A Forgotten Maxim 285 



able to get ready the battleship which was building 

 for them, a war would almost certainly have fol- 

 lowed, for we had no battleship to put against -it. 



If in the future we have war, it will almost cer- 

 tainly come because of some action, or lack of 

 action, on our part in the way of refusing to accept 

 responsibilities at the proper time, or failing to 

 prepare for war when war does not threaten. An 

 ignoble peace is even worse than an unsuccessful 

 war; but an unsuccessful war would leave behind it 

 a legacy of bitter memories which would hurt our 

 national development for a generation to come. It 

 is true that no nation could actually conquer us, 

 owing to our isolated position ; but we would be seri- 

 ously harmed, even materially, by disasters that 

 stopped far short of conquest ; and in these matters, 

 which are far more important than things material, 

 we could readily be damaged beyond repair. No 

 material loss can begin to compensate for the loss 

 of national self-respect. The damage to our com- 

 mercial interests by the destruction of one of our 

 coast cities would be as nothing compared to the 

 humiliation which would be felt by every American 

 worthy of the name if we had to submit to such an 

 injury without amply avenging it. It has been 

 finely said that "a gentleman is one who is willing 

 to lay down his life for little things"; that is for 

 those things which seem little to the man who cares 

 only whether shares rise or fall in value, and to the 

 timid doctrinaire who preaches timid peace from 

 his cloistered study. 



