xxiv INTRODUCTION 



that the policy of nations must be directed by what 

 seemed material issues. English Governments and the 

 great English newspapers, however, pay no attention 

 to anonymous writers, and the political party that 

 gave Heligoland to Germany pressed on to the folly 

 of Fashoda. So ended my little adventure in politics. 

 My impression is that since the Transvaal War, 

 and still more since the success of the policy of 

 granting self-government to South Africa, the great 

 majority of persons in this country have desired not 

 only peace for Britain but for the whole world. 

 The feeling against France and Russia had dis- 

 appeared, and quite certainly it had not been 

 replaced by a feeling against Germany. The cry for 

 a larger navy, the demand for conscription, the 

 attacks on the Ministers of War, were regarded by 

 most persons in private life as being due to the 

 natural enthusiasm of professional soldiers and 

 sailors, or as moves in the game of party politics. 

 We pursued our private affairs through the various 

 recent crises in foreign politics with almost complete 

 indifference to what was going on, confident that 

 when diplomatists had had their little " scraps," 

 the good sense and the peaceful interests of peaceful 

 nations would prevail. I was in Germany on business 

 connected with the Zoological Society in 1911, 1912, 

 and the end of 1913. I saw many places and persons 

 that I had not seen for a quarter of a century. I 

 find in my notes, written at the time of these visits, 

 expressions of the most profound admiration for the 

 new splendour of German towns, for the abounding 

 signs of progress and prosperity, comparisons with 

 New York and Washington, comments on what 



