nored? The very
principle of nationality forbids it.

I do not wish, however, to end on a note of pessimism. The mistake of the
pacifist has all along been the assumption that bellicose impulses have
died away. They have done nothing of the kind, and are not likely to do
so. But, happily, all past experience in the world's history shows us that
ideas in a real sense govern the world, and that a logical difficulty is
not necessarily a practical impossibility. In this case, as in others, a
noble and generous idea of European peace will gradually work its own
fulfilment, if we are not in too much of a hurry to force the pace, or
imagine that the ideal has been reached even before the preliminary
foundations have been laid.

CHAPTER III

SOME SUGGESTED REFORMS

It is an obvious criticism on the considerations which have been occupying
us in the preceding chapters that they are too purely theoretical to be of
any value. They are indeed speculative, and, perhaps, from one point of
view come under the edge of the usual condemnation of prophecy. Prophecy
is, of course, if one of the most interesting, also one of the most
dangerous of human ingenuities, and the usual fate of prophets is, in nine
cases out of ten, to be proved wrong. Moreover, it is possible that there
may come an issue to the present war which would be by far the worst which
the human mind can conceive. It may end in a deadlock, a stalemate, an
impasse, because the two opposing forces are so equal that neither side
can get the better of the other. If peace has to be made because of such a
balance between the opposing forces as this, it would be a calamity almost
worse than the original war. German militarism would still be unsubdued,
the Kaiser's pretensions to universal sovereignty, although clipped, would
not be wiped out, and we should find remaining in all the nations of the
earth a sort of sullen resentment which could not possibly lead to
anything else than a purely temporary truce. The only logical object of
war is to make war impossible, and if merely an indecisive result were
achieved in the present war, it would be as certain as anything human can
be that a fresh war would soon arise. At the present moment we confess
that there is an ugly possibility of this kind, and that it is one of the
most formidable perils of future civilisation.

AN IGNOBLE PACIFICATION

It is so immensely important, however, that the cause of the Allies should