"Politics are vulgar when they are not liberalised by History."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 270, 11 November 1908, Page 7

"Politics are vulgar when they are not liberalised by History."

" This democratic age is resonant wuh the voices of people -enlightening, or affecting to enlighten, the the world from polpits or platforms; day by day the newspaper presses pour forth untold miles of printed matter, true or untrue, good, bad, or indifferent; and of all this appalling mass of words it is safe to say that not a tithe would be ottered if the speakers and writers, or the audiences for whom they cater, had more historical knowledge, or anything of the historical spirit. I reel profoundly that a working knowledge of the past

FT is a profound truth that was summed up in this memorable * phrase by Sir John Seeley, who had the more right to speak since the practical effects of his own work have been very tangible. That imperial consciousness, in which the attitude of the British world to-day differs so markedly from that of a generation ago, is largely traceable to the impulse given by his brilliant study " The Expansion of England." In great crises modern nations have recognised the practical value, nay the necessity, o.f historical reading. When Prussia lay humiliated at the feet of Napoleon after Jena, the study of history formed an important part of the national movement which in two generations was to end a predominance the French had enjoyed for six centuries. The Prussians conquered in '71 because they knew more, knew more of themselves, of others, of the whole course of history, than did the French, for world histories had followed one another in an unbroken succession from the German press. There are no less than nine world histories of prime importance and and great popularity in Germany—indeed the very earliest, Schlosser's, has now reached its twentieth edition (iSvols). A public brought up on such reading, when the crisis came, was filled with ideals which the most successful general of his time, in his govern- were not illutnent of the Netherlands shewed himself the perfect . T and absolute tyrannt. He boasted, probably with SJOns. In their exaggeration, that: he had executed iS.ooo inhabitants turn the F ren ch in six years. {Vol. XIII., Netherlands, ) after Sedan put history in the front rank of the agents which goto make efficiency. The problem before the British Empire is the greatest that has ever faced a race, and the more challenging because its wise solution lies in the hands, no* of a few, but of each individual in the sovereign democracy. The V/eb of History. " Ignorance of history is a wilful waste of experience." It is only from the knowledge of what has occurred that man can hope to perceive what will occur and judge aright of policies and consequences. The commonest of all sayings in regard to history is that it repeats itself. It is indeed ever the same story, and it is this sameness under infinitely various guises which lends to history its surpassing fascination, and renders it the most potent agent of enlightenment. Land tenure; the relation between the state and the individual, whether as regards taxation, the fostering of industries, or the adoption of measures for the inducement of personal good conduct ; the status of religion ; the attempt to " level-up "' between the rich and the poor ; federation ; defence— these things, present in the minds of all at this election time in a country which has figured in the world drama for barely two generations, are precisely the material of history throughout all ages and in all countries.

The Oldest Complaint in the World. I o imagine that political problems here and now are something cut off and radically different from those which have been wisely or unwisely faced or solved in the past, is in itself the beginning of political error. If the Historians' History of the World did no more than relieve its readers of this blindness, the benefits would amply repay the labour of its production. What has a more " modern " souud than the complaint of decadence in a civilisation which has already reached its prime ? It is the oldest complaint that has come down to us. The Historians' History of the World quotes from an Egyptian document known as " the oldest book in the world," written some. 4000 years 8.C., to show that thoughtful Egyptians of that time regarded civilisation as being past its zenith. They were tired of the degenerate days in which they lived, and looked back to the good old days when the Egyptians, as it seemed to them, were a great people. Of Egyptian history— the most distant from ourselves of which we have record the Editor-in-chief of the History says ;—" When one considers the ancient resident of the vaJley of the Nile as a human being, with desires, emotions, and aspirations almost precisely like our own ; a man struggling to solve the same problems of practical socialism that we are struggling for to-day—then, and then only, can the lessons of ancient Egyptian history be brought home to us in their true meaning and with their true significance." Socialism 800 B.C.

