The Balkan States never have been a problem, they have only been a part of a problem. That is why no human being has ever yet produced even a paper solution acceptable to another human being.
The attempt to settle Balkan affairs with the Austro-Hungarian Empire left out of the problem has been like an attempt to deal with a number of hospital cases in which the head and shoulders of one patient, the legs of another, the abdomen1 of a third had to be disregarded. The bulk of the Servian people and a great mass of the Rumanians were in the Austro-Hungarian system, and it was the Austrian bar to any development of Servia towards the Adriatic that forced that country back into its unhappy conflict with Bulgaria. Now everything has altered. English people need trouble no longer about Austrian susceptibilities, and not merely our interests but our urgent necessities march with the reasonable ambitions of the four Balkan nations.
Let us begin by clearing away a certain amount of 90nonsense that is said and believed by many good people about two of these States. It is too much the custom to speak and write of Servia and Bulgaria as though they were almost hopelessly barbaric and criminal communities, incapable3 of participation4 in the fellowship of European nations. The murder of the late King and Queen of Servia, the assassination5 of Serajevo, the foolish onslaught of Bulgaria upon Servia that led to the break-up of the Balkan League, and the endless cruelties and barbarities of the warfare6 in Macedonia, are allowed to weigh too much against the clear need of a reunited Greater Servia, a restored Bulgaria, and the reasonable prospect7 of a rehabilitated8 Balkan League.
Now there is no getting over the hard facts of these crimes and cruelties. But they have to be kept in their proper proportion to the tremendous issues now before the world. Let us call in a few figures that will fix the scale. The Servian people number altogether over ten millions, the Rumanians as many, there are more than twenty million Poles, and perhaps seven millions Bulgarians. The Czechs and Slovenes total six or seven millions, the Magyars exceed ten millions, and the Ruthenians still under Austrian control four millions. It is manifest to every reasonable Englishman now that very few of these sixty or seventy million people are likely to be socially and politically happy until 91they have got themselves disentangled from intimate subjection to alien rulers speaking unfamiliar9 tongues, and it is equally manifest that until they are reasonably content, the peace of the rest of Europe will remain uncertain. So that it is upon these regions that the peace of England, France, Germany, Russia and Italy rests.
The lives, therefore, of hundreds of millions of people must be affected10, for good or evil, by the sane11 re-mapping and pacification12 of south-eastern Europe. In that sane re-mapping and pacification we are, in fact, dealing13 with matters so gigantic that the mere2 assassination of this person or the murder of that dwindles14 almost to the vanishing point. It is surely preposterous15 that the murder of an unwise young King, who subordinated his nation’s destinies to a romantic love affair, a murder done, not by a whole nation, not even by a mob, but by less than a hundred officers, who were at least as patriotic16 as they were cruel, or even the net of conspiracy17 that killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, should stand in the way of the liberation and unity18 of millions of Serbs who were as innocent of these things as any Wiltshire farmer. All nations have had their criminal and sanguinary phase; the British and American people who profess19 such a horror of Servia’s murders and Bulgaria’s massacres20 must be blankly ignorant of the history of Scotland and Ireland and the darker side of the Red Indians’ destiny. 92If murder conspiracy was hatched in Servia, were there no Fenians in Ireland and America? We English, at any rate, have not let the highly-organised Ph?nix Park murders drown the freedom of Ireland for ever, or cause a war with America. The sooner we English and Americans clear our minds of this self-righteous cant21 against the whole Servian race because of a few horrors inevitable22 in a state of barbaric disturbance23, the sooner we shall be able to help these peoples forward to the freedom and security that alone can make such barbarities impossible. It would be just as reasonable to vow24 undying hatred25 and pitiless vengeance26 against the whole German-speaking race (of seventy millions or so) because of the burning and killing27 in Liège. Stifled28 nations, outraged29 races, are the fortresses30 of resentful cruelty. This war is no cinematograph melodrama31. The deaths of Queen Draga and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand are scarcely in this picture at all. It is not the business of statecraft to avenge32 the past, but to deal with the possibilities of the present and the hope of the future.
And the open possibility of the present is for us to bring about a revival33 of the Balkan League, and identify ourselves with the reasonable hopes of these renascent34 peoples. In that revival England may play an active and directing part. The break-up of the first Balkan League was a deep disappointment 93to liberal opinion throughout the world; but it was not an irrevocable disaster. The wonder was, indeed, not the rupture35 but the union. And the rupture itself was very largely due to the thwarting36 of Servia, not by her associates, but by Austria. Now Austria is out of consideration. For Rumania and for each of the three Balkan Powers, there is a plain, honourable37 and reasonable advantage in a common agreement and concerted action with us now. There are manifest compensations for Greece in Epirus and the islands and—we can spare it—Cyprus. For Bulgaria there is a generous rectification38 of Macedonia. The natural expansion of the two northern States has been already indicated. And should Turkey be foolish and blunder at this crisis, then further very natural and quite desirable readjustments become possible. What holds these States back from concerted action on our side now, is merely the distrusts and enmities left over from the break-up of the first Balkan League. They will not readily trust one another again. But they would trust England. They would sit down now at a conference in which England and Russia and Italy were represented, and to which England and Russia and Italy would bring assurances of a permanent settlement and arrange every detail of their prospective39 boundaries in a day. They would arrange a peace that would last a century. England could do more than reconcile; she could finance. 94And the attack upon Vienna and the German rear would then be reinforced immediately by six or seven hundred thousand seasoned soldiers.
