Militarism Is a State of Mind 247 



state of mind, — a social philosophy; and the chief 

 democratic objection to large standing armies 

 and military training is that it tends to multiply 

 those who hold this militaristic social philosophy. 



If military force could be confined to the func- 

 tions of defence and police force, its increase 

 would not be regarded with the distrust which it 

 arouses at the present time in democratic nations. 

 But until a League of Peace is formed, no country 

 can have any guarantee that a military force 

 created for defence will not be used for aggression. 

 In fact, as we have seen in Chapter VI., it is a 

 logical part of the militaristic philosophy of force 

 that since war is a law of Natiu-e, and therefore 

 inevitable, attack at the most favourable opportu- 

 nity is not only the best method of defence, but 

 an imperative national duty. 



The dangers of a military caste have been 

 emphasized by Lord Bryce, the recent British 

 Ambassador to America, who points out that 

 during the hundred years of peace in the English- 

 speaking world a number of disputes which might 

 have led to war did not do so because in America 



fortunately . . . the country was free from that per- 

 nicious influence of a professional military caste which 

 works such frightful evil in Europe, being indeed 

 driven to desire opportunities for practising the work 

 for which the profession exists/ 



' The British Empire and the United States, by W. A. Dunning, 

 with an introduction by the Right Hon. Viscoitnt Bryce, New 

 York, 1914, pp. xxix-xxx. 



