War Prevents Federation of Europe 201 



War has not been the cause of the formation of the 

 German State ; war was the cause which prevented 

 the German State from being formed for so many- 

 centuries. ^ 



The same causes which have operated in the 

 past operate at present. What is the obstacle 

 to the creation of a United States of Europe? 

 The fact that Germany, France, Russia, and 

 England are not willing to renounce the right 

 to make war upon each other. It is war which 

 prevents at the present time the formation of a 

 Pan-European State, just as it prevented for so 

 long the formation of a Pan-Hellenic State. 

 We can see, then, how far wrong Spencer and the 

 other sociologists of the philosophy of force are, in 

 affirming that war has made the great societies. 

 The truth is just the contrary. War has prevented 

 them from being made. 



According to Professor Ward, conquest is a 

 fertilization which results in an increase of life, 

 since it causes human societies to pass from an 

 unorganized phase to the organized phase. Pre- 

 cisely the opposite is the truth. All conquest is a 

 diminution of life, a time of arrested development, 

 an obstacle preventing the passage from an im- 

 perfect organization to a more perfect organiza- 

 tion. Here again, we find physical force ineffective 

 to achieve the desired political result. 



When a conqueror occupies a country, his 



' See supra, pp. 104-7, ^o^ a consideration of war as a dis- 

 sociation. 



