" Now I think we ought to celebrate the victory for
peace by holding an Anglo-French Exhibition in 1906.
Such an exhibition would mean the burying of the
hatchet for all time. Congresses could be held in a
model of Mr, Andrew Carnegie's proposed Palace of
Peace. The Channel Tunnel could be symbolised.
The Exhibition would draw thousands of Frenchmen to
London, None of the objections usually raised in this
country to international exhibitions would apply in
this case, because France and England are not industrial
competitors, or scarcely so,"
International exhibitions are certainly appropriate to
the celebration of victories of peace, seeing that they draw
together different races under circumstances favourable to
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. 1 35
that mutual good understanding which is the basis of trust
and friendhness.
Mr. Robinson, chairman of the Manchester AuxiHary of
the Peace Society, avers that " the most powerful agency in
the cause of Peace is the International Socialist Movement,"
but many of my readers will agree with Count von Biilow,
who charges the German sociahsts with disturbing inter-
national relations and being unacquainted with the ways
of true Hberty.
International Conferences, moreover, apart from any
good results achieved by their deliberations, help to lay the
foundations of international solidarity.
Such an assemblage of representatives of twenty-six
nationahties as met as the Hague in 1899 must have done
some incidental good merely by making so many men of
different races known or better known to one another. In
the New England Magazine Mr. R. L. Bridgman contends
that if the Conference at the Hague had failed to accomplish
any direct purpose whatever, it would nevertheless have
been a success, because the inspiration of the Conference,
both in regard to the giving of the invitation by the Tsar of
Russia and its acceptance on the part of the participating
nations, was a progressive step in the self-consciousness of
mankind to a higher realm of truth, to a better idea of
humanity, to a closer bond of sympathy and to a more
imperative form of duty. This self-consciousness, too, is on a
higher plane to-day than it was before the Conference at the
Hague was held. As it is, the agreement arrived at has been
cemented, to quote the closing word of Count Mouravieff's
invitatory despatch, " by a corporate consecration of the
principles of equity and right, on which rest the security of
States and the welfare of peoples." This year a Conference
with narrower aims, namely, to discuss lead poisoning
and the employment of women at night is to meet at
Berne. May it too prove to be a step in the right
direction ! Mucli good both direct and indirect may be
expected from the future Conferences of the Inter-
Parliamentary Union.
136 SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE.
International sports and games and races may be frivolous,
but by inducing friendly rivalry and comradeship between the
representatives of the nations concerned they help to remove
racial prejudices and antipathies.
The influence of women of refinement and good education,
which is becoming a progressively important factor in modern
Ufe, will almost invariably be exercised in favour of peace.
The civihsed world can and will grow more feminine in morals
without any danger of man becoming effeminate. In this
context a Central News telegram, dated April 7th, 1905, is
noteworthy : —
The Gaulois this morning publishes a remarkable
article by a representative of the paper, who states
that yesterday he had the honour of being received by
Queen Alexandra. The writer says her Majesty refused
to speak on political matters, and goes on to give the
following report of the Queen's conversation: — 'Queens,'
said her Majesty, ' must do all in their power to prepare
their children for the exalted positions which they will
be called upon to occupy. It should be their task,
however difficult it may seem, to comfort the afflicted
and unhappy. That is the best and sweetest part
they can play, and, for myself, I have no wish to play
any other in the troublous times in which we are living.
It is impossible not to be affected by the dissatisfaction
of the masses, which is in many ways natural enough.
Beheve me, if the social problem ever can be solved, it
will be by reason of the goodness of women, by mutual
love, and a common reverence for the rights of justice
and charity. Your talk, as men, is of war ; but we
women speak always of peace — peace in every nation,
peace between all nations. I was educated in the school
of a King who was before all things just, and I have
tried, hke him, always to preach love and charity. I
have always mistrusted the warlike preparations of
which the nations seem never to tire. Some day this
accumulated material of soldiers and guns will burst
into flames in a frightful war, that will throw humanity
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. 1 37
into mourning on earth, and grieve our Universal Father
in Heaven."
