to move slow. But we
moved always in one direction--toward our perceived national interest.

The issue, therefore, is not whether we shall sacrifice our national
interests, but whether in our foreign policy we shall pursue ultimate,
or at least relatively permanent, interests in a large way or seek
immediate, smaller gains. It is a choice similar to that which a great
store makes when it sells standard goods at a fixed price instead of
seeking immediate advantage by petty cheatings and interminable and
multitudinous hagglings. As nations advance towards power, stability
and security, they are enabled to base their programmes increasingly on
long time views and, ceasing to be interested in small advantages, to
seek their larger interests in a policy of tolerance and seeming
magnanimity. It was to England's real interest to be scrupulously fair
in peace time toward weaker naval nations; it was equally to her larger
interest to open her dependencies to the trade of the world and to
accord political rights to her lately conquered Dutch subjects in South
Africa. A tighter and harder policy would have been short-sighted.
Even had it gained immediate advantages, it might have left England in
a day of adversity with the great powers ranged against her.

The choice between immediate and ultimate interest in foreign policy
presents itself daily. We could, for example, simply take the Danish
West Indies, instead of paying for them, and doubtless might secure
ourselves against a future retaliation by the great powers. Such an
adventure, however, to say nothing of its ethics, would be monstrously
stupid. Or, while the European nations are looking elsewhere, we might
"go" into Mexico and keep {204} what we wanted. We have a better
excuse than in 1846 and an equally safe opportunity. We should be
richer to-morrow if we took Mexico, but would it pay in the end? Would
such a conquest accord with our larger policies and our true ambitions
in the world?

It is in this light that we should view the problem of our foreign
policy as it shapes itself to-day. We must preserve certain national
interests, material and spiritual. We must ward off certain dangers,
securing ourselves as other nations secure themselves. But for better
or worse, we have become a world power and a world influence, and what
we do outside, as well as within, our borders, must affect the
decisions and actions of other nations. If our ideal is not
aggra