GREAT EMPIRES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20096, 27 November 1930, Page 13

GREAT EMPIRES.

BRITAIN AND ROME COMPARED. PROFESSOR POCOCK'S LECTURE An "at home'" of the Victoria League was held in the Jellieoe Hall yesterday afternoon, when Professor L. G. Pocock, Professor of Classics at Canterbury College, gave a lecture entitled "The Roman Empire and the British Empire —Some Comparisons." With Professor Pocock on the lecture platform were Mrs E. G.. Hogg, president of the League, and Miss Rose Tabart, the secretary. -Mrs Hogg introduced Professor Pocock. "To us the study of an empire upon which all our modern civilisation is built and which lasted five times as long as our civilisation has so far lasted should be of great interest," said Professor Pocock. "We may well begin by reflecting that the Roman Empire lasted over 1000 years and by wondering whether ours will last as long. "The primary object of all human institutions," ho -continued, "is the security of the individual member, and of course, roughly speaking, to be big and strong is to be secure. Thus the big empire is a sufficiently logical ideal. It may be unjust to govern people against their will, but it is all a question of expediency. As in all human life the individual must sacrifice a little of his liberty to the cause of good government, but since, on the other hand, liberty is very sweet and is second ouly to security in the general human estimation, the art of good government is to achieve the best combination of the two. Discipline or Liberty. "It would be a grave' mistake ' to •think of : th# %Bonian : Empire; aa- being

purely militaristic or purely despotic. This best of tlie emperors, Trajan, or Vespasian, for example, hud tlie interests of tlie farthest parts of their empires just as much at licart as, say. Lord Balfour or Mr .Ramsay .MacXHmald, today. In the conflict between liberty and discipline the Romans very definitely put the latter first, while we have already gone very far in the opposite direction. There is no Tmperium Britannicum in the Roman, disciplinary sense of the .phrase, but there is an empire which wo regard as worth having and as worth keeping. "Like the Romans we are a slow growing and deep-thinking people and slow growth means deep roots. We can see many reasons why the ties of friendship that bind our Empire should not grow weaker or should not be strained to the breaking point. After all, however, the true test is expediency. The Dominions by being a part of the British Kmpire for the most part lose nothing except by their own voluntary action in times of crisis, such as at the outbreak of the last war, and, 011 tlie other hand, they gain security from foreign agression, representative and and no unimportant voices in the affairs of the world, confidence and the pride of being a part of a very great Empire. Those are the definite advantages of being a member of the Empire, and there seems to me no reason why those advantages should not be increased and made more valuable. Privileges of Citizenship. "Generally speaking." went on Professor Pocock, "the privilege of being a Roman citizen was much more deeply valued than the privilege of being a citizen of the British Empire. Our appreciation of the privileges we possess could well be increased by economic means. The idea of making the Empiiv an economic whole is emphatically right in principle. It may be a difficult: thing to do, but it could and should'be done.'' One difference between the two Empires was that Rome was founded on a city State, in the old Greek tradition, a city State that gradually by diplomacy and conquest mastered the whole of Italy, and a state which at one time,

during the Empire's wane, was administered , almost solely for the benefit of the - ruling classes. Also the Roman Empire was far more compact than the British and in one wa,y this compactness was its strength. It was easily defended along scientifically chosen frontiers, it had highly centralised control aud it had what the British Empire has never had, a continuity of policy. But in the end its compactness and its bureaucracy was its undoing, because it lost its elasticity and began to stagnate. Above all, said Professor. Pocock, the Roman Empire had what the British had uever had, the power of assimilating the peoples of its Colonies. Prance, Spain, Greece, and Africa became thoroughly Romanised in language, customs, and feeling and, furthermore, the Romans had 110 colour-bar to hinder their good relations with their dependents. The Roman Civil Service. "Another advantage possessed by the Romans," continued the lecturer, "was the highly-organised civil service, which governed the world at least reasonably well, no matter what Emperors came and went. But there were elements of weakness in the system of the' Empire. The democratic principle was never strong and the oligarchial and capitalist groups had things very much their own way. The representative system of government was never really tried in antiquity and what democracies there were had to be small in consequence. "A particular problem the Romans never solved was the control of the army. It is a problem from which we have mercifully been free —why, it is a little hard to say, although it may be that the complexity of modern life makes it impossible for an army to revolt and fight for its own hand. But in the end Rome began to be swamped by its own bureaucracy, the army ceased to be invincible —that is, ceased to be Soman —the outer walls of defence crumbled and the barbarians swept slowly in, first into the army, then into the government, then into the social life of the nation, until finally tliev became Uio nation itself and the Empire had fallen."

VIEWS OF THE WORLD. SCENERY AND BUILDINGS. ENTERTAINMENT FOR . CHILDREN. KJucalionai pictures of general interest, irtended mainly for children, are to be shown lor the next few weeks as part of the Christmas celebrations of the firm of -L. Armstrong and Co., ltd., at their premise ia High street and Colombo street. "When Mr. F. Armstrong: was away from New Zealand recently on a tour of the world, he took a large number of motion pictures in various pans of the countries he visited, some of tlicm in colour, others of buildings End scenery, which give a clear impression of the subjects to .New Zealunders who have not had the opportunity of visiting those parts of the world. Filming of tho pictures will commence tomorrow in the High street- premises, when Father Christinas will m'ake his first appearance. They will be shown alternately therearid in the Colombo street shop, in both of which concert rooms have been cleared for the purpose. A programme lias been arranged for the weeks preceding Christmas, which will include the filming of the picti.ies, demonstrations of a talking doll, and exhibitions by pupils of "Miss Ins Kdinonds. La3t evening the firm's stail saw a preliminary of the pictures, and the large number of "views were particularly instructive. Coloured films of flower gardens and boulevard scenes in Honolulu gave some impression of the beauties of that island, the federations of the inhabitants in canoeing and boating also being shown. From the Pacific Islands the' pictures went to San Francisco, depicting garden walks, -views of landmarks, foliage, and animal life. Reflections in Mirror I»ake in California, aik! scenery in the town p.nd country districts came next, followed by views of river and mountain haunts on the way to Alaska in the north, where pictures of glaciers and mountain ueaks were clear and illuminating The films embraced views in different parts of America and • Canada, offering a wide range of subjects,, and ; interapersed 'were comic sketches and novel pictuies. The nrogriuninc of concerts. and pictures should be of nr. educational value, as."well 3s of considerable interest -for children, who viJi l>e able to view them from now on at both branches of Armstrong's-store.'