Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/14



life of the people. Many instances are recorded of conflicts between states which ensue through certain bones of contention, but which have been concluded by treaties settling quite different problems. The succession question owing to vacancy of the throne in one state has often been the occasion of a world-wide struggle and led to the alteration of the political boundaries of several states. There is a dynastic and political rivalry between two princes, but altogether new and unheard-of peoples slowly and silently acquire a place in the polity of nations. While, again, philosophers and theorists have been engaged in the diffusion of a new thought or the devising of measures for the cultivation of the arts and sciences, the advancement of learning and the spread of 2