisation of our + military system, would have been 'provided for' in distant quarters + of the British world, 'where no mention of us more should be + heard.'" + +There can be no such thing as finality in army reform. There will be +reformers in the future, as there have been in the past. There will, +without doubt, be vested interests and conservative instincts to be +overcome in the future, as there were at the time when Lord Wolseley so +gallantly fought the battle of army reform. What guarantee can Lord +Wolseley afford that a soldier at the head of the army will always be a +reformer, and that he will not "provide for" those of his subordinates +who have the courage to raise their voices in favour of reform, even as +Lord Wolseley thinks he would himself have been "provided for" had it +not been for the sturdy support he received from his civilian superiors? +I greatly doubt the possibility of giving any such guarantee. + +But I go further than this. It is now more than thirty years since I +served under the War Office. I am, therefore, less intimately acquainted +with the present than with the past. But, during those thirty years, I +have been constantly brought in contact with the War Office, and I have +seen no reason whatever to change the opinion I formed in Lord +Cardwell's time, namely, that it will be an evil day for the army when +it is laid down, as a system, that no civilian should be Secretary of +State for War. My belief is that, if ever the history of our military +administration of recent years comes to be impartially written, it will +be found that most of the large reforms, which have beneficially +affected the army, have been warmly supported, and sometimes initiated, +by the superior civilian element in the War Office. Who, indeed, ever +heard of a profession being reformed from within? One of the greatest +law reformers of the last century was the author of _Bleak House_. + +It may, indeed, be urged--perhaps Lord Wolseley would himself urge--that +it is no defence of a bad system to say that under one man (Lord +Cardwell), whom Lord Wolseley describes as "a clear-headed, +logical-minded lawyer," it worked very well. To this I reply that I +cannot believe that the race of clear-headed, logical-minded individuals +of Cabinet rank, belonging to either great party of the State, is +extinct. + +I have been induced to make these remarks because, in past years, I was +a good deal associated with army reform, and because, since then, I have +continued to take an interest in the matter. Also because I am convinced +that those officers in the army who, with the best intentions, advocate +the particular change now under discussion, are making a mistake in army +interests. They may depend upon it that the cause they have at heart +will best be furthered by maintaining at the head of the army a civilian +of intelligence and of good business habits, who, although, equally with +a soldier, he may sometimes make mistakes, will give an impartial +hearing to army reformers, and will probably be more alive than any one +belonging to their own profession to all that is best in the outside and +parliamentary pressure to which he is exposed. + +I turn to the second point to which allusion was made at the +commencement of this article. + +Speaking of the Chinese war in 1860, Lord Wolseley says: "In treating +with barbarian nations during a war ... the general to command the army +and the ambassador to make peace should be one and the same man. To +separate the two functions is, according to my experience, folly gone +mad." Lord Wolseley reverts to this subject in describing the Ashantee +war of 1873-74. I gather from his allusions to Sir John Moore's +campaign in Spain, and to the fact that evil results ensued from +allowing Dutch deputies to accompany Marlborough's army, that he is in +favour of extending the principle which he advocates to wars other than +those waged against "barbarian nations." + +The objections to anything in the nature of a division of +responsibility, at all events so long as military operations are in +actual progress, are, indeed, obvious, and are now very generally +recognised. Those who are familiar with the history of the revolutionary +war will remember the baneful influence exercised by the Aulic Council +over the actions of the Austrian commanders.[56] There can, in fact, be +little doubt that circumstances may occur when the principle advocated +by Lord Wolseley may most advantageously be adopted; but it is, I +venture to think, one which has to be applied with much caution, +especially when the question is not whether there should be a temporary +cessation of hostilities--a point on which the view of the officer in +command of the troops would naturally carry the greatest weight--but +also involves the larger issue of the terms on which peace should +finally be concluded. I am not at all sure that, in deciding on the +issues which, under the latter contingency, must necessarily come under +consideration, the employment of a soldier, in preference to a +politician or diplomatist, is always a wise proceeding. Soldiers, +equally with civilians, are liable to make erroneous forecasts of the +future, and to mistake the general situation with which they have to +deal. I can give a case in point. + +When, in January 1885, Khartoum fell, the question whether the British +army should be withdrawn, or should advance and reconquer the Soudan, +had to be decided. Gordon, whose influence on public opinion, great +before, had been enhanced by his tragic death, had strongly recommended +the policy of "smashing the Mahdi." Lord Wolseley adopted Gordon's +opinion. "No frontier force," he said, "can keep Mahdiism out of Egypt, +and the Mahdi sooner or later must be smashed, or he will smash you." +These views were shared by Lord Kitchener, Sir Redvers Buller, Sir +Charles Wilson, and by the military authorities generally.[57] Further, +the alleged necessity of "smashing the Mahdi," on the ground that his +success in the Soudan would be productive of serious results elsewhere, +exercised a powerful influence on British public opinion at this period, +although the best authorities on Eastern politics were at the time aware +that the fears so generally entertained in this connection were either +groundless or, at all events, greatly exaggerated.[58] Under these +circumstances, it was decided to "smash the Mahdi," and accordingly a +proclamation, giving effect to the declared policy of the British +Government, was issued. Shortly afterwards, the Penjdeh incident +occurred. Public opinion in England somewhat calmed down, having found +its natural safety-valve in an acrimonious parliamentary debate, in +which the Government narrowly escaped defeat. The voices of politicians +and diplomatists, which had been to some degree hushed by the din of +arms, began to be heard. The proclamation was cancelled. The project of +reconquering the Soudan was postponed to a more convenient period. It +was, in fact, accomplished thirteen years later, under circumstances +which differed very materially from those which prevailed in 1885. In +June 1885, the Government of Lord Salisbury succeeded to that of Mr. +Gladstone, and, though strongly urged to undertake the reconquest of the +Soudan, confirmed the decision of its predecessors. + +Sir George Arthur, writing in the _Fortnightly Review_, strongly +condemns this "cynical disavowal" of Lord Wolseley's proclamation. I +have nothing to say in favour of the issue of that proclamation. I am +very clearly of opinion that, as it was issued, it was wise that it +should be cancelled. For, in truth, subsequent events showed that the +forecast made by Lord Wolseley and by Gordon was erroneous, in that it +credited the Mahdi with a power of offence which he was far from +possessing. No serious difficulty arose in defending the frontier of +Egypt from Dervish attack. The overthrow of the Mahdi's power, though +eminently desirable, was very far from constituting an imperious +necessity such as was commonly supposed to exist in 1885. In this +instance, therefore, it appears to me that the diplomatists and +politicians gauged the true nature of the situation somewhat more +accurately than the soldiers. + +More than this, I conceive that, in all civilised countries, the theory +of government is that a question of peace or war is one to be decided by +politicians. The functions of the soldier are supposed to be confined, +in the first place, to advising on the purely military aspects of the +issue involved; and, in the second place, to giving effect to any +decisions at which the Government may arrive. The practice in this +matter not infrequently differs somewhat from the theory. The soldier, +who is generally prone to advocate vigorous action, is inclined to +encroach on the sphere which should properly be reserved for the +politician. The former is often masterful, and the latter may be dazzled +by the glitter of arms, or too readily lured onwards by the persuasive +voice of some strategist to acquire an almost endless succession of +what, in technical language, are called "keys" to some position, or--to +employ a metaphor of which the late Lord Salisbury once made use in +writing to me--"to try and annex the moon in order to prevent its being +appropriated by the planet Mars." When this happens, a risk is run that +the soldier, who is himself unconsciously influenced by a very laudable +desire to obtain personal distinction, may practically dictate the +policy of the nation without taking a sufficiently comprehensive view of +national interests. Considerations of this nature have more especially +been, from time to time, advanced in connection with the numerous +frontier wars which have occurred in India. That they contain a certain +element of truth can scarcely be doubted. + +For these reasons, it appears to me that the application of the +principle advocated by Lord Wolseley requires much care and +watchfulness. Probably, the wisest plan will be that each case should be +decided on its own merits with reference to the special circumstances +of the situation, which may sometimes demand the fusion, and sometimes +the separation, of military and political functions. + +I was talking, a short time ago, to a very intelligent, and also +Anglophile, French friend of mine. He knew England well, but, until +quite recently, had not visited the country for a few years. He told me +that what struck him most was the profound change which had come over +British opinion since the occasion of his last visit. We had been +invaded, he said, by _le militarisme continental_. In common with the +vast majority of my countrymen, I am earnestly desirous of seeing our +military organisation and military establishments placed on a thoroughly +sound footing, but I have no wish whatever to see any portion of our +institutions overwhelmed by a wave of _militarisme continental_. It is +because I think that the views advocated by Lord Wolseley +tend--although, I do not doubt, unconsciously to their distinguished +author--in the direction of a somewhat too pronounced _militarisme_, +that I venture in some degree to differ from one for whom I have for +many years entertained the highest admiration and the most cordial +personal esteem. + +[Footnote 51: _The Story of a Soldier's Life_. Field-Marshal Viscount +Wolseley. Constable.] + +[Footnote 52: After carefully reading the book, I am in doubt as to the +specific occasions to which allusion is here made.] + +[Footnote 53: This expression is used with reference to a warning to +civilians that they should "keep their hands off the regiment." I do not +know if any recent instances have occurred when civilians have wished to +touch the essential portions of what is known as the "regimental +system," but I have a very distinct recollection of the fact that this +accusation was very freely, and very unjustly, brought against the army +reformers in Lord Cardwell's time. Of these, Lord Wolseley was certainly +the most distinguished. I think he will bear me out in the assertion +that it was only by civilian support that, in the special instances to +which I allude, the opposition was overcome.] + +[Footnote 54: Much the same proceeding appears to have been adopted in +the Red River expedition, which was conducted with such eminent success +by Lord Wolseley in 1870. But there was a difference. Lord Wolseley, in +describing that expedition, says: "The Cabinet and parliamentary element +in the War Office, that has marred so many a good military scheme, had, +I may say, little or nothing to do with it from first to last. When will +civilian Secretaries of State for War cease from troubling in war +affairs?" In the case of the Soudan campaigns, on the other hand, Lord +Kitchener and I had to rely--and our reliance was not misplaced--on the +Cabinet and on the parliamentary elements of the Government, to prevent +excessive interference from the London offices.] + +[Footnote 55: I was present for a few weeks, as a spectator, with +Grant's army at the siege of Petersburg in 1864, but the experience was +too short to be of much value.] + +[Footnote 56: _Art of War_, Jomini, p. 59.] + +[Footnote 57: I think I am correct in saying that Sir Evelyn Wood was of +a contrary opinion, but I have been unable to verify this statement by +reference to any contemporaneous document.] + +[Footnote 58: On the 21st of March 1884 Sir Alfred Lyall wrote to Mr. +Henry Reeve: "The Mahdi's fortunes do not interest India. The talk in +some of the papers about the necessity of smashing him, in order to +avert the risk of some general Mahomedan uprising, is futile and +imaginative."--_Memoirs of Henry Reeve_, vol. ii. p. 329.] + + + + +V + +THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF FREE TRADE + +PAPER READ AT THE INTERNATIONAL FREE TRADE CONGRESS AT ANTWERP, +_August 9-21, 1910_[59] + + +I have been asked to state my opinion on the effect of Free Trade upon +the political relations between States. The subject is a very wide one. +I am fully aware that the brief remarks which I am about to make fail to +do justice to it. + +A taunt very frequently levelled at modern Free Traders is that the +anticipations of their predecessors in respect to the influence which +Free Trade would be likely to exercise on international relations have +not been realised. A single extract from Mr. Cobden's writings will +suffice to show the nature of those anticipations. In 1842, he described +Free Trade "as the best human means for securing universal and permanent +peace."[60] Inasmuch as numerous wars have occurred since this opinion +was expressed, it is often held that events have falsified Mr. Cobden's +prediction. + +In dealing with this argument, I have, in the first place, to remark +that modern Free Traders are under no sort of obligation to be +"Cobdenite" to the extent of adopting or defending the whole of the +teaching of the so-called Manchester School. It may readily be admitted +that the programme of that school is, in many respects, inadequate to +deal with modern problems. + +In the second place, I wish to point out that Mr. Cobden and his +associates, whilst rightly holding that trade was to some extent the +natural foe to war, appear to me to have pushed the consequences to be +derived from that argument much too far. They allowed too little for +other causes which tend to subvert peace, such as racial and religious +differences, dynastic considerations, the wish to acquire national +unity, which tends to the agglomeration of small States, and the +ambition which excites the desire of hegemony. + +In the third place, I have to observe that the world has not as yet had +any adequate opportunity for judging of the accuracy or inaccuracy of +Mr. Cobden's prediction, for only one great commercial nation has, up to +the present time, adopted a policy of Free Trade. It was, indeed, here +more than in any other direction that some of the early British Free +Traders erred on the side of excessive optimism.[61] They thought, and +rightly thought, that Free Trade would confer enormous benefits on their +own country; and they held that the object-lesson thus afforded might +very probably induce other nations speedily to follow the example of +England. They forgot that the special conditions which existed at the +time their noble aspirations were conceived were liable to change; that +the extraordinary advantages which Free Trade for a time secured were +largely due to the fact that seventy years ago England possessed a far +larger supply of mechanical aptitude than any other country; that her +marked commercial supremacy, which was then practically undisputed, +could not be fully maintained in the face of the advance likely to be +made by other nations; that if those nations persisted in adhering to +Protection, their progress--which has really been achieved, not by +reason of, but in spite of Protection--would almost inevitably be +mainly attributed to their fiscal policy to the exclusion of other +contributory causes, such as education; and that thus a revived demand +for protective measures would not improbably arise, even in England +itself. These are, in fact, the results which have accrued. Without +doubt, it was difficult to foresee them, but it is worthy of note that, +in spite of all adverse and possibly ephemeral appearances, symptoms are +not wanting which encourage the belief that the prescience of the early +Free Traders may, in the end, be tardily vindicated. It is the irony of +current politics that at a time when England is meditating a return to +Protection--but is as yet, I am glad to say, very far from being +persuaded that the adoption of such a policy would be wise--the most +advanced thinkers in some Protectionist states are beginning to turn +their eyes towards the possibility and desirability of casting aside +those swaddling-clothes which were originally assumed in order to foster +their budding industries. Many of the most competent German economists, +whilst advocating Protection as a temporary measure, have for many years +fully recognised that, when once a country has firmly established its +industrial and commercial status in the markets of the world, it can +best maintain and extend its acquired position by permitting the freest +possible trade. Even Friedrich List, though an ardent Protectionist, +"always had before him universal Free Trade as the goal of his +endeavours."[62] Before long, Germany will have well-nigh completed the +transition from agriculture to manufactures in which she has been +engaged for the last thirty or forty years; and when that transition is +fully accomplished, it may be predicted with some degree of confidence +that a nation so highly educated, and endowed with so keen a perception +of cause and effect, will begin to move in the direction of Free Trade. +Similarly, in the United States of America, the campaign which has +recently been waged against the huge Trusts, which are the offspring of +Protection, as well as the rising complaints of the dearness of living, +are so many indications that arguments, which must eventually lead to +the consideration--and probably to the ultimate adoption--if not of Free +Trade, at all events of Freer Trade than now prevails, are gradually +gaining ground. Much the same may be said of Canada. A Canadian +gentleman, who can speak with authority on the subject, recently wrote: + + The feeling in favour of Free Trade is growing fast in Western + Canada, and I believe I am right in adding the United States. + + We have our strong and rapidly growing farmers' organisations, such + as the United Farmers of Alberta, and of each Western province, so + that farmers are now making themselves heard and felt in politics, + and farmers realise that they are being exploited for the benefit + of the manufacturer. Excellent articles appear almost weekly in the + _Grain Growers' Guide_, published in Winnipeg, showing the curse of + Protection. + + A Canadian Free Trade Union, affiliated with the International Free + Trade League, has just been formed in Winnipeg, and many prominent + business and professional men are connected with it. + + It ought to be better known among the electors of Great Britain how + Free Trade is growing in Canada, that they may be less inclined to + commit the fatal mistake of changing England's policy. Canada is + often quoted in English politics now, and the real facts should be + known. + +No experience has, therefore, as yet been acquired which would enable a +matured judgment to be formed as to the extent to which Free Trade may +be regarded as a preventive to war. The question remains substantially +much in the same condition as it was seventy years ago. In forming an +opinion upon it, we have still to rely largely on conjecture and on +academic considerations. All that has been proved is that numerous wars +have taken place during a period of history when Protection was the +rule, and Free Trade the exception; though the _post hoc ergo propter +hoc_ fallacy would, of course, be involved, if on that account it were +inferred that the protection of national industries has necessarily +been the chief cause of war. + +Without indulging in any utopian dreams as to the possibility of +inaugurating an era of universal peace, it may, I think, be held that, +in spite of the wars which have occurred during the last half century, +not merely an ardent desire for peace, but also a dislike--I may almost +say a genuine horror--of war has grown apace amongst the civilised +nations of the world. The destructiveness of modern weapons of offence, +the fearful personal responsibility devolving on the individuals who +order the first shot to be fired, the complete uncertainty which +prevails as to the naval, military, and political results which will +ensue if the huge armaments of modern States are brought into collision, +the growth of a benevolent, if at times somewhat eccentric +humanitarianism, possibly also the advance of democracy--though it is at +times somewhat too readily assumed that democracies must of necessity be +peaceful--have all contributed to create a public opinion which holds +that to engage in an avoidable war is the worst of political crimes. +This feeling has found expression in the more ready recourse which, as +compared to former times, is now made to arbitration in order to settle +international disputes. Nevertheless, so long as human nature remains +unchanged, and more especially so long as the huge armaments at present +existing are maintained, it is the imperative duty of every +self-respecting nation to provide adequately for its own defence. That +duty is more especially imposed on those nations who, for one reason or +another, have been driven into adopting that policy of expansion, which +is now almost universal. Within the last few years, the United States of +America have abandoned what has been aptly termed their former system of +"industrial monasticism,"[63] whilst in the Far East a new world-power +has suddenly sprung into existence. Speaking as one unit belonging to a +country whose dominions are more extensive and more widely dispersed +than those of any other nation, I entertain a strong opinion that if +Great Britain continues to maintain her present policy of Free Trade--as +I trust will be the case--her means of defence should, within the limits +of human foresight, be such as to render her empire impregnable; and, +further, that should that policy unfortunately be reversed, it will be a +wise precaution that those means of defence should, if possible, be +still further strengthened. But I also entertain an equally strong +opinion that an imperial nation should seek to fortify its position and +to provide guarantees for the durability of its empire, not merely by +rendering itself, so far as is possible, impregnable, but also by using +its vast world-power in such a manner as to secure in some degree the +moral acquiescence of other nations in its _imperium_, and thus provide +an antidote--albeit it may only be a partial antidote--against the +jealousy and emulation which its extensive dominions are calculated to +incite. + +I am aware that an argument of this sort is singularly liable to +misrepresentation. Militant patriotism rejects it with scorn. It is said +to involve an ignoble degree of truckling to foreign nations. It +involves nothing of the kind. I should certainly be the last to +recommend anything approaching to pusillanimity in the conduct of the +foreign affairs of my country. If I thought that the introduction of a +policy of Protection was really demanded in the interests of the +inhabitants of the United Kingdom, I should warmly advocate it, whatever +might be the effect produced on the public opinion of other countries. +British Free Traders do not advocate the cause which they have at heart +in order to benefit the countries which send their goods to Great +Britain, but because they think it advantageous to their own country to +procure certain foreign products without any artificial enhancement of +price.[64] If they are right in coming to this conclusion, it is surely +an incidental advantage of much importance that a policy of Free Trade, +besides being advantageous to the United Kingdom, tends to give an +additional element of stability to the British Empire and to preserve +the peace of the world. + +From the dawn of history, uncontrolled commercialism has been one of the +principal causes of misgovernment, and more especially of the +misgovernment of subject races. The early history of the Spaniards in +South and Central America, as well as the more recent history of other +States, testify to the truth of this generalisation. Similarly, +Trade--that is to say exclusive trade--far from tending to promote +peace, has not infrequently been accompanied by aggression, and has +rather tended to promote war. Tariff wars, which are the natural outcome +of the protective system, have been of frequent occurrence, and, +although I am not at all prepared to admit that under no circumstances +is a policy of retaliation justifiable, it is certain that that policy, +carried to excess, has at times endangered European peace. There is +ample proof that the Tariff war between Russia and Germany in 1893, "was +regarded by both responsible parties as likely to lead to a state of +things dangerous to the peace of Europe."[65] Professor Dietzel, in his +very remarkable and exhaustive work on _Retaliatory Duties_, shows very +clearly that the example of Tariff wars is highly contagious. Speaking +of the events which occurred in 1902 and subsequent years, he says: +"Germany set the bad example.... Russia, Austria-Hungary, Roumania, +Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Servia, followed suit.... An +international arming epidemic broke out. Everywhere, indeed, it was +said: We are not at all desirous of a Tariff war. We are acting only on +the maxim so often proclaimed among us, _Si vis pacem, para bellum_." + +Can it be doubted that there is a distinct connection between these +Tariff wars and the huge armaments which are now maintained by every +European state? The connection is, in fact, very close. Tariff wars +engender the belief that wars carried on by shot and shell may not +improbably follow. They thus encourage, and even necessitate, the costly +preparations for war which weigh so heavily, not only on the +industries, but also on the moral and intellectual progress of the +world. + +Mr. Oliver, in his interesting biography of Alexander Hamilton, gives a +very remarkable instance of the menace to peace arising, even amongst a +wholly homogeneous community, from the creation of hostile tariffs. The +first step which the thirteen States of America took after they had +acquired their independence was "to indulge themselves in the costly +luxury of an internecine tariff war.... Pennsylvania attacked Delaware. +Connecticut was oppressed by Rhode Island and New York.... It was a +dangerous game, ruinous in itself, and, behind the Custom-House +officers, men were beginning to furbish up the locks of their +muskets.... At one time war between Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York +seemed all but inevitable." + +To sum up all I have to say on this subject--I do not for a moment +suppose that Universal Free Trade--even if the adoption of such a policy +were conceivable--would inaugurate an era of universal and permanent +peace. Whatever fiscal policy be adopted by the great commercial nations +of the world, it is wholly illusory to suppose that the risk of war can +be altogether avoided in the future, any more than has been the case in +the past. But I am equally certain that, whereas exclusive trade tends +to exacerbate international relations, Free Trade, by mutually +enlisting a number of influential material interests in the cause of +peace, tends to ameliorate those relations and thus, _pro tanto_, to +diminish the probability of war. No nation has, of course, the least +right to dictate the fiscal policy of its neighbours, neither has it any +legitimate cause to complain when its neighbours exercise their +unquestionable right to make whatever fiscal arrangements they consider +conducive to their own interests. But the real and ostensible causes of +war are not always identical. When once irritation begins to rankle, and +rival interests clash to an excessive degree, the guns are apt to go off +by themselves, and an adroit diplomacy may confidently be trusted to +discover some plausible pretext for their explosion. + +In a speech which I made in London some three years ago, I gave an +example, gathered from facts with which I was intimately acquainted, of +the pacifying influence exerted by adopting a policy of Free Trade in +the execution of a policy of expansion. I may as well repeat it now. +Some twelve years ago the British flag was hoisted in the Soudan side by +side with the Egyptian. Europe tacitly acquiesced. Why did it do so? It +was because a clause was introduced into the Anglo-Egyptian Convention +of 1899, under which no trade preference was to be accorded to any +nation. All were placed on a footing of perfect equality. Indeed, the +whole fiscal policy adopted in Egypt since the British occupation in +1883 has been based on distinctly Free Trade principles. Indirect taxes +have been, in some instances, reduced. Those that remain in force are +imposed, not for protective, but for revenue purposes, whilst in one +important instance--that of cotton goods--an excise duty has been +imposed, in order to avoid the risk of customs duties acting +protectively. + +Free Trade mitigates, though it is powerless to remove, international +animosities. Exclusive trade stimulates and aggravates those +animosities. I do not by any means maintain that this argument is by +itself conclusive against the adoption of a policy of Protection, if, on +other grounds, the adoption of such a policy is deemed desirable; but it +is one aspect of the question which, when the whole issue is under +consideration, should not be left out of account. + +[Footnote 59: Subsequently published in _The Nineteenth Century and +After_ for September 1910.] + +[Footnote 60: _Life of Cobden_, Morley, vol. i. p. 231.] + +[Footnote 61: Sir Robert Peel, as is well known, did not fall into this +error, and even Mr. Cobden appears to have recognised so early as 1849 +that his original forecasts on this point were too optimistic. Speaking +on January 10, 1849, he said: "At the last stage of the Anti-Corn Law +Agitation, our opponents were driven to this position: 'Free Trade is a +very good thing, but you cannot have it until other countries adopt it +too.' And I used to say: 'If Free Trade be a good thing for us, we will +have it; let others take it if it be a good thing for them; if not, let +them do without it.'"] + +[Footnote 62: Hirst, _Life of Friedrich List_, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 63: Essay on the Influence of Commerce on International +Conflicts; F. Greenwood, _Ency. Brit._ (Tenth Edition).] + +[Footnote 64: In connection with this branch of the question, I wish to +draw attention to the fact that Professor Shield Nicholson, in his +recent brilliant work, _A Project of Empire_, has conclusively shown +that it is a misapprehension to suppose that Adam Smith, in advocating +Free Trade, looked merely to the interests of the consumer, and +neglected altogether those of the producer. Mr. Gladstone's statement on +this subject, made in 1860, is well known.] + +[Footnote 65: Reports on the Tariff wars between certain European +States, Parliamentary paper, Commercial, No. 1 (1904), p. 46.] + + + + +VI + +CHINA + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," May 1913_ + + +Mr. Bland's book, entitled _Recent Events and Present Policies in China_ +(1912), is full of instruction not only for those who are specially +concerned in the affairs of China, but also for all who are interested +in watching the new developments which are constantly arising from the +ever-increasing contact between the East and the West. + +The Eastern world is at present strewn with the _debris_ of paper +constitutions, which are, or are probably about to become, derelict. The +case of Egypt is somewhat special, and would require separate treatment. +But in Turkey, in Persia, and in China, the epidemic, which is of an +exotic character, appears to be following its normal course. + +Constitutions when first promulgated are received with wild enthusiasm. +In Italy, during the most frenzied period of Garibaldian worship, my +old friend, Lear the artist, asked a patriotic inn-keeper, who was in a +wild state of excitement, to give him breakfast, to which the man +replied: "Colazione! Che colazione! Tutto e amore e liberta!" In the +Albanian village in which Miss Durham was residing when the Young Turks +proclaimed their constitution, the Moslem inhabitants expressed great +delight at the news, and forthwith asked when the massacre of the +Giaours--without which a constitution would wholly miss its mark--was to +begin.[66] Similarly, Mr. Bland says that throughout China, although +"the word 'Republic' meant no more to the people at large than the +blessed word 'Mesopotamia,' men embraced each other publicly and wept +for joy at the coming of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." + +These ebullitions provoke laughter. + + Sed facilis cuivis rigidi censura cachinni. + +We Europeans have ourselves passed through much the same phases. Vandal +and others have told us of the Utopia which was created in the minds of +the French when the old regime crashed to the ground. Sydney Smith +caricatured the delusive hopes excited by the passing of the Reform Bill +of 1832, when he said that all the unmarried young women thought that +they would at once get husbands, and that all the schoolboys expected a +heavy fall in the price of jam tarts. A process of disillusionment may +confidently be anticipated in Ireland if the Home Rule Bill becomes law, +and the fairy prospects held out to the Irish people by Mr. Redmond and +the other stage managers of the piece are chilled by the cold shade of +reality. + +We English are largely responsible for creating the frame of mind which +is even now luring Young Turks, Chinamen, and other Easterns into the +political wilderness by the display of false signals. We have, indeed, +our Blands in China, our Milners in Egypt, our Miss Durhams in the +Balkan Peninsula, and our Miss Bells in Mesopotamia, who wander far +afield, gleaning valuable facts and laying before their countrymen and +countrywomen conclusions based on acquired knowledge and wide +experience. But their efforts are only partially successful. They are +often shivered on the solid rock of preconceived prejudices, and genuine +but ill-informed sentimentalism. A large section of the English public +are, in fact, singularly wanting in political imagination. Although they +would not, in so many words, admit the truth of the statement, they none +the less act and speak as if sound national development in whatsoever +quarter of the world must of necessity proceed along their own +conventional, insular, and time-honoured lines, and along those lines +alone. There is a whole class of newspaper readers, and also of +newspaper writers, who resemble that eminent but now deceased Member of +Parliament, who told me that during the four hours' railway journey from +Port Said to Cairo he had come to the definite conclusion that Egypt +could not be prosperous because he had observed that there were no +stacks of corn standing in the fields; neither was this conclusion in +any way shaken when it was explained to him that the Egyptians were not +in the habit of erecting corn stacks after the English model. All these +classes readily lend an ear to quack, though often very well-intentioned +politicians, who go about the world preaching that countries can be +regenerated by shibboleths, and that the characters of nations can be +changed by Acts of Parliament. This frame of mind appeals with +irresistible force to the untrained Eastern habit of thought. T'ang--a +leading Chinese Republican--Mr. Bland says, "like all educated Chinese, +believes in the magic virtue of words and forms of government in making +a nation wise and strong by Acts of Parliament." And what poor, +self-deluded T'ang is saying and thinking in Canton is said and thought +daily by countless Ahmeds, Ibrahims, and Rizas in the bazaars of +Constantinople, Cairo, and Teheran. + +What has Mr. Bland to tell us of all the welter of loan-mongering, +rococo constitution-tinkering, Confucianism, and genuine if at times +misdirected philanthropy, which is now seething in the Chinese +melting-pot? + +In the first place, he has to say that the main obstacle to all real +progress in China is one that cannot be removed by any change in the +form of government, whether the ruling spirit be a full-fledged +Republican of the Sun Yat-Sen type, aided by a number of "imitation +foreigners," as they are termed by their countrymen, or a savage, albeit +statesmanlike "Old Buddha," who, at the close of a life stained by all +manner of blood-guiltiness, at last turned her weary face towards +Western reform as the only hope of saving her country and her dynasty. +The main disease is not political, and is incapable of being cured by +the most approved constitutional formulae. It is economic. Polygamy, +aided by excessive philo-progenitiveness, the result of +ancestor-worship, has produced a highly congested population. Vast +masses of people are living in normal times on the verge of starvation. +Hence come famines and savage revolts of the hungry. "Amidst all the +specifics of political leaders," Mr. Bland says, "there has been as yet +hardly a voice raised against marriages of minors or polygamy, and +reckless over-breeding, which are the basic causes of China's chronic +unrest." + +The same difficulty, though perhaps in a less acute form, exists in +India. Not only cannot it be remedied by mere philanthropy, but it is +absolutely certain--cruel and paradoxical though it may appear to say +so--that philanthropy enhances the evil. In the days of Akhbar or Shah +Jehan, cholera, famine, and internal strife kept down the population. +Only the fittest survived. Now, internal strife is forbidden, and +philanthropy steps in and says that no single life shall be sacrificed +if science and Western energy or skill can save it. Hence the growth of +a highly congested population, vast numbers of whom are living on a bare +margin of subsistence. I need hardly say that I am not condemning +philanthropy. On the contrary, I hold strongly that an +anti-philanthropic basis of government is not merely degrading and +inhuman, but also fortunately nowadays impracticable. None the less, the +fact that one of the greatest difficulties of governing the teeming +masses in the East is caused by good and humane government should be +recognised. It is too often ignored. + +A partial remedy to the state of things now existing in China would be +to encourage emigration; but a resort to this expedient is impossible, +for Europeans and Americans alike, being scared by the prospect of +competing with Chinese cheap labour, which is the only real Yellow +Peril,[67] as also by the demoralisation consequent on a large influx of +Chinamen into their dominions, close their ports to the emigrants. That +Young China should feel this as a gross injustice can be no matter for +surprise. The Chinaman may, with inexorable logic, state his case thus: +"You, Europeans and Americans, insist on my receiving and protecting +your missionaries. I do not want them. I have, in Confucianism, a system +of philosophy, which, whatever you may think of it, suits all my +spiritual requirements, and which has been sufficient to hold Chinese +society together for long centuries past. Nevertheless, I bow to your +wishes. But then surely you ought in justice to allow free entry into +your dominions to my carpenters and bricklayers, of whom I have a large +surplus, of which I should be glad to be rid. Is not your boasted +philanthropy somewhat vicarious, and does not your public morality +savour in some degree of mere opportunist cant?" + +To all of which, Europeans and Americans can only reply that the +instinct of self-preservation, which is strong within them, points +clearly to the absolute necessity of excluding the Chinese carpenters +and bricklayers; and, further, as regards the missionaries, that there +can be but one answer, and that in a Christian sense, to the question +asked by jesting Pilate. In effect they say that circumstances alter +cases, and that might is right--a plea which may perhaps suffice to +salve the conscience of an opportunist politician, but ought to appeal +less forcibly to a stern moralist. + +Foreign emigration, even if it were possible, would, however, be a mere +palliative. A more thorough and effective remedy would be to facilitate +the dispersion of the population in the congested districts over those +wide tracts of China itself which are suffering in a less degree from +congestion. I conceive that the execution of a policy of this nature +would not be altogether impossible. It could be carried into effect by +improving the means of locomotion, possibly by the construction of +irrigation works on a large scale, and by developing the resources of +the country, which are admittedly very great. But there is one condition +which is essential to the execution of this programme, and that is that +the financial administration of the country should be sufficiently +honest to inspire the confidence of those European investors who alone +can provide the necessary capital. Now, according to Mr. Bland, this +fundamental quality of honesty is not to be found throughout the length +and breadth of China, whether in the ranks of the old Mandarins or in +those of the young Republicans. + + The essential virtue of personal integrity [he says], the capacity + to handle public funds with common honesty, has been conspicuously + lacking in Young China. The leopard has not changed his spots; the + sons and brothers of the classical Mandarin remain, in spite of + Western learning, Mandarins by instinct and in practice. + +A very close observer of Eastern affairs--Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole--has +said that the East has an extraordinary facility for assimilating all +the worst features of any new civilisation with which it is brought in +contact. This is what has happened in India, in Turkey, in Egypt, and in +Persia. Even in Japan it has yet to be seen whether the old national +virtues will survive prolonged contact with the West. Hear now what Mr. +Bland has to say of China: + + Where Young China has cast off the ethical restraints and patriotic + morality of Confucianism, it has failed to assimilate, or even to + understand, the moral foundations of Europe's civilisation. It has + exchanged its old lamp for a new, but it has not found the oil, + which the new vessel needs, to lighten the darkness withal. + +In the opinion of so highly qualified an authority as Prince Ito, "the +sentiments of foreign educated Young China are hopelessly out of touch +with the masses." But while there has been alienation from the ideals of +the East, there has been no real approach to the ideals of the West. + + Education at Harvard or Oxford may imbue the Chinese student with + ideas and social tendencies, apparently antagonistic to those of + the patriarchal system of his native land; but they do not, and + cannot, create in him (as some would have us believe) the + Anglo-Saxon outlook on life, the standards of conduct and the + beliefs which are the results of centuries of our process of + civilisation and structural character. Under his top dressing of + Western learning, the Chinese remains true to type, instinctively + detached from the practical and scientific attitude, + contemplatively philosophical, with the fatalistic philosophy of + the prophet Job, concerned rather with the causes than the results + of things. Your barrister at Lincoln's Inn, after ten years of + cosmopolitan experience in London or Washington, will revert in six + months to the ancestral type of morals and manners; the spectacle + is so common, even in the case of exceptionally assimilative men + like Wu Ting-fang, or the late Marquis Tseng, that it evokes little + or no comment amongst Europeans in China. + +Notably from the point of view of financial honesty, which, as I have +already mentioned, is of cardinal importance if the regeneration of the +country is to be undertaken by other means than by mock constitutions, +the results of Western education are most disappointing. + + The opinion [Mr. Bland says] is widely held amongst European + residents and traders that the section of Young China which has + received its education in Foreign Mission schools displays no more + honesty than the rest. + +What is the conclusion to be drawn from these facts? It is that not only +in order to obtain adequate security for the bond-holders--in whom I am +not in any way personally interested, for I shall certainly not be one +of them--but also in the interests of the Chinese people, it is +essential, before any loan is contracted, to insist on a strict +supervision of the expenditure of the loan funds. That Young China, +partly on genuine patriotic grounds and also possibly in some cases on +grounds which are less worthy of respect and sympathy, should resent the +exercise of this supervision, is natural enough, but it can scarcely be +doubted that unless it be exercised a large portion of the money +advanced by European capitalists will be wasted, and that no really +effective step forward will be taken in the solution of the economic +problem which constitutes the main Chinese difficulty. The very +rudimentary ideas entertained by the Chinese themselves in the matter of +applying funds to productive works is sufficiently illustrated by the +episode mentioned by Mr. Bland, where he tells us that "the Szechuan +Railway Company directors made provision for the building of their line +by the appointment of station-masters"; while the fact that but a short +time ago 1400 German machine guns, costing L500 apiece, which had never +been used or paid for, were lying at Shanghai, indicates the manner in +which it is not only possible but highly probable that the loan funds +under exclusively Chinese supervision would be frittered away on +unproductive objects. + +Those, indeed, who have had some practical experience of financial +administration in Eastern countries may well entertain some doubts as to +whether supervision which only embraces the expenditure, and does not +apply to the revenue, will be sufficient to meet all the requirements of +the case. The results so far attained by the more limited scheme of +supervision do not appear to have been satisfactory. Herr Rump was +appointed auditor to the German section of the Tientsin-P'ukou Railway, +but Mr. Bland tells us that "the auditorship on this railway has proved +worse than useless as a preventive of official peculation." On the other +hand, the system of collecting the revenue is in the highest degree +defective. It violates flagrantly a principle which, from the days of +Adam Smith downwards, has always been regarded as the corner-stone of +any sound financial administration. "For every tael officially accounted +for by the provincial authorities," Mr. Bland says, in words which +recall to my mind the Egyptian fiscal system under the regime of Ismail +Pasha, "at least five are actually collected from the taxpayers." + +It is, therefore, earnestly to be hoped that the diplomatists and +capitalists of Europe will--both in the interests of the investing +public and in those of the Chinese people--stand firm and insist on +adequate financial control as a preliminary and essential condition to +the advance of funds. + +As to whether the recently established Republic is destined to last or +whether it will prove a mere ephemeral episode in the life-history of +China, there seems to be much divergence of opinion among those +authorities who are most qualified to speak on the subject. Mr. Bland's +views on this point are, however, quite clear. He thinks that +Confucianism, and all the political and social habits of thought which +are the outcome of Confucianism, have "become ingrained in every fibre +of the national life," and that they constitute the "fundamental cause +of the longevity of China's social structure and of the innate strength +of her civilisation." He refuses to believe that Young China, which is +imbued with "a doctrinaire spirit of political speculation," though it +may tinker with the superstructure, will be able seriously to shake the +foundations of this hoary edifice. He has watched the opinions and +activities in every province from the beginning of the present +revolution, and he "is compelled to the conviction that salvation from +this quarter is impossible." He thinks that although in Canton and the +Kuang Provinces, which are the most intellectually advanced portions of +China, a system of popular representation may be introduced with some +hope of beneficial results, + + ... as regards the rest of China, as every educated Chinese knows + (unless, like Sun Yat-Sen, he has been brought up abroad), the idea + of rapidly transforming the masses of the population into an + intelligent electorate, and of making a Chinese Parliament the + expression of their collective political vitality, is a vain dream, + possible only for those who ignore the inherent character of the + Chinese people. + +There is, however, one consideration set forth by Mr. Bland, which may +possibly prove, at all events for a time, the salvation, while it +assuredly connotes the condemnation of the present system of government, +and that is that the Chinese Republic may continue to exist by +abrogating all republican principles. According to Mr. Bland this "gran +rifiuto" has already been made. "The actual government of China," he +says, "contains none of the elements of genuine Republicanism, but is +merely the old despotism, the old Mandarinate, under new names." "The +inauguration of the Republican idea of constitutional Government in +China," he says in another passage, "can only mean, in the present state +of the people, continual transference of an illegal despotism from one +group of political adventurers to another, the pretence of popular +representation serving merely to increase and perpetuate instability." + +It would require a far greater knowledge of Chinese affairs than any to +which I can pretend to express either unqualified adherence to or +dissent from Mr. Bland's views. But it is clear that his diagnosis of +the past is based on a very thorough acquaintance with the facts, while, +on _a priori_ grounds, his prognosis of the future is calculated to +commend itself to those of general experience who have studied Oriental +character and are acquainted with Oriental history. + +[Footnote 66: _High Albania_, p. 311.] + +[Footnote 67: See on this subject the final remarks in Mr. Bland's very +instructive chapter xiv.] + + + + +VII + +THE CAPITULATIONS IN EGYPT + +_"The Nineteenth Century and After," July 1913_ + + +During the six years which have elapsed since I left Cairo I have, for +various reasons on which it is unnecessary to dwell, carefully abstained +from taking any part in whatever discussions have arisen on current +Egyptian affairs. If I now depart from the reticence which I have +hitherto observed it is because there appears at all events some slight +prospect that the main reform which is required to render the government +and administration of Egypt efficient will be seriously considered. As +so frequently happens in political affairs, a casual incident has +directed public attention to the need of reform. A short time ago a +Russian subject was, at the request of the Consular authorities, +arrested by the Egyptian police and handed over to them for deportation +to Russia. I am not familiar with the details of the case, neither, for +the purposes of my present argument, is any knowledge of those details +required. The nature of the offence of which this man, Adamovitch by +name, was accused, as also the question of whether he was guilty or +innocent of that offence, are altogether beside the point. The legal +obligation of the Egyptian Government to comply with the request that +the man should be handed over to the Russian Consular authorities would +have been precisely the same if he had been accused of no offence at +all. The result, however, has been to touch one of the most tender +points in the English political conscience. It has become clear that a +country which is not, indeed, British territory, but which is held by a +British garrison, and in which British influence is predominant, affords +no safe asylum for a political refugee. Without in any way wishing to +underrate the importance of this consideration, I think it necessary to +point out that this is only one out of the many anomalies which might be +indicated in the working of that most perplexing political creation +entitled the Egyptian Government and administration. Many instances +might, in fact, be cited which, albeit they are less calculated to +attract public attention in this country, afford even stronger ground +for holding that the time has come for reforming the system hitherto +known as that of the Capitulations. + +Before attempting to deal with this question I may perhaps be pardoned +if, at the risk of appearing egotistical, I indulge in a very short +chapter of autobiography. My own action in Egypt has formed the subject +of frequent comment in this country; neither, assuredly, in spite of +occasional blame, have I any reason to complain of the measure of +praise--often, I fear, somewhat unmerited praise--which has been +accorded to me. But I may perhaps be allowed to say what, in my own +opinion, are the main objects achieved during my twenty-four-years' +tenure of office. Those achievements are four in number, and let me add +that they were not the results of a hand-to-mouth conduct of affairs in +which the direction afforded to political events was constantly shifted, +but of a deliberate plan persistently pursued with only such temporary +deviations and delays as the circumstances of the time rendered +inevitable. + +In the first place, the tension with the French Government, which lasted +for twenty-one years and which might at any moment have become very +serious, was never allowed to go beyond a certain point. In spite of a +good deal of provocation, a policy of conciliation was persistently +adopted, with the result that the conclusion of the Anglo-French +Agreement of 1904 became eventually possible. It is on this particular +feature of my Egyptian career that personally I look back with far +greater pride and pleasure than any other, all the more so because, +although it has, comparatively speaking, attracted little public +attention, it was, in reality, by far the most difficult and responsible +part of my task. + +In the second place, bankruptcy was averted and the finances of the +country placed on a sound footing. + +In the third place, by the relief of taxation and other reforms which +remedied any really substantial grievances, the ground was cut away from +under the feet of the demagogues whom it was easy to foresee would +spring into existence as education advanced. + +In the fourth place, the Soudan, which had to be abandoned in 1884-85, +was eventually recovered. + +These, I say, are the things which were done. Let me now state what was +not done. Although, of course, the number of Egyptians employed in the +service of the Government was largely increased, and although the +charges which have occasionally been made that education was unduly +neglected admit of easy refutation, it is none the less true that +little, if any, progress was made in the direction of conferring +autonomy on Egypt. The reasons why so little progress was made in this +direction were twofold. + +In the first place, it would have been premature even to think of the +question until the long struggle against bankruptcy had been fought and +won, and also until, by the conclusion of the Anglo-French Agreement in +1904, the acute international tension which heretofore existed had been +relaxed. + +In the second place, the idea of what constituted autonomy entertained +by those Egyptians who were most in a position to make their voices +heard, as also by some of their English sympathisers, differed widely +from that entertained by myself and others who were well acquainted with +the circumstances of the country, and on whom the responsibility of +devising and executing any plan for granting autonomy would naturally +devolve. We were, in fact, the poles asunder. The Egyptian idea was that +the native Egyptians should rule Egypt. They therefore urged that +greatly increased powers should be given to the Legislative Council and +Assembly originally instituted by Lord Dufferin. The counter-idea was +not based on any alleged incapacity of the Egyptians to govern +themselves--a point which, for the purposes of my present argument, it +is unnecessary to discuss. Neither was it based on any disinclination +gradually to extend the powers of Egyptians in dealing with purely +native Egyptian questions.