were causes of bloodshed; indeed, they were a common feature of
European life. But if they are inevitable in human
relationship, how comes it that Adana is no longer duplicated
by St. Bartholomew; the Bulgarian bands by the vendetta of the
Highlander and the Lowlander; the struggle of the Slav and
Turk, Serb and Bulgar, by that of Scots and English, and
English and Welsh? The fanaticism of the Moslem to-day is no
more intense than that of Catholic and heretic in Rome, Madrid,
Paris, and Geneva at a time which is only separated from us by
the lives of three or four elderly men. The heretic or infidel
was then in Europe also a thing unclean and horrifying,
exciting in the mind of the orthodox a sincere and honest
hatred and a (very largely satisfied) desire to kill. The
Catholic of the 16th century was apt to tell you that he could
not sit at table with a heretic because the latter carried with
him a distinctive and overpoweringly repulsive odor. If you
would measure the distance Europe has travelled, think what
this means: all the nations of Christendom united in a war
lasting 200 years for the capture of the Holy Sepulchre; and
yet, when in our day their representatives, seated round a
table, could have had it for the asking, they did not deem it
worth the asking, so little of the ancient passion was there
left. The very nature of man seemed to be transformed. For,
wonderful though it be that orthodox should cease killing
heretic, infinitely more wonderful still is it that he should
cease wanting to kill him.
"Just as most of us are certain that the underlying causes of
this conflict are 'inevitable' and 'inherent in unchanging
human nature,' so are we certain that so _un_-human a thing as
economics can have no bearing on it.
"Well, I will suggest that the transformation of the
heretic-hating and heretic-killing European is due mainly to
economic forces; that it is because the drift of those forces
has to so great a degree left the Balkans, where until
yesterday the people lived a life little different from that
which they lived in the time of Abraham, unaffected that war is
now raging; that economic factors of a more immediate kind form
a large part of the provoking cause of that war; and that a
better comprehension by great nations of Europe of certain
economic facts of their international relationship is essential
before much progress towards solution can be made.
"But then by 'economics' of course I mean, not a merchant's
profit or a money-lender's interest, but the method by which
men earn their bread, which must also mean the kind of life
they lead.
"We generally think of the primitive life of man--that of the
herdsman or the tent liver--as something idyllic. The picture
is as far as possible from the truth. Those into whose lives
economics do not enter, or enter very little--that is to say,
those who, like the Congo cannibal, or the Red Indian, or the
Bedouin, do not cultivate, or divide their labor, or trade, or
save, or look to the future, have shed little of the primitive
passions of other animals of prey, the tigers and the wolves,
who have no economics at all, and have no need to check an
impulse or a hate. But industry, even of the more primitive
kind, means that men must divide their labor, which means that
they must put some sort of reliance upon one another; the thing
of prey becomes a partner, and the attitude towards it changes.
And as this life becomes more complex, as the daily needs and
desires push men to trade and barter, that means building up a
social organization, rules and codes and courts to enforce
them; as the interdependence widens and deepens it necessarily
means the cessation of certain hostilities. If the neighboring
tribe wants to trade with you it must not kill you; if you want
the services of the heretic you must not kill him, you must
keep your obligation towards him, and mutual good faith is
death to long-sustained hatreds.
"You cannot separate the moral from the social and economic
development of a people. The great service of a complex social
and industrial organization, which is built up by the desire of
men for better material conditions, is not that it 'pays,' but
that it makes a more interdependent human society, and that it
leads men to recognize what is the best relationship among
them. The fact of recognizing that some act of aggression is
causing stocks to fall is not important because it may save
Oppenheim's or Solomon's money but because it is a
demonstration that we are dependent upon some community on the
other side of the world, that their damage is our damage, and
that we have an interest in preventing it. It teaches us, as
only some such simple and mechanical means can teach, the
lesson of human fellowship.
"It is by such means as this that Western Europe has in some
measure, within its respective political frontiers, learned
that lesson. Each nation has learned, within its own confines
at least, that wealth is made by work, not robbery; that,
indeed, general robbery is fatal to prosperity; that government
consists not merely in having the power of the sword but in
organizing society--in 'knowing how,' which means the
development of ideas; in maintaining courts; in making it
possible to run railways, post-offices, and all the
contrivances of a complex society.
"Now rulers did not create these things; it was the daily
activities of the people, born of their desires and made
possible by the circumstances in which they lived, by the
trading and the mining and the shipping which they carried on,
that made them. But the Balkans have been geographically
outside the influence of European industrial and commercial
life. The Turk has hardly felt it at all. He has learned none
of the social and moral lessons which interdependence and
improved communications have taught the Western European, and
it is because he had not learned these lessons, because he is a
soldier and a conqueror to an extent and completeness that
other nations of Europe lost a generation or two since, that
the Balkanese are fighting and that war is raging.
"Not merely in this larger sense, but in the more immediate,
narrower sense, are the fundamental causes of this war
economic.
"This war arises, as the past wars against the Turkish
conqueror have arisen, from the desire of the Christian peoples
on whom he lives to shake off this burden. "To live upon their
subjects is the Turks' only means of livelihood," says one
authority. The Turk is an economic parasite and the healthy
economic organism must end by rejecting him.
"The management of society, simple and primitive even as that
of the Balkan mountains, needs some effort and work and
capacity for administration; otherwise even rudimentary
economic life cannot be carried on. The Turkish system, founded
on the sword and nothing else ('the finest soldier in Europe'),
cannot give that small modicum of energy or administrative
capacity. The one thing he knows is brute force; but it is not
by the strength of his muscles that an engineer runs a
machine, but by knowing how. The Turk cannot build a road or
make a bridge or administer a post-office or found a court of
law. And these things are necessary. He will not let them be
done by the Christian, who, because he did not belong to the
conquering class, has had to work and has consequently come to
possess whatever capacity for work and administration the
country can show, because to do so would be to threaten the
Turk's only trade. In the Turk granted the Christians equal
political rights they would inevitably 'run the country.' And
yet the Turk himself cannot do it; and he will not let others
do it, because to do so would be to threaten his supremacy.
"The more the use of force fails, the more, of course, does he
resort to it and that is why many of us who do not believe in
force and desire to see it disappear from the relationship not
merely of religious but of political groups, might conceivably
welcome this war of the Balkan Christians, in so far as it is
an attempt to resist the use of force in those relationships.
Of course, I do not try to estimate the 'balance of
criminality.' Right is not all on one side--it never is. But
the broad issue is clear and plain. And only those concerned
with the name rather than the thing, with nominal and verbal
consistency rather than realities, will see anything
paradoxical or contradictory in Pacifist approval of Christian
resistance to the use of Turkish force.
"One fact stands out incontrovertibly from the whole weary
muddle. It is quite clear that the inability to act in concert
arises from the fact that in the international sphere the
European is still dominated by illusions which he has dropped
when he deals with home politics. The political faith of the
Turk, which he would never think of applying at home as among
the individuals of his nation, he applies pure and unalloyed
when he comes to deal with foreigners as nations. The economic
conception--using the term in that wider sense which I have
indicated earlier in this article--which guides his individual
conduct is the antithesis of that which guides his national
conduct.
"While the Christian does not believe in robbery inside the
frontier, he does without; while within the State he realizes
that it is better for each to observe the general code, so that
civilized society can exist, than for each to disregard it, so
that society goes to pieces; while within the State he realizes
that government is a matter of administration, not the seizure
of property; that one town does not add to its wealth by
'capturing' another, that indeed one community cannot 'own'
another--while, I say, he believes all these things in his
daily life at home, he disregards them all when he comes to the
field of international relationship, _la haute politique_. To
annex some province by a cynical breach of treaty obligation
(Austria in Bosnia, Italy in Tripoli) is regarded as better
politics than to act loyally with the community of nations to
enforce their common interest in order and good government. In
fact, we do not believe that there can be a community of
nations, because, in fact, we do not believe that their
interests are common, but rival; like the Turk, we believe that
if you do not exercise force upon your 'rival' he will exercise
it upon you; that nations live upon one another, not by
co-operation with one another--and it is for this reason
presumably that you must 'own' as much of your neighbors as
possible. It is the Turkish conception from beginning to end.
"It is because these false beliefs prevent the nations of
Christendom acting loyally the one to the other, because each
is playing for its own hand, that the Turk, with hint of some
sordid bribe, has been able to play off each against the other.
"This is the crux of the matter. When Europe can honestly act
in common on behalf of common interests some solution can be
found. And the capacity of Europe to act in harmony will not be
found as long as the accepted doctrines of European statecraft
remain unchanged, as long as they are dominated by existing
illusions."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "The True Way of Life" (Headley Brothers, London), p. 29. I am aware
that many modern pacifists, even of the English school, to which these
remarks mainly apply, are more objective in their advocacy than Mr.
Grubb, but in the eyes of the "average sensual man" pacificism is still
deeply tainted with this self-sacrificing altruism (see Chapter III.,
Part III.), notwithstanding the admirable work of the French pacifist
school.
[2] The _Matin_ newspaper recently made a series of revelations, in
which it was shown that the master of a French cod-fishing vessel had,
for some trivial insubordinations, disembowelled his cabin-boy alive,
and put salt into the intestines, and then thrown the quivering body
into the hold with the cod-fish. So inured were the crew to brutality
that they did not effectively protest, and the incident was only brought
to light months later by wine-shop chatter. The _Matin_ quotes this as
the sort of brutality that marks the Newfoundland cod-fishing industry
in French ships.
Again, the German Socialist papers have recently been dealing with what
they term "The Casualties of the Industrial Battlefield," showing that
the losses from industrial accidents since 1871--the loss of life during
peace, that is--have been enormously greater than the losses due to the
Franco-Prussian War.
[3] "The Interest of America in International Conditions." New York:
Harper & Brothers.
[4] That is to say, all this was to have taken place before 1911 (the
book appeared some years ago). This has its counterpart in the English
newspaper feuilleton which appeared some years ago entitled, "The German
Invasion of 1910."
[5] See letter to the _Matin_, August 22, 1908.
[6] In this self-seeking world, it is not reasonable to assume the
existence of an inverted altruism of this kind.
[7] This is not the only basis of comparison, of course. Everyone who
knows Europe at all is aware of the high standard of comfort in all the
small countries--Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland. Mulhall, in
"Industries and Wealth of Nations" (p. 391), puts the small States of
Europe with France and England at the top of the list, Germany _sixth_,
and Russia, territorially and militarily the greatest of all, at the
very end. Dr. Bertillon, the French statistician, has made an elaborate
calculation of the relative wealth of the individuals of each country.
The middle-aged German possesses (on the established average) nine
thousand francs ($1800); the Hollander _sixteen thousand_ ($3200). (See
_Journal_, Paris, August 1, 1910).
[8] The figures given in the "Statesman's Year-Book" show that,
proportionately to population, Norway has nearly three times the
carrying trade of England.
[9] See citation, pp. 14-15.