Some persons may be sceptical as to her Gracious Majesty
being responsible for all these sentiments and expressions,
since interviewers are occasionally credited with having
lively imaginations ; but the article is valuable and impressive,
even if only taken as an estimate of what Queen Alexandra
might be expected to beheve and utter. " Se non e vero c ben
trovato."
Writers whose works are read abroad in the original
language or in translation, and authors of books about travels
or on foreign countries or of novels who depict foreigners
appreciatively, bring us nearer to the distant goal of universal
brotherhood. Count Tolstoi has done more for the cause
of peace by his characterisation of his fellow countrymen
in his novels than by his sermons on the doctrines of non-
resistance. The common fund of literary treasures and
scientific discoveries to which so many nations contribute,
by its gradual accumulation, must eventually develop a
firm bond of sympathy and mutual esteem.
Every advance towards constitutional government which
is made in countries which do not yet enjoy the freedom
assured by representative institutions increases the chance
of permanent peace being preserved. In Russia intellectual
progress, which is bound to affect its political conditions, is
indicated by the demand and supply of literature having
been more than trebled between 1887 and 1901.
CHAPTER X.
WHAT MAKES FOR WAR.
Primitive man was eminently practical, owing both to
lack of education and to constraint of circumstances. His
superstitions were practical in intention, and his one ideal,
pre-eminence as a warrior, was also practical in origin ; though
no doubt successful fighters developed and taught the love
of fighting for its own sake, having evolved a besetting passion
out of the transitory fury and lust of battle. With him war
was a business as well as a profession.
As civilisation sprang up and grew towards semi-maturity,
the primary motives of many wars were unpractical ideals
— national, dynastic, rehgious, and civic.
At the present day unpractical ideals have become
unpopular, though the ideals of political primacy or universal
empire linger in the dreams of autocrats, the traditions of
bureaus, and the bluster of military enthusiasts. Humane
Conventions have reduced the spoils of war to war material
and slices of territory, against which the increased cost of
war is a serious set off. States with Constitutional Govern-
ments have now little temptation to begin a quarrel, unless
it be about expansion of trade or the acquisition of room
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. 139
for surplus population and trade depots in the territories
of savages or degenerate races. Differences arising out of
the conflict of such interests ought to be capable of easy
settlement by diplomacy or arbitration, unless a military
caste swayed towards war by hereditary instincts and personal
interests have sufficient influence to override the common-
sense of the nation. Fortunately, this malefic influence
gets weaker with the spread and growth of popular enlighten-
ment ; but in States where the Government is autocratic,
and the masses are unintelligent and uneducated, it remains
a very grave menace against peace. It is ever ready to
ignite the flames of war for the sake of unpractical ideals.
The Montreal Witness, October 3, 1904, supports this
statement : —
" The younger Tolstoi's opinions on great matters
of State, and his belief that Russia is the power destined
to conquer the world, are .... deserving of
notice, however, as an expression of the spirit of
Pan-Slavism, a spirit whose pervasive power has
conquered in him the powerful influence of his father.
The party which governs Russia, and is too strongly
entrenched to be removed except by revolution and a
complete change from the autocratic system, is imbued
with the idea to which young Tolstoi has given utterance.
It is precisely the same as that which animated the
Spanish monarchy when Philip II. imagined he had a
divine mission to destroy heresy and bring all the world
under the domain of Spain and the Church of Rome.
The Pan-Slavist dream of world conquest is to make
Russia supreme among the nations and the Greek Church
the one religion for all mankind. Wildly extravagant
as this dream appears to outsiders, it is both naturaL
and just from a Russian point of view. Government
by infallible constituted authority, administered through
a class of officials born, educated and trained for the
task, is the Pan-Slavist idea ; and why should divine
right end with the i)rcsent boundaries of Russia ? It
contemplates keeping the masses in a j^roper state of
140 SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE.
subjection. Free institutions, parliamentary control,
'.â– .â– â– â– popular education, a free press, religious toleration,
universal franchise, everything, in fact, which Western
nations prize as bulwarks of liberty, enlightenment and
progress, the Pan-Slavist condemns as rank political
and religious heresy little better than outright anarchy.
