Rebuilding Britain by Alfred Hopkinson

A >> Alfred Hopkinson >> Rebuilding Britain

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FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 4: How strong this belief was among many of those who had
often been in opposition to the British Government was shown at a
meeting in Bombay early in the War. The enthusiastic speech of the
chairman, the late Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, one of the ablest and most
persistent critics of British rule in India for very many years, is one
to be remembered.]

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSIONS REACHED

We may now state in order certain definite conclusions which appear to
follow from the arguments urged above:--

1.--It is to be expected that during the next thirty years, a period
less than that which has elapsed since the Franco-German War, the
scientific knowledge of the means of carrying on offensive warfare will
have made such advances and become so generally applied, that, if
another world war breaks out, not only will material damage be caused
which can never be repaired, but the best part of the human race will
either be destroyed or suffer deterioration as disastrous as complete
destruction, and that this result will be accompanied by appalling
misery.

2.--Unless there is a real assurance of peace, even if actual war does
not break out, the maintenance of armaments and the preparation for war
would place a burden which would be absolutely intolerable on the
leading nations of mankind.

3.--Owing to the close connection through modern means of communication
between one nation and another and the way in which their interests are
interlocked, a war between two States is liable to develop into a world
war. If one nation endeavours to promote its interests by imposing its
will by force on another, the other nations must either stand by while
the injury is done, in which case it is almost certain that the injury
will be repeated by subsequent attacks on some of them, or the nations
must league themselves together to prevent aggression and the assertion
of the claim to ascendancy.

4.--The complete defeat of Germany, and the punishment thereby
inflicted on the German rulers and the people who have supported them,
will be the best vindication of the principles of international justice
possible, and will operate as a sanction for international morality and
a warning against future aggressions or claims to dominate put forward
by Germany or any other State.

5.--The defeat of Germany in the present War, followed by subsequent
pressure on Germany through economic boycott or else by a clearly proved
change in the principles and aims of the German nation, accompanied by a
definite repudiation of the persons and the policy and organisation
which have led to the War, is absolutely essential for the future peace
of the world.

6.--The formation of a League of Nations willing to bind themselves
together for common objects, of which the prevention of war is the most
important, may not only be the most effective way of securing peace but
also provide a means for the consideration and adoption of measures
intended for the common welfare of all. Such a League may, probably
must, come into existence, and its aims and methods be formulated,
before Germany and her Allies could be admitted to it; but as soon as
Germany and her Allies can give adequate assurances that they will adopt
and be bound by the principles laid down as the foundation of the
League, they should be admitted to it. Until this is possible the League
must partake of the nature of a defensive alliance rather than of a
world-wide league of peace.

7.--Whether any definite sanction for enforcing the principles on which
the League is founded and the stipulations which it contains can be
imposed or not, the League may be of great value by giving the weight of
international opinion expressly to those principles. Public opinion of
the nations so expressed might often be effective even though not
enforced by a definite sanction.

8.--Of the two definite sanctions proposed, namely, (_a_) the so-called
"economic boycott" and (_b_) the use of the naval and military forces of
the leagued States or of certain States selected from them by
arrangement, the economic boycott which can readily be applied by all
members of the League alike, and that without keeping up any large
armaments, is likely to be effective and is free from the most serious
objections against the other sanction suggested.

9.--So many difficulties would arise in fixing the terms of any
stipulations as to the employment of military and naval forces to carry
into effect the requirements of the League, that to make such provisions
a necessary preliminary condition to the existence of the League from
the outset might indefinitely delay the formation of such a League, and,
further, the discussion of such terms would be likely to lead to
friction. The obligation imposed on certain States might involve a very
heavy burden, first, in keeping up armaments and possibly, later, in
actually going to war. Such stipulations, for reasons above stated and
illustrated, might place the leading powers in a position of great
embarrassment, and might actually themselves become the cause of serious
wars.

