202 Declining Effectiveness of Force 



conduct may vary between the limits of a complete 

 extermination of the vanquished and an absolute 

 respect for their rights. Evidently, if the van- 

 quished are massacred to the last man, Professor 

 Ward would not affirm that an intensification of 

 life had taken place. Those who are killed most 

 certainly do not experience any intensification of 

 their life, and for the conquerors, none the less, the 

 massacre of the vanquished is not an intensifica- 

 tion of life, for the simple reason that they lose 

 those individuals who might have been their 

 associates, and vital intensity is in direct propor- 

 tion to the number of the associates. Conquest 

 cannot therefore intensify life, if there is a total or 

 partial extermination of the vanquished. On the 

 other hand, it seems difficult to deny that the 

 sum of vital power of the new organism which 

 issues from the conquest will be exactly in inverse 

 proportion to the injustice exercised by the con- 

 queror. In other words, the conquest will be the 

 more beneficial the less the rights of the con- 

 quered are violated, which amounts to saying that 

 life would have been most exuberant if there had 

 been no conquest at all. 



If after the conquest, oppression and despotism 

 are quickly effaced, civilization and social vigour 

 reappear. If, however, after the conquest, the 

 vanquished is subjected to a regime less just than 

 that which he enjoyed at the time of his indepen- 

 dence, barbarism is an inevitable consequence. 

 Hundreds of examples of this case might be cited. 



