Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller - Revival: The Future of the British Empire (1936): After Ten Years

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Routledge Revivals

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THE FUTURE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
AFTER TEN YEARS

THE FUTURE
OF THE
BRITISH EMPIRE
AFTER TEN YEARS

By
F. C. S. SCHILLER

M.A., D.Sc., Hon. LL.D., F.B.A.
FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD
PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

First published in 1936 by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd

This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1936 Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.
A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 37010490

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-55831-1 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-203-70502-5 (ebk)

THE FUTURE OF THE BRITISH EM PIRE
AFTER TEN YEARS

TO-DAY, TO-MORROW AND AFTER

THE FUTURE OF MORALS
By C. E. M. JOAD

THE FUTURE OF SWEARING
By ROBERT GRAVES

THE FUTURE OF TABOO IN THESE ISLANDS
By ARCHIBALD LYALL

THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE
By NORMAN HAIRE

THE FUTURE OF SCOTLAND
By MALCOLM THOMSON

THE FUTURE OF WOMAN
By ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI

THE FUTURE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
By F. C. S. SCHILLER

THE FUTURE
OF THE
BRITISH EMPIRE
AFTER TEN YEARS

By
F. C. S. SCHILLER

M.A., D.Sc., HON. LL.D., F.B.A.
FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD
PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.
BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.
1936

First Published under the title of
CASSANDRA, OR THE FUTURE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Re-written 1936

Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London

CONTENTS

T HE original name of this book in the To-day and To-morrow Series, for which it was written, was Cassandra. Its original date was 1926, and a second edition enabled me to revise it and to bring it up to 1928. of Must Philosophers Disagree? The other aspect of prophecy is to serve as a warning, but for this practical purpose it cannot claim much value. For prophetic warnings, especially if unpleasant, are hardly ever heeded. The reason for this, however, is not (as in Cassandras case) the malice of an insulted deity, but simply that the public does not read salutary and improving books and that those who could write them so rarely do.

F. C. S. SCHILLER.

LOS ANGELES.

September, 1936.

THE FUTURE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
PART I

A POLLO can hardly have foreseen all the consequences of endowing Cassandra with prophetic power. He can hardly have foreseen, for example, that the artful hussy would refuse to keep her part of the bargain, and would cheat him of his quid pro quo. And he may not have found it quite easy to dismiss from his mind all the unpleasant predictions which, no doubt, she proceeded to make about him such as that he should lose his popularity as a god, fall from his divine estate, and be turned into a butterfly.1

But there is no reason to think the condition he added to his gift when he found how he had been tricked, viz. that though all her prophecies should come true no one should believe her, was merely an expression of just indignation or divine spite. It was really a matter of necessity and of course. For it is, after all, a condition to be imposed on all prophets of evil, and unless they submit to it, they cannot prophesy truly. Apollo himself was in the same position with regard to his father Zeus. If he had not been content merely to foresee the consequences of the latters policy, but had rashly pointed them out, and been believed he would have interfered seriously with the course of events. He would have trenched on Zeuss prerogatives, and would have become the real director of his policy. For in that case, whenever the consequences Apollo foresaw were bad Zeus would have evaded them by altering his plans. And then, of course, the aforesaid consequences would not have come about. Apollo, therefore, though becoming an essential ingredient in Divine Providence, would have been a false prophet.

It is clear, therefore, that a prophet who values his reputation has a choice only between two alternatives. He must either be content to foresee and say nothing about it to anyone, cultivating his purely theoretic knowledge without a thought of intervening in the course of affairs, or in other words must adopt the ideal of the pure professor; or else, if he wishes to speak out and to have the satisfaction of saying I told you so! after the event, he must stipulate that his prophecies of ill shall not be prematurely credited. Thus he must put himself in the position of Cassandra. For should he be believed, his warnings may be acted on, and then will, almost certainly, alter the course of events which they tried to predict; and thus they will falsify themselves.

Such prophecy therefore would seem to involve a very pretty paradox. It will not do to pooh-pooh the prophet of evil. For to disbelieve him (and to act accordingly) is the surest way to justify him. He must be believed, or else the evils he foresees will come to pass. Thus his prophecies will be either true or useful, but not both. Prophecies which come true are never credible and quite useless, while prophecies which come false may be worthy of all credence and may prove extremely valuable. This throws a new light on the universal human practice of stoning true prophets and honouring the false. Cassandra has surely to be numbered among the early martyrs of science!

Nevertheless, prophets are not easy to discourage. Their profession is too fascinating, in both its branches. Its major branch, that of prophesying smooth things, is extremely popular and well remunerated, being conducive to influence, power and the highest honours. For the people is ever willing to be deceived, and values optimism as a virtue. But prophecy in a minor key also has abundant attractions. For whereas fortune-telling is still an indictable offence, mis-fortune-telling is not. So the prophet of ill has been with us from the beginning, and has usually received enough justification from the course of events to continue his competition with the optimist.

The followers of Cassandra naturally recruit themselves among the aged. These are psychologically prompted to think that the country is going to the dogs,1 because they are losing their grip on its affairs, and look back with regret on the good old times when

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