i8 4 IDEALISM AND POLITICS 



in his view, have brought about their degradation, as the 

 deliberate expression of a calm opinion, reluctantly adopted 

 but forced upon him by a wide and careful survey of the 

 facts. 



There is one consideration, however, which will weigh 

 with a critic who would be sympathetic as well as just. 

 Mr. Hobhouse's book was evidently inspired in great part 

 by the South African War and the incidents which led to it. 

 The character of that war, or at least of the conditions which 

 brought it about, was such as to cause deep misgivings in 

 many minds, and to disturb the calm of many quietly 

 thoughtful men. Some of the events which preceded the 

 war have left a stain upon the national honour. And 

 nothing can quite remove it : not even the unexampled 

 magnanimity shown by British statesmanship in restoring 

 freedom to the conquered people. The blatant imperial- 

 ism and reckless greed which helped to bring about the 

 conflict and the sane and far-sighted imperialism which, 

 so far as possible, has removed its evil effects, will stand 

 upon the pages of our history in a contrast which nothing 

 can mitigate. 



If Mr. Hobhouse in his "Democracy and Reaction" 

 had limited his condemnation to the events or to the state 

 of the public mind at that time, I should be little disposed 

 to object to his statements. But the question raised by 

 him is not that of the war, nor of the Raid, nor of the 

 arrested enquiry into the Raid, nor of the action of the 

 Government then in power, nor of the temporary lapse of 

 a people from the ways of political rectitude under the 

 exciting influences of a great conflict. It is a far wider 

 and graver question. It is the question whether these 

 facts, amongst others, can be justly taken as symbols of 



