of the brotherhood of man, that the spirit will be
generated which, in the future, shall make the idea of war so detestable
that statesmen will find it is impossible to think of that solution
of their disputes as they would think now of resorting to private
assassination of political opponents. The great tragedy of Europe was
brought about, not by the German Emperor, nor by Sir Edward Grey, nor by
the Czar, nor by any of the other chiefs ostensibly controlling foreign
policy, but by the nations themselves. These men may have been agents,
but their action would have been impossible if they did not realize that
there was a vast body of national feeling behind them not opposed to
war. Their citizens were in conflict with each other already, generating
the moods which lead on to war. Emperors, foreign secretaries,
ambassadors, cabinet ministers are not really powerful to move nations
against their will. On the whole, they act with the will of the nations,
which they understand. Let any one ruler try, for example, to change by
edict the religion of his subjects, and a week would see him bereft of
place and power. They could not do this, because the will of the nation
would be against it. They resort to war and prepare for it because the
will of the nation is with them, and this throws us back on the private
citizens, who finally are individually and collectively responsible for
the actions of the State. In the everlasting battle between good and
evil, private soldiers are called upon to fight as well as the captains,
and it is only through the intensive cultivation by individuals and
races of the higher moral and intellectual qualities, until in intensity
they outweigh the mood and passion of the rest, that war will finally
become obsolete as the court of appeal. When there is a panic of fire
in a crowded building men are suddenly tested as to character. Some will
become frenzied madmen, fighting and trampling their way out. Others
will act nobly, forgetting themselves. They have no time to think. What
they are in their total make up as human beings, overbalanced either for
good or evil, appears in an instant. Even so, some time in the heroic
future, some nation in a crisis will be weighed and will act nobly
rather than passionately, and will be prepared to risk national
extinction rather than continue existence at the price of killing
myriads of other human beings, and it will oppose moral and spiritual
forces to material fo