It testifies to
long political stability; it is rooted in Magna Charta. We foreigners, who
upset our Governments and annihilate our aristocracies every ten years,
will never attain that mellow stage. One may dislike it; one dislikes the
by-products of many excellent institutions. Your Government, for example,
does extraordinarily little to foster art or literature or research. Taken
by itself, that is an evil. But as a by-product of the English cult of the
individual--of that avoidance of pestilential State interference in
everything which is the curse of continental Europe--it may be gladly
endured, if not admired."
He added:
"When one lives out of Europe, Monsieur, one learns to know England
better. To see things at their true perspective one must take up a stand
at a proper distance from them. England only begins to show its true
proportions at a point where other lands cease to be visible. Austria, for
instance, can only be examined on the spot. Once you have crossed the
insignificant Mediterranean, this immense and fertile country, with its
long history of rulers and battles, has already faded into air.
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