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THE LOST FRUITS OF WATERLOO
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THE LOST FRUITS OF WATERLOO
by
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT, PH.D., LL.D.
Author of “Life of Andrew Jackson,” “A Short History
of the United States,” “The Middle Group
of American Historians,” “The
Federalist System,” etc.
New York
The Macmillan Company
1918
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1918
By the Macmillan Company
Set up and printed. Published April, 1918
PREFACE
This book was begun under the influence of the enthusiasm aroused by
President Wilson’s address to Congress on January 22, 1917. It was
then that he first gave definite utterance of his plan for a league,
or federation, of nations to establish a permanent peace. The idea
had long been before the world, but it was generally dismissed as too
impracticable for the support of serious minded men. By taking it
up the President brought it into the realm of the possible. In the
presence of the great world catastrophe that hung over us it seemed
well to dare much in order that we might avoid a repetition of existing
evils. And if the idea was worth trying, it was certainly worth a
careful examination in the light of history. It was with the hope of
making such a careful examination that I set to work on the line of
thought that has led to this book.
As my work has progressed the great drama has been unfolding itself
with terrible realism. New characters have come upon the stage,
characters not contemplated in the original cast of the play. At the
same time some of the old parts have undergone such changes that they
appear in new relations. I am not unmindful of the fact that events
now unforeseen may make other and radical changes in the _dramatis
personæ_ before this book is placed in the hand of the reader. But
always the great problem must be the same, the prevention of a return
to the present state of world madness. That end we must ever keep in
mind as we consider the arguments here advanced, and any inconsistency
discovered between the argument and the actual state of events will,
I hope, be treated with as much leniency as the transitions of the
situation seem to warrant.
As I write, many things indicate that the great conflict is approaching
dissolution. The exhaustion of the nations, the awakening voices of
the masses, the evident failure of militarism to lead Germany to world
empire, the rising spectre of the international solidarity of the
laborers, and many other portents seem to show that the world will soon
have to say “yes” or “no” to the plain question: “Shall we, or shall we
not, have a union of nations to promote permanent peace?”
The warning that they must answer the question is shouted to many
classes. Bankers are threatened with the repudiation of the securities
of the greatest nations, manufacturers may soon see their vast gains
swallowed up in the destruction of the forms of credit which hitherto
have seemed most substantial, churches and every form of intellectual
life that should promote civilization may have their dearest ideals
swept away in a rush toward radicalism, and even the German autocracy
is fighting for its life against an infuriated and despairing
proletariat. Are not these dangers enough to make us ask if the old
menace shall continue?
It is not my purpose to answer all the questions I ask. It is
sufficient to unfold the situation and show how it has arisen out of
the past. If the reader finds that mistakes were once made, he will
have to consider the means of correcting them. No pleader can compel
the opinions of intelligent men and women. It is enough if he lays
the case before clear and conscientious minds in an impersonal way.
More than this he should not try to do: as much as this I have sought
to do. If the world really lost the fruits of its victory over a world
conqueror at Waterloo, it is for the citizen of today to say in what
way the lost fruits can be recovered.
Many friends have aided me in my efforts to present my views to the
public, and among them Dr. Frederick P. Keppel, Dean of Columbia
University, deserves special acknowledgment. I am also under
obligation to Dean Ada C. Comstock, of Smith College, for very careful
proofreading. But for the opinions here expressed and the errors which
may be discovered I alone am responsible.
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT.
Northampton, Massachusetts,
February 5, 1918.