[10] Major Stewart Murray, "Future Peace of the Anglo-Saxons." London:
Watts and Co.
[11] _L'Information_, August 22, 1909.
[12] Very many times greater, because the bullion reserve in the Bank of
England is relatively small.
[13] Hartley Withers, "The Meaning of Money." Smith, Elder and Co.,
London.
[14] See pp. 75-76.
[15] See note concerning French colonial policy, pp. 122-124.
[16] Summarizing an article in the _Oriental Economic Review_, the San
Francisco _Bulletin_ says: "Japan at this moment seems to be finding out
that 'conquered' Korea in every real sense belongs to the Koreans, and
that all that Japan is getting out of her war is an additional burden of
statesmanship and an additional expense of administration, and an
increased percentage of international complication due to the extension
of the Japanese frontier dangerously close to her Continental rivals,
China and Russia. Japan as 'owner' of Korea is in a worse position
economically and politically than she was when she was compelled to
treat with Korea as an independent nation." The _Oriental Economic
Review_ notes that "the Japanese hope to ameliorate the Korean situation
through the general intermarriage of the two peoples; but this means a
racial advance, and through it closer social and economic relations than
were possible before annexation, and would probably have been easier of
accomplishment had not the destruction of Korean independence embittered
the people."
[17] Spanish Four per Cents. were 42-1/2 during the war, and just prior
to the Moroccan trouble, in 1911, had a free market at 90 per cent.
F.C. Penfold writes in the December (1910) _North American Review_ as
follows: "The new Spain, whose motive force springs not from the
windmills of dreamy fiction, but from honest toil, is materially better
off this year than it has been for generations. Since the war Spanish
bonds have practically doubled in value, and exchange with foreign money
markets has improved in corresponding ratio. Spanish seaports on the
Atlantic and Mediterranean teem with shipping. Indeed, the nature of the
people seems changing from a _dolce far niente_ indolence to
enterprising thrift."
[18] London _Daily Mail_, December 15, 1910.
[19] "Traite de Science des Finances," vol. ii., p. 682.
[20] "Die Wirtschafts Finanz und Sozialreform im Deutschen Reich."
Leipzig, 1882.
[21] "La Crise Economique," _Revue des Deux Mondes_, March 15, 1879.
[22] Maurice Block, "La Crise Economique," _Revue des Deux Mondes_,
March 15, 1879. See also "Les Consequences Economiques de la Prochaine
Guerre," Captaine Bernard Serrigny. Paris, 1909. The author says (p.
127): "It was evidently the disastrous financial position of Germany,
which had compelled Prussia at the outbreak of the war to borrow money
at the unheard-of price of 11 per cent., that caused Bismarck to make
the indemnity so large a one. He hoped thus to repair his country's
financial situation. Events cruelly deceived him, however. A few months
after the last payment of the indemnity the gold despatched by France
had already returned to her territory, while Germany, poorer than ever,
was at grips with a crisis which was to a large extent the direct result
of her temporary wealth."
[23] "Das Deutsche Reich zur Zeit Bismarcks."
[24] The figures of German emigration are most suggestive in this
connection. Although they show great fluctuation, indicating their
reaction to many factors, they always appear to rise after the wars.
Thus, after the wars of the Duchies they doubled, for the five years
preceding the campaigns of 1865 they averaged 41,000, and after those
campaigns rose suddenly to over 100,000. They had fallen to 70,000 in
1869, and then rose to 154,000 in 1872, and what is more remarkable
still, the emigration did not come from the conquered provinces, from
Schleswig-Holstein, Alsace or Lorraine, but from Prussia! While not for
a moment claiming that the effect of the wars is the sole factor in this
fluctuation, the fact of emigration as bearing on the general claim made
for successful war demands the most careful examination. See
particularly, "L'Emigration Allemande," _Revue des Deux Mondes_,
January, 1874.
[25] The Montreal _Presse_, March 27, 1909.
[26] Speech, House of Commons, August 26, 1909. The New York papers of
November 16, 1909, report the following from Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the
Dominion Parliament during the debate on the Canadian Navy: "If now we
have to organize a naval force, it is because we are growing as a
nation--it is the penalty of being a nation. I know of no nation having
a sea-coast of its own which has no navy, except Norway, but Norway will
never tempt the invader. Canada has its coal-mines, its gold-mines, its
wheat-fields, and its vast wealth may offer a temptation to the
invader."
[27] The recent tariff negotiations between Canada and the United States
were carried on directly between Ottawa and Washington, without the
intervention of London. Canada regularly conducts her tariff
negotiations, even with other members of the British Empire. South
Africa takes a like attitude. The _Volkstein_ of July 10, 1911, says:
"The Union constitution is in full accord with the principle that
neutrality is permissible in the case of a war in which England and
other independent States of the Empire are involved.... England, as well
as South Africa, would best be served by South Africa's neutrality"
(quoted in _Times_, July 11, 1911). Note the phrase "independent States
of the Empire."
[28] _Times_, November 7, 1911.
[29] The London _World_, an Imperialist organ, puts it thus: "The
electoral process of reversing the results of the war is completed in
South Africa. By the result of last week's contests Mr. Merriman has
secured a strong working majority in both Houses. The triumph of the
Bond at Cape Town is no less sweeping than was that of Het Volk at
Pretoria. The three territories upon which the future of the
subcontinent depends are linked together under Boer supremacy ... the
future federated or uniformed system will be raised upon a Dutch basis.
If this was what we wanted, we might have bought it cheaper than with
two hundred and fifty millions of money and twenty thousand lives."
[30] A Bill has been introduced into the Indian Legislative Council
enabling the Government to prohibit emigration to any country where the
treatment accorded to British Indian subjects was not such as met with
the approval of the Governor-General. "As just treatment for free
Indians has not been secured," says the London _Times_, "prohibition
will undoubtedly be applied against Natal unless the position of free
Indians there is ameliorated."
[31] Britain's total overseas trade for 1908 was $5,245,000,000, of
which $3,920,000,000 was with foreigners, and $1,325,000,000 with her
own possessions. And while it is true that with some of her Colonies
Britain has as much as 52 per cent. of their trade--_e.g._,
Australia--it also happens that some absolutely foreign countries do a
greater percentage even of their trade with Britain than do her
Colonies. Britain possesses 38 per cent. of Argentina's foreign trade,
but only 36 per cent. of Canada's, although Canada has recently given
her a considerable preference.
[32] West Africa and Madagascar.
[33] It is a little encouraging, perhaps, for those of us who are doing
what we may towards the dissemination of saner ideas, that an early
edition of this book seems to have played some part in bringing about
the change in French colonial policy here indicated. The French Colonial
Ministry, for the purpose of emphasizing the point of view mentioned in
_Le Temps_ article, on two or three occasions called pointed attention
to the first French edition of this book. In the official report of the
Colonial Budget for 1911, a large part of this chapter is reprinted. In
the Senate (see _Journal Officiel de la Republique Francaise_, July 2,
1911) the Rapporteur again quoted from this book at length, and devoted
a great part of his speech towards emphasizing the thesis here set out.
[34] A financier to whom I showed the proofs of this chapter notes here:
"If such a tax were imposed the output would be _nil_."
[35] A correspondent sent me some interesting and significant details of
the rapid strides made by Germany in Egypt. It had already been stated
that a German newspaper would appear in October, 1910, and that the
official notices of the mixed courts have been transferred from the
local French newspapers to the German _Egyptischer Nachrichten_. During
the years 1897-1907, German residents in Egypt increased by 44 per
cent., while British residents increased by only 5 per cent. Germany's
share of the Egyptian imports during the period 1900-1904 was
$3,443,880, but by 1909 this figure reached $5,786,355. The latest
German undertaking in Egypt was the foundation of the Egyptische
Hypotheken Bank, in which all the principal joint-stock banks of Germany
were interested. Its capital was to be $2,500,000 and the six directors
included three Germans, one Austrian, and two Italians.
Writing of "Home Sickness among the Emigrants" (the _London World_, July
19, 1910), Mr. F.G. Aflalo said:
"The Germans are, of all nations, the least troubled with this weakness.
Though far more warmly attached to the hearth than their neighbors
across the Rhine, they feel exile less. Their one idea is to evade
conscription, and this offers to all continental nations a compensation
for exile, which to the Englishman means nothing. I remember a colony of
German fishermen on Lake Tahoe, the loveliest water in California, where
the pines of the Sierra Nevada must have vividly recalled their native
Harz. Yet they rejoiced in the freedom of their adopted country, and
never knew a moment's regret for the Fatherland."
[36] According to a recent estimate, the Germans in Brazil now number
some four hundred thousand, the great majority being settled in the
southern states of Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, and Santa Catharina, while
a small number are found in Sao Paulo and Espirito Santo in the north.
This population is, for the most part, the result of natural increase,
for of late years emigration thither has greatly declined.
In Near Asia, too, German colonization is by no means of recent origin.
There are in Transcaucasia agricultural settlements established by
Wuertemberg farmers, whose descendants in the third generation live in
their own villages and still speak their native language. In Palestine,
there are the German Templar Colonies on the coast, which have prospered
so well as to excite the resentment of the natives.
[37] London _Morning Post_, February 1, 1912.
[38] _North American Review_, March, 1912. See also citation, p. 15.
[39] April, 1912.
[40] "Germany and the Next War," by Gen. Friedrich von Bernhardi.
London: Edwin Arnold, 1912.
[41] See, notably, the article from Admiral Mahan, "The Place of Power
in International Relations," in the _North American Review_ for January,
1912; and such books of Professor Wilkinson's as "The Great
Alternative," "Britain at Bay," "War and Policy."
[42] "The Valor of Ignorance." Harpers.
[43] For an expression of these views in a more definite form, see
Ratzenhofer's "Die Sociologische Erkenntniss," pp. 233, 234. Leipzig:
Brockhaus, 1898.
[44] Speech at Stationer's Hall, London, June 6, 1910.
[45] "The Strenuous Life." Century Co.
[46] _McClure's Magazine_, August, 1910.
[47] Thomas Hughes, in his preface to the first English edition of "The
Bigelow Papers," refers to the opponents of the Crimean War as a "vain
and mischievous clique, who amongst us have raised the cry of peace."
See also Mr. J.A. Hobson's "Psychology of Jingoism," p. 52. London:
Grant Richards.
[48] _North American Review_, March, 1912.
[49] "The Interest of America in International Conditions." New York:
Harper & Brothers.
[50] It is related by Critchfield, in his work on the South American
Republics, that during all the welter of blood and disorder which for a
century or more marked the history of those countries, the Roman
Catholic priesthood on the whole maintained a high standard of life and
character, and continued, against all discouragement, to preach
consistently the beauties of peace and order. However much one may be
touched by such a spectacle, and pay the tribute of one's admiration to
these good men, one cannot but feel that the preaching of these high
ideals did not have any very immediate effect on the social progress of
South America. What has effected this change? It is that those countries
have been brought into the economic current of the world; the bank and
factory and railroad have introduced factors and motives of a quite
different order from those urged by the priest, and are slowly winning
those countries from military adventure to honest work, a thing which
the preaching of high ideals failed to do.
