and
secure it--namely, by making political friends of those in all countries
who _desire peace_ and are already stretching hands of amity to each
other. What simpler and more obvious way can there be? "We hail our
working-class comrades of every land," says the Manifesto of the
Independent Labour Party. "Across the roar of guns we send greeting to
the German Socialists. They have laboured unceasingly to promote good
relations with Britain, as we with Germany. They are no enemies of ours,
but faithful friends. In forcing this appalling crime upon the nations,
it is the rulers, the diplomats, the militarists, who have sealed their
doom. In tears and blood and bitterness the greater Democracy will be
born. With steadfast faith we greet the future; our cause is holy and
imperishable, and the labour of our hands has not been in vain."

Yes, we must have a foreign policy strong and sincere--and not only so,
but open and avowed. The present Diplomatic system is impossible of
continuance. It has grown up in an automatic way out of antiquated
conditions, and no one in particular can be blamed for it. But that
young men, profoundly ignorant of the world, and having the very _borne_
outlook on life which belongs to our gilded youth (67 per cent. of the
candidates for the Diplomatic Corps being drawn from Eton alone), having
also in high degree that curious want of cosmopolitan sympathy and
adaptability which is characteristic of the English wealthy classes
(every candidate for the Corps must have at least L400 a year of his
own)--that such a type should be charged with the representation of the
United Kingdom in foreign affairs is to-day a hopeless anomaly, and
indeed a very great danger. The recommendations just published of the
Royal Commission are in the right direction, but they need urgent
reinforcement and extension by the pressure of public opinion. And if in
the present-day situation of affairs we cannot refer every question
which arises directly to the nation, we must at least do away with the
one-man-Secretary system, and have in his place a large and responsible
committee, representative, not of any one party or class but as far as
possible of the whole people. [At this moment, for instance, as far as
we know, the terms of settlement of the present war may actually be
being arranged over our heads, and yet that may be taking place quite
apart from the approval and the wishes of the most weighty portion of
the nation.]