PRCM'OSALS FOR A LEAGUE DF PEACE. 2y3 



the guilty \\-hich war involves. The League of Peace would be 

 a st€p-on the road to the abolition of these things by stibstituting 

 reason and law for brute force. Compulsory militarism and 

 compulsory schemes of defence must always- split on the rock 

 of religious or conscientious objection to the militar}^ oath and 

 its meaning. Even despotic Riissia dare not suppress Tolstoi. 



The smaller nations of the world would have a direct in- 

 terest in promoting and supporting such a League, and though 

 they may not have a voice in framing the terms of peace, that 

 is no reason why the\' should not have a voice in the framing of 

 the terms which will make peace more secure in the future. 

 After the Crimean War, and also after the Rnsso- 

 Turkish War, non-belligerents as wel^ as belligerents were 

 admitted to the Peace Conference, and there is no 

 reason wliy the same course should not be followed 

 at the close of the present war, especially on those points which 

 concern the safety of all nations from aggression, and the crea- 

 tion of the machinery and the organization necessary for securing 

 the obserAance of the common will. 



Four important considerations emerge from this discussion. 

 First, that the proposed League nmst not be a static body pre- 

 scribing a rigid and inelastic scheme. It must provide for the 

 development of nations, otherwise it will make the same fatal 

 mistake as that made by the Holy Alliance. It is probable that 

 it will develop into an International Council for the revision of 

 treaties, the development of International Law, and for the dis- 

 cussion of such questions as affect the relations of States and 

 peoples to each other, and the obstacles which stand in the way 

 of the natural and legitimate expansion of peoples. There is a 

 strong tendency towards Internationalism everywhere, as is 

 shown by the fact that while, in 1874, there were only 54 inter- 

 national organizations in existence, in 1914 there were 494. 



Second, the formation of the League will probably lead to 

 a reduction and limitation of armaments, which have become a 

 crushing burden everywhere. Such limitation, in proportion to 

 population and territory, will probably become an arbitrable 

 issue. 



Third, the question has been raised as to whether Germany 

 should be admitted as a member of such a League. It is a signi- 

 ficant fact that the founders of both the American and British 

 societies declare themselves strongly against the exclusion of 

 German}-. Her exclusion would mean two rival Leagues, with 

 endless intrigues and rivalries everywhere — the discredited 

 Balance of power over again. In looking towards the future we 

 have to separate the German people from the German militar- 

 ists. We must look both for a renovated Germany and a reno- 

 vated Europe. 



Fourth, what eii'ect is the proposed League of Peace likely 

 to have Oiu the relation of native and Uncivilized peoples to the 

 civilized nations of the world? That question is of -speeiaF 

 interest to us in Soutl-, Africa, for we have not only otfr- owir 



