December ii, 1915 
LAND AN L) W A T E R . 
^Continued from t'^gt 3.) 
interference with the complete freedom of the 
constituent peoples over their own fiscal arrange- 
ments. Yet it must be confessed that underneath 
the whole there seems to run a current of reaction- 
ary prepossessions. We ha\'e seen that there arc 
now not so much seas and continents as one sea 
and a unified world, and the problem of the future 
presents itself as a world problem in which there 
can never more be merely sectional quarrels or 
illogical precisions, such as " splendid isolation "and 
Monroe doctrines. Read between the lines and you 
will see that our authors' conception of the British 
Empire is essentially that of a lucky freebooter, 
genial and kindly indeed, but determined to stick 
to his gains however gotten, and armed against 
envious nations eager to dispossess him — the old 
" practical " view in fact. So, the inference 
runs, not less but more armaments in the future 
because adequate armed defence alone a\oids 
war. Of course it does nothing of the sort, or 
perhaps it is more fair to say that there can never 
be an absolutely adequate armed defence. " From 
time to time the political enemy changes." If the 
" property " theory of Empire holds, we must 
be prepared for a league against the British 
freebooter which shall be too powerful to meet. 
It is an argument too little taken note of by the 
practical school, that if England had put herself 
in posture to be as ready against attack, as we 
all now think she should have been, that very 
posture might not merely have precipated war, but 
induced an entirely' different combin?''on of forces 
more than sufficient to break us. 
Is there no middle way between the too hope- 
ful idealism of the pacifists and the unquestioned 
continuance, only on a larger and more monstrous 
scale, of a system which is bound to end in such 
ruin as the present ? Are we to learn nothing, 
to forget nothing ? Have our authors and their 
school sufficiently considered that there has never 
been so illuminating a catastrophe in the world's 
history as this stupendous war ; that never were 
so many made to think about one great thing at 
the same time or for so long together ; that never 
will there be so many convinced pacifists, even to 
extremes, as the disbanded soldiers of the world's 
armies ? As we are rational beings (crudely, 
perhaps, but essentially) and not automata, we 
may be assured that whatever the future brings 
it will bring a revolutionary' change of conception 
about war. We are not Angellists because we 
feel that Nor.man Angell underrated the factors 
of racial pride and antipathy in his estimate of the 
causes of war, but we can all feel now that he 
also understated rather than overstated the case 
for the essential futility of violence. 
The taking up of arms by us in this war was 
abundantly justified in honourable defence of our 
liberties ; in chivalrous defence of the hberties of 
others ; as a natural and inevitable protest against 
violen(ie offered ; and as the instinctive struggle 
for what we believe to be better a conception of 
human destiny. On all these grounds the better 
part of our race would always accept a challenge. 
But for a mere defence of property by the strong 
man armed, we could rely upon no such general 
rally. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that 
the fine words about liberty, used so freely during 
the war and by our authors not less than others, 
are sometimes rather a fringe or flourish than the 
expression of a deep conviction. Essentially they 
adopt the inference that the world is to go on in 
much the same way as before. There is indeed no 
possible prospectof immediate disarmament though 
there may be some machinery contrived of modi- 
fication and control ; there will still be conflicting 
economic interests, but they can be often (if wt* 
dare not say always) solved by something less 
insanely wasteful than war ; there will still be 
national jealousies and ambitions, but they need 
not be inflamed by misunderstandings, or manipu- 
lated by secret intrigue. 
At any rate a better change can only come by 
taking thought and no change will come without 
such thought. Who will dare to accept without 
protest, and without the labour of his head and 
heart in protest, the doom that a second and a 
wider war is inevitable for his children as the result 
of this "- which is, in effect, the doctrine of the 
" practical " school. Yet, on the other hand, 
surely we are too clear sighted to believe that the 
victory of the Allies without a shedding of old 
doctrines and practices will put an end to war ? 
All too many shibboleths like " the war that is to 
end war " are bandied about amongst us. 
If England rises, as she will, unbroken in 
power and stronger in fellowship, though chastened, 
and only temporarily impoverished, it will be her 
great destiny to take the first steps towards 
yielding peace to civilisation. Not a pax Britannica 
which is the peace of dominion, built on the 
shifting sands of an intriguing diplomacy, but a 
pax libera, which may be the peace of a greater 
partnership. It is incredible that the breathing 
space which the end of the war will bring should 
be used merely for the replenishment of our armies 
and the old intrigues for position — when there will 
be so much suffering to heal, so much waste to 
make good. We, who have fought for liberty, are 
we still to work for the old selfish slavery ? . Are 
we to go on neglecting the reqj^ problems of the 
happiness and development of our people for this 
mirage of power.? There is no way out by that 
gate — and the sheep now knoiv it. 
The world will take the direction that the 
peoples of the world give it. We are to the degree 
of our efforts and our faiths the masters of our 
destiny. Above our national interest stands the 
common interest of all mankind. So far we have 
thought in terms of nationalism — national interest 
and national pride, and, at best, national freedom. 
There is a higher thought, a wider freedom. It 
will not be the product of a hasty, idealist policy 
of assuming a sudden, general conversion, though 
we shall all be nearer conversion .than we ever 
believed possible, but it can in the erid result 
from the laborious working out of new conceptions 
in a spirit of mutual good-will. These new concepr- 
tions the war has revealed to us. It is necessary 
that the old false ideals be challenged wherever 
they appear, as they do, for instance, in the back- 
ground of the otherwise sane, informing and liberal 
book which gave us the text for these comments. 
We must cleave fast to tlie truth that war is not 
an inevitable catastrophe like the eruption of 
Mont Pelee but a " failure of human wisdom " and 
morality. The cure, and, at the least, the certain 
relief, lies in an increase of wisdom and good-will. 
A quite practical, and an always more and more 
a.ttainable thing. , . . We are wiser already — 
God knows ! 