10.--The practice of making Secret Treaties by which the Sovereigns, the
Foreign Ministers, or the diplomatists of any nation can bind it ought
to be discontinued. The experience of the action of this country as well
as of others during the present War, as well as before it, supports this
conclusion. Negotiations must no doubt be carried on through the
ordinary diplomatic channels, but before a complete and binding
agreement is entered into, the duly constituted representatives of the
popular will should know and give their sanction to what is being done.
On the other hand, for unauthorised persons or any self-constituted
bodies or conferences to attempt to pre-judge such questions and to
carry on negotiations either with regular or irregular representatives
of other nations is pernicious. Such action is likely both to lead to
confusion and to hamper the action of the authorised representatives of
the nation, and is really opposed to sound principles of democracy,
which must be based on the duly expressed will of the nation as a whole,
and not of any section.

11.--Much may be done in settling the terms of peace after the War by
acting so as to remove probable causes of war in the future. The
adoption of some of the methods used in the past, as, for example, at
the Congress at Vienna, is sure to lead to future difficulties. Terms of
peace should not be matters for the kind of bargaining between the
powerful States by which one gives up something in consideration of
another giving up something else in exchange, and the contracting
parties treat smaller States or weaker nations as "pawns" in the game.
Each territory about which any question arises, each subject which has
to be dealt with, should be treated independently in accordance with the
requirements of justice, and especially having regard to the welfare of
the people most directly affected by it. No claim, for example, on the
part of Germany to be compensated for evacuating and making reparation
to Belgium by having some advantage in some other part of the world
should be entertained for a moment. To do so would be equivalent to
bargaining with a criminal as to the compensation to be paid to him for
giving up what he has acquired by his crimes. It is, however, legitimate
in considering the question of self-determination by the people of any
territory to consider how far such people have established or can
establish a peaceful and orderly government, and how far the
arrangements to be made as regards any country or district will affect
the safety of contiguous countries or may give rise to future disputes
and really be productive of war.

12.--Whether a League is established or not, treaties for submitting
disputes to arbitration, and if possible to tribunals permanently
constituted, will still be valuable in the future as in the past. The
decisions of regular tribunals composed of impartial persons who inspire
respect will gradually form a body of customary law, and be precedents
guiding action in the future. The attempt of Germany to override not
only precedents but also express agreements with regard to the conduct
of war, if it fails, does not discredit the value of such attempts as
were made at The Hague to embody in definite form the international law
on the subjects with which they endeavoured to deal. A careful revision
of the provisions agreed to at The Hague in light of subsequent
knowledge is desirable. They only become a dead letter if one nation
utterly disregards them and does so without incurring a penalty in some
form.

13.--It is not desirable to attempt to go into exact detail in all the
arrangements so made. For example, the attempt to enumerate a list of
articles which are to be deemed contraband, as was tried in the
Declaration of London, has led to preposterous results. Articles which
at one time were of no use in war have become, through the advance in
scientific knowledge, the material for making the most deadly and most
cruel instruments in the course of the present War.

14.--An attempt must be made to secure at least partial disarmament.
Provision as to the disarmament of Germany should be one of the terms of
peace. The extent and character of any arrangements as to general
disarmament require separate and detailed consideration. It would
naturally be one of the subjects to be discussed by any League which may
be formed. It is well to note from the outset (a) that a fleet is
essential to the British Empire for purely defensive purposes, and for
maintaining connection between the different parts of the Empire, but a
great reduction in the size of the fleet may be possible by arrangement.
The Allied Powers will recognise that it was the existence of the
British fleet that saved them from defeat, and in some cases from utter
destruction. (6) That for a nation to train its citizens as a defensive
force on the Swiss model may actually tend to preserve peace, and also
have a very useful influence on the morale of a nation. A defensive
force of this kind would not have the character or the aims which make
a great professional army a menace to peace.

15.--Lastly, it is undesirable and would be futile to attempt to set up
a "supernational sovereign authority." The scope of any League--its
powers and its objects--should be clearly defined, and the independent
sovereign States should bind themselves, as contracting parties, to
carry out the terms agreed, and all should agree beforehand as to the
steps they would take to prevent or to punish any violation of those
terms.