INTRODUCTION
The nations of Europe fought a great war to a finish a hundred and two
years ago, defeating a master leader of men and ending the ambitions
of a brilliantly organized nation. They were so well satisfied with
their achievement that they imagined that peace, won after many years
of suffering, was a sufficient reward for their sacrifices. To escape
impending subjugation seemed enough good fortune for the moment. They
forgot that it was a principle and not merely a man they had been
contending against, and when they had made sure that Napoleon was
beyond the possibility of a return to power, they thought the future
was secure. But the principle lived and has come to life again. It was
the inherent tendency to unification in government, a principle that
appeals to the national pride of most peoples when they find themselves
in a position to make it operate to the supposed advantage of their own
country. It has been seized upon by the Germans in our own generation,
to whom it has been as glittering a prize as it was to the Frenchmen of
the early nineteenth century. To conquer the world and win a place in
the sun is no mean ideal; and if the efforts of the _Entente_ allies
succeed in defeating it in its present form, it is reasonably certain
that it will appear again to distress the future inhabitants of the
earth, unless sufficient steps are taken to bind it down by bonds which
cannot be broken.
This conviction has led to the suggestion that when Germany is beaten,
as she must be beaten, steps should be taken, not only to insure that
she shall not again disturb the earth, but that no other power coming
after her shall lay the foundations and form the ambition which will
again put the world to the necessity of fighting the present war
over again. When the North broke the bonds of slavery in the South
in 1865 it was filled with a firm determination that slavery should
stay broken. In the same way, when the nations shall have put down the
menace of world domination now rampant in Europe, they should make it
their first concern to devise a means by which the menace shall stay
broken.
To kill a principle demands a principle equally strong and inclusive.
No one nation can keep down war and subjugation; for it must be so
strong to carry out that purpose that it becomes itself a conqueror.
It would be as intolerable to Germany, for example, to be ruled
by the United States as it would be to the United States if they
were ruled by Germany. The only restraint that will satisfy all the
nations will be exercised by some organ of power in which all have
fair representation and in which no nation is able to do things which
stimulate jealousy and give grounds for the belief that some are being
exploited by others. This suggestion does not demand a well integrated
federal government for all the functions of the state but merely the
adoption of a system of coöperation with authority over the outbreak
of international war and strong enough to make its will obeyed. It is
federation for only one purpose and such a purpose as will never be
brought into vital action as long as the federated will is maintained
at such a point of strength and exercised with such a degree of
fairness that individual states will not question that will.
This principle of federated action for a specific purpose was adopted
by the United States in 1789, and though hailed by the practical
statesmen of Europe as an experiment, it has proved the happiest form
of government that has yet been established over a vast territory in
which are divergent economic and social interests. In it is much more
integration than would exist in a federated system to prevent war,
where the action of the central authority would be limited to one main
object. If it could be formed and put into operation by the present
generation, who know so well what it costs to beat back the spectre of
world conquest it might pass through the preliminary critical stages
of its existence successfully. At any rate, the world is full of the
feeling that such things may be possible, and it would be unwise to
dismiss the suggestion without giving it fair and full consideration.
The discussion brings up what seems to be a law of human activities,
that as the ages run and as men develop their minds they combine in
larger and larger units for carrying on the particular thing they are
interested in. And they make these combinations by force or through
mutual agreement. We have before us the consideration of the most
important form of this unifying process, the unification of nations,
which has generally come through force, but sometimes has come through
agreement.
In recent industrial history is a parallel process so well illustrating
the point at issue that I can not refrain from mentioning it. In his
book, _My Four Years in Germany_, Mr. James W. Gerard contrasts great
industrial combinations in the United States and Germany. In one
country are trusts, in the other great companies known as cartels.
The development of the trust we know well. It came out of a process
of competitive war. Some large manufacturer who possessed ability for
war, formed an initial group of manufacturers with the prospect of
controlling a large part of the market. He was careful to see that
his own group had the best possible organization, central control,
and a loyal body of subordinates. Then he opened his attack on his
smaller rivals, and in most cases they were driven into surrender or
bankruptcy. It was a hard process, but it led to industrial unity with
its many advantages.
