6, 1870--William I was ultimately
convinced that Denmark, Austria, and France were resisting the 'rights'
of Prussia, and that war to secure them was 'defensive,' 'forced' on the
King, and just. The successful issues confirmed William's conscience and
proved that Bismarckian principles had the Divine sanction."]

[Footnote 85: This attitude is well illustrated by the history of the
Crimean War. In January, 1855, "peace seemed impossible until some of
the disgrace was wiped away, and the pacificists, Cobden and Bright,
were burned in effigy.... The prolongation of the war called out no
protest from the public." Yet "the popular war produced an unpopular
peace." When after another year of fighting our French allies finally
insisted on peace, "'there was no indication,' said a Frenchman, 'as to
which was the victor and which the vanquished.' Reviews and
illuminations could not obscure the truth; Britain had sacrificed lives
and treasure and obtained little in return."--Alice Green's Epilogue to
J. R. Green's _Short History of the English People_.]

Sec. 7

Physical Force in a Moral World

The explanation of all this seems to lie in the simple fact that it is
for ever impossible to solve questions of moral or political principle
by the expenditure of physical force. Anyone at all conversant with
philosophical thought, if I may adopt a simile used by Mr. H. G. Wells,
"would as soon think of trying to kill the square root of 2 with a rook
rifle." Physical violence can only solve purely physical problems. But
as man no longer exists, if he ever did exist, in the completely
unsocial "state of nature,"[86] the relations of one individual with
another are no longer purely physical: their position as members of one
society has given them a moral relation, questions affecting which can
only be settled by reference to the judgment of the society as a whole.
Within the limits of the State this fact is already clearly recognised
by the common voice of public opinion. If Smith quarrels with his
neighbour Robinson, because Smith's old English sheep-dog is suspected
of having scratched up Robinson's lawn, and Smith says the poor dog
would never do such a thing, and anyhow Robinson had no business to
leave his back gate open, while Robinson declares that that brute is
becoming a damned nuisance, and so provokes Smith to express a hope that
now perhaps that grass of Robinson's won't want so much godless mowing
on Sunday morning: if t