THE COURSE OF HISTORY - THE EMPIRE BUILT
ON A ROCK
The last two sentences of this short newspaper article basically
say it all. If we write of the British Empire today we likely
experience a sense of sadness. Where it was once written with
pride, "The sun never sets on the British Empire," it now has to
be said, "The light has all but gone out." The greatest and
longest-lasting empire the world ever knew died when one-worlders
in its midst decided their possessions had to go if Britain was
to be blended with other nations. Internal rot has been a great
contributor to the death of all of history's empires.
A poem written many years ago by an unknown author might sum up
what we are looking at today. It was entitled "Poor Old England"
and here are the first three stanzas.
England has had her day! So they say, so they say - Poor old
Her lion, once so bold
Is toothless now and old, His blood, like hers, grown cold - Poor
Her might has passed away: So they say, so the say - Poor old
Empires have succeeded each other throughout history, rising and
falling with the monotonous regularity of a millwheel.
Every period in the past has been dominated by some imperial
nation basing - its sovereignty on force of arms.
The Assyrian, Persian, Macedonian and Roman Empires were founded
on this principle.
All ruled by opposition of weaker peoples. All were crushed
beneath the heel of the oppressor when their course had run.
This was the creed of the ancient world, - "might is right."
That creed died when the German Empire, the last federation of
"blood and iron," succumbed to the creed of the new world -
"right is might.
The year 1918 was the turning point in the world's history. For
out of the blood and misery of the four preceding years was born
the new era of bloodless progress, expressed in imperial form by
the greatest of all empires, the one that Britishers remember
Built on the rock of tolerance; constructed of the stoutest
timbers of progressive goodwill, the British Empire stands as the
stalwart champion of the best in our civilization.
Historians of the future will say that the Great War ended the
era of conquest and started the era of trade.
They will say that the British Empire was the first federation of
free states to embrace the new idea, that men should be free to
pursue the business of living to buy and sell the products of
their labor, to feed their stomachs and clothe their limbs
without let or hindrance from the harpies of war.
They will say that the British Empire was the first practical
champion of international business', the common sense mode of
life, as opposed to the artificiality, fear and intolerance of
They will say that the British Empire fostered the spirit of
construction and frowned on the spirit of destruction.
They will say, too, that so long as the British Empire pursued
this policy of freedom, progress and education for all peoples it
flourished and prospered.
But when this policy was forgotten it fell and went its way along
with the decadent empires of the past. (Courtesy The Vancouver
Sun May 24. 1922)
From "Thy Kindom Come" - September 2009 - a publication of The
Association of the Covenant People, Burnaby, B.C. Canada.