Not all men! A great proportion
must be good enough to remain what they are. We could not live without
those whose business it is to bring the reasonableness of the few into
its proper relief. Were it otherwise, there would be no more
reasonableness on earth, would there?"
"And that would be a pity," observed Mr. Heard. "I was much interested,
Count, in what you said yesterday. You spoke of the Mediterranean
becoming once more the center of human activity. There is an attraction
in the idea to one who, like myself, has been brought up on the
classics and has never forgotten his spiritual debt to antiquity. But I
question whether the majority of my countrymen would be moved by such
considerations."
The old man replied:
"I think we need not trouble about majorities. No one can expect a
majority to be stirred by motives other than ignoble. Your English
majority, in particular, is quite unaware of its debt to us: why should
it turn eyes in our direction? But as for other Northern men, the
enlightened ones--I cannot help thinking that they will come to their
senses again one of these days.
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