30 



DISCOVERY 



rest of the world, is little over 2,000 years old — 

 2,000 years, a mere fraction of the several million 

 jrears during which man has inhabited this earth. 

 And it was started in a small peninsula broken up 

 by mountains and sea into numerous little warfaring 

 states. 



:{; :J: ^ ^ :}: 



But it is doubtful if the Greek spirit would ever 

 have permeated Europe except for the powerful con- 

 soHdation it received at the hands of Rome and of 

 Christianity. Truth, Beauty, Freedom — above all the 

 last in the fullest meaning of the word — these were 

 the teachmgs of Greece. But " freedom, as we 

 know it, is the fruit of the training of \\'estem Europe 

 for many centuries in Greek ideas, conveyed first 

 through Roman channels. ..." I take these words 

 from a recent book by Professor Conway, ^ who has 

 shown in the most enlightening manner the share of 

 the Roman Empire in moulding Western civilisation, 

 and in engrafting into it the idea of justice and free 

 government. As Professor Conway points out in the 

 final chapter in his book, it was mainly the Roman 

 idea of municipal government that saved Europe 

 from complete chaos in the Dark Ages, and was a 

 potent influence in its subsequent rebirth. 



***** 



We have intentionally concerned ourseh^es with the 

 Grteco-Roman elements in our civilisation, and with 

 the debt that we owe to them. We acknowledge at 

 once, without going further into the matter, the vast 

 contribution of Christianity. Lord Milner said towards 

 the end of his presidential address : " Among the 

 factors which for-many generations have made most 

 powerfully for the maintenance of some measure of 

 moral unity among European nations, Christianity and 

 Grteco-Roman culture stand out pre-eminent." 

 ***** 



We are entering a new era of civilisation, in which 

 the idea of internationalism is going to play a big 

 part. There is a tendency amongst extremists to 

 think that the elements of European civilisation, of 

 which we have spoken, are outworn and are likely to 

 be discarded in this new era. We believe that this 

 is not the case. One of the most remarkable signs of 

 the times is the way in which Oriental nations are 

 co-operating with Western civilisation — in the League 

 of Nations, at the Washington Conference, and else- 

 where. To what end ? Surely, on the \\hole, for 

 justice, freedom and order as against slaver}^ treachery, 

 and chaos. And these, taking the broader aspects of 

 their history, are the very things for which our spiri- 

 tual ancestors, the Greeks and Romans, fought and 

 wrote and lived. 



'■ New Sliidics of a Great Ii^heritance. (John Murray, 192 1, 

 7s. bd.) 



The eyes of the world are at the present moment 



fixed scrutinisingly on Russia. We are constantly 



being told that Russia is an enigma, even to her own 



people, that no one can understand this people, since 



they do not understand even themselves. Yet, surely, 



the answer to the enigma is that Russia, while the 



rest of Europe was being impregnated by Roman 



colonisation, lay under the domination of the Mongols ; 



that within her vast frontiers the ideals and races of 



the East and West have been in continuous conflict. 



Such at least is the answer to which any thinking 



person who has read the great Russian novelists, or 



listened to Russian music, or watched the Russian 



ballet, is instinctively driven. In the individual souls 



of these people, cruelty and kindness, uncontrolled 



passions and high ideals, energy and laziness, are 



always trying to get the upper hand of one another. 



Lately we have seen them break up a terrible regime 



of oppression only to replace it by one of far greater 



tyranny and cruelty. 



***** 



But the fight that has been for many centuries, and is 

 still being, waged at a far intenser pitch in Russia, is 

 symptomatic of the fight that is going on all over the 

 world. It is the fight of Western civilisation against 

 slavery, treachery, and chaos. No one who has lived 

 long amongst Oriental peoples will deny that they 

 have much to teach the world, but no one better than 

 he realises the value of the Westerner's attitude to life 

 and humanity. As we have already remarked, we be- 

 lieve that the East on its side is beginning to appreciate 

 many of the teachings of Western civilisation. This is 

 not the juncture in the world's affairs for the people 

 of Europe to discard in education or in aught else 



the bases themselves of that civilisation. 



***** 



From time to time there appears in the daily Press 

 a sensational claim that gold can be made by artificial 

 means. No less than three of these claims were made 

 last year, and altogether about a dozen have been 

 put forward in widely different parts of the world 

 during the past twenty years. There is a great simi- 

 larity about these claims. The claim is always put 

 forward by someone who is quite unknown in the 

 scientific world, and it is a curious mixture of current 

 scientific theories, of experiments that might con- 

 ceivably be carried out, of a certain amount of palpable 

 error and of a good deal of nonsense. For a short period 

 each claim occupies a place in the conversation of 

 educated persons ; a few distinguished scientists are 

 inter\-iewed by the newspapers ; a few economists 

 and others express their opinions, but nothing ever 

 happens and soon the subject drops. 



It may be said at once that this talk about making 