[68] I, and others who shared my views, +considered that those who cried "Egypt for the Egyptians" on the +house-tops had gone off on an entirely wrong scent because, even had +they attained their ends, nothing approaching to Egyptian autonomy would +have been realised. The Capitulations would still have barred the way to +all important legislation and to the removal of those defects in the +administration of which the Egyptians most complained. When the +prominent part played by resident Europeans in the political and social +life of Egypt is considered, it is indeed little short of ridiculous to +speak of Egyptian autonomy if at the same time a system is preserved +under which no important law can be made applicable to an Englishman, a +Frenchman, or a German, without its detailed provisions having received +the consent, not only of the King of England, the President of the +French Republic, and the German Emperor, but also that of the President +of the United States, the King of Denmark, and every other ruling +Potentate in Europe. We therefore held that the only possible method by +which the evils of extreme personal government could be averted, and by +which the country could be provided with a workable legislative machine, +was to include in the term "Egyptians" all the dwellers in Egypt, and to +devise some plan by which the European and Egyptian elements of society +would be fused together to such an extent at all events as to render +them capable of cooperating in legislative effort. It may perhaps be +hoped that by taking a first step in this direction some more thorough +fusion may possibly follow in the future. + +As I have already mentioned, it would have been premature to deal with +this question prior to 1904, for any serious modification of the regime +of the Capitulations could not be considered as within the domain of +practical politics so long as all the Powers, and more especially France +and England, were pulling different ways. But directly that agreement +was signed I resolved to take the question up, all the more so because +what was then known as the Secret Agreement, but which has since that +time been published, contained the following very important clause: + + In the event of their (His Britannic Majesty's Government) + considering it desirable to introduce in Egypt reforms tending to + assimilate the Egyptian legislative system to that in force in + other civilised countries, the Government of the French Republic + will not refuse to entertain any such proposals, on the + understanding that His Britannic Majesty's Government will agree to + entertain the suggestions that the Government of the French + Republic may have to make to them with a view of introducing + similar reforms in Morocco. + +I was under no delusion as to the formidable nature of the obstacles +which stood in the way of reform. Moreover, I held very strongly that +even if it had been possible, by diplomatic negotiations with the other +Powers, to come to some arrangement which would be binding on the +Europeans resident in Egypt, and to force it on them without their +consent being obtained, it was most undesirable to adopt anything +approaching to this procedure. The European colonists in Egypt, although +of course numerically far inferior to the native population, represent a +large portion of the wealth, and a still larger portion of the +intelligence and energy in the country. Moreover, although the word +"privilege" always rather grates on the ear in this democratic age, it +is none the less true that in the past the misgovernment of Egypt has +afforded excellent reasons why even those Europeans who are most +favourably disposed towards native aspirations should demur to any +sacrifice of their capitulary rights. My view, therefore, was that the +Europeans should not be coerced but persuaded. It had to be proved to +them that, under the changed condition of affairs, the Capitulations +were not only unnecessary but absolutely detrimental to their own +interests. Personally, I was very fully convinced of the truth of this +statement, neither was it difficult to convince those who, being behind +the scenes of government, were in a position to judge of the extent to +which the Capitulations clogged progress in many very important +directions. But it was more difficult to convince the general public, +many of whom entertained very erroneous ideas as to the extent and +nature of the proposed reforms, and could see nothing but the fact that +it was intended to deprive them of certain privileges which they then +possessed. It cannot be too distinctly understood that there never +was--neither do I suppose there is now--the smallest intention of +"abolishing the Capitulations," if by that term is meant a complete +abrogation of all those safeguards against arbitrary proceedings on the +part of the Government which the Capitulations are intended to prevent. +Capitulations or no Capitulations, the European charged with a criminal +offence must be tried either by European judges or an European jury. All +matters connected with the personal status of any European must be +judged by the laws in force in his own country. Adequate safeguards +must be contrived to guard against any abuse of power on the part of the +police. Whatever reforms are introduced into the Mixed Tribunals must be +confined to comparatively minor points, and must not touch fundamental +principles. In fact, the Capitulations have not to be abolished, but to +be modified. An eminent French jurist, M. Gabriel Louis Jaray, in +discussing the Egyptian situation a few years ago, wrote: + + On peut considerer comme admis qu'une simple occupation ou un + protectorat de fait, reconnu par les Puissances Europeennes, suffit + pour mettre a neant les Capitulations, quand la reorganisation du + pays est suffisante pour donner aux Europeens pleine garantie de + bonne juridiction. + +I contend that the reorganisation of Egypt is now sufficiently advanced +to admit of the guarantees for the good administration of justice, which +M. Jaray very rightly claimed, being afforded to all Europeans without +having recourse to the clumsy methods of the Capitulations in their +present form. + +In the last two reports which I wrote before I left Egypt I developed +these and some cognate arguments at considerable length. But from the +first moment of taking up the question I never thought that it would +fall to my lot to bring the campaign against the Capitulations to a +conclusion. The question was eminently one as to which it was +undesirable to force the pace. Time was required in order to let public +opinion mature. I therefore contented myself with indicating the defects +of the present system and the general direction which reform should +take, leaving it to those younger than myself to carry on the work when +advancing years obliged me to retire. I may add that the manner in which +my proposals were received and discussed by the European public in Egypt +afforded good reason for supposing that the obstacles to be overcome +before any serious reforms could be effected, though formidable, were by +no means insuperable. After my departure in 1907, events occurred which +rendered it impossible that the subject should at once come under the +consideration of the Government, but in 1911 Lord Kitchener was able to +report that the legislative powers of the Court of Appeal sitting at +Alexandria had been somewhat increased. Sir Malcolm M'Ilwraith, the +Judicial Adviser of the Egyptian Government, in commenting on this +change, says: + + The new scheme, while assuredly a progressive step, and in notable + advance of the previous state of affairs ... can hardly be + regarded, in its ensemble, as more than a temporary makeshift, and + a more or less satisfactory palliative of the legislative impotence + under which the Government has suffered for so long. + +It is most earnestly to be hoped that the question will now be taken up +seriously with a view to more drastic reform than any which has as yet +been effected. + +There is one, and only one, method by which the evils of the existing +system can be made to disappear. The British Government should request +the other Powers of Europe to vest in them the legislative power which +each now exercises separately. Simultaneously with this request, a +legislative Chamber should be created in Egypt for enacting laws to +which Europeans will be amenable. + +There is, of course, one essential preliminary to the execution of this +programme. It is that the Powers of Europe, as also the European +residents in Egypt, should have thorough confidence in the intentions of +the British Government, by which I mean confidence in the duration of +the occupation, and also confidence in the manner in which the affairs +of the country will be administered. + +As regards the first point, there is certainly no cause for doubt. Under +the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 the French Government specifically +declared that "they will not obstruct the action of government in Egypt +by asking that a limit of time be fixed for the British occupation, or +in any other manner." Moreover, one of the last acts that I performed +before I left Egypt in 1907 was to communicate to the British Chamber of +Commerce at Alexandria a letter from Sir Edward Grey in which I was +authorised to state that His Majesty's Government "recognise that the +maintenance and development of such reforms as have hitherto been +effected in Egypt depend upon the British occupation. This consideration +will apply with equal strength to any changes effected in the regime of +the Capitulations. His Majesty's Government, therefore, wish it to be +understood that there is no reason for allowing the prospect of any +modifications in that regime to be prejudiced by the existence of any +doubt as to the continuance of the British occupation of the country." +It is, of course, conceivable that in some remote future the British +garrison may be withdrawn from Egypt. If any fear is entertained on this +ground it may easily be calmed by an arrangement with the Powers that in +the event of the British Government wishing to withdraw their troops, +they would previously enter into communications with the various Powers +of Europe with a view to re-establishing whatever safeguards they might +think necessary in the interests of their countrymen. + +As regards the second point, that is to say, confidence in the manner in +which the administration of the country is conducted, I need only say +that, so far as I am able to judge, Lord Kitchener's administration, +although one of his measures--the Five Feddan law--has, not unnaturally, +been subjected to a good deal of hostile criticism, has inspired the +fullest confidence in the minds of the whole of the population of Egypt, +whether European or native. I cannot doubt that, when the time arrives +for Lord Kitchener, in his turn, to retire, no brusque or radical change +will be allowed to take place in the general principles under which he +is now administering the country. + +The rights and duties of any such Chamber as that which I propose, its +composition, its mode of election or nomination, the degree of control +to be exercised over it by the Egyptian or British Governments, are, of +course, all points which require very careful consideration, and which +admit of solution in a great variety of ways. In my report for the year +1906 I put forward certain suggestions in connection with each of these +subjects, but I do not doubt that, as the result of further +consideration and discussion, my proposals admit of improvement. I need +not now dwell on these details, important though they be. I wish, +however, to allude to one point which involves a question of principle. +I trust that no endeavour will for the present be made to create one +Chamber, composed of both Europeans and Egyptians, with power to +legislate for all the inhabitants of Egypt. I am strongly convinced +that, under the present condition of society in Egypt, any such attempt +must end in complete failure. It is, I believe, quite impossible to +devise any plan for an united Chamber which would satisfy the very +natural aspirations of the Egyptians, and at the same time provide for +the Europeans adequate guarantees that their own legitimate rights would +be properly safeguarded. I am fully aware of the theoretical objections +which may be urged against trying the novel experiment of creating two +Chambers in the same country, each of which would deal with separate +classes of the community, but I submit that, in the special +circumstances of the case, those objections must be set aside, and that +one more anomaly should, for the time being at all events, be added to +the many strange institutions which exist in the "Land of Paradox." +Whether at some probably remote future period it will be possible to +create a Chamber in which Europeans and Egyptians will sit side by side +will depend very largely on the conduct of the Egyptians themselves. If +they follow the advice of those who do not flatter them, but who, +however little they may recognise the fact, are in reality their best +friends--if, in a word, they act in such a manner as to inspire the +European residents of Egypt with confidence in their judgment and +absence of class or religious prejudice, it may be that this +consummation will eventually be reached. If, on the other hand, they +allow themselves to be guided by the class of men who have of late years +occasionally posed as their representatives, the prospect of any +complete legislative amalgamation will become not merely gloomy but +practically hopeless. The true Egyptian patriot is not the man who by +his conduct and language stimulates racial animosity in the pursuit of +an ideal which can never be realised, but rather one who recognises the +true facts of the political situation. Now, the dominating fact of that +situation is that Egypt can never become autonomous in the sense in +which that word is understood by the Egyptian nationalists. It is, and +will always remain, a cosmopolitan country. The real future of Egypt, +therefore, lies not in the direction of a narrow nationalism, which will +only embrace native Egyptians, nor in that of any endeavour to convert +Egypt into a British possession on the model of India or Ceylon, but +rather in that of an enlarged cosmopolitanism, which, whilst discarding +all the obstructive fetters of the cumbersome old international system, +will tend to amalgamate all the inhabitants of the Nile Valley and +enable them all alike to share in the government of their native or +adopted country. + +For the rest, the various points of detail to which I have alluded above +present difficulties which are by no means insuperable, if--as I trust +may be the case--the various parties concerned approach the subject with +a real desire to arrive at some practical solutions. The same may be +said as regards almost all the points to which Europeans resident in +Egypt attach special importance, such, for instance, as the composition +of criminal courts for trying Europeans, the regulation of domiciliary +visits by the police, and cognate issues. In all these cases it is by no +means difficult to devise methods for preserving all that is really +worth keeping in the present system, and at the same time discarding +those portions which seriously hinder the progress of the country. There +is, however, one important point of detail which, I must admit, presents +considerable practical difficulties. It is certain that the services of +some of the European judges of the Mixed Tribunals might be utilised in +constituting the new Chamber. Their presence would be of great use, and +it is highly probable that they will in practice become the real working +men of any Chamber which may be created. But apart from the objection in +principle to confiding the making as also the administration of the law +wholly to the same individuals, it is to be observed that, in order to +create a really representative body, it would be essential that other +Europeans--merchants, bankers, landowners, and professional men--should +be seated in the Chamber. Almost all the Europeans resident in Europe +are busy men, and the question will arise whether those whose assistance +would, on general grounds, be of special value, are prepared to +sacrifice the time required for paying adequate attention to their +legislative duties. I can only say that I hope that sufficient public +spirit is to be found amongst the many highly qualified European +residents in Egypt of divers nationalities to enable this question to be +answered in the affirmative. + +It is, of course, impossible within the space allotted to me to deal +fully on the present occasion with all the aspects of this very +difficult and complicated question. I can only attempt to direct +attention to the main issue, and that issue, I repeat, is how to devise +some plan which shall take the place of the present Egyptian system of +legislation by diplomacy. The late Lord Salisbury once epigrammatically +described that system to me by saying that it was like the _liberum +veto_ of the old Polish Diet, "without being able to have recourse to +the alternative of striking off the head of any recalcitrant voter." It +is high time that such a system should be swept away and some other +adopted which will be more in harmony with the actual facts of the +Egyptian situation. If, as I trust may be the case, Lord Kitchener is +able to devise and to carry into execution some plan which will rescue +Egypt from its present legislative Slough of Despond, he will have +deserved well, not only of his country, but also of all those Egyptian +interests, whether native or European, which are committed to his +charge. + +[Footnote 68: It is believed that a proposal to reform the constitution +of the Egyptian Legislative Council and to extend somewhat its powers is +now under consideration. Any reasonable proposals of this nature should +be welcomed, but they will do little or nothing towards granting +autonomy to Egypt in the sense in which I understand that word.] + + + + +"THE SPECTATOR" + + + + +VIII + +DISRAELI + +_"The Spectator," November 1912_ + + +No one who has lived much in the East can, in reading Mr. Monypenny's +volumes, fail to be struck with the fact that Disraeli was a thorough +Oriental. The taste for tawdry finery, the habit of enveloping in +mystery matters as to which there was nothing to conceal, the love of +intrigue, the tenacity of purpose--though this is perhaps more a Jewish +than an invariably Oriental characteristic--the luxuriance of the +imaginative faculties, the strong addiction to plausible generalities +set forth in florid language, the passionate outbursts of grief +expressed at times in words so artificial as to leave a doubt in the +Anglo-Saxon mind as to whether the sentiments can be genuine, the +spasmodic eruption of real kindness of heart into a character steeped in +cynicism, the excess of flattery accorded at one time to Peel for purely +personal objects contrasted with the excess of vituperation poured +forth on O'Connell for purposes of advertisement, and the total absence +of any moral principle as a guide of life--all these features, in a +character which is perhaps not quite so complex as is often supposed, +hail from the East. What is not Eastern is his unconventionality, his +undaunted moral courage, and his ready conception of novel political +ideas--often specious ideas, resting on no very solid foundation, but +always attractive, and always capable of being defended by glittering +plausibilities. He was certainly a man of genius, and he used that +genius to found a political school based on extreme self-seeking +opportunism. In this respect he cannot be acquitted of the charge of +having contributed towards the degradation of English political life. + +Mr. Monypenny's first volume deals with Disraeli's immature youth. In +the second, the story of the period (1837-46) during which Disraeli rose +to power is admirably told, and a most interesting story it is. + +Whatever views one may adopt of Disraeli's character and career, it is +impossible not to be fascinated in watching the moral and intellectual +development of this very remarkable man, whose conduct throughout life, +far from being wayward and erratic, as has at times been somewhat +superficially supposed, was in reality in the highest degree +methodical, being directed with unflagging persistency to one end, the +gratification of his own ambition--an ambition, it should always be +remembered, which, albeit it was honourable, inasmuch as it was directed +to no ignoble ends, was wholly personal. If ever there was a man to whom +Milton's well-known lines could fitly be applied it was Disraeli. He +scorned delights. He lived laborious days. In his youth he eschewed +pleasures which generally attract others whose ambition only soars to a +lower plane. In the most intimate relations of life he subordinated all +private inclinations to the main object he had in view. He avowedly +married, in the first instance, for money, although at a later stage his +wife was able to afford herself the consolation, and to pay him the +graceful compliment of obliterating the sordid reproach by declaring +that "if he had the chance again he would marry her for love"--a +statement confirmed by his passionate, albeit somewhat histrionic +love-letters. The desire of fame, which may easily degenerate into a +mere craving for notoriety, was unquestionably the spur which in his +case raised his "clear spirit." So early as 1833, on being asked upon +what principles he was going to stand at a forthcoming election, he +replied, "On my head." He cared, in fact, little for principles of any +kind, provided the goal of his ambition could be reached. Throughout his +career his main object was to rule his countrymen, and that object he +attained by the adoption of methods which, whether they be regarded as +tortuous or straightforward, morally justifiable or worthy of +condemnation, were of a surety eminently successful. + +The interest in Mr. Monypenny's work is enormously enhanced by the +personality of his hero. In dealing with the careers of other English +statesmen--for instance, with Cromwell, Chatham, or Gladstone--we do, +indeed, glance--and more than glance--at the personality of the man, but +our mature judgment is, or at all events should be, formed mainly on his +measures. We inquire what was their ultimate result, and what effect +they produced? We ask ourselves what degree of foresight the statesman +displayed. Did he rightly gauge the true nature of the political, +economic, or social forces with which he had to deal, or did he mistake +the signs of the times and allow himself to be lured away by some +ephemeral will-o'-the-wisp in the pursuit of objects of secondary or +even fallacious importance? It is necessary to ask these questions in +dealing with the career of Disraeli, but this mental process is, in his +case, obscured to a very high degree by the absorbing personality of the +man. The individual fills the whole canvas almost to the extent of +excluding all other objects from view. + +No tale of fiction is, indeed, more strange than that which tells how +this nimble-witted alien adventurer, with his poetic temperament, his +weird Eastern imagination and excessive Western cynicism, his elastic +mind which he himself described as "revolutionary," and his apparently +wayward but in reality carefully regulated unconventionality, succeeded, +in spite of every initial disadvantage of race, birth, manners, and +habits of thought, in dominating a proud aristocracy and using its +members as so many pawns on the chess-board which he had arranged to +suit his own purposes. Thrust into a society which was steeped in +conventionality, he enforced attention to his will by a studied neglect +of everything that was conventional. Dealing with a class who honoured +tradition, he startled the members of that class by shattering all the +traditions which they had been taught to revere, and by endeavouring, +with the help of specious arguments which many of them only half +understood, to substitute others of an entirely novel character in their +place. Following much on the lines of those religious reformers who have +at times sought to revive the early discipline and practices of the +Church, he endeavoured to destroy the Toryism of his day by invoking +the shade of a semi-mythical Toryism of the past. Bolingbroke was the +model to be followed, Shelburne was the tutelary genius of Pitt, and +Charles I. was made to pose as "a virtuous and able monarch," who was +"the holocaust of direct taxation." Never, he declared, "did man lay +down his heroic life for so great a cause, the cause of the Church and +the cause of the Poor."[69] Aspiring to rise to power through the agency +of Conservatives, whose narrow-minded conventional conservatism he +despised, and to whose defects he was keenly alive, he wisely judged +that it was a necessity, if his programme were to be executed, that the +association of political power with landed possessions should be the +sheet-anchor of his system; and, strong in the support afforded by that +material bond of sympathy, he did not hesitate to ridicule the foibles +of those "patricians"--to use his own somewhat stilted expression--who, +whilst they sneered at his apparent eccentricities, despised their own +chosen mouthpiece, and occasionally writhed under his yoke, were none +the less so fascinated by the powerful will and keen intellect which +held them captive that they blindly followed his lead, even to the +verge of being duped. + +From earliest youth to green old age his confidence in his own powers +was never shaken. He persistently acted up to the sentiment--slightly +paraphrased from Terence--which he had characteristically adopted as his +family motto, _Forti nihil difficile_; neither could there be any +question as to the genuine nature either of his strength or his courage, +albeit hostile critics might seek to confound the latter quality with +sheer impudence.[70] He abhorred the commonplace, and it is notably this +abhorrence which gives a vivid, albeit somewhat meretricious sparkle to +his personality. For although truth is generally dull, and although +probably most of the reforms and changes which have really benefited +mankind partake largely of the commonplace, the attraction of +unconventionality and sensationalism cannot be denied. Disraeli made +English politics interesting, just as Ismail Pasha gave at one time a +spurious interest to the politics of Egypt. No one could tell what would +be the next step taken by the juggler in Cairo or by that meteoric +statesman in London whom John Bright once called "the great wizard of +Buckinghamshire." When Disraeli disappeared from the stage, the +atmosphere may have become clearer, and possibly more healthy for the +body politic in the aggregate, but the level of interest fell, whilst +the barometer of dulness rose. + +If the saying generally attributed to Buffon[71] that "the style is the +man," is correct, an examination of Disraeli's style ought to give a +true insight into his character. There can be no question of the +readiness of his wit or of his superabundant power of sarcasm. Besides +the classic instances which have almost passed into proverbs, others, +less well known, are recorded in these pages. The statement that "from +the Chancellor of the Exchequer to an Undersecretary of State is a +descent from the sublime to the ridiculous" is very witty. The +well-known description of Lord Derby as "the Rupert of debate" is both +witty and felicitous, whilst the sarcasm in the context, which is less +well known, is both witty and biting. The noble lord, Disraeli said, was +like Prince Rupert, because "his charge was resistless, but when he +returned from the pursuit he always found his camp in the possession of +the enemy." + +A favourite subject of Disraeli's sarcasm in his campaign against Peel +was that the latter habitually borrowed the ideas of others. "His +(Peel's) life," he said, "has been a great appropriation clause. He is a +burglar of others' intellect.... From the days of the Conqueror to the +termination of the last reign there is no statesman who has committed +political petty larceny on so great a scale." + +In a happy and inimitable metaphor he likened Sir Robert Peel's action +in throwing over Protection to that of the Sultan's admiral who, during +the campaign against Mehemet Ali, after preparing a vast armament which +left the Dardanelles hallowed by the blessings of "all the muftis of the +Empire," discovered when he got to sea that he had "an objection to +war," steered at once into the enemy's port, and then explained that +"the only reason he had for accepting the command was that he might +terminate the contest by betraying his master." + +Other utterances of a similar nature abound, as, for instance, when he +spoke of Lord Melbourne as "sauntering over the destinies of a nation, +and lounging away the glories of an Empire," or when he likened those +Tories who followed Sir Robert Peel to the Saxons converted by +Charlemagne. "The old chronicler informs us they were converted in +battalions and baptized in platoons." + +Warned by the fiasco of his first speech in the House of Commons, +Disraeli for some while afterwards exercised a wise parsimony in the +display of his wit. He discovered that "the House will not allow a man +to be a wit and an orator unless they have the credit of finding it +out." But when he had once established his position and gained the ear +of the House, he gave a free rein to his prodigious powers of satire, +which he used to the full in his attacks on Peel. In point of fact, +vituperation and sarcasm were his chief weapons of offence. He spoke of +Mr. Roebuck as a "meagre-minded rebel," and called Campbell, who was +afterwards Lord Chancellor, "a shrewd, coarse, manoeuvring Pict," a +"base-born Scotchman," and a "booing, fawning, jobbing progeny of haggis +and cockaleekie." When he ceased to be witty, sarcastic, or +vituperative, he became turgid. Nothing could be more witty than when, +in allusion to Peel's borrowing the ideas of others, he spoke of his +fiscal project as "Popkins's Plan," but when, having once made this hit, +which naturally elicited "peals of laughter from all parts of the +House," he proceeded further, he at once lapsed into cheap rhetoric. + + "Is England," he said, "to be governed, and is England to be + convulsed, by Popkins's plan? Will he go to the country with it? + Will he go with it to that ancient and famous England that once was + governed by statesmen--by Burleighs and by Walsinghams; by + Bolingbrokes and by Walpoles; by a Chatham and a Canning--will he + go to it with this fantastic scheming of some presumptuous pedant? + I won't believe it. I have that confidence in the common sense, I + will say the common spirit of our countrymen, that I believe they + will not long endure this huckstering tyranny of the Treasury + Bench--these political pedlars that bought their party in the + cheapest market and sold us in the dearest." + +So also on one occasion when in a characteristically fanciful flight he +said that Canning ruled the House of Commons "as a man rules a high-bred +steed, as Alexander ruled Bucephalus," and when some member of the House +indulged in a very legitimate laugh, he turned on him at once and said, +"I thank that honourable gentleman for his laugh. The pulse of the +national heart does not beat as high as once it did. I know the temper +of this House is not as spirited and brave as it was, nor am I +surprised, when the vulture rules where once the eagle reigned." From +the days of Horace downwards it has been permitted to actors and orators +to pass rapidly from the comic to the tumid strain.[72] But in this case +the language was so bombastic and so utterly out of proportion to the +occasion which called it forth that a critic of style will hardly acquit +the orator of the charge of turgidity. Mr. Monypenny recognises that +"in spite of Disraeli's strong grasp of fact, his keen sense of the +ridiculous, and his intolerance of cant, he never could quite +distinguish between the genuine and the counterfeit either in language +or sentiment." + +Much has at times been said and written of the solecisms for which +Disraeli was famous. They came naturally to him. In his early youth he +told his sister that the Danube was an "uncouth stream," because "its +bed is far too considerable for its volume." At the same time there can +be little doubt that his practice of indulging in carefully prepared +solecisms, which became more daring as he advanced in power, was part of +a deliberate and perfectly legitimate plan, conceived with the object of +arresting the attention and stimulating the interest of his audience. + + * * * * * + +I have so far only dealt with Disraeli's main object in life, and with +the methods by which he endeavoured to attain that object. The important +question remains to be considered of whether, as many supposed and still +suppose, Disraeli was a mere political charlatan, or whether, as others +hold, he was a far-seeing statesman and profound thinker, who read the +signs of the times more clearly than his contemporaries, and who was +the early apostle of a political creed which his countrymen will do well +to adopt and develop. + +It is necessary here to say a word or two about Disraeli's biographer. +The charm of Mr. Monypenny's style, the lucidity of his narrative, the +thorough grasp which he manifestly secured of the forces in movement +during the period which his history embraces, and the deep regret that +all must feel that his promising career was prematurely cut short by the +hand of death, should not blind us to the fact that, in spite of a +manifest attempt to write judicially, he must be regarded as an +apologist for Disraeli. In respect, indeed, to one point--which, +however, is, in my opinion, one of great importance--he threw up the +case for his client. The facts of this case are very clear. + +When Peel formed his Ministry in 1841, no place was offered to Disraeli. +It can be no matter for surprise that he was deeply mortified. His +exclusion does not appear to have been due to any personal feeling of +animosity entertained by Peel. On the contrary, Peel's relations with +Disraeli had up to that time been of a very friendly character. Possibly +something may be attributed to that lack of imagination which, at a much +later period, Disraeli thought was the main defect of Sir Robert Peel's +character, and which may have rendered him incapable of conceiving that +a young man, differing so totally not only from himself but from all +other contemporaneous politicians in deportment and demeanour, could +ever aspire to be a political factor of supreme importance. The +explanation given by Peel himself that, as is usual with Prime Ministers +similarly situated, he was wholly unable to meet all the just claims +made upon him, was unquestionably true, but it is more than probable +that the episode related by Mr. Monypenny had something to do with +Disraeli's exclusion. Peel, it appears, was inclined to consider +Disraeli eligible for office, but Stanley (subsequently Lord Derby), who +was a typical representative of that "patrician" class whom Disraeli +courted and eventually dominated, stated "in his usual vehement way" +that "if that scoundrel were taken in, he would not remain himself." +However that may be, two facts are abundantly clear. One is that, in the +agony of disappointment, Disraeli threw himself at Peel's feet and +implored, in terms which were almost abject, that some official place +should be found for him. "I appeal," he said, in a letter dated +September 5, 1841, "to that justice and that magnanimity which I feel +are your characteristics, to save me from an intolerable humiliation." +The other fact is that, speaking to his constituents in 1844, he said: +"I never asked Sir Robert Peel for a place," and further that, speaking +in the House of Commons in 1846, he repeated this statement even more +categorically. He assured the House that "nothing of the kind ever +occurred," and he added that "it was totally foreign to his nature to +make an application for any place." He was evidently not believed. "The +impression in the House," Mr. Monypenny says, "was that Disraeli had +better have remained silent." + +Mr. Monypenny admits the facts, and does not attempt to defend +Disraeli's conduct, but he passes over this very singular episode, which +is highly illustrative of the character of the man, somewhat lightly, +merely remarking that though Disraeli "must pay the full penalty," at +the same time "it is for the politician who is without sin in the matter +of veracity to cast the first stone." + +I hardly think that this consolatory Biblical reflection disposes of the +matter. Politicians, as also diplomatists, are often obliged to give +evasive answers to inconvenient questions, but it is not possible for +any man, when dealing with a point of primary importance, deliberately +to make and to repeat a statement so absolutely untrue as that made by +Disraeli on the occasion in question without undermining any confidence +which might otherwise be entertained in his general sincerity and +rectitude of purpose. A man convicted of deliberate falsehood cannot +expect to be believed when he pleads that his public conduct is wholly +dictated by public motives. Now all the circumstantial evidence goes to +show that from 1841 onwards Disraeli's conduct, culminating in his +violent attacks on Peel in 1845-46, was the result of personal +resentment due to his exclusion from office in 1841, and that these +attacks would never have been made had he been able to climb the ladder +of advancement by other means. His proved want of veracity confirms the +impression derived from this evidence. + +Peel's own opinion on the subject may be gathered from a letter which he +wrote to Sir James Graham on December 22, 1843.[73] Disraeli had the +assurance to solicit a place for his brother from Sir James Graham. The +request met with a flat refusal. Peel's comment on the incident was: "He +(Disraeli) asked me for office himself, and I was not surprised that, +being refused, he became independent and a patriot." + +So far, therefore, as the individual is concerned, the episode on which +I have dwelt above appears to me to be a very important factor in +estimating not merely Disraeli's moral worth, but also the degree of +value to be attached to his opinions. The question of whether Disraeli +was or was not a political charlatan remains, however, to be +considered. + +That Disraeli was a political adventurer is abundantly clear. So was +Napoleon, between whose mentality and that of Disraeli a somewhat close +analogy exists. Both subordinated their public conduct to the +furtherance of their personal aims. It is quite permissible to argue +that, as a political adventurer, Disraeli did an incalculable amount of +harm in so far as he tainted the sincerity of public life both in his +own person and, posthumously, by becoming the progenitor of a school of +adventurers who adopted his methods. But it is quite possible to be a +self-seeking adventurer without being a charlatan. A careful +consideration of Disraeli's opinions and actions leads me to the +conclusion that only on a very superficial view of his career can the +latter epithet be applied to him. It must, I think, be admitted that his +ideas, even although we may disagree with them, were not those of a +charlatan, but of a statesman. They cannot be brushed aside as trivial. +They deserve serious consideration. Moreover, he had a very remarkable +power of penetrating to the core of any question which he treated, +coupled with an aptitude for wide generalisation which is rare amongst +Englishmen, and which he probably derived from his foreign ancestors. An +instance in point is his epigrammatic statement that "In England, where +society was strong, they tolerated a weak Government, but in Ireland, +where society was weak, the policy should be to have the Government +strong." Mr. Monypenny is quite justified in saying: "The significance +of the Irish question cannot be exhausted in a formula, but in that +single sentence there is more of wisdom and enlightenment than in many +thousands of the dreary pages of Irish debate that are buried in the +volumes of Hansard." + +More than this. In one very important respect he was half a century in +advance of his contemporaries. With true political instinct he fell upon +what was unquestionably the weakest point in the armour of the so-called +Manchester School of politicians. He saw that whilst material +civilisation in England was advancing with rapid strides, there was "no +proportionate advance in our moral civilisation." "In the hurry-skurry +of money-making, men-making, and machine-making," the moral side of +national life was being unduly neglected. He was able with justifiable +pride to say: "Long before what is called the 'condition of the people +question' was discussed in the House of Commons, I had employed my pen +on the subject. I had long been aware that there was something rotten in +the core of our social system. I had seen that while immense fortunes +were accumulating, while wealth was increasing to a superabundance, and +while Great Britain was cited throughout Europe as the most prosperous +nation in the world, the working classes, the creators of wealth, were +steeped in the most abject poverty and gradually sinking into the +deepest degradation." The generation of 1912 cannot dub as a charlatan +the man who could speak thus in 1844. For in truth, more especially +during the last five years, we have been suffering from a failure to +recognise betimes the truth of this foreseeing statesman's admonition. +Having for years neglected social reform, we have recently tried to make +up for lost time by the hurried adoption of a number of measures, often +faulty in principle and ill-considered in detail, which seek to obtain +by frenzied haste those advantages which can only be secured by the +strenuous and persistent application of sound principles embodied in +deliberate and well-conceived legislative enactments. + +Disraeli, therefore, saw the rock ahead, but how did he endeavour to +steer the ship clear of the rock? It is in dealing with this aspect of +the case that the view of the statesman dwindles away and is supplanted +by that of the self-seeking party manager. His fundamental idea was that +"we had altogether outgrown, not the spirit, but the organisation of our +institutions." The manner in which he proposed to reorganise our +institutions was practically to render the middle classes politically +powerless. His scheme, constituting the germ which, at a later period, +blossomed into the Tory democracy, was developed as early as 1840 in a +letter addressed to Mr. Charles Attwood, who was at that time a popular +leader. "I entirely agree with you," he said, "that an union between the +Conservative Party and the Radical masses offers the only means by which +we can preserve the Empire. Their interests are identical; united they +form the nation; and their division has only permitted a miserable +minority, under the specious name of the People, to assail all right of +property and person." + +Mr. Monypenny, if I understand rightly, is generally in sympathy with +Disraeli's project, and appears to think that it might have been +practicable to carry it into effect. He condemns Peel's counter-idea of +substituting a middle-class Toryism for that which then existed as +"almost a contradiction in terms." I am unable to concur in this view. I +see no contradiction, either real or apparent, in Peel's +counter-project, and I hold that events have proved that the premises on +which Disraeli based his conclusion were entirely false, for his +political descendants, while still pursuing his main aim, viz. to ensure +a closer association of the Conservative Party and the masses, have been +forced by circumstances into an endeavour to effect that union by means +not merely different from but antagonistic to those which Disraeli +himself contemplated. + +It all depends on what Disraeli meant when he spoke of "Conservatism," +and on what Mr. Monypenny meant when he spoke of "Toryism." It may +readily be conceded that a "middle-class Toryism," in the sense in which +Disraeli would have understood the expression, was "a contradiction in +terms," for the bed-rock on which his Toryism was based was that it +should find its main strength in the possessors of land. The creation of +such a Toryism is a conceivable political programme. In France it was +created by the division of property consequent on the Revolution. Thiers +said truly enough that in the cottage of every French peasant owning an +acre of land would be found a musket ready to be used in the defence of +property. In fact, the five million peasant proprietors now existing in +France represent an eminently conservative class. But, so far as I know, +there is not a trace to be found in any of Disraeli's utterances that he +wished to widen the basis of agricultural conservatism by creating a +peasant proprietary class. He wished, above all things, to maintain the +territorial magnates in the full possession of their properties. When he +spoke of a "union between the Conservative Party and the Radical masses" +he meant a union between the "patricians" and the working men, and the +answer to this somewhat fantastic project is that given by Juvenal 1800 +years ago: + + Quis enim iam non intelligat artes + Patricias?