[51] "To-day and To-morrow," p. 63. John Murray.
[52] Since the publication of the first edition of this book there has
appeared in France an admirable work by M.J. Novikow, "Le Darwinisme
Social" (Felix Alcan, Paris), in which this application of the Darwinian
theory to sociology is discussed with great ability, and at great length
and in full detail, and the biological presentation of the case, as just
outlined, has been inspired in no small part by M. Novikow's work. M.
Novikow has established in biological terms what, previous to the
publication of his book, I attempted to establish in economic terms.
[53] Co-operation does not exclude competition. If a rival beats me in
business, it is because he furnishes more efficient co-operation than I
do; if a thief steals from me, he is not co-operating at all, and if he
steals much will prevent my co-operation. The organism (society) has
every interest in encouraging the competitor and suppressing the
parasite.
[54] Without going to the somewhat obscure analogies of biological
science, it is evident from the simple facts of the world that, if at
any stage of human development warfare ever did make for the survival of
the fit, we have long since passed out of that stage. When we conquer a
nation in these days, we do not exterminate it: we leave it where it
was. When we "overcome" the servile races, far from eliminating them, we
give them added chances of life by introducing order, etc., so that the
lower human quality tends to be perpetuated by conquest by the higher.
If ever it happens that the Asiatic races challenge the white in the
industrial or military field, it will be in large part thanks to the
work of race conservation, which has been the result of England's
conquest in India, Egypt, and Asia generally, and her action in China
when she imposed commerical contact on the Chinese by virtue of military
power. War between people of roughly equal development makes also for
the survival of the unfit, since we no longer exterminate and massacre a
conquered race, but only their best elements (those carrying on the
war), and because the conqueror uses up _his_ best elements in the
process, so that the less fit of both sides are left to perpetuate the
species. Nor do the facts of the modern world lend any support to the
theory that preparation for war under modern conditions tends to
preserve virility, since those conditions involve an artificial barrack
life, a highly mechanical training favorable to the destruction of
initiative, and a mechanical uniformity and centralization tending to
crush individuality, and to hasten the drift towards a centralized
bureaucracy, already too great.
[55] One might doubt, indeed, whether the British patriot has really the
feeling against the German that he has against his own countrymen of
contrary views. Mr. Leo Maxse, in the _National Review_ for February,
1911, indulges in the following expressions, applied, not to Germans,
but to English statesmen elected by a majority of the English people:
Mr. Lloyd George is a "fervid Celt animated by passionate hatred of all
things English"; Mr. Churchill is simply a "Tammany Hall politician,
without, however, a Tammany man's patriotism." Mr. Harcourt belongs to
"that particular type of society demagogue who slangs Peers in public
and fawns upon them in private." Mr. Leo Maxse suggests that some of the
Ministers should be impeached and hanged. Mr. McKenna is Lord Fisher's
"poll-parrot," and the House of Commons is the "poisonous Parliament of
infamous memory," in which Ministers were supported by a vast _posse
comitatus_ of German jackals.
[56] Speech at Stationers' Hall, London, June 6, 1910.
[57] I have in mind here the ridiculous furore that was made by the
British Jingo Press over some French cartoons that appeared at the
outbreak of the Boer War. It will be remembered that at that time France
was the "enemy," and Germany was, on the strength of a speech by Mr.
Chamberlain, a quasi-ally. Britain was at that time as warlike towards
France as she is now towards Germany. And this is only ten years ago!
[58] In his "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of
Rationalism in Europe," Lecky says: "It was no political anxiety about
the balance of power, but an intense religious enthusiasm that impelled
the inhabitants of Christendom towards the site which was at once the
cradle and the symbol of their faith. All interests were then absorbed,
all classes were governed, all passions subdued or colored, by religious
fervor. National animosities that had raged for centuries were pacified
by its power. The intrigues of statesmen and the jealousies of kings
disappeared beneath its influence. Nearly two million lives are said to
have been sacrificed in the cause. Neglected governments, exhausted
finances, depopulated countries, were cheerfully accepted as the price
of success. No wars the world had ever before seen were so popular as
these, which were at the same time the most disastrous and the most
unselfish."
[59] "Be assured," writes St. Augustine, "and doubt not that not only
men who have obtained the use of their reason, but also little children
who have begun to live in their mother's womb and there died, or who,
having been just born, have passed away from the world without the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism, must be punished by the eternal torture of
undying fire." To make the doctrine clearer, he illustrates it by the
case of a mother who has two children. Each of these is but a lump of
perdition. Neither has ever performed a moral or immoral act. The mother
overlies one, and it perishes unbaptized. It goes to eternal torment.
The other is baptized and saved.
[60] This appears sufficiently from the seasons in which, for instance,
_autos da fe_ in Spain took place. In the Gallery of Madrid there is a
painting by Francisco Rizzi representing the execution, or rather the
procession to the stake, of a number of heretics during the fetes that
followed the marriage of Charles II., and before the King, his bride,
and the Court and clergy of Madrid. The great square was arranged like a
theatre, and thronged with ladies in Court dress. The King sat on an
elevated platform, surrounded by the chief members of the aristocracy.
Limborch, in his "History of the Inquisition," relates that among the
victims of one _auto da fe_ was a girl of sixteen, whose singular beauty
struck all who saw her with admiration. As she passed to the stake she
cried to the Queen: "Great Queen, is not your presence able to bring me
some comfort under my misery? Consider my youth, and that I am condemned
for a religion which I have sucked in with my mother's milk."
[61] _Spectator_, December 31, 1910.
[62] See quotations, pp. 161-162, from Homer Lea's book, "The Valor of
Ignorance."
[63] Thus Captain d'Arbeux ("L'Officier Contemporaine," Grasset, Paris,
1911) laments "la disparition progressive de l'ideal de revanche," a
military deterioration which is, he declares, working the country's
ruin. The general truth of all this is not affected by the fact that
1911, owing to the Moroccan conflict and other matters, saw a revival of
Chauvinism, which is already spending itself. The _Matin_, December,
1911, remarks: "The number of candidates at St. Cyr and St. Maixent is
decreasing to a terrifying degree. It is hardly a fourth of what it was
a few years ago.... The profession of arms has no longer the attraction
that it had."
[64] "Germany and England," p. 19.
[65] See the first chapter of Mr. Harbutt Dawson's admirable work, "The
Evolution of Modern Germany." T. Fisher Unwin, London.
[66] I have excluded the "operations" with the Allies in China. But they
only lasted a few weeks. And were they war? This illustration appears in
M. Novikow's "Le Darwinisme Social."
[67] The most recent opinion on evolution would go to show that
environment plays an even larger role in the formation of character than
selection (see Prince Kropotkin's article, _Nineteenth Century_, July,
1910, in which he shows that experiment reveals the direct action of
surroundings as the main factor of evolution). How immensely, therefore,
must our industrial environment modify the pugnacious impulse of our
nature!
[68] See citations, pp. 161-166, notably Mr. Roosevelt's dictum: "In
this world the nation that is trained to a career of unwarlike and
isolated ease is bound to go down in the end before other nations which
have not lost the manly and adventurous qualities." This view is even
emphasized in the speech which Mr. Roosevelt recently delivered at the
University of Berlin (see London _Times_, May 13, 1910). "The Roman
civilization," declared Mr. Roosevelt--perhaps, as the _Times_ remarks,
to the surprise of those who have been taught to believe that
_latifundia perditere Romam_--"went down primarily because the Roman
citizen would not fight, because Rome had lost the fighting edge." (See
footnote, p. 237.)
[69] "The Valor of Ignorance." Harpers.
[70] See M. Messimy's Report on the War Budget for 1908 (annexe 3, p.
474). The importance of these figures is not generally realized.
Astonishing as the assertion may sound, conscription in Germany is not
universal, while it is in France. In the latter country every man of
every class actually goes through the barracks, and is subjected to the
real discipline of military training; the whole training of the nation
is purely military. This is not the case in Germany. Very nearly half of
the young men of the country are not soldiers. Another important point
is that the part of the German nation which makes up the country's
intellectual life escapes the barracks. To all practical purposes very
nearly all young men of the better class enter the army as one year
volunteers, by which they escape more than a few weeks of barracks, and
even then escape its worst features. It cannot be too often pointed out
that intellectual Germany has never been subjected to real barrack
influence. As one critic says: "The German system does not put this
class through the mill," and is deliberately designed to save them from
the grind of the mill. France's military activities since 1870 have, of
course, been much greater than those of Germany--Tonkin, Madagascar,
Algeria, Morocco. As against these, Germany has had only the Hereros
campaign. The percentages of population given above, in the text,
require modification as the Army Laws are modified, but the relative
positions in Germany and France remain about the same.
[71] _Vox de la Nacion_, Caracas, April 22, 1897.
[72] Even Mr. Roosevelt calls South American history mean and bloody. It
is noteworthy that, in his article published in the _Bachelor of Arts_
for March, 1896, Mr. Roosevelt, who lectured Englishmen so vigorously on
their duty at all costs not to be guided by sentimentalism in the
government of Egypt, should write thus at the time of Mr. Cleveland's
Venezuelan message to England: "Mean and bloody though the history of
the South American republics has been, it is distinctly in the interest
of civilization that ... they should be left to develop along their own
lines.... Under the best of circumstances, a colony is in a false
position; but if a colony is a region where the colonizing race has to
do its work by means of other and inferior races, the condition is much
worse. There is no chance for any tropical colony owned by a Northern
race."
[73] June 2, 1910.
[74] See an article by Mr. Vernon Kellogg in the _Atlantic Monthly_,
July, 1913. Seeley says: "The Roman Empire perished for want of men."
One historian of Greece, discussing the end of the Peloponnesian wars,
said: "Only cowards remain, and from their broods came the new
generations."
Three million men--the elite of Europe--perished in the Napoleonic wars.
It is said that after those wars the height standard of the French adult
population fell abruptly 1 inch. However that may be, it is quite
certain that the physical fitness of the French people was immensely
worsened by the drain of the Napoleonic wars, since, as the result of a
century of militarism, France is compelled every few years to reduce the
standard of physical fitness in order to keep up her military strength,
so that now even three-feet dwarfs are impressed.
[75] I think one may say fairly that it _was_ Sydney Smith's wit rather
than Bacon's or Bentham's wisdom which killed this curious illusion.
[76] See the distinction established at the beginning of the next
chapter.
[77] M. Pierre Loti, who happened to be at Madrid when the troops were
leaving to fight the Americans, wrote: "They are, indeed, still the
solid and splendid Spanish troops, heroic in every epoch; one needs only
to look at them to divine the woe that awaits the American shopkeepers
when brought face to face with such soldiers." He prophesied _des
surprises sanglantes_. M. Loti is a member of the French Academy.
