The morning news., 1888-10-28


head of civilization yet diligently sharpen
ing claws and teeth for struggle With an
equally war-loving race. we lind the de-
scription once al. lied to taat republics
race, half monkey, half tiger, only unsatls-
factory because such nondescrlpt animal
would not be perfect beast" Looking
nearer home, seeing great nation pushing
claims in all directions with Bible in one
hand and repeating rifle most suited tor
these repeated riflings) in the other, the
description of that great nation by certain
European critics as the most coarsely brutal
on the earthS face seems open to no otner
than . weak tn quoque answer, the tauh1
mo real response) "QtiS tuterit GrdcchoS
de Seditione querenteS.n AS for another
nation, this time once more great repuo
lie, which if it has not like the others
boasted of itself as at the head OF clvlllza-
Jion, has taken go-aheadism for It's leading
principle, there are times when the stranger
within its gates conte plates, with wonder
the ways of that nation, socially, pohtl-
cally, an1 above all internationally.
Is there anything which would lead the
philosophic mind to regard the culture ana
civilization of any nation of to-day as sur
passing, nay as equalling, or even approach
ing the culture and civilization of ancient
Athensl | take my own nation Il am brlI-
ish to the backbone), not as setting her at
the head of modern progress, point now
ever, on which, like most Brlto IS, have
strong opinion, but because against her,
like Orlando against himself, 81 know most
faultS,n and can therefore rail most conil-
.,,ouLlV and safely, Suppose an average
Athenian citizen, neither a chief In the ma
ions councils nor a leader among her teach
ers, but yet not altogether one of the Pollol,
we're set in the midst of London and shown
that great city's ways, then carried to the
principal cities of population IN England,
shown our agricultural and rural popula-
ton, instructed in the leading points OF
modern science, taken to our chief eXhl-
bitions of works of art, etc, etc, etc, is
it quite certain that if he spoke his OPINION
honestly he would say: "Y our England
has gone far ahead of the Athens of my
remembrance; not only (which Is ooVlous)
is your science more advanced, but your
philosophy is purer, your average OF Gull
ture is higher. your art and literature pres
ent nober developments, while nstor your
religion and morality, your sense OF right
aud Justice, your manner of government,
old Athens-in the poetic language lang L
think you call it, VIII ch oI have taught
me lis not To- was noO III IL with modern
England" | imagine the Athenian wonld
say nothing of the sort He would be inter
ested by the scientific dlscoverie' OF later
ages in the abstract, pleased probably with
many OF the developments of science a ap-
Dlle0 TO the Wd1IS vi 0ttll1 lllC, OuI O'V'i VA
these points he would note that not all the
scientific knowledge displayed before him
must be credited u this present age, while
many of the Applications Of science Indicate
rather the creation of new wants than new
ways of satisfying old ones. AS for rell-
gion, he would probably be struck rather
by the amazing variety of opinion ana
multiplicity of sectS than by any thing
which he could discern\as permanently i'm
,l,t hoy m "a
In the religion of my time" he might say,
''much that we all knew to be in reality but
the remains of ancient superstitions; perhaps
we sometimes suffered the many-headed to
allow those ancient superStltlons to lnflu-
ence them too strongly, in such sort that
we had to sorrow for many acts OF cruelty
and intolerance; but so far as can judge
our religious tone was purer than yours,
and [ think our morality was decidedly
hioher than YOURS In art we went as
clearly beyond all that have seen of art
here as your science-the accumulation of
1000 years. results goes beyond ours. Your
architecture is simply awful-eXcept in
one or two cases where you follow the an
clients, but perhaps in other cases where you
have followed the ancients most awful of
all. In literature, taking only the litera-
ture of this present age for of your Shakes
peare even the countryman of -Eschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides cannot speak too
highly | find little which approaches ours
in all those qualities which constitute the
real greatness of literature. In philosophy
YOU have undoubtedly some noble milds.
| think our Socrates would have taken as
advanced views as your Herbert Spencer
had he had equal opportunities; Plato, who,
though born in f gina, was Of purely At
tic descent, and Aristotle, who, though Mace
donian by birth, was Athenian by training,
seem to me to surpasS in force of intellect
all others of your philosophers. In our
social life we certainly surpass you, or any
of the nations of to-day of which you have
told me- Assuredly your most brilliant
social gatherings would have seemed dull
and stupid to us Athenians in the palmy
days of Pericles and Alcibiades. Our aspi-
rations as a nation were decidedly higher.
We colonized as you do, but hardly in so
strictly commercial a spirit. We fought,
not unworthly, methinks, for our country.
You have done so in the past; and as far as
pluck and stamina are concerned you doubt
less are able to do it in the future; nation
which in 1912 practically fought all Europe
single handed, and had still finger left to
fight former colony which chose that
time to go to war with her, can hardly
have lost in three-quarters of "A century her
fighting qualities; but frankly these small
wars of yours, with Ashantees, Zulus, Beers,
Egyptians, Soudanese, and the like, do not
impress an old Athenian as very pressive
-esr;ecially when he finds pounds, shillings
and pence at the back of every one of
them"
In other ways, would the contempor-
aries of Isaiah, or Amos, or Micah, strongly
though those prophets denounced the short
comings of their days, have drawn COM
parisons unfavorable to modern races had
the ways of these even as they exist been
made known to theml | doubt if Isaiah,
who denounced his people for Offering the
blood of bulls and sheep to propitiate the
Almighty, would have found in the ways
of modern Churches any remark tble ad-
vance. Our modern material developments
would not wiring praises from Hebrews of
the ancient type.
Even in ancient Egypt and Assyria there
were Developments in the arts, especially in
the mechanical arts, which made some of
our boasted discoveries seem like retrogres-
sion by comparison. The ancient Egypt
ians and AssYrians had not learned to put
the forces of nature into harness as we have;
but what we do by drawing on the earth's
garnered stores, they accomplished by the
well devised application Of human forces,
and they did so much more than we have
done. that the greatest Of their achieve
ments are beyond our powers, with all our
applications Of coal and iron, steam and
electricity. Even as regard science, there
are tnings we might still learn from builders
of the great pyramid, aud of those grand
Ninevitish edifices whose remains even are
more impressive by sheer massiyeneSs than
Is,tI - 1aNv