What are the forces which brought an American to say
things which an Englishman would not dare to say--that in 1915
there was a sanction for a fresh revolutionary movement in China?
First, an interpretation of history so superficial, combined with
such an amazing suppression of contemporary political thought,
that it is difficult to believe that the requirements of the
country were taken in the least bit seriously; secondly, in the
comparisons made between China and the Latin republics, a
deliberate scouting of the all-important racial factor; and,
lastly, a total ignorance of the intellectual qualities which are
by far the most outstanding feature of Chinese civilization.
Dr. Goodnow's method is simplicity itself. In order to prove the
superiority of Monarchism over Republicanism--and thus
deliberately ignoring the moral of the present cataclysmic war--he
ransacks the dust-laden centuries. The English Commonwealth, which
disappeared nearly three hundred years ago, is brought forward as
an example of the dangers which beset a republic, though it is
difficult to see what relation an experiment made before the idea
of representative government had been even understood bears to our
times. But there is worse. The statement is deliberately made that
the reason for the disappearance of that Commonwealth was "that
the problem of succession after the death of Cromwell was
difficult to solve.
Pages:
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256