LAND A .N D W A T E R 
August 14, 1915. 
to risk the whole for tear of sacrificing a small fraction. 
But if. on the contrary, Bulgaria is Germany's friend 
and ally, why do the Entente Powers, and Russia in 
especial, allow her to speculate on their forgiving dis- 
position and to trade on their ruin ? A door, one would 
think, must either open or shut; but Entente diplomacy 
is seemingly unaware of the necessity. Russia has it in 
her power to supply the neutrality-mongers of Sofia 
with irresistible motives for action, but it would wring 
her heart to chastise the darling little Slav State which 
she herself created or to put too much pressure on the 
Serbs, and yet if either resolve were taken, Con- 
stantinople could be captured within three weeks, and 
the war would enter upon its last phase. 
Future Guarantees. 
And after? Can Europe rely upon a durable peace, 
however ingeniously statesmen may word the Treaty 
that establishes it? Surely not, unless sanctions more 
potent than scraps of paper sei"ve as guarantees. Eighty 
million Germans, however completely defeated, will not 
sit still and forget their ideals for long. They will be 
united in thought, sentiment, and strivings. Tlie know- 
ledge that they waged war against the world's greatest 
Empires and were more than once within sight of their 
goal will nerve them to further elTorts, for which the 
present loose organisation of Europe and their own 
cynical unscrupulousness will offer them ample scope. 
What bar can be set to these vaulting ambitions ? 
I venture to submit that what is essential is a com- 
pact organisation of all the civilising forces of Europe 
into a single community of interests and pursuits. And 
the assignment to the members of that community, and 
to them alone, of all the benefits — economic and financial, 
commercial and political — which it is in the power of 
the organisation to bestow. And this arrangement, to 
be effective, should be not merely for the duration of 
the war, but at least for a quarter of a century after peace 
has been signed. In this way the Allies have it in their 
power to enclose in advance the new structure which 
they, if victorious, will raise on the ruins of the 
European State-system which the Teuton rebellion has 
rendered henceforward impossible. For the fact cannot 
be blinked — though the nation seemingly has not yet 
fully realised it — that one effect of the present volcanic 
upheaval is the rapid disintegration of the whole social 
and political system of the old Continent. Whatever 
the outcome of this war, Europe can never again be what 
it was. Partial symptoms of the disruption already 
strike the eye. But there have as yet been no efforts at 
systematic reconstruction. 
Mutual Aid. 
Readiness to accord mutual aid and to confine it to 
the belligerent States is a common idea in the heads of 
most statesmen to-day, and it is already being applied 
partially. Great Britain and France have assisted their 
friends pecuniarily and otherwise to the extent demanded 
by the pressing needs of the moment. But the procedure 
has not been systematised nor extended. It is fitful and 
fragmentary, a mere expedient doomed to disappear 
together with the fleeting necessity that called it into 
being. Hence the speculation in neutrality which pre- 
vails among all neutrals to-day and the danger that 
awaits us after peace is concluded. 
All this might be changed by mobilising and employ- 
ing the vast resources of the Allies, and of Britain and 
trance in particular, establishing a League which 
while imposing on its members the duty of helping the 
Allies to speedy victory and guaranteeing the peace of 
reconstructed Europe later on, would bestow on them 
certain important economic rights and privileges of a 
nature to put a stop once for all to that stealthy 
economic interpenetration to which Germany owed her 
commanding position in Europe. 
,hinl^n/p ^'-r ^^f"""' 'J"^"' ^^'hatever we in Britain may 
h.nk of Free Trade and Tariff Reform, I have no hesita- 
tion in affirming that if we bring this sanguinary cam- 
pmn.io a successful finish.- tlie^Teuton must be deprivSl 
of the benefits of the most-favoured nation clause. 
I'^rance was forced to accord them these advantages by 
the Treaty of Frankfort, and Russia yielded the point 
during the Japanese War. And in consequence both 
countries liave been economically sucked dry by Ger- 
many ever since. If Britain were voluntarily to bestow 
this privilege on the monsters who are seeking to 
annihilate her, she would deserve the lot they have in 
store for her. It was with the wealth they harvested 
from our markets that they equipped themselves for this 
struggle. Shall we throw open the same resources to 
them again ? If not. we must introduce the double tariff 
system, imposing nominal duties on our friends and 
heavy duiies on the others. I go further and contend 
that the restrictions already placed on the export of 
English coal should be extended and made permanent. 
Some of the lesser States depend largely on our coal,, 
and when the war broke out I knew of two Pdwers that 
would have espoused our cause at once if we h.ad made 
the exportation of that combustible conditional on their 
military assistance. 
New Navigation Acts. 
In like manner new Navigation Acts restricting the 
coasting trade to friendly, not neutral. States would 
exert irresistible pressure on certain countries which are 
impervious to motives of a more exalted order. In normal 
times there are vessels of a total of about five million 
tons engaged in that trade, and if we count long voyages 
we find that the total tonnage of foreign shipping thus 
employed amounted to thirty-one millions as against 
forty-four millions British. The dues payable by vessels 
flying the flags of neutral countries could be raised con- 
siderably above those payable by the mfeftibers of the 
League. Germany conferred this privilege on Italy for 
the export of her fruks, and did it for political objects. 
And it is for political objects that we should adopt 
the same expedient. Trade licences, patents, permits to 
foreign commercial travellers in the British Empire 
should be similarly dealt with. In the matter of postal 
and telegraph rates the same line of demarcation should 
be drawn. 
These expedients reinforced by special measures to 
stimulate the reciprocal flow of export and import 
between ourselves and our Allies would form the key- 
stone of the new economic structure. And whether we 
like or dislike the scheme, the underlying principle must 
and will be realised if the Empire is to live. I hold 
further that, if w^e desire to end this war promptly, we 
should begin at once and apply it to neutrals who are not 
concerned in what befalls civilisation and to our friends 
who are spilling their blood and treasure to save it. That 
these innovations might slightly raise prices would» 
were it true, form no conclusive objection, for the exist- 
ence of the Empire is of greater moment than cheap 
abundant food. But the contention is not proven. Fob 
the resulting Tariff League, excluding the: neutrals, 
would embrace about 270 million people in Europe, 
nearly all Africa, Canada, Australia, half of Asia, and 
if we take in China, about 1,200 out of the 1,600 millions 
who inhabit the globe.* This would enable .us to main- 
tain Free Trade with three-fourths of the world. 
Another fruitful idea turns upon banking facilities 
among the members of the League. The golden links 
that bind so many countries to the Fatherland were 
forged by Teuton banks of the type of the Banca Com- 
merciale in Italy. German banking might aptly be 
likened to two huge cobwebs spreading over the world 
with the weaving spiders in Berlin. Of these, one is the 
Disconto Gesellschaft and the other the Deutsche Bank ; 
or they might be compared to two sharp swords, of 
which the handles are in Berlin and the blades eveiy- 
where. In Russia, Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, and 
other countries these institutions aided local trade and 
* CF. "Nnova Antologia." Anno. 50 Fascicolo 1042. It is 
impossible in this brief sketch to consider onr position towards tha 
United gtatea. . Towards tho people of that Republic we stand on a 
more than friendly footing, and the creation of the League would tend 
to foster our present amitablfe relations. ' i' ■■/;■.■, 
12/ 
