World history; World history -- Juvenile literature
Once more it was England which upset his plans. The greatest glory
of England does not lie in her vast colonial possessions, in her
wealth or her navy, but in the quiet heroism and independence of
her average citizen. The Englishman obeys the law because he knows
that respect for the rights of others marks the difference between a
dog-kennel and civilised society. But he does not recognize the right
of others to interfere with his freedom of thought. If his country
does something which he believes to be wrong, he gets up and says so
and the government which he attacks will respect him and will give
him full protection against the mob which to-day, as in the time of
Socrates, often loves to destroy those who surpass it in courage or
intelligence. There never has been a good cause, however unpopular or
however distant, which has not counted a number of Englishmen among its
staunchest adherents. The mass of the English people are not different
from those in other lands. They stick to the business at hand and have
no time for unpractical “sporting ventures.” But they rather admire
their eccentric neighbour who drops everything to go and fight for
some obscure people in Asia or Africa and when he has been killed they
give him a fine public funeral and hold him up to their children as an
example of valor and chivalry.
Even the police spies of the Holy Alliance were powerless against this
national characteristic. In the year 1824, Lord Byron, a rich young
Englishman who wrote the poetry over which all Europe wept, hoisted
the sails of his yacht and started south to help the Greeks. Three
months later the news spread through Europe that their hero lay dead
in Missolonghi, the last of the Greek strongholds. His lonely death
caught the imagination of the people. In all countries, societies
were formed to help the Greeks. Lafayette, the grand old man of the
American revolution, pleaded their cause in France. The king of Bavaria
sent hundreds of his officers. Money and supplies poured in upon the
starving men of Missolonghi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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