The cartel began with co-operation. All the persons or companies
manufacturing a given article were asked to unite in its creation. They
pooled their resources, adopted common buying and selling agencies,
and shared the returns amicably. They proved very profitable for the
shareholders, and they strengthened the national industry in its
competition against foreigners. In the United States the trust has been
unpopular, despite its many economic advantages. The reason is the
battle-like methods by which it destroyed its rivals. The result was
the enactment of laws to restrain its development, laws so contrary
to the trend of the times that they have been very tardily enforced.
The cartel, established with the co-operation of the whole group of
manufacturers, aroused no antagonism and obtained the approval of the
laws. It is not necessary to say which is the better of these two
methods of arriving at the same object.
Turning to the subject with which we are here chiefly concerned, it
is interesting to note that Germany has undertaken in the last years
to carry forward her world expansion by methods that are entirely
different. While she has federated in industrial life she appears in
her foreign relations as a true representative of the spirit that
built up the trusts. She means to unify her competitor states, not as
she has united her industries, but as the American trusts secured the
whole field of operations. First she forms a small group with herself
at the head. In the group are Germany, Austria, Turkey, and, later on,
Bulgaria. At this stage of her progress she has gone as far as the
Standard Oil Company had gone when Mr. Rockefeller had perfected the
idea of the “trust” in 1882. Her next step was to attack her rivals.
France she would crush at a blow, first lulling Great Britain to
inactivity by feigned friendship and the promise of gains in the Near
East. Then she would do what she would with Russia. With these two
nations disposed of, Britain, the unready, could be easily brought to
terms, and the United States would then be at her mercy. The mass of
German people had not, perhaps, reasoned the process out in this way;
but it was so easily seen that it could not have escaped the minds of
the leaders of the German military party. No trust builder ever made
fairer plans for the upbuilding of his enterprise than these gentlemen
made for putting through their combination, before which they saw in
their minds the states of the world toppling. So well were the plans
made and so efficient were the strokes that the utmost efforts of the
rest of the world have become necessary to defeat the German hopes.
The United States have approached the problem of world relations in
another spirit. Rejecting the spirit of the trust magnate, which
Germany accepted, we have turned to coöperation as the means of
avoiding international competition and distrust. President Wilson’s
repeated suggestions of a federated peace are couched in the exact
spirit of the cartel. He asks that war may be replaced by coöperation,
pointing out the tremendous advantage to all if the machinery of
competition can be discarded.
Viewed in its largest aspects, therefore, the present struggle has
resolved itself into a debate over the amount of unity that shall in
the future exist between states. It does not seem possible that Austria
will ever be a thoroughly sovereign state again, nor that Turkey will
escape from the snare in which her feet are caught. What degree of
unity this will engender between France and Great Britain, if the old
system of international relations continues, it is not hard to guess.
And as for the small states of Europe, their future is very perplexing.
This much rests on the assumption that Germany and her allied
neighbours are going to make peace without defeat and without victory.
If they should be able to carry off a triumph, which now seems
impossible, it would not be hard to tell in what manner unification
would come. However the result, the separateness of European states
will probably be diminished, and their interdependence, either in two
large groupings or in some more or less strong general grouping, will
be increased.
No wise man will undertake to say which form of interdependence will
be the result. But it seems certain that we stand today with two roads
before us, each leading to the same end, a stronger degree of unity.
