n of the present diplomatic
system, just as in the case of the possible abolition of war, while on
the side for abolition there must be a hugely preponderating interest
and a hugely preponderating majority, it is, nevertheless, a dispersed
interest and an unorganized, miscellaneous majority. The minority is, on
the other hand, compact, more intensively and more immediately
interested and able to resist such great changes with a maximum of
efficiency. There is a tremendous need, therefore, for a world congress
organization propaganda if this advantageously posted minority is to be
overcome.

And from such countries as the American States in particular, and from
the small liberal neutrals in Europe, whose diplomacy is least developed
and least influential, liberal-minded people through the world are most
disposed to expect, and do expect, a lead in this particular matter. The
liberal forces in Britain, France, and Russia are extraordinarily
embarrassed and enslaved by the vast belligerent necessities into which
their lives have been caught. But they would take up such a lead with
the utmost vigor and enthusiasm.

No one who has followed the diplomatic history of the negotiations that
led to this war can doubt that if there had been no secret treaties, but
instead open proclamations of intentions and an open discussion of
international ambitions, the world might have been saved this
catastrophe. It is no condemnation of any person or country to say this.
The reserves and hesitations and misconceptions that led Germany to
suppose that England would wait patiently while France and Belgium were
destroyed before she herself received attention were unavoidable under
the existing diplomatic conditions. What reasonable people have to do
now is not to recriminate over the details in the working of a system
that we can now all of us perceive to be hopelessly bad, but to do our
utmost in this season of opportunity to destroy the obscurities in which
fresh mischief may fester for our children.

Let me restate this section in slightly different words. At the end of
this war there must be a congress of adjustment. The suggestion in this
section is to make this congress permanent, to use it as a clearing
house of international relationships and to abolish embassies.

Instead of there being a British Ambassador, for example, at every
sufficiently important capital, and an ambassador from every important
State in London, and a complex