isition of transoceanic
colonies. It was not till the nineteenth century that wars for the
purpose of national unity broke out, and dynastic wars began gradually
to disappear. During the nineteenth century the nations, so to say,
found themselves; some kind of constitutional government was everywhere
introduced; and democracy became the ideal, although it was by no means
everywhere realised.

VI. It is for this reason that the outbreak of the present war is
epoch-making, because it has become apparent that, whatever may be the
war aims of the belligerents, at bottom this World War is a fight
between the ideal of democracy and constitutional government on the one
hand, and autocratic government and militarism on the other. Everywhere
the conviction has become prevalent that things cannot remain as they
were before the outbreak of the present war, and therefore the demand
for a League of Nations, or--I had better say--for a new League of
Nations to take the place of that which has been in existence for about
400 years, has arisen.

Now what is new in the desired new League of Nations?

Firstly, this new League would be founded upon a solemn treaty, whereas
the League of Nations hitherto was only based upon custom.

Secondly, for the purpose of making war rarer or of abolishing it
altogether, this new League of Nations would enact the rule that no
State is allowed to resort to arms without previously having submitted
the dispute to an International Court or a Council of Conciliation.

Thirdly, this new League of Nations would be compelled to create some
kind of organisation for itself, because otherwise it could not realise
its purpose to make war rarer or abolish it altogether.

VII. The demand for a new League of Nations is universal, for it is
made, not only everywhere in the allied countries, but in the countries
of the Central Powers, and it will surely be realised when the war is
over, at any rate to a certain extent. It is for this reason that the
present World War has not only not destroyed so-called Internationalism,
but has done more for it than many years of peace could have done.

What is Internationalism?

Internationalism is the conviction that all the civilised States form
one Community throughout the world in spite of the various factors which
separate the nations from one another; the conviction that the interests
of all the nations and States are indissolubly interknitted, and that,
therefore, th