Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/35

 comradeship, once and forever, the flower of Christian chivalry, and there was consolidated a conception of Christendom such as papal Rome could never alone have brought into existence. The fall of Constantinople was in itself one of the chief factors of the Italian Renaissance.

The peaceful and self-contained nature of Eastern civilization has been ever weak to resist foreign aggression. We have not only permitted the Mongol to destroy the unity of Asia, but have allowed him to crush the life of Indian and Chinese culture. From both the thrones of Peking and Delhi, the descendants of Jenghiz Khan perpetuated a system of despotism contrary to the traditional policies of the lands they had subjugated. Entire lack of sympathy between the