Any one who dares to advocate these principles in Russia
is liable to be regarded as an anarchist."
The father of this " young Tolstoi," the great preacher
of non-resistance, unintentionally fosters in others the spirit
of militarism, since the recoil from his extravagances carries
some men who might be practical round to the opposite pole
of extravagance. His remarkable letter to the Times of
June 27, 1904, denouncing war, worked up the Spectator into
a frenzy of war-fever. " When ideals become faint war may
cease, but while they are living creeds to their followers war
is inevitable To deny its value is to cast a
doubt upon the highest instinct of our mortal nature."
" The truth is that this denunciation of war rests
at bottom upon a gross materialism. The horrors of
war are obvious enough, but it may reasonably be argued
that they are not greater than the horrors of peace.
There can be no sacrifice without a price, no spiritual
conflict without material suffering. To see only the
horrors, and to see in them the be-all and end-all of
warfare, is to be guilty of that singular blindness, le
vnlgaire des sages, which is possible only to the morbidly
intelligent. Pain, on this theory, is the one great evil ;
to avoid pain any sacrifice of honour, self-respect, and
wholesome ambition is justifiable. It is a repulsive
doctrine when set down explicitly in words, but it
underlies much of the so-called ' humanity ' of the
apostles of peace. Is our self-examination to result in
the confession, ' There is nothing in the world worth
the deaths of our fellowmen and the tears of women and
orphans ' ? The ordinary conscience is, happily, above
such a creed. While the world remains what it is,
nothing of value can come into being without a struggle,
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. I4I
and war is the colossal form of this dire necessity. Limit
the chances of strife as much as we may, and mitigate
its atrocities, we must face its ultimate certainty ; and
the true way in which to ennoble war is not to declare
it in all its forms the work of the devil, but to emphasise
the spiritual and idealist element which its contains.
It is a kind of national sacrament, a grave matter into
which no one can enter lightly, and for which all are
responsible, more especially in these days when wars
are not the creation of princes and statesmen, but of
peoples. War, on such a view, can only be banished
from the world by debasing human nature ; for war
implies seriousness, and if the human race is only made
frivolous enough, the Saturnian era will no doubt begin."
War for ideals would cease if the ideals of different nations
should become compatible. Religion is not faint or dead
because most nations have ceased to fight about it. To
say that " wars are not the creation of princes and statesmen
but of peoples " is inaccurate. This pessimistic laudation
of war confuses manliness with brute courage or ferocity,
and the possession of one or the other with their display in
actual combat. Socialists and advocates of peace-at-any-
price then do great harm to the cause of peace by inciting
opponents to suggest to the indifferent that war is inevitable,
or even that its recurrence and imminence are necessary
conditions for the maintenance of the highest spiritual life
among men. Such asseverations encourage a fatalistic
apathy with respect to the possibility of establishing general
peace permanently. Mr. Olney's protest against the American
war spirit, and the sessions of the Boston Peace Congress,
drew the following comment from a correspondent of the
Evening Standard, October 11, 1904 : —
" The Sun recalls Mr. Olney's authorship of President
Cleveland's Venezuela Message, and sul>sequent writings
of his as strenuous as any of Mr. Roosevelt's. There
was no lack of plain speaking in a similar vein at the
Fest-Kommers given to the German delegates to the
Peace Congress, and at the scientific gatherings in
)/
142 SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE.
connection with the St. Louis Exposition. Professors
Harnack, Quidde, and Lamprecht were among those
who cast ridicule on the Boston Peace Congress, the
members of which were styled ' fools and dreamers,'
who expected to accomplish in decades what at best
would take centuries, and devote themselves to such
futilities as nulhfying nations and nationahties, ignoring
both history and human nature, and striving to achieve
impossible things, which would do no good even if they
could be achieved. The Peace Congress has, in short,
adjourned without any such sympathetic discussion of
their sessions as greeted their assembling."
Another provocative of war is passive endurance of
contempt of treaties and engagements. The terrible state of
affairs in the Congo Free State has been allowed to go on far
too long.