[74] + +"Who in our days is not up to the dodges of the patricians?" + +The programme was foredoomed to failure, and the failure has been +complete. Modern Conservatives can appeal to the middle classes, who--in +spite of what Mr. Monypenny says--are their natural allies. They can +also appeal to the working classes by educating them and by showing them +that Socialism is diametrically contrary to their own interests. But, +although they may gain some barren and ephemeral electoral advantages, +they cannot hope to advance the cause of rational conservative progress +either by alienating the one class or by sailing under false colours +before the other. They cannot advantageously masquerade in Radical +clothes. There was a profound truth in Lord Goschen's view upon the +conduct of Disraeli when, in strict accordance with the principles he +enunciated in the 'forties, he forced his reluctant followers to pass a +Reform Bill far more Radical than that proposed by the Whigs. "That +measure," Lord Goschen said,[75] "might have increased the number of +Conservatives, but it had, nevertheless, in his belief, weakened real +Conservatism." Many of Disraeli's political descendants seem to care +little for Conservatism, but they are prepared to advocate Socialist or +quasi-Socialist doctrines in order to increase the number of nominal +Conservatives. This, therefore, has been the ultimate result of the +gospel of which Disraeli was the chief apostle. It does no credit to his +political foresight. He altogether failed to see the consequences which +would result from the adoption of his political principles. He hoped +that the Radical masses, whom he sought to conciliate, would look to the +"patricians" as their guides. They have done nothing of the sort, but a +very distinct tendency has been created amongst the "patricians" to +allow themselves to be guided by the Radical masses. + +I cannot terminate these remarks without saying a word or two about +Disraeli's great antagonist, Peel. It appears to me that Mr. Monypenny +scarcely does justice to that very eminent man. His main accusation +against Peel is that he committed his country "apparently past recall" +to an industrial line of growth, and that he sacrificed rural England +"to a one-sided and exaggerated industrial development which has done +so much to change the English character and the English outlook." + +I think that this charge admits of being answered, but I will not now +attempt to answer it fully. This much, however, I may say. Mr. +Monypenny, if I understand rightly, admits that the transition from +agriculture to manufactures was, if not desirable, at all events +inevitable, but he holds that this transition should have been gradual. +This is practically the same view as that held by the earlier German and +American economists, who--whilst condemning Protection in +theory--advocated it as a temporary measure which would eventually lead +up to Free Trade. The answer is that, in those countries which adopted +this policy, the Protection has, in the face of vested interests, been +permanent, whilst, although the movement in favour of Free Trade has +never entirely died out, and may, indeed, be said recently to have shown +signs of increasing vigour, the obstacles to the realisation of the +ideas entertained by economists of the type of List have not yet been +removed, and are still very formidable. That the plunge made by Sir +Robert Peel has been accompanied by some disadvantages may be admitted, +but Free Traders may be pardoned for thinking that, if he had not had +the courage to make that plunge, the enormous counter-advantages which +have resulted from his policy would never have accrued. + +As regards Peel's character, it was twice sketched by Disraeli himself. +The first occasion was in 1839. The picture he drew at that time was +highly complimentary, but as Disraeli was then a loyal supporter of Peel +it may perhaps be discarded on the plea advanced by Voltaire that "we +can confidently believe only the evil which a party writer tells of his +own side and the good which he recognises in his opponents." The second +occasion was after Peel's death. It is given by Mr. Monypenny in ii. +306-308, and is too long to quote. Disraeli on this occasion made some +few--probably sound--minor criticisms on Peel's style, manner, and +disposition. But he manifestly wrote with a strong desire to do justice +to his old antagonist's fine qualities. He concluded with a remark +which, in the mouth of a Parliamentarian, may probably be considered the +highest praise, namely, that Peel was "the greatest Member of Parliament +that ever lived." I cannot but think that even those who reject Peel's +economic principles may accord to him higher praise than this. They may +admit that Peel attained a very high degree of moral elevation when, at +the dictate of duty, he separated himself from all--or the greater +part--of his former friends, and had the courage, when honestly +convinced by Cobden's arguments, to act upon his convictions. Peel's +final utterance on this subject was not only one of the most pathetic, +but also one of the finest--because one of the most deeply +sincere--speeches ever made in Parliament. + +I may conclude these remarks by some recollections of a personal +character. My father, who died in 1848, was a Peelite and an intimate +friend of Sir Robert Peel, who was frequently his guest at Cromer. I +used, therefore, in my childhood to hear a good deal of the subjects +treated in Mr. Monypenny's brilliant volumes. I well remember--I think +it must have been in 1847--being present on one occasion when a relative +of my own, who was a broad-acred Nottinghamshire squire, thumped the +table and declared his opinion that "Sir Robert Peel ought to be hanged +on the highest tree in England." Since that time I have heard a good +many statesmen accused of ruining their country, but, so far as my +recollection serves me, the denunciations launched against John Bright, +Gladstone, and even the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, may be +considered as sweetly reasonable by comparison with the language +employed about Sir Robert Peel by those who were opposed to his policy. + +I was only once brought into personal communication with Disraeli. +Happening to call on my old friend, Lord Rowton, in the summer of 1879, +when I was about to return to Egypt as Controller-General, he expressed +a wish that I should see Lord Beaconsfield, as he then was. The +interview was very short; neither has anything Lord Beaconsfield said +about Egyptian affairs remained in my memory. But I remember that he +appeared much interested to learn whether "there were many pelicans on +the banks of the Nile." + +The late Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff was a repository of numerous very +amusing _Beaconsfieldiana_. + +[Footnote 69: This passage occurs in _Coningsby_, and Mr. Monypenny +warns us that "his version of the quarrel between Charles I. and the +Parliament is too fanciful to be quite serious; we may believe that he +was here consciously paying tribute to the historical caprices of +Manners and Smythe."] + +[Footnote 70: Mr. Monypenny says in a note that a hostile newspaper gave +the following translation of Disraeli's motto: "The impudence of some +men sticks at nothing."] + +[Footnote 71: What Buffon really wrote was: "Le style est l'homme +meme."] + +[Footnote 72: + + Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore; + Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri + Telephus et Peleus. + +_Ars Poetica_, 94-96.] + +[Footnote 73: _Sir Robert Peel_. Charles Stuart Parker. Vol. iii. 425.] + +[Footnote 74: _Sat._ iv, 101.] + +[Footnote 75: _Life of Lord Goschen_, Arthur D. Elliot, p. 163.] + + + + +IX + +RUSSIAN ROMANCE + +_"The Spectator," March 15, 1913_ + + +De Voguee's well-known book, _Le Roman Russe_, was published so long ago +as 1886. It is still well worth reading. In the first place, the +literary style is altogether admirable. It is the perfection of French +prose, and to read the best French prose is always an intellectual +treat. In the second place, the author displays in a marked degree that +power of wide generalisation which distinguishes the best French +writers. Then, again, M. de Voguee writes with a very thorough knowledge +of his subject. He resided for long in Russia. He spoke Russian, and had +an intimate acquaintance with Russian literature. He endeavoured to +identify himself with Russian aspirations, and, being himself a man of +poetic and imaginative temperament, he was able to sympathise with the +highly emotional side of the Slav character, whilst, at the same time, +he never lost sight of the fact that he was the representative of a +civilisation which is superior to that of Russia. He admires the +eruptions of that volcanic genius Dostoievsky, but, with true European +instinct, charges him with a want of "mesure"--the Greek +Sophrosyne--which he defines as "l'art d'assujettir ses pensees." +Moreover, he at times brings a dose of vivacious French wit to temper +the gloom of Russian realism. Thus, when he speaks of the Russian +writers of romance, who, from 1830 to 1840, "eurent le privilege de +faire pleurer les jeunes filles russes," he observes in thorough +man-of-the-world fashion, "il faut toujours que quelqu'un fasse pleurer +les jeunes filles, mais le genie n'y est pas necessaire." + +When Taine had finished his great history of the Revolution, he sent it +forth to the world with the remark that the only general conclusion at +which a profound study of the facts had enabled him to arrive was that +the true comprehension, and therefore, _a fortiori_, the government of +human beings, and especially of Frenchmen, was an extremely difficult +matter. Those who have lived longest in the East are the first to +testify to the fact that, to the Western mind, the Oriental habit of +thought is well-nigh incomprehensible. The European may do his best to +understand, but he cannot cast off his love of symmetry any more than he +can change his skin, and unless he can become asymmetrical he can never +hope to attune his reason in perfect accordance to the Oriental key. +Similarly, it is impossible to rise from a perusal of De Voguee's book +without a strong feeling of the incomprehensibility of the Russians. + +What, in fact, are these puzzling Russians? They are certainly not +Europeans. They possess none of the mental equipoise of the Teutons, +neither do they appear to possess that logical faculty which, in spite +of many wayward outbursts of passion, generally enables the Latin races +in the end to cast off idealism when it tends to lapse altogether from +sanity; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that, having by +association acquired some portion of that Western faculty, the Russians +misapply it. They seem to be impelled by a variety of causes--such as +climatic and economic influences, a long course of misgovernment, +Byzantinism in religion, and an inherited leaning to Oriental +mysticism--to distort their reasoning powers, and far from using them, +as was the case with the pre-eminently sane Greek genius, to temper the +excesses of the imagination, to employ them rather as an oestrus to lash +the imaginative faculties to a state verging on madness. + +If the Russians are not Europeans, neither are they thorough Asiatics. +It may well be, as De Voguee says, that they have preserved the idiom +and even the features of their original Aryan ancestors to a greater +extent than has been the case with other Aryan nations who finally +settled farther West, and that this is a fact of which many Russians +boast. But, for all that, they have been inoculated with far too strong +a dose of Western culture, religion, and habits of thought to display +the apathy or submit to the fatalism which characterises the conduct of +the true Eastern. + +If, therefore, the Russians are neither Europeans nor Asiatics, what are +they? Manifestly their geographical position and other attendant +circumstances have, from an ethnological point of view, rendered them a +hybrid race, whose national development will display the most startling +anomalies and contradictions, in which the theory and practice derived +from the original Oriental stock will be constantly struggling for +mastery with an Occidental aftergrowth. From the earliest days there +have been two types of Russian reformers, viz. on the one hand, those +who wished that the country should be developed on Eastern lines, and, +on the other, those who looked to Western civilisation for guidance. De +Voguee says that from the accession of Peter the Great to the death of +the Emperor Nicolas--that is to say, for a period of a hundred and +fifty years--the government of Russia may be likened to a ship, of +which the captain and the principal officers were persistently +endeavouring to steer towards the West, while at the same time the whole +of the crew were trimming the sails in order to catch any breeze which +would bear the vessel Eastward. It can be no matter for surprise that +this strange medley should have produced results which are bewildering +even to Russians themselves and well-nigh incomprehensible to +foreigners. One of their poets has said: + + On ne comprend pas la Russie avec la raison, + On ne peut que croire a la Russie. + +One of the most singular incidents of Russian development on which De +Voguee has fastened, and which induced him to write this book, has been +the predominant influence exercised on Russian thought and action by +novels. Writers of romance have indeed at times exercised no +inconsiderable amount of influence elsewhere than in Russia. Mrs. +Beecher Stowe's epoch-making novel, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, certainly +contributed towards the abolition of slavery in the United States. +Dickens gave a powerful impetus to the reform of our law-courts and our +Poor Law. Moreover, even in free England, political writers have at +times resorted to allegory in order to promulgate their ideas. Swift's +Brobdingnagians and Lilliputians furnish a case in point. In France, +Voltaire called fictitious Chinamen, Bulgarians, and Avars into +existence in order to satirise the proceedings of his own countrymen. +But the effect produced by these writings may be classed as trivial +compared to that exercised by the great writers of Russian romance. In +the works of men like Tourguenef and Dostoievsky the Russian people +appear to have recognised, for the first time, that their real condition +was truthfully depicted, and that their inchoate aspirations had found +sympathetic expression. "Dans le roman, et la seulement," De Voguee says, +"on trouvera l'histoire de Russie depuis un demi-siecle." + +Such being the case, it becomes of interest to form a correct judgment +on the character and careers of the men whom the Russians have very +generally regarded as the true interpreters of their domestic facts, and +whom large numbers of them have accepted as their political pilots. + +The first point to be noted about them is that they are all, for the +most part, ultra-realists; but apparently we may search their writings +in vain for the cheerfulness which at times illumines the pages of their +English, or the light-hearted vivacity which sparkles in the pages of +their French counterparts. In Dostoievsky's powerfully written _Crime +and Punishment_ all is gloom and horror; the hero of the tale is a +madman and a murderer. To a foreigner these authors seem to present the +picture of a society oppressed with an all-pervading sense of the misery +of existence, and with the impossibility of finding any means by which +that misery can be alleviated. In many instances, their lives--and still +more their deaths--were as sad and depressing as their thoughts. Several +of their most noted authors died violent deaths. At thirty-seven years +of age the poet Pouchkine was killed in a duel, Lermontof met the same +fate at the age of twenty-six. Griboiedof was assassinated at the age of +thirty-four. But the most tragic history is that of Dostoievsky, albeit +he lived to a green old age, and eventually died a natural death. In +1849, he was connected with some political society, but he does not +appear, even at that time, to have been a violent politician. +Nevertheless, he and his companions, after being kept for several months +in close confinement, were condemned to death. They were brought to the +place of execution, but at the last moment, when the soldiers were about +to fire, their sentences were commuted to exile. Dostoievsky remained +for some years in Siberia, but was eventually allowed to return to +Russia. The inhuman cruelty to which he had been subject naturally +dominated his mind and inspired his pen for the remainder of his days. + +De Voguee deals almost exclusively with the writings of Pouchkine, Gogol, +Dostoievsky, Tourguenef, who was the inventor of the word Nihilism, and +the mystic Tolstoy, who was the principal apostle of the doctrine. All +these, with the possible exception of Tourguenef, had one characteristic +in common. Their intellects were in a state of unstable equilibrium. As +poets, they could excite the enthusiasm of the masses, but as political +guides they were mere Jack-o'-Lanterns, leading to the deadly swamp of +despair. Dostoievsky was in some respects the most interesting and also +the most typical of the group. De Voguee met him in his old age, and the +account he gives of his appearance is most graphic. His history could be +read in his face. + + On y lisait mieux que dans le livre, les souvenirs de la maison des + morts, les longues habitudes d'effroi, de mefiance et de martyre. + Les paupieres, les levres, toutes les fibres de cette face + tremblaient de tics nerveux. Quand il s'animait de colere sur une + idee, on eut jure qu'on avait deja vu cette tete sur les banes + d'une cour criminelle, ou parmi les vagabonds qui mendient aux + portes des prisons. A d'autres moments, elle avait la mansuetude + triste des vieux saints sur les images slavonnes. + +And here is what De Voguee says of the writings of this semi-lunatic man +of genius: + + Psychologue incomparable, des qu'il etudie des ames noires ou + blessees, dramaturge habile, mais borne aux scenes d'effroi et de + pitie.... Selon qu'on est plus touche par tel ou tel exces de son + talent, on peut l'appeler avec justice un philosophe, un apotre, un + aliene, le consolateur des affliges ou le bourreau des esprits + tranquilles, le Jeremie de bagne ou le Shakespeare de la maison des + fous; toutes ces appellations seront meritees; prise isolement, + aucune ne sera suffisante. + +There is manifestly much which is deeply interesting, and also much +which is really lovable in the Russian national character. It must, +however, be singularly mournful and unpleasant to pass through life +burdened with the reflection that it would have been better not to have +been born, albeit such sentiments are not altogether inconsistent with +the power of deriving a certain amount of enjoyment from living. It was +that pleasure-loving old cynic, Madame du Deffand, who said: "Il n'y a +qu'un seul malheur, celui d'etre ne." Nevertheless, the avowed +joyousness bred by the laughing tides and purple skies of Greece is +certainly more conducive to human happiness, though at times even +Greeks, such as Theognis and Palladas, lapsed into a morbid pessimism +comparable to that of Tolstoy. Metrodorus, however, more fully +represented the true Greek spirit when he sang, "All things are good in +life" ([Greek: panta gar esthla bio]). The Roman pagan, Juvenal, gave a +fairly satisfactory answer to the question, "Nil ergo optabunt +homines?" whilst the Christian holds out hopes of that compensation in +the next world for the afflictions of the present, which the sombre and +despondent Russian philosopher, determined that we shall not find +enjoyment in either world, denies to his morose and grief-stricken +followers. + + + + +X + +THE WRITING OF HISTORY[76] + +_"The Spectator," April 26, 1913_ + + +What are the purposes of history, and in what spirit should it be +written? Such, in effect, are the questions which Mr. Gooch propounds in +this very interesting volume. He wisely abstains from giving any +dogmatic answers to these questions, but in a work which shows manifest +signs of great erudition and far-reaching research he ranges over the +whole field of European and American literature, and gives us a very +complete summary both of how, as a matter of fact, history has been +written, and of the spirit in which the leading historians of the +nineteenth century have approached their task. + +Mr. Bryce, himself one of the most eminent of modern historians, +recently laid down the main principle which, in his opinion, should +guide his fellow-craftsmen. "Truth," he said, "and truth only is our +aim." The maxim is one which would probably be unreservedly accepted in +theory by the most ardent propagandist who has ever used history as a +vehicle for the dissemination of his own views on political, economic, +or social questions. For so fallible is human nature that the +proclivities of the individual can rarely be entirely submerged by the +judicial impartiality of the historian. It is impossible to peruse Mr. +Gooch's work without being struck by the fact that, amongst the greatest +writers of history, bias--often unconscious bias--has been the rule, and +the total absence of preconceived opinions the exception. Generally +speaking, the subjective spirit has prevailed amongst historians in all +ages. The danger of following the scent of analogies--not infrequently +somewhat strained analogies--between the present and the past is +comparatively less imminent in cases where some huge upheaval, such as +the French Revolution, has inaugurated an entirely new epoch, +accompanied by the introduction of fresh ideals and habits of thought. +It is, as Macaulay has somewhere observed, a more serious +stumbling-block in the path of a writer who deals with the history of a +country like England, which has through long centuries preserved its +historical continuity. Hallam and Macaulay viewed history through Whig, +and Alison through Tory spectacles. Neither has the remoteness of the +events described proved any adequate safeguard against the introduction +of bias born of contemporary circumstances. Mitford, who composed his +history of Greece during the stormy times of the French Revolution, +thought it compatible with his duty as an historian to strike a blow at +Whigs and Jacobins. Grote's sympathy with the democracy of Athens was +unquestionably to some extent the outcome of the views which he +entertained of events passing under his own eyes at Westminster. +Mommsen, by inaugurating the publication of the Corpus of Latin +Inscriptions, has earned the eternal gratitude of scholarly posterity, +but Mr. Gooch very truly remarks that his historical work is tainted +with the "strident partisanship" of a keen politician and journalist. +Truth, as the old Greek adage says, is indeed the fellow-citizen of the +gods; but if the standard of historical truth be rated too high, and if +the authority of all who have not strictly complied with that standard +is to be discarded on the ground that they stand convicted of +partiality, we should be left with little to instruct subsequent ages +beyond the dry records of men such as the laborious, the useful, though +somewhat over-credulous Clinton, or the learned but arid Marquardt, +whose "massive scholarship" Mr. Gooch dismisses somewhat summarily in a +single line. Such writers are not historians, but rather compilers of +records, upon the foundations of which others can build history. + +Under the process we have assumed, Droysen, Sybel, and Treitschke would +have to be cast down from their pedestals. They were the political +schoolmasters of Germany during a period of profound national +discouragement. They used history in order to stir their countrymen to +action, but "if the supreme aim of history is to discover truth and to +interpret the movement of humanity, they have no claim to a place in the +first class." Patriotism, as the Portuguese historian, Herculano da +Carvalho, said, is "a bad counsellor for historians"; albeit, few have +had the courage to discard patriotic considerations altogether, as was +the case with the Swiss Kopp, who wrote a history of his country "from +which Gessler and Tell disappeared," and in which "the familiar +anecdotes of Austrian tyranny and cruelty were dismissed as legends." + +Philosophic historians, who have endeavoured to bend facts into +conformity with some special theory of their own, would fare little +better than those who have been ardent politicians. Sainte-Beuve, after +reading Guizot's sweeping and lofty generalisations, declared that they +were far too logical to be true, and forthwith "took down from his +shelves a volume of De Retz to remind him how history was really made." +Second-or third-rate historians, such as Lamartine, who, according to +Dumas, "raised history to the level of the novel," or the vitriolic +Lanfrey, who was a mere pamphleteer, would, of course, be consigned--and +very rightly consigned--to utter oblivion. The notorious inaccuracy of +Thiers and the avowed hero-worship of Masson alike preclude their +admissibility into the select circle of trustworthy and veracious +historians. It is even questionable whether one of the most objectively +minded of French writers, the illustrious Taine, would gain admission. +His work, he himself declared, "was nothing but pure or applied +psychology," and psychology is apt to clash with the facts of history. +Scherer described Taine, somewhat unjustly, as "a pessimist in a +passion," whilst the critical and conscientious Aulard declared that his +work was "virtually useless for the purposes of history." Mr. Gooch +classes Sorel's work as "incomparably higher" than that of Taine. +Montalembert is an extreme case of a French historian who adopted +thoroughly unsound historical methods. Clearly, as Mr. Gooch says, "the +author of the famous battle-cry, 'We are the sons of the Crusades, and +we will never yield to the sons of Voltaire,' was not the man for +objective study." + +The fate of some of the most distinguished American and British +historians would be even more calamitous than that of their Continental +brethren. If the touchstone of impartiality were applied, Prescott might +perhaps pass unscathed through the trial. But few will deny that Motley +wrote his very attractive histories at a white heat of Republican and +anti-Catholic fervour. He, as also Bancroft, are classed by Mr. Gooch +amongst those who "made their histories the vehicles of political and +religious propaganda." Washington Irving's claim to rank in the first +class of historians may be dismissed on other grounds. "He had no taste +for research," and merely presented to the world "a poet's appreciation" +of historical events. + +But perhaps the two greatest sinners against the code of frigid +impartiality were Froude and Carlyle. Both were intensely convinced of +the truth of the gospel which they preached, and both were careless of +detail if they could strain the facts of history to support their +doctrines. The apotheosis of the strong man formed no part of Carlyle's +original philosophy. In 1830, he wrote: "Which was the greatest +benefactor, he who gained the battles of Cannae and Trasimene or the +nameless poor who first hammered out for himself an iron spade?" He +condemned Scott's historical writings: "Strange," he said, "that a man +should think he was writing the history of a nation while he is +describing the amours of a wanton young woman and a sulky booby blown up +with gunpowder." After having slighted biography in this +characteristically Carlylese utterance, he straightway set to work, with +splendid inconsistency, to base his philosophy of history mainly on the +biographies of men of the type of Cromwell and Frederic. + +The invective levelled against Froude by Freeman is now generally +recognised as exaggerated and unjust, but it would certainly appear, as +Mr. Gooch says, that Froude "never realised that the main duty of the +historian is neither eulogy nor criticism, but interpretation of the +complex processes and conflicting ideals which have built up the +chequered life of humanity." + +Yet when all is said that can be said on the necessity of insisting on +historical veracity, it has to be borne in mind that inaccuracy is not +the only pitfall which lies in the path of the expounder of truth. +History is not written merely for students and scholars. It ought to +instruct and enlighten the statesman. It should quicken the intelligence +of the masses. Whilst any tendency to distort facts, or to sway public +opinion by sensational writing of questionable veracity, cannot be too +strongly condemned, it is none the less true that it requires not merely +a touch of literary genius, but also a lively and receptive imagination +to tell a perfectly truthful tale in such a manner as to arrest the +attention, to excite the wayward imagination and to guide the thoughts +of the vast majority of those who will scan the finished work of the +historian. It is here that some of the best writers of history have +failed, Gardiner has written what is probably the best, and is certainly +the most dispassionate and impartial history of the Stuart period. "With +one exception," Mr. Gooch says, "Gardiner possessed all the tools of his +craft--an accurate mind, perfect impartiality, insight into character, +sympathy with ideas different from his own and from one another. The +exception was style. Had he possessed this talisman his noble work would +have been a popular classic. His pages are wholly lacking in grace and +distinction." The result is that Gardiner's really fine work has proved +an ineffectual instrument for historical education. The majority of +readers will continue to turn to the brilliant if relatively partial +pages of Macaulay. + +The case of Freeman, though different from that of Gardiner, for his +style, though lacking in grace and flexibility was vigorous, may serve +as another illustration of the same thesis. Freeman was a keen +politician, but he would never have for a moment entertained the thought +of departing by one iota from strict historical truth in order to +further any political cause in which he was interested. Mr. Gooch says, +"He regarded history as not only primarily, but almost exclusively, a +record of political events. Past politics, he used to say, were present +history." Why is it, therefore, that his works are little read, and that +they have exercised but slight influence on the opinions of the mass of +his countrymen? The answer is supplied by Mr. Gooch. Freeman ignored +organic evolution. "The world of ideas had no existence for him.... No +less philosophic historian has ever lived." For one man who, with +effort, has toiled through Freeman's ponderous but severely accurate +Norman and Sicilian histories, there are probably a hundred whose +imagination has been fired by Carlyle's rhapsody on the French +Revolution, or who have pored with interested delight over Froude's +account of the death of Cranmer. + +Much the same may be said of Creighton's intrinsically valuable but +somewhat colourless work. "He had no theories," Mr. Gooch says, "no +philosophy of history, no wish to prove or disprove anything." He took +historical facts as they came, and recorded them. "When events are +tedious," he wrote, "we must be tedious." + +The most meritorious, as also the most popular historians are probably +those of the didactic school. Of these, Seeley and Acton are notable +instances. Seeley always endeavoured to establish some principle which +would capture the attention of the student and might be of interest to +the statesman. He held that "history faded into mere literature when it +lost sight of its relation to practical politics." Acton, who brought +his encyclopaedic learning to bear on the defence of liberty in all its +forms, "believed that historical study was not merely the basis of all +real insight into the present, but a school of virtue and a guide to +life." + +Limitations of space preclude any adequate treatment of the illuminating +work done by Ranke, whom Mr. Gooch regards as the nearest approximation +the world has yet known to the "ideal historian"; by Lecky, who was +driven by the Home Rule conflict from the ranks of historians into those +of politicians; by Milman, whose style, in the opinion of Macaulay, was +wanting in grace and colour, but who was distinguished for his +"soundness of judgment and inexorable love of truth"; by Otfried Mueller, +Berard, Gilbert Murray, and numerous other classical scholars of divers +nationalities; by Fustel de Coulanges, the greatest of +nineteenth-century mediaevalists; by Mahan, whose writings have +exercised a marked influence on current politics, and who is thus an +instance of "an historian who has helped to make history as well as to +record it," and by a host of others. + +At the close of his book Mr. Gooch very truly points out that "the scope +of history has gradually widened till it has come to include every +aspect of the life of humanity." Many of the social and economic +subjects of which the historian has now to treat are of an extremely +controversial character. However high may be the ideal of truth, which +will be entertained, it would appear that the various forms in which the +facts of history may be stated, as also the conclusions to be drawn from +these facts, will tend to divergence rather than to uniformity of +treatment. It is not, therefore, probable that the partisan +historian--or, at all events, the historian who will be accused of +partisanship--will altogether disappear from literature. Neither, on the +whole, is his disappearance to be desired, for it would almost certainly +connote the composition of somewhat vapid and colourless histories. + +The verdicts which Mr. Gooch passes on the historians whose writings he +briefly summarises are eminently judicious, though it cannot be expected +that in all cases they will command universal assent. In a work which +ranges over so wide a field it is scarcely possible that some slips +should not have occurred. We may indicate one of these, which it would +be as well to correct in the event of any future editions being +published. On p. 435 the authorship of _Fieramosca_ and _Nicolo dei +Lapi_, which were written by Azeglio, is erroneously attributed to +Cesare Balbo. + +[Footnote 76: _History and Historians of the Nineteenth Century_. By +G.P. Gooch. London: Longmans and Co. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XI + +THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY[77] + +_"The Spectator," May 10, 1913_ + + +Shelley, himself a translator of one of the best known of the epigrams +of the Anthology, has borne emphatic testimony to the difficulties of +translation. "It were as wise," he said, "to cast a violet into a +crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and +odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations +of a poet." + +The task of rendering Greek into English verse is in some respects +specially difficult. In the first place, the translator has to deal with +a language remarkable for its unity and fluency, qualities which, +according to Curtius (_History of Greece_, i. 18), are the result of the +"delicately conceived law, according to which all Greek words must end +in vowels, or such consonants as give rise to no harshness when +followed by others, viz. _n_, _r_, and _s_." Then, again, the translator +must struggle with the difficulties arising from the fact that the +Greeks regarded condensation in speech as a fine art. Demetrius, or +whoever was the author of _De Elocutione_, said: "The first grace of +style is that which results from compression." The use of an inflected +language of course enabled the Greeks to carry this art to a far higher +degree of perfection than can be attained by any modern Europeans. Jebb, +for instance, takes twelve words--"Well hath he spoken for one who +giveth heed not to fall"--to express a sentiment which Sophocles +(_OEd. Tyr._ 616) is able to compress into four--[Greek: kalos elexen +eulaboumeno pesein]. Moreover, albeit under the stress of metrical and +linguistic necessity the translator must generally indulge in +paraphrase, let him beware lest in doing so he sacrifices that quality +in which the Greeks excelled, to wit, simplicity. Nietzsche said, with +great truth, "Die Griechen sind, wie das Genie, einfach; deshalb sind +sie die unsterblichen Lehrer." Further, the translator has at times so +to manipulate his material as to incorporate into his verse epithets and +figures of speech of surpassing grace and expressiveness, which do not +readily admit of transfiguration into any modern language; such, for +instance, as the "much-wooed white-armed Maiden Muse" ([Greek: +polymneste leukolene parthene Mousa]) of Empedocles; the "long countless +Time" ([Greek: makros kanarithmetos Chronos]), or "babbling Echo" +([Greek: athyrostomos Acho]) of Sophocles; the "son, the subject of many +prayers" ([Greek: polyeuchetos uios]) and countless other expressions of +the Homeric Hymns; the "blooming Love with his pinions of gold" ([Greek: +ho d' amphithales Eros chrysopteros henias]) of Aristophanes; "the +eagle, messenger of wide-ruling Zeus, the lord of Thunder" ([Greek: +aietos, euryanaktos angelos Zenos erispharagou]) of Bacchylides; or +mighty Pindar's "snowy Etna nursing the whole year's length her frozen +snow" ([Greek: niphoess' Aitna panetes chionos oxeias tithena]). + +In no branch of Greek literature are these difficulties more conspicuous +than in the Anthology, yet it is the Anthology that has from time +immemorial notably attracted the attention of translators. It is indeed +true that the compositions of Agathias, Palladas, Paulus Silentiarius, +and the rest of the poetic tribe who "like the dun nightingale" were +"insatiate of song" ([Greek: oia tis xoutha akorestos boas ... aedon]), +must, comparatively speaking, rank low amongst the priceless legacies +which Greece bequeathed to a grateful posterity. A considerable number +of the writers whose works are comprised in the Anthology lived during +the Alexandrian age. The artificiality of French society before the +French Revolution developed a taste for shallow versifying. Somewhat +similar symptoms characterised the decadent society of Alexandria, +albeit there were occasions when a nobler note was struck, as in the +splendid hymn of Cleanthes, written in the early part of the second +century B.C. Generally speaking, however, Professor Mahaffy's criticism +of the literature of this period (_Greek Life and Thought_, p. 264) +holds good. "We feel in most of these poems that it is no real lover +languishing for his mistress, but a pedant posing before a critical +public. If ever poet was consoled by his muse, it was he; he was far +prouder if Alexandria applauded the grace of his epigram than if it +whispered the success of his suit." How have these manifest defects been +condoned? Why is it that, in spite of much that is artificial and +commonplace, the poetry of the Anthology still exercises, and will +continue to exercise, an undying charm alike over the student, the +moralist, and the man of the world? The reasons are not far to seek. In +the first place, no productions of the Greek genius conform more wholly +to the Aristotelian canon that poetry should be an imitation of the +universal. Few of the poems in the Anthology depict any ephemeral phase +or fashion of opinion, like the Euphuism of the sixteenth century. All +appeal to emotions which endure for all time, and which, it has been +aptly said, are the true raw material of poetry. The patriot can still +feel his blood stirred by the ringing verse of Simonides. The moralist +can ponder over the vanity of human wishes, which is portrayed in +endless varieties of form, and which, even when the writer most exults +in the worship of youth ([Greek: polyeratos hebe]) or extols the +philosophy of Epicurus, is always tinged with a shade of profound +melancholy, inasmuch as every poet bids us bear in mind, to use the +beautiful metaphor of Keats, that the hand of Joy is "ever on his lips +bidding adieu," and that the "wave of death"--the [Greek: koinon kym' +Aida] of Pindar--persistently dogs the steps of all mankind. The curious +in literature will find in the Anthology much apparent confirmation of +the saying of Terence that nothing is ever said that has not been said +before. He will note that not only did the gloomy Palladas say that he +came naked into the world, and that naked he will depart, but that he +forestalled Shakespeare in describing the world as a stage ([Greek: +skene pas ho bios kai paignion]), whilst Philostratus, Meleager, and +Agathias implored their respective mistresses to drink to them only with +their eyes and to leave a kiss within the cup. The man of the world will +give Agathias credit for keen powers of observation when he notes that +the Greek poet said that gambling was a test of character ([Greek: +kubos angellei benthos echephrosyes][78]), whilst if for a moment he +would step outside the immediate choir of the recognised Anthologists, +he may smile when he reads that Menander thought it all very well to +"know oneself," but that it was in practice far more useful to know +other people ([Greek: chresimoteron gar en to gnothi tous allous]). + +Then, again, the pungent brevity of such of the poetry of the Anthology +as is epigrammatic is highly attractive. Much has at times been said as +to what constitutes an epigram, but the case for brevity has probably +never been better stated than by a witty Frenchwoman of the eighteenth +century. Madame de Boufflers wrote: + + Il faut dire en deux mots + Ce qu'on veut dire; + Les longs propos + Sont sots. + +In this respect, indeed, French can probably compete more successfully +than any other modern language with Greek. Democritus (410 B.C.) wrote, +[Greek: ho kosmos skene, ho bios parados; elthes, eides, apelthes]. The +French version of the same idea is in no way inferior to the Greek: + + On entre, on crie, + Et c'est la vie! + On crie, on sort, + Et c'est la mort! + +Lastly, although much of the sentiment expressed in the Anthology is +artificial, and although the language is at times offensive to modern +ears, the writers almost invariably exhibit that leading quality of the +Greek genius on which the late Professor Butcher was wont to insist so +strongly--its virile sanity. + +For these reasons the literary world may cordially welcome a further +addition to the abundant literature which already exists on the subject +of the Anthology. The principle adopted by Dr. Grundy is unquestionably +sound. He recognises that great Homer sometimes nods, that even men of +real poetic genius are not always at their best, and that mere +versifiers can at times, by a happy inspiration, embody an idea in +language superior to the general level of their poetic compositions. +English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries abounds +in cases in point. Lovelace, Montrose, and even, it may almost be said, +Wither and Herrick, live mainly in public estimation owing to the +composition of a small number of exquisitely felicitous verses which +have raised them for ever to thrones amongst the immortals. Dr. Grundy, +therefore, has very wisely ranged over the whole wide field of Anthology +translators, and has culled a flower here and a flower there. His method +in making his selections is as unimpeachable as his principle. He has +discarded all predilections based on the authority of names or on other +considerations, and has simply chosen those translations which he +himself likes best. + +Dr. Grundy, in his preface, expresses a hope that he will be pardoned +for "the human weakness" of having in many cases preferred his own +translations to those of others. That pardon will be readily extended to +him, for although in a brief review of this nature it is impossible to +quote his compositions at any length, it is certainly true that some at +least of his translations are probably better than any that have yet +been attempted. Dr. Grundy says in his preface that he "has abided in +most instances as closely as possible to the literal translations of the +originals." That is the principle on which all, or nearly all, +translators have proceeded, but the qualifying phrase--"as closely as +possible"--has admitted of wide divergence in their practice. In some +cases, indeed, it is possible to combine strict adherence to the +original text with graceful language and harmonious metre in the +translation, but in a large number of instances the translator has to +sacrifice one language or the other. He has to choose between being +blamed by the purist who will not admit of any expansion in the ideas of +the original writer, or being accused of turning the King's English to +base uses by the employment of doubtful rhythm or cacophonous +expressions. Is it necessary to decide between these two rival schools +and to condemn one of them? Assuredly not. Both have their merits. An +instance in point is the exquisite "Rosa Rosarum" of Dionysius, which +runs thus: + + [Greek: He ta rhoda, rhodoessan echeis charin; alla ti poleis, + sauten, e ta rhoda, ee synamphothera?] + +Mr. Pott, in his _Greek Love Songs and Epigrams_, adopted the triolet +metre, which is singularly suitable to the subject, in dealing with this +epigram, and gracefully translated thus: + + Which roses do you offer me, + Those on your cheeks, or those beside you? + Since both are passing fair to see, + Which roses do you offer me? + To give me both would you agree, + Or must I choose, and so divide you? + Which roses do you offer me, + Those on your cheeks or those beside you? + +Here the two lines of the original are expanded into eight lines in the +translation, and some fresh matter is introduced. Dr. Grundy imposes +more severe limitations on his muse. His translation, which is more +literal, but at the same time singularly felicitous, is as follows: + + Hail, thou who hast the roses, thou hast the rose's grace! + But sellest thou the roses, or e'en thine own fair face? + +Any one of literary taste will find it difficult to decide which of +these versions to prefer, and will impartially welcome both. + +It cannot, however, be doubted that strict adherence to Dr. Grundy's +principle occasionally leads to results which are open to criticism from +the point of view of English style. A case in point is his translation +of Plato's epitaph on a shipwrecked sailor: + + [Greek: Nauegou taphos eimi; ho d' antion esti georgou; + hos hali kai gaie xynos hupest' Aides.] + +Dr. Grundy's translation, which is as follows, adheres closely to the +original text, but somewhat grates on the English ear: + + A sailor's tomb am I; o'er there a yokel's tomb there be; + For Hades lies below the earth as well as 'neath the sea. + +Another instance is the translation of the epigram of Nicarchus on The +Lifeboat, in which the inexorable necessities of finding a rhyme to +"e'en Almighty Zeus" has compelled the translator to resort to the +colloquial and somewhat graceless phrase "in fact, the very deuce." + +But criticisms such as these may be levelled against well-nigh all +translators. They merely constitute a reason for holding that Shelley +was not far wrong in the opinion quoted above. Few translators have, +indeed, been able to work up to the standard of William Cory's +well-known version of Callimachus's epitaph on Heraclitus, which Dr. +Grundy rightly remarks is "one of the most beautiful in our language," +or to Dr. Symonds's translation of the epitaph on Prote, which "is +perhaps the finest extant version in English of any of the verses from +the Anthology." But many have contributed in a minor degree to render +these exquisite products of the Greek genius available to English +readers, and amongst them Dr. Grundy may fairly claim to occupy a +distinguished place. He says in his preface, with great truth, that the +poets of the Anthology are never wearisome. Neither is Dr. Grundy. + +[Footnote 77: _Ancient Gems in Modern Settings._ By G.B. Grundy. Oxford: +Blackwell, 5s] + +[Footnote 78: [Greek: Benthos echephrosynes]--the depth of a man's +common sense.] + + + + +XII + +LORD MILNER AND PARTY + +_"The Spectator," May 24, 1913_ + + +The preface which Lord Milner has written to his volume of speeches +constitutes not merely a general statement of his political views, but +is also in reality a chapter of autobiography extending over the past +sixteen years. If, as is to be feared, it does not help much towards the +immediate solution of the various problems which are treated, it is, +none the less, a very interesting record of the mental processes +undergone by an eminent politician, who combines in a high degree the +qualities of a man of action and those of a political thinker. We are +presented with the picture of a man of high intellectual gifts, great +moral courage, and unquestionable honesty of purpose, who has a gospel +to preach to his fellow countrymen--the gospel of Imperialism, or, in +other words, the methods which should be adopted to consolidate and to +maintain the integrity of the British Empire. In his missionary efforts +on behalf of his special creed Lord Milner has found that he has been +well-nigh throttled by the ligatures of the party system--a system which +he spurns and loathes, but from which he has found by experience that he +could by no means free himself. As a practical politician he had to +recognise that, in order to gain the ear of the public on the subjects +for which he cares, he was obliged to do some "vigorous swashbuckling in +the field of party politics" in connection with other subjects in which +he is relatively less interested. He resigned himself, albeit +reluctantly, to his fate, holding apparently not only that the end +justified the means, but also that without the adoption of those means +there could not be the smallest prospect of the end being attained. The +difficulty in which Lord Milner has found himself is probably felt more +keenly by those who, like himself, have been behind the scenes of +government, and have thus been able fully to realise the difficulties of +dealing with public questions on their own merits to the exclusion of +all considerations based on party advantages or disadvantages, than by +others who have had no such experience. Nevertheless, the dilemma must +in one form or another have presented itself to every thinking man who +is not wholly carried away by prejudice. Most thinking men, however, +unless they are prepared to pass their political lives in a state of +dreamy idealism, come rapidly to the conclusion that to seek for any +thoroughly satisfactory practical solution of this dilemma is as +fruitless as to search for the philosopher's stone. They see that the +party system is the natural outcome of the system of representative +government, that it of necessity connotes a certain amount of party +discipline, and that if that discipline be altogether shattered, +political chaos would ensue. They, therefore, join that party with +which, on the whole, they are most in agreement, and they do so knowing +full well that they will almost certainly at times be associated with +measures which do not fully command their sympathies. What is it that +makes such men, for instance, as Lord Morley and Mr. Arthur Balfour not +merely strong political partisans, but also stern party disciplinarians? +It would be absurd to suppose that they consider a monopoly of political +wisdom to be possessed by the party to which each belongs, or that they +fail to see that every public question presents at least two sides. The +inference is that, recognising the necessity of association with others, +they are prepared to waive all minor objections in order to advance the +main lines of the policy to which each respectively adheres. + +The plan which has always commended itself to those who see clearly the +evils of the party system, but fail to realise the even greater evils to +which its non-existence would open the door, has been to combine in one +administration a number of men possessed of sufficient patriotism and +disinterestedness to work together for the common good, in spite of the +fact that they differ widely, if not on the objects to be attained, at +all events on the methods of attaining them. Experience has shown that +this plan is wholly impracticable. It does not take sufficient account +of the fact that, as the immortal Mr. Squeers or some other of Dickens's +characters said, there is a great deal of human nature in man,[79] and +that one of man's most cherished characteristics--notably if he is an +Englishman--is combativeness. In the early days of the party system even +so hardened and positive a parliamentarian as Walpole thought that +effect might be given to some such project, but when it came to the +actual formation of a hybrid Ministry, Mr. Grant Robertson, the +historian of the Hanoverian period, says that it "vanished into thin +air," and that, as Pulteney remarked about the celebrated Sinking Fund +plan, the "proposal to make England patriotic, pure and independent of +Crown and Ministerial corruption, ended in some little thing for curing +the itch." Neither have somewhat similar attempts which have been made +since Walpole's time succeeded in abating the rancour of party strife. +Moreover, it cannot be said that the attempt to treat female suffrage as +a non-party question has so far yielded any very satisfactory or +encouraging results. + +Lord Milner, however, does not live in Utopia. He does not look forward +to the possibility of abolishing the party system. "It is not," he says, +"a new party that is wanted." But he thinks--and he is unquestionably +right in thinking--"that the number of men profoundly interested in +public affairs, and anxious to discharge their full duty of citizens who +are in revolt against the rigidity and insincerity of our present party +system, is very considerable and steadily increasing." He wishes people +in this category to be organised with a view to encouraging a national +as opposed to a party spirit, and he holds that "with a little +organisation they could play the umpire between the two parties and make +the unscrupulous pursuit of mere party advantage an unprofitable game." + +The idea is not novel, but it is certainly statesmanlike. The general +principle which Lord Milner advocates will probably commend itself to +thousands of his countrymen, and most of all to those whose education +and experience are a warrant for the value of their political opinions. +But how far is the scheme practicable? The answer to this question is +that there is one essential preliminary condition necessary to bring it +within the domain of practical politics; that condition is that a +sufficient number of leading politicians should be thoroughly imbued +with the virtue of compromise. They must erase the word "thorough" from +their political vocabulary. Each must recognise that whilst, to use Lord +Milner's expression, he himself holds firmly to a "creed" on some +special question, he will have to co-operate with others who hold with +equally sincere conviction to a more or less antagonistic creed, and +that this co-operation cannot be secured by mere assertion and still +less by vituperation, but only by calm discussion and mutual +concessions. Marie Antoinette, who was very courageous and very unwise, +said during the most acute crisis of the Revolution, "Better to die than +allow ourselves to be saved by Lafayette and the Constitutionalists." +That is an example of the party spirit _in extremis_, and when it is +adopted it is that spirit which causes the shipwreck of many a scheme +which might, with more moderation and conciliation, be brought safely +into port. In order to carry out Lord Milner's plan any such spirit must +be wholly cast aside. Politicians--and none more than many of those with +whom Lord Milner is associated--must act on the principle which +Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Henry V.: + + There is some soul of goodness in things evil + Would men observingly distil it out. + +They must be prepared to recognise that, whatever be their personal +convictions, there may be some "soul of goodness" in views diametrically +opposed to their own, and, moreover, they must not be scared by what +Emerson called that "hobgoblin of little minds"--the charge of +inconsistency. + +It cannot be said that just at present the omens are very favourable in +the direction of indicating any widespread prevalence amongst active +politicians of the spirit of compromise. The reception given to Lord +Curzon's very reasonable proposal that army affairs should be treated as +a non-party question is apparently scouted by Radical politicians. +Neither does there appear to be the least disposition to accept the +statesmanlike suggestion that in order to avoid the risk of civil war in +Ulster, with its almost inevitable consequence, viz. that the loyalty +of the army will be strained to the utmost, the Home Rule Bill should +not be submitted to the King for his assent until after another general +election. On the other hand, the "Die-hard" spirit, which led to the +disastrous rejection of the Budget of 1909, and was with difficulty +prevented from rejecting the Parliament Bill, is still prevalent amongst +many Unionists, whilst although a somewhat greater latitudinarian spirit +prevails than heretofore, the influence of extreme Unionist politicians +is still sufficiently powerful to prevent full acceptance of the fact +that the only sound and wise Conservative principle is to neglect minor +differences of opinion and to rally together all who are generally +favourable to the Conservative cause. + +Moreover, it must be admitted that Lord Milner is asking a great deal of +party politicians. He points out, in connection with his special +"creed," that the object of Mr. Chamberlain's original proposal was +"undoubtedly laudable. It was prompted by motives of Imperial +patriotism." There are probably few people who would be inclined to +challenge the accuracy of this statement. He alludes to the +unquestionable fact that it is well for every community from time to +time to review the traditional foundations of its policy, and he holds +that, if the controversy which Mr. Chamberlain evoked "had been +conducted on anything like rational lines, the result, whether +favourable or unfavourable to the proposals themselves, might have been +of great public advantage." All these fair hopes, Lord Milner thinks, +were wrecked by the spirit of party. "The new issue raised by Mr. +Chamberlain was sucked into the vortex of our local party struggle." +Lord Milner, therefore, wishes to lift Imperialism out of the party bog +and to treat the subject on broad national lines. + +Here, again, the proposal is undoubtedly statesmanlike, but is it +practicable? There can, it is to be feared, be but one answer to that +question. For the time being, at all events, Lord Milner's proposal is +quite impracticable. Whatever be the merits or demerits of the proposals +initiated by Mr. Chamberlain, one thing appears tolerably certain, and +that is that so long as Tariff Reform and Imperial policy are intimately +connected together there is not, so far as can at present be judged, the +most remote chance of Imperialism emerging from the arena of party +strife. It is true, and is, moreover, a subject for national +congratulation, that there has been of late years a steady growth of +Imperialist ideas. The day is probably past for ever when Ministers, +whether Liberal or Conservative, could speak of the colonies as a +burden, and look forward with equanimity, if not with actual pleasure, +to their complete severance from the Mother country. Few, if any, +pronounced anti-Imperialists exist, but a wide difference of opinion +prevails as to the method for giving effect to an Imperial policy. These +differences do not depend solely, as is often erroneously supposed, on a +rigid adherence by Free Traders to what are now called Cobdenite +principles. There are many Free Traders who would be disposed to make a +considerable sacrifice of their opinions on economic principles, if they +thought that the policy proposed by Mr. Chamberlain would really achieve +the object he unquestionably had in view, viz. that of tightening the +bonds between the Mother country and the colonies. But that is what they +deny. They rely mainly on a common ancestry, common traditions, a common +language, and a common religion to cement those bonds; and, moreover, +they hold, to quote the words of an able article published two years ago +in the _Round Table_: "The chief reason for the sentiment of Imperial +unity is the conscious or unconscious belief of the people of the Empire +in their own political system.... There is in the British Empire a unity +which it is often difficult to discern amid the conflict of racial +nationalities, provincial politics, and geographical differences. It is +a unity which is based upon the conviction amongst the British +self-governing communities that the political system of the Empire is +indispensable to their own progress, and that to allow it to collapse +would be fatal alike to their happiness and their self-respect." They +therefore demur to granting special economic concessions which--unless, +indeed, a policy of perfect Free Trade throughout the Empire could be +adopted--they think, whatever might be the immediate result, would +eventually cause endless friction and tend to weaken rather than +strengthen the Imperial connection. + +Further, it is to be observed that whatever exacerbation has been caused +by party exaggeration and misrepresentation, it is more than doubtful +whether Lord Milner's special accusation against the party system can be +made good, for it must be remembered that Mr. Chamberlain's original +programme was strongly opposed by many who, on mere party grounds, were +earnestly desirous to accord it a hearty welcome. Rather would it be +true to say that, looking back on past events, it is amazing that any +one of political experience could have imagined for one moment that a +proposal which touched the opinions and interests of almost every +individual in the United Kingdom, and which was wholly at variance with +the views heretofore held by Mr. Chamberlain himself, could have been +kept outside the whirlpool of party politics. "A great statesman," it +has been truly said, "must have two qualities; the first is prudence, +the second imprudence." Cavour has often been held up as the example of +an eminent man who combined, in his own person, these apparently +paradoxical qualities. Accepting the aphorism as true, it has to be +applied with the corollary that the main point is to know when to allow +imprudence to predominate over prudence. It is difficult to resist the +conclusion that when Mr. Chamberlain launched his programme, which Lord +Milner admits "burst like a bombshell in the camp of his friends," he +overweighted the balance on the imprudent side. The heat with which the +controversy has been conducted, and which Lord Milner very rightly +deplores, must be attributed mainly to this cause rather than to any +inherent and, to a great extent, unavoidable defects in the party +system. + +But in spite of all these difficulties and objections, Lord Milner and +those who hold with him may take heart of grace in so far as their +campaign against the extravagances of the party system is concerned. It +may well be that no special organisation will enable the non-party +partisans to occupy the position of umpires, but the steady pressure of +public opinion and the stern exposure of the abuses of the party system +will probably in time mitigate existing evils, and will possibly in +some degree purge other issues, besides those connected with foreign +affairs, from the rancour of the party spirit. As a contribution to this +end Lord Milner's utterances are to be heartily welcomed. + +[Footnote 79: This statement is incorrect. The saying quoted above +occurs in Mr. J.R. Lowell's address at the memorial meeting to Dean +Stanley, Dec. 13, 1881. He introduces it as "a proverbial phrase which +we have in America and which, I believe, we carried from England."] + + + + +XIII + +THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA[80] + +_"The Spectator," May 31, 1913_ + + +In the very interesting account which Mrs. Devereux Roy has given of the +present condition of Algeria, she says that France "is now about to +embark upon a radical change of policy in regard to her African +colonies." If it be thought presumptuous for a foreigner who has no +local knowledge of Algerian affairs to make certain suggestions as to +the direction which those changes might profitably assume, an apology +must be found in Mrs. Roy's very true remark that England "can no more +afford to be indifferent to the relations of France with her Moslem +subjects than she can disregard the trend of our policy in Egypt and +India." It is, indeed, manifest that somewhat drastic reforms of a +liberal character will have to be undertaken in Algeria. The French +Government have adopted the only policy which is worthy of a civilised +nation. They have educated the Algerians, albeit Mrs. Roy tells us that +grants for educational purposes have been doled out "with a very sparing +hand." They must bear the consequences of the generous policy which they +have pursued. They must recognise, as Macaulay said years ago, that it +is impossible to impart knowledge without stimulating ambition. Reforms +are, therefore, imposed by the necessities of the situation. + +These reforms may be classified under three heads, namely, fiscal, +judicial, and political. The order in which changes under each head +should be undertaken would appear to be a matter of vital importance. If +responsible French statesmen make a mistake in this matter--if, to use +the language of proverbial philosophy, they put the cart before the +horse--they may not improbably lay the seeds of very great trouble for +their countrymen in the future. Prince Bismarck once said: "Mistakes +committed in statesmanship are not always punished at once, but they +always do harm in the end. The logic of history is a more exact and a +more exacting accountant than is the strictest national auditing +department." + +It should never be forgotten that, however much local circumstances may +differ, there are certain broad features which always exist wherever +the European--be he French, English, German, or of any other +nationality--is brought in contact with the Oriental--be he Algerian, +Indian, or Egyptian. When the former once steps outside the influence +acquired by the power of the sword, and seeks for any common ground of +understanding with the subject race, he finds that he is, by the +elementary facts of the case, debarred from using all those moral +influences which, in more homogeneous countries, bind society together. +These are a common religion, a common language, common traditions, +and--save in very rare instances--intermarriage and really intimate +social relations. What therefore remains? Practically nothing but the +bond of material interest, tempered by as much sympathy as it is +possible in the difficult circumstances of the case to bring into play. +But on this poor material--for it must be admitted that it is poor +material--experience has shown that a wise statesmanship can build a +political edifice, not indeed on such assured foundations as prevail in +more homogeneous societies, but nevertheless of a character which will +give some solid guarantees of stability, and which will, in any case, +minimise the risk that the sword, which the European would fain leave in +the scabbard, shall be constantly flaunted before the eyes both of the +subject and the governing races, the latter of whom, on grounds alike +of policy and humanity, deprecate its use save in cases of extreme +necessity. + +In the long course of our history many mistakes have been made in +dealing with subject races, and the line of conduct pursued at various +times has often been very erratic. Nevertheless, it would be true to say +that, broadly speaking, British policy has been persistently directed +towards an endeavour to strengthen political bonds through the medium of +attention to material interests. The recent history of Egypt is a case +in point. + +No one who was well acquainted with the facts could at any time have +thought that it would be possible to create in the minds of the +Egyptians a feeling of devotion towards England which might in some +degree take the place of patriotism. Neither, in spite of the relatively +higher degree of social elasticity possessed by the French, is it at all +probable that any such feeling towards France will be created in +Algeria. But it was thought that by careful attention to the material +interests of the people it might eventually be possible to bring into +existence a conservative class who, albeit animated by no great love for +their foreign rulers, would be sufficiently contented to prevent their +becoming easily the prey either of the Nationalist demagogue, who was +sure sooner or later to spring into existence, or that of some barbarous +religious fanatic, such as the Mahdi, or, finally, that of some wily +politician, such as the Sultan Abdul Hamid who would, for his own +purposes, fan the flame of religious and racial hatred. For many years +after the British occupation of Egypt began, the efforts of the British +administrators in that country were unceasingly directed towards the +attainment of that object. The methods adopted, which it should be +observed were in the main carried out before any large sums were spent +on education, were the relief of taxation, the abolition of fiscal +inequality and of the _corvee_, the improvement of irrigation, and last, +but not least, a variety of measures having for their object the +maintenance of a peasant proprietary class. The results which have been +attained fully justify the adoption of this policy, which has probably +never been fully understood on the Continent of Europe, even if--which +is very doubtful--it has been understood in England. What, in fact, has +happened in Egypt? Nationalists have enjoyed an excess of licence in a +free press. The Sultan has preached pan-Islamism. The usual Oriental +intrigue has been rife. British politicians and a section of the British +press, being very imperfectly informed as to the situation, have +occasionally dealt with Egyptian affairs in a manner which, to say the +least, was indiscreet. But all has been of no avail. In spite of some +outward appearances to the contrary, the whole Nationalist movement in +Egypt has been a mere splutter on the surface. It never extended deep +down in the social ranks. More than this. When a very well-intentioned +but rather rash attempt was made to advance too rapidly in a liberal +direction, the inevitable reaction, which was to have been foreseen, +took place. Not merely Europeans but also Egyptians cried out loudly for +a halt, and, with the appointment of Lord Kitchener, they got what they +wanted. The case would have been very different if the Nationalist, the +religious fanatic, or the scheming politician, in dealing with some +controversial point or incident of ephemeral interest, had been able to +appeal to a mass of deep-seated discontent due to general causes and to +the existence of substantial grievances. In that case the Nationalist +movement would have been less artificial. It would have extended not +merely to the surface but to the core of society. It would have +possessed a real rather than, as has been shown to be the case, a +spurious vitality. The recent history of Egypt, therefore, is merely an +illustration of the general lesson taught by universal history. That +lesson is that the best, and indeed the only, way to combat +successfully the proceedings of the demagogue or the agitator is to +limit his field of action by the removal of any real grievances which, +if still existent, he would be able to use as a lever to awaken the +blind wrath of Demos. + +How far can principles somewhat analogous to these be applied in +Algeria? + +In the first place, it is abundantly clear that, from many points of +view, the French Government have successfully carried out the policy of +ministering to the material wants of the native population. Public works +of great utility have been constructed. Means of locomotion have been +improved. Modern agricultural methods have been introduced. Famine has +been rendered impossible. Mutual benefit societies have been +established. The creation of economic habits has been encouraged. In all +these matters the French have certainly nothing to learn from us. +Possibly, indeed, we may have something to learn from them. +Nevertheless, when it is asked whether the French Government is likely +to reap the political fruits which it might have been hoped would be the +result of their efforts, whether they are in a fair way towards creating +a conservative spirit which would be adverse to any radical change, and +whether, in reliance on that spirit, they are in a position to move +boldly forward in the direction of that liberal reform, the demand for +which has naturally sprung into existence from their educational policy, +it is at once clear that they are heavily weighted by the policy +originated some seventy years ago by Marshal Bugeaud, under which the +interests of the native population were made subservient to those of the +colonists, numbering about three-quarters of a million, of whom, Mrs. +Roy tells us, less than one-half are of French origin. It may have been +wise and necessary to initiate that policy. It may be wise and necessary +to continue it with certain modifications. But it is obvious that the +adoption of Marshal Bugeaud's plan has necessarily led to the creation +of substantial grievances, which are important alike from the point of +view of sentiment and from that of material interests. It appears now +that there is some probability that this policy will be modified in at +least one very important respect, namely, by the removal of the fiscal +inequality which at present exists between the natives and the +colonists. The former are at present heavily taxed; the latter pay +relatively very little. It may be suggested that it would be worth the +while of the French Government to consider whether this change should +not occupy the first place in the programme of reform. The present +system is obviously indefensible on general grounds, whilst its +continuance, until its abolition results from the strong native +pressure which will certainly ensue after the adoption of any drastic +measure of political reform, would appear to be undesirable. It would +probably be wise and statesmanlike not to await this pressure, but to +let the concession be the spontaneous act of the French Government and +nation rather than give the appearance of its having been wrung +reluctantly from France by the insistence of the native population and +its representatives. + +Next, there is the question of judicial reform. Mrs. Roy tells us that, +under what is called the _Code de l'Indigenat_, "a native can be +arrested and imprisoned practically without trial at the will of the +_administrateur_ for his district." It would require full local +knowledge to treat this question adequately, but it would obviously be +desirable that the French Government should go as far as possible in the +direction of providing that all judicial matters should be settled by +judicial officers who would be independent of the executive and, for the +most part, irremovable. Some local friction between the executive and +the judicial authorities is probably to be expected. That cannot be +helped. It might perhaps be mitigated by a very careful choice of the +officials in each case. + +In the third place, there is the question of political reform. M. +Philippe Millet, who has published an interesting article on this +subject in the April number of _The Nineteenth Century_, is of course +quite right in saying that political reform is the "key to every other +change." Once give the natives of Algeria effective political strength, +and the reforms will be forced upon the Government. But, as has been +already stated, it would perhaps be wiser and more statesmanlike that +these changes should be conceded spontaneously by the French Government, +and that then, after a reasonable interval, the bulk of the political +reforms should follow. + +A distinction, however, has to be made between the various +representative institutions which already exist. The _Conseil Superieur_ +and the _Delegations Financieres_ have very extensive powers, including +that of rejecting or modifying the Budget. At present these bodies may +be said, for all practical purposes, to be merely representative of the +colonists. It would certainly appear wise eventually to allow the +natives both a larger numerical strength on the _Conseil_ and on the +_Delegations_, and also, by rearranging the franchise, to endeavour to +secure a more real representation of native interests. It must, however, +be borne in mind that the difficulties of securing any real +representation of the best interests in the country will almost +certainly be very great, if not altogether insuperable. In all +probability the loquacious, semi-educated native, who has in him the +makings of an agitator, will, under any system, naturally float to the +top, whilst the really representative man will sink to the bottom. It +would perhaps, therefore, be as well not to move in too great a hurry in +this matter, and, when any move is made, that the advance should be of a +very cautious and tentative nature. + +The _Conseils Generaux_, which are provincial and municipal bodies, +stand on a very different footing. Here it may be safe to move forward +in the path of reform with greater boldness and with less delay. But +whatever is done it will probably be found that real progress in the +direction of self-government will depend more on the attitude of the +French officials who are associated with the Councils than on any system +which can be devised on paper. It may be assumed that the French +officials in Algeria present the usual characteristics of their class, +that is to say, that they are courageous, intelligent, zealous, and +thoroughly honest. Also it may probably be assumed that they are +somewhat inelastic, somewhat unduly wedded to bureaucratic ideas, and +more especially that they are possessed with the very natural idea that +the main end and object of their lives is to secure the efficiency of +the administration. Now if self-government is to be a success, they will +have to modify to some extent their ideas as to the supreme necessity of +efficiency. That is to say, they will have to recognise that it is +politically wiser to put up with an imperfect reform carried with native +consent, rather than to insist on some more perfect measure executed in +the teeth of strong--albeit often unreasonable--native opposition. +English experience has shown that this is a very hard lesson for +officials to learn. Nevertheless, the task of inculcating general +principles of this nature is not altogether impossible. It depends +mainly on the impulse which is given from above. To entrust the +execution of a policy of reform in Algeria to a man of +ultra-bureaucratic tendencies, who is hostile to reform of any kind, +would, of course, be to court failure. On the other hand, to select an +extreme radical visionary, who will probably not recognise the +difference between East and West, would be scarcely less disastrous. +What, in fact, is required is a man of somewhat exceptional qualities. +He must be strong--that is to say, he must impress the natives with the +conviction that, albeit an advocate of liberal ideas, he is firmly +resolved to consent to nothing which is likely to be detrimental to the +true interests of France. He must also be sufficiently strong to keep +his own officials in hand and to make them conform to his policy, whilst +at the same time he must be sufficiently tactful to win their confidence +and to prevent their being banded together against him. The latter is a +point of very special importance, for in a country like Algeria no +government, however powerful, will be able to carry out a really +beneficial programme of reform if the organised strength of the +bureaucracy--backed up, as would probably be the case, by the whole of +the European unofficial community--is thrown into bitter and +irreconcilable opposition. The task, it may be repeated, is a difficult +one. Nevertheless, amongst the many men of very high ability in the +French service there must assuredly be some who would be able to +undertake it with a fair chance of success. + +One further remark on this very interesting subject may be made. M. +Millet, in the article to which allusion has already been made, says, +"The Algerian natives will look more and more to France as their natural +protector against the colonists." It will, it is to be hoped, not be +thought over-presumptuous to sound a note of warning against trusting +too much to this argument. That for the present the natives should look +to France rather than to the colonists is natural enough. It is +manifestly their interest to do so. But it may be doubted whether they +will be "more and more" inspired by such sentiments as time goes on. +There is an Arabic proverb to the effect that "all Christians are of one +tribe." That is the spirit which in reality inspires the whole Moslem +world. It is illustrated by the author of that very remarkable work, +_Turkey in Europe_, in an amusing apologue. Let once some +semi-religious, semi-patriotic leader arise, who will play skilfully on +the passions of the masses, and it will be somewhat surprising if the +distinction which now exists will long survive. All Frenchmen, those in +France equally with those in Algeria, will then, it may confidently be +expected, be speedily confounded in one general anathema. + +[Footnote 80: _Aspects of Algeria_. By Mrs. Devereux Roy. London: Dent +and Son. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XIV + +THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE[81] + +_"The Spectator," June 14, 1913_ + + +Although proverbial philosophy warns us never to prophesy unless we +know, experience has shown that political prophets have often made +singularly correct forecasts of the future. Lord Chesterfield, and at a +much earlier period Marshal Vauban, foretold the French Revolution, +whilst the impending ruin of the Ottoman Empire has formed the theme of +numerous prophecies made by close observers of contemporaneous events +from the days of Horace Walpole downwards. "It is of no use," Napoleon +wrote to the Directory, "to try to maintain the Turkish Empire; we shall +witness its fall in our time." During the War of Greek Independence the +Duke of Wellington believed that the end of Turkey was at hand. Where +the prophets have for the most part failed is not so much in making a +mistaken estimate of the effects likely to be produced by the causes +which they saw were acting on the body politic, as in not allowing +sufficient time for the operation of those causes. Political evolution +in its early stages is generally very slow. It is only after long +internal travail that it moves with vertiginous rapidity. De Tocqueville +cast a remarkably accurate horoscope of the course which would be run by +the Second Empire, but it took some seventeen years to bring about +results which he thought would be accomplished in a much shorter period. +It has been reserved for the present generation to witness the +fulfilment of prophecy in the case of European Turkey. The blindness +displayed by Turkish statesmen to the lessons taught by history, their +complete sterility in the domain of political thought, and their +inability to adapt themselves and the institutions of their country to +the growing requirements of the age, might almost lead an historical +student to suppose that they were bent on committing political suicide. +The combined diplomatists of Europe, Lord Salisbury sorrowfully remarked +in 1877, "all tried to save Turkey," but she scorned salvation and +persisted in a course of action which could lead to but one result. That +result has now been attained. The dismemberment of European Turkey, +begun so long ago as the Peace of Karlovitz in 1699, is now almost +complete. "Modern history," Lord Acton said, "begins under the stress of +the Ottoman conquest." Whatever troubles the future may have in store, +Europe has at last thrown off the Ottoman incubus. A new chapter in +modern history has thus been opened. Henceforth, if Ottoman power is to +survive at all, it must be in Asia, albeit the conflicting jealousies of +the European Powers allow for the time being the maintenance of an +Asiatic outpost on European soil. + +It is as yet too early to expect any complete or philosophic account of +this stupendous occurrence, which the future historian will rank with +the unification first of Italy and later of Germany, as one of the most +epoch-making events of the later nineteenth and early twentieth +centuries. Notably, there are two subjects which require much further +elucidation before the final verdict of contemporaries or posterity can +be passed upon them. In the first place, the causes which have led to +the military humiliation of a race which, whatever may be its defects, +has been noted in history for its martial virility, require to be +differentiated. Was the collapse of the Turkish army due merely to +incapacity and mismanagement on the part of the commanders, aided by +the corruption which has eaten like a canker into the whole Ottoman +system of government and administration? Or must the causes be sought +deeper, and, if so, was it the palsy of an unbridled and malevolent +despotism which in itself produced the result, or did the sudden +downfall of the despot, by the removal of a time-honoured, if unworthy, +symbol of government, abstract the corner-stone from the tottering +political edifice, and thus, by disarranging the whole administrative +gear of the Empire at a critical moment, render the catastrophe +inevitable? Further information is required before a matured opinion on +this point, which possesses more than a mere academic importance, can be +formed. + +There is yet another subject which, if only from a biographical point of +view, is of great interest. Two untoward circumstances have caused +Turkish domination in Europe to survive, and to resist the pressure of +the civilisation by which it was surrounded, but which seemed at one +time doomed to thunder ineffectually at its gates. One was excessive +jealousy--in Solomon's words, "as cruel as the grave"--amongst European +States, which would not permit of any political advantage being gained +by a rival nation. The other, and, as subsequent events proved, more +potent consideration, was the fratricidal jealousy which the +populations of the Balkan Peninsula mutually entertained towards each +other. The maintenance and encouragement of mutual suspicions was, in +either case, sedulously fostered by Turkish Sultans, the last of whom, +more especially, acted throughout his inglorious career in the firm +belief that mere mediaeval diplomatic trickery could be made to take the +place of statesmanship. He must have chuckled when he joyously put his +hand to the firman creating a Bulgarian Exarch, who was forthwith +excommunicated by the Greek Patriarch, with the result, as Mr. Miller +tells us, that "peasants killed each other in the name of contending +ecclesiastical establishments." + +In the early days of the last century the poet Rhigas, who was to Greece +what Arndt was to Germany and Rouget de Lisle to Revolutionary France, +appealed to all Balkan Christians to rise on behalf of the liberties of +Greece. But the hour had not yet come for any such unity to be cemented. +At that time, and for many years afterwards, Europe was scarcely +conscious of the fact that there existed "a long-forgotten, silent +nationality" which, after a lapse of nearly five centuries, would again +spring into existence and bear a leading part in the liberation of the +Balkan populations. But the rise of Bulgaria, far from bringing unity in +its wake, appeared at first only to exacerbate not merely the mercurial +Greek, proud of the intellectual and political primacy which he had +heretofore enjoyed, but also the brother Slav, with whom differences +arose which necessitated an appeal to the arbitrament of arms. + +Although the thunder of the guns of Kirk Kilisse and Luele Burgas +proclaimed to Europe, in the words of the English Prime Minister, that +"the map of Eastern Europe had to be recast," it is none the less true +that the cause of the Turk was doomed from the moment when Balkan +discord ceased, and when the Greek, the Bulgarian, the Serb, and the +Montenegrin agreed to sink their differences and to act together against +the common enemy. Who was it who accomplished this miracle? Mr. Miller +says, "the authorship of this marvellous work, hitherto the despair of +statesmen, is uncertain, but it has been ascribed chiefly to M. +Venezelos." All, therefore, that can now be said is that it was the +brain, or possibly brains, of some master-workers which gave liberty to +the Balkan populations as surely as it was the brain of Cavour which +united Italy.[82] + +Although these and possibly other points will, without doubt, eventually +receive more ample treatment at the hands of some future historian, Mr. +Miller has performed a most useful service in affording a guide by the +aid of which the historical student can find his way through the +labyrinthine maze of Balkan politics. He begins his story about the time +when Napoleon had appeared like a comet in the political firmament, and +by his erratic movements had caused all the statesmen of Europe to +diverge temporarily from their normal and conventional orbits, one +result being that the British Admiral Duckworth wandered in a somewhat +aimless fashion through the Dardanelles to Constantinople, and had very +little idea of what to do when he got there. Mr. Miller reminds us of +events of great importance in their day, but now almost wholly +forgotten: of how the ancient Republic of Ragusa, which had existed for +eleven centuries and which had earned the title of the "South Slavonic +Athens," was crushed out of existence under the iron heel of Marmont, +who forthwith proceeded to make some good roads and to vaccinate the +Dalmatians; of how Napoleon tried to partition the Balkans, but found, +with all his political and administrative genius, that he was face to +face with an "insoluble problem"; of how that rough man of genius, +Mahmoud II., hanged the Greek Patriarch from the gate of his palace, but +between the interludes of massacres and executions, brought his "energy +and indomitable force of will" to bear on the introduction of reforms; +of how the Venetian Count Capo d'Istria, who was eventually +assassinated, produced a local revolt by a well-intentioned attempt to +amend the primitive ethics of the Mainote Greeks--a tale which is not +without its warning if ever the time comes for dealing with a cognate +question amongst the wild tribes of Albania; and of how, amidst the +ever-shifting vicissitudes of Eastern politics, the Tsar of Russia, who +had heretofore posed as the "protector" of Roumans and Serbs against +their sovereign, sent his fleet to the Bosphorus in 1833 in order to +"protect" the sovereign against his rebellious vassal, Mehemet Ali, and +exacted a reward for his services in the shape of the leonine +arrangement signed at Hunkiar-Iskelesi. And so Mr. Miller carries us on +from massacre to massacre, from murder to murder, and from one +bewildering treaty to another, all of which, however, present this +feature of uniformity, that the Turk, signing of his own free will, but +with an unwilling mind--[Greek: hekon aekonti ge thymo]--made on each +occasion either some new concession to the ever-rising tide of Christian +demand, or ratified the loss of a province which had been forcibly torn +from his flank. Finally, we get to the period when the tragedy connected +with the name of Queen Draga acted like an electric shock on Europe, +and when the accession of King Peter, "who had translated Mill _On +Liberty_," to the blood-stained Servian throne, revealed to an +astonished world that the processes of Byzantinism survived to the +present day. Five years later followed the assumption by Prince +Ferdinand of the title of "Tsar of the Bulgarians," and it then only +required the occurrence of some opportunity and the appearance on the +scene of some Balkan Cavour to bring the struggle of centuries to the +final issue of a death-grapple between the followers of aggressive +Christianity and those of stagnant Islamism. + +The whole tale is at once dramatic and dreary, dramatic because it is +occasionally illumined by acts of real heroism, such as the gallant +defence of Plevna by Ghazi Osman, a graphic account of which was written +by an adventurous young Englishman (Mr. W.V. Herbert) who served in the +Turkish army, or again as the conduct of the Cretan Abbot Maneses who, +in 1866, rather than surrender to the Turks, "put a match to the +powder-magazine, thus uniting defenders and assailants in one common +hecatomb." It is dreary because the mind turns with horror and disgust +from the endless record of government by massacre, in which, it is to be +observed, the crime of bloodguiltiness can by no means be laid +exclusively at the door of the dominant race, whilst Mr. Miller's +sombre but perfectly true remark that "assassination or abdication, +execution or exile, has been the normal fate of Balkan rulers," throws a +lurid light on the whole state of Balkan society. + +But how does the work of diplomacy, and especially of British diplomacy, +stand revealed by the light of the history of the past century? The +point is one of importance, all the more so because there is a tendency +on the part of some British politicians to mistrust diplomatists, to +think that, either from incapacity or design, they serve as agents to +stimulate war rather than as peace-makers, and to hold that a more +minute interference by the House of Commons in the details of diplomatic +negotiations would be useful and beneficial. It would be impossible +within the limits of an ordinary newspaper article to deal adequately +with this question. This much, however, may be said--that, even taking +the most unfavourable view of the results achieved by diplomacy, there +is nothing whatever in Mr. Miller's history to engender the belief that +better results would have been obtained by shifting the responsibility +to a greater degree from the shoulders of the executive to those of +Parliament. The evidence indeed rather points to an opposite conclusion. +For instance, Mr. Miller informs us that inopportune action taken in +England was one of the causes which contributed to the outbreak of +hostilities between Greece and Turkey in 1897. "An address from a +hundred British members of Parliament encouraged the masses, ignorant of +the true condition of British politics, to count upon the help of Great +Britain." + +It is, however, quite true that a moralist, if he were so minded, might +in Mr. Miller's pages find abundant material for a series of homilies on +the vanity of human wishes, and especially of diplomatic human wishes. +But would he on that account be right in pronouncing a wholesale +condemnation of diplomacy? Assuredly not. Rather, the conclusion to be +drawn from a review of past history is that a small number of very +well-informed and experienced diplomatists showed remarkable foresight +in perceiving the future drift of events. So early as 1837 Lord +Palmerston supported Milosh Obrenovitch II., the ruler of Servia, +against Turkey, as he had "come to the conclusion that to strengthen the +small Christian States of the Near East was the true policy of both +Turkey and Great Britain." Similar views were held at a later period by +Sir William White, and were eventually adopted by the Government of Lord +Beaconsfield. An equal amount of foresight was displayed by some Russian +diplomatists. In Lord Morley's _Life of Gladstone_ (vol. i. p. 479) a +very remarkable letter is given, which was addressed to the Emperor +Nicholas by Baron Brunnow, just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, +in which he advocated peace on the ground that "war would not turn to +Russian advantage.... The Ottoman Empire may be transformed into +independent States, which for us will only become either burdensome +clients or hostile neighbours." It may be that, as is now very generally +thought, the Crimean War was a mistake, and that, in the classic words +of Lord Salisbury, we "put our money on the wrong horse." But it is none +the less true that had it not been for the Crimean War and the policy +subsequently adopted by Lord Beaconsfield's government, the independence +of the Balkan States would never have been achieved, and the Russians +would now be in possession of Constantinople. It is quite permissible to +argue that, had they been left unopposed, British interests would not +have suffered; but even supposing this very debatable proposition to be +true, it must be regarded, from an historical point of view, as at best +an _ex post facto_ argument. British diplomacy has to represent British +public opinion, and during almost the whole period of which Mr. Miller's +history treats, a cardinal article of British political faith was that, +in the interests of Great Britain, Constantinople should not be allowed +to fall into Russian hands. The occupation of Egypt in 1882 without +doubt introduced a new and very important element into the discussion. +The most serious as also the least excusable mistake in British +Near-Eastern policy of recent years has been the occupation of Cyprus, +which burthened us with a perfectly useless possession, and inflicted a +serious blow on our prestige. Sir Edward Grey's recent diplomatic +success is in a large measure due to the fact that all the Powers +concerned were convinced of British disinterestedness. + +[Footnote 81: _The Ottoman Empire_, 1801-1913. By W. Miller. Cambridge: +At the University Press. 7s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 82: This article was, of course, written before the war which +subsequently broke out between the Bulgarians and their former allies, +the Greeks and the Servians.] + + + + +XV + +WELLINGTONIANA[83] + +_"The Spectator," June 21, 1913_ + + +In dealing with Lady Shelley's sprightly and discursive comments upon +the current events of her day, we have to transport ourselves back into +a society which, though not very remote in point of time, has now so +completely passed away that it is difficult fully to realise its +feelings, opinions, and aspirations. It was a time when a learned +divine, writing in the _Church and State Gazette_, had proved entirely +to his own satisfaction, and apparently also to that of Lady Shelley, +that a "remarkable fulfilment of that hitherto incomprehensible prophecy +in the Revelations" had taken place, inasmuch as Napoleon Bonaparte was +most assuredly "the seventh head of the Beast." It was a time when +Londoners rode in the Green Park instead of Rotten Row, and when, in +spite of the admiration expressed for the talents of that rising young +politician, Mr. Robert Peel, it was impossible to deny that "his birth +ran strongly against him"--a consideration which elicited from Lady +Shelley the profound remark that it is "strange to search into the +recesses of the human mind." + +Lady Shelley herself seems to have been rather a _femme incomprise_. She +had lived much on the Continent, and appreciated the greater deference +paid to a charming and accomplished woman in Viennese and Parisian +society, compared with the boorishness of Englishmen who would not +"waste their time" in paying pretty compliments to ladies which "could +be repaid by a smile." She records her impressions in French, a language +in which she was thoroughly proficient. "Je sais," she says, "qu'en +Angleterre il ne faut pas s'attendre a cultiver son esprit; qu'il faut, +pour etre contente a Londres, se resoudre a se plaire avec la +mediocrite; a entendre tous les jours repeter les memes banalites et a +s'abaisser autant qu'on le peut au niveau des femmelettes avec +lesquelles l'on vit, et qui, pour plaire, affectent plus de frivolite +qu'elles n'ont reellement. Le plaisir de causer nous est defendu." +Nevertheless, however much she may have mentally appreciated the +solitude of a crowd, she determined to adapt herself to her social +surroundings. "C'est un sacrifice," she says, "que je fais a mon Dieu et +a mon devoir comme Anglaise." Impelled, therefore, alike by piety and +patriotism, she cast aside all ideas of leading an eremitic life, +plunged into the vortex of the social world, and mixed with all the +great men and women of the day. Of these the most notable was the Duke +of Wellington. + +Lady Shelley certainly possessed one quality which eminently fitted her +to play the part of Boswell to the Duke. The worship of her hero was +without the least mixture of alloy. She had a pheasant, which the Duke +had killed, stuffed, and "added to other souvenirs which ornamented her +dressing-room"; and she records, with manifest pride, that "amongst her +other treasures" was a chair on which he sat upon the first occasion of +his dining with her husband and herself in 1814. It was well to have +that pheasant stuffed, for apparently the Duke, like his great +antagonist, did not shoot many pheasants. He was not only "a very wild +shot," but also a very bad shot. Napoleon, Mr. Oman tells us,[84] on one +occasion "lodged some pellets in Massena's left eye while letting fly at +a pheasant," and then without the least hesitation accused "the faithful +Berthier" of having fired the shot, an accusation which was at once +confirmed by the mendacious but courtierlike victim of the accident. +Wellington also, Lady Shelley records, "after wounding a retriever early +in the day and later on peppering the keeper's gaiters, inadvertently +sprinkled the bare arms of an old woman who chanced to be washing +clothes at her cottage window." Lady Shelley, who "was attracted by her +screams," promptly told the widow that "it ought to be the proudest +moment of her life. She had had the distinction of being shot by the +great Duke of Wellington," but the eminently practical instinct of the +great Duke at once whispered to him that something more than the moral +satisfaction to be derived from this reflection was required, so he very +wisely "slipped a golden coin into her trembling hand." + +For many years Lady Shelley lived on very friendly and intimate terms +with the Duke, who appears to have confided to her many things about +which he would perhaps have acted more wisely if he had held his tongue. +When he went on an important diplomatic mission to Paris in 1822, she +requested him to buy her a blouse--a commission which he faithfully +executed. All went well until 1848. Then a terrific explosion occurred. +It is no longer "My dearest Lady! Mind you bring the blouse! Ever yours +most affectionately, Wellington," but "My dear Lady Shelley," who is +addressed by "Her Ladyship's most obedient humble servant, Wellington," +and soundly rated for her conduct. The reason for this abrupt and +volcanic change was that owing to an indiscretion on the part of Lady +Shelley a very important letter about the defenceless state of the +country, which the Duke had addressed to Sir John Burgoyne, then the +head of the Engineer Department at the Horse Guards, got into the +newspapers. The Duke's wrath boiled over, and was expressed in terms +which, albeit the reproaches were just, showed but little chivalrous +consideration towards a peccant but very contrite woman. He told her +that he "had much to do besides defending himself from the consequences +of the meddling gossip of the ladies of modern times," and he asked +indignantly, "What do Sir John Burgoyne and his family and your Ladyship +and others--talking of old friendship--say to the share which each of +you have had in this transaction, which, in my opinion, is disgraceful +to the times in which we live?" What Sir John Burgoyne and his family +might very reasonably have said in answer to this formidable +interrogatory is that, although no one can defend the conduct of +Delilah, it was certainly most unwise of Samson to trust her with his +secret. It is consolatory to know that, under the influence of Sir John +Shelley's tact and good-humour, a treaty of peace was eventually +concluded. Sir John happened to meet the Duke at a party. +"'Good-evening, Duke,' said Sir John, in his most winning manner. 'Do +you know, it has been said, by some one who must have been present, that +the cackling of geese once saved Rome. I have been thinking that perhaps +the cackling of my old Goose may yet save England!' This wholly +unexpected sally proved too much for the Duke, who burst out into a +hearty laugh. 'By G----d, Shelley!' said he, 'you are right: give me +your honest hand.'" The Duke then returned to Apsley House and "penned a +playful letter to Lady Shelley." + +It is not to be expected that much of real historical interest can be +extracted from a Diary of this sort. It may, however, be noted that when +the _Bellerophon_ reached the English coast "it was only by coercion +that the Ministers prevented George IV. from receiving Bonaparte. The +King wanted to hold him as a captive." Moreover, Brougham, who was in a +position to know, said, "There can be little doubt that if Bonaparte had +got to London, the Whig Opposition were ready to use him as their trump +card to overturn the Government." + +The main interest in the book, however, lies in the light which it +throws on the Duke's inner life and in the characteristic _obiter dicta_ +which he occasionally let fall. Of these, none is more characteristic +than the remark he made on meeting his former love, Miss Catherine +Pakenham, after an absence of eight years in India. He wrote to her, +making a proposal of marriage, but Miss Pakenham told him "that before +any engagement was made he must see her again; as she had grown old, had +lost all her good looks, and was a very different person to the girl he +had loved in former years." The story, which has been frequently +repeated, that Miss Pakenham was marked with the smallpox, is +untrue,[85] but, without doubt, during the Duke's absence, she had a +good deal changed. The Duke himself certainly thought so, for, on first +meeting her again, he whispered to his brother, "She has grown d----d +ugly, by Jove!" Nevertheless he married her, being moved to do so, not +apparently from any very deep feelings of affection, but because his +leading passion was a profound regard for truth and loyalty which led +him to admire and appreciate the straightforwardness of Miss Pakenham's +conduct. Lady Shelley exultingly exclaims, "Well might she be proud and +happy, and glory in such a husband." That the Duchess was proud of her +husband is certain. Whether she was altogether happy is more doubtful. + +One of the stock anecdotes about the Duke of Wellington is that when on +one occasion some one asked him whether he was surprised at Waterloo, he +replied, "No. I was not surprised then, but I am now." We are indebted +to Lady Shelley for letting us know what the Duke really thought on this +much-debated question. In a letter written to her on March 22, 1820, he +stated, with his usual downright common sense, all that there is to be +said on this subject. "Supposing I _was_ surprised; I won the battle; +and what could you have had more, even if I had not been surprised?" + +It is known on the authority of his niece, Lady Burghersh, that the Duke +"never read poetry," but his "real love of music," to which Lady Shelley +alludes, will perhaps come as a surprise to many. Mr. Fortescue, +however,[86] has told us that in his youth the Duke learnt to play the +violin, and that he only abandoned it, when he was about thirty years +old, "because he judged it unseemly or perhaps ill-sounding for a +General to be a fiddler." The Duke is not the only great soldier who has +been a musical performer. Marshal St. Cyr used to play the violin "in +the quiet moments of a campaign," and Sir Hope Grant was a very fair +performer on the violoncello. + +It was characteristic of the Duke to keep the fact of his being about to +fight a duel with Lord Winchelsea carefully concealed from all his +friends. When it was over, he walked into Lady Shelley's room while she +was at breakfast and said, "Well, what do you think of a gentleman who +has been fighting a duel?" + +It appears that during the last years of his life the Duke's great +companion-in-arms, Bluecher, was subject to some strange hallucinations. +The following affords a fitting counterpart to those "fears of the +brave" which Pope attributed to the dying Marlborough. On March 17, +1819, Lady Shelley made the following entry in her diary: + + We laughed at poor Bluecher's strange hallucination, which, though + ludicrous, is very sad. He fancies himself with child by a + Frenchman; and deplores that such an event should have happened to + him in his old age! He does not so much mind being with child, but + cannot reconcile himself to the thought that he--of all people in + the world--should be destined to give birth to a _Frenchman_! On + every other subject Bluecher is said to be quite rational. This + peculiar form of madness shows the bent of his mind; so that while + we laugh our hearts reproach us. The Duke of Wellington assures me + that he knows this to be a fact. + +Finally, attention may be drawn to a singular and interesting letter +from Sir Walter Scott to Shelley, giving some advice which it may be +presumed the young poet did not take to heart. He was "cautioned against +enthusiasm, which, while it argued an excellent disposition and a +feeling heart, requires to be watched and restrained, though not +repressed." + +[Footnote 83: _The Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley_ (1818-1873). London: +John Murray. 10s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 84: _History of the Peninsular War_, vol. iii. p. 209.] + +[Footnote 85: Maxwell's _Life of Wellington_, vol. i. p. 78] + +[Footnote 86: _British Statesmen of the Great War_, p. 241.] + + + + +XVI + +BURMA[87] + +_"The Spectator," June 28, 1913_ + + +The early history of the British connection with Burma presents all the +features uniformly to be found in the growth of British Imperialism. +These are, first, reluctance to move, coupled with fear of the results +of expansion, ending finally with a cession to the irresistible tendency +to expand; secondly, vagueness of purpose as to what should be done with +a new and somewhat unwelcome acquisition; thirdly, a tardy recognition +of its value, with the result that what was first an inclination to make +the best of a bad job only gradually transforms itself into a feeling of +satisfaction and congratulation that, after all, the unconscious +founders of the British Empire, here as elsewhere, blundered more or +less unawares into the adoption of a sound and far-seeing Imperial +policy. + +In 1825, Lord Amherst, in one of those "fits of absence" which the +dictum of Sir John Seeley has rendered famous, took possession of some +of the maritime provinces of Burma, and in doing so lost three thousand +one hundred and fifteen men, of whom only a hundred and fifty were +killed in action. Then the customary fit of doubt and despondency +supervened. It was not until four years after the conclusion of peace +that a British Resident was sent to the Court of Ava in the vain hope +that he would be able to negotiate the retrocession of the province of +Tenasserim, as "the Directors of the East India Company looked upon this +territory as of no value to them." For a quarter of a century peace was +preserved, for there ruled at Ava a prince "who was too clear-sighted to +attempt again to measure arms with the British troops." Anon he was +succeeded by a new king--the Pagan Prince--"who cared for nothing but +mains of cocks, games, and other infantile amusements," and who, after +the manner of Oriental despots, inaugurated his reign by putting to +death his two brothers and all their households. "There were several +hundreds of them." It is not surprising that under a ruler addicted to +such practices the British sailors who frequented the Burmese ports +should have been subjected to maltreatment. Their complaints reached the +ears of the iron-fisted and acquisitive Lord Dalhousie, who himself +went to Rangoon in 1852, and forthwith "decided on the immediate attack +of Prome and Pegu." M. Dautremer speaks in flattering terms of "the +tenacity and persistence of purpose which make the strength and glory of +British policy." He might truthfully have added another characteristic +feature which that policy at times displays, to wit, sluggishness. It +was not until sixteen years after Lord Dalhousie's annexation of Lower +Burma that the English bethought themselves of improving their newly +acquired province by the construction of a railway, and it was not till +1877 that the first line from Rangoon to Prome--a distance of only one +hundred and sixty-one miles--was opened. During all this time King +Mindon ruled in native Burma. He "gave abundant alms to monks," and, +moreover, which was perhaps more to the purpose, he was wise enough to +maintain relations with Great Britain which were "quite cordial." +Eventually the Nemesis which appears to attend on all semi-civilised and +moribund States when they are brought in contact with a vigorous and +aggressive civilisation appeared in the person of the "Sapaya-lat," the +"middle princess," who induced her feeble husband, King Thibaw, to carry +out massacres on a scale which, even in Burma, had been heretofore +unprecedented. Then the British on the other side of the frontier began +to murmur and "to consider whether it was possible to endure a neighbour +who was so cruel and so unpopular." All doubts as to whether the limits +of endurance had or had not been reached were removed when the +impecunious and spendthrift king not only imposed a very unjust fine of +some L150,000 on the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, but also had the +extreme folly to "throw himself into the arms of France"--a scheme which +was at once communicated by M. Jules Ferry to Lord Lyons, the British +Ambassador in Paris. Then war with Burma was declared, and after some +tedious operations, which involved the sacrifice of many valuable lives, +and which extended over three years, the country was "completely +pacified" by 1889, and Lord Dufferin added the title of "Ava" to the +Marquisate which was conferred on him. + +In 1852, when Lord Dalhousie annexed Lower Burma, Rangoon was "merely a +fishing village." It is now a flourishing commercial town of some +300,000 inhabitants. In 1910-11 the imports into Burmese ports, +including coast trade, amounted to L13,600,000. The exports, in spite of +a duty on rice which is of a nature rather to shock orthodox economists, +were nearly L23,000,000 in value. The revenue in 1910 was about +L7,391,000, of which about L2,590,000 was on Imperial and the balance on +local account. Burma is in the happy position of being in a normal state +of surplus, and is thus able to contribute annually a sum of about +L2,500,000 to the Indian exchequer, a sum which those who are specially +interested in Burmese prosperity regard as excessive, whilst it is +apparently regarded as inadequate by some of those who look only to the +interests of the Indian taxpayers. + +The account which M. Dautremer, who was for long French Consul at +Rangoon, has given of the present condition of Burma is preceded by an +introduction from the pen of Sir George Scott, who can speak with +unquestionable authority on Burmese affairs. It is clear that neither +author has allowed himself in any way to be biassed by national +proclivities, for whilst the Frenchman compares British and French +administrative methods in a manner which is very much to the detriment +of the latter, the Englishman, on the other hand, launches the most +fiery denunciations against those of his countrymen who are responsible +for Indian policy. Their want of enterprise is characterised by the +appalling polysyllabic adjective "hebetudinous," which it is perhaps as +well to explain means obtuse or dull, and they are told that they "are +infected with the Babu spirit, and cannot see beyond their immediate +horizon." + +M. Dautremer thinks that it is somewhat narrow-minded of the Englishman +to inflict on himself the torture of wearing cloth or flannel clothes in +order that he may not be taken for a _chi-chi_ or half-caste, who very +wisely dresses in white. He expostulates against the social tyranny +which obliges him to pay visits between twelve and two "in such a +climate and with such a temperature," and he gently satirises the +isolation of the different layers of English society--civilian, +military, and subordinate services--in words which call to mind the +striking account given by the immortal Mr. Jingle of the dockyard +society of Chatham and Rochester. It is, however, consolatory to learn +that all classes combined in giving a hearty welcome to the genial and +sympathetic Frenchman who was living in their midst. Save on these minor +points, M. Dautremer has, for the most part, nothing but praise to +accord. He thinks that "all the British administrative officers in Burma +are well-educated and capable men, who know the country of which they +are put in charge, and are fluent in the language." He writhes under the +highly centralised and bureaucratic system adopted by his own +countrymen. He commends the English practice under which "the Home +Government never interferes in the management of internal affairs," and +it is earnestly to be hoped that the commendation is deserved, albeit of +late years there have occasionally been some ominous signs of a tendency +to govern India rather too much in detail from London. Speaking of the +rapid development of Burmese trade, M. Dautremer says, in words which +are manifestly intended to convey a criticism of his own Government, +"This is an example of the use of colonies to a nation which knows how +to put a proper value on them and to profit by them." + +The warm appreciation which M. Dautremer displays of the best parts of +the English administrative system enhances his claims for respectful +attention whenever he indulges in criticism. He finds two rather weak +points in the administration. In the first place, he attributes the +large falling-off in the export of teak, _inter alia_, to "the increase +in Government duties and the much more rigid rules for extraction," and +he adds that the Government, which is itself a large dealer in timber, +has "by its action created a monopoly which has raised prices to the +highest possible limit." The subject is one which would appear to +require attention. The primary business of any Government is not to +trade but to administer, and, as invariably happens, the violation of a +sound economic principle of this sort is certain sooner or later to +carry its own punishment with it. In the second place, the Forest +Department, which is of very special importance in Burma, is a good deal +crippled by the "want of energy and want of industry which are +unfortunately common in the subordinate grades. The reason for this +state of things is to be found in the fact that the pay and prospects +are not good enough to attract really capable men." In many quarters, +notably in Central Africa, British Treasury officials have yet to learn +that, from every point of view, it is quite as great a mistake to employ +underpaid administrative agents as it would be for an employer of labour +to proceed on the principle that low wages necessarily connote cheap +production. + +Sir George Scott in his introduction strikes a very different note from +that sounded by M. Dautremer. He alleges that the wealthy province of +Burma, which M. Dautremer tells us is not unseldom called "the milch-cow +of India," is starved, that its financial policy has been directed by +"cautious, nothing-venture, mole-horizon people," who have hid their +talent in a napkin; that "everything seems expressly designed to drive +out the capital" of which the country stands so much in need; that not +nearly enough has been done in the way of expenditure on public works, +notably on roads and railways, and that when these latter have been +constructed, they have sometimes been in the wrong directions. He cavils +at M. Dautremer's description of Burma as "a model possession," and +holds that "as a matter of bitter fact, the administrative view is that +of the parish beadle, and the enterprise that of the country-carrier +with a light cart instead of a motor-van." + +It would require greater local knowledge than any possessed by the +writer of the present article either to endorse or to reject these +formidable accusations, although it may be said that the violence of Sir +George Scott's invective is not very convincing, but rather raises a +strong suspicion that he has overstated his case. Nothing is more +difficult, either for a private individual or for a State financier, +than to decide the question of when to be bold and when cautious in the +matter of capital outlay. It is quite possible to push to an extreme the +commonplace, albeit attractive, argument that large expenditure will be +amply remunerative, or even if not directly remunerative, highly +beneficial "in the long run." Although this plea is often--indeed, +perhaps generally--valid, it is none the less true that the run which is +foreshadowed is at times so long as to make the taxpayer, who has to +bear the present cost, gasp for breath before the promised goal is +reached. Pericles, by laying out huge sums on the public buildings of +Athens, earned the undying gratitude of artistic posterity. Whether his +action was in the true interests of his Athenian contemporaries is +perhaps rather more doubtful. The recent history of Argentina is an +instance of a country in which, as subsequent events have proved, the +plea for lavish capital expenditure was perfectly justifiable, but in +which, nevertheless, the over-haste shown in incurring heavy liabilities +led to much temporary inconvenience and even disaster. But on the whole +it may be said that where all the general conditions are favourable, and +point conclusively to the possibility and probability of fairly rapid +economic development, a bold financial policy may and should be adopted, +even although it may not be easy to prove beforehand by very exact +calculations that any special project under consideration will be +directly remunerative. Egyptian finance is a case in point. At a time +when the country was in the throes of bankruptcy, a fresh loan of +L1,000,000 was, to the dismay of the conventional financiers, +contracted, the proceeds of which were spent on irrigation works. So +also the construction of the Assouan dam, which cost nearly double the +sum originally estimated, was taken in hand at a moment when a +liability of a wholly unknown amount on account of the war in the Soudan +was hanging over the head of the Egyptian Treasury. In both of these +cases subsequent events amply justified the financial audacity which had +been shown. In the case of Burma there appears to be no doubt as to the +wealth of the province or its capacity for further development. In view +of all the circumstances of the case the amount of twelve millions, +which is apparently all that has been spent on railway construction +since 1869, would certainly appear to be rather a niggardly sum. In +spite, therefore, of the very unnecessary warmth with which Sir George +Scott has urged his views, it is to be hoped that his plea for the +adoption of a somewhat bolder financial policy in the direction of +expenditure on railways, and still more on feeder roads, will receive +from the India Office, with whom the matter really rests, the attention +which it would certainly appear to deserve. The case of public +buildings, of which Burma apparently stands much in need, is different. +They cannot, strictly speaking, be said to be remunerative, and should +almost, if not quite, invariably be paid for out of revenue. + +[Footnote 87: _Burma under British Rule_. By Joseph Dautremer. London: +T. Fisher Unwin. 