One goes by way of German domination, the other by way of equal and
mutual agreement. I do not need to say which will be pleasanter to
those who travel. We cannot stand at the crossing forever: some day we
shall pass down one of the roads. It is said that the world is not yet
ready to choose the second road, and that it must go on in the old way,
fighting off attempts at domination, until it learns the advantages of
co-operation. It may be so; but meanwhile it is a glorious privilege to
strike a blow, however weak, in behalf of reason.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ix
CHAPTER
I THE QUESTION OF PERMANENT PEACE 1
II EARLY ADVOCATES OF UNIVERSAL PEACE 23
III PROBLEMS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS 43
IV EUROPE UNDER THE CONCERT OF THE POWERS 65
V THE LATER PHASES OF THE CONCERT OF EUROPE 83
VI THE BALKAN STATES 103
VII GERMAN IDEALS AND ORGANIZATION 132
VIII THE FAILURE OF THE OLD EUROPEAN SYSTEM 154
IX IF THE SUBMARINES FAIL 184
X OBSTACLES TO AN ENDURING PEACE 205
XI ARGUMENTS FOR A FEDERATION OF STATES 229
XII A FEDERATION OF NATIONS 254
THE LOST FRUITS OF WATERLOO
CHAPTER I
THE QUESTION OF PERMANENT PEACE
When war broke over the world three years ago many ministers and other
people declared that Armageddon had come. They had in mind a tradition
founded on a part of the sixteenth chapter of Revelations, in which
the prophet was supposed to describe a vision of the end of the world.
In that awful day seven angels appeared with seven vials of wrath, and
the contents of each when poured out wiped away something that was dear
to the men of the earth. The sixth angel poured out on the waters of
the river Euphrates, and they were dried up; and then unclean spirits
issued from the mouths of the dragons and of other beasts and from the
mouth of the false prophet, and they went into the kings of the earth,
then the political rulers of mankind, and induced them to bring the
people together “to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” And
the armies met at Armageddon and fought there the last battle of time.
This striking figure made a deep impression on the early Christians,
and out of it arose the belief that some day would come a great and
final war, in which the nations of the earth would unite for their
mutual destruction, after which the spirit of righteousness would
establish a millennial reign of peace. And so when most of the nations
of the world came together in war in 1914, many persons pronounced the
struggle the long expected Armageddon.
It was easy to say in those days of excitement that this war was going
to be the last. Madness it certainly was, and surely a mad world would
come back to reasonableness after a season of brutal destruction.
Common sense, humanity, and the all powerful force of economic interest
would bring the struggle to an end, and then by agreement steps would
be taken to make a recurrence of the situation impossible.
It was in the days when we still had confidence in civilization.
Humanity, we said, had developed to such an extent that it could not
return to the chaos that an age of war would imply. International law
was still considered a binding body of morality, if not of actual law.
International public opinion was believed to have power to punish
national wrong-doers. We who teach said as much to our classes many
times in those days of innocence. In all sincerity we felt that a
nation could not do this or that thing because public opinion would not
tolerate it. How far distant seem now the days of early summer in 1914!
We had adopted many specific rules to restrain needless barbarity in
war. For example, we would not use dum-dum bullets, nor drop bombs
on non-combatants, nor shell the homes of innocent dwellers on the
seashore. It was considered an achievement of the civilized spirit
that an army occupying enemy territory would respect the rights of the
non-combatant inhabitants, set guards over private property, protect
women and children from injury, and permit civilians to go about their
business as long as they did not intermeddle with military matters.
In three and a half horrible years we have drifted a long way from
these protestations. Those of us who once studied the elements of
international law may well study them again when the war is over, if,
indeed, international law is still thought worth studying.
In the vision the angel poured out his vial on the great river, to the
early men of Mesapotamia the symbol of the great waters. In our own
day we have seen strange engines of wrath placed in the great waters,
foul spirits that destroy men and ships in disregard of the rules of
fair fighting. And out of the mouths of dragons and other loathsome
beasts, and of false prophets as well, evil spirits have issued in
these sad days. They have taken their places in the hearts and minds of
self-willed men and made beasts of them; so that the rest of humanity
have had to fight against them and suffer themselves to be killed by
them, in order that the wicked shall not triumph over the whole earth.
The war has been gruesome beyond the imagination of man. No other
recorded experience has told us of so much killing, and of so many
different ways of killing. Men have been slain with swords, cannon,
great howitzers, rifles, machine guns, tanks, liquid fire, electrified
wires, and finally with the germs of disease deliberately planted.
Nothing that science could invent for destroying human life has been
omitted, except, possibly, dum-dum bullets; and in view of the use of
much more cruel means we may well ask, “Why not dum-dums also?”