CHAPTER VII

VICTORY AND PEACE

_Toi qui nous apportas l'epee_--
_Le glaive de Justice_--
_Et nous ordonnas de l'acheter_
_Fut ce an prix de nos tuniques,_
_Toi qui renversas les tables des marchants_
_Installes sous Tes portiques,_
_Donne a nos bras la foi et la rage a nos coeurs_
_Afin que la Victoire couronne de fleurs_
_Le front de nos enfants._--
EMILE CAMMAERTS, "Priere Paques," 1915.

A few still perhaps remain of those who, as under-graduates at the time
of the Franco-German War, remember Dean Stanley's first sermons after
many years of exclusion from the Oxford University pulpit. Using in one
of them his favourite plan of giving life to ancient literature by
modern illustrations and conversely making modern tendencies clearer by
references to ancient thought, he took the words of the Hebrew prophet,
applying them to the troubles and strife of the time. "Who is this that
cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah?" What will emerge from
the bloodshed of war and the chaos of communal revolution? The answer
was given--"It may be, it must be a united Germany; it may be, it must
be a regenerate France."

Truly it has been a regenerate France that, with firm resolve and calm
courage, has suffered and withstood invasion, far different from the
France which in 1870 went to war with light heart, excited and
unprepared, anticipating easy victory. War shattered the Empire and the
true soul of France was found.

Well might the "Song before Sunrise" again greet the purified France:--

Who is this that rises red with wounds and splendid.
All her breast and brow made beautiful with scars?

May we soon be able to add the conclusion!--

In her eyes the light and fire of long pain ended,
In her lips a song as of the morning stars.

The prophecy in both parts was fulfilled. Germany did indeed become
united, united not only by closer political ties between all its
divisions, but united in its aims and in its methods, conscious of union
and of strength, marvellous in its power of organisation, fitting each
member into his special position in the consolidated state, and moulding
him for the place he was to occupy; drilled from earliest youth how to
act and how to think, his commonest acts done, and very gestures made,
according to rule. Yet they, too, had their ideals. I remember in 1871,
the year after the Franco-German War, meeting a party of Germans who
were unveiling a tablet by the Pasterze Glacier in memory of a comrade
fallen in the war--Karl Hoffman, a pioneer of mountaineering in the
Glockner district--and hearing their impassioned speeches. The mountains
of Austrian Tyrol were to them "die Alpen seines Vaterlandes," and the
song with the refrain, "Lieb Vaterland muss groesser sein" echoed from
the rocks, "My beloved Fatherland must be greater"; may not this be the
expression of a noble patriotism? But it so easily turns to "my country
must have more, must take more," and becomes the very watchword of
greed. "Deutschland ueber Alles" might perhaps mean first to the German
"My country before everything to me." _Corruptio optimi pessima_, it
easily becomes "Germany over all,"--the country which dominates an
inferior world and is thus the condensed motto of supreme insolence.
"Insolence breeds the tyrant," and the doom the ancient poet prophesies
is the divine ordinance to be fulfilled by the action of man.
"Insolence, swollen with vain thought, mounts to the highest place, and
is hurled down to the doom decreed."

Insolence seems the nearest equivalent for the Greek word [Greek:
hybris], which implies much more. Some translate it "pride." It is a
sense of superiority, greater strength, higher culture, leading to a
claim to dominate the minds and the lives, the destinies, of others, and
then in its arrogant self-assertion to override all laws and all
restraints imposed by justice. It is the exact opposite of the Christian
precept: "Let each esteem other better than himself." This, like some
other Christian precepts, may never have been meant to express the whole
truth, but only that side which men are naturally apt to neglect. It was
hardly necessary to insist that men should defend themselves against
attack, maintain their rights, and keep their self-respect. There are
some crimes, too, which it required no special revelation to condemn;
man revolts from them as _contra naturam_. One of these crimes is
refusal to aid their fellow-countrymen who are fighting against
aggression.