[78] See also letter quoted, pp. 230-231.
[79] "Patriotism and Empire." Grant Richards.
[80] "For permanent work the soldier is worse than useless; his whole
training tends to make him a weakling. He has the easiest of lives; he
has no freedom and no responsibility. He is, politically and socially, a
child, with rations instead of rights--treated like a child, punished
like a child, dressed prettily and washed and combed like a child,
excused for outbreaks of naughtiness like a child, forbidden to marry
like a child, and called "Tommy" like a child. He has no real work to
keep him from going mad except housemaid's work" ("John Bull's Other
Island"). All those familiar with the large body of French literature,
dealing with the evils of barrack-life, know how strongly that criticism
confirms Mr. Bernard Shaw's generalization.
[81] September 11, 1899.
[82] Things must have reached a pretty pass in England when the owner of
the _Daily Mail_ and the patron of Mr. Blatchford can devote a column
and a half over his own signature to reproaching in vigorous terms the
hysteria and sensationalism, of his own readers.
[83] The _Berliner Tageblatt_ of March 14, 1911, says: "One must admire
the consistent fidelity and patriotism of the English race, as compared
with the uncertain and erratic methods of the German people, their
mistrust, and suspicion. In spite of numerous wars, bloodshed, and
disaster, England always emerges smoothly and easily from her military
crises and settles down to new conditions and surroundings in her usual
cool and deliberate manner.... Nor can one refrain from paying one's
tribute to the sound qualities and character of the English aristocracy,
which is always open to the ambitious and worthy of other classes, and
thus slowly but surely widens the sphere of the middle classes by whom
they are in consequence honored and respected--a state of affairs
practically unknown in Germany, but which would be to our immense
advantage."
[84] "Der Kaiser und die Zukunft des Deutschen Volkes."
[85] See also the confirmatory verdict of Captain March Phillips, quoted
on p. 291.
[86] "My Life in the Army," p. 119.
[87] I do not think this last generalization does any injustice to the
essay, "Latitude and Longitude among Reformers" ("Strenuous Life," pp.
41-61. The Century Company).
[88] See for further illustration of the difference and its bearing in
practical politics Chapter VIII., Part I., "The Fight for the Place in
the Sun."
[89] See Chapter VII., Part I.
[90] Aristotle did, however, have a flash of the truth. He said: "If the
hammer and the shuttle could move themselves, slavery would be
unnecessary."
[91] "Facts and Comments," p. 112.
[92] Buckle ("History of Civilization") points out that Philip II., who
ruled half the world and drew tribute from the whole of South America,
was so poor that he could not pay his personal servants or meet the
daily expenses of the Court!
[93] I mean by credit all the mechanism of exchange which replaces the
actual use or metal, or notes representing it.
[94] Lecky ("Rationalism in Europe," p. 76) says: "Protestantism could
not possibly have existed without a general diffusion of the Bible, and
that diffusion was impossible until after the two inventions of paper
and printing.... Before those inventions, pictures and material images
were the chief means of religious instruction." And thus religious
belief became necessarily material, crude, anthropomorphic.
[95] "Battles are no longer the spectacular heroics of the past. The
army of to-day and to-morrow is a sombre gigantic machine devoid of
melodramatic heroics ... a machine that it requires years to form in
separate parts, years to assemble them together, and other years to make
them work smoothly and irresistibly" (Homer Lea in "The Valor of
Ignorance," p. 49).
[96] General von Bernhardi, in his work on cavalry, deals with this very
question of the bad influence on tactics of the "pomp of war," which he
admits must disappear, adding very wisely: "The spirit of tradition
consists not in the retention of antiquated forms, but in acting in that
spirit which in the past led to such glorious success." The plea for the
retention of the soldier because of his "spirit" could not be more
neatly disposed of. See p. 111 of the English edition of Bernhardi's
work (Hugh Rees, London).
[97] See quotations, pp. 161-166.
[98] The following letter to the _Manchester Guardian_, which appeared
at the time of the Boer War, is worth reproduction in this connection:
"SIR,--I see that 'The Church's Duty in regard to War' is to be
discussed at the Church Congress. This is right. For a year the heads of
our Church have been telling us what war is and does--that it is a
school of character; that it sobers men, cleans them, strengthens them,
knits their hearts; makes them brave, patient, humble, tender, prone to
self-sacrifice. Watered by 'war's red rain,' one Bishop tells us, virtue
grows; a cannonade, he points out, is an 'oratorio'--almost a form of
worship. True; and to the Church men look for help to save their souls
from starving for lack of this good school, this kindly rain, this
sacred music. Congresses are apt to lose themselves in wastes of words.
This one must not, surely cannot, so straight is the way to the goal. It
has simply to draft and submit a new Collect for war in our time, and to
call for the reverent but firm emendation, in the spirit of the best
modern thought, of those passages in Bible and Prayer-Book by which even
the truest of Christians and the best of men have at times been blinded
to the duty of seeking war and ensuing it. Still, man's moral nature
cannot, I admit, live by war alone; nor do I say with some that peace is
wholly bad. Even amid the horrors of peace you will find little shoots
of character fed by the gentle and timely rains of plague and famine,
tempest and fire; simple lessons of patience and courage conned in the
schools of typhus, gout, and stone; not oratorios, perhaps, but homely
anthems and rude hymns played on knife and probe in the long winter
nights. Far from me to 'sin our mercies,' or to call mere twilight dark.
Yet dark it may become; for remember that even these poor makeshift
schools of character, these second-bests, these halting substitutes for
war--remember that the efficiency of every one of them, be it hunger,
accident, ignorance, sickness, or pain, is menaced by the intolerable
strain of its struggles with secular doctors, plumbers, inventors,
schoolmasters, and policemen. Every year thousands who would once have
been braced and steeled by manly tussles with small-pox or diphtheria
are robbed of that blessing by the great changes made in our drains.
Every year thousands of women and children must go their way bereft of
the rich spiritual experience of the widow and the orphan."
[99] Captain March Phillips, "With Remington." Methuen. See pp. 259-60
for Mr. Blatchford's confirmation of this verdict.
[100] And here as to the officers--again not from me but from a very
Imperialist and militarist quarter--the London _Spectator_ (November 25,
1911), says: "Soldiers might be supposed to be free from pettiness
because they are men of action. But we all know that there is no
profession in which the leaders are more depreciated by one another than
in the profession of arms."
[101] Professor William James says: "Greek history is a panorama of war
for war's sake ... of the utter ruin of a civilization which in
intellectual respects was perhaps the highest the earth has ever seen.
The wars were purely piratical. Pride, gold, women, slaves, excitement
were their only motives."--_McClure's Magazine_, August, 1910.
[102] "Britain at Bay." Constable and Co.
[103] See quotation from Sir C.P. Lucas, p. 111-12.
[104] See details on this matter given in Chapter VII., Part I.
[105] London _Morning Post_, April 21, 1910. I pass over the fact that
to cite all this as a reason for armaments is absurd. Does the _Morning
Post_ really suggest that the Germans are going to attack England
because they don't like the English taste in art, or music, or cooking?
The notion that preferences of this sort need the protection of
_Dreadnoughts_ is surely to bring the whole thing within the domain of
the grotesque.
[106] I refer to the remarkable speech in which Mr. Chamberlain notified
France that she must "mend her manners or take the consequences" (see
London daily papers between November 28 and December 5, 1899).
[107] Not that a very great period separates us from such methods.
Froude quotes Maltby's Report to Government as follows: "I burned all
their corn and houses, and committed to the sword all that could be
found. In like manner I assailed a castle. When the garrison
surrendered, I put them to the misericordia of my soldiers. They were
all slain. Thence I went on, sparing none which came in my way, which
cruelty did so amaze their fellows that they could not tell where to
bestow themselves." Of the commander of the English forces at Munster we
read: "He diverted his forces into East Clanwilliam, and harassed the
country; killed all mankind that were found therein ... not leaving
behind us man or beast, corn or cattle ... sparing none of what quality,
age, or sex soever. Beside many burned to death, we killed man, woman,
child, horse, or beast or whatever we could find."
[108] In "The Evolution of Modern Germany" (Fisher Unwin, London) the
same author says: "Germany implies not one people, but many peoples ...
of different culture, different political and social institutions ...
diversity of intellectual and economic life.... When the average
Englishman speaks of Germany he really means Prussia, and consciously or
not he ignores the fact that in but few things can Prussia be regarded
as typical of the whole Empire."
[109] "International Law." John Murray, London.
[110] Lord Sanderson, dealing with the development of international
intercourse in an address to the Royal Society of Arts (November 15,
1911), said: "The most notable feature of recent international
intercourse, he thought, was the great increase in international
exhibitions, associations, and conferences of every description and on
every conceivable subject. When he first joined the Foreign Office,
rather more than fifty years ago, conferences were confined almost
entirely to formal diplomatic meetings to settle some urgent territorial
or political question in which several States were interested. But as
time had passed, not only were the number and frequency of political
conferences increased, but a host of meetings of persons more or less
official, termed indiscriminately conferences and congresses, had come
into being."
[111] January 8, 1910.
[112] March 10, 1910.
[113] "The German Government is straining every nerve, with the zealous
support of its people, to get ready for a fight with this country"
(_Morning Post_, March 1, 1912). "The unsatiated will of the armed State
will, when an opportunity offers, attack most likely its most satiated
neighbors without scruple, and despoil them without ruth" (Dr. Dillon,
_Contemporary Review_, October, 1911).
[114] I have shown in a former chapter (Chapter VI., Part II.) how these
international hatreds are not the cause of conflict, but the outcome of
conflicts or presumed conflicts of policy. If difference of national
psychology--national "incompatibility of temper"--were the cause, how
can we explain the fact that ten years since the English were still
"hating all Frenchmen like the devil," and talking of alliance with the
Germans? If diplomatic shuffling had pushed England into alliance with
the Germans against the French, it would never have occurred to the
people that they had to "detest the Germans."
[115] The German Navy Law in its preamble might have filched this from
the British Navy League catechism.
[116] In an article published in 1897 (January 16) the London
_Spectator_ pointed out the hopeless position Germany would occupy if
England cared to threaten her. The organ, which is now apt to resent the
increased German Navy as implying aggression upon England, then wrote as
follows: "Germany has a mercantile marine of vast proportions. The
German flag is everywhere. But on the declaration of war the whole of
Germany's trading ships would be at our mercy. Throughout the seas of
the world our cruisers would seize and confiscate German ships. Within
the first week of the declaration of war Germany would have suffered a
loss of many million pounds by the capture of her ships. Nor is that
all. Our Colonies are dotted with German trading-houses, who, in spite
of a keen competition, do a great deal of business.... We should not, of
course, want to treat them harshly; but war must mean for them the
selling of their businesses for what they would fetch and going home to
Germany. In this way Germany would lose a hold upon the trade of the
world which it has taken her many years of toil to create.... Again,
think of the effect upon Germany's trade of the closing of all her
ports. Hamburg is one of the greatest ports of the world. What would be
its condition if practically not a single ship could leave or enter it?
