JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 95 



neutral powers. His theory was that neutrals, though not always 

 the same, are, when combined, irresistible ; and his proposition was 

 that the outbreak of war between any two powers should be a casus 

 belli as regards the rest, and to embody this principle in a treaty. 

 This scheme, perhaps because it was too ambitious, failed to com- 

 mand the attention it deserved. The combination of the three 

 Emperors, the dual alliance, are all efforts in the same direction. 

 War has often been compared to a huge conflagration, and like it. 

 Eventually De Molinair's plan of isolation may bring with it the 

 millennium, when men shall beat their swords into plow-shares and 

 their spears into pruning-hooks. 



