In spite of
all the changes which have affected religious thought in Catholic
Europe, and of the modern doctrine of tolerance in matters of opinion,
none of the nations by which Islam is immediately confronted to the
north and west have really changed anything of their policy towards her,
since the days when they first resolved on the recovery of "Christian
lands lost to the infidel." It is true that most of them no longer put
forward religious zeal as the motive of their action, or the possession
of the Holy Sepulchre as its immediate object; but under the name of
"civilization" their crusade is no less a continuous reality, and the
direction of their efforts has not ceased to be the resumption by Europe
of political control in the whole of the provinces once forming the
Roman Empire. The sentiment in its origin was a just one, and, though
now become for the most part selfish with the various Christian states,
who see in the advantage to Christendom only an advantage to themselves,
it appeals to an ancient and respectable moral sanction which is in
itself no inconsiderable power. It is certain that the national
conscience neither of France, nor Spain, nor Italy, nor Austria would
repudiate an aggression, however unprovoked, upon any of the still
independent Mussulman states of the Mediterranean, and that the only
judgment passed on such an act by public opinion would be one dependent
on its failure or success.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182