24 
LAND & WATER 
December 19, 191 & 
MR. ASQOITH 
a resolution shouid aot blind us to the danger that lurks 
behind. Our habits may prove more powerful than our 
resolutions ; and our habit just now is the habit of conquerors, 
which is not easily cast ofi. It would not be very difficult 
to go to war again. Psychologically it would be quite easy, 
and psychological causes have more to do with these things 
than political Or even ecotwmic causes. We all remember 
how difficult it was in 1914, 
when the war habit had grown 
weak through disuse, to accom- 
modate our minds to the fact 
that the nation was at war. How 
strange it seemed ! Now the 
difficulty is to realise that we are 
at peace ; and if to-morrow the 
news came that we were in for 
another great campaign there 
would be none of that plunge 
into an unfamiliar world which 
most people found so difficult 
four years ago. Such things 
should not be lost sight of when 
we ire considering the dangers 
of the time. The nations are 
talking of peace ; but they are 
familiar with war. And familiar 
ideas are easily put into exe- 
cution. 
For these reasons I do not hesi- 
tate to predict that trouble would 
arise if Great Britain were to go 
to the Peace Conference possessed 
by the notion that she is going to 
make a good thing for herself out 
of a pacified world. There would 
be trouble among our own 
people to begin with. I see the 
announcement made by an 
eminent economist that Great 
Britain can now begin to treble 
her wealth production and 
income. Perhaps she can ; but I doubt if our returning 
soldiers will be content to regard this as the cause for which 
they risked their lives ; and I doubt if the mothers and fathers 
of the slain will like it any better. Even in oneself, after 
four years of ingloriously watching the sacrifice of others, 
one feels a little shudder at the pronflnence given to this 
kind of thing. It really looks at times as though, having 
the giant's strength, we meant to 
use it as a giant. Is that worthy, 
of the glorious dead — of whom 
Mr. Kipling has chosen to say 
" their names will live for ever- 
more " ? Is it not something of 
an anti-climax ? These men did 
not lay down their lives for 
British trade. They died for 
Justice, and we owe it to them to 
see that Justice is established on 
the earth. It is not established 
yet. All that is accomplished so 
far is the overthrow of injustice ; 
a great step towards the goal but 
not the goal itself. The work of 
our dead is not finished ; it is 
just begun. It is handed on for 
us to continue, which we shall not 
be doing by trebling the wealth 
production and income of the 
British Empire. If that is to be 
our dominant idea we may look 
out for the next war. It is not 
far off. 
The victory we are now con- 
templating is a victory by Justice, 
for Justice and of Justice. If I 
had to make my choice I would 
lay the chief emphasis on the 
first preposition — by Justice. I 
am old-fashioned enough to be- 
lieve that the secret of this victory 
lies with the " power not our 
General Election had happened at some other time — not at 
the time when quiet men want to meditate on the mighty 
works of the Lord, and on the desolations He hath wrought 
in the earth. The thing that has happened means so much 
that it runs a serious risk of meaning nothing — like the 
National Debt. One needs a " tranqiiil space " to take it 
in ; and I for one harbour a little grudge against those who 
have plunged me into this new 
turmoil at the very moment 
when my soul was craving for 
quiet. The aspect of our victory 
which is most worth thinking 
about is not being thought 
about. Something else, a far 
lesser thing is being thrust into 
the foreground, and the thoughts 
which it prompts seem to let 
one down from the height 
of this great moment. Perhaps 
we shall do better later on. 
Among the writers, the orators, 
and the poets of the time I 
listen in vain for the voice that 
reminds us of what, to me, is the 
central truth of the whole matter 
—the victory by Justice, the 
victory for which Justice itself 
must receive the praise. But 
looking through my Milton, who 
has been my chief war prophet 
throughout, I found the other 
day a passage which said what I 
wanted to hear. Probably the 
reader knows it, but it will do 
him no harm to see it once more 
in print. 
PRESIDENT WILSON 
Oh how comely it is, and how 
reviving 
To the spirits of just men long 
. oppress'd ! 
When God mto the hands of their deliverer 
Puts mvincible might 
To quell the mighty of the earth, the oppressor, 
rhe brute and boisterous force of violent men 
Hardy and mdustrious to support 
Tyrannick power, but raging to pursue 
The righteous and all such as honour truth • 
He all their ammunition 
And feats of war defeats. 
With plain heroick magnitude oi 
mind 
And celestial vigour arm'd ; 
Their armouries and maga zines 
contemns. 
Renders them useless ; while 
With winged expedition, 
Swift as the lightning glance, he 
executes 
His errand on the wicked, who„ 
surpris'd, 
Lose their defence, distracted and 
amaz'd. 
After pondering this splendid 
passage I would suggest to the 
reader that by way of contrast 
he spend an evening with the 
books we were all talking about 
in the early days of the war, 
especially the German books on 
'' World-dominion " and such 
like nonsense ; or that other 
book of Professor Cramb's which 
underlined the German logic and 
gave some of us sleepless nights. 
How formidable it seemed at the 
time ! Well, as I look back to 
those days what stands out most 
vividly in my memory is a certain 
" plain heroick magnitude of 
mind " that shone forth in our 
leaders at the critical hour. From 
that ,day to this it has never 
deserted us. It has been the- 
Img experience, a thing not to be understood offliand, but 
to be meditated long and silently. The more one thinks of 
It, the more the feeling grows that Marshal Foch and the 
Pnme Mmister are not the last names to be named in thi<= 
busmess. As a humble psychologist I could wish that the 
Such IS the victory ; and now we have to live up to it. To 
,n°t.'ll7f r )M^^ uttermost the resources of the nation's 
nteUect and of the nation's will. But all this will be vain 
unless It be built upon the rock. And the rock is " plain, 
heroick magmtude of mind." ^ 
