e
been perpetually at war with each other since the times of Julius Caesar,
have almost always met on her fair and prosperous plains to fight their
battles, since she is geographically the gateway from one to the other.
Neither could afford to let the other occupy her territory, and so she
has won her independence as a State; both have constantly threatened her
existence in times past, and so have forced upon her bi-lingual population
that consciousness of common interests which if strong enough may become as
firm a basis for national unity as actual community of nationality.

It should be noticed further that it has become the practice in recent
times to guarantee the neutrality of small frontier States like Belgium
which lie at the mercy of their greater neighbours, a practice intended
not only to preserve the integrity of such States but also to prevent
the frequent occurrence of war by closing, as it were, the military gate
between the hostile countries.[1] It remains to be seen whether the
violation of these principles by Germany has the effect of strengthening
them in the future, rather than the reverse. In any case, we may expect to
see attempts to apply the same principles to other parts of Europe. Already
the northern and southern ends of the frontier between Germany and France
are neutralised by the existence of Belgium and Switzerland; why, it may
be asked, should not the whole frontier be treated in the same way by
neutralising the disputed territory of Alsace-Lorraine? Perhaps, too, a
neutral Poland would form a useful buffer between Germany and Russia. Such
neutralisation, it should be noted, need not necessarily carry with it
independence. Poland and Alsace-Lorraine might form part of Russia and
France respectively, and still be neutralised by a guarantee of other
powers. A precedent exists for this in the terms of the cession of the
Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864, while Savoy, though a province of France,
is technically neutralised territory.[2] Cases like these, however, it must
be admitted, are extremely anomalous and could hardly stand the strain of
a serious war. But, then, as recent experience has shown us, not even
independent neutralised States are safe when all Europe is aflame. The
truth is that the whole conception of neutrality implies the existence of
some power above and beyond the State, it may be simply a group of powerful
States who are able to impose their will upon the rest of Europe, i