on of these vast domains the divisive forces between the
British and American peoples would vanish. Our American historians
would forget that there had ever been a Revolutionary War or would
interpret that incident as a purely internal {160} conflict, which
temporarily lost us a few excellent islands, since regained.

But if the British Empire, to say nothing of new rights, privileges and
possessions would be ours to enjoy, it would also be ours to defend.
An Anglo-American Empire would arouse the envy and the fear of other
nations. We should have to defend not only our new joint dependencies
but the most distant approaches to them. We could not rest quietly
unarmed with these possessions in our house.

An Anglo-American imperialism, indeed any Anglo-American alliance which
does not include France, Germany, Russia and other powers, thus brings
us no nearer to peace or to a solution of the international problem.
It is but the prelude to a new balance of power, a new alignment of
hostile national ambitions. If Great Britain and the United States
grow and prevent other nations from growing, exploit and prevent other
nations from exploiting, we shall be merely reproducing the present
fatal scission of Europe upon a large scale.

As against this ideal of American Imperialism, on its own account or in
alliance with the greatest imperialistic power, stands the ideal of
internationalism. It is an ideal which looks forward towards the
creation of a concert of interest among the nations, the growth of
international law and the more equal utilisation of the world by the
nations. It is an ideal which can be realised only as nations perceive
that their ultimate advantage lies in compromising their extreme
demands and merging national interests in a larger international
interest.

To-day an overwhelming majority of Americans desire a foreign policy
looking towards internationalism. They prefer to strive for peace in
America and Europe rather than to attempt any imperialistic expansion
likely to perpetuate the war-breeding competition between nations.

{161}

To realise this ideal, indeed to make any progress whatsoever towards
its realisation, we must seek to alter the economic web in which the
nations of the world now live. There is at present a conflict between
two principles, economic nationalism and economic internationalism.
Each nation seeks to obtain for itself security, progress and a
favoured position; each ha