Nationalism and Imperialism 251 



for it is the fundamental function of the State, and 

 apart from the State there is no civilization, no life 

 worth living. The mark of the State is sovereignty 

 or the identification of force and right, and the measure 

 of the protection is furnished by the completeness of 

 this identification. 



The fine flower of nationality, which has been 

 defined by writers like Renan' and J. S. Mill' 

 as a unity of ideals based upon common sympathies 

 and the consciousness of common experiences, 

 has been distorted and debased by the philosophy 

 of force into a spurious Colonialism on the one 

 hand and Imperialism on the other. In tracing 

 the causes of the success of the distorted "social 

 Darwinism" we have seen how it has served as 

 the scientific defence for Imperialism, and how 

 the idea of "the struggle for existence" and the 

 "survival of the fittest" has been magnified to 

 the immense scale of the life struggle between 

 rival empires. J. A. Hobson, who has given the 

 subject the most scientific study, has traced the 

 distortion of nationalism by the philosophy of 

 force as follows : 



Nationalism is a plain highway to international-. * » 

 ism, and if it manifests diversions we may well sus- 

 pect a perversion of its nature and its purpose. Such 

 a perversion is Imperialism, in which nations, tres- 

 passing beyond the limits of facile assimilation, 

 transform the wholesome stimulative rivalry of 



' Quest-ce qu'une nation? 



' Representative Government, chapter xvi. 