Blockades are no doubt very difficult things to maintain strictly, but
Hamburg is so placed that the operation would be comparatively easy. In
truth the blockade of all the German ports on the Baltic or the North
Sea would present little difficulty.... Consider the effect on Germany
if her flag were swept from the high seas and her ports blockaded. She
might not miss her colonies, for they are only a burden, but the loss of
her sea-borne trade would be an equivalent to an immediate fine of at
least a hundred million sterling. In plain words, a war with Germany,
even when conducted by her with the utmost wisdom and prudence, must
mean for her a direct loss of a terribly heavy kind, and for us
virtually no loss at all." This article is full of the fallacies which I
have endeavored to expose in this book, but it logically develops the
notions which are prevalent in both England and Germany; and yet Germans
have to listen to an English Minister of Marine describing their Navy as
a luxury!
[117] Here is the real English belief in this matter: "Why should
Germany attack Britain? Because Germany and Britain are commercial and
political rivals; because Germany covets the trade, the Colonies, and
the Empire which Britain now possesses.... As to arbitration, limitation
of armament, it does not require a very great effort of the imagination
to enable us to see that proposal with German eyes. Were I a German, I
should say: 'These islanders are cool customers. They have fenced in all
the best parts of the globe, they have bought or captured fortresses and
ports in five continents, they have gained the lead in commerce, they
have a virtual monopoly of the carrying trade of the world, they hold
command of the seas, and now they propose that we shall all be brothers,
and that nobody shall fight or steal any more,'" (Robert Blatchford,
"Germany and England," pp. 4-13).
[118] "Facts and Fallacies." An answer to "Compulsory Service," by
Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G.
[119] Discussing the first edition of this book, Sir Edward Grey said:
"True as the statement in that book may be, it does not become an
operative motive in the minds and conduct of nations until they are
convinced of its truth and it has become a commonplace to them"
(Argentine Centenary Banquet, May 20, 1910).
[120] Lecky, "History of the Progress of Rationalism in Europe."
[121] I do not desire in the least, of course, to create the impression
that I regard the truths here elaborated as my "discovery," as though no
one had worked in this field before. Properly speaking, there is no such
thing as priority in ideas. The interdependence of peoples was
proclaimed by philosophers three thousand years ago. The French school
of pacifists--Passy, Follin, Yves Guyot, de Molinari, and Estournelles
de Constant--have done splendid work in this field; but no one of them,
so far as I know, has undertaken the work of testing in detail the
politico-economic orthodoxy by the principle of the economic futility of
military force; by bringing that principle to bear on the everyday
problems of European statecraft. If there is such an one--presenting the
precise notes of interrogation which I have attempted to present here--I
am not aware of it. This does not prevent, I trust, the very highest
appreciation of earlier and better work done in the cause of peace
generally. The work of Jean de Bloch, among others, though covering
different ground from this, possesses an erudition and bulk of
statistical evidence to which this can make no claim. The work of J.
Novikow, to my mind the greatest of all, has already been touched upon.
[122] "Turkey in Europe," pp. 88-9 and 91-2.
It is significant, by the way, that the "born soldier" has now been
crushed by a non-military race whom he has always despised as having no
military tradition. Capt. F.W. von Herbert ("Bye Paths in the Balkans")
wrote (some years before the present war): "The Bulgars, as Christian
subjects of Turkey exempt from military service, have tilled the ground
under stagnant and enfeebling peace conditions, and the profession of
arms is new to them."
"Stagnant and enfeebling peace conditions" is, in view of subsequent
events, distinctly good.
[123] I dislike to weary the reader with such damnable iteration, but
when a British Cabinet Minister is unable in this discussion to
distinguish between the folly of a thing and its possibility, one _must_
make the fundamental point clear.
[124] This Appendix was written before the Balkan States fell to
fighting one another. It is scarcely necessary to point out that the
events of the last few days (early summer 1913) lend significance to the
argument in the text.
[125] See p. 390.
[126] _Review of Reviews_, November, 1912.
[127] In the _Daily Mail_, to whose Editor I am indebted for permission
to reprint it.
INDEX
Acceleration, Law of, relation to sociology, 197, 220
Adam, Paul, advocate of war, 216
Aflalo, F.G., home-sickness among emigrants, 132, 133
Africa, South: gold-mines of, as motive of Boer War, 125;
position of trade in, in event of war, 126
Alsace-Lorraine, annexation of, 45-49
America. _See_ United States
America, South: financial development of, 78, 245;
folly of aggression in States of, 244;
British methods of enforcing financial obligations in, 303
Annexation: of Alsace-Lorraine and value of, to Germany, 45-49;
Alsace-Lorraine, financial aspect, 98;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, effect on Austria, 303
Arabia and internal wars, 232
Argentine international trade, 78
Aristotle: on slavery, 269;
the State, 296
Armagh, Archbishop of, advocate of war, 166
Armament, Armaments:
_United Service Magazine_ quoted on limitations of, 18;
Bernhardi school, 257;
motives of, 330;
justification of, 344
Asia Minor: protection of German interest in, 147;
benefit of, to Britain if under German tutelage, 149
Asquith, Mr.: on Canadian Navy, 113;
"color problem," 116, 117
Austria, annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 303
_Autos da fe_ in Spain, 208
Bachmar, Dr. F., on union of Germany and South Africa, 24
Bacon on nature of man, 58
Balfour, Mr. A.J., on independence of the Colonies, 114-115
Bank of England: position of, if Germany invaded England, 56-57;
helped by Bank of France, 318
Banking: Withers on interdependence necessary in, 59-61.
_See also_ Finance
Barracks, Mr. R. Blatchford on moral influence of, 259-260
Barres, M., advocate of war, 216
Baty, Mr. T., social "stratification" and business, 323-325
Beaulieu, Paul, on French indemnity, 94
Belgium economic security, 43-44
_Berliner Tageblatt_, 255
Bernhardi: on defence of war, 158-159;
war advocates and school of, 257;
on tactics and "pomp of war," 285;
policy of, 342
Bertillon, Dr., on relative individual wealth in nations, 36
Biermer, Professor, on Protectionist movement in Germany, 95
Birrell, Mr. Augustine, 367
Bismarck: and Machiavelli's dictum as to policy of a prudent
ruler, 41;
and the French indemnity, 91;
his surprise at the recuperation of France after the war, 96-97
Blatchford, Mr. Robert, 18, 177, 178, 215, 216, 259-260, 316, 349, 357
Block, Maurice, on French indemnity, 98
Blum, Hans, 98
Boer War: motives of, 115;
results of, 116;
cost of, 128
Bosnia and Herzegovina. _See_ Austria
Bourget, Paul, advocate of war, 216
Brazil, international trade of, 78
Britain: possibility of being "wiped out" in twenty-four hours, 21-22;
conquest of, a physical impossibility, 30;
Sir C.P. Lucas's policy of colonial government, 111;
position of, with regard to "ownership" of Colonies, 115;
attitude of, with regard to German trade in Asia Minor, 147-148;
Prussianization of, 258;
contrast between, and Ancient Rome, 276;
position of, with regard to her independent States, 300-301;
cause of hostility towards Germany, 315;
what the world has to learn from Imperial development of, 380-381;
the real exemplar of the nations, 380-382
Brunetiere, advocate of war, 216
Buelow, Prince von, on Germany's "rage for luxury," etc., 215-216
Caivano, Tomasso, 230-231
Canada: English merchant in, 35;
England's trade with, 75;
effect of acquisition of, by Germany, 109;
the question of "ownership" of, 112;
Sir Wilfrid Laurier on Canadian Navy, 113;
war record, 227
Capital. _See_ Finance
Catholics and Protestants, 205
Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, 310
Charles II. of Spain, 208
Churchill, Mr. Winston; dictum of, on war, 345-346;
on German Navy "luxury," 346-348
Colonies: no advantage gained by conquest of, 32-33, 109-111;
commercial value of, 107;
Sir C.P. Lucas on Britain's policy of colonial government, 111-112;
and national independence, 112;
_Volkstein_ on colonial neutrality in warfare, 114;
Britain's "ownership" of, 115;
administrative weaknesses of, 117-119;
fiscal position of, 119-121;
false policy of conquest of, 121;
Meline regime and advantages of independent administration
of French, 123-124;
impossibility of "possession" of, 135;
how Germany exploits her, 135;
economic retribution on, 301-302
Colonies, Crown, 33, 111-119
Commerce: definition of, 71;
deterioration of international incident to war, 240.
_See also_ Trade
Community, what constitutes well-being of a, 173-175
Competition: methods of industrial, 11;
impossibility of destruction of, 31-34;
and co-operation, 185
Confiscation, the impossibility of, 63-64
Conqueror, policy of, in regard to wealth and territory, 34-36
Conquest: _Blackwood's Magazine_ in defence of, 19-20;
impossibility of, from point of view of trade, 30-31;
of Colonies, no advantages gained by, 32-33;
alleged benefits of, disproved by prosperity of small States, 39-40;
no advantage gained by, in modern warfare, 44-45, 110;
advantage of, in ancient and medieval times, 51-54;
alleged benefits of, disproved, 99-101;
unable to change national character of conquered territory, 135-136;
inadequate value of present methods of, 135;
lessening role of, in commerce, 139-143;
paradox of London police force applied in relation to, 144;
where it has benefited nations, 145;
effect of co-operation as a factor against, 195;
enervating effects of, on Romans, 238;
Spain ruined by glamour of, 242-247;
co-operation taking place of, 244-248;
changed nature of, 283;
warlike nations the victims of, 272;
logical absurdity of, summed up, 378-382.