15s.] + + + + +XVII + +A PSEUDO-HERO OF THE REVOLUTION[88] + +_"The Spectator," July 5, 1913_ + + +If it be a fact, as Carlyle said, that "History is the essence of +innumerable biographies," it is very necessary that the biographies from +which that essence is extracted should be true. It was probably a +profound want of confidence in the accuracy of biographical writing that +led Horace Walpole to beg for "anything but history, for history must be +false." Modern industry and research, ferreting in the less frequented +bypaths of history, have exposed many fictions, and have often led to +some strikingly paradoxical conclusions. They have substituted for +Cambronne's apocryphal saying at Waterloo the blunt sarcasm of the Duke +of Wellington that there were a number of ladies at Brussels who were +termed "la vieille garde," and of whom it was said "elles ne meurent +pas et se rendent toujours." They have led one eminent historian to +apologise for the polygamous tendencies of Henry VIII.; another to +advance the startling proposition that the "amazing" but, as the world +has heretofore held, infamous Emperor Heliogabalus was a great religious +reformer, who was in advance of his times; a third to present Lucrezia +Borgia to the world as a much-maligned and very virtuous woman; and a +fourth to tell us that the "ever pusillanimous" Barere, as he is called +by M. Louis Madelin, was "persistently vilified and deliberately +misunderstood." Biographical research has, moreover, destroyed many +picturesque legends, with some of which posterity cannot part without a +pang of regret. We are reluctant to believe that William Tell was a +mythological marksman and Gessler a wholly impossible bailiff. +Nevertheless the inexorable laws of evidence demand that this sacrifice +should be made on the altar of historical truth. M. Gastine has now +ruthlessly quashed out another picturesque legend. Tallien--the +"bristly, fox-haired" Tallien of Carlyle's historical rhapsody--and La +Cabarrus--the fair Spanish Proserpine whom, "Pluto-like, he gathered at +Bordeaux"--have so far floated down the tide of history as individuals +who, like Byron's Corsair, were + + Linked with one virtue and a thousand crimes. + +Of the crimes there could, indeed, never have been any doubt, but +posterity took but little heed of them, for they were amply condoned by +the single virtue. That virtue was, indeed, of a transcendent character, +for it was nothing less than the delivery of the French nation from the +Dahomey-like rule of that Robespierre who deluged France in blood, and +who, albeit in Fouche's words he was "terribly sincere," at the same +time "never in his life cared for any one but himself and never forgave +an offence." Moreover, the act of delivery was associated with an +episode eminently calculated to appeal to human sentiment and sympathy. +It was thought that the love of a fair woman whose life was endangered +had nerved the lover and the patriot to perform an heroic act at the +imminent risk of his own life. Hence the hero became "Le Lion Amoureux," +and the heroine was canonised as "Notre Dame de Thermidor." + +M. Gastine has now torn this legend to shreds. Under his pitiless +analysis of the facts, nothing is left but the story of a contemptible +adventurer, who was "a robber, a murderer, and a poltroon," mated to a +grasping, heartless courtesan. Both were alike infamous. The ignoble +careers of both from the cradle to the grave do not, in reality, present +a single redeeming feature. + +Madame Tallien was the daughter of Francois Cabarrus, a wealthy +Spaniard who was the banker of the Spanish Court. The great influence +which she unquestionably exerted over her contemporaries was wholly due +to her astounding physical beauty. Her intellectual equipment was meagre +in the extreme. At one period of her life she courted the society of +Madame de Stael and other intellectuals, but Princess Helene Ligne said +of her that she "had more jargon than wit." As regards her physical +attractions, however, no dissentient voice has ever been raised. "Her +beauty," the Duchess d'Abrantes says in her memoirs, "of which the +sculptors of antiquity give us but an incomplete idea, had a charm not +met with in the types of Greece and Rome." Every man who approached her +appears to have become her victim. Lacretelle, who himself worshipped at +her shrine, says, "She appeared to most of us as the Spirit of Clemency +incarnate in the loveliest of human forms." At a very early age she +married a young French nobleman, the Marquis de Fontenay, from whom she +was speedily divorced. It is not known for what offence she was arrested +and imprisoned. Probably the mere fact that she was a marquise was +sufficient to entangle her in the meshes of the revolutionary net. It is +certain, however, that whilst lying under sentence of death in the +prison at Bordeaux she attracted the attention of Tallien, the son of +the Marquis of Bercy's butler and _ci-devant_ lawyer's clerk, who had +blossomed into "a Terrorist of the first water." He obtained her release +and she became his mistress. She took advantage of the equivocal but +influential position which she had attained to engage in a vile traffic. +She and her paramour amassed a huge fortune by accepting money from the +unfortunate prisoners who were threatened with the fate which she had so +narrowly escaped, and to which she was again to be exposed. The venal +lenity shown by Tallien to aristocrats rendered him an object of +suspicion, whilst the marked tendency displayed by Robespierre to +mistrust and, finally, to immolate his coadjutors was an ominous +indication of the probable course of future events. Robespierre had +already destroyed Vergniaud by means of Hebert, Hebert by means of +Danton, and Danton by means of Billaud. As a preliminary step to the +destruction of Tallien, he caused his mistress to be arrested, probably +with a view to seeing what evidence against her paramour could be +extracted before she was herself guillotined. + +From this point in the narrative history is merged into legend. The +legend would have us believe that on the 7th Thermidor the "Citoyenne +Fontenay" sent a dagger to the "Citoyen Tallien," accompanied by a +letter in which she said that she had dreamt that Robespierre was no +more, and that the gates of her prison had been flung open. "Alas!" she +added, "thanks to your signal cowardice there will soon be no one left +in France capable of bringing such a dream to pass." Tallien besought +Robespierre to show mercy, but "the Incorruptible was inflexible." Then +the "Lion Amoureux" roared, being, as the legend relates, stricken to +the heart at the appalling danger to which his beloved mistress was +exposed or, as his detractors put the case, being in deadly fear that +the untoward revelations of the Citoyenne might cost him his own head. +The next act in this Aeschylean drama is described by the believers in +the legend in the following words: "Tallien drew Theresia's dagger from +his breast and flashed it in the sunlight as though to nerve himself for +the desperate business that confronted him. 'This,' he cried +passionately, 'will be my final argument,' and looking about him to make +sure he was alone he raised the blade to his lips and kissed it." + +The result, it is alleged, was that Tallien provoked the episode of the +9th Thermidor (July 22, 1794). The few faltering sentences which +Robespierre wished to utter were never spoken. He was "choked by the +blood of Danton," and hurried off to the guillotine which awaited him on +the morrow. + +History, which in this instance is not legendary, relates that on the +death of the tyrant a wild shout of exultation was raised by the joyous +people who had for so long wandered in the Valley of the Shadow of +Death. To whom, they asked, did they owe their liberty? What was more +natural than to assume that it was to the brave Tallien and to the +loving woman who armed him to strike a blow for the freedom of France? +Tallien and his mistress became, therefore, the idols of the French +people. The Chancellor Pasquier relates their appearance at a theatre: + + The enthusiasm and the applause were indescribable. The occupants + of the boxes, the people in the pit, men and women alike, stood up + on their chairs to look at him. It seemed as though they would + never weary of gazing at him. He was young, rather good-looking, + and his manner was calm and serene. Madame Tallien was at his side + and shared his triumph. In her case also everything had been + forgiven and forgotten. Similar scenes were enacted all through the + autumn of that year. Never was any service, however great, rewarded + by gratitude so lively and so touching. + +It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to +summarise the arguments by which M. Gastine seeks to destroy this myth. +Allusion may, however, be made to two points of special importance. The +first is that neither Tallien nor the lovely Spaniard languishing in +the dungeon of La Force had much to do with the episode of the 9th +Thermidor. "Tallien was a mere super, a mere puppet that had to be +galvanised into action up to the very last." The man who really +organised the movement and persuaded his coadjutors that they were +engaged in a life and death struggle with Robespierre was he who, as +every reader of revolutionary history knows, was busily engaged in +pulling the strings behind the scenes during the whole of this chaotic +period. It was the man whose iron nerve and subtle brain enabled him, in +spite of a secular course of betrayals, to keep his head on his +shoulders, and finally to escape the clutches of Napoleon, who, as Lord +Rosebery tells us,[89] always deeply regretted that he had not had him +"hanged or shot." It was Fouche. + +In the second place, there is conclusive evidence to show that, to use +the ordinary slang expression of the present day, the celebrated dagger +letter was "faked." When Robespierre fell, Tallien never gave a thought +to his mistress. He still trembled for his own life. "His sole aim was +to make away with Robespierre's papers." It was only on the 12th +Thermidor--that is to say, two days after Robespierre's mangled head had +been sheared off by the guillotine--that, noting the trend of public +opinion, and appreciating the capital which might be made out of the +current myth, he hurried off to La Force and there concocted with his +mistress the famous letter which he, of course, antedated. + +The subsequent careers of Tallien and his wife--for he married La +Cabarrus in December 1794--are merely characterised by a number of +unedifying details. The hero of this sordid tale passed through many +vicissitudes. He went with Napoleon to Egypt. He was, on his return +voyage, taken prisoner by an English cruiser. On his arrival in London +he was well received by Fox and the Whigs--a fact which cannot be said +to redound much to the credit either of the Whig party or its leader. He +gambled on the Stock Exchange, and at one time "blossomed out as a +dealer in soap, candles, and cotton bonnets." After passing through an +unhonoured old age, he died in great poverty in 1820. The heroine became +intimate with Josephine during Napoleon's absence in Egypt, was +subsequently divorced from Tallien, and later, after passing through a +phase when she was the mistress of the banker Ouvrard, married the +Prince of Caraman-Chimay. Her conduct during the latter years of her +life appears to have been irreproachable. She died in 1835. + +[Footnote 88: _The Life of Madame Tallien._ By L. Gastine. Translated +from the French by J. Lewis May. London: John Lane. 12s. 6d. net.] + +[Footnote 89: _The Last Phase_, p. 203.] + + + + +XVIII + +THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICS + +_"The Spectator," July 5, 1913_ + + +There was a time, not so very long ago, when the humanists enjoyed a +practical monopoly in the domain of English education, and, by doing so, +exercised a considerable, perhaps even a predominant, influence not only +over the social life but also over the policy, both external and +internal, adopted by their countrymen. Like most monopolists, they +showed a marked tendency to abuse the advantages of their position. +Science was relegated to a position of humiliating inferiority, and had +to content itself with picking up whatever crumbs were, with a lordly +and at times almost contemptuous tolerance, allowed to fall from the +humanistic table. Bossuet once defined a heretic as "celui qui a une +opinion" ([Greek: airesis]). A somewhat similar attitude was at one time +adopted to those who were inclined to doubt whether a knowledge of Latin +and Greek could be considered the Alpha and Omega of a sound education. +The calm judgment of that great humanist, Professor Jebb, led him to the +conclusion that the claims of the humanities have been at times defended +by pleas which were exaggerated and paradoxical--using this latter term +in the sense of arguments which contain an element of truth, but of +truth which has been distorted--and that in an age remarkable beyond all +previous ages for scientific research and discoveries, that nation must +necessarily lag behind which, in the well-known words uttered by Gibbon +at a time when science was still in swaddling-clothes, fears that the +"finer feelings" are destroyed if the mind becomes "hardened by the +habit of rigid demonstration." All this has now been changed. Professor +Huxley did not live in vain. His mantle fell on the shoulders of many +other doughty champions who shared his views. Science no longer slinks +modestly in educational bypaths, but occupies the high road, and, to say +the least, marches abreast of her humanistic sister. Yet the scientists +are not yet content. Their souls are athirst for further victories. A +high authority on education, himself a classical scholar,[90] has +recently told us that, although the English boy "as he emerges from the +crucible of the public school laboratory" may be a fairly good agent +for dealing with the "lower or more submissive races in the wilds of +Africa or in the plains of India," elsewhere--notably in Canada--he is +"a conspicuous failure"; that one of the principal reasons why he is a +failure is that "the influence of the humanists still reigns over us"; +and that "the future destiny of the Empire is wrapt up in the immediate +reform of England's educational system." In the course of that reform, +which it is proposed should be of a very drastic character, some +half-hearted efforts may conceivably be made to effect the salvage of +whatever will remain of the humanistic wreck, but the real motto of the +reformers will almost certainly be Utilitarianism, writ large. The +humanists, therefore, are placed on their defence. It may be that the +walls of their entrenchment, which have already been a good deal +battered, will fall down altogether, and that the garrison will be asked +to submit to a capitulation which will be almost unconditional. + +In the midst of the din of battle which may already be heard, and which +will probably ere long become louder, it seems very desirable that the +voices of those who are neither profound scholars nor accomplished +scientists nor educational experts should be heard. These--and there are +many such--ask, What is the end which we should seek to attain? Can +science alone be trusted to prevent education becoming, in the words of +that sturdy old pagan, Thomas Love Peacock, a "means for giving a fixed +direction to stupidity"? The answer they, or many of them, give to these +questions is that the main end of education is to teach people to think, +and that they are not prepared to play false to their own intellects to +such an extent as to believe that the national power of thinking will +not be impaired if it is deprived of the teaching of the most thoughtful +nation which the world has ever known. That nation is Greece. These +classes, therefore, lift up their hands in supplication to scientists, +educational experts, and parliamentarians--yea, even to soulless +wire-pullers who would perhaps willingly cast Homer and Sophocles to the +dogs in order to win a contested election--and with one voice cry: We +recognise the need of reform; we wish to march with the times; we are no +enemies to science; but in the midst of your utilitarian ideas, we +implore you, in the name both of learning and common sense, to devise +some scheme which will still enable the humanities to act as some check +on the growing materialism of the age; otherwise the last stage of the +educated youth of this country will be worse than the first; remember +what Lucretius--on the bold assumption that wire-pullers ever read +Lucretius--said, "Hic Acherusia stultorum denique vita"; above all +things, let there be no panic legislation--and panic is a danger to +which democracies and even, Pindar has told us, "the sons of the +gods,"[91] are greatly exposed; in taking any new departure let us, +therefore, very carefully and deliberately consider how we can best +preserve all that is good in our existing system. + +Whatever temporary effect appeals of this sort may produce, it is +certain that the ultimate result must depend very greatly on the extent +to which a real interest in classical literature can be kept alive in +the minds of the rising and of future generations. How can this object +best be achieved? The question is one of vital importance. + +The writer of the present article would be the last to attempt to raise +a cheap laugh at the expense of that laborious and, as it may appear to +some, almost useless erudition which, for instance, led Professor +Hermann to write four books on the particle [Greek: an] and to indite a +learned dissertation on [Greek: autos]. The combination of industry and +enthusiasm displayed in efforts such as these has not been wasted. The +spirit which inspired them has materially contributed to the real stock +of valuable knowledge which the world possesses. None the less it must +be admitted that something more than mere erudition is required to +conjure away the perils which the humanities now have to face. It is +necessary to quicken the interest of the rising generation, to show them +that it is not only historically true to say, with Lessing, that "with +Greece the morning broke," but that it is equally true to maintain that +in what may, relatively speaking, be called the midday splendour of +learning, we cannot dispense with the guiding light of the early morn; +that Greek literature, in Professor Gilbert Murray's words,[92] is "an +embodiment of the progressive spirit, an expression of the struggle of +the human soul towards freedom and ennoblement"; and that our young men +and women will be, both morally and intellectually, the poorer if they +listen to the insidious and deceptive voice of an exaggerated +materialism which whispers that amidst the hum of modern machinery and +the heated wrangles incident to the perplexing problems which arise as +the world grows older, the knowledge of a language and a literature +which have survived two thousand eight hundred storm-tossed years is "of +no practical use." + +It is this interest which the works of a man like the late Dr. Verrall +serve to stimulate. He was eminently fitted for the task. On the +principle which Dr. Johnson mocked by saying that "who drives fat oxen +should himself be fat," it may be said that an advocate of humanistic +learning should himself be human in the true and Terentian meaning of +that somewhat ambiguous word. This is what Verrall was. All who knew him +speak of his lovable character, and others who were in this respect less +favoured can judge of the genuineness of his human sympathies by +applying two well-nigh infallible tests. He loved children, and he was +imbued with what Professor Mackail very appropriately calls in his +commemorative address "a delightful love of nonsense." His kindly and +genial humour sparkles, indeed, in every line he wrote. Moreover, +whether he was right or wrong in the highly unconventional views which +he at times expressed, his scorn for literary orthodoxy was in itself +very attractive. Whenever he found what he called a "boggle"--that is to +say an incident or a phrase in respect to which, he was dissatisfied +with the conventional explanation--"he could not rest until he had made +an effort to get to the bottom of it." He treated old subjects with an +originality which rejuvenated them, and decked them again with the charm +of novelty. He bade us, with a copy of Martial in our hands, accompany +him to the Coliseum and be, in imagination, one of the sixty thousand +spectators who thronged to behold the strange Africans, Sarmatians, and +others who are gathered together from the four quarters of the Roman +world to take part in the Saturnalia. He asked us to watch with +Propertius whilst the slumbers of his Cynthia were disturbed by dreams +that she was flying from one of her all too numerous lovers. Under his +treatment, Mr. Cornford says, the most commonplace passages in classical +literature "began to glow with passion and to flash with wit." His main +literary achievement is thus recorded on the tablet erected to his +memory at Trinity College: "Euripidis famam vindicavit." He threw +himself with ardour into the discussion on the merits and demerits of +the Greek tragedian which has been going on ever since it was originally +started by Aristophanes, and he may at least be said to have shown that +what French Boileau said of his own poetry applies with equal force to +the Greek--"Mon vers, bien ou mal, dit toujours quelque chose." In the +process of rehabilitating Euripides, Verrall threw out brilliantly +original ideas in every direction. Take, for instance, his treatment of +the _Ion_. Every one who has dabbled in Greek literature knows that +Euripides was a free-thinker, albeit in his old age he did lip-service +to the current theology of the day, and told the Athenians that they +should not "apply sophistry," or, in other words rationalise, about the +gods.[93] Every one also has rather marvelled at the somewhat lame and +impotent conclusion of the play when Athene--herself in reality one of +the most infamous of the Olympian deities--is brought on the stage to +save the prestige of the oracle at Delphi and to explain away the +altogether disreputable behaviour of the no less infamous Apollo. But no +one before Verrall had thought of coupling together the free-thinking +and the episode in the play. This is what Verrall did. Ion sees that the +oracle can lie, and, therefore, "Delphi is plainly discredited as a +fountain of truth." The explanation is, of course, somewhat conjectural. +Homer, who was certainly not a free-thinker, made his deities +sufficiently ridiculous, and, at times, altogether odious. Mr. Lang says +with truth: "When Homer touches on the less lovable humours of women--on +the nagging shrew, the light o' love, the rather bitter virgin--he +selects his examples from the divine society of the gods."[94] But +whether the very plausible conjectures made by Verrall as to the real +purpose of Euripides in his treatment of the oracle in _Ion_, or, to +quote another instance, his explanation of the phantom in _Helen_, be +right or wrong, no one can deny that what he wrote is alive with +interest. On this point, the testimony of his pupils, albeit in some +respects contradictory, is conclusive. One of them (Mr. Marsh) says: "I +was usually convinced by everything," whilst another (Mr. J.R.M. Butler) +says: "I don't think we believed very much what he said; he always said +he was as likely to be wrong as right. But he made all classics so +gloriously new and living. He made us criticise by standards of common +sense, and presume that the tragedians were not fools and that they did +mean something. They were not to be taken as antiques privileged to use +conventions that would be nonsense in any one else." + +Classical learning will not be kept alive for long by forcing young men +with perhaps a taste for science or the integral calculus to apply +themselves to the study of Aristotle or Sophocles. The real hope for the +humanities in the future lies in the teaching of such men as Butcher, +Verrall, Gilbert Murray, Dill, Bevan, Livingstone, Zimmern, and, it may +fortunately be said, many others, who can make the literature of the +ancient world and the personalities of its inhabitants live in the eyes +of the present generation. + +[Footnote 90: _The Public Schools and the Empire_. By D.H.B. Gray.] + +[Footnote 91: [Greek: En gar daimonioisi phobois pheugonti kai paides +theon.]--_Nem._ ix. 27.] + +[Footnote 92: _Rise of the Greek Epic_, p. 3.] + +[Footnote 93: [Greek: Ouden sophizomestha toisi daimosi].--_Bacchae_, +200.] + +[Footnote 94: _The World of Homer_, p. 34.] + + + + +XIX + +AN INDIAN IDEALIST[95] + +_"The Spectator," July 12, 1913_ + + +Amidst the jumble of political shibboleths, mainly drawn from the +vocabulary of extreme Radical sentimentalists, which Mr. Mallik supplies +to his readers in rich abundance, two may be selected which give the +keynote to his opinions. The first, which is inscribed on the +title-page, is St. Paul's statement to the Athenians that all nations of +men are of one blood. The second, which occurs towards the close of his +work, is that "sane Imperialism is political Idealism." Both statements +are paradoxical. Both contain a germ of truth. In both cases an extreme +application of the principle involved would lead to dire consequences. +The first aphorism leads us to the unquestionably sound conclusion that +Newton, equally with a pygmy from the forests of Central Africa, was a +human being. It does not take us much further. The second aphorism bids +us remember that the statesman who is incapable of conceiving and +attempting to realise an ideal is a mere empiricist, but it omits to +mention that if this same statesman, in pursuit of his ideal, neglects +all his facts and allows himself to become an inhabitant of a political +Cloud Cuckoo-land, he will certainly ruin his own reputation, and may +not improbably inflict very great injury upon the country and people +which form the subject of his crude experiments. On the whole, if we are +to apply that proverbial philosophy which is so dear to the mind of all +Europeanised Easterns to the solution of political problems, it will +perhaps be as well to bear constantly in mind the excellent Sanskrit +maxim which, amidst a collection of wise saws, Mr. Mallik quotes in his +final chapter, "A wise man thinks of both _pro_ and _con_." + +Starting with a basis of somewhat extreme idealism, it is not surprising +that Mr. Mallik has developed not only into an ardent Indian +nationalist, but also into an advanced Indian Radical. As to the latter +characteristic, he manifestly does not like the upper classes of his own +country. They are, in fact, as bad or even worse than English peers. +They are "like the 'idle rich' elsewhere; they squander annually in +luxuries and frivolities huge sums of money, besides hoarding up +jewels, gold and silver of immense value." Occasionally, they pose as +"upholders of the Government." "Even so they do not conceal their fangs. +When small measures of conciliation have in recent times been proposed, +the 'Peers' in India have not been slow to proclaim through their organs +that the Government were rousing their suspicion." + +Turning, however, to the relations between Europe and Asia, Mr. Mallik +says that it is often asserted that the two continents "cannot +understand each other--that Asia is a mystery to Europe, and must always +remain so." Most people who have considered this subject have so far +thought that the main reason why Europeans find it difficult to +understand Asia is because, in some matters, Asia is difficult to +understand. They have, therefore, been deeply grateful to men like the +late Sir Alfred Lyall, who have endeavoured with marked ability and +sympathy to explain the mystery to them. But Mr. Mallik now explains to +us that no such gratitude is due, for the reason why Asia is so often +misunderstood is not on account of any difficulties attendant on +comprehension, but because those who have paid special attention to the +subject are "persons whose nature or training or self-interest leads +them not to wish the understanding to take place." Whether Mr. Mallik +has done much to lighten the prevailing darkness and to explain the East +to the West is perhaps somewhat doubtful, but it is quite certain that +he has done his utmost to explain to those of his countrymen who are +conversant with the English language the attitude which, in his opinion, +they should adopt towards Westerns and Western civilisation. In one of +the sweeping generalities in which his work abounds, Mr. Mallik says +with great truth, that "however manners may differ ... nothing is gained +by nursing a feeling of animosity." It is to be regretted that Mr. +Mallik has not himself acted on the wise principle which he here +enunciates. He has, however, not done so. Under the familiar garb of a +friend who indulges in an excess of candour he has made a number of +observations which, whether true or false, are eminently calculated to +inflame that racial animosity which it is the duty of every well-wisher +of India to endeavour by every means in his power to allay. He makes a +lengthy and elaborate comparison between East and West, in which every +plague-spot in European civilisation is carefully catalogued. Every +ulcer in Western life is probed. Every possible sore in the connection +between the European and Asiatic is made to rankle. On the other hand, +with the cries of the Christians massacred at Adana still ringing in +our ears, Mr. Mallik, forgetful apparently of the fact that the Turk is +an Asian, tells us that "Asia, typical of the East, looks upon all races +and creeds with absolute impartiality," and, further, that "gentleness +and consideration are the peculiar characteristics of the East, as +overbearing and rudeness, miscalled independence, and not unfrequently +deserving to be called insolence, are products of the West." + +But it is the word Imperialism which more especially excites Mr. +Mallik's wrath. In the first place, he altogether denies the existence +of an "imperial race," being convinced of its non-existence by the +strangely inconclusive argument that "if a race is made by nature +imperial, every member of that race must be imperial too and equally +able to rule." In the second place, he points out that the results which +flow from the Imperial idea are in all respects deplorable. The East had +"always believed that mankind could be made saints and philosophers," +but the West, represented by Imperialism, stepped in and "shattered its +belief." The West, as shown by the deference now paid to Japan, "values +the bloodthirsty propensities much more than humane activities." "The +expressed desire of the Imperialist is to let darkness flourish in order +that he may personally benefit by it.... Empire and Imperialism mean +the triumph of retrograde notions and the infliction of insult and +suffering on three hundred millions of human beings." It is this +Imperial policy which has led to the most gross injustice being +inflicted on every class of the community in India. As regards the civil +services, "the policy of fat pay, ease, perquisites, and praise are the +share of the European officers, and hard work and blame that of the +Indian rank and file." It is the same in the army. "In frontier wars the +Indian troops have had to bear the brunt of the fighting, the European +portion being 'held in reserve' and coming up at the end to receive all +the glory of victory and the consequent rewards." It is sometimes said +that the masses in India trust Englishmen more than their own +countrymen. That this statement is erroneous is clearly proved by "the +absence of interest of the rulers themselves in the moral and material +advancement of the poorer classes." Not content with uttering this +prodigious falsehood, Mr. Mallik adds a further and fouler calumny. He +alludes to the rudeness at times displayed by Englishmen towards the +natives of India--a feature in Indian social life which every +right-thinking Englishman will be prepared to condemn as strongly as Mr. +Mallik. But, not content with indicating the evil, Mr. Mallik alleges +that any special act of insolence perpetrated by an Indian official +meets with the warm approval of the Government. Promotion, he says, is +"usual in such cases." Again, Mr. Mallik's dislike and distrust of +Moslems crops up whenever he alludes to them. Nevertheless, he does not +hesitate to denounce that Government whose presence alone prevents an +outbreak of sectarian strife for "sedulously fomenting" religious +animosities with a view to arresting the Nationalist movement. +Similarly, the constitution of the Universities has been changed with a +view to rendering the youth of India "stupid and servile" instead of +"clever and patriotic." + +Moreover, whilst India, under the sway of Imperialism, is "drifting to +its doom," Mr. Mallik seems to fear that a somewhat similar fate awaits +England. He observes many symptoms of decay to which, for the most part, +Englishmen are blind. He greatly fears that "the liberties of the people +are not safe when the Tory Party continues in power for a long period." +Neither is the prospect of Liberal ascendancy much less gloomy. Liberals +are becoming "Easternised." They are getting "more and more leavened by +reaction imported from India." It really looks as if "English Liberalism +might soon sink to a pious tradition." In the meanwhile, Mr. Mallik, +with true Eastern proclivities, warmly admires that portion of the +English system which Englishmen generally tolerate as a necessary evil, +but of which they are by no means proud. Most thinking men in this +country resent the idea of Indian interests being made a shuttlecock in +the strife of party. Not so Mr. Mallik. He shudders at the idea of +Indian affairs being considered exclusively on their own merits. "If it +is no party's duty to champion the cause of any part of the Empire, that +part must be made over to Satan, or retained, like a convict settlement, +for the breeding of 'Imperial' ideas." He is himself quite prepared to +adopt an ultra-partisan attitude. In spite of his evident dislike to the +nomination of any Englishman to take part in the administration of +India, he warmly applauds the appointment of "a young and able official" +to the Viceroy's Council, because he was "associated with a great +Liberal Minister of the Crown." + +It is not quite clear what, beyond a manifestation of that sympathy +which his own writings are so well calculated to alienate, Mr. Mallik +really wants. He thinks that there is "perhaps some truth" in the +assertion that the "Aryans of India are not yet fit for +self-government," and he says that "wise Indians do not claim at once +the political institutions that Europeans have gained by a long course +of struggle and training, the value of which in advancing happiness is +not yet always perceptible in Europe." On the other hand, he appears to +be of opinion that the somewhat sweeping reforms recently inaugurated by +Lord Morley and Lord Minto do not go far enough. The only practical +proposals he makes are, first, that the old _punchayet_ system in every +village should be revived, and that a consultative assembly should be +created, whose functions "should be wholly social and religious, +political topics being out of its jurisdiction." He adds--and there need +be no hesitation in cordially accepting his view on this point--that the +"plan would have to be carefully thought out" before it is adopted. + +The problem of how to govern India is very difficult, and is +unquestionably becoming more and more so every year. Although many of +the slanders uttered by Mr. Mallik are very contemptible, it is useless +to ignore the fact that they are believed not only by a large number of +the educated youth of India, of which he may perhaps to some extent be +considered a type, but also by many of their English sympathisers. +Moreover, in spite of much culpable misstatement and exaggeration, Mr. +Mallik may have occasionally blundered unawares into making some +observations which are deserving of some slight consideration on their +own merits. The only wise course for English statesmen to adopt is to +possess their souls in patience, to continue to govern India in the best +interests of its inhabitants, and to avoid on the one hand the extreme +of repressive measures, and on the other hand the equally dangerous +extreme of premature and drastic reform in the fundamental institutions +of the country. In the meanwhile, it may be noted that literature such +as Mr. Mallik's book can do no good, and may do much harm. + +[Footnote 95: _Orient and Occident_. By Manmath C. Mallik. London: T. +Fisher Unwin. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XX + +THE FISCAL QUESTION IN INDIA + +_"The Spectator," July 19, 1913_ + + +Sir Roper Lethbridge says that his object in writing the book which he +has recently published (_The Indian Offer of Imperial Preference_) is to +provoke discussion, but "not to lay down any dogma." It is related that +a certain clergyman, after he had preached a sermon, said to Lord +Melbourne, who had been one of his congregation, "I tried not to be +tedious," to which Lord Melbourne replied, "You were." Sir Roper +Lethbridge may have tried not to dogmatise, but his efforts in this +direction have certainly not been crowned with success. On the contrary, +although dealing with a subject which bristles with points of a highly +controversial nature, he states his conclusions with an assurance which +is little short of oracular. Heedless of the woful fate which has +attended many of the fiscal seers who have preceded him, he does not +hesitate to pronounce the most confident prophecies upon a subject as to +which experience has proved that prophecy is eminently hazardous, viz. +the economic effect likely to be produced by drastic changes in the +fiscal system. Moreover, his pages are disfigured by a good deal of +commonplace invective about "the shibboleths of an obsolete Cobdenism," +the "worship of the fetish of Cobdenism," and "the bigotry of the Cobden +Club," as to whom the stale fallacy is repeated that they "consider the +well-being of the 'poor foreigner'" rather than "our own commercial +interests." Language of this sort can only serve to irritate. It cannot +convince. Sir Roper Lethbridge appears to forget that, apart from those +who, on general party grounds, are little inclined to listen to the +gospel which he has to preach, there are a large number of Unionists who +are to a greater extent open to conviction, and who, if their conversion +can be effected, are, in the interests of the cause which he advocates, +well worth convincing. These blemishes--for blemishes they +unquestionably are--should not, however, blind us to the fact that Sir +Roper Lethbridge deals with a subject of very great importance and also +of very great difficulty. It is most desirable that it should be +discussed. Sir Fleetwood Wilson, in the very statesmanlike speech +delivered in the Indian Legislative Council last March, indicated the +spirit in which the discussion should take place. "The subject," he +said, "is one which in the public interest calls for consideration, not +recrimination." It would be Utopian to suppose that it can be kept +altogether outside the arena of party strife, but those who are not +uncompromising partisans, and who also strongly deprecate Indian +questions being made the shuttlecock of party interests, can at all +events endeavour to approach the question with an open mind and to treat +it dispassionately and exclusively on its own merits. + +The main issue involved may be broadly stated in the following terms. Up +to the present time the fiscal policy of the Indian Government has been +based on Free Trade principles. Customs duties are collected for revenue +purposes. A general 5 per cent _ad valorem_ duty is imposed on imports. +Cotton goods pay a duty of 31/2 per cent. An excise duty of a similar +amount is imposed on cotton woven at Indian mills. A duty of three annas +a maund is paid on exported rice. Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who +concur with him now propose that this system should undergo a radical +change. The main features of their proposal, if the writer of the +present article understands them correctly, seem to be that the duty on +cotton goods imported from the United Kingdom, as also the +corresponding excise duty levied in India, should be altogether +abolished; that the duties raised on goods--apparently of all +descriptions--imported into India from non-British ports should be +raised; that a preference should be accorded in British ports to Indian +tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, etc.; and that an export duty should be +levied at Indian ports on certain products, notably on jute and lac. +This new duty would not, however, be levied on goods sent to the United +Kingdom. + +There does not appear to be any absolute necessity for dealing with this +question at once, but Sir Roper Lethbridge is quite justified in calling +attention to it, for it is not only conceivable, but even probable, that +at no very remote period the Government of India will have to deal with +a problem which, it may readily be admitted, will tax their +statesmanship to the very utmost. It is no exaggeration to say that +since the Crown took over the direct management of Indian affairs no +issue of greater magnitude has been raised. Moreover, although Lord +Crewe had an easy task in showing that in some respects the difficulties +attendant on any solution would be enhanced rather than diminished if +the fiscal policy of the British Government in the United Kingdom +underwent a radical change, it is none the less true that those +difficulties will remain of a very formidable character even if no such +change is effected. + +It is essential to bear in mind that the difficulties which beset this +question are not solely fiscal, but also political. This feature is +almost invariably characteristic of Oriental finance, and nowhere is it +more prominent than in India. The writer of the present article can +speak with some special knowledge of the circumstances attendant on the +great Free Trade measures introduced in India under the auspices of Lord +Ripon. He can state very confidently that, although Lord Ripon and all +the leading members of his Government were convinced Free Traders, it +was the political to a far greater extent than the fiscal arguments +which led them to the conclusion that the Indian Customs barriers should +be abolished. They foresaw that the rival commercial interests of India +and Lancashire would cause a rankling and persistent sore which might do +infinite political harm. They wished, therefore, to apply a timely +remedy, and it cannot be doubted that, so long as it lasted, the remedy +was effective. In most respects the fiscal policy adopted then and that +now advocated by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his coadjutors are the poles +asunder. Nevertheless, in one respect they coincide. Sir Roper +Lethbridge places in the forefront of his proposals the abolition both +of the import duty on cotton goods and the corresponding excise duty +levied in India. He is unquestionably right. That is an ideal which both +Free Traders and Protectionists may very reasonably seek to attain. It +is, in fact, the only really satisfactory solution of the main point at +issue. The difficulty is to realise this ideal without doing more than +an equivalent amount of injury to Indian interests in other directions. + +The chief arguments by which Sir Roper Lethbridge defends the special +proposals which he advances are three in number. They are (1) that the +nascent industries of India require protection; (2) that it is necessary +to raise more revenue, and that the suggestions now made afford an +unobjectionable method for achieving this object; and (3) that the +economic facts connected with India afford special facilities for the +adoption of a policy of retaliation. + +From a purely economic point of view the first of these three pleas is +singularly inconclusive. + +It was refuted by Sir Fleetwood Wilson, whom both Mr. Austen +Chamberlain, in the introduction which he has written to Sir Roper +Lethbridge's book, and Sir Roper Lethbridge himself seem to regard, on +grounds which are apparently somewhat insufficient, as a partial convert +to their views. It may be said without exaggeration that if any country +in the world is likely to benefit by the adoption of Free Trade +principles that country is India. Industries cannot, as Sir Fleetwood +Wilson very truly said, be "encouraged" by means of a protective tariff +without raising home prices. Without going over all the well-trodden +ground on this subject, which must be familiar to all who have taken +part in the fiscal controversy, and without, moreover, denying that +nascent industries have in some countries been successfully encouraged +by the adoption of a protective system, it will be sufficient to say +that, looking at all the economic facts existent in India, the period of +partial transition from agriculture to industries, during which the +process of encouragement will have to be maintained, will almost +certainly last much longer than even in America or Germany, and that +during the whole of that lengthy period the mass of the population, who +are very poor and who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, will not +benefit from the protection, although they will at the same time suffer +grievously from the rise in prices. + +The main importance of this argument, however, is not to be derived from +its economic value, but rather from the important political fact that it +is one which finds favour with a large and influential body of Indian +opinion. Sir Roper Lethbridge claims that the leaders of Indian thought +are almost to a man Protectionists, and in his work he gives, as an +example of their views, the very able speech delivered by Sir Gangadhar +Chitnavis in the Calcutta Legislative Council last March.