2<42
GEORGE LlCHTHEIM
Rome's policy made for inequality, for injustice, and for the
least happiness of the greatest number. America's decision to
adopt Rome's role has been deliberate, if I have gauged it
right ... yet, in the spirit that animates this recent American
movement in reverse, I miss the enthusiasm and the confidence
that made the old revolutionary America irresistible... Playing
Mettemich is not a happy role ... who ... would have guessed
that America, of all countries, would one day cast herself for
Mettemich's dreary part? (pp. 16-17)
Now such remarks are clearly open to criticism. It can be argued
that Dr. Toynbee spoke before the New Frontier had unfolded its
challenging vistas.
It
can also be objected that strictures of this kind
come with diminished effect from the high priest of High Toryism.
All things considered, American imperialism, or what passes for such,
has hitherto been somewhat more progressive, or at any rate less un–
progressive, than British imperialism. Still, the charge of social con–
servatism must, one imagines, have rankled with Dr. Toynbee's hearers
because it is so obviously true. It is not, of course, very original to say
that America has for some time been lalUlched on the imperial path.
In
substance it only repeats what Santayana said, in his usual polite
manner, a number of years ago. But then Dr. Toynbee is seldom
original: his great gift is for wrapping up commonplaces in startling
language. Moreover, when he descends from his usual lofty heights
to ordinary socio-economic reality, he tends to become less than in–
fallible. His explanation of American conservatism is that all, or most,
Americans are now well-off, and thus lack instinctive sympathy with
poorer people. This kind of amiable nonsense is to be expected from
elderly historians unacquainted with economics. There is no need to
pursue Dr. Toynbee's well-meant recommendations for making America
popular in backward countries: more missionaries, less reliance on the
local PX, etc. The Peace Corps can be trusted to attend to these mat–
ters. Indeed it seems to have been specially designed to cope with just
the kind of problems that can be solved with a little personal goodwill.
If
Dr. Toynbee had taken his own assessment more seriously, he
would not have devoted so much space to the minor misdemeanors of
Americans abroad. Instead he would have expanded his warning of
what may happen if America's allies become resentful of their present
status:
If
it was reasonable . . . for Great Britain's thirteen colonies
to insist on 'no taxation without representation,' 'no annihila–
tion without representation' seems an even more reasonable
