c's knowledge of the important part played by
public opinion in government, he has expressed in the following terms:--

The importance of a sound public judgment upon the progress of the
war is not always clearly appreciated. It depends upon truths which
many men have forgotten, and upon certain political forces which,
in the ordinary rush and tumble of professional politics, are quite
forgotten. Let me recall those truths and those forces.

The truths are these: that no Government can effectively exercise
its power save upon the basis of public opinion. A Government can
exercise its power over a conquered province in spite of public
opinion, but it cannot work, save for a short time and at an
enormous cost in friction, counter to the opinion of those with
whom it is concerned as citizens and supporters. By which I do not
mean that party politicians cannot act thus in peace, and upon
unimportant matters. I mean that no kind of Government has ever
been able to act thus in a crisis.

It is also wise to keep the mass of people in ignorance of
disasters that may be immediately repaired, or of follies or even
vices in government which may be redressed before they become
dangerous.

It is always absolutely wise to prevent the enemy in time of war
from learning things which would be an aid to him. That is the
reason why a strict censorship in time of war is not only useful,
but essentially and drastically necessary. But though public
opinion, even in time of peace, is only in part informed, and
though in time of war it may be very insufficiently informed, yet
upon it and with it you govern. Without it or against it in time of
war you cannot govern.

Now if during the course of a great war men come quite to misjudge
its very nature, the task of the Government would be strained some
time or other in the future to breaking point. False news, too
readily credited, does not leave people merely insufficiently
informed, conscious of their ignorance, and merely grumbling
because they cannot learn more, it has the positive effect of
putting them into the wrong frame of mind, of making them support
what they should not support, and neglect what they should not
neglect.

The view, then, which Mr. Belloc holds, and which these two factors
combine to form, is o