With the spirit that claims to dominate in its "will to power," to
override the eternal laws of justice, there can be no compromise. Until
that spirit is vanquished, the answer to the question, "Is it peace?"
must be, "What hast thou to do with peace, so long as thy brutal acts
and thy tyrannies are so many?" The order is given to smite. With profit
now we may recall the old narrative,--"And he smote thrice, and stayed.
And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have
smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten" the enemy till thou
hadst destroyed his evil will. The work must be completed thoroughly;
but that task once accomplished, to continue war, whether open or
veiled, either to satisfy national hatred and the mere wish for
vengeance, or, still more, in the desire of gain, would be to become--to
use George Herbert's words--"parcel devils in damnation" with those who
have driven or beguiled Germany to crime against humanity and to her own
undoing. It is but too easy for heroic effort and firm determination to
defend the right, to be corrupted either by a spirit of insolence or
greed. Even as we sow the seeds for a fruitful harvest of good, the
arch-enemy may be sowing the tares. On the other hand, to cease from
work and from struggle, either through fear or slackness or weariness,
or even from that pacific temperament which shrinks from contest of any
kind, may have results almost equally fatal. That other prayer of the
Greek poet is for us also. "But I ask that the god will never relax that
struggle which is for the State's true welfare"--"the contest in which
citizen vies with citizen who shall best serve the State."

_B.--POLITICAL PEACE_

CHAPTER VIII

PEACE AND THE CONSTITUTION

_The question for the British nation is--Can we work our
course pacifically on firm land into the New Era, or must
it be for us as for others, through the black abysses of
Anarchy, hardly escaping, if we do with all our struggles
escape, the jaws of eternal death?_--THOMAS CARLYLE.

It is not only international peace that must be assured. As a necessary
condition for reconstruction comes the need for Peace, peace real and
lasting, and peace all round. There may be times when the nation or the
individual needs the bracing stimulus, if not of war, at least of
competition and of conflict in the realm of thought and in the realm of
action; times when old institutions, old creeds, old systems, old
customs, are fiercely attacked and vigorously defended. The storm clears
the air, and the struggle ends in the survival of the fittest. After the
War the nations, and our own not least, wearied of strife, exhausted by
losses, will need all their energies to repair those losses, to rebuild,
often in quite new form, what the havoc of war has destroyed, and to
adapt themselves to the changed conditions of an altered world. It will
be a time neither for contest nor for rest, but for co-operation, mutual
help in the work, not merely of restoration, but of building up
something better in its place, where the old has been destroyed, or
shown its defects under the strain. For this, Peace is needed, peace not
only between the nations, but peace between different classes and
opposing parties, and even divergent Churches; international,
industrial, political and religious peace. There will be so much that
ought by general agreement to be done, the ideals to be set before us
will have so much in common, their realisation will need so much work in
concert, such concurrence as to the practical steps to be taken, such
goodwill among those who must work together with a common aim, that a
"truce of God" between those who were once opponents may be called for.
For a time at least old shibboleths might be forgotten, and the old
so-called "principles," round which so many barren contests of the past
have been waged, might cease to hamper us in adopting the practical
measures which the exigencies of the time demand.

It is a significant fact, a note of sure and certain hope of the
ultimate result in the struggle against the powers of darkness, that men
are ready now to think and to act on the assumption that complete
victory will be achieved, and that the foundations for reconstruction
may now be laid, even while war is raging most fiercely. This work of
preparation to meet the difficulties that will arise after the War need
not interfere in any way with the paramount necessity of carrying on the
War to a successful issue, or divert the attention of those who are
engaged in that task. It is indeed matter for congratulation that in the
present Parliament, in spite of necessary preoccupation with matters
directly affecting the conduct of the War, a great Parliamentary Reform,
changing and enlarging the basis of representation, has been carried
through, and that the way to a great advance in Education has been made
possible.

