prevail not for their own sakes alone, but for the sake of the world, that
it is difficult to imagine their consenting to an ignoble pacification.
The Allies have signed an important document, in order to prove their
solidarity, that no one of them will sign peace without the sanction of
the other partners. Let us suppose that the rival armies have fought each
other to a standstill; let us suppose that France is exhausted; let us
further suppose that the German troops, by their mobility and their
tactical skill, are able to hold the Russians in the eastern sphere of
war. We can suppose all these things, but what we cannot imagine even for
a moment is that Great Britain--to confine ourselves only to our own
case--will ever consent to stop until she has achieved her object. America
may strive to make the combatants desist from hostilities, partly because
she is a great pacific power herself, and partly because it is a practical
object with her as a commercial nation to secure tranquil conditions. Yet,
even so, there would be no answer to the question which most thoughtful
minds would propound: Why did we go to war, and what have we gained by the
war? If we went to war for large cosmic purposes, then we cannot consent
to a peace which leaves those ultimate purposes unfulfilled. I think,
therefore, we can put aside this extremely uncomfortable suggestion that
the war may possibly end in a deadlock, because, in the last resort, Great
Britain, with her fleet, her sister dominions over the seas, her colonies,
and her eastern ally Japan, will always, to use the familiar phrase, have
"something up her sleeve," even though continental nations should reach a
pitch of absolute exhaustion.

A NEW EUROPE

It follows then that, even if we admit the purely speculative character of
our argument, it is not only right and proper, but absolutely necessary
that we should prepare ourselves for something which we can really
describe as a new Europe. Thoughtful minds ought imaginatively to put
themselves in the position of a spectator of a reconstituted world, or
rather of a world that waits to be reconstituted. It is necessary that
this should be done, because so many older prejudices have to be swept
away, so many novel conceptions have to be entertained. Let us take only a
single example. If we look back over history, we shall see that all the
great nations have made themselves great by war. There is a possible
exception in the case of It