We must admit that if the author of the Book of Revelations had
prophetic insight and foresaw the world struggle that now is, he did
not overpaint its terrors. And so, asks the man of faith, if the first
part of the vision comes true, why may not the second part likewise
come true? If the seer could foresee the war and its horrors, may he
not also have spoken truly when he foretold that after Armageddon wars
would be no more; for God would wipe away the desire for them from the
hearts of men?
To this question I answer: If a man is left in the world when this
conflict is ended who glories in deliberate war, he is too bad to live
in civilized society. Certain it is that the vast majority of men and
women are already convinced that the desire for war, henceforth and
forever, is wiped out of their hearts. In the stress of actual battle
or in the preparations to sustain those who fight they may forget the
fundamental folly of the whole thing for the time; but it is always at
the bottom of their hearts. What is the human power of reasoning worth,
if it is not able to devise some way to escape from this obsession of
self-slaughter?
Do not be deceived by the strut of Mars. His _Day_ has come with a
vengeance. He has shot up rapidly, like a jimson-weed, and blossomed
like a cactus. We may have laughed at him in the days of peace, but we
now look to him for protection. We cannot decry the men who are dying
for us, dying in the best sportsmanslike manner. But we do not like
their business as a business, and we wish at the bottom of our hearts
that it were abolished as a peril to humanity. And we believe that
of all who hate war, none hate it more than those who are actually
fighting in this struggle. Let us give Mars his _Day_ and all the glory
that belongs to it, but let us not forget peace while we serve war.
Nor should we be deceived by the pallid pacifist. He has his
counterpart in every struggle; and in general he serves some good
purpose in a multitude of opinions. But the day of stress and world
crisis is not his _Day_; and the practical world loses little time in
putting him in his place. The pacifist does not represent the peace
movement in its freest and most significant form. The advocates of
peace today who are best serving its promotion are those who are out in
the armies bent on putting down that nation who is the most dangerous
enemy of peace.
These men are not mere pieces of machinery in a great driving process.
They are thinking men with political power in their hands, either
actually or potentially. War is a great schoolteacher. It has lasted
in our own time nearly as long as a course in college. The soldiers
who survive from the beginning of this conflict may now be considered
as more than half through their senior year. They know what war is
and what it means, and they know something about the necessary form
of coöperation that must exist in any society before the will of the
people can be carried into effect. They knew little about war four
years ago: they now know all the professors know. Behind the lines and
here in our homes one never sees man nor woman who does not admit that
it would be a blessing to make war impossible; but few of us have any
idea how to go about getting it made impossible. Many of us think we
shall never get people to act together in such a cause. But it seems
unreasonable to expect that men who have raided through “No Man’s
Land,” captured trenches and defeated great armies through organization
and initiative should quail before the inertia of opinion, perhaps the
chief obstacle confronting those who labor for a coöperative peace.
The example of the Russians is a useful point in this connection. At
the beginning of the war their armies were as machine-like as any
armies could be. The privates were generally peasants who did not know
why they fought, and who certainly had nothing to say about the origin
of the war. They were typical “cannon-fodder,” and as unthinking as
any modern soldier can be. They have learned much from less than three
years of war. They slowly acquired purpose, a sense of organization,
and leaders whom they follow. Having made this progress they overthrew
the imperial government, drove away the great nobles, put an ensign in
the place of a former grand duke and two exiles in the seats of the
highest officials, and stripped the highest born army officers of their
titles and insignia.
At the present writing they are holding out against all attempts to
overthrow them, they are playing the diplomatic game with Germany
without discredit,[1] and they are reported to be shaking the
foundations of autocracy in Austria. At any rate, it must be confessed
that a small group of the Russian “cannon-fodder” have made commendable
progress in the process of education during the last ten months. The
process seems to have been under the direction of the socialists, a
small but well organized group of intelligent persons who do not lack
initiative. It is they who are educating the Russian peasants into
political self-expression.
