problems. This is
to put the issue on its lowest grounds. There are other arguments, which
the most obtuse cannot ignore, against a policy of spreading and
encouraging further the economic ruin of great countries.

* * * * *

I see few signs of sudden or dramatic developments anywhere. Riots and
revolutions there may be, but not such, at present, as to have
fundamental significance. Against political tyranny and injustice
Revolution is a weapon. But what counsels of hope can Revolution offer
to sufferers from economic privation, which does not arise out of the
injustices of distribution but is general? The only safeguard against
Revolution in Central Europe is indeed the fact that, even to the minds
of men who are desperate, Revolution offers no prospect of improvement
whatever. There may, therefore, be ahead of us a long, silent process of
semi-starvation, and of a gradual, steady lowering of the standards of
life and comfort. The bankruptcy and decay of Europe, if we allow it to
proceed, will affect every one in the long-run, but perhaps not in a way
that is striking or immediate.

This has one fortunate side. We may still have time to reconsider our
courses and to view the world with new eyes. For the immediate future
events are taking charge, and the near destiny of Europe is no longer in
the hands of any man. The events of the coming year will not be shaped
by the deliberate acts of statesmen, but by the hidden currents, flowing
continually beneath the surface of political history, of which no one
can predict the outcome. In one way only can we influence these hidden
currents,--by setting in motion those forces of instruction and
imagination which change _opinion_. The assertion of truth, the
unveiling of illusion, the dissipation of hate, the enlargement and
instruction of men's hearts and minds, must be the means.

In this autumn of 1919, in which I write, we are at the dead season of
our fortunes. The reaction from the exertions, the fears, and the
sufferings of the past five years is at its height. Our power of feeling
or caring beyond the immediate questions of our own material well-being
is temporarily eclipsed. The greatest events outside our own direct
experience and the most dreadful anticipations cannot move us.

In each human heart terror survives
The ruin it has gorged: the loftiest fear
All that they would disdain to think were true:
Hyp