It would be all too easy to fly off into an attitude of
anti-imperialism, and say with the Communists, “These Imperialisms
are evil things; let us destroy them.” But they are not inherently
evil things. To destroy Imperial systems with nothing to replace them
is simply to leap backward because one is not going forward fast
enough. The British Empire is not a thing to destroy; it is a thing to
rescue. But the time for rescue is now--and the need is urgent. It has
to be rescued from the arrogant flag-worshipping class and from the
tariff-monopoly adventurers who at present are in control. It has to be
saved from its “patriots” and its “patriot” Government. We have seen
the great civilized States of Central Europe humiliated and brought to
disaster by just that same combination of exasperating militarism with
industrial nationalism that now imperils Great Britain. Are we in our
turn to tread that path? We want the Empire of the open hand. We want
an Empire which is not an end but a means.
_18 September, 1927._