_See also_ War
Conscription: and the peace ideal, 219;
in France and Germany, comparison between, 225-226;
how it might work in England, 258-260
Co-operation and competition, 185-186;
the effects of, in international relations, 194;
taking place of conquest, 247-249;
advantages of, allied to force, 265-266;
of States and Nationalism, 312
Courtesy in international relations, 374
Cox, Sir Edmund C., 351
Credit: in its relation to war, 30-31;
definition of, 277
Critics, arguments of, against "The Great Illusion," 358-359
Cuba, War of, financial effect of, to Spain, 241
_Daily Mail_, 45-49, 214-215, 253, 330
D'Arbeux, Captain, 214
Dawson, Harbutt, 256
Defence: Navy League on, 345;
the necessity of, 346;
problem of, considered, 353
Demolins, Edmond, 258
Deroulede, advocate of war, 216
Dervishes, appreciation of, as fighters, 289;
W.H. Steevens quoted on, 289-290
Despot, financial embarrassment of the, 273-274
Despotism, the reasons for poverty of, 274
Dilke, Sir Charles, 116
Domination. _See_ Conquest
Dreyfus case, _Times_ quoted on, 250-252
Duel, survival and abandonment of, 201-204
Economics. _See_ Finance
Emigration, statistics of, for Germany, 100
Emotion, need for the control of, 377
Empiricism the curse of political thinking, 262
England. _See_ Britain
Environment, the role of, in the formation of character, 218
Faguet, advocate of war, 216
Farrar, Dean, advocate of war, 166
Farrer, 42
Fian, Dr., 208
Finance:
interdependence of credit-built position of, on German invasion, 31;
investment secure in small States, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43;
in its relation to industry, 54-56;
position of Bank of England on German invasion, 56-58;
effect on bank rate of financial crisis in New York, 58-59;
effect of repudiation in South American States, 77-78;
why repudiation is unprofitable, 78-79;
cause of bank crisis in United States, 79;
Withers's appreciation of English bankers, 80;
Lavisse on Germany's financial crisis, 96;
the meaning of "the money of a nation," 172;
physical force replaced by economic pressure, 269;
economic and physical force in their relation to money, 273;
British methods of enforcing financial obligations in South
America, 303;
organization of capital, 318;
Bank of England helped by Bank of France, 318;
internationalization of, 318-319;
why a Western bank ceased to be robbed, 337-338;
_Spectator_ quoted on economic interdependence, 356-357.
_See also_ Wealth
Fisher, Admiral, 350
Fleet. _See_ Navy
Force: the diminishing factor of, 185, 263;
co-operation and the advantage of, 263;
justification of, by police, 264-265;
replaced by economic pressure, 269;
in its relation to slavery, 269-270;
the general domination of, 270-271;
Herbert Spencer quoted on limitation implied by physical, 271-272;
difference between economic and physical, 273-275
France: Max Wirth on her position ftper Franco-German War, 95;
Bismarck on, 97-98;
standard of comfort in, higher than in Germany, 101;
financial superiority of, 102;
colonial administration of the Meline regime, 121-124;
supposed benefit of "expansion" to, 139-143;
a more military nation than Germany, 225-226;
conscription in, 226;
physical results of Napoleonic wars in, 238;
cause of failure of expansion in Asia, 240;
stigmatized by _Times_ in Dreyfus case, 250-252;
Mr. Chamberlain on, 310;
position of the statesman in, 370
Franco-German War: position of France after, 95-99;
Bismarck on, 97-98;
alleged benefit of, to Germany, 99;
some difficulties resulting from, in Germany, 100-106;
no advantage gained by, to Germany, 252-253
Fried, A., 316-317
Friendship in international relations, 374;
general question of, 374-377
Froude, 311
Gaevernitz. _See_ Schulze-Gaevernitz
Germany: Mr. Harrison on effect of military predominance of, 6;
Dr. Schulze-Gaevernitz on German Navy, 6;
R. Blatchford on German attack, 18;
Admiral von Koster on overseas interest of, 20-21;
future demands of, with regard to Europe, 23;
aims of Pan-Germanists, 43-44;
the position of German citizen if Germany "owned" Holland, 44;
value of Alsace-Lorraine to, 45-49;
Withers quoted on commerce of, and English credit, 59;
false theory of annihilation of, explained, 69;
Lavisse on financial crisis in, 96;
economic effect of aforesaid crisis, 97-99;
progress of Socialism in, after war of 1870, 99;
emigration statistics in, 100;
financial position in regard to France, 102;
political evolution of, before the war, 102;
social difficulties in, resulting from Franco-German War, 103;
failure of war from point of view of annexation and indemnity, 104;
and the acquisition of Canada, 109-110;
the case of colonial conquest, 118-121;
if Germany had conducted the Boer War, 126-127;
trade of, with occupied territory, 132;
trade in Egypt, statistics of, 132;
benefits of "ownership," fallacy of, 133;
growth and expansion of, 140-143;
methods of colonial exploitation, 140-142;
protection of interests in Asia Minor, 147;
commercial supremacy of, in undeveloped territory, 147-148;
Sir H. Johnston on Germany's real object of conquest, 150;
burden of Alsace-Lorraine, 176;
R. Blatchford on policy of, 178;
R. Blatchford in defence of, 215;
"rage for luxury" in, 216;
reputed military character of, disproved on investigation, 217-218;
as type of a military nation, 225-226;
conscription in, 225-226;
wisdom of, in avoiding war, 226;
Kotze scandal in, 252;
no advantage gained by war of 1870, 252;
growth of social democratic movement in, 254;
_Berliner Tageblatt_ in praise of England as compared with, 255;
progress owing to regimentation, 255-256;
Mr. Harbutt Dawson on unified, 256-257;
false idea of British hostility to, 310;
cause of British hostility towards, 315;
R. Blatchford on warlike preparations of, to destroy Britain, 316;
Mr. Fried on heterogeneous nature of, 316-317;
_North German Gazette_ on strikes in,
and effects of co-operation, 319-320;
_Morning Post_ on German aggression, 331;
Mr. Churchill and German defence, 346;
_Spectator_ on position of, if attacked by Britain, 347;
Mr. Blatchford on reasons for attack by, 349;
Sir E.C. Cox on British policy with regard to, 351;
Anglo-German banquets, futility of, towards mutual
understanding, 375
Giffen, Sir Robert, on cost of Franco-German War, 88, 93, 94
Goltz, von der, 178-179
"Great Illusion, The," history of, 365-366
Grey, Sir Edward, 358
Grubb, Mr. Edward, 7
Hague Conferences, cause of failures of, 368
Hamburg, annexation of, by Britain and probable result, 61-62
Harrison, Mr. Frederic:
quoted on effect of Germany's predominance in military power, 6;
quoted on naval defence and effect of invasion by Germany, 26-27;
theories challenged, 28-33
Holland: economic security of, on invasion, 42-43;
the case of the Hollander if Germany "owned" Holland, 44;
greatness of, compared to Prussia, 255
Holy Sepulchre, fights between Infidels and Christians for, 206
Honour: Mr. Roosevelt on national, 202;
consideration of general question of, 202-204
Human nature: alleged unchangeability of, 198-200;
changes of manifestations in, 200, 201, 219, 220, 221, 361, 362-363
Hyndman, Mr. H.M., 308
Ideas, rationalization of, 367
Indemnity; Sir R. Giffen quoted on, from Franco-German War, 91;
cost of same considered in detail, 88-91;
practical difficulties of, 90-92;
doubtful advantage of, to conqueror, 100-104;
problems of, not sufficiently studied, 105
Individual, false analogy between nation and, 193, 297-301
Industrialism, cruelties of, 9, 10
Industry, relation of, to finance, 54-56
_L'Information_, 56
Intercommunication of States, 193-194
Interdependence: plea of, against war, 30-31;
theory of, explained, 34-35;
development of, 54-55;
evolution of, 76-77;
diminution of physical force owing to, 277-279;
the vital necessity of, 379
International politics, obsolete conception of,
Admiral Mahan on elements of, 170, 171, 172
Investment. _See_ Finance
James I. of Scotland, 208
James, Professor William, 165, 294
Japan, position of, as "owner" of Korea, 86
Johnston, Sir Harry H., 150
Kidd, Benjamin, 17, 18
Kingsley, Charles, 165
Kitchener, Lord, 200;
W.H. Steevens' description of, 282
Korea, position of Japan as "owner" of, 86
Koster, Admiral von, 20, 21
Kotze scandal, the, and "rottenness" of German civilization,
_Times_ on, 252
Kropotkin, Prince, 218
Labour: division of, explained from point of view of conquest, 53;
in the modern world, 66
Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 113
Lavisse, 96
Law of Acceleration. _See_ Acceleration, Law of
Law, natural, of man in relation to strife, 185
Lea, General Homer, 161, 212, 213, 234, 282
Lecky, 206, 210, 278, 377
Limborch, 208
Loti, Pierre, 242
Lucas, Sir C.P., 111
Machiavelli, 41
McDougal, Professor W., 308, 311
McKenzie, F.A., 75
Mahan, Admiral: quoted on international relations, 15, 16;
quoted in criticism of "The Great Illusion," 170;
quoted on elements of international politics, 171;
quoted on world-politics, 320
_Manchester Guardian_ and peace, 287-288
Mankind: biological development of, 186;
progress of, from barbarity to civilization, 199;
psychological change in, 217;
reasons for indisposition to fight in, 220;
process of civilization of, 219-221;
attitude of "average sensual man" towards peace, 371-372
Martin, T.G., 18
_Matin, Le_, 9, 10, 214
Maxse, Leo, 196, 219
Meline regime, the, in French Colonies, 121
Merchant adventurer, the case of, in sixteenth century, 108-109
Militarists, views of, on war, 178-179
Military force: when and where it may be necessary, 146;
not essential to national efficiency, 243
Military support of Colonies.
_See_ Colonies
Military training, its influence on peace, 218-219
Moltke, von, 163
Money. _See_ Finance
_Morning Post_, 304, 331
Mulhall on comparative standard of comfort in European countries, 36
Murray, Major, 41
Napoleonic wars, results of, 238
Nation, Nations:
falseness of analogy between individual and a, 193, 297-299;
honour of, 202;
why warlike, do not inherit the earth, 224;
warlike and unwarlike, 225, 227, 234;
Canada least warlike, 234;
power of a, not dependent on its army and navy, 240-241;
reason for decay of military, 247-248;
complexity of, 317-318;
_Spectator_ on economic theories of, 319
National efficiency, relation to military power, 244
Nationalism and the co-operation of States, 312-313
Navy, British: _Times_ on powers of, 17;
H.W. Wilson on necessity for powerful, 17;
Admiral Fisher on supremacy of, 350
Northmen methods, 200
Norway: the carrying trade of, 74;
no temptation to invade, Sir Wilfrid Laurier on, 113
Novikow, J., Darwinian theory of, 184
Owen, Mr. Douglas, 19
"Ownership." _See_ Possession
Pacifists: pleas of, 6, 7, 10-12;
case of, 168;
patriots and, 373
Pan-Germanists, aims of, 44
Patriots: Patriotism, national honour and, 204;
modification of aims of, owing to interdependence, 211;
General Lea on extinction of, in United States, 213;
the religion of politics, 362;
pacifists and, 373, 376
Peace: why propaganda has given small results, 10-12;
psychological case for, 168-169;
qualities necessary to preserve, 217;
occupations which tend towards, 218-219;
military training and, 219;
attitude of "average sensual man" towards, 371-372
Penfold, F. C, 87
Philippines, financial effect of loss of, to Spain, 241
Phillips, Captain March, 291
Pitcairn, 208
Police Force,
London, paradox of, applied in relation to conquest, 144, 145, 264
Politics, obsolete terminology of, 76
Portugal, cause of failure of expansion in Asia, 239-240
Possession: Sir J.R. Seeley on, 129;
fallacious theory considered from German point of view, 133-134
Printing: results of invention of, 277-279;
power of, 364
Prussia: cause of prosperity of, 246;
agitation for electoral reform in, 254
_Public Opinion_, 81-87
Pugnacity: irrational nature of, 187-189;
Professor William McDougal on, 308-309
_Referee_, 19
Regimentation, Germany's progress owing to, 255-256
Religion: early ideals of, 174-175;
Critchfield on influence
of Catholic priests in South American Republics, 175;
struggles of, and the State, 181-182, 205-206, 207;
beliefs no longer enforced by Government, 205;
Lecky on wars of, 206-211;
freedom of opinion in, 212;
reason of cessation of wars of, 307;
relation to politics of, 362-363
Renan, Ernest, 164-229
Repudiation. _See_ Finance
Revenue, State, what becomes of, 48
Rizzi, Francisco, 208
Robertson, John M., 249
Rohrbach, Dr. P., 136
Roman civilization: Mr. Roosevelt on, 223;
Sir J.R. Seeley on downfall and decay of, 237
Rome, Ancient: Sir J.R. Seeley on downfall and decay of, 237;
slave society of, 269;
contrast between, and Britain, 276
Roosevelt, Mr., 164, 201, 202, 222, 229, 231, 234, 262
Salisbury, Lord, 36
Samoa, the case of the Powers, 149
Sanderson, Lord, 324
Schulze-Gaevernitz, Prof. von, 6
Sea-Power, overseas trade, Benjamin Kidd on, 17-18.
