Serbia in Light and Darkness | Page 6

the Balkan Federation are to be realised. Some of our neighbours may be against that, but all their opposing effort will be in vain. Every intrigue against the Serbian ideals of freedom and unity cannot effect a suppression, but only a short prolongation of the period of its realisation. Behold, the time has come, the fruit has grown ripe. All the Serbian race has now been plunged into slavery. United to-day in slavery, they have now only one wish--to be united to-morrow in Freedom.
England is bound to Russia more by a political or military treaty, but she is bound to Serbia, and through Serbia with all other democratic Slav worlds more by spirit--just by this democratic spirit. This spirit which divides the Slav world into two different camps, unites England with one of them,--with the democratic camp, the champion of which has been Serbia. A very curious spirit dwells in the little Serbian body, a very curious and great spirit, which will, I am sure, give form to the future Balkans as well as to the future democratic Slavdom. And be sure this spirit is rather panhumanistic than panslavistic.
But after all, when I think of 400 million inhabitants of the British Empire and remember such a poor topic, as my country, about which I am just speaking, I must cry again: England, what is Serbia, that thou art mindful of her? And the poor sons of Serbia, that thou visitest them?
Still, Serbia is an admirer and friend of England, and that is a good reason why England should look sympathetically towards little Serbia. There is a Serbian proverb: "A wise lion seeks friends not only among the lions, but among the bees too." Of course Serbia needs England much more than England needs Serbia. I will not now dwell upon Serbia's material needs; I will tell you about what are Serbia's spiritual needs.
To begin with the children, the Serbian children need good education. Our schools give more knowledge than strength of character and a humane cultivated will. Our national poetry and history have educated our people much better than modern science did. Still we perceive that science is necessary for a good education in our times. Therefore we very much need to consult England in this respect. We well know how English education is estimated all over the world. England can help us much to educate the new Serbian generations in the best way, because such a country as Serbia deserves indeed a noble and worthy future in which to live. Don't you agree with me? Only I am afraid that I am speaking of the best education of the Serbian children just at this moment when it were perhaps more suitable to speak about the best way to save them from hunger, pain and death.
The Serbian women need to develop their capacities more for social work, so as to take a more important part in the organisation and cultivation of their lives. The past of our women consisted in singing, weaving and weeping. I am sure that the English women, whose sympathy for Serbia in these tragic days will remain memorable for ever,--I am sure that after this war they will come to Serbia and help their poor sisters over there, teaching them and enlightening them. Yet I am again afraid to dwell longer upon the topic of the enlightenment of the Serbian mothers at the very moment when those mothers with their sons and daughters, trodden down by the Prussian boot, look towards Heaven and silently confess their sins, preparing themselves for a cruel death.
What do the Serbian men need? They need civilisation, or in other words: the Bible, science, art. But they do not need the Bible of killing from Germany, nor the science of killing and the art of killing from Germany. They do not want the civilisation which means the large and skilful manufacture of instruments of killing. They want the Bible which makes good, and science which makes bright, and art which makes godlike. Therefore the men of Serbia are now looking so eagerly towards England and her civilisation. More English civilisation in our country, more England in Serbia--that is our great spiritual need!
My illustrious chairman, the Most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote recently in one of his books: "We are everywhere trying in these later years to understand and to alleviate human sorrow." [2] Yes, you are. We Serbians feel your sorrows too. "To understand and to alleviate human sorrow." That is the divine purpose of a humane civilisation. That is the final aim of our terrestrial education--to understand each other, and to support each other.
Do you think that it is difficult for a rich nation as well as for a rich man to come into the kingdom of Heaven? I am a