THE MORAL ASPECT OF 



goods, other things being equal, is the country which is 

 economically the weaker. 



It must be admitted that, from the point of view which 

 represents the various states as natural rivals, and sets our 

 duty to our country against our duty to man, such results 

 as these are not only unaccountable but impossible. But 

 is the point of view right or wrong ? This is the funda- 

 mental question to which we must now turn. 



It is plain that this view of the nature of international 

 relations is a particular form of a wider doctrine, which 

 distinguishes and opposes regard for self and regard for 

 others, egoism and altruism, private good and the public 

 or common good. Moralists will recognise in it the 

 familiar doctrine of Individualism (applied to States) to 

 which Thomas Hobbes gave the classical expression. In 

 our day we are more familiar with it as applied to the 

 relation of individuals to society, and as illustrated in the 

 discussions of the advocates of Individualism and Social- 

 ism. And although the problem of the relation of the 

 individual to the State is not identical with that of the 

 relation of independent States to each other, we shall find 

 it profitable to dwell upon this matter for a moment. 



There is one point on which Individualists and Socialists 

 agree. 1 They all desire both the solidarity of society and 

 the independence of the individual ; they all desire the 

 maintenance of the social order and the freedom of its 

 members ; and they all desire that both society and the 

 individual should, each in its own province, be active and 

 efficient. But they despair of reconciling them, except by 

 either subordinating the one to the other, or by a mutual 



1 1 have referred to this matter in another context in another essay : 

 but perhaps its importance may excuse the repetition. 



