Understanding the meaning of words should be combined with context. "Civilization" and "barbarism" have different meanings from the usual ones. There is an irony here, which is irony. The author is Hugo. Excerpted from "Letter to Captain Beightler about the Anglo-French Allied Expedition to China".
Part of the original text is as follows:
We Europeans are civilized people, and China people are barbarians in our eyes. This is what civilization does to barbarism.
Two robbers who will be punished by history, one is France and the other is Britain. However, I want to protest and thank you for giving me such an opportunity to protest. Treating others' sins is not treating others' mistakes; The government can be a robber sometimes, but the people will never be robbers.
In the original text, these two sentences mainly use irony rhetoric to sublimate the theme of the article, so as to express the author's own satire on the beast crimes committed by the British and French Coalition forces, which has a connecting link between the preceding and the following.
Extended data:
Letter to Captain Butler about the British and French Allied Forces' Expedition to China is an article based on the war of aggression against China by the British and French allied forces. Captain Butler wanted to use Hugo's famous reputation to make him pay tribute to the victory of the so-called expedition to China, but Hugo, an honest writer, did not have narrow nationalist sentiments.
On the contrary, it represents the conscience of mankind. In this letter, it strongly condemns the robbery of the British and French allied forces burning the Yuanmingyuan. Hugo is commendable, not only because his position is not narrow nationalism,
But from the perspective of the masses, from the perspective of the world, from the perspective of mankind. He publicly accused the government of turning black and white like a robber, not ashamed of it, but proud of it; It is also because he cherishes the achievements of human civilization and respects the creators of human civilization.
He pointed out that "everything created by time belongs to human beings" is very thorough. Therefore, he praised the Chinese nation, expressed sympathy and respect for the people of China, and angrily condemned the crimes of the aggressors.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Letter to Captain Butler about the British and French Allied Expedition to China