The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1918-10-17
THE NEW BARBARIANS


ago the whole civilization of the world
except for the remotest part Of Asia, was
, gathered within the Roman Empire
which reached from Britain to Mesopo.
tamia. Armies of barbarians swept down
upon the worlds civilization and extin.
guished it and Europe lay for centuries
in darkness. When Edward Gibbon, the
historian Of this event, finished record.
ing it, he INDUCED himself in some spec.
ulations about whether the present civil
ization could ever be overthrown by 9
similar attack, 7and he concluded that the
chances were against it.
Gibbon was too prudent to be prophet
and that was as far as he went. But now
that the new attack has actually been
made, it is interesting to see he grounds
on which he thought it improbable that it
ever would be. After describing the
great number of barbarians, he came to
the conclusion:
"Such formidable emigrations can no
longer issue from the North 2 . The
reign of independent barbarism is now
contracted to narrow span; and the
remnant of Calmucks or Usbecks, whose
forces may be almost numbered, cannot
seriously excite the apprehension of the
great republic of Europe.
AT this point caution interviewed and
saved Gibbon from the dangers of pro-
phecy:
'Yet this apparents security should
not tempt us to forget that new enemies
nd unknown dangers may possibly arise
from some obscure people, scarcely Wis
ible in the map of the world. The Arabs or
Saracens, who spread their conquests
I, from India to Spain, had languished in
poverty and contempt till Mahomet
! breathed into those savage bodies the
soul Of enthusiasm"
Even if new barbarians should arise,
however, Gibbon comforted himself with
the reflection that their rude arms would
stand no chance against cannon and mo-
dern Notifications. If even this calcula-
ton should prove wrong, still civilization
could not be brught to the feet of the bar
harlan:
IF savage conquerer should issue
from the deserts of Tartary, he must re-
,peatedly vanquish the robust peasants of
Russia, the numerous armies of Ger
many, the gallant mobiles of France, and
the intrepid freedom Of Britain, who,
perhaps, might confederate for their
common defense. Should the victorious
barbarians carry slavery and desolati0n
las far as the Atlantic Ocean, ten thous-
and vessels would transport beyond their
pursuit the remains Of civilized society,
and Europe would revive and flourish
in the American world, which is already
filled with her colonies and institutions"
! Gibbons only mistake was that the
possibility never occurred to him Of the
new barbarians arising within, not with
out, the present boundaries Of civiliza-
ton. He was so accustomed to associate
civilization with book learning and indus
trial advancement that he never thought
OF people which might be civilized in
appearance and yet still be barbaric in
thought. It never occurred to him that
material science was not the whole Of civ
ilization, or that race Of barbarians
armed with complete knowledge Of that
material science and bent on destroying
or enslaving everything outside their
boundaries would surely be q far greater
menace than the ignorant barbarian who
overthrow the worlds civilization four
teen hundred years ago.
Recent news supplies simple in
stance. Attilla was called, and called HIM
self "the Scourge Of God" and historians
dwell on the extinct Of the devastation he
created. Suppose Attilla had been armed
with complete knowledge of modern
science, but at heart had remained as
much barbarian as ever What kind of
devastation would he have caused then?