_See also_ British Navy
Seeley, Sir J.R., 129, 237
Shaw, G.B., 250
Slavery, Slaves: society of, in Rome, 268;
its relation to physical force, 269-270
Socialism, progress of, in Germany after War of 1870, 99
Soetbeer, 98
Soldier: R. Blatchford on character of, 259-260;
Captain March Phillips on, 291-292;
_Spectator_ on, 264;
our debt to the, 293;
boyish appeal of the, 293-294;
the "poetic shelf" for the, 295
Spain: F.C. Penfold on progress of, since war, 87;
failure of expansion of, in Asia, 240-241;
Pierre Loti quoted in praise of troops, 242;
military virtues of, 242;
ruin of, by conquest, 246
Spanish American. _See_ America, South
_Spectator_, 156, 209, 210, 292, 333-337, 347, 356
Spencer, Herbert, 271-272
State, States: analogy between individuals in, 194-195;
division of, in relation to conflict, 196;
ancient and modern, character of, 296;
false analogy between, and a person, 298-301;
independent nature of, 300-301;
_Morning Post_ on the organism of, 304;
heterogeneous elements of, 306;
Professor McDougal on pugnacity of barbarous, 308-309;
definition of, 313;
reasons for lessening "role" of hostility among, 313-314;
position of citizen of small, if he became citizen of a
large, 321-322
States small: as prosperous as the Great Powers, 32, 40;
investments secure in, 36, 37, 41;
cause of prosperity of, 42-43
Statesmen: Major Murray on methods of, with regard to treaties, 41;
Leo Maxse on character of English, 196
Steevens, W.H., 282, 289, 290, 291
Steinmetz, S.R., 160
Stengel, Baron von, 20, 162, 229
Story, General John P., 162
Switzerland: the commercial power of, 75;
compared to Prussia, 255;
position of British subject in, if threatened by Britain, 302
_Temps, Le_, 122
Territorial independence, Farrer on, 42
_Times_, the, 17, 232, 250, 252, 319, 331
Trade: T.G. Martin on Britain's carrying, 18;
Admiral von Koster quoted on German overseas, 20-21;
impossible to capture, by military conquest, 30-33;
statistics of Britain's overseas, 120;
diminishing factor of physical force in, 275-276.
_See also_ Competition, Commerce, Industry
Transvaal:
treatment of British Indian in, before and after the war, 117-119;
gold-mines of, as motives for Boer War, 125-127;
national character of, still unchanged, 135
Treasury, Mr. D. Owen on what enriches, 19
Treaties, Major Stuart Murray on futility of, 41
Tribute, exaction of, an economic impossibility, 31
Tripoli, ineptitude of Italy in, 143
United States: Germans in, 133;
General Lea and _Daily Mail_ on national ideals in, 214
_United Service Magazine_, 18
Venezuela: warlike character of, 227;
Caivano on natives of, 230-231
Viking, the, our debt to, 293
_Volkstein_, 114
War: the case of, from militarist point of view, 6;
cost of Franco-German War, 88-91;
Bernhardi in defence of, 158;
S.R. Steinmetz on the nature of, 160;
General Homer Lee in defence of, 161-162;
General Storey in defence of, 162;
Baron von Stengel in defence of, 163;
Moltke in defence of, 163;
Roosevelt in defence of, 164-223;
Professor James in defence of, 165;
famous clergyman in defence of, 165-166;
defence of, summarized, 166-167;
the reason for, 177;
Von der Goltz on nature of, 178;
result of armed peace, 179;
justification of defender of, 182;
and the natural law of man, 185;
the irrational aspect of, 191;
_Spectator_ on means to an end, 209-210;
Procurator of Russian Holy Synod on, 210;
General Lea on its relation to commercial activities, 212;
Captain d'Arbeux on military deterioration, 214;
prominent advocates of, 216;
pleas of military authorities, 223;
General Homer Lea on military spirit, 223-224;
advocates of, criticized, 229-230;
the curse of, in South American Republics, 230;
the question of just and unjust, 235-236;
fundamental error of, 236;
real process of, 237;
Baron von Stengel's dictum, 238-239;
national deterioration owing to, 239;
effects of prolonged warfare, 245;
changed nature of, 267;
not now a physical but an intellectual pursuit, 281-282;
General Homer Lea on nature of modern battles, 282;
Bernhardi on tactics and "pomp of war," 285;
radical change in methods of, 284-285;
pleas of militarists analyzed, 286-287;
_Manchester Guardian_ on moral influence of, 287;
emotional appeal of, 288;
Mr. Churchill on, 346.
_See also_ Conquest
Wealth: _Referee_ on, in time of war, 19;
national, not dependent on its political power, 32;
policy of conqueror with regard to, 33-34;
the question of, in international politics, 36-39,
intangibility of, 64.
_See also_ Finance
Wilkinson, Professor, 29, 298-299
Wilson, H.W., 17
Wirth, Max, 95
Witchcraft: belief in, 341;
Lecky on, 377-378;
folly of, from modern point of view, 378
Withers, Hartley, 59
_World_, the, 116
* * * * *
_By the Same Author_
The Great Illusion
A Study of the Relation of Military Power in Nations to their
Economic and Social Advantages. 12mo. $1.00 _net_
Arms and Industry
A Study of the Foundations of International Polity
_In Preparation:_
The Citizen and Society
First Principles of their Relationship
* * * * *
"THE GREAT ILLUSION" AND PUBLIC OPINION
AMERICA
="New York Times," March 12, 1911.=
"A book which has compelled thought; a book full of real ideas
deserves the welcome it has received. The author is enjoying the
almost unlimited praise of his contemporaries, expressed or
indicated by many men of eminence and influence, by countless
reviewers who have lately hungered for a hero to worship.
"Moreover ... it certainly makes for genuine aesthetic pleasure, and
that is all most of us ask of a book."
="The Evening Post," Chicago (Mr. Floyd Dell), February 17, 1911.=
"The book, being read, does not simply satisfy curiosity; it
disturbs and amazes. It is not, as one would expect, a striking
expression of some familiar objections to war. It is instead--it
appears to be--a new contribution to thought, a revolutionary work
of the first importance, a complete shattering of conventional
ideas about international politics; something corresponding to the
epoch-making 'Origin of Species' in the realm of biology.
"All of this it appears to be. One says 'appears,' not because the
book fails completely to convince, but because it convinces so
fully. The paradox is so perfect there must be something wrong
about it!...
"At first glance the statement which forms the basis of the book
looks rather absurd, but before it is finished it seems a
self-evident proposition. It is certainly a proposition which, if
proved, will provide a materialistic common-sense basis for
disarmament....
"There is subject-matter here for ironic contemplation. Mr. Angell
gives the reader no chance to imagine that these things 'just
happened.' He shows why they happened and had to happen....
"One returns again and again to the arguments, looking to find some
fallacy in them. Not finding them, one stares wonderingly ahead
into the future, where the book seems to cast its portentous
shadow."
="Boston Herald," January 21, 1911.=
"This is an epoch-making book, which should be in the hands of
everyone who has even the slightest interest in human progress....
His criticism is not only masterly--it is overwhelming; for though
controversy will arise on some of the details, the main argument is
irrefutable. He has worked it out with a grasp of the evidence and
a relentlessness of logic that will give life and meaning to his
book for many a year to come."
="Life" (New York).=
"An inquiry into the nature and history of the forces that have
shaped and are shaping our social development that throws more
light upon the meaning and the probable outcome of the so-called
'war upon war' than all that has been written and published upon
both sides put together. The incontrovertible service that Mr.
Angell has rendered us in 'The Great Illusion' is to have
introduced intellectual order into an emotional chaos."
GREAT BRITAIN.
="Daily Mail."=
"No book has attracted wider attention or has done more to
stimulate thought in the present century than 'The Great Illusion.'
Published obscurely, and the work of an unknown writer, it
gradually forced its way to the front.... Has become a significant
factor in the present discussion of armaments and arbitration."
="Nation."=
"No piece of political thinking has in recent years more stirred
the world which controls the movement of politics.... A fervour, a
simplicity, and a force which no political writer of our generation
has equalled ... rank its author, with Cobden, among the greatest
of our pamphleteers, perhaps the greatest since Swift."
="Edinburgh Review."=
"Mr. Angell's main thesis cannot be disputed, and when the facts
... are fully realized, there will be another diplomatic revolution
more fundamental than that of 1756."
="Daily News."=
"So simple were the questions he asked, so unshakable the facts of
his reply, so enormous and dangerous the popular illusion which he
exposed, that the book not only caused a sensation in reading
circles, but also, as we know, greatly moved certain persons
high-placed in the political world.
"The critics have failed to find a serious flaw in Norman Angell's
logical, coherent, masterly analysis."
=Sir Frank Lascelles (formerly British Ambassador at Berlin) in
Speech at Glasgow, January 29, 1912.=
"While I was staying with the late King, his Majesty referred me to
a book which had then been published by Norman Angell, entitled
'The Great Illusion.' I read the book, and while I think that at
present it is not a question of practical politics, I am convinced
that it will change the thought of the world in the future."
=R.A. Scott James in "The Influence of the Press."=
"Norman Angel in recent years has done more probably than any other
European to frustrate war, to prove that it is unprofitable. He was
probably the guiding spirit behind the diplomacy which checked the
Great Powers from rushing into the Balkan conflict."
=J.W. Graham, M.A., in "Evolution and Empire."=
"Norman Angell has placed the world in his debt and initiated a new
epoch of thought.... It is doubtful whether since the 'Origin of
Species' so many bubbles have been burst, and so definitely plain a
step in thought been made, by any single book."
