Pavement and Highway : Specimen Days in Strathclyde
Pavement and Highway : Specimen Days in Strathclyde
Biography & Memoir, Reference, Historical
| Author: | William Power | ISBN: | 1230000145262 |
| Publisher: | Klasszic | Publication: | June 25, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | William Power |
| ISBN: | 1230000145262 |
| Publisher: | Klasszic |
| Publication: | June 25, 2013 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
THE anthropomorphic habit of thought manifested
in the polytheism of the Greeks and the mono-
theism of the early Jews has been responsible, one
supposes, for the familiar expression, "the body politic."
But if the capital of a country be regarded as its head,
there are few large states which have answered con-
sistently to the anthropomorphic image. France and
England are the only European powers that from the
very beginning of their political existence have carried
on the Eoman tradition of a single capital so empha-
tically and comprehensively the head of the State that
all their other cities have been in comparison no more
than mere secreting glands, or remote nervous ganglia
with only a mechanically reflex or purely sympathetic
action. Apply the guillotine to the bodies - politic of
France and England at any time during the Jast
thousand years, and England sinks from a higher than
Roman to a lower than Carthaginian level, and France
runs like a decapitated duck into the political pot of
her nearest neighbour. To no other European states,
any more than to ancient Greece, could this Caligulan
treatment have been applied. Italy, since the days of
the Lombards, has been hydra-headed; Munich, Leipsic,
Dresden, or Frankfort could take over to-morrow all
the functions of Berlin; Eussia, driven from the Baltic,
would fall back on her ancient Muscovite capital; a
resuscitated Poland would group itself indiscriminately
round Warsaw or Cracow; Spain is even more alive
at Barcelona than at Madrid. And if Scottish autonomy
were granted this year, the new government would
have a choice of two ancient capitals — of three, if
Stirling were included; and Edinburgh would have her
Barcelona in Glasgow, which, though the second city
of the British Empire in wealth and influence, would
no (doubt, like one of the old German Free Towns,
continue to prefer to any mere titular or extrinsic
dignity her own unique position as a Great Commoner
among European cities.
THE anthropomorphic habit of thought manifested
in the polytheism of the Greeks and the mono-
theism of the early Jews has been responsible, one
supposes, for the familiar expression, "the body politic."
But if the capital of a country be regarded as its head,
there are few large states which have answered con-
sistently to the anthropomorphic image. France and
England are the only European powers that from the
very beginning of their political existence have carried
on the Eoman tradition of a single capital so empha-
tically and comprehensively the head of the State that
all their other cities have been in comparison no more
than mere secreting glands, or remote nervous ganglia
with only a mechanically reflex or purely sympathetic
action. Apply the guillotine to the bodies - politic of
France and England at any time during the Jast
thousand years, and England sinks from a higher than
Roman to a lower than Carthaginian level, and France
runs like a decapitated duck into the political pot of
her nearest neighbour. To no other European states,
any more than to ancient Greece, could this Caligulan
treatment have been applied. Italy, since the days of
the Lombards, has been hydra-headed; Munich, Leipsic,
Dresden, or Frankfort could take over to-morrow all
the functions of Berlin; Eussia, driven from the Baltic,
would fall back on her ancient Muscovite capital; a
resuscitated Poland would group itself indiscriminately
round Warsaw or Cracow; Spain is even more alive
at Barcelona than at Madrid. And if Scottish autonomy
were granted this year, the new government would
have a choice of two ancient capitals — of three, if
Stirling were included; and Edinburgh would have her
Barcelona in Glasgow, which, though the second city
of the British Empire in wealth and influence, would
no (doubt, like one of the old German Free Towns,
continue to prefer to any mere titular or extrinsic
dignity her own unique position as a Great Commoner
among European cities.