The gravity of the situation was indicated in the West
African Mail, October 7, 1904 :—
" The Leopold regime in the Congo Free State takes
the ground away from under all liberty— Hberty of labour
and liberty of commerce. The friends of King Leopold,
those who profit by his system, are hoping against hope
that the President will not see his way to say anything
about anything so far away ; those who put Right before
Profit are as sincerely hoping he will. Turning to the
Blue Book quoted in our columns, it will be seen that
the United States, of all, is the best Power to raise the
questions which will have to be raised in this matter.
It was the representative of the United States who
suggested to the Conference at Berlin in 1884 that
the Administration of the Congo territories should be
entrusted to King Leopold's International Association,
so it is the President of the United States who can now
most fitly ask for an account of the stewardship. Liberty
of labour and hberty of commerce, these are lost to the
unhappy mortals who were born, or who were trading
on the Congo ; these lost, there is nothing more.
All the evils of the Congo come under these two
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. I43
heads ; all the countless horrors about which the
battle rages in a confused melee, all the unspeakable
abominations."
Dangerous to International tranquilhty is the idea that
long perseverance on the part of a State in some selfish desire
or ambition gives a sort of divine sanction to the traditional
pohcy. An instance of this illusion is furnished by the official
Russian reply to Count Tolstoi's letter to the Times quoted
in the Daily Chronicle, July 12, 1904 : —
" Henceforth no one who acknowledges the importance
to mankind of national organisation and the utility of
social activity based on historical succession will let
himself be influenced by a gospel which finally leads to
obhvion of one's duty to one's country. Only the
rejection of all history and successive development could
have led Tolstoi to declare that the Russo-Japanese
war has been called forth by the annexation of land and
of concessions in Korea ; the war of Japan with China,
which was the jn-elude to the present conflict, shows
that what Hes at the bottom of the Russo-Japanese
contest is Russia's historic gravitation towards the
Pacific and, more immediately, the construction of the
great Siberian railway.
" The educated classes of Russian society are so far
advanced on the path of national consciousness that
they will resist this attempt of the foes of Russia to
weaken her spiritually, to start the process of disinte-
gration in her from the head, by acting on the heart,
the mind, and the will.
" This, from the Russian point of view, is the judgment
to be passed on this latest production of Tolstoi's,
published in the Times : that Tolstoi's ' truth ' really
amounts to the fact that he, a preacher of Nihilism,
remains without cHsciples among the Russian educated
classes. This attempt to attract them will, it is to be
hoped, be made in vain."
Russia has had no more right to the West Coast of the
Pacific than liad llic United States.
144 SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE.
Complications are sure to arise from Neutral Powers
who act as mediators at the end of a war charging heavy
commission on the settlement. The Daily News,
November 28, 1904, writes with reference to the Chinese
representative at the Hague Conference : —
" Yang Yu's other comment took the form of a
suggestion, when the articles on Mediation were being
explained to him, that the mediating Power ' should
not charge too high a price for its services in the
cause of humanity.'
" To appreciate the full flavour of that remark one
should call to mind the substantial gains in harbours
and territory secured by the Western Powers as the price
of mediation at the end of the war between China and
Japan. The point, needless to say, was at once taken
by the delegates of the European Governments present
at the discussion."
One of the main causes of the Russo-Japanese war was
non-fulfilment of engagements on Russia's part. The Dar-
danelles question ought to be finally settled by arbitration,
as, while left to the tortuous diplomacy of Russia and Turkey,
it is always likely to lead to a crisis.
The shiftiness and opportunism of such Continental
diplomacy as is under Court influence, being swayed often
by intrigue and caprice, is inimical to peace, for which the
best guarantees are mutual frankness and mutual confidence.
Whether the belief be justified or not, it is an article of popular
faith that Prince Bismarck used to deceive the shrewdest
diplomats of Europe by the simple expedient of telling the
truth.
Certain vessels, half smugglers, half pirates, ought to be
watched by the State or States whom they honour by flying
the flag.
It has been suggested that frontier wars and punitive
expeditions would be less frequent if the custom of decorating
"pro-consuls " who carry them through without mishap ceased.