[96] He is +probably right; neither is anything to be gained by ignoring the gravity +of the situation which is thus created. Whether the Indian +Protectionists be right or wrong as to the fiscal policy which is best +adapted to Indian interests, there is no denying the fact that with +Protection flourishing in the self-governing colonies, with the recent +enlargement of the scope and functions of representative institutions in +India, and with the grievance created by the sacrifice of the opium +revenue on the altar of British vicarious philanthropy, it is a serious +matter for the British Government to assert their own views if those +views run diametrically counter to the wishes expressed by the only +representatives of Indian opinion who are in a position to make their +voices heard. Nevertheless, there are two limitations on the extent to +which concessions can or ought to be made to Indian opinion. The first +is based on the necessities of English internal politics. It cannot be +doubted that although Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis and those who agree with +him may perhaps be willing, as a _pis aller_, to accept Sir Roper +Lethbridge's preferential plan, what they really want is not Preference +but Protection against England, and this they cannot have, because, in +Sir Roper Lethbridge's words, "no British Government that offered India +Protection against Lancashire would live for a week." The second +limitation is based on less egotistical and, therefore, nobler grounds. +In spite of recent concessions, India is still, politically speaking, +_in statu pupillari_, neither do the concessions recently made in the +direction of granting self-governing institutions dispense the British +Government from the duty of looking to the interests of the masses, who +are at present very inadequately represented. It must be remembered that +in India, perhaps even more than elsewhere, the voice of the consumer is +hushed, whilst that of the producer is loud and strident. + +The second of Sir Roper Lethbridge's arguments is based on the alleged +necessity of raising more revenue. He, as also Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis, +take it for granted that this necessity has already arisen. It would be +essential, before taking any practical steps to give effect to the +proposals now under discussion, to ascertain beyond any manner of doubt +whether this statement is correct, and also, if correct, what +alternatives exist to the plan proposed by Sir Roper Lethbridge. Sir +Fleetwood Wilson carefully abstained from pledging himself to the +accuracy of Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's view on this point. "There is," he +said, "much room for the development of India's other resources, and it +has yet to be shown that there is no room for further economies in our +administration." In the meanwhile, it would tend to the elucidation of +the subject if Sir Roper Lethbridge and those who agree with him would +lay before the world a carefully prepared and detailed estimate of the +financial results which they consider would accrue from the adoption of +their proposals. We are told, for instance, that raw jute to the value +of L13,000,000 is exported annually from Bengal, of which only +L3,000,000 worth is worked up in Great Britain, and that "a moderate +duty" on this article would produce two millions a year. The prospect of +obtaining a revenue of L2,000,000 in the manner proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge appears at first sight somewhat illusory. In the first place, +the tax would, on the basis of Sir Roper Lethbridge's figures, amount to +20 per cent, which can scarcely be called "moderate." In the second +place, unless an equivalent export duty were imposed at British ports +it would appear probable that the process of re-export for the benefit +of "the lucky artisans of foreign protected nations" would not merely +continue unchecked, but would even be encouraged, for those artisans +would certainly not be supplied direct from India with the duty-laden +raw material, but would draw their supplies from the jute sent to the +ports of the United Kingdom, which would have paid no duty. Is it, +moreover, quite certain that a duty such as that proposed by Sir Roper +Lethbridge would be insufficient, as he alleges, "to bring in any +competing fibres in the world"? These and other cognate points +manifestly require further elucidation. + +The third argument adduced by Sir Roper Lethbridge is based on the +allegation that India is in a specially favourable position to adopt a +policy of retaliation. It is unnecessary to go into the general +arguments for and against retaliatory duties. They have been exhausted +in the very remarkable and frigidly impartial book written on this +subject by Professor Dietzel. It will be sufficient to say that here Sir +Roper Lethbridge is on stronger ground. The main argument against +retaliation in the United Kingdom is that foreign nations, by stopping +our supplies of raw material, could check our manufactures. We are, +therefore, in a singularly unfavourable position for engaging in a +tariff war. The case of India is wholly different. Foreign nations +cannot, it is alleged, dispense with the raw material which India +supplies. There is, therefore, a good _prima facie_ case for supposing +that India has relatively little to fear from retaliation on their part. + +It would be impossible within the limits of the present article to deal +fully with all the aspects of this vitally important question. Attention +may, however, be drawn to the very weighty remarks of Sir Fleetwood +Wilson when he speaks of "the great alteration which a tariff war in +India would effect in the balance of our trade, in the arrangements that +now exist for the payment of our external debt, and in the whole of our +exchange policy. This aspect of the question is one of extraordinary +complexity, as well as of no small speculation." On the whole, although +the proposals made by Sir Roper Lethbridge and his associates deserve +full and fair consideration, it is most earnestly to be hoped that party +leaders in this country will insist on their elaboration in full detail, +and will then study every aspect of the question with the utmost care +before giving even a qualified pledge to afford them support. The +situation is already sufficiently difficult and complicated. It is not +improbable that the difficulties and complications, far from being +mitigated, would be increased by the pursuit into the economic +wilderness of the _ignis fatuus_ involved in the idea that it is +possible for a nation to impose a tax on itself and then make the +inhabitants of other countries pay the whole or the greater part of it. + +[Footnote 96: It may be noted that Sir Gangadhar Chitnavis's idea of +Preference differs widely from that entertained by Sir Roper Lethbridge. +The former apparently wishes to abolish the excise duty on Indian cotton +goods, but to maintain that levied on similar goods imported from the +United Kingdom, whilst levying a still higher duty on goods from other +countries.] + + + + +XXI + +ROME AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT[97] + +_"The Spectator," July 19, 1913_ + + +In spite of the obvious danger of establishing doubtful analogies and of +making insufficient allowance for differences, the history of Imperial +Rome can never cease to be of more than academic interest to the +statesmen and politicians of Imperial England. Rome bequeathed to us +much that is of inestimable value, both in the way of precept and +example. She also bequeathed to us a word of ill omen--the word +"Imperialism." The attempt to embody the broad outlines of a policy in a +single word or phrase has at times exercised great influence in deciding +the fate of nations. M. Vandal[98] says with truth, "Nul ne comprendra +la Revolution s'il ne tient compte de l'extraordinaire empire exerce a +cette epoque par les mots et les formules." Imperialism, though +infinitely preferable to its quasi-synonym Caesarism, is, in fact, a +term which, although not absolutely incorrect, is at the same time, by +reason of its historical associations, misleading when applied to the +mild and beneficent hegemony exercised by the rulers and people of +England over their scattered transmarine dominions. It affords a +convenient peg on which hostile critics, such as Mr. Mallik, whose work +was reviewed last week in these columns,[99] as also those +ultra-cosmopolitan Englishmen who are the friends of every country but +their own, may hang partisan homilies dwelling on the brutality of +conquest and on all the harsh features of alien rule, whilst they leave +sedulously in the background that aspect of the case which Polybius, +parodying a famous saying of Themistocles, embodied in a phrase which he +attributes to the Greeks after they had been absorbed into the Roman +Empire, "If we had not been quickly ruined, we should not have been +saved." This pessimistic aspect of Imperialism has certainly to some +extent an historical basis. It is founded on the procedure generally +believed to have been adopted in the process by which Rome acquired the +dominion of the world. The careful attention given of late years to the +study of inscriptions, and generally the results obtained by the +co-operation established between historians and those who have more +especially studied other branches of science, such as archaeology, +epigraphy, and numismatics, have, however, now enabled us to approach +the question of Roman expansion with far greater advantages than those +possessed by writers even so late as the days of Mommsen. We are able to +reply with a greater degree of confidence than at any previous period to +the question of how far Roman policy was really associated with those +principles and practices which many are accustomed to designate as +Imperial. The valuable and erudite work which Mr. Reid has now given to +the world comes opportunely to remind us of a very obvious and +commonplace consideration. It is that although Roman expansion not only +began, but was far advanced during the days of the Republic, Roman +Imperialism did not exist before the creation of Roman Emperors, and did +not in any considerable degree develop the vices generally, and +sometimes rightly, attributed to the system until some while after +Republican had given way to Imperial sway. "The residuary impression of +the ancient world," Mr. Reid says in his preface, "left by a classical +education comprises commonly the idea that the Romans ran, so to speak, +a sort of political steam-roller over the ancient world. This has a +semblance of truth for the period of decline, but none for the earlier +days." + +The fundamental idea which ran through the whole of Roman policy during +the earliest, which was also the wisest and most statesmanlike stage of +expansion, was not any desire to ensure the detailed and direct +government of a number of outlying districts from one all-powerful +centre, but rather to adopt every possible means calculated to maintain +local autonomy, and to minimise the interference of the central +authority. Herself originally a city-state, Rome aspired to become the +predominant partner in a federation of municipalities, to which autonomy +was granted even to the extent of waiving that prerogative which has +generally been considered the distinctive mark of sovereignty, viz. the +right of coinage. Broadly speaking, the only conditions imposed were +very similar to those now forming the basis of the relations between the +British Government and the Native States of India. These were (1) that +the various commonwealths should keep the peace between each other; and +(2) that their foreign policy should be dictated by Rome. It is often +tacitly assumed, Mr. Reid says, that "in dealing with conquered peoples, +the Romans were animated from the first by a passion for immediate +domination and for grinding uniformity." This idea is not merely false; +it is the very reverse of the truth. The most distinctive feature of +Roman rule during the early period of expansion was its marvellous +elasticity and pliability. Everywhere local customs were scrupulously +respected. Everywhere the maintenance of whatever autonomous +institutions existed at the time of conquest was secured. Everywhere the +allies were treated with what the Greeks termed [Greek: epimeleia], +which may be rendered into English by the word "consideration." Nowhere +was the fatal mistake made of endeavouring to stamp out by force a local +language or dialect, whilst until the Romans were brought into contact +with the stubborn monotheism of the Jews, the easy-going pantheistic +ideas current in the ancient world readily obviated the occurrence of +any serious difficulties based on religious belief or ritual. + +That this system produced results which were, from a political point of +view, eminently satisfactory cannot for a moment be doubted. Mr. Reid +says--and it were well that those who are interested in the cause of +British Imperial Federation should note the remark--"In history the +lightest bonds have often proved to be the strongest." The loosely +compacted alliance of the Italic states withstood all the efforts of +Hannibal to rend it asunder. The Roman system, in fact, created a double +patriotism, that which attached itself to the locality, and that which +broadened out into devotion to the metropolis. Neither was the one +allegiance destructive of the other. When Ennius made his famous boast +he did not mean that he spurned Rudiae and that he would for the future +look exclusively to Rome as his mother-country, but rather that both the +smaller and the larger patriotism would continue to exist side by side. +"English local life," it has been truly said, "was the source and +safeguard of English liberty."[100] It may be said with equal truth that +the notion of constituting self-governing town communities as the basis +of Empire, which, Mr. Reid tells us, "was deeply ingrained in the Roman +consciousness," stood Rome in good stead during some of the most stormy +periods of her history. The process of voluntary Romanisation was so +speedy that the natives of any province which, to use the Roman +expression, had been but recently "pacated," became in a very short time +loyal and zealous Roman subjects, and rarely if ever took advantage of +distress elsewhere to vindicate their independence by seeking to cast +off the light shackles which had been imposed on them. + +"So long as municipal liberty maintained its vigour, the empire +flourished." This is the fundamental fact to be borne in mind in +dealing with the history of Roman expansion. Mr. Reid then takes us, +step by step and province by province, through the pitiful history of +subsequent deterioration and decay. After the Hannibalic war, Roman +hegemony in Italy began to pass into domination. A policy of unwise +exclusion applied to the federated states and cities, coupled with the +assertion of irritating privileges on behalf of Roman citizens, led to +the cataclysm of the Great Social War, at the close of which burgess +rights were reluctantly conceded to all Italic communities who had not +joined the rebels. Then followed the era of the great Julius, who +probably--though of this we cannot be quite certain--wished to create a +"world-state" with Rome as its head; Augustus, to whose genius and +administrative ability tardy justice is now being done, and who, albeit +he continued the policy of his uncle, possibly leant rather more to the +idea, realised eighteen centuries later by Cavour, of a united Italy; +Adrian, who aimed above all things at the consolidation of the Empire; +and many others. Consolidation in whatsoever form almost necessarily +connoted the insistence on some degree of uniformity, and "when the +Emperors pressed uniformity upon the imperial system, it rapidly went to +pieces." Finally, we get to the stage of Imperial penury and +extravagance, accompanied by centralisation _in extremis_, when "hordes +of official locusts, military and civil," were let loose on the land, +and the tax-gatherers destroyed the main sources of the public revenues, +with the result that the tax-payers were utterly ruined. The municipal +system possessed wonderful vitality, and displayed remarkable aptitude +for offering a passive resistance to the attacks directed against it. It +survived longer than might have been expected. But when it became clear +that the only function which the _curiales_ were expected to perform was +to emulate the Danaides by pouring gold into the bottomless cask of the +Imperial Treasury,[101] they naturally rejected the dubious honours +conferred on them, and fled either to be the companions of the monks in +the desert or elsewhere so as to be safe from the crushing load of +Imperial distinction. Mr. Hodgkin and others have pointed out that the +diversion of local funds to the Imperial Exchequer was one of the +proximate causes which led to the downfall of the empire. Whilst the +municipal system lasted, it produced admirable results. Dealing with +Northern Africa, whose progress was eventually arrested by the withering +hand of Islam, Mr. Reid speaks of "the contrast between the Roman +civilisation and the culture which exists in the same regions to-day; +flourishing cities, villages, and farms abounded in districts which are +now sterile and deserted." + +Apart from the special causes to which Mr. Reid and other historians +have alluded, and apart, moreover, from the intentions--often the very +wise intentions--of individual Emperors, the municipal system, and with +it the principle that local affairs should be dealt with locally, was +almost bound to founder directly the force of circumstances strengthened +the hands of the central authority at Rome. The battle between +centralisation and decentralisation still continues. Every one who has +been engaged in it knows that, whatever be the system adopted, the +spirit in which it is carried out counts for even more than the system +itself. Once place a firm, self-confident man with the centralising +spirit strong within him at the head of affairs, and he will often, +without any apparent change, go far to shatter any system, however +carefully it may have been devised, to encourage decentralisation. Such +a man was Napoleon. Every conceivable subject bearing on the government +of his fellow-men was, as M. Taine says, "classified and docketed" in +his ultra-methodical brain. It is useless to ask a man of this sort to +decentralise. He cannot do so, not always by reason of a deliberate wish +to grasp at absolute power, but because he sees so clearly what he +thinks should be done that he cannot tolerate the local ineptitude, as +he considers it, that leads to the rejection of his views. Thus, whilst +Napoleon said to Count Chaptal, "Ce n'est pas des Tuileries qu'on peut +diriger une armee," at the same time, as a matter of fact, he never +ceased to interfere with the action of his generals employed at a +distance, with results which, especially in Spain, were generally +disastrous to French arms. Another general cause which militates against +decentralisation is the inevitable tendency of any disputant who is +dissatisfied with a decision given locally to seek redress at the hands +of the central authority. St. Paul appealed to Caesar. A discontented +Rajah will appeal to the Secretary of State for India. It is certain +that in these cases, unless the appellate authority acts with the +greatest circumspection, a risk will be incurred of giving a severe blow +to the fundamental principles of decentralisation. It is no very +hazardous conjecture to assume that many of the Roman Emperors were, +like Napoleon, constitutionally disposed to centralise, and that the +greater their ability the more likely was this disposition to dominate +their minds. Thus Tacitus, speaking of Tiberius, says, "He never relaxed +from the cares of government, but derived relief from his +occupations."[102] A man of this temperament is a born centraliser. +However much his reason or his statesmanship may hold him in check, he +will probably sooner or later yield to the temptation of stretching his +own authority to such an extent as materially to weaken that of his +distant and subordinate agents. + +Considerations of space preclude the possibility of dwelling any further +on the many points of interest suggested by Mr. Reid's instructive work. +This much, however, may be said, that whilst British Imperialism is not +exposed to many of the dangers which proved fatal to Imperial Rome, +there is one principle adopted by the early founders of the Roman Empire +which is fraught with enduring political wisdom, and which may be +applied as well now as it was nineteen centuries ago. That principle is +the preference shown to diversity over uniformity of system. Sir Alfred +Lyall, whose receptive intellect was impregnated with modern +applications of ancient precedents, said, "We ought to acknowledge that +we cannot impose a uniform type of civilisation." Let us beware that we +do not violate this very sound principle by too eager a disposition to +transport institutions, whose natural habitat is Westminster, to +Calcutta or Cairo. + +[Footnote 97: _The Municipalities of the Roman Empire_. By J.E. Reid. +Cambridge: At the University Press. 10s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 98: _L'Avenement de Bonaparte_, i. 217.] + +[Footnote 99: _Vide ante_, pp. 317-326.] + +[Footnote 100: _England Under the Stuarts_, p. 107. G. Trevelyan.] + +[Footnote 101: Hor. _Od._ iii. 11. 25.] + +[Footnote 102: _Ann._ iv. 13.] + + + + +XXII + +A ROYAL PHILOSOPHER[103] + +_"The Spectator," August 2, 1913_ + + +Those who are inclined to take a gloomy view of the future on the +subject of the survival of the humanities in this country may derive +some consolation from two considerations. One is that there is not the +smallest sign either of relaxation in the quantity or deterioration in +the quality of the humanistic literature turned out from our seats of +learning. Year by year, indeed, both the interest in classical studies +and the standard of scholarship appear to rise to a higher level. The +other is that the mere fact that humanistic works are supplied shows +that there must be a demand for them, and that there exists amongst the +general public a number of readers outside the ranks of scholars, +properly so called, who are anxious and willing to acquaint themselves +with whatever new lights assiduous research can throw on the sayings and +doings of the ancient world. Archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics are +year by year opening out new fields for inquiry, and affording fresh +material for the reconstruction of history. More especially much light +has of late been thrown on that chaotic period which lies between the +death of the Macedonian conqueror and the final assertion of Roman +domination. Professor Mahaffy has dealt with the Ptolemies, and Mr. +Bevan with the Seleucids. A welcome complement to these instructive +works is now furnished by Mr. Tarn's comprehensive treatment of an +important chapter in the history of the Antigonids. It is surely the +irony of posthumous fame that whereas every schoolboy knows something +about Pyrrhus--how he fought the Romans with elephants, and eventually +met a somewhat ignoble death from the hand of an old Argive woman who +dropped a tile on his head--but few outside the ranks of historical +students probably know anything of his great rival and relative, +Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius the Besieger. Yet there can in +reality be no manner of doubt as to which of these two careers should +more excite the interest of posterity. Pyrrhus made a great stir in the +world whilst he lived. "He thought it," Plutarch says--we quote from +Dryden's translation--"a nauseous course of life not to be doing +mischief to others or receiving some from them." But he was in reality +an unlettered soldier of fortune, probably very much of the same type as +some of Napoleon's rougher marshals, such as Augereau or Massena. His +manners were those of the camp, and his statesmanship that of the +barrack-room. He blundered in everything he undertook except in the +actual management of troops on the field of battle. "Not a common +soldier in his army," Mr. Tarn says, "could have managed things as badly +as the brilliant Pyrrhus." Antigonus was a man of a very different type. +"He was the one monarch before Marcus Aurelius whom philosophy could +definitely claim as her own." But in forming an estimate of his +character it is necessary to bear constantly in mind the many different +constructions which in the course of ages have been placed on the term +"philosophy." Antigonus, albeit a disciple of Zeno, the most unpractical +idealist of his age, was himself eminently practical. He indulged in no +such hallucinations as those which cost the Egyptian Akhnaton his Syrian +kingdom. As a thinker he moved on a distinctly lower plane than Marcus +Aurelius. Perhaps of all the characters of antiquity he most resembles +Julian, whose career as a man of action wrung from the Christian +Prudentius the fine epitaph, "Perfidus ille Deo, quamvis non perfidus +orbi." These early Greek philosophers were, in fact, a strange set of +men. They were not always engaged in the study of philosophy. They +occasionally, whilst pursuing knowledge and wisdom, indulged in +practices of singular unwisdom or of very dubious morality. Thus the +eminent historian Hieronymus endeavoured to establish what we should now +call a "corner" in the bitumen which floated on the surface of the Dead +Sea, and which was largely used for purposes of embalming in Egypt; but +his efforts were completely frustrated by the Arabs who were interested +in the local trade. The philosopher Lycon, besides displaying an +excessive love for the pleasures of the table, was a noted wrestler, +boxer, and tennis-player. Antigonus himself, in spite of his love of +learning, vied with his great predecessors, Philip and Alexander, in his +addiction to the wine-cup. When, by a somewhat unworthy stratagem, he +had tricked the widowed queen Nikaia out of the possession of the +Acrocorinthian citadel, which was, politically speaking, the apple of +his eye, he celebrated the occasion by getting exceedingly drunk, and +went "reeling through Corinth at the head of a drunken rout, a garland +on his head and a wine-cup in his hand." Antigonus was, in fact, not so +much what we should call a philosopher as a man of action with literary +tastes, standing thus in marked contrast to Pyrrhus, who "cared as +little for knowledge or culture as did any baron of the Dark Ages." When +he was engaged in a difficult negotiation with Ptolemy Philadelphus he +allowed himself to be mollified by a quotation from Homer, who, as Plato +said, was "the educator of Hellas." Although not himself an original +thinker, he encouraged thought in others. He surrounded himself with men +of learning, and even received at his court the yellow-robed envoys of +Asoka, the far-distant ruler and religious reformer of India. Moreover, +in spite of his wholly practical turn of mind, Antigonus learnt +something from his philosophic friends; notably, he imbibed somewhat of +the Stoic sense of duty. "Do you not understand," he said to his son, +who had misused some of his subjects, "that _our_ kingship is a noble +servitude?" Nevertheless, throughout his career, the sentiments of the +man of action strongly predominated over those of the man of thought. He +treated all shams with a truly Carlylean hatred and contempt. Moreover, +one trait in his character strongly indicates the pride of the masterful +man of action who scorns all adventitious advantages and claims to stand +or fall by his own merits. Napoleon, whilst the members of his family +were putting forth ignoble claims to noble birth, said that his patent +of nobility dated from the battle of Montenotte. Antigonus, albeit he +came of a royal stock, laid aside all ancestral claims to the throne of +Macedonia. He aspired to be king because of his kingly qualities. He +wished his people to apply to him the words which Tiberius used of a +distinguished Roman of humble birth: "Curtius Rufinus videtur mihi ex se +natus" (_Ann._ xi. 21). He succeeded in his attempt. He won the hearts +of his people, and although he failed in his endeavour to govern the +whole of Greece through the agency of subservient "tyrants," he +accomplished the main object which through good and evil fortune he +pursued with dogged tenacity throughout the whole of his chequered +career. He lived and died King of Macedonia. + +The world-politics of this period are almost as confused as the +relationships which were the outcome of the matrimonial alliances +contracted by the principal actors on the world's stage. How bewildering +these alliances were may be judged from what Mr. Tarn says of +Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus I., who married Demetrius, the son +of Antigonus: "Stratonice was her husband's first cousin and also his +aunt, her mother-in-law's half-sister and also her niece, her +father-in-law's niece, her own mother's granddaughter-in-law, and +perhaps other things which the curious may work out." Mr. Tarn has +unravelled the tangled political web with singular lucidity. Here it +must be sufficient to say that, after the death of Pyrrhus, a conflict +between Macedonia and Egypt, which stood at the head of an +anti-Macedonian coalition of which Athens, Epirus, and Sparta were the +principal members, became inevitable. The rivalry between the two States +led to the Chremonidean war--so called because in 266 the Athenian +Chremonides moved the declaration of war against Antigonus. The result +of the war was that on land Antigonus remained the complete master of +the situation. With true political instinct, however, he recognised the +truth of that maxim which history teaches from the days of Aegospotami +to those of Trafalgar, viz. that the execution of an imperial policy is +impossible without the command of the sea. This command had been secured +by his predecessors, but had fallen to Egypt after the fine fleet +created by Demetrius the Besieger had been shattered in 280 by Ptolemy +Keraunos with the help of the navy which had been created by Lysimachus. +Antigonus decided to regain the power which had been lost. His efforts +were at first frustrated by the wily and wealthy Egyptian monarch, who +knew the power of gold. "Egypt neither moved a man nor launched a ship, +but Antigonus found himself brought up short, his friends gone, his +fleet paralysed." Then death came unexpectedly to his aid and removed +his principal enemies. His great opponent, the masterful Arsinoe, who +had engineered the Chremonidean war, was already dead, and, in Mr. +Tarn's words, "comfortably deified." Other important deaths now followed +in rapid succession. Alexander of Corinth, Antiochus, and Ptolemy all +passed away. "The imposing edifice reared by Ptolemy's diplomacy +suddenly collapsed like the card-house of a little child." Antigonus was +not the man to neglect the opportunity thus afforded to him. Though now +advanced in years, he reorganised his navy and made an alliance with +Rhodes, with the result that "the sea power of Egypt went down, never to +rise again." Then he triumphantly dedicated his flagship to the Delian +Apollo. The possession of Delos had always been one of the main objects +of his ambition. It did more than symbolise the rule of the seas. It +definitely brought within the sphere of Macedonian influence one of the +greatest centres of Greek religious thought. + +The rest of the story may be read in Mr. Tarn's graphic pages. He +relates how Antigonus incurred the undying enmity of Aratus of Sicyon, +one of those Greek democrats who held "that the very worst democracy was +infinitely better than the very best 'tyranny'--a conventional view +which neglects the uncomfortable fact that the tyranny of a democracy +can be the worst in the world." He lost Corinth, which he never +endeavoured to regain. His system of governing the Peloponnesus through +the agency of subservient "tyrants" utterly collapsed. "It is," Mr. Tarn +says, "a strange case of historical justice. As regards Macedonia, +Antigonus had followed throughout a sound and just idea of government, +and all that he did for Macedonia prospered. But in the Peloponnese, +though he found himself there from necessity rather than from choice, he +had employed an unjustifiable system; he lived long enough to see it +collapse." + +The main interest to the present generation of the career of this +remarkable man consists in the fact that it is illustrative of the +belief that a man of action can also be a man of letters. As it was in +the days of the Antigonids, so it is now. Napier says that there is no +instance on record of a successful general who was not also a well-read +man. General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, on being asked how he came to +adopt a certain tactical combination which proved eminently successful +at Louisbourg, said, "I had it from Xenophon." Havelock "loved Homer and +took pattern by Thucydides," and, according to Mr. Forrest, adopted +tactics at the battle of Cawnpore which he had learnt from a close +study of "Old Frederick's" dispositions at Leuthen. There is no greater +delusion than to suppose that study weakens the arm of the practical +politician, administrator, or soldier. On the contrary it fortifies it. +Lord Wolseley, himself a very distinguished man of action, speaking to +the students of the Royal Military Academy of Sir Frederick Maurice, who +possessed an inherited literary talent, said that he was "a fine example +of the combination of study and practice. He is not only the ablest +student of war we have, but is also the bravest man I have ever seen +under fire"; and on another occasion he wrote: "It is often said that +dull soldiers make the best fighters, because they do not think of +danger. Now, Maurice is one of the very few men I know who, if I told +him to run his head against a stone wall, would do so without question. +His is also the quickest and keenest intellect I have met in my +service." + +[Footnote 103: _Antigonos Gonatas_. By W. Woodthorpe Tarn. Oxford: At +the Clarendon Press. 14s.] + + + + +XXIII + +ANCIENT ART AND RITUAL[104] + +_"The Spectator," August 9, 1913_ + + +Any new work written by Miss Jane Harrison is sure to be eagerly +welcomed by all who take an interest in classical study or in +anthropology. The conclusions at which she arrives are invariably based +on profound study and assiduous research. Her generalisations are always +bold, and at times strikingly original. Moreover, it is impossible for +any lover of the classics, albeit he may move on a somewhat lower plane +of erudition, not to sympathise with the erudite enthusiasm of an author +who expresses "great delight" in discovering that Aristotle traced the +origin of the Greek drama to the Dithyramb--that puzzling and +"ox-driving" Dithyramb, of which Mueller said that "it was vain to seek +an etymology," but whose meaning has been very lucidly explained by +Miss Harrison herself--and whose "heart stands still" in noting that "by +a piece of luck" Plutarch gives the Dionysiac hymn which the women of +Elis addressed to the "noble Bull." + +It is probable that the first feeling excited in the mind of an ordinary +reader, when he is asked to accept some of the conclusions at which +modern students of anthropology and comparative religion have arrived, +is one of scepticism. Miss Harrison is evidently alive to the existence +of this feeling, for in dealing with the ritualistic significance of the +Panathenaic frieze she bids her readers not to "suspect they are being +juggled with," or to think that she has any wish to strain an argument +with a view to "bolstering up her own art and ritual theory." It can, +indeed, be no matter for surprise that such suspicions should be +aroused. When, for instance, an educated man hears that the Israelites +worshipped a golden calf, or that the owl and the peacock were +respectively sacred to Juno and Minerva, he can readily understand what +is meant. But when he is told that an Australian Emu man, strutting +about in the feathers of that bird, does not think that he is imitating +an Emu, but that in very fact he is an Emu, it must be admitted that his +intellect, or it may be his imagination, is subjected to a somewhat +severe strain. Similarly, he may at first sight find some difficulty in +believing that any strict relationship can be established between the +Anthesteria and Bouphonia of the cultured Athenians and the idolatrous +veneration paid by the hairy and hyperborean Ainos to a sacred bear, who +is at first pampered and then sacrificed, or the ritualistic tug-of-war +performed by the Esquimaux, in which one side, personifying ducks, +represents Summer, whilst the other, personifying ptarmigans, represents +Winter. Although this scepticism is not only very natural, but even +commendable, it is certain that the science of modern anthropology, in +which we may reflect with legitimate pride that England has taken the +lead, rests on very solid foundations. Indeed, its foundations are in +some respects even better assured than those of some other sciences, +such, for instance, as craniology, whose conclusions would appear at +first sight to be capable of more precise demonstration, but which, in +spite of this fair appearance, has as yet yielded results which are +somewhat disappointing. At the birth of every science it is necessary to +postulate something. The postulates that the anthropologist demands +rival in simplicity those formulated by Euclid. He merely asks us to +accept as facts that the main object of every living creature is to go +on living, that he cannot attain this object without being supplied +with food, and that, in the case of man, his supply of food must +necessarily be obtained from the earth, the forest, the sea, or the +river. On the basis of these elementary facts, the anthropologist then +asks us to accept the conclusion that the main beliefs and acts of +primitive man are intimately, and indeed almost solely, connected with +his food supply; and having first, by a deductive process of reasoning, +established a high degree of probability that this conclusion is +correct, he proceeds to confirm its accuracy by reasoning inductively +and showing that a similarity, too marked to be the result of mere +accident or coincidence, exists in the practices which primitive man has +adopted, throughout the world, and which can only be explained on the +assumption that by methods, differing indeed in detail but substantially +the same in principle, endeavours have been, and still are being, made +to secure an identical object, viz. to obtain food and thus to sustain +life. The various methods adopted both in the past and the present are +invariably associated in one form or another with the invocation of +magical influences. The primitive savage, Miss Harrison says, "is a man +of action." He does not pray. He acts. If he wishes for sun or wind or +rain, "he summons his tribe, and dances a sun dance or a wind dance or a +rain dance." If he wants bear's flesh to eat, he does not pray to his +god for strength to outwit or to master the bear, but he rehearses his +hunt in a bear dance. If he notices that two things occur one after the +other, his untrained intellect at once jumps to the conclusion that one +is the cause and the other the effect. Thus in Australia--a specially +fertile field for anthropological research, which has recently been +explored with great thoroughness and intelligence by Messrs. Spencer and +Gillen--the cry of the plover is frequently heard before rain falls. +Therefore, when the natives wish for rain they sing a rain song in which +the cry of that bird is faithfully imitated. + +Before alluding to the special point which Miss Harrison deals with in +_Ancient Art and Ritual_, it will be as well to glance at the views +which she sets forth in her previous illuminating treatise entitled +_Themis_. The former is in reality a continuation of the latter work. +The view heretofore generally entertained as regards the anthropomorphic +gods of Greece has been that the conception of the deity preceded the +adoption of the ritual. Moreover, one school of anthropologists ably +represented by Professor Ridgeway, has maintained that the phenomena of +vegetation spirits, totemism, etc., rose from primary elements, notably +from the belief in the existence of the soul after the death of the +body. Miss Harrison and those who agree with her hold that this view +involves an anthropological heresy. She deprecates the use of the word +"anthropomorphic," which she describes as clumsy and too narrow. She +prefers the expression [Greek: anthropophyes] used by Herodotus (i. +131), signifying "of human growth." She points out that the +anthropomorphism of the Greeks was preceded by theriomorphism and +phytomorphism, that the ritual was "prior to the God," that so long as +man was engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle for bare existence his sole +care was to obtain food, and that during this stage of his existence his +religious observances took almost exclusively the form of magical +inducements to the earth to renew that fertility which, by the +periodicity of the seasons, was at times temporarily suspended. It was +only at a later period, when the struggle for existence had become less +arduous, that the belief in the efficacy of magical rites decayed, and +that in matters of religion the primitive Greeks "shifted from a +nature-god to a human-nature god." + +In her more recent work Miss Harrison reverts to this theme, and +subsequently carries us one step further. She maintains that the +original conception of the Greek drama was in no way spectacular. The +Athenians went to the theatre as we go to church. They did not attend to +see players act, but to take part in certain ritualistic things done +(_dromena_). The priests of Dionysos Eleuthereus, of Apollo +Daphnephoros, and of other deities attended in solemn state to assist in +the performance of the rites. With that keen sense of humour which +enlivens all her pages, and which made her speak in her _Themis_ of the +august father of gods and men as "an automatically explosive +thunderstorm," Miss Harrison says, "It is as though at His Majesty's the +front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the +Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall." The actual +_dromenon_ performed was of the same nature as that which in more modern +times has induced villagers to make Jacks-in-the-Green and to dance +round maypoles. It was always connected with the recurrence of the +seasons and with the death and resurrection of vegetation. In fact, the +whole ritual clustered round the idea represented at a later period in +the well-known and very beautiful lines of Moschus in the _Lament for +Bion_, which may be freely translated thus: + + Ah me! The mallows, anise, and each flower + That withers at the blast of winter's breath + Await the vernal, renovating hour + And joyously awake from feigned death. + +The idea which impelled these ancient Greeks to perform ritualistic +_dromena_ on their orchestras, which took the place of what we should +call the stage, is not yet dead. Miss Harrison quotes from Mr. Lawson's +work on modern Greek folklore, which is a perfect mine of knowledge on +the subject of the survival of ancient religious customs in modern +Greece, the story of an old woman in Euboea who was asked on Easter Eve +why village society was in a state of gloom and despondency, and who +replied: "Of course, I am anxious; for if Christ does not rise +to-morrow, we shall have no corn this year." + +It was during the fifth century that the _dromenon_ and the Dionysiac +Dithyramb passed to some extent away and were merged into the drama. +"Homer came to Athens, and out of Homeric stories playwrights began to +make their plots." The chief agent in effecting this important change +was the so-called "tyrant" Pisistratus, who was probably a free-thinker +and "cared little for magic and ancestral ghosts," but who for political +reasons wished to transport the Dionysia from the country to the town. +"Now," Miss Harrison says, "to bring Homer to Athens was like opening +the eyes of the blind." Independently of the inevitable growth of +scepticism which was the natural result of increased knowledge and more +acute powers of observation, it is no very hazardous conjecture to +assume that the quick-witted and pleasure-loving Athenians welcomed the +relief afforded to the dreary monotony of the ancient _dromena_ by the +introduction of the more lively episodes drawn from the heroic sagas. +"Without destroying the old, Pisistratus contrived to introduce the new, +to add to the old plot of Summer and Winter the life-stories of heroes, +and thereby arose the drama." + +Having established her case so far, Miss Harrison makes what she herself +terms "a great leap." She passes from the thing _done_, whether +_dromenon_ or drama, to the thing _made_. She holds that as it was the +god who arose from the rite, similarly it was the ritual connected with +the worship of the god which gave birth to his representation in +sculpture. Art, she says, is not, as is commonly supposed, the "handmaid +of religion." "She springs straight out of the rite, and her first +outward leap is the image of the god." Miss Harrison gives two examples +to substantiate her contention. In the first place, she states at some +length arguments of irrefutable validity to show that the Panathenaic +frieze, which originally surrounded the Parthenon, represents a great +ritual procession, and she adds, "Practically the whole of the reliefs +that remain to us from the archaic period, and a very large proportion +of those of later date, when they do not represent heroic mythology, are +ritual reliefs, 'votive' reliefs, as we call them; that is, prayers or +praises translated into stone." + +Miss Harrison's second example is eminently calculated to give a shock +to the conventional ideas generally entertained, for, as she herself +says, if there is a statue in the world which apparently represents "art +for art's sake" it is that of the Apollo Belvedere. Much discussion has +taken place as to what Apollo is supposed to be doing in this famous +statue. "There is only one answer. We do not know." Miss Harrison, +however, thinks that as he is poised on tiptoe he may be in the act of +taking flight from the earth. Eventually, after discussing the matter at +some little length, she appears to come to the audacious conclusion +which, in spite of its hardy irreverence, may very probably be true, +that as Apollo was, after all, only an early Jack-in-the-Green, he has +been artistically represented in marble by some sculptor of genius in +that capacity. + +Finally, before leaving this very interesting and instructive work, it +may be noted that Miss Harrison quotes a remarkable passage from +Athenaeus (xiv. 26), which certainly affords strong confirmation of her +view that in the eyes of ancient authors there was an intimate +connection between art and dancing, and therefore, inasmuch as dancing +was ritualistic, between art and ritual. "The statues of the craftsmen +of old times," Athenaeus says, "are the relics of ancient dancing." + +It is greatly to be hoped that Miss Harrison will continue the study of +this subject, and that she will eventually give to the world the results +of her further inquiries. + +[Footnote 104: _Ancient Art and Ritual._ By Miss Jane Harrison. London: +Williams and Norgate. 1s.] + + + + +XXIV + +PORTUGUESE SLAVERY + +_"The Spectator," August 16, 23, 30, 1913_ + + +It is impossible to read the White Paper recently published on the +subject of slavery in the West African dominions of Portugal without +coming to the conclusion that the discussion has been allowed to +degenerate into a rather unseemly wrangle between the Foreign Office +officials and the Anti-Slavery Society. There is always a considerable +risk that this will happen when enthusiasts and officials are brought +into contact with each other. On the one hand, the enthusiasts in any +great cause are rather prone to let their emotions dominate their +reason, to generalise on somewhat imperfect data, and occasionally to +fall unwittingly into making statements of fact which, if not altogether +incorrect, are exaggerated or partial. On the other hand, there is a +disposition on the part of officials to push to an excess Sir Arthur +Helps's dictum that most of the evils of the world arise from +inaccuracy, and to surround all enthusiasts with one general atmosphere +of profound mistrust. An old official may perhaps be allowed to say, +without giving offence, that, quite apart from the nobility and moral +worth of the issue at stake, it is, from the point of view of mere +worldly wisdom, a very great error to adopt this latter attitude. There +are enthusiasts and enthusiasts. It is probably quite useless for an +anti-suffragist or a supporter of vivisection to endeavour to meet +half-way a militant suffragist or a whole-hearted anti-vivisectionist. +In these cases the line of cleavage is too marked to admit of +compromise, and still less of co-operation. But the case is very +different if the matter under discussion is the suppression of slavery. +Here it may readily be admitted that both the enthusiasts and the +officials, although they may differ in opinion as to the methods which +should be adopted, are honestly striving to attain the same objects. The +Anti-Slavery Society, and those who habitually work with them, have +performed work of which their countrymen are very justly proud. But they +are not infallible. It is quite right that the accuracy of any +statements which they make should be carefully tested by whatever means +exist for testing them. For instance, when the Society of Friends[105] +say that they are in possession of "first-hand information" to show that +"atrocities" are being committed in the Portuguese dominions, the +Foreign Office is obviously justified in asking them to state on what +evidence this formidable accusation is founded, and when it appears that +they cannot produce "exactly the kind of evidence as to 'atrocities' +which would strengthen your (_i.e._ the British Government's) hands in +any protest made by you to the Portuguese Government," it is not +unnatural that the officials should be somewhat hardened in their belief +that humanitarian testimony has to be accepted with caution. It would +obviously be much wiser for the humanitarians to recognise that +incorrect statements, or sweeping generalisations which are incapable of +proof, do their cause more harm than good. + +The fact that erroneous statements are frequently made in controversial +matters, and that the data on which generalisations are based are often +imperfect, should not, however, beget the error of attaching undue +importance to matters of this sort, and thus failing to see the wood by +reason of the trees. What object, for instance, is to be gained by +addressing to the Anti-Slavery Society a remonstrance because they only +quote a portion and not the whole of a conversation between Sir Edward +Grey and the Portuguese Minister (M. de Bocage) when, on reference to +the account of that conversation, it would appear that the passages +omitted were not very material to the point under discussion? Again, +considering that the manner in which the so-called "contracts" with +slaves are concluded is notorious, is it not rather begging the question +and falling back on a legal quibble to say that there would "be no +reason for insisting on the repatriation (of a British subject) if he +were working under a contract which could not be shown to be illegal"? +Can it be expected, moreover, that Sir Eyre Crowe's contention that the +slaves "are now legally free" should carry much conviction when it is +abundantly clear from the testimony of all independent and also official +witnesses that this legal freedom does not constitute freedom in the +sense in which we generally employ the term, but that it has, in fact, +up to the present time been little more than an euphemism for slavery? + +Every allowance should, of course, be made for the embarrassing position +in which the present Government of Portugal, from no fault of its own, +is placed. The fact, however, remains that at this moment the criticisms +of those who are interested in the cause of anti-slavery are not solely +directed against the Portuguese Government. They also demur to the +attitude taken up by the British Government. It is, indeed, impossible +to read the papers presented to Parliament without feeling that the +Archbishop of Canterbury was justified in saying, during a recent debate +in the House of Lords, that the Foreign Office and its subordinates have +shown some excess of zeal in apologising for the Portuguese. After all, +it should not be forgotten that the voice of civilised humanity calls +loudly on the Portuguese Government and nation to purge themselves, and +that speedily, of a very heinous offence against civilisation, namely, +that of placing their black fellow-creatures much on the same footing as +the oxen that plough their fields and the horses which draw their carts, +in order that the white man may acquire wealth. It is only fair to +remember that at no very remote period of their history the Anglo-Saxon +race were also guilty of this offence; but the facts that one branch of +that race purged itself of crime by the expenditure of huge sums of +money, and that the other branch shed its best blood in order to ensure +the black man's freedom, give them a moral right, based on very +substantial title-deeds, to plead the cause of freedom. Neither should +it be forgotten that, whatever mistakes those interested in the +Anti-Slavery cause may make in dealing with points of detail, they are +right on the chief issue--right, that is to say, not merely in +intention, but also on the main fact, viz. that virtual slavery still +exists in the Portuguese dominions. Any one who has had practical +experience of dealing with these matters, and can read between the lines +of the official correspondence, cannot fail to see that if the Foreign +Office authorities, instead of dwelling with somewhat unnecessary +insistence on controversial points and only half-accepting the realities +of the situation, had candidly admitted the main facts and had confined +themselves to a discussion of the means available for arriving at the +object which they, in common with the Anti-Slavery Society, wished to +attain, much useless recrimination might have been avoided and the +interests of the cause would, to a far greater extent, have been served. + +The writer of the present article has had a good deal to do with the +Anti-Slavery and other similar societies, such, for instance, as that +which, until recently, dealt with the affairs of the Congo. He has not +always agreed with their proposals, but, being in thorough sympathy with +the objects which they wished to attain, he was fortunately able to +establish the mutual confidence which that bond of sympathy connoted. He +can, moreover, from his own experience, testify to the fact that, +although there may occasionally be exceptions, the humanitarians +generally, however enthusiastic, are by no means unreasonable. On the +contrary, if once they are thoroughly convinced that the officials are +honestly and energetically striving to do their best to remove the +abuses of which they complain, they are quite prepared to make due +allowance for practical difficulties, and to abstain from causing +unnecessary and hurtful embarrassment. They are not open to the +suspicion which often attaches itself to Parliamentarians who take up +some special cause, viz. that they may be seeking to acquire personal +notoriety or to gain some party advantage. The righteousness and +disinterestedness of their motives cannot be doubted. The question of +the abolition of slavery in the Soudan presented many and great +difficulties, which might easily have formed the subject of acrimonious +correspondence and of agitation in Parliament and in the press. Any such +agitation would very probably have led to the adoption of measures whose +value would have been illusory rather than real, and which might well +have endangered both public security and the economic welfare of the +country. The main reason why no such agitation took place was that a +mutual feeling of confidence was established. Sir Reginald Wingate and +his very able staff of officials were left to deal with the matter after +their own fashion. The result has been that, without the adoption of any +very sensational measures calculated to attract public attention, it may +be said, with truth, that for all practical purposes slavery has quietly +disappeared from the Soudan. But if once this confidence is conspicuous +by its absence, a state of more or less latent warfare between the +humanitarians and the official world, such as that revealed in the +papers recently laid before Parliament, is almost certain to be created, +with the results that the public interests suffer, that rather heated +arguments and counter-arguments are bandied about in the columns of the +newspapers, and that the differences of opinion on minor points between +those who ought to be allies tend to obscure the main issue, and +preclude that co-operation which should be secured, and which in itself +would be no slight earnest of success. + +Stress has been laid on this point because of its practical importance, +and also in the hope that, in connection with this question, it may be +found possible ere long to establish better relations between the +Foreign Office officials and the Anti-Slavery Society than those which +apparently exist at present. There ought to be no great difficulty in +effecting an improvement in those relations, for it cannot for one +moment be doubted that both sides are honestly endeavouring to perform +what they consider to be their duty according to their respective +lights. + +Turning now to the consideration of the question on its own merits, it +is obvious that, before discussing any remedies, it is essential to +arrive at a correct diagnosis of the disease. Is the trade in slaves +still carried on, and does slavery still exist in the Portuguese +dominions? The two points deserve separate treatment, for although +slavery is bad, the slave trade is infinitely worse. + +It is not denied that until very recently the trade in slaves between +the mainland and the Portuguese islands was carried on upon an extensive +scale. The Anti-Slavery Society state that within the last twenty-five +years sixty-three thousand slaves, constituting "a human cargo worth +something over L2,500,000," have been shipped to the islands. Moreover, +it appears that, as was to be expected, this trade was, and perhaps to a +certain extent still is, in the hands of individuals who constitute the +dregs of society, and who, it may confidently be assumed, have not +allowed their operations to be hampered by any kind of moral or humane +scruples. Colonel Freire d'Andrade informed Sir Arthur Hardinge that +"many of the Portuguese slave-traders at Angola had been convicts +sentenced to transportation," who had been allowed to settle in the +colony. "It was from among these old convicts or ex-convict settlers and +their half-caste progeny that the slave-trading element, denounced by +the Belgian Government, was largely recruited; they at least were its +most direct agents." Since the accession to power of the Republican +Government in Portugal the trade in slaves has been absolutely +prohibited. No Government which professes to follow the dictates of +civilisation, and especially of Liberalism, could indeed tolerate for a +day the continuance of such a practice. The question which remains for +consideration is whether the efforts of the Portuguese Government, in +the sincerity of which there can be no doubt, have been successful or +the reverse. Has the cessation of the traffic been real and