148 THE MORAL ASPECT OF 



nations. But this is incidental to the process by which 

 each discovers its own proper Function ; and it must not 

 be forgotten that it liberates as well as dislocates, and brings 

 with it the benefits of a better division of labour. Inter- 

 national commerce has, further, made us more dependent 

 upon our neighbours, and our neighbours upon ourselves. 

 But interdependence is, in normal conditions, not weakness 

 but strength, for it implies mutual utility. In abnormal 

 conditions, as in times of war, it is, of course, mutual loss. 

 For if war breaks out between interdependent states it 

 tends to assume for each of the combatants alike the most 

 dangerous of all forms, namely, that of a civil war ; for 

 the closer the tie the more fatal the rupture. But this 

 argument tells against the comity of nations only in the 

 same way as it does against the union of citizens, or of 

 provinces in an individual state. The risk is worth the 

 running, for it is only the risk naturally entailed in the 

 establishment of social institutions and in moralising man. 

 The intercommunion and consequent interdependence 

 of states may be said, further, to increase the opportunities 

 of disagreement ; for neither states nor individuals quarrel 

 with those with whom they have nothing to do. But if 

 they increase the opportunities of disagreement, they take 

 away the disposition to it ; for amongst interdependent 

 states injury to one is recognised as injury to all. And 

 besides, isolation is not amongst the practical options. 

 Intercourse between nations there must be, and it is well 

 that it should be. By means of it, and by means of com- 

 mercial intercourse perhaps more than by any other, the 

 civilised nations are gradually building up and realising 

 the conception of a common good. And that conception, 

 wherever it is operative, acts after the manner of a moral 



