The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-09-29


In fine, tho continent which Europe
purposes to conquer In not Q continent
occupied by savages. but one full Of great
and small nations. highly though imper-
fectiy civilized. proficient In ell arts except
sculpture and painting. poessssed Of great
cities, great laws. great lterature- and
a great amount OF social happiness. perhaps
greater than exists In Europe. In view
Of this truth. Mr.. Townsend doubts whether
the attempt will succeed. and he hold-
that certainly II will not ruccced without
the infection Of a vast amount Of human
misery. for which government 10y Europe
NAV or may not be a compensation.
In a paper bearing the caption The
lnfuence Of Europe on Asia Mr Town
sand directs attention to tho fact that,
whatever We may belicve concerning pro-
historic migrations. we cannot deny that.
from tho b~eginning Of authentic history
Europe la. received from AsA far more
than she has given. The people Of the
setting sun derived from Asia their let
tiers. their arithmetic. and their knowledge
OF tho way to guide boats out Of sight OF
land, a knowledse which thcy long fai!~i
to turn TO such account a. the Asiatics
turned Il The expeditions In which early
Asiatics must have reached the Islands
Of the South Pacific and America, and
by which early Hindoos conquered and
civilized Java. and early Malays CON
queret Madagascar. and early Arabs reach
cd China. would have r-eined To both Ia"
Greek and the Roman absurd audsciiy
Europe. TIL the Greek power arose. cane
in contact with Asia only because the sem
ites were great traders, skilful otganikcrr
Of Scpoy armies, adventurous nRNlsatorr
and. a. compared with Europeans, civilized
men Whom the Greek power arose. II
seemed for a moment a. n tho process
would lie changed. and. had Alexander
not been stopped by a mu'iny, tho sep
arateness Of Asia might have endei with
him. however. the possibility OF Hcl-
lcnizing Asia was e~xtinsuished and though
the Generals who succeeded him founded
dynasty after dynasty within Asiaiic limits.
the Greeks ultimately left scarcely any
impression Of themselves excopt on a
thin fringe OF he great continent Their
civilization tooa 10 final root and there "a
no people throughout Asia II whom II may
be said that they were fairly Gr"cin-d.
even the Jews. who caught Crock Ideas
best. eventually rejecting them
A. for the Roman. though he had advan-
tages which no predecessor had po-srsssd,
he did not penetrate into Asia oven a. FAR
a. Alexander had penetrated 4 small
Asiatic tnIbc on the eastern border 81 ia"
Mediterranean raised the most difficult
rebellion Rome aver had to -uhdu", Persia
tsat back Rona a. she had never beaten
Alexander. and. when. IN A u 1850. Hal
Ran gave up the game ia" positively forgot
Middle and Farther As.a, a. n th"N had never
existed Hencefurth the Roman became
a. content a. a Chinese lie had ships,
wealth. brave men by tho Thousand. but
he cared To utilize none 81 these instru-
mentaitic-. any more than " he had been
a Chinaman We az" accustomed &" say
that the Roman could not help himself
but what. asks Mr. Townsend. did Ia" lacS
which the Hindoo posscssed when he con
quered Java or the MALAY when D." con
quered NADIA a-car ur the lcrlander when
he reached America and lost a ship there,
or the Maori when. from some fRr-away
island. he took posses-ion Of New Zeal
md The truth is that the Roman was
a very limited person, and though he
succeeded in Southern Europe. he failed
III WI n 'tiIlf'NfNN ~ '' 'Na ~ - h'aH
whore. after reixnlng for four hundred
year,. he stamped himself A. little a. th"
English would te found 9" have STAMPED
themselves # they quilted India to-mor-
row II. made ~ the barharans ~ Gaul
and Of the more stubborn harbarianS Il
iberia Romanlzcl people. hut 81 Estates
he Romanizcd not one tribr
For upward ~ a thousand years. 10 Wit.
-. IA 80 - A n N-sH IL 80. q
Asia remained exclusively Asiatic. only "A
minute corner being even rald"d 10y The
Crusaders Not a province. not a tribe.
scarcely an individual. hal hrCum" p"r-
manentlv ~Europ~sni1ed Throughout m"
period mentioned. not a EuroTran idea.
not a European habit. not a distinct
lively European branch Of knoNlelsr,
penetratrd into Asia During that long
spacc Of time. on the other hand. It
thrcs =ssemed as n Europe might to suit
jugated by the Asistic~. unco hy the Arabs.
once 10y the Tartnrs and once 10y tn" Turks.
but, apparently. an exhaustion Il energy
stopped tho brown men IN their career Of
conquest
L. 1t otherwise to-day. when to the casual
observer fully one-half - Asa seems Ia
have become European Mr.. Townsend
insists hat as a matter ~ fact. neither
Russia nor Great Britain has, as vet. ever
ci-ed any abiding infuenc" on the con
qucred millions In the north 81 Asia
the tribes are only held down bv Russia.
would rebel In a moment n they dared.
and show no sign Of accepting either h"r
81 utilization. her ideas 81 her creed Ia
the south Great Britain has enfunr.si a
peace which has produced manifold hlrSs-
inss. but she has neither won over nor
converted any large ssction 90 her sub
ject population Beneath tho small film
OF white men who make up the Indian
Empire boils or sleeps away a -es ~ dark
men. incurably hostile, who await With
patience their opportunity Our author,
who has lived In India. can discern. ~ vet.
no sign that the British are accomplishing
there more than the Romans accomplished
Ia Britain. lie finds u stall true to-day, ~ II
wa fifty or a hundr"t wears ago. that # they
departed OF were drvenou they would leave
behind them, a. ~" Romans did In Rrt-
ain, splendid roads. many useless build
ingr. an increased weakness in the subicCt
Tsnplc~, and a memory which IN a century
81 new events would be,omo extinct But,
W. arc told. II surely will not bc denied hat
Europe has influenced Japan Nj Town