THE EXPEDIENT OF WAR. 503 



locked Babylonia, and Egypt, and India. It was War 

 which developed the genius of Greece. It was War 

 which planted the Greek language in Asia, and so 

 rendered possible the spread of Christianity. It was 

 War which united the world in peace from the Cheviot 

 Hills to the Danube and the Euphrates. It was War 

 which saved Europe from the quietude of China. It 

 was War which made Mecca the centre of the East. It 

 was War which united the barons in the crusades, and 

 which destroyed the feudal system. Even in recent 

 times the action of War has been useful in condensing 

 scattered elements of nationality, and in liberating 

 subject populations. United Italy was formed directly 

 or indirectly by the wars of '59, '66, and '70. The 

 last war realised the dreams of German poets, and 

 united the Teutonic nations more closely than the 

 shrewdest statesmen could have conceived to be pos- 

 sible a few years ago. That same war, so calamitous 

 for France, will yet regenerate that great country, and 

 make her more prosperous than she has ever been. 

 The American War emancipated four million men, 

 and decided for ever the question as to whether 

 the Union was a nationality or a league. But 

 the Crimean War was injurious to civilisation ; it re- 

 tarded a useful and inevitable event. Turkey will 

 some day be covered with corn-fields ; Constantinople 

 will some day be a manufacturing town ; but a genera- 

 tion has been lost. Statesmen and journalists will 

 learn in time, that whatever is conquered for civilisa- 

 tion is conquered for all. To preserve the Balance of 

 Power was an excellent policy in the middle ages, 

 when war was the only pursuit of a gentleman, and 

 when conquest was the only ambition of kings. It is 

 now suited only for the Highlands of Abyssinia. The 