=Mr. Harold Begbie in the "Daily Chronicle."=
"A new idea is suddenly thrust upon the minds of men.... It is
hardly an exaggeration to say that this book does more to fill the
mind with the intolerable weight of war, to convince the reasonable
mind ... than all the moral and eloquent appeals of Tolstoy.... The
wisest piece of writing on the side of peace extant in the world
to-day."
="Birmingham Post."=
"'The Great Illusion,' by sheer force, originality, and
indisputable logic, has won its way steadily forward, and made its
author a person to be quoted by statesmen and diplomatists not only
in England, but in France, Germany, and America."
="Glasgow News."=
"If only for the daring with which Mr. Angell's extraordinary book
declares that the accepted ideas are so much moonshine, it would be
a work to attract attention. When we add that Mr. Angell makes out
a decidedly brilliant and arresting case for his contention, we
have said sufficient to indicate that it is worth perusal by the
most serious type of reader."
BRITISH COLONIAL OPINION.
=W.M. Hughes, Acting Premier of Australia, in a letter to the
"Sydney Telegraph."=
"It is a great book, a glorious book to read. It is a book pregnant
with the brightest promise to the future of civilized man.
Peace--not the timid, shrinking figure of The Hague, cowering under
the sinister shadow of six million bayonets--appears at length as
an ideal possible of realization in our own time."
=Sir George Reid, Australian High Commissioner in London (Sphinx
Club Banquet, May 5, 1911).=
"I regard the author of this book as having rendered one of the
greatest services ever rendered by the writer of a book to the
human race. Well, I will be very cautious indeed--one of the
greatest services which any author has rendered during the past
hundred years."
FRANCE AND BELGIUM.
=M. Anatole France in "The English Review," August, 1913.=
"One cannot weigh too deeply the reflections of this ably reasoned
work."
="La Petite Republique" (M. Henri Turot), 17 Decembre, 1910.=
"J'estime, pour ma part, 'La Grande Illusion' doit avoir, au point
de vue de la conception moderne de l'economie politique
internationale, un retentissement egal a celui qu'eut, en matiere
biologique, la publication, par Darwin, de 'l'Origine des especes.'
"C'est que M. Norman Angell joint a l'originalite de la pensee le
courage de toutes les franchises, qu'il unit a une prodigieuse
erudition la lucidite d'esprit et la methode qui font jaillir la
loi scientifique de l'ensemble des evenements observes."
="Revue Bleu," Mai, 1911.=
"Fortement etayees, ses propositions emanent d'un esprit
singulierement realiste, egalement informe et clairvoyant, qui met
une connaissance des affaires et une dialectique concise au service
d'une conviction, aussi passionnee que genereuse."
=M. Jean Jaures, during debate in French Chamber of Deputies,
January 13, 1911; see Journal Officiel, 14 Janvier, 1911.=
"Il a paru, il y a peu de temps, un livre anglais de M. Norman
Angell, 'La Grande Illusion,' qui a produit un grand effet en
Angleterre. Dans les quelques jours que j'ai passes de l'autre cote
du detroit, j'ai vu, dans les reunions populaires, toutes les fois
qu'il etait fait mention de ce livre, les applaudissements
eclater."
GERMANY AND AUSTRIA.
="Koelnische Zeitung."=
"Never before has the peace question been dealt with by so bold,
novel, and clear a method; never before has the financial
interdependence of nations been shown with such precision.... It is
refreshing to have demonstrated in this unsentimental, practical
way the fact that as our financial interdependence increases war as
a business venture necessarily becomes more and more unprofitable."
="Der Turmer" (Stuttgart).=
"This demonstration should clear the air like a thunderstorm.... It
is not because the book brilliantly expresses what are in many
respects our own views that we urge its importance, but because of
its unanswerable demonstration of the futility of military power in
the economic field."
="Koenigsberger Allgemeine Zeitung."=
"This book proves absolutely that conquest as a means of material
gain has become an impossibility.... The author shows that the
factors of the whole problem have been profoundly modified within
the past forty years."
="Ethische Kultur" (Berlin).=
"Never has militarism been combated by economic weapons with the
skill shown by Norman Angell.... So broad and comprehensive a grasp
of the moral as well as the economic force, that the book is a real
pleasure to read.... The time was ripe for a man with this keenness
of vision to come forward and prove in this flawless way that
military power has nothing to do with national prosperity."
=Professor Karl von Bar, the authority on International and
Criminal Law, Privy Councillor, etc.=
"Particularly do I agree with the author in these two points: (1)
That in the present condition of organized society the attempt of
one nation to destroy the commerce or industry of another must
damage the victor more perhaps than the vanquished; and (2) that
physical force is a constantly diminishing factor in human affairs.
The rising generation seems to be realizing this more and more."
=Dr. Friedrich Curtius.=
"The book will, I hope, convince everyone that in our time the
attempt to settle industrial and commercial conflicts by arms is an
absurdity.... I doubt, indeed, whether educated folks in Germany
entertain this 'illusion' ... or the idea that colonies or wealth
can be 'captured.' ... A war dictated by a moral idea, the only one
we can justify, is inconceivable as between England and Germany."
=Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald, who has occupied chairs in several German
Universities, as well as at Harvard and Columbia.=
"From the first line to the last 'The Great Illusion' expresses my
own opinions."
=Dr. Sommer, Member of the Reichstag.=
"A most timely work, and one which everyone, be he statesman or
political economist, should study ... especially if he desires to
understand a peace ideal which is practical and realizable....
Without agreeing on all points, I admit gladly the force and
suggestiveness of the thesis.... We on our side should make it our
business, as you should on yours, to render it operative, to use
the means, heretofore unrealized, of joint work for civilization.
In rendering possible such joint work, Norman Angell's book must
take a foremost place."
=Dr. Max Nordau.=
"If the destiny of people were settled by reason and interest, the
influence of such a book would be decisive.... The book will
convince the far-seeing minority, who will spread the truth, and
thus slowly conquer the world."
=Dr. Albert Suedekum, Member of the Reichstag, author of several
works on municipal government, editor of Municipal Year-Books, etc.=
"I consider the book an invaluable contribution to the better
understanding of the real basis of international peace."
=Dr. Otto Mugdan, Member of the Reichstag, Member of the National
Loan Commission, Chairman of the Audit Commission, etc.=
"The demonstration of the financial interdependence of modern
civilized nations, and the economic futility of conquest, could not
be made more irrefutably."
=Professor A. von Harder.=
"I agree that it is a mistake to wait for action as between
governments; far better, as Jaures proved the other day in the
French Chamber, for the peoples to co-operate.... The book should
be widely circulated in Germany, where so many are still of opinion
that heavy armaments are an absolute necessity for self-defence."
FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC AUTHORITIES.
="American Journal of Political Economy."=
"The best treatise yet written on the economic aspect of war."
="American Political Science Review."=
"It may be doubted whether within its entire range the peace
literature of the Anglo-Saxon world has ever produced a more
fascinating or significant study."
="Economist" (London).=
"Nothing has ever been put in the same space so well calculated to
set plain men thinking usefully on the subject of expenditure on
armaments, scare and war.... The result of the publication of this
book has been within the past month or two quite a number of rather
unlikely conversions to the cause of retrenchment."
="Investors' Review" (London), November 12, 1910.=
"No book we have read for years has so interested and delighted
us.... He proceeds to argue, and to prove, that conquests do not
enrich the conqueror under modern conditions of life.... The style
in which the book is written--sincere, transparent, simple, and now
and then charged with fine touches of ironic humour--make it very
easy to read."
="Economic Review" (London).=
"Civilization will some day acknowledge a deep debt of gratitude to
Mr. Norman Angell for the bold and searching criticism of the
fundamental assumptions of modern diplomacy contained in his
remarkable book.... He has laid his fingers upon some very vital
facts, to which even educated opinion has hitherto been blind."
="Journal des Economistes."=
"Son livre sera beaucoup lu, car il est aussi agreable que profond,
et il donnera beaucoup a reflechir."
="Export" (Organ des Centralvereins fuer Handelsgeographie).=
"By reason of its statement of the case against war in terms of
practical politics and commercial advantage (=Real-und
Handelspolitikers=), the keenness and the mercilessness of the
logic by which the author explodes the errors and the illusions of
the war phantasists ... the sense of reality, the force with which
he settles accounts point by point with the militarists, this book
stands alone. It is unique."
="The Western Mail."=
"A novel, bold, and startling theory."
MILITARY OPINION.
="Army and Navy Journal" (N.Y.), October 5, 1910.=
"If all anti-militarists could argue for their cause with the
candour and fairness of Norman Angell we should welcome them, not
with 'bloody hands to hospitable graves,' but to a warm and cheery
intellectual comradeship. Mr. Angell has packed away in his book
more common sense than peace societies have given birth to in all
the years of their existence...."
="United Service Magazine" (London), May, 1911.=
"It is an extraordinarily clearly written treatise upon an
absorbingly interesting subject, and it is one which no thinking
soldier should neglect to study.... Mr. Angell's book is much to be
commended in this respect. It contains none of the nauseating
sentiment which is normally parasitic to 'peace' literature. The
author is evidently careful to take things exactly as he conceives
them to be, and to work out his conclusions without 'cleverness'
and unobscured by technical language. His method is to state the
case for the defence (of present-day 'militarist' statecraft), to
the best of his ability in one chapter, calling the best witnesses
he can find and putting their views from every standpoint so
clearly that even one who was beforehand quite ignorant of the
subject cannot fail to understand. Mr. Angell's book is one which
all citizens would do well to read, and read right through. It has
the clearness of vision and the sparkling conciseness which one
associates with Swift at his best."
="The Army Service Corps Quarterly" (Aldershot, England), April,
1911.=
"The ideas are so original and clever, and in places are argued
with so much force and common sense, that they cannot be pushed
aside at once as preposterous.... There is food here for profound
study.... Above all, we should encourage the sale of 'The Great
Illusion' abroad, among nations likely to attack us, as much as
possible."
="War Office Times" (London).=
"Should be read by everyone who desires to comprehend both the
strength and the weakness of this country."
* * * * *
Transcriber's notes:
Punctuation has been normalized.
On page 33 "be yond" changed to "beyond."
"... beyond saving the Mother Country...."
On page 72 "such and-such" changed to "such-and-such."
On page 190 "reationship" changed to "relationship."
"... on basis of mutual profit the only relationship...."
On page 202 "porportion" changed to "proportion."
"Our sense of proportion in these matters...."
On page 241 "real ze" changed to "realize."
"... by the fact that she failed to realize this truth...."
On page 267 "anchronism" changed to "anachronism."
"... it is an anachronism; it finds its justification in...."
On page 317 "indentification" changed to "identification."
"... identification between a people and the acts...."
On page 340 "orginally" changed to "originally."
"... our relative positions is just what it was originally...."
On page 359 "fanticism" changed to "fanaticism."
"... Mohammedan fanaticism, Chinese Boxerism...."