ABSTRACT
The present crisis is felt by all to be a turning-point in the world’s history, and for that reason it is likely to open a new epoch in the study and writing of history. Most histories are national histories, and the French historian of the Revolution, or the Prussian historian of the German Empire, leaves too little room for the achievement of other peoples, or for the incalculable future of the human race. The gift of soliloquizing on behalf of the national conscience is not the main reason of John Seeley’s influence as an exponent of British Imperialism. Seeley is not only reading history backwards, but reading it backwards in an entirely inadequate way. As he is preoccupied with a certain result, he first indicates from history the class of events that are supposed to lead to that kind of result, and considers only that aspect of the events which might have contributed to that particular result.