Moreover, it is scarcely possible that Italy could refuse to come into this war if a reunited Balkan League did so. With the Servians in Dalmatia it would be scarcely possible to keep the Italians out of Trieste and Fiume, and long before that earnestly awaited Russian avalanche41 won its way to Berlin, this southern attack might be in Vienna. The time when the scope of this war could be restricted is past long ago, and every fresh soldier who goes into action now shortens the agony of Europe.
But it is not with the immediate40 military advantages of a Balkan League that I am most concerned. A Balkan League of Peace, for mutual42 protection, will be an absolute necessity in a regenerated43 Europe. It is necessary for the tranquillity44 of the world. It is necessary if the Wiltshire farmer is to herd45 his sheep in peace; it is necessary if people are to be prosperous and happy in Chicago and Yokohama. Perhaps “Balkan League” is now an insufficiently46 extensive word, since Rumania is not in the Balkan Peninsula, and Italy must necessarily be involved in any enduring settlement. But it is clear that the settlement of Europe upon liberal lines involves the creation of these various ten-to-twenty-million-people States, 95none of them powerful enough to be secure alone, but amounting in the aggregate47 to the greatest power in Europe, and it is equally clear that they must be linked by some common bond and understanding.
There can be no doubt of the very serious complication of all these possibilities by the jerry-built dynastic interests that have been unhappily run up in these new States. It is unfortunate that we have to reckon not only with peoples but kings. Such a monarchy48 as that of Servia or Bulgaria narrows, personifies, intensifies49 and misrepresents national feeling. National hatreds50 and national ambitions can no doubt be at times very malign51 influences in the world’s affairs, but it is the greed and vanities of exceptional monarchs52, of the Napoleons and Fredericks the Great, and so forth53, that bring these vague, vast feelings to an edge and a crisis. And it will be these same concentrated and over individualised purposes, these little gods of the coin and postage stamp that will stand most in the way of a reasonable Schweitzerisation and pacification of south-eastern Europe. The more clearly this is recognised in Europe now, the less likely are they, the less able will they be to obstruct54 a sane settlement. On our side, at least, this is a war of nations and not of princes.
It is for that reason that we have to make the discussion of these national arrangements as open and public as we possibly can. This is not a matter 96for the quiet little deals of the diplomatists. This is no chance for kings. All the civilised peoples of the earth have to form an idea of the general lines upon which a pacific Europe can be established, an idea clear and powerful enough to prevent and override55 the man?uvres of the chancelleries. The nations themselves have to become the custodians56 of the common peace. In Italy, indeed, this is already the case. The Italian monarchy is a strong and Liberal monarchy, secure in the confidence of its people; but were it not so, it is a fairly evident fact that no betrayal by its rulers would induce the Italian people to make war upon France in the interests of Austria and Prussia. I doubt, too, if the present King of Bulgaria can afford to blunder again. The world moves steadily57 away from the phase of Court-centred nationalism to the phase of a collective national purpose. It is for the whole strength of western liberalism to throw itself upon the side of that movement, and in no direction can it make its strength so effective at the present time as in the open and energetic promotion58 of a new and greater Balkan League.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
abdomen
|
|
| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
incapable
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
participation
|
|
| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
assassination
|
|
| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
warfare
|
|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
rehabilitated
|
|
| 改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
unfamiliar
|
|
| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
sane
|
|
| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
pacification
|
|
| n. 讲和，绥靖，平定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
dwindles
|
|
| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
preposterous
|
|
| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
patriotic
|
|
| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
profess
|
|
| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
massacres
|
|
| 大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
cant
|
|
| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
vow
|
|
| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
vengeance
|
|
| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
stifled
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
outraged
|
|
| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
fortresses
|
|
| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
melodrama
|
|
| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
avenge
|
|
| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
revival
|
|
| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
renascent
|
|
| adj.新生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
rupture
|
|
| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
thwarting
|
|
| 阻挠( thwart的现在分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
honourable
|
|
| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
rectification
|
|
| n. 改正, 改订, 矫正 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
prospective
|
|
| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
avalanche
|
|
| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
regenerated
|
|
| v.新生，再生( regenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
tranquillity
|
|
| n. 平静, 安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
herd
|
|
| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
insufficiently
|
|
| adv.不够地，不能胜任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
aggregate
|
|
| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
monarchy
|
|
| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
intensifies
|
|
| n.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的名词复数 )v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
hatreds
|
|
| n.仇恨，憎恶( hatred的名词复数 )；厌恶的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
malign
|
|
| adj.有害的；恶性的；恶意的；v.诽谤，诬蔑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
monarchs
|
|
| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
obstruct
|
|
| v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
override
|
|
| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
custodians
|
|
| n.看守人，保管人( custodian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
promotion
|
|
| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |