Belloc's conception of the growth of Europe, from the
prehistoric men who knew how to make dew-pans which "are older than the
language or the religion, and the finding of water with a stick, and the
catching of that smooth animal the mole," to the outbreak of the present
war. From this we shall omit, to a large extent, the development of
England, which, as it is singular in Europe, is singular in Mr. Belloc's
scheme of things, and must be considered separately.

We shall endeavour, as far as possible, to piece together from a great
number of books and writings on various subjects a continuous view of
European history, which we believe to be Mr. Belloc's view, but which he
has never, as yet, stated all together in one place. We shall draw our
material from such varied sources as _Esto Perpetua_, _The Old Road_,
_Paris_, _The Historic Thames_, and inevitably the essays: inevitably,
for all practical purposes, from all the books that Mr. Belloc has ever
written. At some future time, it is very seriously to be hoped, Mr.
Belloc will do this himself. It should be his _magnum opus_: "A General
Sketch of European Development," let us suppose. In the meanwhile, we
conceive that we shall serve a useful purpose if we make a consistent
scheme out of the hints, allusions and detached statements which occur
up and down in Mr. Belloc's books. For some such scheme, existing but
unformulated, is, beyond all doubt, the solid sub-structure of all his
thinking.

In the essay _On History in Travel_, Mr. Belloc says: "It is true that
those who write good guide-books do put plenty of history into them, but
it is sporadic history, as it were; it is not continuous or organic, and
therefore it does not live." It is living, organic history that is
necessary, he would consider, to the proper understanding of present
problems and the proper furnishing of the human mind. He desires to see
and grasp the development of Europe as a symmetrical whole, not as a
conglomeration of unco-ordinated parts or a succession of unrelated
accidents. He believes that Europe has developed from prehistoric man by
way of the Roman Empire, the Christian religion, and the French
Revolution, in an orderly, organic manner. He believes, far more than
Freeman, in a real unity of history.

And from this observation of continuous history he draws certain morals.
He sees, or believes that he sees, in Carthage a wealthy trading
plutocracy, ruling a population averse from arms