complete or, +as the Anti-Slavery Society appear disposed to think, only partial and +"nominal"? On this point the evidence is somewhat conflicting. On the +one hand, M. Ramaix, writing on behalf of the Belgian Government on May +1, 1912, says, "It is well known that the slave trade is still carried +on to a certain extent in the neighbourhood of the sources of the +Zambesi and Kasai, in a region which extends over the frontiers of the +Congo, Angola, and North-Western Rhodesia," and on June 8, 1912, Baron +Lalaing, the Belgian Minister in London, said, "At the instigation of +the traders the population living on the two slopes of the watershed, +from Lake Dilolo to the meridian of Kayoyo, are actively engaged in +smuggling, arms traffic, and slave trade." On the other hand, Mr. +Wallace, writing from Livingstone, in Northern Rhodesia, on June 25, +1912, says that "active slave-trading does not now exist along our +borders." On December 6 of the same year he confirmed this statement, +but added, "occasional cases may occur, for the status of slave exists, +but they cannot be many." Looking to all the circumstances of the +case--to the great extent and, in some cases, to the remoteness of the +Portuguese dominions, the ruthless character of the slave-traders, the +pecuniary inducements which exist for engaging in a very lucrative +traffic, the helplessness of the slaves themselves, and the fact that +traffic in slaves is apparently a common inter-tribal practice in +Central Africa, it would be unreasonable to expect that the Portuguese +Government should be able at once to put a complete stop to these +infamous proceedings. It may well be that, in spite of every effort, the +slave trade may still linger on for a while. All that can be reasonably +expected is that the Portuguese authorities should do their utmost to +stop it. That they are doing a good deal cannot be doubted, but it is +somewhat of a shock to read (_Africa_, No. 2 of 1912, p. 59) that Senhor +Vasconcellos rather prided himself on the fact that certain "Europeans +who were found guilty of acts of slave traffic" had merely been +"immediately expelled from the region," and were "not allowed to return +to the colonies." Surely, considering the nature of the offence, a +punishment of this sort errs somewhat on the side of leniency. Had these +men been residing in Egypt or the Soudan they would have been condemned +to penal servitude for a term of years. It is more satisfactory to +learn, on the authority of Colonel Freire d'Andrade, that the convicts +to whom allusion has already been made are "no longer permitted to roam +at large about the colony, but are, save a very few who are allowed to +live outside on giving a security, kept in the forts of Loanda." + +Further, it would appear that until recently the officials who +registered the "servicaes," or native contract labourers, had a direct +pecuniary interest in the matter, and were "thus exposed to the +temptation of not scrutinising too closely the genuineness of the +contracts themselves, or the extent to which they were understood and +accepted by savage or semi-savage contracting parties." In other words, +the Portuguese officials employed in registration, far from having any +inducements offered to them to protect the labourers, were strongly +tempted to engage in what, brushing aside official euphemism, may with +greater accuracy be termed the slave trade pure and simple. It seems +that this practice is now to be altered. The registration fees are no +longer to go into the pockets of the registering officials, but are to +be paid into the Provincial Treasury. The change is unquestionably for +the better. But it is impossible in this connection not to be struck by +the somewhat curious standard of official discipline and morality which +appears to exist in the Portuguese service. Colonel Freire d'Andrade +told Sir Arthur Hardinge that "he knew of one case where L1,000 had been +made over a single contract for 'servicaes' in this way by a local +official who had winked, in this connection, at some dishonest or, at +least, highly doubtful transactions, and who had been censured and +obliged to refund the money." As in the case of the Europeans found +guilty of engaging in the slave trade, the punishment awarded appears to +be somewhat disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. One would +have thought that peculation of this description would have been visited +at least with dismissal, if not with a short sojourn in the Loanda gaol. + +Colonel Freire d'Andrade further states that "the Lisbon Colonial +Office had sent out very stringent orders to the Governor-General of +Angola to put a stop once and for all to these slavery operations. New +military outposts had now been created near the northern and eastern +frontiers of the province." It is to be hoped that these orders will be +obeyed, and that they will prove effectual to attain the object in view. + +On the whole, in spite of some features in the case which would appear +to justify friendly criticism, it would seem that the Portuguese +Government are really endeavouring to suppress the trade in slaves. All +that the British Government can do is to afford them whatever assistance +is possible in British territory, and to encourage them in bold and +strenuous action against the influential opposition whose enmity has +necessarily been evoked. + +Turning now to the question of whether slavery--as distinct from the +slave trade--still exists in Portuguese West Africa, it is to be +observed that it is essential to inquire thoroughly into this question +for the reason already given, viz. that before considering what remedies +should be applied it is very necessary that the true nature of the evil +should be recognised. On this point there is a direct conflict of +opinion. The Anti-Slavery Society maintain that the present system of +contract labourers ('servicaes') is merely another name for slavery, +and as one proof of the wide discrepancy between theory and practice +they point to the fact that whereas there can be no manner of doubt that +undisguised slavery existed until only recently, it was nominally +abolished by law so long ago as 1876. On the other hand, to quote the +words of Mr. Smallbones, the British Consul at Loanda, the Portuguese +Government, whose views on this matter appear to have been received with +a certain amount of qualified acceptance by the British Foreign Office, +"consistently deny" the existence of a state of slavery. + +The whole controversy really hangs on what is meant by the word +"slavery." In this, as in so many cases, it is easier to say what the +thing is not than to embrace in one short sentence an accurate and +sufficiently wide explanation of what it is. _Definitio est negatio._ De +Brunetiere said that, after fifty years of discussion, it was impossible +to define romanticism. Half a century or more ago, a talented German +writer (Hacklaender) wrote a book entitled _European Slave-life_, in +which he attempted to show that, without knowing it, we were all slaves +one of another, and, in fact, that the artisan working in a cotton +factory or the sempstress employed in a milliner's shop was as truly in +a state of slavery as the negro who at that time was working in the +fields of Georgia or Carolina. In a sense, of course, it may be said +that every one who works for his living, from a Cabinet Minister to a +crossing-sweeper, is a slave, for he has to conform to certain rules, +and unless he works he will be deprived of many advantages which he +wishes to acquire, and may even be reduced to a state of starvation. But +speculations of this sort may be left to the philosopher and the +sociologist. They have little interest for the practical politician. Sir +Edward Grey endeavoured, for the purposes of the subject now under +discussion, to define slavery. "Voluntary engagement," he said, "is not +slavery, but forcible engagement is slavery." The definition is correct +as far as it goes, but it is incomplete, for it fails to answer the +question on which a great part of this Portuguese controversy hangs, +viz. what do the words "voluntary" and "forcible" mean? The truth is +that it is quite unnecessary, in dealing with this subject, to wander +off into a field strewn with dialectical subtleties. It may not be +possible to define slavery with the same mathematical precision which +Euclid gave to his definitions of a straight line or a point, but every +man of ordinary common sense knows the difference between slavery and +freedom in the usual acceptation of those terms. He knows well enough +that however much want or the force of circumstances may oblige an +Englishman, a Frenchman, or a German to accept hard conditions in +fixing the price at which he is prepared to sell his labour or his +services, none of these individuals is, in reality, a slave; and he has +only to inquire very cursorily into the subject to satisfy himself that +the relations between employer and employed in Portuguese West Africa +differ widely from those which exist in any European country, and are in +fact far more akin to what, in the general acceptance of the word, is +termed slavery. + +Broadly speaking, it may be said that the contention that the present +system of contract labour is merely slavery in disguise rests on three +pleas, viz. (1) that even if, as was often the case, the contract +labourers now actually serving were not forcibly recruited, they were +very frequently wholly unaware of the true nature of the engagements +which they had taken, or of the conditions under which they would be +called upon to serve; (2) that not only are they unable to terminate +their contracts if they find they have been deceived, but that even on +the termination of those contracts they are not free to leave their +employers; and (3) that, even when nominal freedom is conceded, they +cannot take advantage of it, for the reason that the employers or their +Government have virtually by their own acts created a state of things +which only leaves the slaves to choose between the alternative of +continuing in a state of servitude or undergoing extreme suffering, +ending not improbably in death. It is submitted that, if these three +propositions can be proved, it is mere juggling with words to maintain +that no state of slavery exists. + +As regards the first point, it is to be observed that when the superior +intelligence and education of the recruiting agents are contrasted with +the complete savagery and ignorance of the individuals recruited, there +is obviously a strong presumption that in numberless cases the latter +have been cozened into making contracts, the nature of which they did +not in the least understand, and this presumption may almost be said to +harden into certainty when the fact, to which allusion has already been +made, is remembered, that the Portuguese officials engaged in the +registration of contract labourers had until very recently a direct +pecuniary interest in augmenting the number of labourers. Further, Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 26, 1912, alludes to a letter signed +"Carlos de Silva," which appeared in a local paper termed the +_Independente_. M. de Silva says that the "servicaes" engaged in Novo +Redondo "all answered the interpreter's question whether they were +willing to go to San Thome with a decided 'No,' which was translated by +the interpreter as signifying their utmost willingness to be embarked." +If this statement is correct, it is in itself almost sufficient to +satisfy the most severe condemnation of the whole system heretofore +adopted. It is, indeed, impossible to read the evidence adduced in the +White Paper without coming to the conclusion that, whatever may be the +case at present, the system of recruiting in the past has not differed +materially from the slave trade. If this be the case, it is clear that, +in spite of any legal technicalities to the contrary, the great majority +of labourers now serving under contract in the islands should, for all +purposes of repatriation and the acquisition of freedom, be placed on a +precisely similar footing to those whose contracts have expired. There +can be no moral justification whatever for taking advantage of the +engagements into which they may have entered to keep them in what is +practically a condition of servitude. + +Recently, certain improvements appeared to have been made in the system +of recruiting. Mr. Smallbones states his "impression that the present +Governor-General will do all in his power to put the recruiting of +native labour on a sound footing." Moreover, that some change has taken +place, and that the labourers are alive to the fact that they have +certain rights, would appear evident from the fact that Vice-Consul +Fussell, writing from Lobito on September 15, 1912, reports that "the +authorities appear unable to oblige natives to contract themselves." It +is not, however, clear that all the changes are in the right direction. +Formerly, M. Carlos de Silva says, "There was at least a slight +guarantee that 'servicaes' were not shipped against their wishes in the +fact that they had to contract in the presence of a curator in this +(_i.e._ the Angola) colony." Now this guarantee has been removed. The +contracts may be made in San Thome before the local guardian, and Mr. +Smallbones, although he is, without doubt, quite right in thinking that +"the best guarantee against abuses will lie in the choice of the +recruiting officials, and the way in which their operations are +controlled," adds the somewhat ominous remark that the object of the +change has been to "override the refusal of a curator in Angola to +contract certain 'servicaes' should the Governor-General consider that +refusal unreasonable or inexpedient." Sir Edward Grey very naturally +drew attention to this point. "It is obvious," he wrote to Sir Arthur +Hardinge, "that a labourer once in San Thome can be much more easily +coerced into accepting his lot than if the contract is publicly made in +Angola before he leaves the mainland." It cannot be said that the answer +he received from M. Texeira Gomes was altogether complete or +satisfactory. All the latter would say was that Colonel Wyllie, who had +lately returned from San Thome, had never heard of any case of a +labourer signing a contract after he had arrived in the island. + +All, therefore, that can at present be said on this branch of the +question is that the evils of the recruiting system which has been so +far adopted are abundantly clear, that the Portuguese Government is +endeavouring to improve that system, but that it would as yet be +premature to pronounce any opinion on the results which are likely to be +obtained. + +The next point to be considered is the position of the contract labourer +on the expiry of his contract. That position is very strikingly +illustrated by an incident which Mr. Smallbones relates in a despatch +dated September 23, 1912. It appears that towards the end of last August +the Governor-General visited an important plantation on which seven +hundred labourers are employed. The contracts of these men had expired. +They asked to be allowed to leave the plantation. They were not +permitted to do so. "Thirteen soldiers were sent from Loanda to +intimidate them, and they returned to work." They were then forced to +recontract. Mr. Smallbones very rightly pointed out to the +Governor-General the illegality of this proceeding. "His Excellency," +he says, "admitted my contention, but remarked that in the present state +of the labour supply such scrupulous observance of the regulations would +entail the entire stoppage of a large plantation, for which he could not +be responsible." Mr. Smallbones adds the following comment: "I have +ventured to relate this incident, because it shows the difficulties of +the situation. The plantation on which it occurred is very well managed, +and the labourers are very well treated there. Yet it has failed to make +the conditions of labour attractive to the natives. And as long as the +Government are unable to force a supply of labour according to the +regulations, they will have to tolerate or even practise irregularities +in order to safeguard the property and interests of the employers." + +There need be no hesitation in recognising "the difficulties of the +situation." They are unquestionably very real. But how does the incident +related by Mr. Smallbones bear on the contention of the Portuguese +Government that no state of slavery exists? In truth, it shatters to +fragments the whole of their argument. As has been already mentioned, +Sir Edward Grey defined "forcible engagement" as "slavery." Can it be +for one moment contended that the engagement of these seven hundred men +was voluntary and not forcible? Obviously not. Therefore slavery still +exists, or at all events existed so late as August 1912. + +The third point to be considered is whether the liberated slave is +practically able to take advantage of the freedom which has been +conferred on him. Assuredly, he cannot do so. Consider what the position +of these men is. They, or their parents before them, have in numerous +instances been forcibly removed from their homes, which often lie at a +great distance from the spot where they are liberated. They are +apparently asked to contribute out of their wages to a repatriation +fund. Why should they do so? They were, in a great many, probably in a +majority of cases, expatriated either against their will or without +really understanding what they were doing. Why should they pay for +repatriation? The responsibility of the Portuguese does not end when the +men have been paid their wages and are set free. Neither can it be for +one moment admitted that that responsibility is limited, as the +Governor-General would appear to maintain in a Memorandum communicated +to Mr. Smallbones on October 25, 1912, merely to seeing that repatriated +slaves disembarked on the mainland "shall be protected against the +effects of the change of climate, and principally against themselves." +No one will expect the Portuguese Government to perform the impossible, +but it is clear that, unless the institution of slavery itself is +considered justifiable, the slaves have a right to be placed by the +Portuguese Government and nation in precisely the same position as they +would have occupied had they never been led into slavery. Apart from the +impossibility, it may, on several grounds, be undesirable to seek to +attain this ideal, but that is no reason why the validity of the moral +claim should not be recognised. In many cases it is abundantly clear +that to speak of a slave liberated at San Thome being really a free man +in the sense in which that word is generally understood, is merely an +abuse of terms. The only freedom he possesses is that created for him by +his employers. It consists of being able to wander aimlessly about the +African mainland at the imminent risk of starvation, or of being robbed +of whatever miserable pittance may have been served out to him. For +these reasons it is maintained that the starting-point for any further +discussion on this question is that the plea that slavery no longer +exists in the West African dominions of Portugal is altogether +untenable. It still exists, though under another name. There remains the +question of how its existence can be terminated. + +The writer of the present article would be the last to underrate the +enormous practical difficulties to be encountered in dealing +effectively with this question. His own experience in cognate matters +enables him in some degree to recognise the nature of those +difficulties. When the _corvee_ system was abolished in Egypt, the +question which really confronted the Government of that country was how +the whole of a very backward population, the vast majority of whom had +for centuries been in reality, though not nominally, slaves, could be +made to understand that, although they would not be flogged if they did +not clear out the mud from the canals on which the irrigation of their +fields depended, they would run an imminent risk of starvation unless +they voluntarily accepted payment for performing that service. The +difficulties were enhanced owing to the facts that the country was in a +state of quasi-bankruptcy, and the political situation was in the +highest degree complicated and bewildering. Nevertheless, after a period +of transition, which, it must be admitted, was somewhat agonising, the +problem was solved, but it was only thoroughly solved after a struggle +which lasted for some years. It is a vivid recollection of the arduous +nature of that struggle that induces the writer of the present article +so far to plead the cause of the Portuguese Government as to urge that, +if once it can be fully established that they are moving steadily but +strenuously in the right direction, no excessive amount of impatience +should be shown if the results obtained do not immediately answer all +the expectations of those who wish to witness the complete abolition of +the hateful system under which the cultivation of cocoa in the West +African Islands has hitherto been conducted. The financial interests +involved are important, and deserve a certain, albeit a limited, amount +of consideration. There need be no hesitation whatever in pressing for +the adoption of measures which may result in diminishing the profits of +the cocoa proprietors and possibly increasing the price paid by the +consumers of cocoa. Indeed, there would be nothing unreasonable in +arguing that the output of cocoa, worth L2,000,000 a year, had much +better be lost to the world altogether rather than that the life of the +present vicious system should be prolonged. But even if it were +desirable--which is probably not the case--it is certainly impossible to +take all the thirty thousand men now employed in the islands and +suddenly transport them elsewhere. It would be Utopian to expect that +the Portuguese Government, in the face of the vehement opposition which +they would certainly have to encounter, would consent to the adoption of +any such heroic measure. As practical men we must, whilst acknowledging +the highly regrettable nature of the facts, accept them as they stand. +Slight importance can, indeed, be attached to the argument put forward +by one of the British Consular authorities, that "the native lives under +far better conditions in San Thome than in his own country." It is +somewhat too much akin to the plea advanced by ardent fox-hunters that +the fox enjoys the sport of being hunted. Neither, although it is +satisfactory to learn that the slaves are now generally well treated, +does this fact in itself constitute any justification for slavery. The +system must disappear, and the main question is to devise some other +less objectionable system to take its place. + +There are two radical solutions of this problem. One is to abandon +cocoa-growing altogether, at all events in the island of Principe, a +part of which is infected with sleeping-sickness, and to start the +industry afresh elsewhere. The other is to substitute free for slave +labour in the islands themselves. Both plans are discussed in +Lieutenant-Colonel Wyllie's very able report addressed to the Foreign +Office on December 8, 1912. This report is, indeed, one of the most +valuable contributions to the literature on this subject which have yet +appeared. Colonel Wyllie has evidently gone thoroughly into the matter, +and, moreover, appears to realise the fact, which all experience +teaches, that slavery is as indefensible from an economic as it is from +a moral point of view. Free labour, when it can be obtained, is far +less expensive than slave labour. + +Colonel Wyllie suggests that the Principe planters should abandon their +present plantations and receive "free grants of land in the fertile and +populous colony of Portuguese Guinea, the soil of which is reported by +all competent authorities to be better suited to cacao-growing than even +that of San Thome itself, and certainly far superior to that of +Principe. Guinea has from time to time supplied labour to these islands, +so that the besetting trouble of the latter is nonexistent there." He +adds: "I am decidedly of opinion that some such scheme as this is the +only cure for the blight that has fallen on the island of Principe." It +would require greater local knowledge than any to which the writer of +the present article can pretend to discuss the merits of this proposal, +but at first sight it would certainly appear to deserve full and careful +consideration. + +But as regards San Thome, which is by far the larger and more important +of the two islands, it would appear that the importation of free labour +is not only the best, but, indeed, the only really possible solution of +the whole problem. It may be suggested that, without by any means +neglecting other points, such as the repatriation of men now serving, +the efforts both of the Portuguese Government and of all others +interested in the question should be mainly centred on this issue. +Something has been already done in this direction, Mr. Harris, writing +in the _Contemporary Review_ of May 1912, said: "Mozambique labour was +tried in 1908, and this experiment is proving, for the time, so +successful, that many planters look to the East rather than West Africa +for their future supply. All available evidence appears to prove that +Cabinda, Cape Verde, and Mozambique labour is, so far as contract labour +goes, fairly recruited and honestly treated as 'free labour.'" It is an +encouraging sign that a Portuguese Company has been formed whose object +is "to recruit free, paid labourers, natives of the provinces of Angola, +Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea." Moreover, the following passage +from Colonel Wyllie's report deserves very special attention: + + "Several San Thome planters," he says, "realising the advantage of + having a more intelligent and industrious labourer than the + Angolan, have signed contracts with an English Company trading in + Liberia for the supply of labour from Cape Palmas and its + hinterland, on terms to which no exception can be taken from any + point of view. Two, if not by now three, batches of Liberians have + arrived at San Thome and have been placed on estates for work. The + Company has posted an English agent there to act as curador to the + men, banking their money, arranging their home remittances, and + mediating in any disputes arising between them and their + employers. The system works wonderfully well, giving satisfaction + both to the masters and to the men, the latter being as pleased + with their treatment as the former are with their physique and + intelligence. There is every prospect of the arrangement being + developed to the extent of enabling Angolan labour to be + permanently dispensed with, and possibly superseding Mozambique + importations as well." + +Colonel Wyllie then goes on to say: "The company and its agents complain +of the many obstacles they have had to overcome in the form of hostility +and intrigue on the part of interested parties. Systematic attempts have +been made in Liberia to intimidate the gangs from going to San Thome by +tales of cruelty practised by the Portuguese in the islands." More +especially it would appear that the "missionaries" have been advising +the Liberians not to accept the offers made to them. It is not +altogether surprising that they should do so, for the Portuguese have +acquired an evil reputation which it will take time to efface. To an +outside observer it would appear that an admirable opportunity is here +afforded for the Portuguese Government and the Anti-Slavery Society, who +are in close relation with many of the missionaries, to co-operate in +the attainment of a common object. Why should not the Portuguese +authorities invite some agents of the Anti-Slavery Society to visit the +islands and place before them evidence which will enable them +conscientiously to guarantee proper treatment to the Liberian labourers, +and why, when they are once convinced, should not those agents, far from +discouraging, encourage Liberians, and perhaps others, to go to San +Thome? If this miracle could be effected--and with real good-will on +both sides it ought to be possible to effect it--a very great step in +advance would have been taken to solve this difficult problem. But in +order to realise such an ideal, mutual confidence would have to be +established. When the affairs of the Congo were under discussion the +Belgian air was thick with rumours that British humanitarianism was a +mere cloak to hide the greed of British merchants. Similar ideas are, it +would appear, now afloat at Lisbon. When men's pockets are touched they +are apt to become extremely suspicious of humanitarian intentions. Mr. +Wingfield, writing on August 17, 1912, said that the Portuguese +Government was not "convinced of the disinterestedness of all those who +criticise them," and he intimated that there were schemes on foot on the +part of British subjects to acquire "rocas" in the islands "at very low +prices." It ought not to be difficult to convince the Portuguese +authorities that the agents employed by the Anti-Slavery Society are in +no way connected with any such projects. On the other hand, it would be +necessary that those agents should be very carefully chosen, that +besides being humanitarians they should have some knowledge of business, +and that they should enter upon their inquiry in a spirit of fairness, +and not with any preconceived intention to push to an extreme any +suspicions they may entertain of Portuguese acts and intentions. It is +suggested that the adoption of some such mode of proceeding as is here +indicated is worthy of consideration. The Foreign Office might very +properly act as an intermediary to bring the two parties together. + +Finally, before leaving this branch of the subject, it is to be observed +that the difficulty of obtaining free labour has occurred elsewhere than +in the Portuguese possessions. It has generally admitted, at all events, +of a partial solution if the labourers are well treated and adequately +paid. Portuguese experience points to a similar conclusion. Mr. +Smallbones, writing on September 23, 1912, quotes the report of the +manager of the Lobito railway, in which the latter, after stating that +he has had no difficulty in obtaining all the labour he has required, +adds, "I attribute the facility in obtaining so large a supply of +labour, relatively cheaply, to the good food we supply them with, and +chiefly to the regularity with which payments in cash are effected, and +also to the justice with which they are treated." + +The question of repatriation remains to be treated. It must, of course, +be remembered that repatriation is an act of justice to the men already +enslaved, but that, by itself, it does little or nothing towards solving +the main difficulties of the slavery problem. Mr. Wingfield, writing to +Sir Edward Grey on August 24, 1912, relates a conversation he had had +with Senhor Vasconcellos. "His Excellency first observed that they were +generally subjected to severe criticism in England, and said to be +fostering slavery because they did not at once repatriate all natives +who had served the term of their original contracts. Now they were +blamed for the misfortunes which resulted from their endeavour to act as +England was always suggesting that they should act!" His Excellency made +what Parliamentarians would call a good debating point, but the +complaint is obviously more specious than real, for what people in +England expect is not merely that the slaves should, if they wish it, be +repatriated, but that the repatriation should be conducted under +reasonably humane conditions. For the purposes of the present argument +it is needless to inquire whether the ghastly story adopted by the +Anti-Slavery Society on the strength of a statement in a Portuguese +newspaper, but denied by the Portuguese Government, that the corpses of +fifty repatriated men who had died of starvation were at one time to be +seen lying about in the outskirts of Benguella, be true or false. +Independently of this incident, all the evidence goes to show that +Colonel Wyllie is saying no more than the truth when he writes: "To +repatriate, _i.e._ to dump on the African mainland without previous +arrangement for his reception, protection, or safe conduct over his +further route, an Angolan or hinterland 'servical' who has spent years +of his life in San Thome, is not merely to sentence him to death, but to +execute that sentence with the shortest possible delay." It is against +this system that those interested in the subject in England protested. +The Portuguese Government appear now to have recognised the justice of +their protests, for they have recently adopted a plan somewhat similar +to that initiated by the late Lord Salisbury for dealing with immigrant +coolies from India. By an Order in Council dated October 17, 1912, it +has been provided that repatriated "servicaes" should receive a grant of +land and should be set up, free of charge, with agricultural implements +and seeds. This is certainly a step in the right direction. It is as yet +too early to say how far the plan will succeed, but if it is honestly +carried out it ought to go far towards solving the repatriation +question. Mr. Smallbones would appear justified in claiming that it +"should be given a fair trial before more heroic measures are applied." +The repatriation fund, which appears, to say the least, to have been +very badly administered, ought, without difficulty, to be able to meet +the expenses which the adoption of this plan will entail. + +[Footnote 105: Mr. E.W. Brooks subsequently wrote to _The Spectator_ to +explain that "the letter in question was in no sense an official letter +from the Society of Friends. It was the product of one small meeting of +that body, which appears to have been misinformed by one or more of its +members, and was in no sense a letter from the Society of Friends, +which, on the subject of Portuguese Slavery, is officially represented +by its Anti-Slavery Committee, of which he is himself the Honorary +Secretary."] + + + + +XXV + +ENGLAND AND ISLAM + +_"The Spectator," August 23, 1913_ + + +Amidst the many important remarks made by Sir Edward Grey in his recent +Parliamentary statement on the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula, none +deserve greater attention than those which dealt with the duties and +responsibilities of England towards Mohammedans in general. It was, +indeed, high time that some clear and authoritative declaration of +principle on this important subject should be made by a Minister of the +Crown. We are constantly being reminded that King George V. is the +greatest Mohammedan ruler in the world, that some seventy millions of +his subjects in India are Moslems, and that the inhabitants of Egypt are +also, for the most part, followers of the Prophet of Arabia. It is not +infrequently maintained that it is a duty incumbent on Great Britain to +defend the interests and to secure the welfare of Moslems all over the +world because a very large number of their co-religionists are British +subjects and reside in British territory. It is not at all surprising +that this claim should be advanced, but it is manifestly one which +cannot be admitted without very great and important qualifications. +Moreover, it is one which, from a European point of view, represents a +somewhat belated order of ideas. It is true that community of religion +constitutes the main bond of union between Russia and the population of +the Balkan Peninsula, but apart from the fact that no such community of +religious thought exists between Christian England and Moslem or Hindu +India, it is to be noted that, generally speaking, the tie of a common +creed, which played so important a part in European politics and +diplomacy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has now been +greatly weakened, even if it has not disappeared altogether. It has been +supplanted almost everywhere by the bond of nationality. No practical +politician would now argue that, if the Protestants of Holland or Sweden +had any special causes for complaint, a direct responsibility rested on +their co-religionists in Germany or England to see that those grievances +were redressed. No Roman Catholic nation would now advance a claim to +interfere in the affairs of Ireland on the ground that the majority of +the population of that country are Roman Catholics. + +This transformation of political thought and action has not yet taken +place in the East. It may be, as some competent observers are disposed +to think, that the principle of nationality is gaining ground in Eastern +countries, but it has certainly not as yet taken firm root. The bond +which holds Moslem societies together is still religious rather than +patriotic. Its binding strength has been greatly enhanced by two +circumstances. One is that Mecca is to the Moslem far more than +Jerusalem is to the Christian or to the Jew. From Delhi to Zanzibar, +from Constantinople to Java, every devout Moslem turns when he prays to +what Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole aptly calls the "cradle of his creed." The +other circumstance is that, although, as Mr. Hughes has said, "we have +not seen a single work of authority, nor met with a single man of +learning who has ever attempted to prove that the Sultans of Turkey are +rightful Caliphs," at the same time the spiritual authority usurped by +Selim I. is generally recognised throughout Islam, with the result not +only that unity of thought has been engendered amongst Moslems, but also +that religion has to a great extent been incorporated into politics, and +identified with the maintenance of a special form of government in a +portion of the Moslem world. + +The growth of the principle of nationality in those eastern countries +which are under western dominion might not inconceivably raise political +issues of considerable magnitude, but in the discussions which have from +time to time taken place on this subject the inconveniences and even +danger caused by the universality of a non-national bond based on +community of religion have perhaps been somewhat unduly neglected. These +inconveniences have, however, always existed. That the policy which led +to the Crimean War and generally the prolonged tension which existed +between England and Russia were due to the British connection with India +is universally recognised. It would be difficult to differentiate the +causes of that tension, and to say how far it was, on the one hand, due +to purely strategical considerations, or, on the other hand, to a desire +to meet the wishes and satisfy the aspirations of the many millions of +Moslems who are British subjects. Since, however, the general diplomatic +relations between England and Russia have, fortunately for both +countries, been placed on a footing of more assured confidence and +friendship than any which have existed for a long time past, strategical +considerations have greatly diminished in importance. The natural result +has been that the alternative plea for regarding Near Eastern affairs +from the point of view of Indian interests has acquired greater +prominence. Those who have been closely in touch with the affairs of +the Near East, and have watched the gradual decay of Turkey, have for +some while past foreseen that the time was inevitably approaching when +British statesmen and the British nation would be forced by the +necessities of the situation to give a definite answer to the question +how far their diplomatic action in Europe would have to be governed by +the alleged obligation to conciliate Moslem opinion in India. That +question received, to a certain limited extent, a practical answer when +Bulgaria declared war on Turkey and when not a voice was raised in this +country to urge that the policy which dictated the Crimean War should be +rehabilitated. + +The answer, however, is not yet complete. England is now apparently +expected by many Moslems to separate herself from the Concert of Europe, +and not impossibly to imperil the peace of the world, in order that the +Turks should continue in occupation of Adrianople. The secretary of the +Punjab Moslem League has informed us through the medium of the press +that unless this is done the efforts of the extreme Indian Nationalists +to secure the sympathies of Mohammedans in India "will meet with growing +success." + +It was in reality to this challenge that Sir Edward Grey replied. His +answer was decisive, and left no manner of doubt as to the policy which +the British Government intends to pursue. It will almost certainly meet +with well-nigh universal approval in this country. After explaining that +the racial sentiments and religious feelings of Moslem subjects of the +Crown would be respected and have full scope, that British policy would +never be one of intolerance or wanton and unprovoked aggression against +a Mohammedan Power, and that the British Government would never join in +any outrage on Mohammedan feelings and sentiments in any part of the +world, Sir Edward Grey added, "We cannot undertake the duty of +protecting Mohammedan Powers outside the British dominions from the +consequences of their own action.... To suppose that we can undertake +the protection of and are bound to regulate our European policy so as to +side with a Mussulman Power when that Mussulman Power rejects the advice +given to it, that is not a claim we can admit." + +These are wise words, and it is greatly to be hoped that not only the +Moslems of Turkey, but also those inhabiting other countries, will read, +mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. Notably, the Moslems of India +should recognise that, with the collapse of Turkish power in Europe, a +new order of things has arisen, that the change which the attitude of +England towards Turkey has undergone is the necessary consequence of +that collapse, and that it does not in the smallest degree connote +unfriendliness to Islam. In fact, they must now endeavour to separate +Islamism from politics. With the single exception of the occupation of +Cyprus, which, as Lord Goschen very truly said at the time, "prevented +British Ambassadors from showing 'clean hands' to the Sultan in proof of +the unselfishness of British action," the policy of England in the Near +East has been actuated, ever since the close of the Napoleonic wars, by +a sincere and wholly disinterested desire to save Turkish statesmen from +the consequences of their own folly. In this cause no effort has been +spared, even to the shedding of the best blood of England. All has been +in vain. History does not relate a more striking instance of the truth +of the old Latin saying that self-deception is the first step on the +road to ruin. Advice tendered in the best interests of the Ottoman +Empire has been persistently rejected. The Turks, who have always been +strangers in Europe, have shown conspicuous inability to comply with the +elementary requirements of European civilisation, and have at last +failed to maintain that military efficiency which has, from the days +when they crossed the Bosphorus, been the sole mainstay of their power +and position. It is, as Sir Edward Grey pointed out, unreasonable to +expect that we should now save them from the consequences of their own +action. Whether Moslems all over the world will or should still continue +to regard the Sultan of Turkey as their spiritual head is a matter on +which it would be presumptuous for a Christian to offer any opinion, but +however this may be, Indian Moslems would do well to recognise the fact +that circumstances, and not the hostility of Great Britain or of any +other foreign Power, have materially altered the position of the Sultan +in so far as the world of politics and diplomacy is concerned. Whether +the statesman in whose hands the destinies of Turkey now lie at once +abandon Adrianople, or whether they continue to remain there for a time +with the certainty that they will be sowing the seeds of further +bloodshed in the near future, one thing is certain. It is that the days +of Turkey as an European Power are numbered. Asia must henceforth be her +sphere of action. + +That these truths should be unpalatable to Indian Moslems is but +natural; neither is it possible to withhold some sympathy from them in +the distress which they must now feel at the partial wreck of the most +important Moslem State which the world has yet seen. But facts, however +distasteful, have to be faced, and it would be truly deplorable if the +non-recognition of those facts should lead our Moslem fellow-subjects +in India to resent the action of the British Government and to adopt a +line of conduct from which they have nothing to gain and everything to +lose. But whatever that line of conduct may be, the duty of the British +Government and nation is clear. Their European policy, whilst allowing +all due weight to Indian interests and sentiment, must in the main be +guided by general considerations based on the necessities of civilised +progress throughout the world, and on the interests and welfare of the +British Empire as a whole. The idea that that policy should be diverted +from its course in order to subserve the cause of a single Moslem Power +which has rejected British advice is, as Sir Edward Grey very rightly +remarked, wholly inadmissible. + + + + +XXVI + +SOME INDIAN PROBLEMS[106] + +_"The Spectator," August 30, 1913_ + + +In spite of the optimism at times displayed in dealing with Indian +affairs, which may be justified on grounds which are often, to say the +least, plausible, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the general +condition of India gives cause for serious reflection, if not for grave +anxiety. We are told on all sides that the East is rapidly awakening +from its torpid slumbers--even to the extent of forgetting that +characteristically Oriental habit of thought embodied in the Arabic +proverb, "Slowness is from God, hurry from the Devil." If this be so, we +must expect that, year by year, problems of ever-increasing complexity +will arise which will tax to the utmost the statesmanship of those +Western nations who are most brought in contact with Eastern peoples. +In these circumstances, it is specially desirable that the different +points of view from which Indian questions may be regarded should be +laid before the British public by representatives of various schools of +thought. But a short time ago a very able Socialist member of Parliament +(Mr. Ramsay MacDonald) gave to the world the impressions he had derived +whilst he was "careering over the plains of Rajputana," and paying +hurried visits to other parts of India. His views, although manifestly +in some degree the result of preconceived opinions, and somewhat tainted +with the dogmatism which is characteristic of the political school of +thought to which he belongs, exhibit at the same time habits of acute +observation and powers of rapid--sometimes unduly rapid--generalisation. +Neither are they, on the whole, so prejudiced as might have been +expected from the antecedents and political connections of the author. +More recently we have had in a work written by Mr. Mallik, which was +lately reviewed in these columns, a striking specimen of one of those +pernicious by-products which are the natural and unavoidable outcome of +Eastern and Western contact. We have now to deal with a work of a very +different type. Many of the very difficult problems which Mr. Mitra +discusses in his interesting series of _Anglo-Indian Studies_ open up a +wide field for differences of opinion, but whatever views may be +entertained about them, all must recognise not only that no kind of +exception can be taken to the general spirit in which Mr. Mitra +approaches Indian subjects, but also that his observations are the +result of deep reflection, and of an honest endeavour to improve rather +than exacerbate racial relations. His remarks are, therefore, well +worthy of consideration. + +Mr. Mitra shows a perfectly legitimate pride in the past history of his +country. He tells us how Hindu international lawyers anticipated Grotius +by some thirty centuries, how the Mahabharata embodies many of the +principles adopted by the Hague Conference, how India preceded Europe in +her knowledge of all the arts and sciences, even including that of +medicine, and how "Hindu drama was in its heyday before the theatres of +England, France, or Spain could be said to exist." But Mr. Mitra's +ardent patriotism does not blind him to the realities of the present +situation. A very intelligent Frenchman, M. Paul Boell, who visited +India a few years ago, came to the conclusion that the real Indian +question was not whether the English were justified in staying in the +country, but whether they could find any moral justification for +withdrawing from it. Mr. Mitra arrives at much the same conclusion as M. +Boell. "If the English were to withdraw from India to-morrow," he says, +"I fear that, notwithstanding all the peace precepts of our Mahabharata, +and in spite of the stupendous philosophy and so-called fatalism of the +Hindus, our Maharajahs would speedily be at each other's throats, as +they were before the _pax Britannica_ was established there." Moreover, +he asserts a principle of vital importance, which is but too often +ignored by his countrymen, and even at times by those who sympathise +with them in England. "Education and knowledge," he says, "can be pumped +into the student, but there is no royal road for instruction in +'capacity of management.' A Clive, with inferior education, may be a +better manager of men or of an industrial concern than the most learned +student." In other words, character rather than intellect is the +foundation not only of national but also of individual greatness--a +profound truth which is brought home every day to those who are engaged +in the actual management of public affairs, especially in the East. Mr. +Mitra, moreover, makes various praiseworthy efforts to dispel certain +illusions frequently nourished by some of his countrymen, and to +diminish the width of the religious gulf which separates the rulers from +the ruled. He quotes with approval Sir Rajendra Mookerjee's complete, +albeit facile, exposure of the fallacy, dear to the hearts of many +Indian press writers and platform speakers, that Indian interests suffer +by the introduction of British capital into India. "It is wise," Sir +Rajendra said, "to allow British capitalists to interest themselves in +our industries and thus take an active part in their development." He +prefers to dwell on the points of similarity which unite rather than on +the differences which separate Hinduism and Christianity. "The two +religions," he says, "have so much in common when one gets down to +essentials that it seems to me this ought to furnish a great bond of +sympathy between the two peoples," and he urges that "every attempt +should be made to utilise the Hindu University to remove the spirit of +segregation which unquestionably exists between the Christian Government +in India and its Hindu subjects, and thus pave the way to harmonious +co-operation between the Aryan rulers and the ruled in India." + +It will be as well, however, to turn from these points to what Mr. Mitra +considers the shortcomings of the British Government. He is not sparing +in his criticisms. He freely admits that British statesmen have devoted +their energies to improving the conditions of the masses, but he adds, +and it must be sorrowfully admitted that he is justified in adding, +"Material advantages set forth in dry statistics have never made a +nation enthusiastically loyal to the Government." He urges that, +especially in dealing with a population the vast majority of which is +illiterate, "it is the _human element_ that counts most in Imperialism, +far more than the dry bones of political economy." In an interesting +chapter of his book entitled _British Statesmanship and Indian +Psychology_, he asks the very pertinent question, "What does loyalty +mean to the Indian, whether Moslem or Hindu?" The answer which he gives +to this question is that when the idea of loyalty is brought before the +native of India, "it comes in most cases with a jerk, and quickly +disappears." The reason for its disappearance is that no bond of +fellowship has been established between the rulers and the ruled, that +the native of India is not made to feel that "he has any real part in +England's greatness," that the influence and high position of the native +Princes receive inadequate recognition, and that no scope is offered to +the military ambition of the citizens of the Indian Empire. "Under the +Crescent, the Hindu has been Commander of a Brigade; under the Union +Jack, even after a century, he sees no likelihood of rising as high as a +little subaltern." + +There is, of course, nothing very new in all this. It has been pointed +out over and over again by all who have considered Indian or Egyptian +problems seriously that the creation of some sort of rather spurious +patriotism when all the elements out of which patriotism naturally grows +are wanting, is rather like searching for the philosopher's stone. At +the same time, when so sympathetic a critic as Mr. Mitra bids us study +the "psychological traits" of Indian character, it is certainly worth +while to inquire whether all that is possible has been done in the way +of evoking sentiments of loyalty based on considerations which lie +outside the domain of material advantage. The most imaginative British +statesman of recent years has been Lord Beaconsfield. Himself a +quasi-Oriental, he grasped the idea that it would be possible to appeal +to the imagination of other Orientals. The laughter which was to some +extent provoked when, at his suggestion, Queen Victoria assumed the +title of Empress of India has now died away, and it is generally +recognised, even by those who are not on other grounds disposed to +indulge in any exaggerated worship of the primrose, that in this respect +Lord Beaconsfield performed an act dictated by true statesmanship. He +appealed to those personal and monarchical sentiments which, to a far +greater extent than democratic ideas, dominate the minds of Easterns. +The somewhat lavish expenditure incurred in connection with the King's +recent visit to India may be justified on similar grounds. Following +generally the same order of ideas, Mr. Mitra has some further +suggestions to make. The question of opening some field to the very +natural aspirations of the martial races and classes of India presents, +indeed, very great practical difficulties which it would be impossible +to discuss adequately on the present occasion. All that can be said is +that, although the well-intentioned efforts so far made to solve this +thorny problem do not appear to have met with all the success they +deserve, it is one which should earnestly engage the attention of the +Government in the hope that some practical and unobjectionable solution +may eventually be found. Mr. Mitra, however, draws attention to other +cognate points which would certainly appear to merit attention. "The +first thing," he says, "necessary to rouse Indian sentiment is to give +India a flag of her own." He points out that Canada, Australia, South +Africa, and some of the West Indian islands have flags of their own, and +he asks why, without in any way serving as a symbol of separation, India +should not be similarly treated? Then, again, he remarks--and it would +be well if some of our Parliamentarians took careful note of the +observation--that "British statesmen, in their zeal for introducing +their democratic system of government into India, forget that India is +pre-eminently an