Whether it is wise for England alone to claim Palestine, whether it
would be better if the Entente could do so, I think a serious question.
But in some form they are reverting for the Roman Empire.
Every opportunity has been given for any other empire that could
be its equal, and especially for the great dream of a mission
for Imperial Islam. If ever a human being had a run for his money,
it was the Sultan of the Moslems riding on his Arab steed.
His empire expanded over and beyond the great Greek empire of Byzantium;
a last charge of the chivalry of Poland barely stopped it at the very
gates of Vienna. He was free to unfold everything that was in him,
and he unfolded the death that was in him. He reigned and he could
not rule; he was successful and he did not succeed. His baffled
and retreating enemies left him standing, and he could not stand.
He fell finally with that other half-heathen power in the North,
with which he had made an alliance against the remains of Roman
and Byzantine culture. He fell because barbarism cannot stand;
because even when it succeeds it rather falls on its foes and
crushes them. And after all these things, after all these ages,
with a wearier philosophy, with a heavier heart, we have been forced
to do again the very thing that the Crusaders were derided for doing.
Pages:
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373