_Ethica_, IV, 45.]

[Footnote 77: _Labour Leader_, March 30, 1916, quoting an address by Mr.
Arthur Ponsonby, M.P.--I have not been able to verify these references,
so I give the story only as an example of the method of progressive
distortion, and not as one that actually occurred, though it may have
done so.]

Sec. 5

Imperialism the Enemy

Imperialism, on the other hand, is the feeling for large dominions and
is very often only an unreasoning lust for the possession of
territory:[78] surviving perhaps from the time when the land of the
community was regarded as the reserved hunting-ground of the tribal
chief, or at least as the private estate of the national monarch. But in
so far as this passionate desire for extending the superficial territory
under the central government is a reasoning desire, in so far that is as
attempts have been made to justify by retrospective theories the almost
instinctive achievements of painting the map red, it is fairly clear
(although the issues have been confused by altruistic and Kiplingesque
but not by any means unfounded views about the White Man's Burden) that
Imperialism is based on the insatiable claims of over-productive
commerce. Commerce at any rate is the _ex post facto_ excuse for the
foundation of the British Empire, and if it can no longer be pleaded as
a reason for the maintenance of the British Empire, it is simply because
the British Empire is no longer an empire, but for the most part a
federation of autonomous states.[79] But Imperialism has only been
scotched by the unconscious wisdom of English political development. It
still unhappily survives not only in the intermittent demand for the
acquisition of fresh colonial territory, but also, in its crudest form,
without even the shadow of an excuse commercial or altruistic, in the
continued subjection of Ireland to English rule. We must not be
surprised if the imperialistic elements of the State receive after the
war a new lease of life from the mutual encouragement of commerce and
militarism.

The commercial classes of course support Imperialism because, with an
obtuseness permitted only to our "business men," they believe that the
acquisition of more colonies still means the discovery of new
markets.[80] They have not yet realised that nowadays all markets are
practically open markets, and that no tariff can effectively exclude
goods for which there is any demand, for the simple reason that an
effective dema