idea of war good." Chapter VIII to the ideas of the "barrack-trained" pseudophilosoNegation of phers, especially in Germany, who have attempted as a "positive to regard war as a "positive good," a "necessary element in the Divine Government of the world," in a sense different from pestilence, famine, or evil in general. Argument seems wasted upon adherents of this view. It may, however, be said that he who draws a theoretical distinction in favor of the horrors of war as compared with other inevitable evils afflicting mankind, scarcely occupies a higher point of view than those cannibals who measure the extent of the blessings expected from their idol by the number of victims offered at its shrine. The federa tion of the world for justice. The federation of the world,- for justice and for every universal civilized interest, that is the idea which found its best, if not its first, illustration in the Peace Conference. The latter exemplified something akin to federal coöperation, on the part of the Powers having a disparity of size and strength measured by the difference in this respect between Russia and Luxemburg, or the United States and Servia, and having interests as diverse as those of Switzerland and Siam. They could all act together efficiently and amicably on the one secure basis of equality in International Law. It was the direct negation and Moral Aspect of War," in his Lessons of the War with Spain, and other See also the admirable book of Professor Charles Waldstein, The 1 Upon this subject see Schlief's chapters Der Krieg als Element der göttlichen Weltordnung, and Der Krieg als positives Gut. opposite extreme of the idea of a World-Empire, as Chapter VIII attempted by Cæsar and Napoleon. Placing sound and self-reliant national patriotism far above the vague cosmopolitanism of sentimental dreamers, it still subordinates the interests of any one people to the higher concern of humanity at large. Recognizing to its fullest extent the trusteeship of civilized peoples for those beyond the pale,. - the "white man's burden" and "manifest destiny," in the true sense of those much-abused terms, the spirit of the Peace Conference cannot be invoked to justify a sordid policy of rapacity or greed. of the ideas of Alliance. In a sense which surely corresponds to the inten- Development tions of its Imperial Initiator, the Conference takes the Holy up the ideas of the Holy Alliance of 1815. Notwithstanding the infamies perpetrated under the cover of its name in the bitter and hopeless struggle of tyranny against liberty, that treaty still deserves honorable mention in the history of the world's progress toward peace and justice. It represented, at the time, the best expression which had yet been given to the fundamental truth that a solidarity of interest unites all civilized Powers, and that this fact, as well as the higher law of Righteousness demands the establishment of a system of justice to take the place of anarchy and force in their ordinary relations. The Magna Charta of The Hague carries out his thought within safe and practicable limits, omitting the mysticism and bigotry which have prejudiced the opinion of the world, even against those aims of the Holy Alliance which were both noble and reasonable. Chapter VIII It is easy and rather gratuitous to prophesy against the stability of such a system. When it is remembered that the Feudal System lasted for centuries after its work seemed to be fulfilled, and that the same is true, to a modified extent, of the succeeding period of "enlightened despotism," it seems rash to indulge in pessimistic forecasts regarding the future of modern constitutional government, which is hardly one century old. The greatest perils of the modern state are acknowledged to be internal:-reaction, clericalism, materialism, and the power of unrest, superficially characterized by such mutually exclusive terms as socialism and anarchism. It is a significant fact that all of these interests, so far as they are aggressive and revolutionary, should have united in the bitterest and most truculent hostility to the Peace Effect on the Conference and all that it implies. More far-sighted than many of their opponents, whose support of the Conference was scarcely lukewarm, these forces recognized in the success of the former the destruction of the basis of their existence and the death-knell of their hopes. perils confronting Modern States. This would be the case even without the tremendous material blessings which would be made possible by a diversion of the huge sums now swallowed up for military uses, to the fructification of civil life, and the encouragement of general culture. The substitution of law for force in international relations will, according to the measure of its accomplishment, affect the thoughts and minds of individuals as profoundly as the ideas of religious tolerance or civil liberty. The glamour of the supposed superior Chapter VIII strength of reactionary government, or of the comforts of superstition will be gone, Faith will revive, the "struggle for the soul" will be won, and general discontent, the basis of all unrest, must correspondingly diminish. To those who believe that the perfecting of man is "the goal toward which Nature's work has been tending from the first, . . . the chief object of Divine care, the consummate fruition of that creative energy which is manifested throughout the knowable universe," - this will all appear as following logically from the undeniable fact that the Peace Conference represents one step- however modest upward progress of the world. 1 in the The practical objection has been raised against the The future endeavors of the Conference, that if successful, they of diplomacy. would make Diplomacy superfluous, or substitute a race of international pettifoggers for the eminent experts in an art which it has taken centuries to perfect. It may be questioned whether the misconception which is the basis of this objection relates more to the nature of The Hague treaty or to that of Diplomacy. Taking the fine definition of Rodbertus of the art of politics, "the royal art of ascertaining and accomplishing the will of God"—"making reason and the will of God prevail," as Bishop Wilson and Matthew Arnold would express it, Diplomacy must be regarded as one of its noblest branches. Its highest manifestation, tact, is the flower of all human culture, physical, 1 John Fiske, The Destiny of Man, 107. Chapter VIII intellectual, and moral, and to be an ideal diplomat is rightly the ambition of many of the world's true aristocrats. The popular definition, however, "a diplomat is a man sent abroad to lie for his country,' shows the seamy side of the picture, and should reassure those who profess to fear a deterioration of the profession from its present standards. The truth is evident, that, even without the Peace Conference, a radical change was impending. lines. The era of mystery and exclusiveness in diplomacy is even now at an end, and the finality of the change was recognized forever when the most autocratic of Empires, and the one most successful in the diplomacy of the old school, made an alliance with a Republic whose foreign minister's tenure of office depends upon a parliamentary majority. Higher development, on traditional that at the very time when the old order is changing, the foundation should be laid of a system which will encourage an even higher development along traditional diplomatic lines. To say that the new system will make diplomacy unnecessary is simply absurd. With the adoption of Magna Charta and the development of English Constitutional law, the rude clerics who, before King John's time, had assisted the ruder litigants, were superseded by the glorious company of English jurists, whose services to the cause of liberty can hardly be overestimated. The change in Diplomacy will be similar. Under these circumstances it seems most fortunate For all the shrewdness, the tact, patience, social grace, and "repose in energy," which have hitherto |