242 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1916. 



with the spirit of the nation, the sentiments whicli underHe its national 

 ideals, that we have to deal in practice when laying out a line of 

 separation, and this, so far as it affects boundary settlements 'between 

 civilised communities, appears at first sight to be a vei-y complicated 

 problem. The bonds of ethnic affinity; a fervid community in rehgious 

 sentiment; a mutual basis of agreement and aim as regards cultural 

 development, or political aspirations, have all been cited as sentiments 

 strong enough to ensure such a peace-loving and peace-promoting 

 assimilation as should render the existence of a dividing line a merely 

 nominal geographical incident. As a matter of fact none of these 

 sentiments weigh for an instant against a cetrain form of perfer\'id 

 patriotism, which is a virtue inculcated by education and supported by 

 the irresistible effects of environment and self-interest. I do not mean 

 to say that self-interest is at the root of patriotism, but I do mean to say 

 that it is very easy to place self-interest on a very high pedestal of 

 morality, and then to imagine that it is patriotism ; and that it is a 

 matter of the very deepest concern to any Government which values 

 the great principle of love for one's country, and the spirit of self- 

 sacrifice in that country's cause, to see to it that the highest patriotic 

 ideals, whilst yet uncontaminated by the breath of self-interest, are 

 fostered and inculcated during the earliest phases of education. It 

 might be thought that community of origin and of language would be 

 a powerful agent in the promotion of peace between peoples who share 

 it. Unfortunately, it seems to count for little or nothing when 

 boundary disputes arise. Such international family quarrels are often 

 the bitterest, nor can we say that community of religious faith is any 

 stronger as a binding agency than community of language and ethnical 

 affinity. Such influences may almost be ignored, as well as those 

 which arise from common aspirations after certain forms of culture, 

 when men's passions are aroused by the greed of territorial expansion 

 or the bitter grievance of its curtailment. It is quite sufficient for all 

 practical purposes if we lump all such matters of sentiment together and 

 regard the total effect of them as the will of the people. The will of 

 the people is, in effect, the outcome and expression of all these 

 influences, together with that greater, nobler, and more inspiring senti- 

 ment which the Japanese know as ' bushido, ' and which we call 

 patriotism. I have been concerned officially in the settlement of many 

 boundaries, but never have I experienced (nor have I ever heard of) a 

 settlement in which the people concerned on either side were so happily 

 disposed towards each other as to ask only for a fair division of 

 interests, and such a nominal hedge between them as would permit of 

 neighbourly fraternisation and the interchange of courtesies. On the 

 contrary, boundary disputes seem to possess quite an unreasonable, and 

 sometimes incomprehensible, faculty for stirring up the very worst 

 elements of international hatred and passion, and we are forced to the 

 conclusion that a boundary settlement involves the partition of con- 

 flicting interests which must be adjusted as far as possible so as to^ 

 prevent those interests from ever clashing or morally interfering with 

 each other again. So long as man is a fighting animal he must be 

 prevented from physical interference with his neighbour by physical 