" Amongst the earliest traditions in Greek history are the laws given to Sparta by Lycurgus. Finding a prodigious inequality in Avealth, he had all the old divisions of land cancelled and newones made, that all might be equal. To the same end he practically eliminated the use of money by changing the coinage from o- o ld and silver to iron, so that a yoke of oxen was required to remove the equivalent of £30. He instituted public tables where all ate in common of the same meal such as was appointed by law. Has the most advanced socialism ventured further ? The record of the Greek states is one long commentary upon the subject of federation and its central episode, the thirty years' war between Athens and and. Sparta, is the struggle between the imperial ambitions of a democratic naval power and the disruptive forces of conservative particularism. The accumulation of land in the hands of a few is the central theme of Roman history from the Carthaginian war to the time of Caesar—and so through all the ages, in every chapter throughout the volumes of the History, the reader sees the same humanity facing similar problems, The History carries the vivid and detailed record dawn to the latest legislation in Australia and Wcw Zealand fc& which ceontfies it devotes 4e,eae«wdfi.

should form part of .the necessary equipment, not only of all public speakers and writers, but of the audiences whom they address; for experience is the mother of wisdom, and history is, after all, but the record of the experience of the hnman race. " But how are ordinary people to acquire a knowledge of Tiistory? That was a question that met mc. everywhere during my Tectme.tours. The Historians' History 01 the World » an attempt to meet this difficulty. How far is it likely to do so ?

" I have no hesitation in saying that for the ordinary man The Historians' History of the World will form in itself a historical library better than he could possibly hope to get together at a much greater cost. I shall certainly find these volumes very useful for my own purposes; I therefore have no hesitation in recommending them cordially to otheis."— From an appreciation of the Historians' History of file World, by W. Alisson Phillips, the author of "Modern Europe"

It was, indeed, this necessity, to every man and woman, of historical reading that, at the end of his task filled the Editor's mind. " We grreatly mistake," he writes in his Introduction, " the purport of our story if it does not, on the whole, make for broader views, for truer humanitarianism, for higher morals, personal and communal—in a word, for better citizenship in the fullest and broadest meaning of the term. Indeed, to attain the plane of the best citizenship, historical studies are absolutely essential. No one can have a competent judgment regarding the affairs of his own country without such studies ; no one is a fair judge of the political principles of the party he supports or of the one that he opposes, who has not prepared himself by a study of the political systems of the past. '//ad I begun earlier and spent thirty years in reading history,' said Schiller, '/ should be a very different man and far better than I am.' Echoing these words, we may say that the outlook for every constitutional government would be brighter, if every youth "and every man who exercises, or is about to exercise, the responsibilities of a voter, and every woman whose advice aids or stimulates a father, brother, husband, or son towards the performance of his civic duties, could spend, not thirty years, let us say, but as many weeks, in studying the history of nations. Little fear that students who have made such a start as this would willingly stop these. They would have gained enough of insight to be keenly interested, and it would require no urging to send them on ; for the panorama of history, once we gain a little insight into it as it unfolds before us its never.! ending variety of scenes, can hardly be viewed otherwise than with unflagging interest." Among the distinguished men -who have expressed their appreciation of the Historians' History of the World statesmen are particularly in evidence— Lord Curzon, Lord Milne r, Lord Cromer, the Right Hon. R. B. Haldane. The late Grover Cleveland, who was twice President of the United States, not long before his death expressed himself in the warmest terms as to the value of the History, and in the same strain the Hon. W. Pember Reeves, late High Commissioner for New Zealand, wrote of the benefit that would result from the wide circulation of the work. A booklet, reproducing the opinions of many eminent men, will be sent post free to any reader of this announcement who wishes to see it. And the great quality of history is that, with all its practical usefulness, it makes also the most entertaining reading. Mr. Alison Phillips, author of "Modern Europe," in writing eloquently of the political service performed by the History, truly remarks that the real stories of history surpass the finest fiction in interest, and that even the genius of Scott could add nothing to the historical figures of Louis XI. or Richard and Saladin. The want of a world history was the most obvious gap in English literature. In filling this want, in bringing history back to its proper pJace as the most popular oi all subjects, the Historians' History also supplies the knowledge, the mental training, for which the times most urgently call. "" It is a book for all men and women, and, at the subscription price, the cheapest book ever published. The subscription list can only remain open a short while longer. |f you have not received a subscription form and examined the descriptive pamphlet, you should write for both TO-DAY.

Of the 2SOO line drawings which illustrate the text of the History, those reproduced in this page shew the excellent use made of portraits. The portraits selected are of four men concerned in the great religious upheaval of the Reformation. Besides the 2SOO pictures in the text, the History includes over 200 full page plates.