e made a part of our general
educational system, for rich and poor alike, say, between the ages of
sixteen and eighteen. Such a training would to each individual boy be
immensely valuable, and by providing some rudimentary understanding of
military, affairs and the duties of public service and citizenship,
would enable him to choose _how_ he could be helpful to the
nation--provided always he were not forced to make his choice in a
direction distasteful or repugnant to him. In any good cause, as in a
war of _defence_ against a foreign enemy, it is obvious enough, as I
have said, that there would be plenty of native enthusiasm forthcoming
without legal or official pressure. However, I have enlarged a little on
the subject of Conscription in a later chapter, and will say no more
here.

But the burning and pressing question is: Why should we--we, the
"enlightened and civilized" nations of Europe--get involved in these
senseless wars at all? And surely _this_ war will, of all wars, force an
answer to the question. Here, for the last twenty years, have these
so-called Great Powers been standing round, all professing that their
one desire is peace, and all meanwhile arming to the teeth; each
accusing the others of militant intentions, and all lamenting that "war
is inevitable." Here they have been forming their _Ententes_ and
Alliances, carrying on their diplomatic cabals and intrigues, studying
the map and adjusting the Balance of Power--all, of course, with the
best intentions--and lo! with the present result! What nonsense! What
humbug! What an utter bankruptcy of so-called diplomacy! When will the
peoples themselves arise and put a stop to this fooling--the people who
give their lives and pay the cost of it all? If the present-day,
diplomats and Foreign Ministers have sincerely striven for peace, then
their utter incapacity and futility have been proved to the hilt, and
they must be swept away. If they have not sincerely striven for peace,
but only pretended to so strive, then also they must be swept away, for
deceit in such a matter is unpardonable.

And no doubt the latter alternative is the true one. There has been a
pretence of the Governments all round--a pretence of deep concern for
humanity and the welfare of the mass-peoples committed to their charge;
but the real moving power beneath has been _class_-interest--the
interest of the great commercial class in each nation, with its acolyte
and attendant, the military