New-York tribune., 1910-06-08

I They grew 10 believe that fneg Co1to hlre
others TO do their lighting for them on land.
and on sea, where they did their own hight
/ ing and fought very well they refused In
time OF peace TO make ready fleets so
efficient as either TO insure the Dutch
against the peace being broken or else TO
give them the victory when war came. To
lie opulent ana unarmed is to secure ease
in the present at the almost certain cost OF
disaster in the future.
Mystery in Loss of Dutch Art
II IS therefore easy to see why Holland
lost when she did her position among the
powers; but II Is far more difficult to ex-
plain why ct the same time there shouio
have come at least partial loss OF poslton
IN the world OF art and letters Some spark
CT divine fire burned itself out in the ma
tsonal soul. As the line Of great states
men, Of great warriors by land and sea-
came TO an end SO the line OF the great
Dutch painters ended. The loss OF pre-
eminenoe in the schools followed the loss
or pre-eminence in camp and in council
chamber
IN the little republic OF Holland, as in the
great empire OF Rome, il was not death
which came, but transformation Both
Holland and Italy teach us that races that
fall may rise again. In Holland, as IN the
Scandinavian kingdoms OF Norway ana
Sweden, there was. in a sense no decaoence
at all There was nothing analogous TO
what has befallen so many countries-no
lowering Of the general standard of we'll
being, no general loss Of vitality, no de-
population. What happened was, first,
covering time. in which the country's men
Of action and men Of thought gave it
the nations of
the day: then this period Of command
passed. and the state revolved in an eddy,
aside from the sweep of the mighty cur
rent OF world life: and yet the people them
selves in their internal relations remained
substantially unchanged and in many
fields Of endeavor have now recovered
themselves and play again a leading part
ItaIv's Wonderful Transitions.
In ITALY. where history is recorded for
a far longer time. the course OF afairs
was different. When the Roman Empire
that was really Roman went down in ruin
there followed an interval OF centuries
when the gloom was almost unrelieved.
Every form of luxury and frivolity. or con-
teuptuous repugnance for serious work OF
enerzatfng seIf-indulgence. every form or
vice and weakness which we regard as
most oninous in the civilization Of to-day,
mad been al work throughout Italy Tor
generations The nation had lost all pa
triotism. II had ceased 10 bring fortn
lighters or workers. had ceased to bring
forth men Of mark OF any kind. and the
remnant Of the Italian people covered IN
helnless misery among the horsehoofs OF
the barbarians as the wild northern bands
rode in to take the land for prey and
r-F fe
great cataclysms Of history. but in the end
It vas seen that what came had been IN
part change and growth. II was not all
mere destruction. Not only did Rome leave
a vast heritage Of language, culture. law,
ideas. TO all the modern world, but the
people CT Italy kept the old blood as the
chief strain in their veins. In few cen
trries came a wonderful new birth Of Italy.
Then for four or FIVE hundred years there
was a growth OF many little city states
which IN their energy both in peace and
war. IN their fierce, fervent life, in the
high quality of their men OF arts and let
ters. and in their utter inability 10 combine
SO as 10 preserve order among themselves
or TO repel outside invasion, cannot un-
fairly be compared with classic Greece
Again italy fell and the land was ruled
rv Spaniard or Frenchman or Austrian,
and again in the nineteenth century there
came for the third time a wonderful new
birth.
The End OF Roman Life in Africa.
Contrast this persistence of the old type
in its old home and in certain lands which
it had conquered with its utter disappear
ance in certain other lands where it was
intrusive. but where it at one time seemed
as firmly established as IN Italy-certainiy
as in Spain or GauI. No more curious ex-
ample Of the growth and disappearance OF
2 national type can be found than in the
case Of the Greco-Roman dominion in
Western Asia and Northern Africa All
told. il extended over nearly thousand
wears from the days Of Alexander till
after the time Of HeracIius. Throughout
these lands there vet remain the ruins OF
inn71n1erable cities which tell how firmly
rooted that dominion must once have peen'
-ba oz,ershad dowing and farreachIng I'M
-.-.,,.. q, what occurred IS sufficiently
e4,o7-n bv the familiar fact that the New
--sr+s-,an+ was written in Greek: while 20
-f,a ear1v Christians North Africa seemed
&C rorcr7 2 Latin land as Sicily or the
,-ar1a,- or the Po The intrusive peoples ana
-,,af- culture Nourished in the lands Tor
-,o-soS -u-70a as long that Wnlch mas
a1a,eA5 since modern history. with the
..o,-sge q. Columbus. may fairly be SAID
- have begun: and then they withered
1il,a dry grass before the fame OF the
A-ab invasion. and their place knew them
= r,o-e They overshadowed the groun7;
-bev vanished. and the old types reap
,esrad in their old homes, with beside thefn
= new type, the Arab
Many Changes Still Hidden.
~o,- as 10 all these changes We can AZ
,ess. rA sure of the main facts. we kno"
+pa+ +be Hollander remains in Holland
.ro,,ob the greatness OF Holland mas
-.azea5. u-e know that the Latin blood re-
r-.i7e in italy. whether 10 a greater or less
.,-.,- and that the Latin culture has cleo
- 3, tho African realm II once won, WINE
= has lasted in Spain and France ana
.,,.,oa has extended itself 10 continents
,,,,-or5 ,he ocean We may not know the
causes ~ the facts save partially: but the
4.c+e themselves we do know. But theIe
=, o,,7ar cases in which wc are al present
t-v-,-s-+ even OF the facts: we DO not
80 7J,a+ the changes really were, stlll
,.ss tho hidden causes and meaning OF
.1,,s. ,rapgee. Much remains TO be found
-. beso-e We can speak with any Ger
.si7+v as TO whether some changes hied"
&c s~-,-al diving out or The mere trans
so-r,s,ion Of types. Il is, fo- instance
,.o-,is1.f,,e how little permanent change III
=, ,,+,-siraI makeup cf the people seems
- -. baen worked n Europe by the