[1] Since the above was written events have occurred in
Russia which seem to discredit the diplomacy of the
revolutionists; but the general situation is so unsettled
that no conclusions can be drawn at this time, February 27,
1918.
The possible results of this incident are tremendous. Nowhere else in
the world have the agricultural classes fallen into one party with
vigorous and trained leaders. If Russia is now embarking on an era of
representative government, as seems probable, she is passing through
a stage in which political parties are being crystallized. So far,
it does not appear that any considerable party is organized in the
vast empire on what we should call a conservative basis. It will be
an interesting experiment in political history if Russia has a great
peasant party in control of the administration.
The party that now controls Russia is committed to the idea of
a peace through the coöperation of the nations. It is true that
internationalism goes further than mere federation of nations; for it
also implies the socialization of industry, the equal distribution of
property. In short, it is the internationalism and unification of the
industrial classes in all nations for a combined opposition to capital.
With these aims we shall, probably, not be pleased. But they imply the
destruction of war; and it now seems possible that Russia will stand
before the world, at least until the radical elements fall before
conservatives, as the most prominent champion of coöperative peace.
As to the socialistic purpose of the internationalists, it stands
apart logically from that feature of their doctrine that relates
to the mere coöperation of nations. They would say, probably, that
coöperation is but incidental to their main desire, the unification of
the workers of the world. But it is right to expect that they would
support coöperation among the nations to obtain the destruction of
war, since it would make it easier for the world to accept their other
ideals. On the other hand the man who opposes internationalism as such,
could accept the aid of a radical Russia in obtaining federated peace,
without feeling that in doing so he was necessarily contributing to the
promotion of the socialistic features of internationalism.
This remarkable shifting of power in Russia has had its counterpart on
a less impressive scale in other countries. Whether it comes to the
point of explosion or not, there is in the minds of all--the thoughtful
people, the working-men, and all intermediate classes--a growing belief
that a new idea should rule the relations of nations among themselves.
From an age of international competition they are turning to the hope
of an era of international agreement; and it does not appear that their
influence will be unheeded when men come to face steadily the problems
the war is sure to leave behind it.
Most notable influence of all in behalf of a federated peace is the
position taken by President Wilson. In the beginning of this conflict
he had the scholar’s horror of warfare, and he has taken more than one
opportunity to suggest the formation of a league of nations to prevent
the outbreak of future wars. His address to Congress on January 22,
1917, was a notable presentation of the idea to the world. Enthusiastic
hearers pronounced the occasion a turning-point in history. Whether a
league of nations is established or not, according to the president’s
desires, his support of the idea has given it a great push forward.
He has taken it out of the realm of the ideal and made it a practical
thing, to be discussed gravely in the cabinets of rulers.
A year after the question has been brought forward, it should be
possible to form an opinion of the attitude of European nations in
regard to the suggestion. From all of them, including Germany and
Austria, have come courteous allusions to the idea of the president;
and the pope has given it his support. But it is not clear that all
are sincerely in favor of a logically constituted league that will
have power to do what it is expected to do. That President Wilson will
continue to urge steps in this direction is to be taken as certain. The
measure of his success will be the amount of hearty and substantial
support he has from that large class of people who still ask: “Can’t
something be done to stop war forever?”
When this page is being written the newspapers are full of a discussion
of the two speeches that came from the central powers on January 25,
1918, one from Chancellor von Hertling of Germany, and the other from
Count Czernin, of Austria. In the former is the following utterance:
“I am sympathetically disposed, as my political activity shows,
toward every idea which eliminates for the future a possibility or
a probability of war, and will promote a peaceful and harmonious
collaboration of nations. If the idea of a bond of nations, as
suggested by President Wilson, proves on closer examination really
to be conceived in a spirit of complete justice and complete
impartiality toward all, then the imperial government is gladly
ready, when all other pending questions have been settled, to begin
the examination of the basis of such a bond of nations.”