aristocratic land." This appreciation of the Indian +situation formed the basis of the political system favoured by no less +an authority than Sir Henry Lawrence, and stood in marked contrast to +that advocated by his no less distinguished brother, Lord Lawrence. Mr. +Mitra, therefore, suggests that a certain number of ruling princes or +their heirs-apparent should be allowed to sit in a reformed House of +Lords. "Canada," Lord Meath said some years ago, "is already represented +in the House of Lords," and he pertinently asked, "Why should not India +also have her peers in that assembly?" The particular proposal made by +Mr. Mitra in this connection may possibly be open to some objections, +but the general principle which he advocates, as also the suggestion +that a special flag should be devised for India, would certainly appear +to be well worthy of consideration. + +It is interesting to turn to the view entertained by Mr. Mitra on the +recent transfer of the seat of Government from Calcutta to Delhi. He +manifestly does not regard that transfer with any degree of favour. +Moreover, he thinks that from the point of view of the stability of +British rule, a great mistake has been made. Delhi, he says, has "for +centuries symbolised Moslem-Hindu collective sentiment." He assumes that +it is the object of British statesmanship to prevent any union between +Moslems and Hindus, and that the recent transfer will go far to cement +that union. "In transferring the capital to the old centre of Indian +Imperialism, England has, in a flash, aroused memories to a degree that +thousands of demagogues and agitators would not have done in a century." +He holds, therefore, that the action of British statesmen in this +respect may not improbably "produce the reverse of the result they +intended." The question of whether it was or was not wise to transfer +the seat of Government to Delhi is one on which differences of opinion +may well exist, but Mr. Mitra is in error in supposing that either the +British nation collectively or British statesmen individually have ever +proceeded so far on the _divide et impera_ principle as to endeavour in +their own interests to foster and perpetuate racial and religious +animosities. On the contrary, although they have accepted as a fact that +those animosities exist, and although they have at times been obliged to +interfere with a view to preventing one race or religion infringing the +rights and liberties of others, they have persistently done their best +to allay discord and sectarian strife. In spite of Mr. Mitra's obvious +and honourable attempts to preserve an attitude of judicial +impartiality, it is conceivable that in this instance he may, as a +Hindu, have allowed himself to be unconsciously influenced by fear +that, in transferring the capital to a Moslem centre, the British +Government has, in his own words, "placed itself more within the sway of +Moslem influence than the authorities would care to admit." + +Mr. Mitra alludes to several important points of detail, such, for +instance, as the proposal to establish a port at Cochin, which he fears +"may be allowed to perish in the coils of official routine," and the +suggestion made by Sir Rajendra Mookerjee that by a reduction of railway +freights from the mines in the Central Provinces to the port the trade +in manganese might be encouraged. It is to be hoped that these and some +other similar points will receive due attention from the Indian +authorities. Sufficient has been said to justify the opinion that Mr. +Mitra's thoughtful work is a valuable contribution to Indian literature, +and will well repay perusal by all who are interested in the solution of +existing Indian problems. + +[Footnote 106: _Anglo-Indian Studies_. By S.M. Mitra. London: Longmans +and Co. 10s. 6d.] + + + + +XXVII + +THE NAPOLEON OF TAINE[107] + +_"The Spectator" September 13, 1913_ + + +It has happened to most of the great actors on the world's stage that +their posthumous fame has undergone many vicissitudes. _Laudatur ab his, +culpatur ab illis._ They have at times been eulogised or depreciated by +partisan historians who have searched eagerly the records of the past +with a view to eliciting facts and arguments to support the political +views they have severally entertained as regards the present. Even when +no such incentive has existed, the temptation to adopt a novel view of +some celebrated man or woman whose character and career have floated +down the tide of history cast in a conventional mould has occasionally +proved highly attractive from a mere literary point of view. The process +of whitewashing the bad characters of history may almost be said to +have established itself as a fashion. + +A similar fate has attended the historians who have recorded the deeds +of the world's principal actors. A few cases, of which perhaps Ranke is +the most conspicuous, may indeed be cited of historical writers whose +reputations are built on foundations so solid and so impervious to +attack as to defy criticism. But it has more usually happened, as in the +case of Macaulay, that eminent historians have passed through various +phases of repute. The accuracy of their facts, the justice of their +conclusions, their powers of correct generalisation, and the merits or +demerits of their literary style have all been brought into court, with +the result that attention has often been to a great extent diverted from +history to the personality of the historians, and that the verdict +pronounced has varied according to the special qualities the display of +which were for the time being uppermost in the public mind. + +No recent writer of history has experienced these vicissitudes to a +greater extent than the illustrious author of _Les Origines de la France +contemporaine_. That Taine should evoke the enthusiasm of any particular +school of politicians, and still less the partisans of any particular +regime in France, was from the very outset obviously impossible. When +we read his account of the _ancien regime_ we think we are listening to +the voice of a calm but convinced republican or constitutionalist. When +we note his scathing exposure of the criminal folly and ineptitude of +the Jacobins we remain momentarily under the impression that we are +being guided by a writer imbued with strong conservative or even +monarchical sympathies. The iconoclast both of the revolutionary and of +the Napoleonic legends chills alike the heart of the worshippers at +either shrine. A writer who announces in the preface of his work that +the only conclusion at which he is able to arrive, after a profound +study of the most interesting and stormy period of modern history, is +that the government of human beings is an extremely difficult task, will +look in vain for sympathy from all who have adopted any special theory +as to the best way in which that task should be accomplished. Yet, in +spite of Taine's political nihilism, it would be a grave error to +suppose that he has no general principle to enounce, or no plan of +government to propound. Such is far from being the case. Though no +politician, he was a profoundly analytical psychologist. M. Le Bon, in +his brilliant treatise on the psychological laws which govern national +development, says, "Dans toutes manifestations de la vie d'une nation, +nous retrouvons toujours l'ame immuable de la race tissant son propre +destin." The commonplace method of stating the same proposition is to +say that every nation gets the government it deserves. This, in fact, is +the gospel which Taine had to preach. He thought, in Lady +Blennerhassett's words, that it was "the underlying characteristics of a +people; and not their franchise, which determines their Constitution." + +After having enjoyed for long a high reputation amongst non-partisan +students of revolutionary history, Taine's claim to rank as an historian +of the first order has of late been vigorously assailed by a school of +writers, of whom M. Aulard is probably the best known and the most +distinguished. They impugn his authority, and even go so far as to +maintain that his historical testimony is of little or no value. How far +is this view justified? The question is one of real interest to the +historical student, whatsoever may be his nationality, and it is, +perhaps, for more than one reason, of special interest to Englishmen. In +the first place, Taine's method of writing history is eminently +calculated to commend itself to English readers. His mind was eminently +objective. He avoided those brilliant and often somewhat specious _a +priori_ generalisations in which even the best French authors are at +times prone to indulge. His process of reasoning was strictly +inductive. He only drew conclusions when he had laid an elaborate +foundation of facts on which they could be based. The spirit in which he +wrote was more Teutonic than Latin. Again, in the absence of any really +complete English history of the French Revolution--for Carlyle's +rhapsody, in spite of its unquestionable merits, can scarcely be held to +supply the want--most Englishmen have been accustomed to think that, +with De Tocqueville and Taine as their guides, they would be able to +secure an adequate grasp both of the history of the revolutionary period +and of the main political lessons which that history tends to inculcate. + +In a very interesting essay published in Lady Blennerhassett's recent +work, entitled _Sidelights_, which has been admirably translated into +English by Mrs. Guelcher, she deals with the subject now under +discussion. No one could be more fitted to cope with the task. Lady +Blennerhassett's previous contributions to literature, her encyclopaedic +knowledge of historical facts, and her thorough grasp of the main +political, religious, and economic considerations which moved the hearts +and influenced the actions of men during the revolutionary convulsion +give her a claim, which none will dare to dispute, to speak with +authority on this subject. Those who have heretofore looked for +guidance to Taine will, therefore, rejoice to note that she is able to +vindicate his reputation as an historian. "The six volumes of the +_Origines_," she says, "are, like other human works, not free from +errors and exaggerations, but in all essentials their author has proved +himself right, and his singular merit remains." + +As the most suitable illustration of Taine's historical methods Lady +Blennerhassett selects his study of Napoleon. That, she thinks, is "the +severest test of the author's skill." Taine did not, like Fournier and +others, attempt to write a history of Napoleonic facts. The strategical +and tactical genius which enabled Napoleon to sweep across Europe and to +crush Austria and Prussia on the fields of Austerlitz and Jena had no +attraction for him. He wrote a history of ideas. True to his own +psychological habit of thought, he endeavoured to "reconstruct the +figure of Napoleon on psychological and physiological lines." The +justification of this method is to be found in the fact, the truth of +which cannot be gainsaid, that a right estimate of the character of +Napoleon affords one of the principal keys to the true comprehension of +European history for a period of some twenty stirring years. History, +Lord Acton said, "is often made by energetic men steadfastly following +ideas, mostly wrong, that determine events." Napoleon is a case in +point. "The man in Napoleon explains his work." But what were the ideas +of this remarkable man, and were those ideas "mostly wrong"? + +His main idea was certainly to satisfy his personal ambition. "Ma +maitresse," he said, "c'est le pouvoir," and in 1811, when, although he +knew it not, his star was about to wane, he said to the Bavarian General +Wrede, "In three years I shall be master of the universe." He was not +deterred by any love of country, for it should never be forgotten that, +as Lady Blennerhassett says, "this French Caesar was not a Frenchman." +Whatever patriotic feelings moved in his breast were not French but +Corsican. He never even thoroughly mastered the French language, and his +mother spoke not only bad French, but bad Italian. Her natural language, +Masson tells us, was the Corsican _patois_. In order to gratify his +ambition, all considerations based on morality were cast to the winds. +"I am not like any other man," he told Madame de Remusat; "the laws of +morality and decorum do not apply to me." Acting on this principle he +did not hesitate to plunge the world into a series of wars. _Saevit toto +Mars impius orbe._ + +The other fundamental idea which dominated the whole of Napoleon's +conduct was based on Voltaire's cynical dictum, "Quand les hommes +s'attroupent, leurs oreilles s'allongent." He was a total disbeliever in +the wisdom or intelligence of corporate bodies. Therefore, as he told +Sir Henry Keating at St. Helena, "It is necessary always to talk of +liberty, equality, justice, and disinterestedness, and never to grant +any liberty whatever." Low as was his opinion of human intelligence, his +estimate of human honesty was still lower. Mr. Lecky, speaking of +Napoleon's relations with Madame de Stael, says: "A perfectly honest man +was the only kind of man he could never understand. Such a man perplexed +and baffled his calculations, acting on them as the sign of the cross +acts on the machinations of a demon." In his callow youth he had +coquetted with ultra-Liberal ideas. He had even written an essay in +which he expressed warm admiration for Algernon Sidney as an "enemy to +monarchies, princes, and nobles," and added that "there are few kings +who have not deserved to be dethroned." These ideas soon vanished. He +became the incarnation of ruthless but highly intelligent despotism. The +reputation acquired at Marengo gave him the authority which was +necessary as a preliminary to decisive action, and albeit, if all +accounts are true, he lost his head at the most important crisis of his +career and owed success to the firmness of that Sieyes whom he +scornfully called an "ideologue" and a "faiseur de constitutions," +nevertheless on the 18th Brumaire he was able to make captive a tired +nation which pined for peace, and little recked that it was handing over +its destinies to the most ardent devotee of the god of war that the +world has ever known. + +Once seated firmly in his saddle Napoleon proceeded to centralise the +whole French administration, and to establish a regime as despotic as +that of any of the hereditary monarchs who had preceded him. But it was +a despotism of a very different type from theirs. Theirs was stupid, and +excited the jealousy and hatred of almost every class. His was +intelligent and appealed both to the imagination and to the material +interests of every individual Frenchman. Theirs was based on privilege; +his on absolute equality. "About Napoleon's throne," Lady Blennerhassett +says, "were gathered Girondists and Jacobins, Royalists and +Thermidorians, Plebeians and the one-time Knights of the Holy Ghost, +Roman Catholics and Voltaireans. Kitchen lads became marshals; Drouet, +the postmaster of Varennes, became Under-Secretary of State; Fouche, the +torturer and wholesale murderer, a duke; the Suabian candidate for the +Lutheran Ministry, Reinhard, was appointed an Imperial Ambassador; +Murat, son of an innkeeper, a king." + +Death, it has been truly said, is the real measure of greatness. What +now remains of the stupendous fabric erected by Napoleon? "Of the work +of the Conqueror," Lady Blennerhassett says, "not one stone remains upon +another." As regards the internal reconstruction of France, the case is +very different. All inquirers are agreed that Napoleon's work endures. +Taine said that "the machinery of the year VIII." still remains. Mr. +Fisher, in his work on _Napoleonic Statesmanship_, says that Napoleon +"created a bureaucracy more competent, active, and enlightened than any +which Europe had seen." Mr. Bodley bears similar testimony. "The whole +centralised administration of France, which, in its stability, has +survived every political crisis, was the creation of Napoleon and the +keystone of his fabric." + +Napoleon's administrative creations may, indeed, be criticised from many +points of view. Notably, it may be said that, if he did not initiate, he +stimulated that excessive "fonctionnarisme" which is often regarded as +the main defect of the French system. But his creations were adapted to +the special character and genius of the nation over which he ruled. His +main title-deed to enduring fame is that, for good or evil, he +constructed an edifice which, in its main features, has lasted to this +day, which shows no signs of decay, and which has exercised a +predominant influence on the administration and judicial systems of +neighbouring countries. Neither the system itself nor the history of its +creation can be thoroughly understood without a correct appreciation of +the character and political creed of its founder. It is this +consideration which affords an ample justification of the special method +adopted by Taine in dealing with the history of the Napoleonic period. + +Nothing illustrates Napoleon's character more clearly than the numerous +_ana_ which may be culled from the pages of Madame de Remusat, Masson, +Beugnot, Roederer, and others. Of these, some are reproduced by Lady +Blennerhassett. The writer of the present article was informed on good +authority of the following Napoleonic anecdote. It is related that +Napoleon ordered from Breguet, the famous Paris watchmaker, a watch for +his brother Joseph, who was at the time King of Spain. The back was of +blue enamel decorated with the letter J in diamonds. In 1813 Napoleon +was present at a military parade when a messenger arrived bearing a +brief despatch, in which it was stated that the French army had been +completely defeated at Vittoria. It was manifest that Spain was lost. +Always severely practical, all that Napoleon did, after glancing at the +despatch, was to turn to his secretary and say, "Write to Breguet and +tell him that I shall not want that watch." It is believed that the +watch was eventually bought by the Duke of Wellington.[108] + +[Footnote 107: _Sidelights_. By Lady Blennerhassett. Translated by Edith +Guelcher. London: Constable & Co. 7s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 108: My informant in this matter was the late General Sir +Arthur Ellis. Since the above was written, the Duke of Wellington has +informed me that there is at Apsley House a watch, not made by Breguet +but by another Paris watchmaker, on which is inscribed, "Ordered by +Napoleon for his brother Joseph." The cover is ornamented not with a +diamond J, but with a map of the Peninsula. Inside is the portrait of a +lady. I do not doubt that this is the watch to which Sir Arthur Ellis +alluded.] + + + + +XXVIII + +SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL + +_"The Spectator," September 13, 1913_ + + +All historians are agreed that contemporary ballads and broadsheets +constitute a priceless storehouse from which to draw a picture of the +society existing at the period whose history they seek to relate. Some +of those which have survived to become generally known to later ages +show such poverty of imagination and such total absence of literary +merit as to evoke the surprise of posterity at the ephemeral success +which they unquestionably achieved. An instance in point is the +celebrated poem "Lillibullero," or, as it is sometimes written, "Lilli +Burlero." Here is the final stanza of the pitiful doggerel with which +Wharton boasted that he had "sung a king out of three kingdoms": + + There was an old prophecy found in a bog: + Ireland shall be ruled by an ass and a dog; + And now this prophecy is come to pass, + For Talbot's the dog, and James is the ass. + Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la. + +Doggerel as this was, it survived the special occasion for which it was +written. When Queen Anne's reign was well advanced balladmongers were +singing: + + So God bless the Queen and the House of Hanover, + And never may Pope or Pretender come over. + Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la. + +If the song is still remembered by other than historical students, it is +probably more because Uncle Toby, when he was hard pressed in argument, +"had accustomed himself, in such attacks, to whistle Lillibullero," than +for any other reason. + +But whether it be doggerel or dignified verse, popular poetry almost +invariably possesses one great merit. When we read the outpourings of +the seventeenth and eighteenth century poets to the innumerable Julias, +Sacharissas, and Celias whom they celebrated in verse, we cannot but +feel that we are often in contact with a display of spurious passion +which is the outcome of the head rather than of the heart. Thus Johnson +tells us that Prior's Chloe "was probably sometimes ideal, but the woman +with whom he cohabited was a despicable drab of the lowest species." The +case of popular and patriotic poetry is very different. It is wholly +devoid of affectation. Whatever be its literary merits or demerits, it +always represents some genuine and usually deep-rooted conviction. It +enables us to gauge the national aspirations of the day, and to +estimate the character of the nation whose yearnings found expression in +song. The following lines--written by Bishop Still, the reputed author +of "Gammer Gurton's Needle"--very faithfully represent the feelings +excited in England at the time of the Spanish Armada: + + We will not change our Credo + For Pope, nor boke, nor bell; + And yf the Devil come himself + We'll hounde him back to hell. + +The fiery Protestant spirit which is breathed forth in these lines found +its counterpart in Germany. Luther, at a somewhat earlier period, wrote: + + Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, + Und steur des Papsts und Tuerken Mord. + +Take again the case of French Revolutionary poetry. The noble, as also +the ignoble, sides of that vast upheaval were alike represented in the +current popular poetry of the day. Posterity has no difficulty in +understanding why the whole French nation was thrilled by Rouget de +Lisle's famous song, to whose lofty strains the young conscripts rushed +to the frontier in order to hurl back the invaders of their country. On +the other hand, the ferocity of the period found expression in such +lines as: + + Ah! ca ira, ca ira, ca ira! + Les aristocrates a la lanterne, + +which was composed by one Ladre, a street singer, or in the savage +"Carmagnole," a name originally applied to a peasant costume worn in the +Piedmontese town of Carmagnola, and afterwards adopted by the Maenads +and Bacchanals, who sang and danced in frenzied joy over the judicial +murder of poor "Monsieur et Madame Veto." + +The light-hearted and characteristically Latin buoyancy of the French +nation, which they have inherited from the days of that fifth-century +Gaulish bishop (Salvianus) who said that the Roman world was laughing +when it died ("moritur et ridet"), and which has stood them in good +stead in many an arduous trial, is also fully represented in their +national poetry. No other people, after such a crushing defeat as that +incurred at Pavia, would have been convulsed with laughter over the +innumerable stanzas which have immortalised their slain commander, M. de +la Palisse: + + Il mourut le vendredi, + Le dernier jour de son age; + S'il fut mort le samedi, + Il eut vecu davantage. + +The inchoate national aspirations, as also the grave and resolute +patriotism of the Germans, found interpreters of genius in the persons +of Arndt and Koerner, the latter of whom laid down his life for the +people whom he loved so well. During the Napoleonic period all their +compositions, many of which will live so long as the German language +lasts, strike the same note--the determination of Germans to be free: + + Lasst klingen, was nur klingen kann, + Die Trommeln und die Floeten! + Wir wollen heute Mann fuer Mann + Mit Blut das Eisen roeten. + Mit Henkerblut, Franzoesenblut-- + O suesser Tag der Rache! + Das klinget allen Deutschen gut, + Das ist die grosse Sache. + +Some six decades later, when Arndt's famous question "Was ist das +deutsche Vaterland?" was about to receive a practical answer, the German +soldier marched to the frontier to the inspiriting strains of "Die Wacht +am Rhein." + +No more characteristic national poetry was ever written than that evoked +by the civil war which raged in America some fifty years ago. Those who, +like the present writer, were witnesses on the spot of some portion of +that great struggle, are never likely to forget the different +impressions left on their minds by the poetry respectively of the North +and of the South. The pathetic song of the Southerners, "Maryland, my +Maryland," which was composed by Mr. T.R. Randall, appeared, even +whilst the contest was still undecided, to embody the plaintive wail of +a doomed cause, and stood in strong contrast to the aggressive and +almost rollicking vigour of "John Brown's Body" and "The Union for ever, +Hurrah, boys, Hurrah!" + +Even a nation so little distinguished in literature as the Ottoman Turks +is able, under the stress of genuine patriotism, to embody its hopes and +aspirations in stirring verse. The following, which was written during +the last Russo-Turkish war, suffers in translation. Its rhythm and +heroic, albeit savage, vigour may perhaps even be appreciated by those +who are not familiar with the language in which it is written: + + Achalum sanjaklari! + Ghechelim Balkanlari! + Allah! Allah! deyerek, + Dushman kanin' ichelim! + Padishahmiz chok yasha! + Ghazi Osman chok yasha![109] + +Let us now turn to Italy and Greece, the nations from which modern +Europe inherits most of its ideas, and which have furnished the greater +part of the models in which those ideas are expressed, whether in prose +or in verse. + +Although lines from Virgil, who may almost be said to have created Roman +Imperialism, have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, it is +probable that in his day no popular poetry, in the sense in which we +should understand the word, existed. But there is something extremely +pathetic--more especially in the days when the Empire was hastening to +its ruin--in the feeling, little short of adoration, which the Latin +poets showed to the city of Rome, and in the overweening confidence +which they evinced in the stability of Roman rule. This feeling runs +through the whole of Latin literature from the days of Ovid and Virgil +to the fifth-century Rutilius, who was the last of the classic poets. +Virgil speaks of Rome as "the mistress of the world" (maxima rerum +Roma). Claudian deified Rome, "O numen amicum et legum genetrix," and +Rutilius wrote: + + Exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi, + Inter sidereos Roma recepta polos, + Exaudi, genetrix hominum, genetrixque deorum, + Non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus. + +Modern Italians have made ample amends for any lack of purely popular +poetry which may have prevailed in the days of their ancestors. It +would, indeed, have been strange if the enthusiasm for liberty which +arose in the ranks of a highly gifted and emotional nation such as the +Italians had not found expression in song. When the proper time came, +Giusti, Carducci, Mameli, Gordigiani, and scores of others voiced the +patriotic sentiments of their countrymen. They all dwelt on the theme +embodied in the stirring Garibaldian hymn: + + Va fuori d'Italia! + Va fuori, o stranier! + +It will suffice to quote, as an example of the rest, one stanza from an +"Inno di Guerra" chosen at random from a collection of popular poetry +published at Turin in 1863: + + Coraggio ... All' armi, all' armi, + O fanti e cavalieri, + Snudiamo ardenti e fieri, + Snudiam l'invitto acciar! + Dall' Umbria mesto e oppresso + Ci chiama il pio fratello, + Rispondasi all' appello, + Corriamo a guerreggiar! + +The cramping isolation of the city-states of ancient Greece arrested the +growth of Hellenic nationalism, and therefore precluded the birth of any +genuinely nationalist poetry. But it only required the occasion to arise +in order to give birth to patriotic song. Such an occasion was furnished +when, under the pressing danger of Asiatic invasion, some degree of +Hellenic unity and cohesion was temporarily achieved. Then the tuneful +Simonides recorded the raising of an altar to "Zeus, the free man's god, +a fair token of freedom for Hellas." + +In more modern times the long struggle for Greek independence produced a +crop of poets who, if they could not emulate the dignity and linguistic +elegance of their predecessors, were none the less able to express their +national aspirations in rugged but withal very tuneful verse which went +straight to the hearts of their countrymen. The Klephtic ballads played +a very important part in rousing the Greek spirit during the +Graeco-Turkish war at the beginning of the last century. The fine ode of +the Zantiote Solomos has been adopted as the national anthem, whilst the +poetry of another Ionian, Aristotle Valaorites, and of numerous others +glows with genuine and perfervid patriotism. But perhaps the greatest +nationalist poet that modern Greece has produced was Rhigas Pheraios, +who, as proto-martyr in the Greek cause, was executed by the Turks in +1798, with the prophecy on his dying lips that he had "sown a rich seed, +and that the hour was coming when his country would reap its glorious +fruits." His Greek Marseillaise ([Greek: Deute paides ton Hellenon]) is +known to Englishmen through Byron's translation, "Sons of the Greeks, +arise, etc." But the glorious lilt and swing of his _Polemisterion_, +though probably familiar to every child in Greece, is less known in this +country. The lines, + + [Greek: kallitera mias horas eleuthere zoe, + para saranta chronon sklabia kai phylake,] + +recall to the mind Tennyson's + + Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. + +[Footnote 109: + + Let us unfurl the standards! + Let us cross the Balkans! + Shouting "Allah! Allah!" + Let us drink the blood of the foe! + Long live our Padishah! + Long live Ghazi Osman! +] + + + + +XXIX + +SONGS, NAVAL AND MILITARY + +_"The Spectator," September 20, 1913_ + + +A British Aeschylus, were such a person conceivable, might very fitly +tell his countrymen, in the words addressed to Prometheus some +twenty-three centuries ago, that they would find no friend more staunch +than Oceanus: + + [Greek: ou gar pot' ereis hos Okeanou + philos esti bebaioteros soi.] + +In truth, the whole national life of England is summed up in the fine +lines of Swinburne: + + All our past comes wailing in the wind, + And all our future thunders in the sea. + +The natural instincts of a maritime nation are brought out in strong +relief throughout the whole of English literature, from its very birth +down to the present day. The author of "The Lay of Beowulf," whoever he +may have been, rivalled Homer in the awe-stricken epithets he applied to +the "immense stream of ocean murmuring with foam" (_Il._ xviii. 402). +"Then," he wrote, "most like a bird, the foamy-necked floater went +wind-driven over the sea-wave; ... the sea-timber thundered; the wind +over the billows did not hinder the wave-floater in her course; the +sea-goer put forth; forth over the flood floated she, foamy-necked, over +the sea-streams, with wreathed prow until they could make out the cliffs +of the Goths." + +Although the claim of Alfred the Great to be the founder of the British +navy is now generally rejected by historians, it is certain that from +the very earliest times the need of dominating the sea was present in +the minds of Englishmen, and that this feeling gained in strength as the +centuries rolled on and the value of sea-power became more and more +apparent. In a poem entitled "The Libel of English Policy," which is +believed to have been written about the year 1436, the following lines +occur: + + Kepe then the see abought in specialle, + Whiche of England is the rounde walle; + As thoughe England were lykened to a cite. + And the walle enviroun were the see. + Kepe then the see, that is the walle of England, + And then is England kepte by Goddes sonde. + +A long succession of poets dwelt on the same theme. Waller--presumably +during a Royalist phase of his chequered career--addressed the King in +lines which forestalled the very modern political idea that a powerful +British navy is not only necessary for the security of England, but also +affords a guarantee for the peace of all the world: + + Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings + Homage to thee, and peace to all, she brings. + +Thomson's "Rule, Britannia," was not composed till 1740, but before that +time the heroism displayed both by the navy collectively and by +individual sailors was frequently celebrated in popular verse. The death +of Admiral Benbow, who continued to give orders after his leg had been +carried off by a chain-shot at the battle of Carthagena in 1702, is +recorded in the lines: + + While the surgeon dressed his wounds + Thus he said, thus he said, + While the surgeon dressed his wounds thus he said: + "Let my cradle now in haste + On the quarter-deck be placed, + That my enemies I may face + Till I'm dead, till I'm dead." + +But it was more especially the long struggle with Napoleon that led to +an outburst of naval poetry. It is to the national feelings current +during this period that we owe such songs as "The Bay of Biscay, O," by +Andrew Cherry; "Hearts of Oak," by David Garrick[110]; "The Saucy +Arethusa," by Prince Hoare; "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea," by Allan +Cunningham; "Ye Mariners of England," by Thomas Campbell, and a host of +others. Amongst this nautical choir, Charles Dibdin, who was born in +1745, stands pre-eminent. Sir Cyprian Bridge, in his introduction to Mr. +Stone's collection of _Sea Songs_, tells us that it is doubtful whether +Dibdin's songs "were ever very popular on the forecastle." The really +popular songs, he thinks, were of a much more simple type, and were +termed "Fore-bitters," from the fact that the man who sang them took his +place on the fore-bitts, "a stout construction of timber near the +foremast, through which many of the principal ropes were led." However +this may be, there cannot be the smallest doubt that Dibdin's songs +exercised a very powerful effect on landsmen, and contributed greatly to +foster national pride in the navy and popular sympathy with sailors. It +was presumably a cordial recognition of this fact that led Pitt to grant +him a pension. It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive poetry more +calculated to make the chord of national sentiment vibrate responsively +than "Tom Bowling" or that well-known song in which Dibdin depicted at +once the high sense of duty and the rough, albeit affectionate, +love-making of "Poor Jack": + + I said to our Poll, for, d'ye see, she would cry, + When last we made anchor for sea, + What argufies sniv'ling and piping your eye? + Why, what a damn'd fool you must be! + . . . . . + As for me in all weathers, all times, tides and ends, + Nought's a trouble from duty that springs, + For my heart is my Poll's, and my rhino my friend's, + And as for my life it's the King's; + Even when my time comes, ne'er believe me so soft + As for grief to be taken aback, + For the same little cherub that sits up aloft + Will look out a good berth for poor Jack! + +Pride in the navy and its commanders is breathed forth in the following +eulogy of Admiral Jervis (Lord St. Vincent): + + You've heard, I s'pose, the people talk + Of Benbow and Boscawen, + Of Anson, Pocock, Vernon, Hawke, + And many more then going; + All pretty lads, and brave, and rum, + That seed much noble service; + But, Lord, their merit's all a hum, + Compared to Admiral Jervis! + +"Tom Tough" is an example of the same spirit: + + I've sailed with gallant Howe, I've sailed with noble Jervis, + And in valiant Duncan's fleet I've sung yo, heave ho! + Yet more ye shall be knowing, + I was cox'n to Boscawen, + And even with brave Hawke have I nobly faced the foe. + +Perfervid patriotism and ardent loyalty find expression in the following +swinging lines: + + Some drank our Queen, and some our land, + Our glorious land of freedom; + Some that our tars might never stand + For heroes brave to lead 'em! + That beauty in distress might find + Such friends as ne'er would fail her; + But the standing toast that pleased the most + Was--the wind that blows, the ship that goes, + And the lass that loves the sailor! + +The whole-hearted Gallophobia which prevailed at the period, but which +did not preclude generous admiration for a gallant foe, finds, of +course, adequate expression in most of the songs of the period. Thus an +unknown author, who, it is believed, lived at the commencement rather +than at the close of the eighteenth century, wrote: + + Stick stout to orders, messmates, + We'll plunder, burn, and sink, + Then, France, have at your first-rates, + For Britons never shrink: + We'll rummage all we fancy, + We'll bring them in by scores, + And Moll and Kate and Nancy + Shall roll in louis-d'ors. + +It was long before this spirit died out. Twenty-two years after the +battle of Waterloo, when, on the occasion of the coronation of Queen +Victoria, Marshal Soult visited England and it was suggested that the +Duke of Wellington should propose the health of the French army at a +public dinner, he replied: "D---- 'em. I'll have nothing to do with them +but beat them." + +Inspiriting songs, such as "When Johnny comes marching home" and "The +British Grenadiers," which, Mr. Stone informs us, "cannot be older than +1678, when the Grenadier Company was formed, and not later than 1714, +when hand-grenades were discontinued," abundantly testify to the fact +that the British soldier has also not lacked poets to vaunt his prowess. +Many of the military songs have served as a distinct stimulus to +recruiting, and possibly some of them were written with that express +object in view. Sir Ian Hamilton, in his preface to Mr. Stone's +collection of _War Songs_, says, "The Royal Fusiliers are the heroes of +a modern but inspiriting song, 'Fighting with the 7th Royal Fusiliers.' +It was composed in the early 'nineties, and produced such an +overwhelming rush of recruits that the authorities could easily, had +they so chosen, have raised several additional battalions." The writer +of the present article remembers in his childhood to have learnt the +following lines from his old nurse, who was the widow of a corporal in +the army employed in the recruiting service: + + 'Twas in the merry month of May, + When bees from flower to flower do hum, + And soldiers through the town march gay, + And villagers flock to the sound of the drum. + Young Roger swore he'd leave his plough, + His team and tillage all begun; + Of country life he'd had enow, + He'd leave it all and follow the drum. + +The British military has perhaps been somewhat less happily inspired +than the naval muse. Nevertheless the army can boast of some good +poetry. "Why, soldiers, why?" the authorship of which is sometimes +erroneously attributed to Wolfe, is a fine song, and the following lines +written by an unknown author after the crushing blow inflicted on Lord +Galway's force at Almanza, in 1707, display that absence of +discouragement after defeat which is perhaps one of the most severe +tests by which the discipline and spirit of an army can be tried: + + Let no brave soldier be dismayed + For losing of a battle; + We have more forces coming on + Will make Jack Frenchman rattle. + +Abundant evidence might be adduced to show that the British soldier is +amenable to poetic influences. Sir Adam Fergusson, writing to Sir Walter +Scott on August 31, 1811, said that the canto of the _Lady of the Lake_ +describing the stag hunt "was the favourite among the rough sons of the +fighting Third Division," and Professor Courthope in his _History of +English Poetry_ quotes the following passage from Lockhart's _Life of +Scott_: + + When the _Lady of the Lake_ first reached Sir Adam Fergusson, he + was posted with his company on a point of ground exposed to the + enemy's artillery; somewhere no doubt on the lines of Torres + Vedras. The men were ordered to lie prostrate on the ground; while + they kept that attitude, the Captain, kneeling at their head, read + aloud the description of the battle in Canto VI., and the listening + soldiers only interrupted him by a joyous huzza whenever the French + shot struck the bank close above them. + +Finally, before leaving this subject, it may be noted that amidst the +verse, sometimes pathetic and sometimes rollicking, which appealed more +especially to the naval and military temperament, there occasionally +cropped up a political allusion which is very indicative of the state of +popular feeling at the time the songs were composed. Thus the following, +from a song entitled "A cruising we will go," shows the unpopularity of +the war waged against the United States in 1812: + + Be Britain to herself but true, + To France defiance hurled; + Give peace, America, with you, + And war with all the world. + +The sixteenth-century Spaniards embodied a somewhat similar maxim of +State policy as applied to England in the following distich, the +principle of which was, however, flagrantly violated by that fervent +Catholic, Philip II.: + + Con todo el mundo guerra + Y paz con Inglaterra. + +[Footnote 110: Since writing the above it has been pointed out to me +that Garrick's song was composed during the Seven Years' War +(1756-63).] + + + + +INDEX + + +Abu'l'Ala, 65 + +Acton, Lord, and the Turks, 80, 223, 266 + +Acton, Lord, on the making of history, 432 + +Adrianople, occupation of, 411 + +Akbar, Emperor, 40 + +Alexandria, society at, 228 + +Alfred the Great, 450 + +Algeria, French in, 250-263 + +Alison, 216 + +Alliteration, 71 + +Almanza, song on defeat at, 456 + +America and Free Trade, 134, 138 + +America, war with, in 1812, unpopularity of, 457 + +Amherst, Lord, occupies Burma, 288 + +Anarchy, 20 + +Ancient Art and Ritual, 361-371 + +Andrade, Colonel Freire d', 380, 383, 384 + +Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, 162, 167 + +Anglo-Saxon individualism, 15 + +Anthology, translations from, 72 + +Anthropology, bases of, 364 + +Antigonus Gonatas, 351 + +Anti-Slavery Society, 373 + +Apollo Belvedere, 370 + +Aratus of Sicyon, 358 + +Army reform, 107-126 + +Arndt, national poetry, 443 + +Arthur, Sir George, 123 + +Asoka, 355 + +Assouan dam, 296 + +Athenaeus, on dancing, 370 + +Attwood, Mr. Charles, 196 + +Aulard, M., on Taine, 430 + +_Aurengzebe_, 73 + +Australia, field of anthropology, 365 + + +Bacchylides, 65 + +Bacon, 31 + +Barere, 299 + +Barth, Dr., on Hinduism, 88 + +Beaconsfield, Lord, and Egypt, 203 + +Beaconsfield, Lord, and Empress of India, 422 + +Bembo, Cardinal, 56 + +Benbow, Admiral, death of, 451 + +Beowulf, on the sea, 450 + +Berthier, Marshal, 279 + +Bismarck, Prince, on statesmanship, 251 + +_Bleak House_, 119 + +Blennerhassett, Lady, 427-438 + +Bluecher, Marshal, hallucinations of, 285 + +Blunt, Mr. Wilfrid, 81 + +Bodley, Mr., on French administration, 436 + +Boell, M. Paul, 418 + +Bolingbroke, 182 + +Bossuet, definition of heretic, 307 + +Boufflers, Madame de, 231 + +Brahmanism, Sir A. Lyall on, 89 + +Bright, John, and Disraeli, 183 + +British officials and parliamentary institutions, 27 + +Browning, Mrs., 60 + +Brunnow, Baron, and the Balkan States, 275 + +Bryce, Mr., on the writing of history, 214 + +Budget system, 44 + +Buffon, on style, 184 + +Bugeaud, Marshal, 257 + +Bureaucracy, Continental, 29 + +Burgoyne, Sir John, 281 + +Burke, on fiscal symmetry, 39 + +Burma, 287-297 + +Butcher, Dr. S, on Eastern politics, 26 + + +Cabarrus, La (Madame Tallien), 298-306 + +Cambronne, 298 + +Campbell, Lord, Disraeli on, 186 + +Canada and Free Trade, 131 + +Capitulations in Egypt, 156-174 + +Capo d'Istria, Count, 271 + +Cardwell, Lord, 109, 116, 117, 119 + +Carlyle, 219 + +"Carmagnole," the, 442 + +Cavagnari, Major, murder of, 100 + +Cavour, 269, 272 + +Centralisation, 34 + +Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, 244, 248 + +China, 141-155 + +Chinese labour, 147 + +Chinese War of 1860, 120 + +Chitnavis, Sir Gangadhar, 334, 335 + +Chremonides, 357, 358 + +Christianity, effect on Roman Empire, 7-19, 52, 53 + +Claudian on duration of Roman Empire, 1 + +Clinton, Mr. Fynes, 216 + +Cobden, Mr., 127 + +Cobdenism, abuse of, 328 + +Coleridge, on poetry, 59 + +Coleridge, on prose, 55 + +Collier, Jeremy, on Cranmer's death, 56 + +Commerce and Imperialism, 11 + +Confucianism, 143, 153 + +Constantinople, foundation of, 7 + +Constitutions in the East, 141 + +Cornwallis, Lord, 36 + +_Corvee_ in Egypt, 396 + +Cory, Mr. William, 69 + +Cowley's translation of Claudian, 67 + +Creighton, 222 + +Crewe, Marquis of, 330 + +Crimean War and India, 410 + +Crowe, Sir Eyre, 375 + +Curiales, Fiscal Oppression of, 21 + +Curtius Rufinus, 356 + +Curtius, Professor, on the Greek language, 226 + +Curzon, Lord, on army affairs, 243 + +Cyprus, occupation of, 276, 413 + + +Danton, 302, 303 + +Deffand, Madame du, 212 + +Delhi, transfer of Indian Capital to, 424 + +Delos, possession of, 358 + +Demetrius, on style, 227 + +Democracy and Imperialism, 23 + +Democritus, epigram of, 231 + +Demolins, M., on Anglo-Saxons, 15, 28 + +Demosthenes, Professor Bury, on oratory, 57 + +Derby, Lord, the Rupert of debate, 184 + +Dibdin, 452-454 + +Didactic poetry, 61 + +Dietzel, Professor, 137, 337 + +Dino, Duchesse de, 59 + +Disraeli, 177-203 + +Dithyramb, meaning of word, 361 + +Dostoievsky, 205, 210 + +Draga, Queen, 271 + +Dryden, on translation, 55 + +Duckworth, Admiral, 270 + +Dufferin, Lord, and Egypt, 25, 160 + + +East India Company, policy of, 17 + +Education in China, 150 + +Egypt, recent history of, 253 + +Emerson, 54 + +Emerson, on inconsistency, 243 + +Empedocles, translation of, 62 + +Emu Man, 362 + +England and Islam, 407-415 + +English individualism, 30 + +Ennius, 345 + +Epicharmus, 82 + +Esquimaux tug of-war, 363 + +Euhemerism, 89 + +Exarch, Bulgarian, 268 + +Expropriation under Roman law, 41 + + +Famines in India, 146 + +Farrer, Lord, on trade, 12 + +Ferry, M. Jules, and Burma, 290 + +Finance of Roman Empire, 36 + +Fisher, Mr., on _Napoleonic Statesmanship_, 436 + +Flag for India, 423 + +"Fore-bitters," 452 + +Forest Department, Burmese, 294 + +Fouche, 305 + +Free Trade, international aspects of, 127-140 + +Froude, 219 + + +Gardiner, historian of the Stuart period, 221 + +George IV. and Napoleon, 282 + +German word-coining, 70 + +Gibbon and the sciences, 308 + +Gladstone, Mr., translations, 63 + +Gogol, 211 + +Gooch, Mr., 214 + +Gordon, General, and the Mahdi, 101-102 + +Goschen, Lord, and Disraeli, 198 + +Government of Subject Races, 1-53 + +Graham, Sir James, 192 + +Grant, Sir Hope, as a musician, 284 + +Greek adjectives, 70 + +Greek drama, 366 + +Greek joyousness, 212 + +Gregorovius on foreign rule, 84 + +Grenadiers, British, 455 + +Grey, Sir Edward, 168, 411, 412 + +Grey, Sir Edward, definition of slavery, 387, 391, 393 + +Grey, Sir Edward, diplomatic success of, 276 + +Grey, Sir Edward, on the Balkan Peninsula, 407 + +Griboiedof, 210 + +Grundy, Dr., translations, 232 + +Guizot, 217 + + +Hacklaender, on European slave life, 386 + +Hamilton, Alexander, 138 + +Hamilton, Lord George, on Sir Alfred Lyall, 92 + +Harrison, Miss, 361-371 + +Havelock's love of Homer, 359 + +Headlam, Dr., 68 + +Heliogabalus, the Emperor, 299 + +Helps, Sir Arthur, on inaccuracy, 373 + +Hermann, Professor, 311 + +Herrick, translation of, 68 + +Hieronymus, 354 + +History, the writing of, 214-225 + +Hodgkin, Dr. Thomas, 1, 7, 20, 36, 347 + +Homer's women, 315 + +Humanitarianism, 378 + +Hunkiar-Iskelesi, Treaty of, 271 + + +Ilbert Bill, 94 + +Imperial schools of thought, 10 + +Imperialism, Mr. Mallik on, 321 + +Imperialist, profession of faith of, 1 + +India Council, 33 + +India, Customs duties in, 329 + +India, Fiscal Question in, 327-339 + +Indian Frontier policy, 47-49 + +Indian Problems, 416-426 + +Indiction, Roman, 36 + +_Ion_, Dr. Verrall on, 314 + +Ireland, Disraeli's opinion on, 193-194 + +Islam, influence of, 347 + +Italian patriotic poetry, 446 + + +Jaray, M., 165 + +Jebb, Professor, on the humanities, 308 + +Jervis, Admiral, 453 + +Judicial reform in Algeria, 258 + +Julian the Apostate, 353 + +Jute, duty on, 336 + + +Keats, on Melancholy, 60 + +Kennedy, Mr., translations, 68 + +Kitchener, Viscount, 114, 169, 174, 255 + +Klephtic ballads, 447 + + +Labour, free, at San Thome, 400 + +Lacretelle and Madame Tallien, 301 + +Lamartine, 218 + +Lamb on sanity of genius, 61 + +Land revenue system in India, 42-45 + +Land tax in Eastern countries, 40 + +Lanfrey, 218 + +Lawrence, Lord, Afghan policy, 100 + +Lawrence, Lord, Central Asian policy, 47 + +Lawrence, Lord, on Indian Taxation, 45 + +Lawson's Greek Folk-Lore, 368 + +Le Bon, M., on national characteristics, 429 + +Lear, Edward, in Italy, 142 + +Lecky, on morals in politics, 19 + +Legislation in India, 39 + +Lermontof, 210 + +Lessing and Greece, 312 + +Lethbridge, Sir Roper, 327-339 + +"Lillibullero," 439 + +List, Friedrich, on Free Trade, 131 + +Livingstone, Dr., on Portuguese, 11 + +Lucian, 56 + +Lucretius, Dryden's translation of, 62 + +Luther, hymn by, 441 + +Lyall, Sir Alfred, 77-103 + +Lyall, Sir Alfred, on uniformity, 350 + +_Lycidas_, Professor Walker on, 60 + +Lycon, the philosopher, 354 + +Lytton, Earl of, 99 + + +Macaulay, partiality of, 221 + +MacDonald, Mr. Ramsay, 417 + +Mahabharata, 419 + +Mahaffy, Professor, 229 + +Mahdi, the, Sir Alfred Lyall on, 101 + +Mahmoud II., 270 + +Maine, Sir Henry, 96 + +Mallik, Mr., 317-326 + +Manchester School, Disraeli on, 194 + +Manipur massacres, 91 + +Marie Antoinette, 242 + +Marquardt, 216 + +"Maryland, my Maryland," 443 + +Massena, Marshal, 279 + +Maurice, Sir Frederick, 360 + +McIlwraith, Sir Malcolm, 360 + +Meath, Earl of, 424 + +Mecca, importance of, 409 + +Melbourne, Lord, 185 + +Militarism, 126 + +Miller, Mr., 264-276 + +Millet, M. Philippe, 259-262 + +Milner, Viscount, and Party, 237-249 + +Mindon, King of Burma, 289 + +Missionaries in China, 147 + +Mitford, 216 + +Mitra, Mr. S.M., 416-426 + +Mommsen, 216 + +Montalembert, 218 + +Mookerjee, Sir Rajendra, 419, 426 + +Moslems in India, 407 + +Motley, 219 + + +Napoleon, a bad shot, 279 + +Napoleon and Corsica, 433 + +Napoleon and Count Chaptal, 349 + +Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire, 264 + +Napoleon and the battle of Vittoria, 437 + +Napoleon, Roederer on, 92-93 + +Napoleon, Taine on, 348, 427-438 + +Napoleon's patent of nobility, 355 + +Napoleon, Joseph, 437 + +Newbolt, Mr., 91 + +Nicholson, Professor Shield, 135 + +Nietzsche, on Greek simplicity, 227 + +Northbrook, Lord, 118 + +Novelists, political influence of, 208 + + +Ottoman Empire, 264-276 + +Ouvrard, the Banker, 306 + + +Pakenham, Miss (Duchess of Wellington), 283 + +Palisse, M de la, 442 + +Palmerston, Lord, and the Eastern question, 274 + +_Paradise Lost_ and Euripides, 66 + +Paris Commune, 20 + +Party system, 240 + +Pauperisation of Roman Proletariat, 19 + +Peacock, T.L., on education, 310 + +Peasant proprietorship, 197 + +Peel, Sir Robert, 185, 190, 192 + +Peel, Sir Robert, on Free Trade, 199-202 + +Peel, Sir Robert, unpopularity, 202 + +Pericles and public works, 296 + +Pericles, metaphor of, 58 + +Philip II., 457 + +Physiocrates, 16 + +Pitt, on British trade, 11 + +Plagiarism, 65 + +Plato, epitaph by, 235 + +Plevna, defence of, 272 + +Poe, Edgar, 60 + +Poetry, Aristotelian canon, 229 + +_Polemisterion_, 448 + +Polish Diet, 173 + +Poole, Mr. Stanley Lane-, 149 + +"Poor Jack," 453 + +"Popkins's plan," 186 + +Portuguese in Africa, 11 + +Portuguese slavery, 372-406 + +Pouchkine, 210 + +Principe, Island of, 398 + +Prote, epitaph on, 236 + +Prudentius, epitaph on Julian, 353 + +Ptolemy Keraunos, 357 + +Pyrrhus, 352 + + +Rangoon, 290 + +Rao, Sir Dinkur, 84 + +Redmond, Mr., 143 + +Red River campaign, 112 + +Reid, Mr., 340 + +Rhigas Pheraios, 447 + +Ridgeway, Professor, 365 + +Ripon, Marquis of, 98, 331 + +Robespierre, 300, 302, 303, 305 + +Roebuck, Mr. Disraeli on, 186 + +Roman Empire, cause of downfall, 7 + +Rome and Municipal Government, 340-350 + +"Rosa Rosarum," 234 + +_Round Table_, article in, 246 + +Rump, Herr, 152 + +Russian Romance, 204-213 + +Rutilius on power of Rome, 445 + + +Sainte-Beuve, 217 + +St. Cyr, Marshal, as a musician, 284 + +St. Ovinus, epitaph on, 58 + +St.-Victor, Paul de, 57 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, 173 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, and immigrant coolies, 405 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, foreign policy, 101, 123 + +Salisbury, Marquis of, and Turkey, 265 + +Sappho, translation of, 67 + +Scott, Sir George, 291, 294, 295, 297 + +Scott, Sir Walter, advice to Shelley, 285 + +Scott, Sir Walter, Carlyle on, 219 + +Scott, Sir Walter, influence of his poetry on soldiers, 456 + +Seeley, Sir Thomas, 223 + +Sharaki lands in Egypt, 42 + +Shelburne, Lord, 182 + +Shelley, on translating, 59 + +Shelley, Lady, 277-286 + +Silva, Carlos de, 389, 391 + +Slavery, 19 + +Smallbones, Mr., 386, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 403, 406 + +Smith, Dr. Adam, 16 + +Smith, Rev. Sydney, 142 + +Songs, Naval and Military, 449-457 + +Songs, Patriotic and National, 439 + +Soudan, campaign of 1896-98, 112 + +Soudan, commercial policy in, 139 + +Soudan, slavery in the, 379 + +Stael, Madame de, and Napoleon, 434 + +Still, Bishop, 441 + +Stratonice, 356 + +Sultans not rightful Caliphs, 409 + +Surgeon, the, and the soldier, 111 + +Swadeshi movement in India, 86 + +Swift, Dean, 208 + +Swinburne, on the sea, 449 + +Symmons, Dr., on blank verse, 62 + +Szechuan Railway Company, 151 + + +Taine, on Napoleon, 427 + +Tallien, 298-306 + +Tariff wars, 137 + +Tell, William, legend of, 217 + +Tenasserim and E.I. Co. directors, 288 + +Tennyson and Euripides, 65, 81 + +Themistocles, saying of, 341 + +Theodosius, 84 + +Thibaw, King of Burma, 289 + +Thiers on French Conservatism, 197 + +Tiberius, 349 + +Tolstoy, 212 + +Toryism, middle-class, 196 + +Tourguenef, 211 + +Translation and Paraphrase, 54-73 + +Turgot on corporate bodies, 18 + +Turkish war-song, 444 + + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_, 208 + +Usury in the East, 43 + +Utilitarianism, 309 + + +Vandal, M., 142 + +Vasconcellos, Senhor, 383, 404 + +Vauvenargues, 65 + +Venezelos, M., 269 + +Verrall, Dr., 312-316 + +Viceroy of India and his Council, 33 + +Voguee, M. de, 204 + +Voltaire, 209, 434 + + +Waller, on the British Navy, 451 + +Walpole, Sir Robert, 240 + +War Office, 115 + +Wellington, Duke of, and the Ottoman Empire, 264 + +Wellington, Duke of, as a musician, 284 + +Wellington, Duke of, at Waterloo, 284 + +Wellington, Duke of, hatred of French, 454 + +Wellington, Duke of, on Cambronne, 298 + +Wellington, Duke of, on India, 10 + +Wellingtoniana, 277-286 + +Wensleydale, Lord, translation by, 67 + +Wilson, Sir Fleetwood, 332, 338 + +Wingfield, Mr., 402, 404 + +Wolfe, General, 359 + +Wolseley, Viscount, 107 + +Wolseley, Viscount, and Sir Frederick Maurice, 360 + +Wrede, Generals and Napoleon, 433 + +Wyllie, Colonel, 392, 398, 399, 401, 405 + + +THE END + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Political and Literary essays, +1908-1913, by Evelyn Baring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLITICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 17320.txt or 17320.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/2/17320/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Million Book Project) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/17320.zip b/17320.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1294ced --- /dev/null +++ b/17320.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a2d9eb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #17320 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17320) |