V IN HUMAN SOCIETY 209 



of our ability; we declaim against the curse of 

 war, and the wickedness of the military spirit, and 

 we are never weary of dilating on the blessedness of 

 peace and the innocent beneficence of Industry. 

 In their moments of expansion, even statesmen 

 and men of business go thus far. The finer 

 spirits look to an ideal civitas Dei ; a state when 

 every man, having reached the point of absolute 

 self-negation, and having nothing but moral perfec 

 tion to strive after, peace will truly reign, not merely 

 among nations, but among men, and the struggle 

 for existence will be at an end. 



Whether human nature is competent, under 

 any circumstances, to reach, or even seriously 

 advance towards, this ideal condition, is a question 

 which need not be discussed. It will be admitted 

 that mankind has not yet reached this stage by a 

 very long way, and my business is with the pres 

 ent. And that which I wish to point out is that, 

 so long as the natural man increases and multi 

 plies without restraint, so long will peace and 

 industry not only permit, but they will necessi 

 tate, a struggle for existence as sharp as any that 

 ever went on under the regime of war. If Istar 

 is to reign on the one hand, she will demand her 

 human sacrifices on the other. 



Let us look at home. For seventy years peace 

 and industry have had their way among us with 

 less interruption and under more favourable 

 conditions than in any other country on the 



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