d sense of the fulfilment of the duties of citizenship. Thus
he is an enemy of freedom who holds himself aloof from his fellows and
declines to bear his share in the general burden. If, then, the State
calls upon all its subjects to join together in undertaking the supreme
task of national defence, every true lover of liberty must respond "Here
am I."

FOOTNOTES:

[38] Green, _Principles of Political Obligation_, p. 110-5.

[39] _Cf._ MacCunn, _Six Radical Thinkers_, p. 259.

III

THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE

[Reprinted from the _Morning Post_ of December 28th, 1915.]

I. THE IDEA OF VOLUNTARISM

It is sometimes said that Britons are a common-sense and practical
people, but a people impervious to ideas; that they are quick at the
invention of expedients, but slow to recognize and follow general
principles. This statement may be true of the nation as a whole; but it
is lamentably untrue in respect of our politicians. They do somehow now
and again get ideas into their heads, and when once they are there it
seems as though nothing on earth or from heaven can eradicate them. I
suppose that the explanation of this steadfast consistency, or
unteachable obstinacy, is that their ideas soon pass out of their own
control. Principles once professed are formulated into programmes,
programmes are solidified into platforms, and platforms are planted
upon the insensate rock of party organization. Hence, to abandon an idea
(even when it is found to be erroneous) or to repudiate a principle
(even when it is proved to be false and pernicious) involves a political
upheaval akin to a revolution. It is easier to continue to stand on an
obsolete platform and watch a nation drift to disaster than to abandon
the platform and endanger the party organization--euphemistically termed
for the occasion "national unity." An excellent case in point is the
pathetic devotion of successive Governments to the voluntary principle
of military service.

II. ITS ESTABLISHMENT

As we have already seen, the voluntary principle--a comparatively modern
novelty--is one which established itself in our constitution during the
long period of peace that followed the Battles of Trafalgar and
Waterloo, and it had its _raison d'etre_ in the circumstances of the
time. Our Navy had secured the undisputed command of the sea. Our shores
and the shores of our distant Dominions were secure from invasion. All
that we had to fear was an occa