438 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



by joining Prussia ; it was forbidden. Hungary has since 

 shown some partiaUty for a Hapsburg ; she has been refused. 

 These poHcies were not in accord with Alhed interests, and 

 therefore self-determination did not operate. 



But the phrase could not be so easily slain, and it has 

 lived to work mischief in Egypt and India, and nearer home 

 in Silesia and Ireland, It is probable that these two latter 

 examples will finally expose its absurdity. 



In Silesia and Ireland the situation is very similar. There 

 is a German majorit}'- and a Polish minority in the former ; a 

 Catholic majority and a Protestant minority in the latter. But 

 in both cases the population is mixed. In Upper Silesia there 

 are preponderantly German towns in preponderantly Polish 

 rural districts, and there are some preponderantly Polish dis- 

 tricts among German enclaves, or vice versa. If the right of 

 self-determination is conceded, to what unit is it to be conceded ? 

 If to the whole, then Upper Silesia is German ; if to the districts, 

 then chaos results, for one district is Polish with a German 

 admixture, and another German with a Polish admixture. 



The thing, therefore, becomes an absurdity of statecraft ; 

 for an economic unit is substituted a series of piebald political 

 units, each jealous of its neighbours, each with a discontented 

 minority, and each unit so small in size as to be weak and 

 unstable. The result of applying self-determination would 

 not be far from anarchy. The nationalist policy of the nine- 

 teenth century recognised that small national States might be 

 better political units than great Empires, like those of the 

 Bourbons and the Hapsburgs. But the statesmen of the nation- 

 alist movements did not commit the absurdity of suggesting 

 that every village should determine its own allegiance ; they 

 recognised that boundaries must be drawn with some regard to 

 the interest of the whole, that economic unity and national 

 defence were relevant considerations, and that these might 

 sometimes run counter to the local patriotism of a commune, 

 or the desire of a perhaps isolated colony. 



Self-determination in Ireland furnishes an equally glaring 

 example of the folly of the phrase. If the political unit be 

 taken as the United Kingdom, then the Act of 1801 would 

 probably stand by a popular vote of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 If the political unit be taken as Ireland, then the Act of 1801 

 would be abrogated, Ireland would proclaim a political inde- 

 pendence which she cannot economically exercise, and another 

 weak State would be added to those which already exist in and 

 menace the peace of Europe. 



But Ireland is manifestly not a political unit at all ; the 

 three southern provinces are distinct in population, religion, 

 education, occupation, and outlook, from Ulster. But to 