The increase of armaments naturally intensifies the danger
of collision by engendering self-confidence and suspicion of
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. I45
foreign States. But if any one Power were allowed by the
rest to lay foundations for excessive self-confidence this
danger would become more serious than ever.
The unconditional exclusion of Chinese and Japanese
from " white " territories, and the engagement of Chinese
labourers on terms which turn out unsatisfactory to them
may prove sources of trouble. As " whites " obtained
admission into China by force of arms it would be difficult
to justify refusal to admit Chinese labourers into " white "
States. If might disregards right in pursuance of a selfish
policy, trouble is sure to follow eventually.
Statements that the " Capitahst Press " endeavours to
promote warlike policy, that the Times caused this and that
war, and that the " Yellow Press " is hounding the Govern-
ment on to fight, should not be taken very seriously. In
the Introductory Chapter the opinion is expressed that our
Press on the whole is now and is likely to be in favour of
general peace.
The bad effect of foreign war loans has been noticed in
Chapter III. The human qualities which make for war
are unrighteousness, greed, pride, racial hatred, ungoverned
anger, suspiciousness — any quality, in short, which is not
one of the fruits of the Spirit.
CHAPTER XL
GREAT BRITAIN AND PEACE.
The United Kingdom has not engaged single-handed
in war with any European Power for more than a century,
and it is nearly half a century since she took part in a European
war. In the matter of Arbitration she has taken a decided
lead, and has persevered in spite of considerable sacrifices
entailed by awards she has pledged herself to respect. In
spite of a few mistakes — and it is wonderful that they were
not ten times more numerous — her policy has on the whole
tended towards the maintenance of general peace. Her
latest and greatest sacrifice to the earnest desire for peace
in the matter of the Dogger Bank outrage has been rewarded
by the satisfaction of opening a new field for Arbitration
and achieving for herself a peaceful victory, for which gratitude
is due to the good offices of France. This epoch-making
triumph of conciliatory policy has been cordially acknowledged
by other States : —
" The difficulty probably would never have been
settled by direct negotiation. Mr. Balfour and the
Tsar have taken no short-sighted view, and the reference
to arbitration is of the highest historical importance,
SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE. I47
extending arbitration to a class of cases generally supposed
to be too delicate to admit of such disposition." — Evening
Post, New York.
" We welcome the solution of the Anglo-Russian
crisis with unfeigned pleasure. The idea of resorting
to arbitration, whereby a menace has been removed from
both countries and from the whole world, is especially
satisfactory." — Zeitimg, Cologne.
" To find a peaceful solution the question had to
be brought on to a judicial basis. The inquiry will be
Hke a court-martial, before which Admiral Rodjest-
vensky will have to defend himself." — Giornale, Rome.
" England did not carry to extremes either the
sense of her strength or her consciousness of being
interpreter and guardian of the interests of all neutrals.
England has acquired fresh claims to be considered
the national champion of justice and humanity." —
Tribuna, Rome.
" The British Government, including the King,
deserves the prime credit for blending firmness with
tact and conciliation." — Tribune, New York.
Mr. Cremer recently said : —
" The part which his Majesty had borne in the
conclusion of recent treaties of arbitration would perhaps
never be wholly known. He knew more than he dared
utter that night. Therefore, he hoped they would
accept his assurance that King Edward the Peacemaker
was entitled to the thanks of every man and woman,
not only in this country, but throughout the civihsed
world, for the extraordinary part which he had played
in promoting so many treaties of arbitration between
the nations of Europe, particularly between Great
Britain and France. Speaking of what had been accom-
plished in the way of arbitration, Mr. Cremer said the
Hague tribunal had come to stay. But for its existence
the chances were that the dispute which arose between
Russia and ourselves over the Dogger Bank affair would
not have been settled by the agency which was appointed
L 2
148 SAFEGUARDS FOR PEACE.
to settle it, and would have assumed more dangerous and
acute proportions than it did. The very fact that they
had machinery already at hand was one of the reasons
why there was no waste of time, and that in forty-