These great changes have been made with something approaching to general
concurrence. On one question unfortunately proposals made as part of
their considered scheme for electoral reform by a representative
conference were set aside. The influence of old party machinery and a
sluggish reluctance to take the trouble to understand either its
character or its importance prevented the introduction of a system of
proportional representation. The representatives of the caucuses scored
a success towards slamming the door of the House of Commons in the face
of the detached judgment, moderation of language, and independence of
character which Parliament needs. The electors desire to have such
qualities in their representatives, but care is taken to prevent their
giving effect to it. But it is better to let even that question rest for
a time.

It would have been most unfortunate if it had been necessary, after the
War, when delay in dealing with many matters which will be most urgent
would be disastrous, to arouse contests about alterations in the
electorate and mode of election. The new Parliament may, after all, turn
out to be fairly representative of the nation, and may set about the
practical work of reconstruction at once. It would have been an
advantage if the Reform of the House of Lords could also have been
disposed of in the present Parliament, but it is not one of the
questions upon which the welfare of the country will immediately depend.
Everyone admits the need for reform; the abolition of the
"backwoods-man" must come; but it is the men of most experience in
public affairs who regularly attend sittings of the House of Lords, and
they contribute even now a valuable element in promoting useful
legislation as well as in revising and amending the Bills initiated in
another place. Most of the amendments of the Law which marked the latter
half of the nineteenth century were first introduced in the House of
Lords.

During this time of severe test, it cannot be denied that the House of
Lords has gained in the respect of the nation, that its debates have not
only been dignified but often useful and enlightening, nor that, as at
other times in its past history, it has shown itself to be quite as
ready as the other House to be a guardian of law and of liberty. The
business ability of many of its members has also been conspicuous, and
the value of the experience of those who have taken part in the
government of British possessions beyond the seas and of their knowledge
of other countries has been demonstrated.

Of the Crown and its influence it is unnecessary, perhaps unbecoming,
to say much. It has made for the unity of the Empire, not only as a
symbol, but, so far as the strict limitations of our Constitution
permit, as an active force. The existence of the monarchy and the
character of three successive sovereigns, and their real personal
interest in its people, are among the causes why India has been, and
especially why the Native States have been, as a rule, so loyal in this
time of danger, when the support of the whole Empire was so much needed.
In our own country the example set of ever ready and earnest sympathy
with all who are suffering from the effects of the War, feeling its
strain and bearing its burdens, from the highest to the humblest, and
also of that simplicity of life now so vitally important for all in the
time of general self-denial, which is necessary or, at any rate, a duty
for all, has been one of the real factors in knitting all classes of the
nation together in useful service and willing sacrifice. Could anyone
read the royal speech to the nation on July 6th, 1918, and the words of
the Archbishop of Canterbury at St. Paul's, and of the leaders in
Parliament, without feeling what a mighty influence for good there is in
the British monarchy? Those words were not decorous platitudes demanded
by convention, but the expression of genuine and intense feeling.

The sober freedom out of which there springs
Our loyal passion for our temperate kings

is an inheritance of our country which no theoretical discussions about
forms of government can interfere with, unless we are insane enough to
abandon the practical good sense that has brought the nation safely
through so many perils, in deference to some _a priori_ argument about
the best form of government, and the logical result of some so-called
principles. In politics--always using the term in its broad meaning, and
not as denoting the disputes and manoeuvres of parties, like the
contests between the green and blue factions of Byzantium--there is a
strong presumption that whatever is recommended as "logical" is also
foolish. It would be well to prescribe a severe course of Burke for the
_a priori_ theorists, and while they are occupied with it, set ourselves
to the real work. We should not forget, too, that Court influence, which
in some past times fostered corruption in political life, has for eighty
years been as a rule a purifying influence. It would not be easy for any
Minister, pressed by the political exigencies of the hour, to submit,
even for formal approval, to a sovereign who has only the national
interest to think of, perhaps most difficult of all to a high-minded and
clear-headed woman, a course of action that was dishonourable or mean.

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