This very guarded utterance means much or little, as the German rulers
may hereafter determine. By offering impossible conditions of what
they may pronounce “complete justice and complete impartiality to all”
they may be able to nullify whatever promise may be incorporated in
it. On the other hand, the sentiment, if accepted in a fair spirit
and without exaggerated demands, may be a real step toward realizing
President Wilson’s desires. If, for example, Germany should insist,
as a condition for the formation of a “bond of nations,” that Great
Britain give up her navy, or dismantle Gibraltar, while she herself
retained her immense Krupp works and her power to assemble her army at
a moment’s notice, it is hardly likely the demand would be granted. We
can best know what Germany will do in this matter when we see to what
extent she is willing to acknowledge that her war is a failure and
that her military policy is a vast and expensive affair that profits
nothing. Moreover, there is a slight sneer in the chancellor’s words,
as though he does not consider the president’s idea entirely within
the range of the diplomacy of experienced statesmen; and this is not
very promising for the outcome--unless, indeed, the logic of future
events opens his eyes to the meaning of the new spirit that the war has
aroused.
Among our own allies the suggestion of our president has found a
kinder reception. Mr. Lloyd George has announced his general support
of the proposition, and Lord Bryce and others have given it cordial
indorsement. It seems that if the United States urges the formation of
a league of peace, she will have the coöperation of Great Britain. As
to the position of France and Italy, the matter is not so clear. They
probably are too deeply impressed by the danger they will ever face
from powerful neighbors to feel warranted in dismissing their armies,
unless the best assurance is given that Germany and Austria accept
federated peace in all good faith.
As the contending nations approach that state of exhaustion which
presages an end of the war, the question of such a peace becomes
increasingly important. Everything points to the conclusion that the
time has arrived to debate this subject. If the hopes of August, 1914,
that Armageddon would be succeeded by an era of permanent peace are to
be realized, they will not come without the serious thought of men who
are willing to dare something for their ideals. And if they come out
of the present cataclysm it is time to be up and doing. The sentiment
that exists in this country, and in other countries, must be organized
and made effective at the critical moment. There is nothing more
dispiriting to the student of history than to observe as he reads how
many favorable moments for turning some happy corner in the progress
of humanity were allowed to pass without effort to utilize them. It
has been a hundred years since the world had another opportunity like
this that faces us, and if it is not now tried out to the utmost
possibility, there is little hope that the next century will be as
bloodless as the past has been, even with the present conflict included.
Every general war in Europe since the days of the Roman Empire has
brought humanity there to a state of exhaustion similar to that which
now exists. So it was with the Thirty Years’ War, with the wars
inaugurated by Louis XIV to establish the predominance of France,
and with the Napoleonic wars a century ago. Each of these struggles,
it will be observed, extended to a larger portion of Europe than its
predecessor; and it was because the common interests of nations were
progressively stronger; for it was ever becoming so that what concerned
one state concerned others. In the present war the interrelations of
nations is such that Japan and the United States have been brought into
the conflict, along with China and several of the smaller American
states. If the conflict recurs in the future it may be expected to
involve a still wider area.
There is evidence that in each of these struggles the humane men then
living were filled with the same longing for permanent peace that
many men feel today.[2] The feeling was especially strong during
the last stages of the Napoleonic wars and immediately after they
ended. Singularly enough it was strongest in Russia, due, however
to the accident that an enthusiastic and idealistic tsar was ruling
in that country. He had received his ideals from a French tutor who
was deeply imbued with the equality theories of the revolution that
swept over his own country. The tsar accepted them with sincerity and
spent several years of conscientious effort in his attempts to have
them adopted. More singularly still, they found their only sincere
indorsement, among the rulers who had the right to indorse or reject,
with the king of Prussia, who at that time was a very religious man.
