768 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pected to yield wealth. " As the root of socialism/' it says, " is 

 the thirst of the poor for more physical comfort, better food, 

 better lodging, and more leisure, so the root of international jeal- 

 ousy is the thirst for a larger national fortune. The peoples are 

 eagerly scanning the roads to wealth, and find them, not in in- 

 dustry and reduced taxation, but in tropical possessions, in foreign 

 trade, in the immense businesses based on ' concessions ' that is, 

 in reality, upon mining rights, state contracts, and monopolies of 

 all descriptions. In particular the thirst for gold in its concrete 

 and tangible shape has broken out everywhere, almost as strongly 

 as it broke out in the sixteenth century among Spaniards, Portu- 

 guese, and Elizabethan Englishmen." It happens that most of 

 the gold-bearing territories are in English hands, and this, the 

 Spectator thinks, accounts for a great deal of the jealousy with 

 which England is regarded. Here we have, most unfortunately, 

 a special and somewhat ignoble cause for the intensifying of the 

 military spirit in the present day ; and how to find a remedy for 

 it is an extremely difiicult question. The Spectator advises the 

 English people " to remember that prosperity and success involve 

 certain duties, one of which is to sufl^er others to be prosperous 

 too, and another to abstain from boasting." 



Here the baffling question arises. Can a whole people be ad- 

 vised ? Individuals may listen to counsel ; but, when it comes to 

 a whole people, one wonders whether anything but experience, 

 with a touch of natural selection thrown in, can teach. It cer- 

 tainly is the case that, if the nations would abate their greed and 

 boastfulness, the danger of war would be much reduced, and the 

 terrible burdens which it imposes be greatly alleviated. Patriot- 

 ism is a good thing, but we fear that much evil is wrought in its 

 name. It is not patriotism to disparage rival nations, or to seek 

 to secure for one's own unjust advantages. Not unadvisedly did 

 old Dr. Johnson, in a phrase now sadly trite, but perhaps never 

 more apt than in the present day, describe patriotism as " the last 

 refuge of a scoundrel." The doctor had doubtless seen more than 

 one specimen of the loud-mouthed breed who shout for the flag 

 and execrate the foreigner, but who would cheat their country at 

 the first turn if they could get the chance. Patriotism, let us tell 

 our children, if we can not get wider audience, is not a matter 

 either of shouting or reviling, it is a matter of disinterestedly 

 serving the country in which our lot is cast, and in which we 

 enjoy the benefits of citizenship. That is the whole of it, but 

 that is much. It may mean laying down our life ; it may mean 

 sacrificing our property ; it may mean incurring unpopularity 

 through fighting against wickedness in high places or in low 

 places, and struggling for the good name of our country against 

 those who are bringing it into discredit ; at all times it means a 



