sent war.
They are, when all is said, so exceptional that they do not prove
much; at the most, they seem to confirm the idea that a store exists
filled with future events as real, as distinct and as immutable as
those of the past; and they allow us to hope that there are paths
leading thither which as yet we do not know, but which it will not be
for ever impossible to discover.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 9: August, September and October, 1915.]

* * * * *

THE WILL OF EARTH

XX

THE WILL OF EARTH

1

To-day's conflict is but a revival of that which has not ceased to
drench the west of Europe in blood since the historical birth of the
continent. The two chief episodes in the conflict, as we all know, are
the invasion of Roman Gaul, including the north of Italy, by the
Franks and the successive conquests of England by the Anglo-Saxons and
the Normans. Without delaying to consider questions of race, which are
complex, uncertain and always open to discussion, we may, regarding
the matter from another aspect, perceive in the persistency and the
bitterness of this conflict the clash of two wills, of which one or
the other succumbs for a moment, only to rise up again with increased
energy and obstinacy. On the one hand is the will of earth or nature,
which, in the human species as in all others, openly favours brute or
physical force; and on the other hand is the will of humanity, or at
least of a portion of humanity, which seeks to establish the empire of
other more subtle and less animal forces. It is incontestable that
hitherto the former has always won the day. But it is equally
incontestable that its victory has always been only apparent and of
brief duration. It has regularly suffered defeat in its very triumph.
Gaul, invaded and overrun, presently absorbs her victor, even as
England little by little transforms her conquerors. On the morrow of
victory, the instruments of the will of earth turn upon her and arm
the hand of the vanquished. It is probable that the same phenomenon
would recur once more to-day, were events to follow the course
prescribed by destiny. Germany, after crushing and enslaving the
greater part of Europe, after driving her back and burdening her with
innumerable woes, would end by turning against the will which she
represents; and that will, which until to-day had always found in this
race a docile tool and its favourite accomplices, would be force