ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



question of right and wrong has, of course, come 

 more and more to the front; his relations to his fel- 

 lows, his sense of justice, of truth, of fair dealing, 

 have occupied him more and more. His savage in- 

 stincts have been held more and more in check. The 

 cooperation and sympathy and good-will which 

 have brought about his present civilization would 

 have been possible on no other terms. Without a 

 sense of justice, of love of truth, of ideal right, 

 where should we have been to-day? The fittest to 

 survive among mankind were those races that had 

 the moral consciousness most fully developed. This 

 gave a might which led to a permanent supremacy 

 — a beneficent might. A malevolent might is one 

 that is founded upon superior brute or material 

 strength alone. The law of the jungle or of the tor- 

 nado or of the avalanche, introduced into human 

 affairs and unchecked by the law of man's moral 

 nature, leads to wars of conquest, as it did to the 

 World War. 



IV 



The expounders of the benefits of war write and 

 speak about it as if it were some system of hygient, 

 or medicine or gymnastic training that a people 

 could practice in and of themselves; whereas wars 

 of conquest do not begin and end at home. There 

 are two parties to such a war. If it is a benefit to the 

 victors, what is it to the defeated? I am speaking, of 



154 



