1914] on The Foundations of Diplomacy 9 



It is true that in all the marvels of technique that charac- 

 terize our age one element stands out with refreshing and encourag- 

 ing clearness. Old faiths may be dying or dead, old forms and 

 formulas be shattered, old aspirations abandoned, but in the in- 

 dividual, though rarely in the mass, the ancient physical virtue of 

 fearlessness remains. Nations may have learned to conceive the 

 possibility of and to fear death, but individuals still count the chance 

 of destruction a small thing in comparison with the joy of achieve- 

 ment, even though that achievement be apparently purposeless. The 

 old Greek doctrine that the highest good lies not in the reward 

 gained, but in the effort towards achievement, is again and again 

 vindicated before our eyes. The pusillanimous question, " What is 

 the good ? Is it worth while ?" is silenced by the general instinctive 

 recognition that self-sacrifice and the joyful acceptance of risk are 

 in themselves glorious things. While such instincts remain and 

 heroes abound why be despondent ? May not the energies absorbed 

 to-day by the solution of dangerous technical or geographical pro- 

 blems be to-morrow directed towards the solution of the social, 

 national, and international problems that now block the road to a 

 higher civilization ? Just as the technical achievements that excite 

 our admiration are the outcome of years and decades of patient study 

 and experiment, may not the possibility of progress upon other lines 

 depend upon the dissemination and application of knowledge ? 



Doubtless ; if the will to acquire, spread and apply knowledge be 

 assumed to exist. But what national educational knowledge is 

 to-day being spread ? To judge by many utterances of public men 

 it would seem that what the broad masses of the nation are supposed 

 to need is flattery mingled with appeals to individual and class 

 cupidity. The people are alleged to be " out for a good time," to 

 have made a god of their bellies, and to care nothing for things that 

 do not appeal to their appetites, tickle their curiosity, or amuse 

 them in one way or another. 



Fortified by an ignorance born of long absence, I decline to 

 accept these allegations as exhaustive evidence. Not long since, 

 sundry demagogues in the service of a political party endeavoured to 

 arouse the enthusiasm of an English agricultural constituency by de- 

 scanting upon the virtues of this or that particular plank in the party 

 programme. They were startled by impatient interruptions from 

 their hearers : " Tell us about Macedonia ! " The People, I believe, 

 needs to be lifted above the perpetual contemplation of its daily needs. 

 After all, man liveth not by bread alone, nor even by flattery nor by 

 boastful references to national or imperial greatness. The ideas of 

 duty and justice, right and wrong will move hearts which appeals to 

 personal or even national interest would leave cold. If om- statesmen, 

 those who hnoiv from intimate experience of public and international 

 affairs, would speak to the people on questions outside the ordinary 

 range of party poHtics ; if professors and students would propagate 