Most peculiar of all they found very strong opposition in England,
where practical statesmen were in power. As I read the history of that
day and reflect on what has been the train of events from the battle of
Waterloo to the invasion of Belgium in 1914, it is hard to keep from
wishing that a better effort had been made in 1815 to carry out the
suggestion which the tsar urged on his royal brothers in Europe.
[2] See below, pp. 46-62.
The defeat of Napoleon was purchased at immense sacrifices. To the
people of the day the most desirable thing in the world seemed to be
a prevention of his reappearance to trouble mankind. They took the
greatest care to keep his body a prisoner until he was dead; but they
did not seriously try to lay his ghost. Probably they did not think,
being practical men, that his spirit would walk again in the earth.
They were mistaken; for not only has the ghost come back, but it has
come with increased power and subtlety. In fact, it was an old ghost,
and having once inhabited the bodies of Louis XIV, Augustus Cæsar, and
Alexander of Macedon, as well as that of Napoleon I, it knew much more
than the grave gentlemen who undertook to arrange the future of Europe
in practical ways in 1815.
As we approach again the re-making of our relations after a world war,
it is worth while to glance over the things that were done in 1815,
to understand what choice of events was presented to the men of that
day, and what results came from the course they deliberately decided to
follow. Thus we may know whether or not the course proved a happy one,
and whether or not it is the course that we, also, should follow. And
if it is not such a course, we ought as thinking people to try to adopt
a better.
We should always remember that the conditions of today are more
suitable to a wise decision than the conditions of 1815. We have, for
one thing, the advantage of the experience of the past hundred years.
There is no doubt in our minds as to how the old plan has worked and
how it may be expected to work if again followed. It led to the Concert
of Europe and the Balance of Power, both of which served in certain
emergencies, but failed in the hour of supreme need. Indeed, it is
probable that they promoted the crash that at last arrived.
Another advantage is that we have today in the world a vastly greater
amount of democracy than in 1815. The people who pay the bills of Mars
today can say what shall be done about keeping Mars in chains; and that
is something they could not do in 1815. It is for them to know all his
capers, and his clever ways of getting out of prison, and to look under
his shining armor to see the grizzly hairs that cover his capacious
ribs; and having done this to decide what will be their attitude toward
him.
It is not the business of an author to offer his views to his reader
ready made. Enough if he offers the material facts out of which the
reader may form his own opinions. That is my object in this book. I
do not disguise my conviction that some of the fruits of the war that
ended at Waterloo were lost through the inexperience of the men who
set the world on its course again. Whether or not the men were as
wise as they should have been is now a profitless inquiry. My only
object is to set before the reader as clearly as I can the idea of a
permanent peace through federated action, to show how that idea came up
in connection with the war against Napoleon, how it was rejected for a
concerted and balanced international system, what came of the decision
in the century that followed, and finally in what way the failure of
the old system is responsible for the present war. If the reader will
follow me through these considerations, he will be prepared to examine
in a judicial spirit the arguments for and against President Wilson’s
suggested union of nations to end war.
As these introductory remarks are written, we seem to be girding up
our loins again with the firm conviction that we cannot talk of peace
until Germany knows she is beaten. The decision is eminently wise. But
if it is worth while to fight two or ten years more to crush Germany’s
confidence in her military policy, how much ought it not to be worth to
make the nations realize that if they really wish to destroy war they
can do it by taking two steps: first, end this struggle in a spirit of
amity; and second, make an effective agreement to preserve that state
of amity by preventing the occurrence of the things and feelings that
disturb it. That is the task as well as the opportunity of wise men,
who can govern themselves; and it is for their information that this
volume is written which undertakes to point out “The Lost Fruits of
Waterloo” and the conditions under which we may seek to recover them.
It is not a book of propaganda, unless facts are propagandists. It is
not a pacifist book, although its pages may make for peace, if God
wills. It is only a plain statement of the lessons of history as they
appear to one of the many thousands of puzzled persons now habitants of
this globe who are trying to grope their ways out of this fog of folly.