There is a true and a false Imperialism. There is the Imperialism of
the vulgar braggart, who thinks that one Englishman can fight ten men
of any other nationality under the sun; and there is the Imperialism
of the man of thought, who believes in the destiny of the English
race, who does not shrink from the responsibilities of power from
"craven fear of being great," and who holds that an Englishman ought
to be ready to face _twenty_ men if need be, of any nationality,
including his own, rather than surrender a trust or sacrifice a
principle. The first would base empire on vanity and brute force,
inspired by the vulgar reflection--
"We've got the men, we've got the ships, we've got the money too."
The second does not seek empire, but will not shrink from the
responsibilities of its growth, and in all matters of international
dispute believes with Solomon, that "He that is slow to wrath is of
great understanding," and in all matters of international
relationship that "Righteousness exalteth a nation."
The rapid and solid growth of the British Empire has been due largely
to two characteristics of its rule--the integrity of its justice and
the soundness of its finance. Native races everywhere appeal with
confidence to the justice of our courts, and find in the integrity of
our fiscal system relief from the oppressive taxation of barbarous
governments.
These blessings we owe, and with them the strength of our empire, not
to the force of our arms in the field, but to the subordination of
the military to the civil spirit, both in peace and war.
Other nations fail in their attempts at colonisation because they
proceed on military lines. With them it is the soldier first and the
civilian where he can. England succeeds because she proceeds on
_industrial_ lines. With her it is the plough where it may be and the
sword where it must.
The military spirit never yet built up an enduring empire, and the
danger of military success is that it is apt to confuse means and
ends in the public mind, and to encourage the subordination of the
civil to the military spirit in national institutions. Such a result
could only be disastrous to the British Empire, and so, while
rejoicing in the success of the British arms, it behoves us to oppose
with all our strength the growth of the military spirit.
The seventh decade of the nineteenth century saw the realisation of
one of the greatest facts of our time, the federation of the German
states in one great military empire. The tenth decade has realised a
greater fact, the federation of the British colonies in a great
social and commercial empire. The German Empire must fall to pieces
if it continues to subordinate the civil to the military Spirit in
its national policy. The British Empire can never perish while it is
true to the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.
Signs of the growth of a military spirit are to be seen in the
advocacy of some form of conscription or compulsory service for home
defence; and this, too, at a time when the ends of the earth have
been sending us _volunteers_ in abundance to espouse a foreign
quarrel.
Such advocates neither understand the national history nor the
English character. Were England in any real danger there would be no
need for forced service, and service forced without need would breed
revolution. The nation that cannot depend upon its volunteers for
its home defence is not worth defending.
ALFRED H. MILES.
_October 1, 1900_.