TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 54 
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2. Discussion on * The Great Illusion.’ 
(i) The Economic and Moral Factors of International Polity. 
By Norman ANGELL. 
Criticism directed at the establishment of a sounder European polity, which 
shall be the basis of co-operation between the European nations, has shown of 
recent years a curious change of position. Until a year or two since, the efforts 
to arrive at a European policy were generally criticised, on the ground that they 
were the outcome of a sentimental idealism which disregarded unduly the con- 
flicting interests of men; they represented the idealism of those who refused 
to face the hard facts of a selfish world. Recently this position has been almost 
entirely abandoned, and efforts towards international co-operation are now 
criticised as being too purely materialistic in motive, and as overlooking the 
moral differences of nations, which we are given to understand must always 
stand in the way of their co-operation. 
It is impossible to separate in any absolute fashion the moral and economic 
motives of men: to succour the widow and the orphan, to feed the hungry, to 
clothe the naked, and to care for the sick are, admittedly, moral motives when 
they are part of charity. Why should they cease to become moral when, instead 
of accomplishing these ends through charity, we attempt to accomplish them 
through the scientific organisation of a better human society ? 
The development of ideals shows a distinct narrowing of the gulf which is 
supposed to separate moral aims and those of self-interest. Early ideals, 
whether in the field of politics or religion, are generally dissociated from any aim 
of general well-being: early political ideals are concerned with personal 
allegiance to some dynastic chief, the well-being of the community not entering 
into the matter. Later, the chief must embody in his person that well-being, or 
he does not achieve the allegiance of the community; finally, the well-being of 
the community becomes the end in itself, and the altruism of the mass has 
become self-interest, since self-interest of the community for the sake of the 
community is a contradiction in terms. Early religious ideals show a like 
development : a religious ideal which centres upon a sterile life at the top of a 
pillar or upon a bed of spikes has no longer any appeal. Even religious ideals 
are put to the test of whether they make for the improvement of society; if they 
do not, if it could be shown that a given doctrine made for the disintegration of 
society, the verdict of most modern men would be against it. 
Is it better that differences should be settled by discussion, reason, mutual 
adjustment, or by physical force? Does the duel settle the question out of 
which it arises? Can the moral problems of mankind be advanced in this way? 
If not, war stands condemned on moral grounds. Men are entitled to defend 
their possessions, moral or material, but that does not get to the bottom of 
the matter, since unless one party attacks there is no necessity for defence. The 
whole question is what should be the attitude of European nations, as a whole, 
in this matter. On wide questions of policy there is no such thing as the English 
idea, or the German idea, or the French idea; the existing situation is the 
outcome of what Newman called ‘the European mind, just as the general 
decision no longer to employ force in the domain of religious belief was the 
outcome of a general European attitude. 
No considerable intellectual movement can possibly be confined to one 
country : that was impossible three centuries ago, even before the day of cheap 
books and instantaneous communication. 
The solution of the whole armament problem depends upon the advance of 
European ideas on the question of international relationship. It is not a 
question of accepting fatalistically without effort an existing condition: what 
exists depends on us; it is not something fixed outside our acts and our volition, 
but the reflection of those acts. 
(ii) The Economic Basis of Universal Peace—-Cosmopolitan or Inter- 
national. By the Ven. Archdeacon Cunninauam, F.B.A. 
Twenty-one years ago, as President of this Section, I argued that cosmopolitan 
economic forces were gradually breaking down national exclusiveness in every 
1912. NN 
